Elliot Weston, better known as DJ Autumn, has been a pivotal figure in Britain’s dance music community for just shy of a decade, dropping an endless array of tasteful grooves through Banoffee Pies, a prolific, hard-to-pin-down, and widely loved imprint. He grew up in Hammersmith, London, where he discovered drum & bass and would sneak into Fabric using fake identification, but it wasn’t until he moved to Bristol for university that his life began to revolve around music. By taking up various music-related jobs, he met people in the local party scene and quickly began contributing to it himself, firstly through DJing and then through Banoffee Pies, which he kicked off in 2014.

Bristol’s rich musical diversity has certainly informed the breadth of Banoffee Pies, but the label’s reach has extended much wider. Through quick-fire compilations, various limited series, and a network of sub-labels, Banoffee Pies has somehow successfully maintained an identity without having a defined sonic scope—instead of sticking to one thing and doing it well, it’s done pretty much everything and done them all well. It remains one of those buy-on-sight platforms, and yet until you press play you might not know if it’s going to be some wonky minimal of Adam Strömstedt, the dark garage of Interplanetary Criminal, or some dusty hip-hop beats from FloFilz.

As DJ Autumn, Weston is a regular at Banoffee Pies events—held at the likes of Gottwood and Nuits Sonores—and also on radio shows on Worldwide FM and NTS. In 2019, he launched Headroom Festival, an intimate, invitation-only music event which he curates. After a recent move to Berlin to expand his musical horizons, he’s prepared an XLR8R podcast that gives a glimpse of what you’ll hear him play out when he begins touring again. Across its 80-minute run time, it also pretty much sums up what he and his label are all about: shape-shifting sounds and tempos that go together even if they really shouldn’t. Expect a deep headphone listen that’ll keep you guessing all the way, and a handful of artists and labels for you to go explore.

01. What have you been up to recently?

Surviving, digging for music, listening to podcasts, and staying up late working on upcoming projects. I just managed to source some Lady Grey Tea bags in Berlin though so that’s something to celebrate. If you know!

02. You’ve clearly got a sharp eye for curation. How do you find new music for the label and yourself?

I love finding music and artists to work with and I take a similar approach to building my own collection as I do to finding music for the label. Anything that excites or inspires me is what I look for, and having multiple sub-labels under the Banoffee umbrella, depending on genre or style etc., allows me some flexibility to bounce some ideas in approaches and possible collaborations.

03. Which artists or labels have been impressing you recently?

There’s been so much good music lately and I can’t even pick but a few highlights include labels such as Motion Ward, Trule, Bokeh Versions, Well Street Records, Wisdom Teeth, Deep Jungle, and Ilian Tape. In terms of artists, I’d say Audio Werner, Vladimir Gnatenko, Kilchhofer, Duckett, Nathan Melja, and Basement Space.

04. What makes a Banoffee Pies release?

A mood, nice drums, and a sound that might translate well in different spaces or tempos.

05. Where and when did you record this mix?

I recorded this mix in my new flat here in Neukölln, Berlin on a very wet and stormy Sunday. It felt like I was back in Bristol.

06. How does this mix compare to what we might hear you play in a club soon?

I try to have an idea of what styles I want to include and what mood to translate depending on the party, place, or platform so it really depends but I love making deep headphone trips when I record studio mixes. This has a few extra curveballs here and there to spice things up more like a club but it’s somewhere in between. There are many tempos inside.

07. How did you go about choosing the tracks you’ve included?

I always love to include at least a few tracks that resonate with me personally and that I feel would sit well with the channel, and then I build a playlist around those across a timeline. I like trying to find ways to play things at half speed or at wrong tempos so looking at this and possible pitch ranges is a nice way to match tracks that don’t look like they should work.

08. What’s next on your horizon?

I am keeping the label moving with loads of upcoming releases with some really exciting people, and beginning to plan an event series again, ready for a full steam launch next year when things are more normal. I’m also reprogramming Headroom after two years out, and hopefully beginning to play a few shows. Also, I’m working on a new company focusing on pairing audio with video and film.

XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.

Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Burial “Gutted” (Hyperdub)
02. Unknown Artist “NO MORE PUPPY LOVE” (Ghost Phone)
03. John Glacier “Platoon” (Prod. by Vegyn) (PLZ Make It Ruins)
04. Lårry “Latz End” (Awkwardly Social)
05. Tirzah “Inside Out” (Greco-Roman)
06. Big Hands “Calix’s Hands” (Oscilla Sound)
07. Kincaid “OOO” (Well Street Records)
08. Postdrone “Dawsha FM” feat. PostTawheed (Hassan Abou Alam Remix) (Rakete)
09. Sully “5ives” (Over/Shadow)
10. Sourpuss “???” (Missy Bootleg)
11. Minder “Lips” (Sneaker Social Club)
12. Kouslin “Full Circle” (Tim Reaper Remix) (Club Yeke)
13. 8ULENTIA “turn up” (Unknown)
14. ??? “SHAKE YA AZZ” (Unknown)
15. Trinity Carbon “International Bassline” (Art-E-Fax)
16. SOSI POSI “LA FLAUTA” (SOSI POSI 2)
17. Kilchhofer “Trift” (Marionette)
18. CZN “Macondos Prospects” (The Trilogy Tapes)
19. Pinch “Qawwali” (Tectonic Recordings)
20. Space Drum Meditation “Roots” feat. Messias Messiah (Space Drum Meditation)
21. Audio Werner “Smell The Future” (Self-Release)
22. Nathan Melja “Untitled 8” (Self-Release)
23. Stefan Dubs “Untitled Version” (Trule)
24. Bushwacka! “Rubber Band” (Plank Records)
25. Lockgroove “Feel The Joy” (Seven Hills Records)
26. Luke Warmwater “And It’s Wonderful” (Kalahari Oyster Kult)