A question of taste: DJ and music producer mynameisjOhn
John Lillis, aka mynameisjOhn, is a DJ and music producer from Ennis, Co Clare.
He is one third of west coast hip hop act Rusangano Family, and also has various other music projects.
“I work in music education as well, because kids are way more craic than adults,” he says.
Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga is a great collection of short stories about the individual struggles of life in an Indian city in the 1980s. I just had a lash off Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams and Reflections to see if I could handle it. I loved it, he seemed like a right old banger. Kevin Barry is the king though. I get the sweats even thinking about a follow up to City of Bohane. And if you’re into music or photography, B+ has just released his epic ‘Ghost Notes - Music of the Unplayed’. Brian Cross, hiphop’s most famous photographer and straight outta Limerick, has assembled his retrospective collection that really shows how deep he runs in the game. He’s an important figure and he’s shaped more big records and artists than the world will know.
Sons of Kemet in Dolans Warehouse in Limerick. Two sets of drums, a tuba and a saxophone. Phenomenal levels of skill. Shabaka Hutchings is a superstar, and there’s a surrounding crew of young jazz musicians in London who are pushing things forward in an interesting way.
There’s a track by a group called The Ordells called ‘Sippin on a Cup of Coffee’ that I heard on a mix recently that has haunted me since. It’s from 1967, and it’s apparently the only thing they ever recorded. The perfect mix of soul and psych, all centred around the most wondrous and addictive liquid invented. Perfect. But very expensive, so I have to make do with YouTube.
I was at a birthday party when I was about three or four, and someone put a VHS of Michael Jackson’s Thriller on the TV. I’d never seen anything like it before. Never. Dancing zombies. My young mind wasn’t able for it. Terror shook my very core and I burst out crying hysterically. My cousins had to all stand in front of me and block the screen with their bodies before I was able to calm down.
Once, when we were in Canada, I saw a man dressed as a pirate play covers of Daft Punk on a theremin and bass clarinet and it made me cry. I don’t know, that’s the mad thing about music — it’s pure sneaky. It jumps out at you at weird times and sideswipes you with its power.
I think watching Naive Ted, and the way the Community Skratch crew in Galway assembled music through scratching and turntablism was something that was always really inspiring to me. I think Cork’s Jus Me is the still the best all-round DJ in the country.
Atlanta and The Walking Dead are the only two.
The THE DO!!YOU!!! NTS BREAKFAST SHOW with Charlie Bones on NTS. All day, everyday. Hands down, my favourite radio host. Most of the music I listen to now is generally online radio, NTS, Worldwide FM, Dublin Digital Radio — all online radio stations with great selectors and specialist shows. Josey Rebelle is another really personable host and DJ. Peter Curtin’s ‘Groover’s Corner’ is always a good buzz. For the podcast long listens, I was mad into the philosophical debate formats for a while, but I mostly just listen to comedy now. Bill Burr, Blindboy, Maeve Higgins.
James Brown, The Doors, and an opening conversation between Alan Watts [philosopher] and Terence McKenna [ethnobotanist].
I took a photo of God Knows [of Rusangano Family] with Stormzy in the Netherlands once. That was cool.
I’d head back 5,000 years and see what was going on up in the Boyne valley. Whoever built Newgrange was up to something alright.
Hug your local gig promoter.
I’d seek advice from the queen.
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