Clubhouse Selections: Charles Bals
When it comes to music, it’s a fundamental for us.
It’s a pillar which has inspired, energised and made us who we are, on both a personal level and as a brand.
With that, It’s been a long aspiration for us to bring our love for sound to the centre stage and in turn share the gift of music with our community.
We are really happy to introduce ‘Clubhouse Selections’, a dedicated and curated playlist series which is focused on sharing the talents and tastes of our favourite people and record selectors.
The Clubhouse Selections series is approached with an open ended brief, allowing each artist to express themselves through the lens of Café Mountain, sharing their most treasured tracks.
Launching the series is none other than, Charles Bals, a notoriously deep digger, curator and all round creative who has established himself as a collector that leaves no stone unturned.
Charles has long been part of the deeper record collecting community, his outstanding compilations ‘Club Meduse’ and ‘Retour Au Club Meduse’ have almost become a household staple for both yearning diggers and established DJ’s, transforming unheard musical gems into future classics.
Alongside opening our Clubhouse Selections series, we sat down with Charles (virtually) to gain an insight into his inspirations, curiosity and also note his favourite Café Mountain pieces, which you can read below.
Click here to listen to ‘Clubhouse Selections: Charles Bals’
CM: Hey Charles, How is it going? Thanks for taking your time and care to open up our Clubhouse Playlist series! It’s a true honour to have you here after being a fan for a good few years. For those that don’t know could you give us an introduction to who you are and what you do?
Charles Bals: Haha, if only I knew. But born in Berlin, I’m half French and 46 years old. My wife, our little son and I just moved to London. I’ve co-founded a creative studio and production house 25 years ago, after studying film. I now work as a creative director helping brands to develop a vision, in a world that doesn’t need any more brands. I love film and music. Obsessed, really…
CM: From your early mix for Lovefingers to your celebrated Club Meduse compilation series and now America Dream Reserve together with Henry on Smiling C - you seem to have a real knack for story telling through music, inducing vivid scenes in the listener’s mind, is this something intentional?
Charles Bals: For some reason whatever project I touch, may it be the interior of a restaurant, a fashion campaign or a record compilation - my mind always thinks of it as a movie - I think of a genre and the theming, the characters in it, scenery and light, down to every detail - I guess because cinema to me is the most complete form of art. And so if a brand, or a place or a record can take you somewhere else - like a movie does, then it can’t be bad really.
CM: Could you give us an insight into the curation of your Clubhouse playlist? For us it seems like the perfect pensive listening as Winter sets in, Kate Bush’s title ‘The Morning Fog’ seems fitting…
Charles Bals: Autumn is the mood. I didn’t think of a movie this time, it was just a vibe I wanted to dive In - and the colours green and purple were on my mind for some reason. I was looking for something clean, some sort of ambient pop with a breezy and jazzy 80s/90s touch. I knew I would include some surprises and some household gigs like Sade and Tanita Tikaram. I went on a lot of walks ever since we moved to London. I think most of that playlist was actually put together on a bench in Holland Park’s Kyoto garden.
CM: You recently released your compilation ‘American Dream Reserve’ on Smiling C Records with Henry Jones. Dedicated to outsider folk, loner country and unsung lounge records the compilation takes a different note from your usual Balearic palette. What was the inspiration behind this compilation?
Charles Bals: Henry and I just got started really - there are so many stories we want to tell and we hope people will want to hear them. But they all circle around the “reserve” right now. It’s like a vista with valleys, deserts, horses, caves, a swamp and a shitty little town with a hotel, arcades, and a casino lounge with live music for lost souls. I imagine skyscrapers shimmering somewhere at the horizon and a road that leads to town, but nobody ever really makes it there.
CM: The record is full of unearthed gems, was there any record or artist in particular that was especially difficult to track down?
Charles Bals: Sometimes they changed their names and now grow peanuts in South America and yet, Henry tracks them down. Like literally there’s nobody he doesn’t find.
CM: Being a man of taste, which pieces from our collection are grabbing your attention?
Charles Bals: That olive cargo pant and kimono jacket… My colours right now.
CM: Thank you again for curating being the first in our Clubhouse playlist series. Are there any last words you’d like to leave on?
Charles Bals: Repetition kills you. & be kind.
Special shout to Charles for being a true gentlemen and sharing his kindness and talent with us. Thank you.
Make sure to check out Charles’s new compilation American Dream Reserve.
Click here to listen to ‘Clubhouse Selections: Charles Bals’