DJ Be Kind To Other People: Two hours of joyous dance music with a hint of Australiana…
Melbourne’s DJ Be Kind to Other People has built a reputation through kaleidoscopic sets that are joy-positive. Equally at home alongside Australian crossover acts like Sneaky Sound System and Flight Facilities or deep in the sweat-soaked confines of of the city’s infamous Revolver Upstairs club, he thrives on a versatility which bridges scenes without ever compromising his identity.
His unique journey has already taken him to Burning Man (USA) and Devconnect (Turkey), with his next international appearance set for our inaugural Balance Croatia. Beyond the booth, he hosts Coburg Up Late, a talk show filmed in his garage featuring global and local dance music names.
On this Balance Selections mix, DJ Be Kind to Other People lets his personality shine across two hours of lush house and progressive. Featuring tracks from Gai Barone, Monkey Safari, Hannes Bieger, and more, it’s a vibrant journey into the mind of a truly idiosyncratic selector.
Tracklist
1. Phoenix – Love Like a Sunset (Part 1)
2. Pambouk – Forest Language (Original Mix)
3. &ME – In Your Eyes (Original Mix)
4. Osunlade – Momma’s Groove (Jimpster’s Hip Replacement Mix)
5. Bicep – Opal (Four Tet Remix)
6. Volen Sentir – Arrival (Original Mix)
7. Massive Attack – Teardrop (Simon Doty Remix)
8. Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad (Claudio Cornejo Remix)
9. Tim Penner – Gabriel’s Flight (Gai Barone’s Another Star Remix)
10. &ME – As Above So Below (Original Mix)
11. Matrixxman – Procedure (Original Mix)
12. Brigado Crew – Swerve (Original Mix)
13. Gai Barone – Lumia (Original Mix)
14. Dennis Cruz & Josh Butler – Ahora Todo Va (Gorgon City Remix)
15. Ric Niels – Ikigai (Original Mix)
16. Monkey Safari – Safe (Joris Voorn Remix)
17. Brina Knauss – Births (David Mayer Remix)
18. Hannes Bieger feat. Ursula Rucker – Poem for the Planet (Original Mix)
19. London Grammar – Hey Now (Sasha Remix)
20. Monkey Safari – Love Will Set U Free (Original Mix)
21. Aatma – Saathi Re (Nenahalena Extended Remix)
22. Dominik Eulberg – Der Tanz Der Gluehwuermchen (Rone Remix)
Name: Callum Padgham
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Alias/Producer name: DJ Be Kind To Other People
My connection to music has always run deep and my first ever memory is a musical one! I remember sitting at the piano with my grandmother, “Nanny”, and I was playing the sounds of my favourite animals. Birds chirping were short staccato hits up the top of the keyboard and whales crooning were long legato hits down the bottom!
My love of electronic music began at 19 years old, when I moved from Canberra to Melbourne. Having grown up playing in rock bands and listening to alternative, punk and metal, I was always quick to disregard dance music as too simple, repetitive or lifeless.
Sure enough, I soon ate my words when a mate from uni showed me electro house, beginning with Crookers then moving into Boysnoize, Tiga, MSTRKRFT et al, and I experienced that crucial ‘penny drop’ moment of feeling the music in my body, rather than just hearing it in my head.
Reflecting now, I realise that my love of dance music is intrinsically linked with my sense of identity, as I came of age when I moved to Melbourne and the accompanying soundtrack was electronic! It’s been a wild, storied and passionate romance, ever since…
Super Flu at Ritter Butzke in Berlin, Summer 2022. It was one of those never-ending Berlin summer sunsets and Super Flu delivered a storming 4-hour masterclass from 6pm until 10pm in the outdoor courtyard at Ritter Butzke, perfectly building in intensity whilst the sun dipped beneath the horizon.
When we arrived there were no more than 10 other punters grooving along and by the end of the set the courtyard was absolutely heaving, everyone in attendance absolutely glued to the music and moving as one!
Eric Prydz was my gateway to progressive and still inspires me with his iconic sounds and spectacular live show.
Nowadays though, I can’t go past the maestro, Hernan Cattaneo. Honestly, his Resident podcast is a recurring gift from the heavens – 1 hour of the very knife’s edge of progressive music, every single week. We are not worthy!!!
Rage Against the Machine – self titled (1992). It’s hard to believe that a debut record could contain so many iconic and enduring anthems.
The songs that RATM wrote when they were relative unknowns are still some of the most powerful, energetic and socially galvanising pieces of art that exist to this day.
All killer, no filler – I love this band so much!
I’m very fortunate to rock a pair of CDJ3000s and a V10 mixer, nestled away in my beautiful home studio – a space some readers may know as the garage from Coburg Up Late!
Coburg Up Late is my ‘talk show about dance music’, wherein I interview and DJ back-to-back with some of the world’s top DJs and electronic musicians in my garage!
Former guests include Balance Selections alumni GMJ & Matter, The Journey, Christopher Coe, Doppel, Anthony Pappa, Thomas Schumacher, Juliet Fox, Victor Ruiz and Oliver Huntemann.
Now in it’s 5th year, Coburg Up Late has completely changed my life, creating meaningful relationships and opening doors into the music world that I never could have dreamed of!
Keep an eye out for a brand new season, with more superstar guests, dropping soon on YouTube, Spotify and www.coburguplate.com
For the past two years I’ve been working hard on an indie-pop project, to release under my own name in the second half of 2025. I plan to keep my DJ alias seperate so I can continue operating in both the underground dance music world and the pop music world!
We’ve created some epic music videos to accompany each song and I’m so excited to finally share this totally different, yet 100% honest, musical side of myself! Watch this space…
I can’t believe I actually get to say this but… CROATIA! I am so honoured and excited to be DJing alongside my heroes at the inaugural Balance Croatia.
Thank you so much to the Balance crew for this once in a lifetime opportunity!
I’ve been sitting on some of these tracks and mix combinations for years, waiting for the perfect opportunity to showcase them all together!
When I finally listened back to the finished recording – mixed live from my garage – I felt that the whole piece was missing a vital ‘human’ element, so I began searching for a spoken word overlay to ground the listener at key points throughout the journey.
After experimenting with various Ted Talks and even some classic monologues from The Princess Bride & The Wizard of Oz, I landed on a certain beloved Aussie children’s book, which perfectly accompanies the dramatic twists and turns of this mix… just like magic!
Gai Barone – Lumia (Original Mix)
I first heard this hypnotic weapon in Kasey Taylor’s Balance Croatia Festival Podcast and immediately Shazammed it – to no avail! However, upon sliding into Kasey’s DMs (and offering a particularly NSFW exchange), the great man sent through this upcoming release from his label Vapour Recordings (and asked that we please forget about the NSFW exchange).
Unsurprisingly the track is by Italian producer Gai Barone, an absolute trailblazer and creative mastermind when it comes to forward-thinking and unique progressive house music!
