Another good year for mixes. I enjoyed these in particular:
The Bunker Podcast: Mike Huckaby / DJ Jus-Ed
Steffi: Mixmag.info - MixTape #27 / LWE Shopcast 05
Mnml Sssgs: Nuel / Natural Electronic System Pt. 2 / Lerosa: 'House Classics v2'
Oneman : Fall for Autumn Mix
Wax Treatment Podcast: DJ Pete 01 / Shed 03
RA Podcast: RA.168 Peter Van Hoesen
Jonny5 - Cool Position
FACT Magazine: Ben Klock / Woebot / Guido
Bleep43: Orphan Live
The number of online DJ sets currently doing the rounds is staggering. Not so long ago, one had to rely on Pete Tong endorsed BBC Essential Mixes and commercially released mixtapes to get one's DJ mix prescription. These days, the web is literally drowning under new mixes - fantastic for the consumer but equally overwhelming as well. I hope this (near) monthly column can shed some light on how we should be filling our bulging hard drives.
Resident Advisor have been in the podcast game longer than most and they continue to churn out thoughtfully curated mixes from a decent cross-section of DJ's (although I'd like to see a little more diversity away from house and techno). Sandwell District's recent entry in the series is a predictably tight, intense affair but there's enough funk in its backbone to keep things interesting. The arrival of Acid Eiffel a third of the way through is a bit of a spine tingler - it's an old Laurent Garnier tune apparently.
If the dance music blogs and forums have one pet subject, it's surely the never-ending vinyl vs. digital debate. Ricardo Villalobos was banging on about the sound quality limitations of Ableton over at RA a few weeks ago (from a production perspective admittedly) and Donnacha Costello, fresh from his Labyrinth travails in Japan, wrote a nice piece on the relationship between artist and DJ for his new Bodytonic column. Inspired by Daniel Bell's vinyl-only set at the festival, he was impressed at the way Bell "allowed each record to do its own thing before introducing the next with subtlety". He compared Bell's artistry to a new breed of DJ's who are so busy chopping, looping and combining etc. that the original record gets buried in the maelstrom.
The Sandwell mix inspired some similar chatter over at mnml ssgs: the consensus being that Ableton was responsible for killing the tension in DJ mixes. It's hard to say - I've heard tedious mixes using both formats. My (misguided?) perception is that digital mixes can be rather lifeless affairs - streamlined to within an inch of their life. And that's a charge one could never level at a Cassy set. I enjoyed this comment in particular:
"I am just a sucker for the sound of hats firing into the mix and spitting all over the old song, tight mixes alive with sound of the DJ's movements and corrections, and that tense feeling that it could all fall apart at any moment."
On a personal note, I'd hate to see vinyl disappear completely, only because trawling for new booty in 3-dimensional record shops is one of life’s small pleasures. The small communities that record shops breed should also not be underestimated. Perhaps vinyl will return when the environmental costs of flying are so much to bear that it is no longer practical for DJ's to fly the lengths of the world with only a laptop and a box of johnny's.
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London continues to breed dubtep / funky / UK garage mutations at a furious rate. I can't say that I'm entirely convinced by the sounds of the UK funky but I will be adding Marcus Nasty’s new Rinse FM mix cd to my Christmas list for sure (thanks Mum and Dad). Sub FM resident Skipple provided the Hot Flush podcast with a sprightly 40 minute mix that captured some of these latest sounds quite nicely. And any set that includes Scott Garcia's eternally bouncy "It's a London thing" gets my vote.
Tonnes of good mixes knocking around at the mo... which is nice.
First up is this short but perfectly formed Oneman mix. Oneman is known for his epic UK garage / dubstep blends but this mix is more about deep bass vibes than 2-step antics. As always, tight-as mixing and top notch selection. It seems that he really likes that Mala tune at the end - it crops up in nearly all his mixes.
Personally recommended to the mnml ssgs team by Donato Dozzy, Nuel turned in this peach of a mix for their blog. There are some incredibly deep sounds emanating from a growing cluster of Italian DJ's / producers right now and this is another great example. This mix builds incredibly well and contains some of the lushest techno I've heard all year - a nice antidote to some of Dozzy's harder sets.
Next up, Peter Van Hoesen's Resident Advisor mix. I saw him play in Tokyo last weekend and he was banging out some party classics (Paperclip People, Inner City etc...). His RA is an altogether more cerebral affair (as you'd usually expect from a studio mix) but this selection is very well programmed and has a nice trajectory. I'm still loving the heavy distortion on that ACE Newworldaquarium track. His recent Live PA comes highly recommended too - apparently. I was ensconced in my tent for the entirety of his two breakfast sets @ this years Labyrinth party (weep). Damn that pesky timetable!
In 2007, Infinitestatemachine's Jonny 5 unleashed his classic 'Dub Devil' mix. It's been on heavy rotation ever since. I'm still digesting his latest selection but it would seem to be on a similar par. Lighter on the dub and heavier on dancehall sounds, this all good stuff. Such a fertile time for Jamaican music and nice to hear such a well programmed selection (and at 320 kpbs).
As part of their 'Labels we love' series, the chaps over at XLR8R managed to convince MLZ to put together a mix containing his (and therefore *our*) Modern Love favourites. Label mixes can degenerate into one note affairs but none of that here - the pedigree of their artist roster is such that that was never going to be a problem. Lovely stuff from Move D, Andy Stott , Deepchord, Hate etc. contained within...
Finally, Falko Brocksieper and Benjamin Fehr (aka The Result), knocked up a laidback techno mix for www.Ump3.de Really nice to hear that old Swag track, 'Drum Hydraulics' again, last heard on an old Craig Richards mix. Judging by some of his other mixes, Falko enjoys digging up old tunes that deserve a new lease of life and/or reappraisal.
See yous all next time :)
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<Late addition>
Wax Treatment Podcast #001 - DJ Pete
I should also add that I've been really enjoying DJ Pete's inaugural entry in the Hardwax Podcast series. He ain't the deck technician that Oneman is but nonetheless, this is a great selection of d-step.
Apologies for the hiatus: here's a few choice mixes I've been enjoying from the last two or three months.
I finally got around to checking Jus Ed and his brand of deep chunky house music. For the most part his track selection is absolutely top notch but one just wishes the mixing was a little tighter. A Jus Ed selection mixed by Derrick Carter would make my day. I've been caning his (4 hr!) Bunker podcast as well as the radio session he did for Roof. Both highly recommended.
Jus Ed Bunker Podcast
Jus Ed: Roof FM
Bleep 43 put together an excellent collection of 90's British techno that I've been going back to quite a lot. Most of this stuff has aged incredibly well and it's nice to see that some of these producers are still knocking out stuff today (eg Luke Slater, Neil Landstrumm).
Bleep 43 Podcast: 90's UK Techno
Also on the retro tip, the mnml ssgs crew persuaded Ireland's Lerosa to record a sequel to his first 'Classic House' mix. Lots of squelchy acid trax and cheese free vocals.
mnml ssgs mx33: lerosa presents 'house classics v2'
Mnml ssgs followed that podcast with the excellent Traversable Wormhole mix. Never heard of them but the music is spot on: undeniably hard but deep enough to sustain some home listening action (and thankfully, not as brutal as Ancient Methods whose sound they've been loosely compared to).
mnml ssgs mx34: traversable wormhole
Last but not least, I couldn't end a MOM report without including a set from Steffi. Luckily she recently came up with the goods with this mix for LWE. FACT magazine say it best:
"The Panorama Bar resident is one of the best house DJs around, and she's one of the few people we know of who can play really low-slung, deep stuff without sacrificing funk and grit and urgency. Plus, she always has the bass turned up loud, so every kickdrum hit and bassline lick feels punchy, three-dimensional."
Thank you Steffi.
Formerly a radio show, now a resource for occasional radio-show style mixes, this site is worth checking just for the awesome tracklistings. From the horses mouth:
"We mix a wide variety of funky futuristic records from all styles and years. Inspired by Detroit’s seminal open-minded radio DJs: from Electrifyin’ Mojo and The Wizard during the pre-techno and birth of techno in Detroit… to the Chicago radio hotmix shows on WBMX that flourished at the birth of house music… to the open-mindedness of David Mancuso’s Loft-era moods in NYC… to the expanses of Cosmic Disco and Deep Space electronix.
"We seek out the freshest sounds on emerging underground labels and mix them with the roots, scribbling outside the lines of history and rigid sub-genres. Expect deep new sounds alongside timeless classics – from techno, electro, detroit/chicago house, soundtrack atmospheres, underground disco machine funk and weird nu-wave / italo / funk / soul dusties that slipped through the cracks of time (and fell onto our turntables)."
A few bits and bobs worth mentioning this month. FACT Magazine came up with two winning mixes from Ben Klock and Manchester
Steffi - Mixmag Info MixTape 27
Significant others:
Grievous Angel: Funky Manifesto: a compilation of superb UK Funky radio rips
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