The second part of our review of 09 focuses on the mixes. Compared to a decade ago, the volume of available downloadable mixes and podcasts has increased exponentially. With this increase in volume has perhaps come an increased disposability of music and I find I have a much shorter attentions span when listening to mixes than I used to. Looking through my podcasts on itunes, there's no less than twenty different subscriptions I have that I regularly check, not to mention feeds that feature mixes that don't crop up in itunes. So with such a huge volume of music, how is it possible to listen to and really appreciate what different people are doing? I find that I regularly ignore sets by artists I'm less familiar with, or give them the skip through rather than listen to the entire mix. I've missed some really good mixes this year doing this- Sigha's Hotflush podcast for example, which I've only just discovered.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. Out of all the mixes I've listened to this year, and the list is by no means exhaustive, I've chosen five that I have listened to and enjoyed most often. I've tried to keep away from the best known artists and biggest mix series, as these are well known and documented. The mixes I've chosen have been selected as these mixes offered something that stood out from the crowd. In four cases, these were artists/DJ's I didn't know much about but found them a fantastic listen; in one case the mix just seemed to fit my mood at the time. All explored sounds that were on the edge of my radar and so were somehow educational as well as being an enjoyable listen. So here we go, in no particular order, MJ's top 5 mixes of 09:
Pendle Coven - Fact mix
Pendle Coven's FACT mix from March showcased dubby techno old and new founded on the unique gritty sound of Manchester's Modern Love Records. Some great tracks from the likes of Wax, Larry Heard, G-Man and Tres Demented, as well as a good dose from Modern Love and its sub-label Daphne. If this is your bag, Modern Love's showcase for XLR8R is also worth a listen.
SMA - Process 132 (The Lost Library)
This was the first mix i'd heard by SMA, but is only one of a whole string i've downloaded this year. The mix for Modyfier focused on slow house, but includes deep house, dubby, moody techno, and slowed down dubstep. Since this mix I've become a fan of Sebastian and his blog- check it out for more deep house mixes. A close second favourite from SMA is his slow techno mix Mars Rising, check that out here.
CB - Colony 006
Colony host some great parties down in London town that cross genres from techno to dubstep to IDM and d&b. The guys also have a series of mixes online for download that showcase their sound- this is my favourite of the series by CB, a deep dubstep mix. Colony have recently been featured in Random Circuits Random Residency as well, with a technofied dubstep mix by MB.
Pan Pot - Mobilee Podcast 008 : Day/Night
This mix came out at just as summer emerged in Cardiff, and fitted my mood perfectly. Apparently recorded poolside at Sonar, this two part mix for the Mobilee podcast starts with an hour of summery techhouse before moving into the early hours with a darker techy set from later in the evening. Some great tech tracks on there, but no tracklist I'm afraid.
Goldwill - HIAF Guest Mix 13
Ronan Fitzgerald's House is a Feeling blog has been quiet this year, but for a couple of mix releases, the best of which was this from Goldwill. Traversing dubby techno, deep and techy house and a bit of techno and starting off with the sublime Birds by John Daly and including Ribn's Ctrl on Styrax and the Daschund mix of Chaton, two of my favourite records of the year.
