Beat Connection's Top 10 Mixes of the Month

I just sent this to a friend, but I figure everyone else might like it too. Here are 10 DJ-mix podcasts I've liked a bunch this year, alphabetical by DJ. (Links are to pages, not direct downloads.) Enjoy!

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:27:00 -0400

Ben UFO, LWE Podcast 115
Erika, The Bunker Podcast 77
James Ferraro, Live in the Boiler Room
George FitzGerald, XLR8R Podcast 252
A Guy Called Gerald, RA.303 (tracklist)
Ill Blu, XLR8R Podcast 241
Michael Mayer, BR Berlin #009
Midland, LWE Podcast 122
Paul Woolford, RA.308 (tracklist)
XXXY, BR #83

QUICK NOTE

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:19:44 -0500

For the 28 of you who follow this site: there isn’t a list this month. The short version is that almost exactly a month ago my Macbook blew up. I’d backed up everything on it only a couple of days before, so the losses were minimal, thankfully, but it began a three-week cycle of not having access to music online. I am working on a PC now, my mother’s—a few years old, a loaner—and that’s going well, but I have been too busy playing catchup with other things to really pay much attention to mixes so far this year. (That, and being on a new machine means I have to re-subscribe to the podcasts I’m following, and that I don’t have any but the most obvious bookmarks in place, so my usual go-to spots are out of the picture till I remember them, which isn’t always easy.)

I do plan to have something up here March 1. It will likely be rudimentary—not as far-reaching as I’d like; I do strive for variety, for my ears’ sake as well as the list’s—but it’ll be 10 good mixes. Wish me luck. Hope you are all having a good 2011 so far; I certainly am.

TOP 10 MIXES: JANUARY 2011

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:52:00 -0500

Thugfucker, Life and Death Podcast Number One (Oct. 27)

Margaret Dygas, FACT Mix 197 (Oct. 29)

L-Vis 1990, RA Label of the Month Mix: Night Slugs (November 2010) (Nov. 1)

October, Apple Pips x FABRICLIVE Promo Mix (Nov. 2)

Lucas Santtana, dblive (Nov. 13)

Ikonika, FACT Mix 206 (Nov. 29)

Orson, Wax Treatment Podcast 016 (Nov. 29)

Matt Shadetek, Mono Radio Mix-Up on WFMU (Dutty Artz Podcast) (Dec. 10)

Terror Danjah, XLR8R Podcast 177 (Dec. 14)

Oneman, XLR8R Podcast 178 (Dec. 21)

TOP 10 MIXES: DECEMBER 2010

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:08:00 -0500

Butter, dblive (uploaded June 6)

JD Twitch, Optimo Podcast 6 - Acid Eyeful (uploaded July 13)

Loxy, Reprise Agency Podcast 024 (uploaded July 14)

Mary Anne Hobbs, Doc Daneeka, Altered Natives, and Girl Unit: Mary Anne Hobbs Experimental, 2010.07.15 (uploaded July 15)

Kingdom, FACT Mix 171 (uploaded July 30)

Chris Miller, Curator’s Cuts 12 (uploaded Oct. 25)

Matthewdavid, XLR8R Podcast 171 (uploaded Nov. 2)

Lil Silva, XLR8R Podcast 172 (uploaded Nov. 9)

Drop Out Orchestra, Winter Mix Session 2010 (uploaded Nov. 17)

Shackleton, Electronic Explorations 133 (uploaded Nov. 26)

TOP 10 MIXES: NOVEMBER 2010

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:56:00 -0400

Applescal, Off Centre - Melkweg - Amsterdam 26-05-2010 (uploaded May 26)

Jam City, GETME! Guest Mix 14 (uploaded mid-June)

Ramadanman, Bestimix 23 (uploaded June 22)

Niederflur, Bodytonic Podcast 085 (uploaded June 23)

El Guincho, FACT Mix 187 (uploaded Sept. 24)

Ena, Abstractor Podcast 001 (uploaded Sept. 26)

Sepalcure, LWE Podcast 61 (uploaded Oct. 11)

Bok Bok, XLR8R Podcast 165 (uploaded Oct. 12)

Commix, RA.229 (uploaded Oct. 18)

Jumeaux, SUM Podcast 09 (uploaded Oct. 25)

TOP 10 MIXES: OCTOBER 2010

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:31:50 -0400

Melon, Ratio? Podcast Summer 2010 “Pleasant Beach” (posted June 22)

John Dimas, Live @ Roxy Afterhours, Thessaloniki, Aug. 10 (posted Aug. 24)

Mark E, Beats in Space #535, Pt. 2 (posted Aug. 24)

Four Tet, FACT Mix 182 (posted Sept. 6)

Sepalcure, XLR8R Podcast 159 (posted Sept. 7)

Dominique Leone, Let’s Indian Summer Just Like We Did Last Year Mix (posted Sept. 7)

Baths, FACT Mix 183 (posted Sept. 10)

Joker, Notting Hill Carnival Party 2010, Aug. 30 (posted Sept. 10)

BMG, The Bunker Podcast 69 (posted Sept. 15)

Scott Grooves, RA.225 (posted Sept. 20)

TOP 10 MIXES: SEPTEMBER 2010

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:26:00 -0400

Jamie xx, Colette Mix (posted May 19)

Ark, Mix at Zero Zero Bar (posted May 22)

Take, The Brain Stays Fed (posted May 27)

Dave Tompkins, How to Wreck a Nice Mix (posted May 27)

Sentinels, Fundamental Mixology One (posted June 4)

Magda, Club Midi (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) 11.06.2010 (posted Aug. 7)

Hello?Repeat Soundsystem (Daze Maxim & Jan Krueger), Live @ Club Der Visionäre, Berlin, 09 July 2010 (posted Aug. 8)

Greg Wilson, Big Chill 08.08.11 (posted Aug. 8)

Eighteen, 25 Tracks: A Dubstep Chronology (posted Aug. 16)

Girl Unit, XLR8R Podcast 156 (posted Aug. 17)

TOP 10 MIXES: AUGUST 2010

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:11:31 -0400

Kuei, April Mix (posted April 9)

Tracklist/download

Tim Green, Essential Mix, Radio 1 05-06-2010 (posted June 12)

Download

L-Vis 1990, Numbers. #029: Numbers, Barcelona. Sunday 20th June 2010 (posted June 29)

Download

NguzuNguzu, Dutty Artz Radio Ep. 3 (posted July 2)

Tracklist/download

Magda, RA.215 (posted July 12)

Tracklist/download

DJ Pete, Wax Treatment Podcast #012 (posted July 19)

Tracklist/download

Mount Kimbie, RA.216 (posted July 19)

Tracklist/download

James Ruskin, FACT Mix 169 (posted July 23)

Tracklist/download

Blawan, Sonic Router Mix (posted July 23)

Tracklist/download

Steve Mizek, Curator’s Cuts 09 (posted July 26)

Tracklist/download

If the uploads aren’t working, please say so in the comments. Thanks and enjoy.

Introduction

A.V. Club archive

July 2010

Really proud of this one: “In Pod We Trust,” my...

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:47 -0400

Really proud of this one: “In Pod We Trust,” my feature for The Guardian in London about the podcast explosion. My sincere thanks to everyone who talked to me for this—great quotes from Kiran Sande and Tom Lea from FACT Magazine, Philip Sherburne, Bryan Kasenic of the Bunker, Richard Chinn of Resident Advisor, Mike Melero of Thizz.Face.Disco, Chrissy Murderbot, and Andrew Smith of XLR8R. Please do give it a read—and be sure to try out the five essential mixes at the end.

TOP TEN MIXES: JULY 2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:01:00 -0400

DJ Struggle, Soliloquy Radio Show, 4.14.10 (posted April 15)

Tracklist/download

Greg Wilson, FACT Mix 141 (posted April 16)

Tracklist/download

Aeroplane, Live at Circus Liverpool (500th Essential Mix) (posted April 24)

Tracklist/download

Ras G

Daedelus, Ras G, Take, Teebs & TOKiMONSTA, Mary Anne Hobbs Experimental Show: Volcano Refugee Party in L.A. (broadcast/posted April 29)

Tracklist/download

Marcel Fengler, RA.209 (posted May 31)

Tracklist/download

Tim Xavier, Bodytonic Podcast 083 (posted June 2)

Tracklist/download

Matt Shadetek, XLR8R Podcast 141 (posted June 3)

Tracklist/download

(Via)

Spatial, Live at Dubwar, NYC, May 2010 (posted June 3)

Tracklist/download

(Via)

Submerse, Fundamental Mixology Two (posted June 14)

Tracklist/download

Mosca, XLR8R Podcast 146 (posted June 22)

Tracklist/download

(If any of the downloads aren’t working, please say so in the comments. Thanks.)

Introduction

Beat Connection at The A.V. Club

Welcome.

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:07:00 -0400

Last fall, I started writing a monthly feature for The A.V. Club called Beat Connection, where I reviewed new electronic albums, as well as some web-only DJ mixes and podcasts I was into. The January column had my Top 10 albums and, why not, my Top 10 web mixes for the year as well. This was inspired in part by FACT Magazine’s 20 Best Mixes of 2008, which unfortunately seems to have disappeared from FACT’s site in the wake of a redesign. (I wrote up FACT’s 2008 lists at Idolator.) That list included both officially released CDs, radio sets, and web-only mixes and podcasts—including, rightly, some of FACT’s own—and it struck me as brilliant: sure, dance magazines have always had mixes listed separately, but including the web ones added a wrinkle that seemed more necessary by the week.

Putting together a Top 10 electronic albums list for 2009 was a relative snap; narrowing the mixes down to 10 was far more difficult. It was also more rewarding; looking at the lists again, I wanted to replay the mixes far more than I did the albums. So I decided to get serious: beginning in February, I began including my Top 10 mixes of the month, in addition to the album reviews. By the time Beat Connection got axed, shortly before the June column went live, the mixes were the real focus, rather than the albums I’d begun it to spotlight.

Beat Connection’s readership was smaller than the AVC norm (certainly it received fewer comments than a lot of the site’s stuff—hardly a bad thing, considering how appalling so much of the reader commentary there is), but it was enthusiastic, and a few people seemed to genuinely appreciate the mixes lists. I’ve shopped the list around to a couple of places, with no takers yet. That may change. I hope so, anyway—lot of listening and whittling down goes into it, and it’s work, especially if you take it seriously. But I’ve decided to take the lists to this dedicated Tumblr site for the moment because most of the places I could potentially do it for either don’t pay (or pay even less than the A.V. Club did), or they have podcasts and/or regular mixes of their own. I realize that fewer and fewer people give a shit about journalistic ethics these days, especially in dance music, where advertorial reigns supreme. (I’ve written some myself.) But I’m not totally comfortable with the idea of hyping something connected to the site in question anyway; I still feel like it undermines my credibility, however genuine my enthusiasm. (And most dance-oriented sites regularly post links to staff-approved mixes anyway, so a monthly list would be superfluous for most of them.)

Another reason to do this here: I am often behind on this stuff. In the June column, I outlined my methods: arranging downloads in folders by date, pulling the oldest and newest into iTunes, then plowing away. My listening is a mix of brand new and two-months-ago. I find that gives me an oddly useful perspective: the hot stuff from a while back may have cooled off, but often it holds up nicely. And because I’m no longer chasing every damn thing that pops up on Twitter from Percussion Lab or Ninja Mix Dump or Techno Podcast or Numbers or Deep Goa or Sonic Router, or from checking in on Meatskull and No Rockstars (there’s more, but you get the idea), I tend to focus on what I like—which is a lot. (And lord knows I listen to more than just electronic music.) Which, of course, makes narrowing it down to ten a month even more challenging, and sometimes heartbreaking. It also means these are lists I can stand behind proudly.

Anyway, that’s the spiel. From here on out, until further notice, it’ll be 10 mixes on or near the first of the month. Enjoy.