10 mixes you need to hear this month

Lena Willikens

Discwoman 78

Lena Willikens adds further weight to her reputation as one of the very finest DJs around, using the recorded mix format to showcase the tracks at the fringes of what she might play in the club, centred around krautrock and ebm. Like Lena herself, the set oozes an effortless cool. A genuine master at work.

CCL

Unsound Podcast 56

This year has seen CCL propelled into a stratum of DJs who come with the expectation that they will blow your mind. Recorded ahead of their set at this year’s Unsound Festival, this mix should be enough to convince any remaining doubters as they build an intricate web of stuttering halftime, warped breaks and deep atmospheres. A stone cold classic.

Chekov

Wire Mix 09 - Dub Special

Leeds DJ and Timedance affiliate Chekov proves the dubwise connection runs deep outside of Bristol too with an all b-side mix of his favourite roots and dub records. Dub’s inseparable bond with club culture aside, this music is always vital. Those sweet melodies, that homely crackle, what’s not to love?

Victor Crezée

Whatever Forever #45

Eclecticism is something all people playing music should aspire to, but sometimes it acts as a mask for a lack of focus or a shallow appreciation for a style of music. Not so with Victor Crezée, who’s long-running Whatever Forever podcast series is a reliable source of choice material from any of music’s oddball corners. The latest is an hour or so of the finest surf, lo-fi and post-punk.

Suzanne Ciani

Dekmantel Podcast 250

The first of two milestone mixes included in this month’s round-up, Suzanne Ciani is Dekmantel’s choice to mark 250 mixes. One of the first masters of the Buchla modular synth (also favoured by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith) she is a titan among lovers that smooth-serrated sound. Described as ‘a social gathering of friends and acquaintances for lunch or dinner’, a mix of this kind is rare from Ciani, and is full of music that, much like her own, carries a strange transportive power.

Sporting Life

The Face Mix 007

Making his name as Ratking’s producer, Sporting Life’s dense, overwhelming productions were and are some of the most singular in experimental hip-hop. This mix draws from a host of producers occupying a similar space, to create just the kind of maximalist collage he builds on his records.

Listen here.

DJ Benny Ben

FM Mix 43

More dub from a techno DJ may seem like overkill, but its not. Ben Sims has been around a long time, and longevity directly correlates with the size of one’s dub collection, meaning this is an hour of music you can ill afford to pass by.

Jane Fitz

Truancy Volume 250

Milestones like this are more often than not just a number, but there is something impressive about the fact that Truants – an independent blog run by volunteers – has not only been around for so long, but has cultivated a reputation as one of the most discerning voices in club music. Who better to call on at this point than everyone’s favourite wild-haired veteran, who duly slams out 90-odd minutes of the finest floor-facing acid and techno. Pure fuel.

Diet Clinic

Derek Jarman Special (NTS)

Derek Jarman is an experimental filmmaker who made an indelible mark on the pop video, a gay rights activist who refused to be anything less than visible in his struggle with HIV, and a gardener. This mix from Optimo affiliate Diet Clinic tries to evoke the spirit of his work and draw attention to an important figure from the latter half of the 20th century. Fittingly dreamy, strange and cinematic, these tracks evoke the transient beauty of the gardens he loved, and the challenging impulse he lived by.

Joe

On Cue

Hessle Audio affiliate Joe is (quietly) one of the most compelling producers in UK club music, known for a sort of intricate minimalism. After notably taking a three-year sabbatical from playing out, he is again a prolific DJ. Here he channels “the middle hour of a 3-hour set, when things are rolling and before they get a bit more weird,” making for the kind of the mix which will have you spinning around the kitchen after just a few minutes.