Another month has flown by in our now regular DJ competition and we’ve had a truck load of great DJ mixes to get through. This month we’ve seen a lot of awesome mixes from U.S, U.k and Irish based DJs. As usual, we’ve hand picked our favourite 8 below. Please go and follow our DJs on their social platforms and give them some support.
If you’d like to enter next months DJ competition, please send us a mix link on one of our social pages. Winners receive lots of promo from us and a free subscription to our online course “The DJ Mixtape with Ableton Live”
Here We Go!…….
BiLla
BiLla is from the Philadelphia area. His submission for this months DJ competition is a nostalgic, odd-ball techno and laid back electronic masterpiece. It’s vinyl only and the selection is deep. I imagine he has amassed quite a record collection over the last 25 years… Stick your headphones on and take this for a walk round your town.
Logic – Celebrate Life (Acapella) / SinOesin – Angels of Altitude PT. 1 / Language – 1990 / Human Mesh Dance – Sunflower / Gilbert – Birds of Paradise / Influx – Untitled / Junq – Lila Dreams / 7th Plain – Seeing Sense / Paul W. Teebrooke -Thing 1 / Lifeforce EP – 20/20 After Hours Mix
The Waterboatmen – The Pond Skater / The Higher Intelligence Agency – Thirteen / Unknown White Label
Sandoz – Human Spirit / The Black Dog – Ambience with Teeth / Nev – Ilone Vune Cortex Nex / Isomise – The Intersection / 7th Plain – Time Melts / Plaid – Android / DMX Crew – Synth Sound 1 …. plus a load more we couldn’t fit in.
Here’s BiLla: “I have been playing vinyl for over 25 years. I have held residences in Europe, the east coast , South West, and the west coast. This sermon is a adventure in some of the beloved ambient techno dayz of past…”
Sk De DJ
Sk De DJ sent us a glorious down tempo house mix featuring tracks from around the globe. It has a really soulful tone to it and left me feeling warm and in a great place. He’s a very skilled selector at home behind the decks! Please show him some love.
01 Nick Holder – Summer Daze (Afrikan Roots Afro Touch Mix) 02 Sade – I Never Thought I’d see the Day (DJ Naid’s Revival Mix) 03 Agape Love (Tuckz Ancestral Remix) 04 Coco SA I never thought 05 Ever changing Times (DJ Couza remake) 06 All Night Long (DJ Couza remake) 07 Ringo – Nqo Nqo(DJ Couza remake) 08 Ka Nnete (Mogomotsi chosen) 09 Don’t go please stay 10 Rabachanaki – Silva T’s Raw Punishment mix 11 Unathi – Thembisile (DJ Couza remake)
This is what he’s got to say: “Greetings house heads Sk De Dj here from South Africa, North West province. Listeners will hear nothing but La good Music mostly classic Rnb music to soulful house music, i take that as game changer to keep memories and make them last forever through house music and that is one of the best way to keep people to the good music.”
mazastar
Mazastar is fairly new to DJing but her entry for this months dj competition has all the attributes of a seasoned pro. Her mix is a pumping tech house affair that got the bass bins moving nicely. The mixing is tight and her track selection is fresh. Go and show her some love on her socials.
Dropbox – Juan(AR), Pinco / Gruff – Seba Machado / Intentions – Jay De Lys, Piem / On & On – Ruben Mandolini / No Stress – 22 Weeks, Robiin / Who Sez – Huxley / Yo Mama – My Cat Snoop
Aparillo – Max Chapman, Will Taylor / You Listening – GUMP(UK) / I’m In – Biddy, Chafe
Saltarin – Tennan / Sun Goes Down – Cloonee, Classmatic / Steels – Dave Spoon
This is the lady herself: “Originally from Northern Ireland and currently living in Cardiff Wales. Lockdown last summer brought the hobbyist out in me, bought a controller and taught myself into learning how to DJ. I absolutely love it.
I would describe my Intentions mixtape as naughty Tech House guaranteed to make you wanna dance, a proper bass face set. I hope you enjoy.”
DJ Ben Friend
Boston DJ Ben Friend has put together aa eclectic mix, packed with awesome rhythms, emotive synths and deep, dance floor gems. There’s a definite linear to the programming and we enjoyed it very much.
Butch – Lale / DJ Chus, Dennis Cruz – The Sun / Dennis Cruz, Josh Butler – Ahora Todo Va (Gorgon City Remix) / GuzzK – Passion / Rampa – The Church / Jerome Isma-Ae – Tiger / Joris Voorn – Ryo / Bora – Birth / Sian Evans – Hide U (Tinlicker Extended Remix) / CJ Jeff, Andrew Meller – The Morning After / Dusky – Square Miso / Matt Sassari – Give It to Me / Ninetoes – The Sax Track / Joshwa, Martin Badder – By My Side / Diplo, Damian Lazarus, Jungle – Don’t Be Afraid / DJ Tennis – Atlanta
Here’s Ben’s thoughts: “I am from Boston by way of DC and Chicago. This mix represents the type of sound that I like to hear at great clubs deep into the night. I’ve always felt that good sets have a structure to them and flow through different genres. So I tried to emulate that by varying the energy levels and incorporating more melodic forms of house, techno, and progressive tracks from bigger and lesser known DJs.”
DJ Yeny
The UK’s DJ Yeny is a house veteran with an awesome music collection and his entry for our DJ competition is packed full of bombs and floor fillers. There’s some great old school and disco inspired cuts along the way and the vocal tracks are sublime. An hour worth spent.
Barbara Tucker – Beautiful People (CJ’s Vocal Mix)Jose Nunez – Hold on (Jose’s 2000 Vocal Mix) / Sara Parker – My Love Is Deep (Sharp Vocal Mix) / Houzecrushers – Touch Me (Club Mix) / Larry Heard – I know that it’s you (Muzique Tropique) / R.A.W. – Higher (Feel it) (Rawness Mix) / Eric Kupper Presents K-Skope – Organism / Alysha Warren – I Pray (Roger’s Gospel Revival Mix) / Shazz – Hold me / Smokin Beats – About the Love (Deep Dub) / Underground Solution – Luv Dancin (In Deep Mix)
Here’s Yeny: “Originally from Bristol (U.K) now living in Shropshire. This mix is a taster of my classic house collection I’ve built up over the years.
Scott Wood
Nottingham (UK) based DJ Scott Wood was around in the early days of The U.K rave scene. His entry is a homage to those days and as you would imagine, packed full of classic break beats and M1 Piano’s. The mix is great fun and an education to those who weren’t fortunate enough to be there the first time round.
1 Baptised by Dub – The Criminal Minds 2 Elevate Your Love (Original Mix) – Case 82 3 Far Out – Sonz of a Loop da Loop Era 4 This Sound Is for the Underground – Krome & Time 5 Breaking Free – Slipmatt 6 Terminator – Goldie & Rufige Kru 7 Padua (Original Mix) -Case 82 8 DJ’s Take Control – SL2 9 Euphoria (Nino’s Dream) – The House Crew 10 Vamp (original mix) – Outlander 11 Charly (Alley Cat mix) – The Prodigy 12 Ricochet – Foul Play 13 The Horn Track (original mix) – Egyptian Empire 14 Renegade Snares (original mix) – Omni Trio 15 Sinister (remix) – Grooverider 16 The Slammer (Original Mix) – Krome & Time
17 Future Sound – Phuture Assassins 18 Summer Rhythm (Remastered 2021) – Adam Vyt
Here’s Scott “Watching the ‘Plague Raves’ on TV during the pandemic got me reminiscing about the 90s Rave scene. As a young 19 year old, I’d hear off a mate about a rave somewhere out in the countryside – all I had to do was get there. We would pile into a car and join hundreds of others driving lost around country lanes but seeing the lights on the horizon. Arriving in a field we’d spend the next 4-6 hours dancing to latest rave & dnb tracks.
Perhaps as we enter lockdown into the roaring twenties we’ll see a resurgence in this genre -if so, you can use my mix to get in the zone. Featuring a combination of classic rave, breaks and DnB tracks, along with a couple of recent tracks that are destined to be future classics – enjoy”
DelGardo
DelGardo is from Cork City in Ireland and he’s a man with a great feel for chugging, laid back house. Loads of great vocals come into play throughout the mix and there’s also an ace curveball right at the end. One for the house heads!
1 be together copyright, andre espeut 2 the remedy dirtytwo, caserta 3 keep on running kojam 4 i love you more mr jools 5 love rain jill scott 6 how we chill artenvielfalt 7 victorias secret detroit swindle 8
get you leo perez 9 ghetto love desos 10 highway 101 groove armada 11 lost feat roland clarke simion
“Hi Lads DelGardo here, dj from Cork City in Ireland
I’ve been spinning house and rnb/hip hop for over 20 years just back on the 1s&2s after a 5 year hiatus. This mix has a more laid back feel but not a chill mix if you like , 118/120bmp, a few nice vocal r&b inspired vocal tracks and some nice bangers. Watch Out for the Cure’s lullaby”
KYZ-R
KYZ-R is from a small town called Wick in the far north of Scotland but he’s now based in Aberdeen. His mix treads a nice line between being emotive and energetic, taking on techno, progressive, trance and break beat. The mixing is great and overall, it’s a job very well done.
Richie Blacker – Rave MemoriesWasp ft. Deaf Joe – Laid Bare (Deeparture Remix) / Liam Garcia – Everytime Fingerprint & Spencer Brown – Santorini / Eelke Kleijn ft. Diana Miro – You (Patrice Baumel Remix) / Boxer, Jody Wisternoff & James Grant – Sun Kissed / Marsh – Heaven / Simon Doty & Ezequiel Arias – Requiem / Sebastian Sellares – Garden of Eden / Marsh – Liberator / Richie Blacker – 2 Late 4 Love / My Friend ft. Lauren L’aimant – Heyoka / Jody Wisternoff & James Grant – Nightwhisper (Chill Mix)
Here’s KYZ-R: “In my latest mix you can expect a euphoric journey and a touch of nostalgia, with some tracks giving that old school ravey breakbeat sound and some others having a 90s trance feel. Most tracks will make you want to close your eyes and bop your head to the beat but I’ve thrown in a few slightly groovier tracks here and there just to get those feet moving. I’ve tried to keep my transitioning seamless throughout and I’ve used the last couple of tracks to wind down the mix to a nice mellow instrumental finish. Hope you enjoy!”
That wraps things up for August’s DJ competition. If you’d like to enter next month, then DM a mix link to one of our social media accounts.
If you’d like to learn how to programme a DJ mix in Ableton then check out our online course “The DJ Mixtape with Ableton Live” which is currently on sale below
Here’s some of our previous winners
