Mix Up Look Sharp: The Best Mixes Of The Week

Here at Complex, we understand the grind of listening to the best music each week. There's so much new music uploaded to every single platform, every single day, that following just one of your streams can become a dizzying, life-consuming task. To help you out on at least one front, each and every Friday, our music team will trawl the depths of the internet to bring you the best mixes from the past week. House, hip-hop and bass, grime, trap and techno—it'll all be represented in our picks to get you warmed up for the weekend. So let us do all the hard work; click through below and enjoy.

Back in February, Night Slugs co-founder Bok Bok launched is Essentials mix series. The first volume was the perfect insight into everything the DJ and producer stands for. We hoped he'd follow it up with at least one more edition and thankfully he has. Volume 2 doesn't disappoint with a blend of squelchy bass, muted underwater vocals and exquisitely crisp percussion from the likes of AJ Tracey, Girl Unit, Flirta D, General Courts, Rapid, Spooky and more. So cohesive it's difficult to discern the boundaries between tracks, this is more like a continuous piece of work than your average DJ mix. Volume 3 has a lot to live up to.

Obviously it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, but when you come across a duo hailing from Chicago and Detroit with a name like Gettoblaster, you can't help but check them out. And we're glad we did, because their record bag has some serious heat. So settle down for precisely one hour of the very finest in ghetto house, ghettotech, the cream of each city's respective output and something they call "future ghetto".

Hailing from Beijing, Howie Lee's sets have become the stuff of legend. It's not just his DJ sets that are so formidable—as this mix shows—it's his own productions too. It may only be half an hour but it's ample proof that Howie Lee can use only his own beats to craft the kind of far-reaching, eclectic sets that most DJs could only dream of.

Basic Rhythm, the rave-leaning alias of Imaginary Forces, has taken us right back to his formative years this week. A brutal, joyous, ecstatic combination of jungle, hardcore and breaks has always been a winning combination in our eyes (and ears). Make sure you've got a powerful speaker system at your disposal before you listen to this one, because a pair of earbuds just isn't going to cut it.

Circular Jaw's Nuvaman here with 45 minutes of the music he's "surrounded by, both inspiring me and my label. Part two will follow soon, as there's a lot more to be represented." Before that comes, use this mix to familiarise yourself with Nuvaman and others from Circular Jaw and beyond like Phrixus, Agrippa, Henman, Jubley, Yak, Yilan, Croft, RNBWS, Denham Audio, Foxmind, Sensei, Delo, Terreux, Korzi, Arma, Gully Creepa, Redox, Circo and Hypho. Make sure you keep an eye out for his forthcoming Strength EP on Artifice Music in the coming weeks.

Known in equal measure for his own productions, his remixes and his live sets, Leeds-based Iglew has made a name for himself in the grime-inspired world of square waves and anything-goes electronica. Though we haven't heard a huge amount from him lately, two collaborative tracks between him and E.M.M.A. as Emglew were recently heard on her Dazed mix and he'll be featured on the next Boxed EP. Here he is with a very chilled, melody-led 42 minutes.

Atlanta's Distal has always had a broad horizon when it comes to beat selection. Though his tastes are wide and eclectic, whether it's ghettotech, B'more, techno or anything else, there's always been a unifying strain running through it all. Here he mixes all of those together and more, all of which combine to create just over 30 minutes of formidable beats and just the right amount of funk.

As head of Enchufada and a member of seminal Portuguese collective Buraka Som Sistema, Branko has been championing the merits of global club music for at least a decade. His debut album ATLAS from last year, one of the most potent examples of this globe-trotting curation, saw him travel the world, collaborating with the newest and most exciting talent from Cape Town, New York, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, and his hometown of Lisbon. Tonight (May 28), Branko will be hitting London's Shapes along with Clap! Clap!, Mo Kolours and Anchorsong, and to get us in the mood he's put together another slice of club fire from London, South Africa, Lisbon and beyond.

Madam X has played a big part in Manchester's current bass scene over the past few years. For one, she's responsible for the Kaizen label/collective/club night, which also lent its name to its first release, a compilation showcasing music from the likes of Dark0, Murlo and G.S. One. It's also why she's found herself friends and supporters in the likes of LEVELZ, Walton and Silas & Snare. This mix is slightly slower than her usual sets but it's no less rewarding listening to her mix hip-hop and trap with dancehall classics.

Low Jack, if you didn't know, is Honduras-born, Paris-based Philippe Hallais. In 2012 Low Jack released his teeth-crunchingly raw debut EP, Slow Dance. Since then he's released a string of releases on esteemed labels like L.I.E.S., In Paradisum and The Trilogy Tapes, each time marrying danceable beats and wild experimentation. This latest mix is no less adventurous. Industrial brutality, dark gqom beats and skittish footwork all come together for a mix that's not for the faint-hearted and certainly not suited to a hangover.