The Best New Mixes Streaming Right Now

Recorded and released prior to Notting Hill Carnival, the boys known as The Heatwave helped everyone who listened to it to get into the right headspace, despite the poor weather forecast. And for that reason (i.e. if a mix can make you dutty wine sans sunshine), this mix is irie wi us, seen?

"Brand new shit from the main man Yasiin Bey AKA Mos Def. Served with musical accompaniment from Lord Tusk and Steven Julien", boasts NTS Radio of one of their latest episodes. And so, as you'd expect, there is indeed that brand new shit from Yasiin Bey AKA Mos Def, as well as, original musical accompaniments by Lord Tusk and Steven Julien. There's a bit of chatter here and there, but we're ok with that, and as you'll soon find out, you are too.

Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def) w/ Lord Tusk & Steven Julien - 2nd September 2015 by Nts Radio on Mixcloud

Like the Keyser Söze of kitsch '90s house, the prologue preceding the following mix from DJ Guest List deserves a place on the list, true story or not.

*clears throat*

"During the summer, there are lots of garage and moving away sales in my neighborhood. Most of the time theres nothing but old kitchen wares and chachkis for sale, but once in a while you can find an absolute treasure. A few weeks ago I found this amazing boombox for sale amidst a bunch of clunkers at a garage sale, and I couldn’t resist getting it and lugging it home. When I put in some new batteries, however, I realized there was an old cassette, with nothing but “DJ GUEST LIST - 07/25/1998” written on it in masking tape. What I found on that cassette was incredibly in tune with what I love to spin and love to hear played out, and couldn’t believe everything was from almost 20 years ago.

The next day I went back to the person who sold me it, a nice old guy in his 40s who seemed permanently zenned out. With the cassette in hand, I asked if he had any idea who or what 'DJ Guest List' was. He popped it in to one of the other tape players he had and when the music started playing, I could see the euphoria and nostalgia flood through him. He excused himself for a second, went back inside his house, and came back with a huge binder filled with 90s rave posters and bills, filled with some of the more hideous and incredible art I had seen in recent years. Flipping through the pages, he found the event in question, called “ENVY”, and told me how he came to own this recording.

Back throughout the 90s, dave (the garage sale man) and his friends used to organize and run raves throughout the midwest, becoming semi-successful before burning out from the business all together. His role in the operations was running sound, making sure the empty warehouses and abandoned lots could handle huge sound systems and keeping an eye on sound levels throughout the night. After a while, he started recording the opening sets whenever the DJs asked him to, usually so that they had promo materials to send out to other promoters and events, trying to elevate their states and increase awareness of their styles to hopefully build a career out of their passion. Most of the opening DJs were pretty basic, so he never really made copies of what he recorded, except for when the odd big name came through their event.

During the summer of ’98 however, they had a new out of town DJ come and guest on this new event they were throwing called ENVY at a brand new warehouse they had scoped out. no one was really sure how the DJ scored this gig, since he wasn’t really close with anyone throwing the event. Regardless, the DJ came the day of with their own modded out turntables and mixer. Dave remembered DJ Guest List because the pitch sliders on the turntables he brought raised and lowered the speed way higher than what was considered “normal” at the time. But they were a breeze to set up and he seemed to know what he was doing, so it was a relatively painless soundcheck.

When it came for DJ Guest List to start spinning, he opened with a classic at the time, Strike's 'U Sure Do' but sped way up to 145 bpm, which sounded totally different compared to the relatively tame acid house set that preceded them. He recalled it being right at the start of peak time, when there were enough people inside that it started to feel just full enough to dance but not too crowded, where most peoples drugs were starting to kick into high gear, and the mood was optimistic and strong.

After the set, DJ Guest List packed up his things and left, without even sticking around to get paid or hear the rest of the night. Dave and his friends never heard from him again, mainly because there was no way to contact them since no one really knew who they were. But Dave made several copies of the recording and gave them out to the crew, hoping to one day hear from the DJ again.

They never did.

tl;dr Mystery DJ showed up to a party in the American Midwest, played some banging tunes, and left. This is the recording. Maybe.

A week on from Europe's largest carnival, remnants of jerk chicken and discarded Red Stripe cans have been removed from the streets of Notting Hill, but recordings of Rinse's soundsystem remain. Our favourite of those made available was that by boy wonder Oneman who, of course, took it to the streets for Rinse FM's soundsystem. Take a listen.

Better known for their rock-hip-hop-electro combo of sound, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast–known to make music as dynamic duo Ratatat–rifled through their record collection to cook something up for the new issue of Oki-Ni's magazine. "Ratatat craft an exclusive electronic mix, comprising of tracks from Aphex Twin, Popcaan, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Daft Punk," they tell us. Boxes: ticked

READ 02 Mix by Ratatat by Oki-Ni on Mixcloud

"'93-'97 jungle & drum n' bass on this one"

Recorded live at Athens' Guru Bar, dubstep legends d2 and Sgt. Pokes went in hard during an unrelenting set that'll put your sub to work. "Seminal and very-very 'messy' affairs at x o' clock in the morning, you can tell things a'run red. Thanks to Berceuse Heroique for loading it up you know it makes sense."

Light up some incense, light up a doob, or just generally lighten up your mood with this soothing selection of music by a man who goes by the name Shungu. Aside from winning the title of Best Mix Title this time round, 'The Ancient Consciousness Of Good Spirit Mix' for UKNOWY Radio is the sort of stuff a Buddhist Monk would bump if he had a secret hip-hop addiction. Absolute bliss is this.

A mix from Addison Groove is always likely to gain our attention when we're scrolling through Soundcloud, and whilst only an excerpt, we felt his latest mix selection from his weekly radio show on Bristol's Ujima radio station is something worth sharing.

Whilst this is the shortest mix we have on the list this time round, does a small slice of cake still not taste as sweet? One for anyone seeking filter-heavy house and funky grooves to the gills.

Something from the darker end of the spectrum that is this week's selection of mixes, Wen, Parris, and Airhead all took to the airwaves over at Rinse FM and whilst this 2-hour session has a few interruption for track introductions, it is still absolutely worth a listen. No track list, though. #sadface

Going Good Records maintained the validity of their name after they shared the good news that Pender Street Steppers' Jack J hit them up with a juicy mix.

"We didn't realise when we asked a few friends to kindly do mixes for us that it would get this real. It's safe to say Jack blessed us on this one. Pure blissed out.The crucial soundtrack to very late nights, or very early mornings. The choice is yours."