Welcome to the September section of our best DJ mixes of the year 2021 rundown — read the full list here

Like his labels TT and All Centre, DJ Pitch’s mixes chart many outposts of the broad club music realm. Across two hours here, he moves through bumping house, uplifting breaks, leftfield crunch, an essential UKG remix of ‘Seven Nation Army’, and more. Lock in and find out.

London-born Kikelomo’s high-energy style has seen her become a favourite in her adopted home of Berlin’s club scene. Her contribution to Mother’s Finest’s podcast series rolls through techno selections that bounce and spring as well as hitting hard.

This four way set on New York’s The Lot Radio from Hashman Deejay, CZ Wang, Cole Evelev and the inspirationally named DJ Fart In The Club (who’s on brand holding her nose in the accompanying photo), showcases many different sides of the DJs. Traversing haywire techno, percussive house, reverb drenched remixes, uplifting house and more, it’s a fun-filled ride for the whole two hours.

Ifeoluwa showcaess the gothic black side to their music taste in this dark and crunching instalment of Rye Wax’s mix series, stitching together shoegaze, German punk, goth rock and more with cuts from the likes of Joy Division and Xmal Deutschland. Moments of brightness also shine through, with an Alice Glass selection sounding transcendent in the mix.

This recording of Four Tet's set at Lost Village festival back in August asserts his status as a big stage headliner able to whip up massive crowds. Playing old and new bangers designed to get dancefloors popping from the likes of Overmono, Adam F and his own stadium-sized remix of Eric Prydz’s ‘Opus’, it’s a delierious ride throughout.

The white tiled studio of Berlin radio station HÖR had become an iconic internet radio sight thanks to it showcasing slews of banging sets that look like they’re being played in a bathroom. This mix by Aussie Big Ever is a recent favourite, threading together subtly banging beats that sneak up on you with their hard but careful construction.

Cherry-picking the finest UKG and beyond from the tastemaker’s collection, garage connoisseur Conducta journeys through a peerless selection of sounds, including a cheeky breaks remix of Britney’s ‘Toxic’ in his Mixmag Cover Mix. “I wanted to showcase all sides of my personality,” he told us. “I started off with the happier side and then went through the deeper and darker stuff; house, techno, and stuff I listen to in my spare time”.

Artist of both the decks and the paintbrush, NTS’ Eclair Fifi steps beyond her techno know-how in this two-hour BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix to knock on the door of house and disco, throwing in tracks from Cromby, Mall Grab, AceMoma and KiNK.

This Balamii mix sees two Time Is Now associates, Interplanetary Criminal and Main Phase, join forces for an unwieldy, rapid mix of speed garage and bass-heavy tracks from Serious Danger, DJ Sparks, and plenty more.

SYSTEM, Boiler Room’s series showcasing international sounds, doesn’t disappoint with this mix from Dijit. This explosive and surprising mix blends moody synthesisers and trip hop ambience with localised Mahraganat rhythms. It showcases the best of what the Egyptian dance scene of 2021 has to offer alongside UK drill samples, maintaining high energy and variation that will keep listeners engaged. Arabic narrated rap gets fused in, as do samples from classic rave bangers, giving the mix a global sound.

Nikki Nair’s Impact mix is 100% Nikki Nair productions, edits and collaborations. The mix blends techno, UK bass, breakbeats and has edits of cheeky bangers such as ‘No Scrubs’. The transitions are seamless, taking you across genres effortlessly and guiding you through topsy turvy bass wormholes.

David Pearl’s Arab’s Do It Better mix blends Middle Eastern sounds with sleek electronic beats. The high energy mix is full of spicy bass drops and turbulent tempo changes, managing to weave this together for a beautifully coherent listening experience.

Gonna warn you now before pressing play on this, the overwhelming, intense FOMO you’re about to feel will never go away. Oh what we’d give to be in sweaty basement rave in Manchester watching two DJs cackle at each other as they drop ‘Mr Smiley’. P13 head Acre and Hyperdub’s newest recruit aya team up to wow the lucky who made it down to Keep Hush at the beginning of September with a selection of bassline, jungle, breaks, hardcore and… Girls Aloud. It’s worth a watch purely to watch the crowds faces turn from shock to joy as aya mixes from georg-i’s ‘Room to Give, Room to Take’ into ‘Sound of The Underground’.

Berlin-based DJ Ben Sleia’s mix for Daisychain is a lesson in harsh breaks, high-pitched acid and '80s pop favourites, all inspired by, in her words: “friends, the dancefloor and Daft Punk”. There’s high energy rolling basslines, more mellowed synths and of course a blissed out edit of Akon’s ‘Locked Up’. Exciting stuff from an exciting selector, give it a whirl.

As Ben returns for his second (!) Essential Mix on Radio 1, it seems he's getting a little introspective, and returning back to his love of pulsating techno and cheeky basslines. For his two hours on Pete Tong's show, there's a mix of old and new, with tracks from DJ Lag, Elkka, Joy O, Overmono, Tim Reaper and Call Super. If you've been feeling starved of selections from your fav Hessle Audio boss this feels like a crash course in everything that makes a Bufo set so entertaining, there are high-tempo moments, there are breaks and there are moments where you won't know exactly what's coming around the corner.

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