The best DJ mixes of the year 2023 so far - July - Music - Mixmag

yourboykiran ‘Mixmag Impact mix’

yourboykiran described his Mixmag Impact mix as having “guaranteed wheels,” and reader, let us tell you, he was not lying. Somehow squeezing in every banger in the collective global dance consciousness - alongside some interwoven nods to his South Asian background and a plethora of global sounds - this hour-and-three-quarters mix features sixty five (65) tracks and is crammed with bootlegs, certified pop classics, Jersey club wonders and UK funky faves. Particular highlights include Manara’s rowdy ‘POW’ edit, yourboykiran’s own ‘Baile Wobble’, a delicious drop of Unofficial London National Anthem ‘Katy On A Mission’ — wrapping everything up with certified jungle classic, Girls Aloud’s ‘Sound Of The Underground’. Our boy!

DJ Wawa ‘Untitled 909 Podcast 159 - Field Maneuvers Takeover’

There are many reasons to be excited about this year’s Field Maneuvers. The beloved boutique festival crowdfunded to ensure its survival following its 2022 edition, and to celebrate it has curated a diverse bill that brings in the brightest and best from the scene — alongside FM friends and family, collectives such as Dialled In, Black Artist Database, Dalston Superstore and more will be hosting takeovers. Another reason to be excited has been the festival’s run of mixes on Untitled909, our favourite being NYC legend DJ Wawa’s silky smooth hour of house-adjacent sizzle. All recorded on DJR 400 rotary, the mix transported us to a smoky, late-hour dancefloor with its unrelenting energy and trippy tempo changes.

iona ‘Crack Pop Zone mix’

Sometimes it's good to just crack into the classics and have a good ol’ singalong and that's exactly what this mix does. Any mix that starts with Whitney Houston is bound to be phenoemonal, and iona has us feeling our best with a colourful collection of anthems. Just a few names in there include Sugababes, Britney Spears and Gaga. But prepare to expect the unexpected with this one.

SPFDJ set at The Lab Awakenings

Did it just get hot in here? Better slap on some SPFDJ because she’s got us sorted. A powerhouse behind the decks, SPFDJ killed her set at Mixmag’s stage at Awakenings festival. Drawing in a crowd with her hard-hitting beats, she dominated the evening with not a dull moment in sight.

Jossy Mitsu on Rinse FM

Sought-after selector Jossy Mitsu is a force to be reckoned with. As a resident both on Rinse FM and at fabric London, this one-hour mix gives us a peek into her extensive, musical library. We’re brought in by a UK funky leaning track mixed in with dancefloor-ready breakbeat that grows into a zap-filled chamber of synthy electro. Mitsu’s affinity for engulfing basslines that glue listeners' ears quickly becomes apparent, with booming, varied basslines coming in under tracks with spacey vocals. As the electro chamber develops, the mix takes us down a stairwell of head-bopping grooves with elements of R&B and hip hop’s silken melodies layered over satisfying snares and pulsating low ends.

Around the halfway mark, we’re taken away from the sounds of Detroit and plunged into a bass-heavy, head-swinging techno sweatbox. Here, synth chords are replaced by punchy single note stabs, gratifyingly aggressive claps and other indistinguishable (hence all the more enjoyable) electronic noises. We’re then introduced to some more bass music, this time in the form of tracks reminiscent of the early days of dubstep in all its grime-influenced glory, with the mix’s end point going back to energetic ravey euphoria.

General Courts, Tash LC, Fabio & Grooverider ‘Windrush 75 mix’

For our Windrush 75 series, four DJs made mixes celebrating some of the music styles Windrush migration has been pivotal in the development and spread of — and they’re all next-level. General Courts is a full throttle hour of incendiary grime, Tash LC serves up an education mid-to-late 20th centruy reggae, dub and calypso, while Fabio & Grooverider do what they do best: an all killer no filler jungle rinse out.

Fold ‘Love Letter To Liquid Part 2 on NTS Radio’

This mix from London’s Fold is a real treat. Two hours of liquid drum ’n’ bass excellence, spanning classics from the likes of Logistics, crate digs from Dopeskillz, fresh cuts from Mist:i:cal and more. To cap it off, there’s emotional speech from genre icon Calibre patched in to really get those d’n’b heartstrings stirring.

Cameo Blush ‘NR Sound Mix 008’

Taking the helm of the next NR Sound Mix, London-based producer Cameo Blush puts together an hour of high-energy goodness. Pariah’s ‘Caterpillar’ weaves seamlessly into Doctor Jeep’s ‘Neckapill’, which is shortly followed by enormous club stompers including Giulia Tess’ ‘Monica Vitti’, Benomorph’s ‘Siempre’, and some unreleased material from Cameo Blush and Tom VR.

Silva Bumpa on Melodic Distraction [Bassline Special

Bassline! Always good fun on a night out, or in the case of Silva Bumpa’s latest mix for Liverpool’s Melodic Distraction, a good pregame for your impending BNO. This Bassline Special features plenty of classics and old skool vocal cuts, as well as the occasional garage number.

Dual Monitor ‘Threads Guest Mix’

Following a stellar Glastonbury breakout set, Dual Monitor made their debut on Threads Radio in July shelling plenty of bass-heavy goodies. Including a growling 140 number from Vancouver’s OAKK and a rolling peak-time cut from Ineffekt, this hour-long mix also includes a handful of unreleased tunes, such as the rapidfire ‘Quattros Oxide’ - forthcoming from Dual Monitor.

Mogwaa ‘Mixmag Impact mix’

“I always want to give a certain mood to what I play and create,” Mogwaa told Mixmag as part of his Impact interview in mid-July, “and that’s the warmth.” Indeed, the Seoul-based DJ and producer’s hour-long mix to accompany is brimming with analogue fuzziness — provided by some seriously shuffled percussion, spine tingling piano keys and smouldering vocals. With tracks from Simo Cell, Om Unit, Mr. Ho — Mogwaa explores the softer side of syncopated beats, without compromising on rhythm or energy.

S.U.R.E ‘Hard Core Energy Mix Series 26’

Super Uphoric Rave Ensemble (S.U.R.E ) live up to their billing in this mix for longstanding jungle bass and rave music giant Hardcore Energy, ahead of the duo’s upcoming EP. Early on we hear an absolute warehouse classic with DJ Seduction’s ‘Sample-Mania’, followed by a foot-stomping first few tracks that feature ascending synth chords and rolling breaks intermingling with disco samples galore, plunging listeners right into the epicentre of rave heaven.

With a ‘let it sing!’ vocalisation, we’re taken into a deeper and darker soundscape of jungle basslines and four-to-the-floor beats layered under dynamically altered breaks. The rest of the mix is somewhat of a history lesson time capsule: bouncing from the acid-filled warehouses of ‘95 where disco samples would ricochet off the walls in time to funky 160 BPM drum samples to the pirate radio stations where Foul Play and Origin Unknown were free to spew out darkside Jungle-Techno and looping round to hefty, soundsystem-ready ragga jungle cuts for the reggae lovers. In any case, the entire 54 minutes provides a punchy, enjoyable dose of true hardcore heaven, complemented by the occasional sprinkle of bass-heavy garage and acid-ey bits.

livwutang ‘Mixmag Impact’

“Play weirder” proponent livwutang’s Impact mix sounds like subtle rebellion. Refusing to be hurried by the demands of hard n fast that are dominating dancefloors and Instagram clipping, she takes her time to draw you into a beautifully crafted musical pool of ebbing, flowing depth.

Ploy ‘Rinse FM - July 16’

Ploy turns it on across this month’s Rinse show, a regular highlight on the station’s programming. A sense of forward momentum propels the two hour mix, as he effortlessly blends with from sexy and pumping diva house to greazy bass wobs to shuffling 2-step to haywire, anxious techno. Strap in.

Coco Cobra B2B Luz1e at PollerWiesen for HÖR

This is one wobbly b2b from Coco Cobra and Luz1e. Whatever your mood you won’t be able to resist dancing as they through this ruthless set, with selections varying from Nikki Nair’s take on ‘Skanka’ to an edit of Lethal Bizzle’s ‘Pow’.

Sample Chief w/ Tryb & Kisa on Balamii

For Sample Chief’s July Balamii show, they’ve invited global club music lover Tryb to join Sample Chief chairman and resident Kisa, for two hours of dynamic club-inspired melodic magic. The Sample Chief collective prioritises an education-led bridging of old and new musical creations from the Pan-African diaspora, united under an umbrella of a love and appreciation for dance music. We’re eased into this masterful curation with some deep house, cleverly intertwined with Afro funk and horn-heavy euphoric Afro melodies. Bass-heavy reggaeton and dancehall begins etching its way in, supported by some breakbeat and amapiano that catapults us into a dancefloor.

Our dance hungry imaginations continue to run wild as the basslines get heavier towards the halfway point - the sprinkles of Baile funk provide plenty of booms, claps and ‘Ta!’s” for us to bop our heads to and, towards the latter half, broken beat lovers are burrowed further into a musical eden. This ear-melting mix is packed to the brim with an eclectic selection of body moving transcendance, seamlessly oscillating between Afro highlife reworks, 2-step, leg-shaking amapiano, and perfectly manipulated low and high ends, rounding everything off with poetic jazz. As with all of Kisa’s ventures as a selector, her varied taste is evident, as she twist and turns through carefully selected examples of genre-bending euphoria with Tryb.

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