All Time Classic DJ Mixes From the last 29 Years

The art of DJing goes a long way back to the days of Larry Levan and the early pioneers. In fact, DJs and dance music are truly inseparable. In the world of dance music, DJs are headliners just as much as the musicians and many of the music makers are themselves DJs. We focus here on the last 3 decades or so with a selection of DJ sets renowned for their technical proficiency and a great tune selection….

Dave Clarke – World Service (Techno Mix) [REACT CD 199]

A huge amount of time, effort and track curation went into this seminal mix and you can hear the results

Carl Cox 1st Ever Essential Mix 09-10-1994

Along with his F.A.C.T mix, this is considered one of the bossman’s finest moments on the hallowed wheels of steel

Jeff Mills — Exhibitionist DVD

Techno fans need no introduction to Jeff Mills, one of the most technically skilled DJs. Famous for integrating drum machines into his sets and seamlessly mixing up to 70 tracks in one set, Jeff Mills is at his very best here

DJ Producer-Mind, Body & Soul, Universe 1992

Hardcore Techno might not be your thing but even if you’re not a fan, you can’t fault the pitch perfect mixing skills of this stalwart and veteran

DJ Hype-Dreamscape 4, The Sanctuary, 1992

As one You Tube comment states, DJ Hype has the uncanny ability to blend hard to mix tunes and his scratching is a thing of beauty. Dreamscape 4 is widely regarded as one of the best events ever held by the promotion that also featured Ray Keith, Ellis Dee, Phantasy and more.

Sasha – Universe 92 With MC Joe Peng

For anyone who’s been raving in the last 30, the legendary Welshman, Sasha is a household name. A regular in the early days of the Radio One Essential mix, this mix is a perfect time capsule of that ‘Sasha’ sound circa 92- US House and a little bit of crossover into early UK Hardcore.

COLDCUT- Journeys By DJ : 70 minutes of Madness

DMC award winners Coldcut’s genre blending ’70 minutes of madness’ is, in the words of Resident Advisor ‘a much sought after classic’ that ‘reinvented the DJ mix CD.’ This is a fact borne out of the mix. When you hear it..you hear it!

Billy Nasty-Essential Mix 1996

The early to mid 90s saw a resurgence in the underground Techno sound with DJs like Carl Cox shifting from UK Hardcore to Techno. You can’t talk about the UK Techno scene and not mention London’s own Billy Nasty. He was the first DJ to appear on the ‘Journeys By Sound’ series and his 1996 Essential mix is the stuff of legends.

Plump DJs ‎– Elastic Breaks (Mixmag Feb 2001)

2001 was a break out year for Breaks thanks to The Freestylers, Stanton Warriors, Hybrid and the Plump DJs.We dig into the You Tube comments and find that this giveaway mix CD introduced some people to the Breaks sound!

Kosheen Presents Drum & Bass Reborn (Mixmag 2002)

The early 00s were a kind of second golden era of DnB. The selection on this Kosheen mix speaks volumes to that effect.

John B Presents Trance ‘N’ Bass (Mixmag 2002)

We finish with another renowned mix CD from John B loaded with absolute classics. We will let Discogs user This was the crowning moment of the now non-existent (not sure if it actually ever existed) trance and bass, or more like trancestep scene. have the last word here with “This was the crowning moment of the now non-existent (not sure if it actually ever existed) trance and bass, or more like trancestep scene.”