Comments on: Essential.... essential.... essential...

Essential.... essential.... essential...

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:48:28 -0800

Since 1993, Pete Tong has been hosting the Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1. A group on imeem seems to have uploaded them all. Tracklistings here. Some of the best of all time: Carl Cox - 1996 (tracklisting), Paul Oakenfold - 1994 - (The Goa Mix) (TL), Leftfield - 1994 (TL). A few good ones from the last couple of years: Justice, (TL), Soulwax (TL), Eric Prydz (TL). And one of my personal favorites -- Scott Bond - 2000 (TL)

By: Addiction

Addiction — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:56:23 -0800

terrific post, got me all excited to go out and spin tonight.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:15:56 -0800

Massive Attack - 1994 (tracklist)

By: googly

googly — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:16:50 -0800

Thank you empath! Another fantastic find. Anyone care to place bets on when jonmc will show up?

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:33:41 -0800

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:36:55 -0800

Moby - 1994 (TL) LTJ Bukem - 1995 (TL)

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:39:53 -0800

The Essential mix where Portishead take over the turntables is simply awesome. You've got to check it out if you like trip-hop, old school hip-hop beats and 60's / 70's cop show soundtracks. It is one of the few things I've run across that I would say is truly sublime. Portishead Essential Mix Tracklist This is awesome. Thanx for the post.

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:42:00 -0800

bah - I pasted the wrong link. Any mod wanna put this there instead? Portishead Essential Mix Tracklist

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:44:36 -0800

Oh my god. I may have an eargasm.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:46:47 -0800

Daft Punk - 1997 (TL) Fatboy Slim, Artful Dodger, Bentley Rhythm Ace - 2000 Chemical Brothers - 1995 (TL)

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:47:45 -0800

May? I am having an eargasm. Oakie from back when he didn't just phone it in..

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:48:38 -0800

For some reason, imeem doesn't have the Portishead mix, but it's not hard to find elsewhere.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:54:32 -0800

Armand van Helden - 1997 (TL) Basement Jaxx - 1999 (TL) The ones I'm posting are all my favorites and/or important ones by major talents.

By: gman

gman — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:55:08 -0800

DJ Touche.

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:56:03 -0800

This is awesome. I'm listening to the Claude VonStroke mix and all is right with the world.

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0800

This one is a tribute to Tony Wilson, Factory Records and the Haçienda. The first set is classic Factory stuff by Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, etc. and the second is acid house-era electronic music of the sort one would hear at the Haçienda. Great stuff, and great that it can be downloaded here since all the original download links for it are dead. (Unless I got the date wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was 8-27-07).

By: gman

gman — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:02:42 -0800

freshly mixed stopped updating near the end of 2007, but it's now all free and you can grab not only all previous EMs, but a bunch of others as well. my other source died earlier this month. when it asks for a password, hit cancel to see why they are done.

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:06:12 -0800

It's all gone a bit Pete Tong - not Teh awesome!

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:08:22 -0800

Freshly mixed is better organized than imeem, for sure.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:18:42 -0800

Sweeeeeeeeeeet...

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:26:25 -0800

Paul van Dyk - 2000 (TL) Sasha - 2000

By: matt_od

matt_od — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:28:59 -0800

The best in electronic music today

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:44:47 -0800

I don't understand what that imeem thing everyone's linking to is supposed to be about, because all it does is complain that I don't have iTunes installed. Funny, I never realized iTunes was a prerequisite for listening to music these days. Anyway, Freshly Mixed works much better. Good stuff.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:48:59 -0800

imeem streams on the page with flash.

By: Naberius

Naberius — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:54:38 -0800

I do have iTunes installed, which isn't necessary to stream the files on the page, but when I try to download them, iTunes launches, but doesn't find the file imeem is supposedly linking to. How is that download w iTunes button supposed to work?

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:01:52 -0800

oh -- you CAN'T download from there. You can only stream.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:04:27 -0800

Aaah, confusion. See, I assumed since "a group on imeem has uploaded them all", and that imeem has a button labeled "download", that I should be able to download them. My mistake.

By: Hubajube

Hubajube — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:05:42 -0800

matt_od is right.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:08:02 -0800

Freshly Mixed has all the download links (I didn't actually try to download any of them before posting. I just assumed you could.)

By: gman

gman — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:13:13 -0800

empath - are you saying you can't download? i can. all fuckin' 2324 of them.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:15:52 -0800

I have yet to be disappointed by a single essential mix I've downloaded. Some favorites that haven't yet been linked: Hot Chip (download) Diplo (download) I couldn't find a good link to the Herve & Sinden mix (if you Google, there are torrents of it floating around) that kicked off 2008, but that one's great too.

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:48:49 -0800

A lot of these seem to be disappearing, which is a real bummer. The only one that I can seem to load from the list is Massive Attack. :(

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:51:32 -0800

The ones on imeem that is. Sparkletone's links work, and are quite awesome, especially the Diplo mix.

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:58:19 -0800

Oh man, that newmixes.com is really great. Thanks again sparkletone.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:00:40 -0800

The imeem links are all there, I think. You just can't download them from imeem. If you want to download, use the other sites.

By: carter

carter — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:08:46 -0800

Splendid stuff, thanks everyone!

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:11:26 -0800

I'm not seeing anything on imeem - it just shows a little "this file is missing" message. No loss though, as newmixes.com seems to have everything anyway.

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:52:30 -0800

The download links are crap - they just go to a search for "essential mix" on Amazon or iTunes, and of course they aren't available to buy. Freshly mixed is definitely better, but it isn't a complete archive.

By: Jawn

Jawn — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:27:18 -0800

If they've got Oakie's mix from 10-19-1997 on there, I highly recommend it. I actually prefer it to the Goa mix, and that's saying quite a bit.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:20:34 -0800

Yes In fact, I was lookin for that Oakenfold mix when I stumbled on that imeem group to begin with.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:55:10 -0800

Woo hoo! Suweet music! Nice one empath.

By: redteam

redteam — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:26:36 -0800

gman really nailed it with that freshly mixed link. Thanks go to you, too, empath! Trentemøller's mix in October, 2006 was voted best for that year. Diapers definitely necessary. My musical drought is finally over.

By: fullerine

fullerine — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:33:15 -0800

Laurent Garnier I'm YOUNG AGAIN!!!!

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:42:00 -0800

I listened to the Tony Wilson tribute mix - brilliant as expected.

By: gen

gen — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:48:35 -0800

One of the best Essential Mixes was the Tom Middleton's Star Wars Special from 15/05/2005. You can find it various places.

By: plant

plant — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:03:48 -0800

Something I noticed while poking around at the comments on essentialmix.nu: these guys provide versions of Essential Mixes with Pete Tong surgically removed. They've got five Tongless mixes available now.

By: gen

gen — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:26:07 -0800

Wow, that 1997-10-19 Oakenfold mix is unreal. I love the Blade Runner bits mixed throughout and the tracks still stand the test of a decade.

By: googly

googly — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:24:58 -0800

Great googly moogly that Leftfield mix is tasty.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:36:35 -0800

Yeah, that was when Oakenfold was Oakenfold. He worked that gimmick for 10 years, though. It was really tired by the time he used it in his Another World double CD set in the US. But that was a high point for the series.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:38:39 -0800

The Star Wars mix

By: racingjs

racingjs — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:50:26 -0800

My favorite , Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden 2003-03-09.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:19:56 -0800

The Star Wars mix [download]

By: fellorwaspushed

fellorwaspushed — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:28:31 -0800

It's been a while, but my favourites have to be: Booka Shade - 2 hour mix, one hour live in-studio, one hour on the decks the genius Richard Dorfmeister, playing mostly his own stuff (December 01, can't find the link to a stream but here is a tracklist) Cass & Shade - so nice! I'm liking the Skream mix too -

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:07:49 -0800

Also, just like to add that while the 1997/10/19 Oakenfold EM is supposed to be all legendary, my all-time favorite Oakenfold has got to be the Liverpool University show from 11/28/1999.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:45:33 -0800

Oops, meant to say, "while the 1994-12-18 Oakenfold is supposed to be all legendary."

By: daHIFI

daHIFI — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:09:04 -0800

Also check out bbcessentialmixes.blogspot.com that seems to be doing the same thing.

By: Constant Reader

Constant Reader — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:25:46 -0800

I just want to say that I love you all very much right now. I second fullerine's YOUNG AGAIN declaration.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:51:07 -0800

Really enjoying this (thanks!) and not just because the music's so great. Hearing these great live shows makes me feel better about flubbing the levels on a transition while practicing DJ-mixing in my basement. A guy could get discouraged listening only to perfect studio mixsets.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:59:41 -0800

Mixing ability is not as important as track selection. Also, nobody will notice if you fuck up the levels in a club as long as you don't red it out and start clipping. There's not a noticeable difference between "loud as fuck" and "not quite as loud as fuck". Other advice for newbies -- if your mix is slipping and you can't fix it in a couple of beats, just slam the fucking crossfader over and yell WOOOOOOH!!!! at the crowd like you meant to do it.

By: chunking express

chunking express — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:30:29 -0800

This is fucking amazing.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:40:49 -0800

Thanks for pointing out this Massive Attack mix. I had not heard it before and it is lovely.

By: Busy Old Fool

Busy Old Fool — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:38:48 -0800

I couldn't find a good link to the Herve & Sinden mix (if you Google, there are torrents of it floating around) that kicked off 2008, but that one's great too. This worked for me.