The first mix focuses on some all-time classic piano and vocal tracks from the late 80’s and early 90’s – starting off as it means to go along with massive tracks from Candi Staton and Kariya.

They come thick and fast as undisputed back-to-back classics weave in and out of the set from the likes of Orange Lemon, Chanelle, Ten City and Brand New Heavies to name but a few.

We then start the ‘throw-your-hands-in-the-air’ piano section of the set with one of the all-time Italian house piano classics, It’s A Moment In Time closely followed by huge grin-inducers from the likes of Unity, FPI Project and K-Klass. The Def Club Remix of Dreamlover adds a touch of class before the wonderful Jam The Dance by Asmo rounds off this section of the mix.

Things then go a bit ‘white label’ as we drop a couple of rare ones in the form of Colonel Abrahams and the amazing DMC remix of Tell Me Why before the unmistakable and uplifting Love Is the Message and 2 For Joy’s In A State add to the fun.

It keeps on going with one cracker after another as the set heads home, culminating with a sneaky trick using the Pamela Fernandez acapella over the 80’s classic Fascinated before Zoe wraps things up with one of those sit-on-the-stage-and-wish-you-could-do-it-all-again tracks.

Enjoy the memories…

The second mix in the series follows on from where the first left off – keeping the tunes firmly in the big and classic category.

They don’t get much bigger than the Fingers Inc ‘My House’ acapella being used to kick things off and introduce the all-time classic Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick. It’s then piano heaven as back to back roof-raisers are dropped from Off Limits, Pierre Feroldi, The Badman and the infamous Techno Age / Young MC / Jinny trick – a real classic from back in the day – even if I say so myself!

They continue to come thick and fast as the Love 91 version of Playing With Knives does its thing followed by established old-skool anthems Found Love, JJ Tribute, Sounds of Eden and Anthem by N-Joi flow in and out of the set.

After the flashback inducing Insanity by Oceanic, the mix takes a step back in time via out-and-out party anthems from Don Pablo’s Animals, Bizz Nizz and the classic Acid Rock from Rhythm Device. Timeless hymns such as The Phantom and Al Naayifish do their gorgeous thing before the set heads firmly back to the Chicago house roots of where it all began with Lil Louis’ French Kiss and Joe Smooth’s Promised Land.

It’s not long before the DJ tricks return with the Hardcore Uproar / Rock The House trick that still gets the approving nod from those in the know.

After the wonderful Todd Terry mix of Loving You Like Crazy by Corina, the Sasha mix of Came Outa Nowhere signifies things are drawing to a close. The First Rhythm / Always There trick still sounds great today as proceedings are wrapped up with Kid N Play and their absolute monster 2 Hype.

Wow, that was fun…!

The third mix really does start with an absolute belting remix of Love Can’t Turn Around that is guaranteed to get the whole club’s attention. Quickly followed by some real stonkers from way, way back in the day – do they really get any better than Can U Dance by Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason & Fast Eddie Smith? Answers on a postcard…

The NY House Mix of (You’re My One And Only True Love) is a classic example of how to pull off a remix and bring real soul and energy to house music – it’s a big personal favourite that is quickly followed by the fantastic Gettin’ Out by SLD that will leave you singing about having the best time in your life without the Dirty Dancing soundtrack anywhere in sight!

After more classics from Degrees Of Motion, Last Rhythm and FPI Project to name a few, Different Story by Bowa and Movin’ by Marathon bring more of a timeless Garage feel to proceedings before a bunch of main-room piano anthems are dropped in the form of Such A Good Feeling, Touch Me and the ageless Brothers & Sisters by 2 Funky.

Things take a classy turn as the set is wrapped up by the fantastic Saturday Night, Sunday Morning by T-Empo and the original mix of How Can I love You More by a then unknown collective from Manchester known as M People.

Sticking with the Manchester theme, the final 2 tracks sum up the best of this period with the still amazing sounding Space Face by Sub Sub followed by the nailed-on classic from A Guy Called Gerald and the timeless Voodoo Ray – for those of you that were there, you’ll know that one really did sound good in the Haç.

Oooohh Aaaahhhh Yeah..!

Number four is about four words: Beats, Bass, Blips and Stabs.

And what a better way to start proceedings off than with the revered anthem that is Future FJP by Liaisons D – supported by its mate Mr Monday and the D-Shake crew. Yes people, we have bleep-inspired lift-off…

We go way back with Bizz Nizz and their huge warehouse track We’re Gonna Get You followed at pace with the KC Flightt and Planet E. The bangin’ beats and boomin’ basses continue with the sounds of Mental Cube, Mr Fingers and GTO before we hit the all-time classic Let It Roll by Doug Lazy – and I’m sure you’ll admit, it’s a nice DJ trick that see’s LFO form the basis for our man Lazy to do his thang…

The original of What Time Is Love blends seamlessly into another belter in the shape of Smokebelch II by the Sabres Of Paradise before things are raised another notch by the unforgettable sound of Jaydee and Plastic Dreamse.

Mooncat, Unit 93, LNR, Quartz, The Cutter and Black Riot offer a few delights to the aficionados out there before Technotronic hit us with the cross-over smash – Pump Up The Jam.

As things draw to a close, we drop a BPM or two to we celebrate those MC’s that love beats, basses, and blips with tracks from Silver Bullet, Sugar Bear, King Bee and MC Tunes.

The mix is taken home by the classic Keep It Up by Y.B.U. before Mantronix introduce us to Juliette James.

Take It Easy people…

Number five remembers those nights where nothing but a hands-in-the-air piano would do – you might be able to tell that from its first track! But as you know this mix series is not about being that bleedin’ obvious, so number five also tips its baseball cap to those soulful and maybe lest well-known piano classics. Remember DJ Fopp and the underground anthem What You Gonna Do? If you do, you’re in the right place… And if not, open your ears – you’re still in the right place!

So after the bouncy I Say Yeah by Secchii, we drop the huge floor-filler A Deeper Love by Clivillés and Cole and their Music Factory. Things don’t get much bigger than Reachin’ by Phase II, or much bigger than Don’t You Want To Be Mine by Denise Lopez, or much bigger than Finally by Ce Ce Peniston, or having said that, much bigger than Faith In The Power Of Love by Rozalla – You get the idea, these are feel-good back-to-back piano choons at their very best.

The words ‘Thick’ and ‘Fast’ spring to mind as My Love by Collapse, You Used To Salsa by the legend that is Richie Rich and Elevation by Xpansions flow in and out of the mix.

As the set progresses things retain that uplifting piano vibe but wander a little off the beaten track with tracks you might not know but that still deserve their place in the mix from Hi Liner, Rodeo Jones, Neon Light, Mimmo Mix, the Rapino Brothers and Rebound amongst others.

The massive Kites by Ultraviolet should take you back to a place you’re familiar with, quickly followed by Urban Soul and the huge Sasha remix of Alright.

After the soulful Do What You Feel by Joey Negro and Do It by Oval Emotion the set is brought to a close by the beautiful Compulsion by Zenana and equally beautiful Follow Me by Aly-Us.

Heart of stone if you don’t enjoy this one – either that or you were born in 2001… 🙂

Have fun!

Mix six can best be described as a ‘classy sandwich’ – Namely a bunch of huge old-skool bangers top-and-tailed with some truly wonderful slices of pure unadulterated elegant house music.

Things start with a little scratch intro and trick using Shaker Song as a background to Todd Terry’s classic Weekend followed immediately by the uplifting Some Kind Of Heaven by BBG. We build the classiness level with tracks by Degrees Of Motion, Juliette Roberts, Chicago Symphony and the monumental What Would We Do by DSK.

The classiness level is raised another significant notch as Someday by Ce Ce Rodgers does its thing, followed immediately by Strings Of Life by Rhythm is Rhythm and Break For Love by Raze – Seriously that’s one heck of a stylish 3-way…

Okay, meat in the sandwich time… This is it back to back: Colour Me, Back In The Time, Okay, Alright, Stand Up, Come On, Keep Warm, You Drive Me Wild, Party Children, I’m Alright, Peace And Harmony, Dance With Me, The Lover That You Are, Club Lonely, and finally Playing With Knives – with a sneaky Everybody’s Free DJ trick thrown on top… BOOM!

Returning to the final slice of classiness that tops this set off. I’m In Love by Sha’ Lor is a track that everybody in their lifetime should listen to. Take Me Away by True Faith is a track that everybody in their lifetime should shut their eyes and dance to. Move Your Body by Marshall Jefferson is a track that everybody in their lifetime should plain-out jump up and down to. And Better Days by Jimi Polo is a track that everybody in their lifetime should pay attention to.

Yum yum…

It might not be a sandwich but number seven follows on from where six left off – namely keeping things classy, soulful and rocking…

Things kick off with the wonderful Musical Freedom by Adeva, Joe Roberts and the K-Klass remix of Lover glides into the mix closely followed by a couple of silky Steve Hurley mixes for Jomanda and Martha Wash.

One for the purists in the shape of I Gonna Get The Boy by G & V Jay is quickly followed by big hitters from Degrees Of Motion and Mike ‘Hitman’ Wilson before we hear the subtle beauty that is If You Really Love Someone from Liberty City.

After the uplifting gospel sound of Joe T Vannelli, we’re blessed with the second track in the set from Jomanda with Make My Body Rock. Quickly followed by more classy tracks from Black Riot and Rhythm Of Life.

The mix then takes a ‘white label’ turn as the decks accommodate a bunch of rare 12”s and bootlegs including a great mix of Gonna Catch You and Not Forgotten by Lonnie Gordon and Leftfield. A super-rare one that we can only guess is called ‘Feeling’; the brilliant Always There bootleg by Cooking With Delia and the anonymous Hurry Make Love To Me all do their splendid and exclusive thing – and somewhere in the middle of that lot is the unforgettable Casanova by Jazz And The Brothers Grimm.

After a couple of floor-fillers from Digital Boy and Love Decade, the Spares remix of Never Change by MC Buzz B introduces us to the undisputed heavyweight from 808 State that is Pacific State. The stylish E-Lustrious bring a touch of quality with Dance No More perfectly complimented by Shades Of Rhythm and the titanic anthem that is Sweet Sensation.

The set concludes with the sound of People Of All Nations Dancing Together before New Atlantic brings us home with their end-of-night track I Know.

Now that’s what I call music…

Hands up. We know this mix is full of tracks before our 87-97 window. But as any wise man would tell you, we sometimes need to look backwards to understand the present. So, this mix is all about celebrating the foundations of our series by raising our adidas tracksuits and lino mats to those Electro and pioneering House B’Boys and B’Girls…

The influence these artists have had on our classic decade of house music is massive. They deserve their place in this series and we hope you agree when you hear the opening bars of Live On Stage by Roxanne Shante.

Old-Skool Hip Hop, Electro, House and Breakdance are the important words here. Mantronix, Man Parish, Jungle Crew, Jungle Brothers, S-Express, MARRS, Steve Silk Hurley, Jack ‘n’ Chill and the NYC Peach Boys are the important paragraphs in the history of the house music we love so much – and they deserve to be read.

The second half of the mix speaks for itself and aims to pay tribute to those Electro innovators and their booming beatboxes, energising spirit and eye-watering and groin-splitting moves. We’d expect at least a few Elbow-Spins, Jackhammers, and the odd Windmill whilst listening… Me? I’ll be pulling off a One-Handed Chair Flare (go on… look it up…!)

And one final word, those who know their history will understand why the final track in the mix is there. Quite simply this instrumental from 1979 underpinned a whole generation of house music.

Could this be the greatest history lesson of all time…?

Who knows, I’ve just split me kecks…

In contrast to number eight, mix nine in the series takes a big step into the main-room with a full-on house set lifted from the dancefloors and balconies of the early/mid nineties mega-clubs.

After the goose-pimple inducing stab that introduces the set and the ageless It’s My Pleasure by My Friend Sam, they don’t get much bigger and soulful than the South Street Players with the Sure Is Pure mix of Who Keeps Changing Your Mind.

Classic after classic continues to drop until we hit the rare white label of Do that To Me by the Lisa Marie Experience. When you think things cannot get any more full-on, it all continues with (amongst others) the likes of George Morel and Alcatraz.

Then it’s heart-attack inducing time with unforgettable I Am Ready by Size 9, immediately followed by Love Tribe and the massive sound of Stand Up.  A couple of bangers that you might not immediately know follow before restoring order with the likes of The Fog, Shawn Christopher, Chrissy Ward, De Lacy and Rhythm On The Loose to finally take us home.

You will want to go out after this one…!

Mix ten follows on from where nine left off. It’s hot in here, we’re happy, everybody’s cool and the room is bouncing.

The legends that are Todd Terry, Martha Wash and Jocelyn Brown start us of on this one before we hit the Ark Anthem Mix of Cry India. Things stay funky and vocal as the classic You Make The World Go Round from Sandy B washes over us before we hit the huge instrumental tracks from the Mighty Dub Catz and Direckt.

Arman Van Helden adds a touch of class through Tori Amos and Nuyorican Soul before the crowd-pleasers I Believe and 3 Is Family do their job. Kenny Dope adds his usual flair with The Bucketheads. We then hit the ceiling with the Lisa Marie Experience before the treasured sound of Bits & Pieces takes us one step further.

Things get twangy and funky before we hear More Kante and then the superb mash-up of Turn Me Out by Kathy Brown and Passion by Gat Decor. Josh Wink takes us over the edge before we are rescued by the gospel sounds of Judy Cheeks and the uplifting anthems that are Love Come Rescue Me and I Get Lifted.

The Fatboy Comes Alive mix of I’m Alright by Stretch and Vern finishes proceedings off with a bang. All you got to do now is get back to your mates’ flat to continue the party…

Mix eleven sees the series take its first dip into the waters of the Techno/Breakbeat/Hardcore vibe of the early 90’s.

After the tone is set with The Project, there’s no hanging around as one of the genres all time classics is dropped in the form of Joey Beltram’s Energy Flash, quickly followed by The Vamp and Outlander. ‘Warm up’ completed the Live Version of Bazz’s H.A.R.M.O.N.Y. takes the stage and moves things onto a pulse raising new level – and yeah, we’re still only 20 minutes in…

After an acapella like mix of the gorgeous Narra Mine by Genaside II into the rare Get Into The Music by Pornography, classics from Cubic 22 and Mr Carl Cox keep things bouncing. Things continue to get even more hot and sticky as one after another, bangers from Utah Saints, The Future Sound Of London, Bug Kann, Fierce Ruling Diva, Faithless and 2 For Joy make their way in and out of the set.

To bring the mix home, a couple of ‘touch the ceiling if you’ve got that feeling’ pianos wrap things up nicely – some you will know , some on the rarer white/pink label side of things that you may have forgotten about…

The icing on the cake is provided by the Family Foundation with their anthem Express Yourself – which hopefully if your still with us at this point, you might have just done exactly that. Rave on…

Mix twelve sees the series continue where eleven left off – enjoying a little more time in the warehouses and service-stations of the Techno/Breakbeat/Hardcore scene of the early 90’s.

Things kick off with those Electro B-Boys, World Class Wreckin’ Cru and their track We Call Him Yella played at 45 rather than 33 to introduce the Son’z Of A Loop Da Loop Era classic, Far Out – another one of those little tricks from back in the day!

After a little classic meeeoww action provided by the Prodigy, the first use of the title ‘On A Ragga Tip’ hits the mix and is provided by the E-Lustrious boys. SL2 also get their first outing with Way In My Brain and then the sound of DJ’s U-Nite’ing can be heard with their classic stab anthem of the same name.

Next it’s clean up time as we hit the ‘hoover’ section. Classics such as Dominator, Rave Alarm and God Of Abraham guarantees things are all nice and tidy before we return to our friends Slipmatt and Lime with their second track in the mix, DJ’s Take Control.

We continue to take control as the BPM creeps up and undisputed back-to-back heavyweights are dropped in the mix in the form of Sweet Harmony by Liquid, Don’t Go by The Awesome 3 and It’s Just A Feeling by Terrorize. The roots of D&B can be found in Jonny L’s classic ‘Hurt You So’ before the BPM continues its journey north as we visit SL2 for a third time and their take on the aforementioned song title ‘On A Ragga Tip’.

We then drop in on the likes of Elevation with their hands-in-the-air classic Can You Feel It, Tango with their heart-attack inducing Can’t Stop The Rush and the ground-breaking Dub War by Dance Conspiracy.

After a quick trip to outer space, things are wrapped-up by two of the era’s massive end-of-night vocal anthems – and just so we don’t finish on a predictable note, proceedings are concluded with the giants that are 808 State and their landmark track Cubik.

…Whose got the Vicks?

After a couple trips back in time to the super-clubs and warehouses of the mid and early nineties in the last four mixes, number thirteen in the series takes us a little further back to those hot and sweaty basements and cellars of the late 80’s underground house scene.

Mix thirteen focuses on the joy of the head-nodding dub and the sheer out-and-out groovetasticness of the old-skool MC. Africa Business with their track In Zaire and Psychotropic with their classic Hypnosis sum both styles up perfectly and point us down the stairs to the humid and hip place we’ll be heading for the next couple of hours.

Before getting stuck into the meat of the mix and whilst we’re in the ‘warm-up’ phase, a little nod to the Electro B-Boys and Girls who started this whole scene with a spin of Hip Hop Be Bop by Man Parrish and Don’t Make Me Wait by Bomb the Bass. Twin Hype provide the mid-point between the dub and the MC with their track For Those Who Like To Groove, followed immediately by a big time rare pink-label in the shape of Twisted Tambourine by Hibrid – one for the sample spotters out there!

The head-nodding dub section kicks off in earnest with Think Tank followed by a whole host of original basement classics from amongst others Reese, Neon, Landlord, Robin Want Revenge and The Night Writers. No need to write any more about them here – absolute classics of their generation. End of.

Using Not Forgotten by the legends that are Leftfield as a transition track we head into the MC section of the set and straight away it’s time to get funky with tracks from both Royal House and Fast Eddie asking us to do exactly that. Thanks to our MC’s we’re then wiggling things, pumping things, getting jazzy, getting busy, not being held back, and rocking with the rest of the party people – those alphabet kings from A to Z have us in the palm of their mics.

Haylom Halib by Capella and pioneering tracks from Corporation Of One and Acts Of Madmen take us towards our conclusion. With the lights coming on and with sweat dripping from pipes on the ceiling, the mix is topped off by Turntable Orchestra and their track You’re Gonna Miss Me; the party anthem that is Got To Keep On by the Cookie Crew and the original and much sampled Don’t Wanna Go by Sterling Void.

Who says thirteen is unlucky?

Mix fourteen sees us go deep into the record box – and when we say deep, we mean it.

The mix sees us pulling out some of those rare white, blue and pink vinyl pressings, along with those more ‘warm-up’ tracks that were the stable of any good set back in the day. To be up-front about it, we don’t think this one will be for everyone. Having said that though, if you love this period we think you’ll still have more than a few grin-laden flashbacks…

Things kick off with one of those ‘start-of-the-set’ tracks from the Vision Masters featuring some obscure Ozzie songstress that didn’t really make it. The next 4 or 5 get things going and are all about that funky feel-good, hands-on-the-air ‘where’s that sample from?’ feeling.

Things then go a bit groovy and ‘disco’ as we hear from the BBR Streetgang, D.O.P., Freaky Baby, Hustlers Convention, Disco Citizens and the Men From Mars – all of them rockin’ and groovy beats…

As you know any good DJ will take you on a journey. They will play with energy and in doing so they’ll bring things up and take them down. This section of the set focuses on those tracks that take things down just a notch, but that still do their own thang. Tracks that bring groove and harmony to the night and the kind of tracks that underpin any great set. In this section we’re funkin’ things, drivin’ things, droppin’ things, swingin’ things – You name it, anything to build that wonderful vibe…

As we progress through the set, things are wrapped up with a couple of big-ones in the shape of the Pascal Bongo Massive and their track Pere Cochon, Maria Van-Rooy with the Sasha remix of Let You Go and Love Decade with their undisputed classic I Feel You.

If you’re reading this you must be a connoisseur – we salute you.

Enjoy the mix!        

Mix fifteen picks up where fourteen left off – that’s deep inside the record box and rewarding the listener with some classy slightly less-obvious belters.

Things kick off with one of those ‘if you were there’ tracks that when played back in the day simply spread a smile across the entire dance-floor. After Bertha and her Butt Sisters have done their thang, things get groovy with a bunch of funky gems including the staggering jazz remix of Let The Bass Kick by 2 For Joy.

We then go a bit ‘vocal’ as tracks from Shay Jones, Korda and Love It Forever weave in and out of the set. The mix then takes a classy turn as it demands you shut your eyes, listen and sway to subtle but undisputed classics from Love Revolution, BBG, Epoch 90 and Mental Cube – You won’t hear these beauties on your bog-standard old-skool mix tape!

Spiritual cleansing over, things pick up with some good old piano classics from amongst others Doug Willis, Love Drops and the fantastic ‘Walking’ by Elevation 4th.

As the set heads home, we get chunky and funky with tracks from Krinkle Cut Grooves, Dogtrax, Nasa and D-Tek with their foot-tapping Chunkafunk.      

The mix is wrapped-up on an undeniable high with feel-good anthems from The Sound Foundation with their track ‘I Believe’, Sound Environment with ‘Had Enough’, ‘Only You’ by Talizman and the when-you-first-heard-it rush-inducing Peace by Sabrina Johnson.

As the lady says…

Peace.

Fourteen and Fifteen went ‘deep’ into the record box. Sixteen sticks with the theme of ‘deep’ but from a different angle as we venture into the world of ‘deep-house’, diva vocals and some massive main-room choons! And of course we’re keeping sixteen sweet all the way…

The extremely rare and exquisite ‘Sacred’ mix of Everything by Sarah Washington kicks things off with the soulful vibe that underpins the tone of the set. This is followed quickly by a bunch of amazing vocalists in Shawn Christopher, Jomanda, Shiva, Eve Gallagher and Latanza Waters – If you don’t know then all yet, you will grow to love them. Trust me.

The mix then heads into the main room with truly massive floor-fillers from Harddrive, Lil’ Mo’ Yin Tang, Heller and Farley, Liberty City, Amos, Ken Doh, Nush and Sara Parker – A glamorous line-up for glamorous times.

As the set develops a couple more obscure tracks are dropped in the mix from Paterson & Price and Rhyme Time Productions before the set hits you with undisputed heavyweights in the shape of Tin Tin Out and their track ‘The Feeling’ and Atlantic Ocean with the their undisputed world champion, ‘Waterfall’.

Returning to our soulful vibe that started things off, the mix is wrapped up with the undeniable global anthem that is ‘Your Loving Arms’ by Billie Ray Martin and the jaw-dropping and simply beautiful Boys Own mix of Perfect Motion by Sunscreem.

If rhythm’s a drug, I’m hooked on you…

One word probably sums up Seventeen and that word in Piano. Almost every track has that big old uplifting classic piano sound that defined this generation of house music – and there’s no better example of this, or way of kicking any party off – with a sneaky taste of Dino Lenny’s Cocaine…

Chica Boom from SBAM, the Oceana remix of Do It, Boom by The Grid and Piano Please by T.N.T. tell you all you need to know about the set and its uplifting intentions.

After dropping Ralphie Rosario’s classic An Instrumental Need we introduce a vocal section into the mix as huge tracks from Jomanda, Kym Sims, Black Box and Adeva are only slightly interrupted by the fantastic Atomic House by DJ Atomico “Herbie”.

The pianos continue to come thick and fast before Free from Catch provides a slight bleep-inspired contrast. The acapella of It’s On You by MC SAR draws us nicely away from the bleeps and takes us into stomping territory with tracks from S Moore and the fantastic P.K.A. remix of Nasty Rhythm by Creative Thieves.

There’s no let up as huge vocal piano tracks continue to drive the set forward as Donna Giles and the monster Loveland mix of And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going followed closely by Staxx, Eddy and the fantastic U by Loni Clark all do their uplifting and inspiring thing.

Proceedings are drawn to a conclusion as we appreciate the power of friendship through Robert Owens and the craving to spread love with the fantastic World Series Of Life collective. The classic that is That Piano Anthem wraps and sums things up before the Shanice version of Loving You leaves us all in a better place…

Maybe piano teachers were pretty cool after all?

Eighteen takes a leap back to where it all started – in those illegal warehouses full of delinquent, criminal, law-breaking ravers – I think that means us and did somebody say Acieeeed?

– Damn Right!

But before the set takes you back to those early ‘ravin’ days, a little bit of a warm-up section is in order to help create that famous smiley face…

So the mix starts with THAT anthem from Patti Day followed quickly by classics from Art Science Technology, Confusion Club, Royal House, Plaza and Technotronic to name but a few.

Warm up firmly completed and smiley faces now painted, it’d be rude not to kick off an Acid section with D-Mob and their monster cross-over We Call It Acieed. They come thick and fast with absolute belters from Mr. Lee, Maurice, Fast Eddie, Stakker, Adonis, Da Posse and Tyree – the 303 squelch is in full effect!

The set then introduces our old-skool Hip House MC’s as Kyze, Lee Marrow, M&M and back-to-back tracks from Fast Eddie do their bleep inspired thang.

The massive feel good anthem, Keep Groovin’ from T.D.C. gets us all rockin’ before Queen Latifah chills us out and that enormous Bassline from Mantronix takes the set home.

Long live those deep basslines and magnificent squelches – the Roland TB-303 we salute you…

Nineteen is unashamed, unabashed and unrepentant old-skool stomping chunkiness. It’s noisy; it’s a little bit trancey; it rocks; it’s feel-good and it has energy. It is also rather plump, somewhat meaty and very, very tasty…

Things kick off with how slim people can turn into fatboys with a visit from the Pizzaman and the massive Trippin’ On Sunshine. Homeboy’s, Hippies and Funki Dredds dominate the mix and dominate track two of the set with the legendary Total Confusion. The Project, Dirty Mind, Hardfloor, Opal and Piece Of Mind raise the temperature with builds, crescendos and drops that’ll make your eyes water and your jaw tremble.

One of two tracks in the mix proving that artists and producers of the time had a sense of humour comes in the shape of The Badman and their take on The Magic Roundabout with Magic Style. Zebedee and friends would be ‘on it’ as the set continues to bounce, jump and stomp with tracks from Escrima, Empirion, Nostalgia Freaks and New Atlantic to name but a few.

The mix then takes more of a ‘mainstream’ route with huge anthems from DJ Supreme, The Ethics, Love Revolution and DJ Flavours – ‘mainstream’ in this collection meaning huge goosebump inducing classic floor-fillers – oh yeah!

To bring the mix home the BPM is cranked up as massive tracks from Manix, Dream Frequency, Subliminal Cuts, Hyperlogic and Dharma Burms draw things to a close. The set is then wrapped up by our second less serious toon in the shape of Rainbow from Solo.

I think we all met a few Zippy’s, George’s and Bungle’s back in the day…

Enjoy the flashbacks kids…

Twenty continues from where Nineteen left off – that’s firmly in Stomppping territory – and yes that was stomppping with 3 p’s…

Proceedings are kicked off with the massive Espiral by Dunne, the huge Bass Bins at Dawn mix of Let Me Hear You Say Yeah by PKA and the sound of Wood Allen and Co-Imperial – and that’s all before the Italian techno crew Cappella take us all away with the legendary Loleatta Holloway – Ladies and Gents we can confirm Stomppping has begun…

Tracks from Rhythm Section, Pink Noise and Bedrock do their thing and lift energy levels of the set before we drop into a bunch of uplifting hands-in-the-air nailed-on classics – Such A Feeling from Bizarre Inc, So Real from Love Decade, Temperature Rising from PKA and Never Let Go by Hyper Go Go surely need no introduction for any aficionado of the period!

After such highs, the mix then takes a little bit of darker, dubbier and trancey path as sacred head-nodders from Usura, Moonchild, Taiko, Modular Expansion and Age of Love all do their spiritual thing before one of the absolute classics of the period drops into the mix in the shape of Energy 52 and their Three ‘n’ One Remix of Cafe Del Mar. And if that wasn’t enough, to round this section of the set off, the Mooncat theme tune that is Get Up, Go Insane will surely require the purchase of some new stomppping shoes…

As the mix draws to a close and the BPM slowly increases we head back into uplifting piano territory with the legendary Liberation by Liberation, Closer To All Your Dreams by Rhythm Quest, LA Rock 01 by Vitalic and Perfect Day by Visions of Shiva to name but a few.

To close the set, the Chill Mix of Come On by Solo seems an appropriate antidote to over 2 hours of stomppping.

You might just loose a few pounds to this one…

Twenty-one should be considered the companion and linking piece between our last two stomping mixes in Nineteen and Twenty, and the obscure deep-in-the-record-box sessions that were Fourteen and Fifteen. This one is somewhere in the middle and closes the loop on this chapter of the series. So, Twenty-one is all about beefy drums, big drops, and the beauty of the raised decibel – crank it up loud and come with us on this journey through beats and bass…

And what better way to start this journey than jumping on board the Last Train To Trancentral with those inspiring conductors, The KLF. Once aboard, the journey will quietly drop one of the all-time house classics in the shape of Chime by Orbital as early as its second stop, before whisking you off through a cacophony of beautiful beats and big bold drums from the likes of The Boss, The Goodmen, The Ethics and Supereal…

As well as tribal beats, the set also aims to celebrate those stylish instrumentals with the short and snappy vocal hit that drops just at the right moment. Tracks from Carlos Bendekos, The R, Beat Syndicate, The Delorme, and Escubar all fit that bill perfectly.

As the journey develops it’s time for the Drops (and yes, that was a capital D). At this point it is all about cranking up those decibel levels and asking your gran to give you her best old-skool MC voice – ‘If you’ve got that feeling, touch the ceiling!’ Tracks from Big House Payback, and back-to-backs from both The Cotton Club and Harskey & Stutch boys will surely inspire a few ‘yeah-man’ flashbacks and the odd approving nod here and there.

Proceeding continue on that front for a while as the BPM gradually increases until the mix concludes with a series of bona-fide hardcore rave classics. Bombscare, Your Love, Nothing Is Forever and Liquid is Liquid need no introduction. And remember DJ’s out there, you’ve always got to play Your Love until the end of the piano solo – anything else would be heresy.

There we have it, journey concluded. Until the next trip travellers…

Twenty-two is all about celebrating those big cross-over tracks that we’re not only massive in the cooler establishments of the time, but tracks that were doing their thing and converting the mainstream to this thing we call house…

As you’d expect they’re all big-hitters and you’ve probably heard them a million times, but it’s nice to hear them together and of course, there’ll be a few surprises along the way… (Including a pesky scratch on Ride Like The Wind – proving this is done from old-skool vinyl folks!)

The track listing should tell you everything you need to know about the first hour of the mix and there’s no real need to introduce the tracks here. Suffice to say that after this hour things start getting a little less obvious with the arrival of Wildchild, and a couple featuring Armand Van Helden sandwiching the fantastic Skankin’ mix of Two Fatt Guitars by Direkt.

A pair of instrumental classics from Pete Heller and George Morel take us into that spiritual, happy place – and, when finally picked up a couple of years after initial release, did that cross-over thing and became massively popular.

Having earned a few stripes, it’d be rude not to drop a couple of tracks into the set that pick up on the instrumental theme and build energy until we culminate in one of the biggest cross-over tracks of all time. Yep, Moby’s supreme classic, Go – which peaked in the official UK Singles chart at number 10 folks!

And just so we don’t scare everybody off, the set finishes with an unsurpassed piano classic that reminds us where the mix started, and one that’s about letting The Whole World Know (which weirdly, I think is the point of the whole cross-over thing…)

Anyway, we hope you enjoyed crossing-over to the other side people.

Totes.

As the Weekender mission draws to its close with the penultimate mix, we realised something had been keeping us awake at night… How can we have something called the History of House from 87-97 without the legends that are Masters At Work so far in the series? Well, 23 fixes that with a set that dons its cap to the soulful vibe of New York City and the influence those pioneers had on us over here in Old Blighty…

We know that not everyone understands House music, and that it’s a spiritual thing, a body thing, a soul thing – and as the bassline from To Be In Love drops into Eddie Amador’s House Music, we think you’ll get it. Yep, we’re up and running people.

Nobody surely can complain with back-to-back vocals from India, and MAW’s remix of River Ocean’s, Love & Happiness is testament to this. Three tracks in and two Master At Work productions down see us lay the foundations for a run of back-to-back deep-house anthems from Ideal, Roach Motel, Underground Solution and Inner City to name a few. A little burst of energy is injected by the fantastic Serial Diva Paris Is Burning Club Mix of Inner City’s, Your Love followed by Barbara Tucker’s Beautiful People, and Ruffneck’s Everybody Be Somebody – deep house at its foundations…

As the set progresses, Tears by Frankie Knuckles surely has to stand out as a bona-fide all-time classic, with the third Masters At Work production, I Can’t Get No Sleep not far behind. And yes, that paragraph did miss out classic and rare tracks from the likes of Ladycop, Funky Green Dogs, C&C Music Factory and our second track from Inner City…

As the set heads to its conclusion the pace and energy is picked up with absolute vocal belters from Future Force, Judy Cheeks and Sarah Washington, as well as instrumental crackers from Sueno Latino, Alfredo; and somewhere in the middle, the excellent Fever Called Love by Rising High Collective.

The set closes with a couple of real classics; the first from Farley Jackmaster Funk; the second the On The House classic, Pleasure Control…

But as Grace told us a couple of tracks ago, It’s Not Over Yet.

And it isn’t – One more to go folks…

After asking ourselves, What Is House Music, there was only one track that would kick-off the final mix in our epic Weekender series…

Twenty-four is a celebration and hopefully fitting climax to the series. It nods respectfully to classic tracks that paved the way for this thing we call House, whilst finally dropping the toons we’ve been holding back for a while… Its BPM will wander, and at times it might feel more like a compilation rather than a mix – the important thing for this one though is the ‘classic-ness’ of the toons and the role they have played in shaping ‘Our House Music…’

After things are kicked off, the funky roots of House are illustrated by nailed-on and massively influential classics from First Choice, Sharon Brown, Thelma Houston, Loleatta Holloway, and Fonda Rae – often imitated, never bettered…

The middle section of the set get’s stuck into a bunch of classics from Congress, Nomad, Blow, T-Coy and the stunning, Rare Underground Dub of That’s The Way Love Is by Ten City – quite simply a 9 minute masterpiece.

Back-to-back tracks from Inner City keep the celebratory vibe alive, whilst Donna Summer’s smash, I Feel Love tells you everything you need to know about the influences that makes House music so special.

As the mix and the series draws to a close, tracks from Saint Etienne and Edie Brickell will mean everything for those that were there at the right time and place. They’re followed by the beautiful Luv U More by Sunscreem that takes us to our series finale…

…And we hope you agree it’s a finale worth waiting for as we invert the first 2 tracks that started the whole series off… When The Morning Comes by Love Decade referencing Let Me Love You For Tonight by Kariya which was the second track in our series, and the Frankie Knuckles Classic, Your Love taking us back to the first track of the series – you’d think we’d even planned it!

Anyhow, we’ve come full circle people – we hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.

It was a great weekend and now we’ve got the long journey home – leave the tunes to us…

When you’ve pulled out as many records for this collection as we have, there was always gonna be a few mop-up mixes, and mix twenty-five is the first of a 3 mix mini-series of tracks that have their place in our retrospective journey.

Things kick off with a little Techno sequence made up on of tracks you’ll know and some you won’t. In the ‘know’ camp will be things like We Need Freedom by Antico and unforgettable People by 2 For Joy – depending on where you used to throw your shapes out will dictate your knowledge of the other tracks – if some of them are new, we hope you dig ‘em…

Things go a bit White Label in the middle of the set, before the BPM gradually increases and things continue on the bouncy and happy theme – the Psychic Masturbation Mix of White Love by One Dove being a perfect example of the love and positivity of the period…

As the set heads to its conclusion, things get a little funky in the shape of the jubilant Riffmeister from Joy For Life. This belter is followed by a few cheeky little TV inspired theme tunes before the set concludes with the amazing Brothers In Rhythm Remix of The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby – honestly what a flipping remix…

So, start the engine and turn it up, the journey home is going to be fun…

A bit of Hardcore, Trance, Disco, Piano, Acid and more Hardcore?

Cool. Let’s go then…

As things kick off, it shows what a great period we’re talking about when we can still include tracks like M.A.N.I.C.’s I’m Coming Hardcore in the ‘extras’ section. Tracks from Dream Frequency, The Visions of Sheva and Arthur Baker prove there’s a lot more mileage in our journey yet…

After our Hardcore and slightly Trancey start, we go a bit Disco on you with back to back grooves from The Poppers, The Hustlers, B.B. Boogie “Assoc” and the BBR Streetgang – If you don’t know these tracks, honestly sit back and check out to those funky flutes and wah-wah guitars and tell me that wasn’t groovetastic…

As the set progresses, the flares are put back in the wardrobe as we pull out a series of big old Pianos from the likes of The High Givers, Laura D, Katherine E and Outer Rhythm to name a few… This is quickly followed by a mini Acid section from the likes of Precious, Rare Arts and Adonis before returning to huge tracks from the likes of The O.T. Quartet and Blue Pearl – we’re keeping you on your dancing toes here people…

The set is rounded off with a couple of those Hardcore toons that don’t sound that hardcore anymore, before things are brought to a speedy resolution with the massive Tell Me Why by Rachel Wallace.

Wow, who thought the ride home would be this much fun?

The last leg now. We’ve been to the service station and everybody is fully stocked.

And speaking of fully stocked, tracks and remixes from Loveland, K Klass, Nightcrawlers, Greed, DJ Duke and the Klubbheads get things off to a flying start…

A couple of bleepy classics from Return Of The Living Acid and Tyree introduce us to a little section that nods it’s approval to the 2-Step Speed Garage scene of the mid-nineties. Respectful nod given, the set drops some big vocals from the likes of Love Nelson, Adeva, Michelle Weeks, Frankie Knuckles, Paris Red and Shari Muir – again some you may be lucky enough not to know just yet…

After a little Popcorn, the BPM is pumped right up so that we can drop huge tracks from the likes of the Prodigy, Natural Born Grooves and a big personal favourite, Nightmare by Brainbug – which when you hear it in the set, you’ll hear it’s one of those tricks that needed two copies and some quick cross-fader action – back in the day I could keep that build going for hours – oh and when it finally dropped – OMG as the kids would say today!

As things come to a close, the anthem and nailed-on classic that is Can You Feel It by CLS brings things down a notch, before we finish proceedings of with a big joyful vocal from Martha Wash.

Pass the Doritos in the back seat and turn it up, it’s been a weekend we’ll never forget…