2011: sets of the year

An under-rated year: I thought of a few favorites, then looked at my sets folder and said “oh right, all these great jams.” So:


Kenzie Clarke – Look out Your Window

Guys, Kenzie has been on this list for the past three years. Most DJs talk in wishy-washy terms about “taking the audience on a journey”, and similar nonsense. Kenzie says nothing, and keeps making sets that might as well be operas, in terms of dramatic content, narrative thrust, and sheer pathos.


Lee Burridge – All Day I Dream Of Her
Lee is mostly known for dirty late night dance music of the highest quality, and not know for techno love-letters to imaginary women. But hey, turns out he’s really good at that too.


Dave Tompkins – How To Wreck A Nice Beach (Wire Edit)
Dave Tompkins wrote an insane book about the history of the vocoder. And then he made an equally insane mix about it, flying through historical recordings, electro, and hip-hop in the best possible way.

Honorable mentions go out to: Steve Bug’s acid house classics set for Resident Advisor; Chris ‘Monolithium’ Longshank’s MUTEK preview mix; Robag Wrhume’s calm-inducing ambient jam for XLR8R; Africa Hitech’s battlecry of a set for the same; and, plucked from the depths of history, Larry Levan, Sylvester, and Loleatta goddamn Holloway from the Paradise Garage’s second birthday party, in 1979.