The Top 7 Mixes of 2020
Acid chugging from Octo Octa and Eris Drew, all-original dubs by Anz, and kaleidoscopic speed garage from Angel D'lite—these are the mixes that kept our spirits high this year.
the-top-mixes-of-2020
December 28, 2020
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# The Top 7 Mixes of 2020
Acid chugging from Octo Octa and Eris Drew, all-original dubs by Anz, and kaleidoscopic speed garage from Angel D'lite—these are the mixes that kept our spirits high this year.
Let's start with the obvious: That it was a very weird year for dance
music. In one sense, the tightly-crafted DJ mix had added value at the
height of the pandemic; an artform intended as a low-resolution taster
of IRL dancefloor experience suddenly became the main event. We clung to
DJ mixes as a relic of the past and a promise of the future.
In another sense, new mixes seemed to float around without aim. The
discovery of a favorite new mix couldn't be upgraded into a big night
out or a festival sighting. And no one knows what the years' biggest
tracks were---[we can list them][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"},
vote on them, whatever, but without a summer of festivals, it's
impossible to truly gauge what's popping off and what new trends are
spreading like a virus.
None of that impacted on the quality of the mixes we loved, though---if
anything, it felt like standards went up as DJs' travel time went down.
This list may only stretch to eight mixes, but these are the ones that
demanded repeat listens, ones that outlined bold new aesthetics, and
ones that confirmed the infinite and magical possibilities of playing
one record after another.
[1]: https://www.electronicbeats.net/continental-drift-top-25-club-tracks-2020/
*Sugar-Rushing Love Core From a Fresh Face*
London's Angel D'Lite landed in a ball
of neon light in 2020, dropping a debut EP on top label Banoffee Pie
Records and pairing it with this screamer of a mix for Hue &
Saturation. Simultaneously one of the hardest yet frothiest mixes ever
committed to waveform, it's a sherbet-dipped wonderland of cheek-chewing
'90s breakbeats, wigged-out acid, and speed garage stompers. The opening
refrain ("I'm rushing on pink champagne, ye-eah!") was lodged in our
brains for several weeks at the end of summer, and we'd welcome it back
whenever. On days when it felt like the dark clouds would never lift,
Angel D'Lite was our rainbow warrior.
[SoundCloud Track (877974493)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/877974493
*All-Original Feel-Good Music for Feel-Bad Times*
Every summer for the past five years,
Manchester DJ and producer Anz has dropped a mix made up solely of her
latest studio confections. This year we needed that sweet, sweet hit of
summer dubs more than ever---and Anz did not
disappoint on this technicolor journey from UK funky to retro-boogie,
140 shufflers to garage flips of "Candy Rain," and all kinds of
irresistible party music in between. It's relentlessly
high-quality---and doesn't even include the three stunners
she released on Hessle Audio just a few months later. How does she do
it?
[SoundCloud Track (845265307)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/845265307
[*The Motherbeat Mother
Lode*][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}
As a rule, this column exists to
celebrate DJ mixes in the wild, uploaded to the cloud and available for
free. But an exception had to be made for this mix album, the latest
from the 'fabric presents' series and maybe the best session yet from DJ
partners Eris Drew and Octo Octa. The shroom-loving,
Motherbeat-conjuring duo are pretty much household names in dedicated
dance circles now, and their ability to traverse genres, borders, and
audiences is on exquisite display here. Finding unexpected connections
between garage, trance, and acid chug, Eris and Maya set out a distinct
personal aesthetic---one where filthy bassline and patchouli-scented
pipes happily coexist. [Listen to it][1]{: target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}[ here][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}.
[1]: https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fabric-presents-octo-octa-eris-drew
[Image: CW48_ErisDrew_OctoOcta_Site.jpg]
*Seductive Duvet Music for a Slow-Moving Year*
In a year marked by inertia and
repetition, one of the biggest challenges was learning to sit still and
simply exist. In the swell of downtempo mixes made to accompany our
enforced home listening, the highlight was this seductive B2B from
2DEEP, the shared alias of Berlin's Perila and Special Guest DJ (AKA
uon). Turn down the lights, turn up the heating---hell, why not get the
foam roller out? Their uncommon blend of erotic illbient, ASMR grime,
daybreak IDM, and dubbed-out duvet music deserves total
immersion.
[SoundCloud Track (806013265)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/806013265
*Here's Your Trance... Now Dance*
We may be cresting the wave of the
trance revival by now, but if 2021 offers the chance to experience a
Roza Terenzi set---ideally under the heavy green foliage, or out
among desert rocks, that kind of thing---we'll be dropping
everything to run straight to her speaker stack. On her *Resident
Advisor* mix, the Australian DJ combines ancient trance artifacts
(Adamski, Power Circle) with powerful new music from her own label in
order to rekindle the magical potential of a maligned genre. It's two
hours of heartfelt and bass-heavy belters, ready to move your limbs and
open your third eye all at once.
[SoundCloud Track (938595991)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/938595991
*An Audio Theory of Ebonics*
Some mixes do more than simply swirl
together with a set of great records; some put forth a grand unifying
theory, a different way of hearing music altogether. Hyperdub crew
member Shannen SP delivered an audio concept of Ebonics in her mix for
*DJ Mag*'s 'Recognise' series: a jaw-dropping journey that extends the
Black Atlantic vision of Afrofuturist dance music to encompass a truly
global network of sound and rhythm. Involving such US and UK producers
like RP Boo, Hitmakerchinx and Scratcha DVA, her concept has room for
Nazar's "rough kuduro" from Angola, Lechuga Zafiro's Afro-Latin club
weight from Uruguay, and DJ Doraemon's tumbling grooves from Lisbon and
Cape Verde. The result is a mix that feels both cutting-edge and
historic.
[SoundCloud Track (758805550)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/758805550
*A History of Asian Underground Steppers*
2020 was a banner year for UK garage, of
all things, with a new generation of producers picking up the threads of
2step, 4×4, dark garage, and other niche variants, while DJs and journos
dug into back catalogs to celebrate the only thing that ever made
Britain great. The standout among a haul of garage-focused mixes was
this sweaty sesh from XOYO club resident Yung Singh: a journey into
Punjabi garage. The mix includes tunes from the '90s to the present in
various UKG styles, all produced and voiced by artists from the Asian
Underground movement---marking a time in UK
music when garage and jungle absorbed Indian classical instruments and
Bollywood samples. Featured artists include '00s sibling unit RDB, but
there's no tracklist---frustrating but
understandable. The entire set feels ripe for a reissue
compilation.
[SoundCloud Track (918256615)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener
noreferrer"}
[1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/918256615
*Chal Ravens is a freelance writer based in London. Find her
on [Twitter][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"}.*
*Graphic design by* *Ekaterina Kachavina.*
[1]: https://twitter.com/chalravens
---
id: a626d76c-f72d-4d41-8184-1bff4f393c80
blueprint: article
title: 'The Top 7 Mixes of 2020'
date: 2020-12-28T08:00:53+01:00
wp_id: '194372'
subtitle: "Acid chugging from Octo Octa and Eris Drew, all-original dubs by Anz, and kaleidoscopic speed garage from Angel D'lite—these are the mixes that kept our spirits high this year."
slug: the-top-mixes-of-2020
teaser_image: legacy/the-top-mixes-of-2020/CW52_Best_Mixes_Site_1.jpg
contents:
-
type: text
text: '<p>Let’s start with the obvious: That it was a very weird year for dance music. In one sense, the tightly-crafted DJ mix had added value at the height of the pandemic; an artform intended as a low-resolution taster of IRL dancefloor experience suddenly became the main event. We clung to DJ mixes as a relic of the past and a promise of the future.</p><p>In another sense, new mixes seemed to float around without aim. The discovery of a favorite new mix couldn’t be upgraded into a big night out or a festival sighting. And no one knows what the years’ biggest tracks were—<a href="https://www.electronicbeats.net/continental-drift-top-25-club-tracks-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we can list them</a>, vote on them, whatever, but without a summer of festivals, it’s impossible to truly gauge what’s popping off and what new trends are spreading like a virus.</p><p>None of that impacted on the quality of the mixes we loved, though—if anything, it felt like standards went up as DJs’ travel time went down. This list may only stretch to eight mixes, but these are the ones that demanded repeat listens, ones that outlined bold new aesthetics, and ones that confirmed the infinite and magical possibilities of playing one record after another.</p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'Angel D’Lite – H&S Mix 018'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>Sugar-Rushing Love Core From a Fresh Face</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">London’s Angel D’Lite landed in a ball of neon light in 2020, dropping a debut EP on top label Banoffee Pie Records and pairing it with this screamer of a mix for Hue & Saturation. Simultaneously one of the hardest yet frothiest mixes ever committed to waveform, it’s a sherbet-dipped wonderland of cheek-chewing ‘90s breakbeats, wigged-out acid, and speed garage stompers. The opening refrain (“I’m rushing on pink champagne, ye-eah!”) was lodged in our brains for several weeks at the end of summer, and we’d welcome it back whenever. On days when it felt like the dark clouds would never lift, Angel D’Lite was our rainbow warrior.</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/877974493" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (877974493)</a></p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'Anz – Spring/Summer Dubs 2020'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>All-Original Feel-Good Music for Feel-Bad Times</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every summer for the past five years, Manchester DJ and producer Anz has dropped a mix made up solely of her latest studio confections. This year we needed that sweet, sweet hit of summer dubs more than ever</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and Anz did not disappoint on this technicolor journey from UK funky to retro-boogie, 140 shufflers to garage flips of “Candy Rain,” and all kinds of irresistible party music in between. It’s relentlessly high-quality</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and doesn’t even include the three stunners she released on Hessle Audio just a few months later. How does she do it?</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/845265307" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (845265307)</a></p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'fabric presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fabric-presents-octo-octa-eris-drew" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Motherbeat Mother Lode</span></em></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a rule, this column exists to celebrate DJ mixes in the wild, uploaded to the cloud and available for free. But an exception had to be made for this mix album, the latest from the ‘fabric presents’ series and maybe the best session yet from DJ partners Eris Drew and Octo Octa. The shroom-loving, Motherbeat-conjuring duo are pretty much household names in dedicated dance circles now, and their ability to traverse genres, borders, and audiences is on exquisite display here. Finding unexpected connections between garage, trance, and acid chug, Eris and Maya set out a distinct personal aesthetic—one where filthy bassline and patchouli-scented pipes happily coexist. <a href="https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fabric-presents-octo-octa-eris-drew" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Listen to it</a><a href="https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fabric-presents-octo-octa-eris-drew" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> here</a>.</span></p>'
-
type: images
images:
- legacy/the-top-mixes-of-2020/CW48_ErisDrew_OctoOcta_Site.jpg
-
type: headline
headline: 'Perila B2Beats Special Guest DJ'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>Seductive Duvet Music for a Slow-Moving Year</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a year marked by inertia and repetition, one of the biggest challenges was learning to sit still and simply exist. In the swell of downtempo mixes made to accompany our enforced home listening, the highlight was this seductive B2B from 2DEEP, the shared alias of Berlin’s Perila and Special Guest DJ (AKA uon). Turn down the lights, turn up the heating—hell, why not get the foam roller out? Their uncommon blend of erotic illbient, ASMR grime, daybreak IDM, and dubbed-out duvet music deserves total immersion.</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/806013265" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (806013265)</a></p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'Roza Terenzi – RA 756'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>Here’s Your Trance… Now Dance</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We may be cresting the wave of the trance revival by now, but if 2021 offers the chance to experience a Roza Terenzi set</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ideally under the heavy green foliage, or out among desert rocks, that kind of thing</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">we’ll be dropping everything to run straight to her speaker stack. On her <em>Resident Advisor</em> mix, the Australian DJ combines ancient trance artifacts (Adamski, Power Circle) with powerful new music from her own label in order to rekindle the magical potential of a maligned genre. It’s two hours of heartfelt and bass-heavy belters, ready to move your limbs and open your third eye all at once.</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/938595991" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (938595991)</a></p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'Shannen SP for DJ Mag'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>An Audio Theory of Ebonics</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some mixes do more than simply swirl together with a set of great records; some put forth a grand unifying theory, a different way of hearing music altogether. Hyperdub crew member Shannen SP delivered an audio concept of Ebonics in her mix for <em>DJ Mag</em>’s ‘Recognise’ series: a jaw-dropping journey that extends the Black Atlantic vision of Afrofuturist dance music to encompass a truly global network of sound and rhythm. Involving such US and UK producers like RP Boo, Hitmakerchinx and Scratcha DVA, her concept has room for Nazar’s “rough kuduro” from Angola, Lechuga Zafiro’s Afro-Latin club weight from Uruguay, and DJ Doraemon’s tumbling grooves from Lisbon and Cape Verde. The result is a mix that feels both cutting-edge and historic.</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/758805550" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (758805550)</a></p>'
-
type: headline
headline: 'Yung Singh’s Punjabi Garage Mix – SnS Members Mix 014'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>A History of Asian Underground Steppers</em></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">2020 was a banner year for UK garage, of all things, with a new generation of producers picking up the threads of 2step, 4×4, dark garage, and other niche variants, while DJs and journos dug into back catalogs to celebrate the only thing that ever made Britain great. The standout among a haul of garage-focused mixes was this sweaty sesh from XOYO club resident Yung Singh: a journey into Punjabi garage. The mix includes tunes from the ‘90s to the present in various UKG styles, all produced and voiced by artists from the Asian Underground movement</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">marking a time in UK music when garage and jungle absorbed Indian classical instruments and Bollywood samples. Featured artists include ‘00s sibling unit RDB, but there’s no tracklist</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">frustrating but understandable. The entire set feels ripe for a reissue compilation.</span></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/track/918256615" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SoundCloud Track (918256615)</a></p>'
-
type: text
text: '<p><em>Chal Ravens is a freelance writer based in London. Find her on <a href="https://twitter.com/chalravens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>.</em></p><p><em>Graphic design by</em> <em>Ekaterina Kachavina.</em></p>'
---
Chunk #1 (Position: 0)
# The Top 7 Mixes of 2020 Acid chugging from Octo Octa and Eris Drew, all-original dubs by Anz, and kaleidoscopic speed garage from Angel D'lite—these are the mixes that kept our spirits high this year. Let's start with the obvious: That it was a very weird year for dance music. In one sense, t...
Chunk #2 (Position: 1)
This list may only stretch to eight mixes, but these are the ones that demanded repeat listens, ones that outlined bold new aesthetics, and ones that confirmed the infinite and magical possibilities of playing one record after another. [1]: https://www.electronicbeats.net/continental-drift-top-25...
Chunk #3 (Position: 2)
On days when it felt like the dark clouds would never lift, Angel D'Lite was our rainbow warrior. [SoundCloud Track (877974493)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/877974493 *All-Original Feel-Good Music for Feel-Bad Times* . Every summer for the ...
Chunk #4 (Position: 3)
How does she do it. [SoundCloud Track (845265307)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/845265307 [*The Motherbeat Mother Lode*][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"} . As a rule, this column exists to celebrate DJ mixes in the wild, uploaded to the ...
Chunk #5 (Position: 4)
[Listen to it][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}[ here][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener"}. [1]: https://fabricrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fabric-presents-octo-octa-eris-drew [Image: CW48_ErisDrew_OctoOcta_Site.jpg] *Seductive Duvet Music for a Slow-Moving Year* . In a year marked by ...
Chunk #6 (Position: 5)
[SoundCloud Track (806013265)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/806013265 *Here's Your Trance. Now Dance* . We may be cresting the wave of the trance revival by now, but if 2021 offers the chance to experience a Roza Terenzi set---ideally under ...
Chunk #7 (Position: 6)
It's two hours of heartfelt and bass-heavy belters, ready to move your limbs and open your third eye all at once. [SoundCloud Track (938595991)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/938595991 *An Audio Theory of Ebonics* . Some mixes do more than si...
Chunk #8 (Position: 7)
The result is a mix that feels both cutting-edge and historic. [SoundCloud Track (758805550)][1]{: target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"} [1]: https://soundcloud.com/track/758805550 *A History of Asian Underground Steppers* . 2020 was a banner year for UK garage, of all things, with a new ...