For my latest mix for Awkward Movements, I decided to throw caution to the wind and bring a techno-based mix with a few surprises along the way.

Although much of what I hear from the music press, bloggers and other DJs seems to be about keeping to one style, I have always been about trying to join disparate elements into a flowing set; it’s very much my belief that the range of tracks out there right now could lead to a real renaissance in dance music akin to what I experienced during 1991.

During this year I saw DJs as diverse as amongst others Sasha, Fabio and Grooverider, Dave Angel, Mickey Finn, Slipmatt, Frankie Knuckles and Jumpin’ Jack Frost. What was clear was that pretty much anything goes, so you would hear Italian House, Belgian Techno and banging London breaks all in the same setting, this would create the same highs and lows you get from a symphony, a double album or a film soundtrack.

This mix features tracks that are listed online as ‘Minimal’ (including Rodriguez Jr.), ‘Deep House’ (including tracks by Ferrer & Hommen and Okain), ‘Electro-house’ (such as The Art Department track), ‘UK Funky’ (such as Seiji and Boddika & Joy Orbison), ‘Electro’ (in the form of Morphology), ‘Drum & Bass’ (from Marcus Intelex) and of course the genre that forms a majority of my record collection, ‘Techno’.

On top of the artists mentioned above, I include new music from Mark Flash (straight from the wonderful UR affiliated distribution company www.submerge.com), Omar S & Ob Ignitt, Marcel Fengler and Kevin Gorman. There’s some classic techno from G-Man and Tralopscinor (both re-released in the last 12 months) and a cracking UR track by Dark Energy from 1994, some old school drum & bass from Photek and Subject 13, a brilliant old school remix from 1992 of Inner City (remixed by Kevin Saunderson himself and definitely influenced by his trips to the Midlands to work with Nexus 21 / Altern-8) and a track from the aforementioned year of 1991 from Confusion Club (an R&S white label that absolutely tore up dancefloors across the country and I still clearly remember hanging around after a night at the Eclipse club to buy my copy in Bangin Tunes in Coventry).

To top it all off, I’ve done a sly tribute to John Peel and dropped the Quintus Project at 45rpm rather than 33 (try that trick digital DJs without a bunch of plug-ins or some expensive studio software), after all rules are there to be broken.

I hope you enjoy the mix and even if you don’t try and open up your ears to music across the board, it will help with both your DJing and more importantly your production (which could lead me to buy your track, if it ever gets pressed on vinyl).

Peace out

JMF

Paris A.M. aka Tom Lee is one of the main heads holding it down for the London scene, bringing his impeccably diverse music tastes to a wider audience by balancing a variety of projects. Now that there's a notable absence on Resonance.fm with him finshing up Sine Of The Times, we needed to get him next for a mix.

"The mix is mainly made up of tunes from this year that I didn't get chance to play during my time on Sine Of The Times (http://www.sineofthetimes.net), with a few classics thrown in for good measure. For more mixes and any productions check out http://soundcloud.com/paris-a-m"

First session from Romanian DJ who:ratio, purveyor of many things electronic and aloof comic book geek. This mix titled 120 Mix Principles (as in BPMs), taking it all back to the one tempo these tracks were designed to be played at, finely selected and layered / mixed / sequenced / transitioned / whatevers - digitally.

"If a wax mix is a meditation on music, than this is a study of that pre/post-meditation.

The idea behind the concept "mix principles / principles of mixing" is the study of and what is actually "mixing / beat-mixing music"? Before we had direct drive and analog pitch shifting to fine digital pitch adjust and now the oh-so-easy sync function, there was just the music and the mixer. In my slow acceptance of the digital format I found that I started to neglect the music and not pay as much attention to the tracks because it has become so easy to get ... unlike when buying vinyl, storing it is just forking out for another hard-drive. So limiting myself to basic software(Toast 9) for making/sequencing/mixing the session, i've found myself really thinking and listening again to the pieces and how they fit or at least should sound together in order to tell the story. But without getting stuck into BS soap-box babble all i can say is that i still enjoy and have fun mixing".

Back with something he's been promising for too long, Timmy K's delivered a call back to his roots on the drum n bass and jungle scene. Some big plates here from a load of our favorite labels and purveyors of the amen break based electronics and beyond - including a load of Hospital who inspired much of his 24/7 raving days of the genre's London based golden era that many of us missed out on.

For those in the know Tim's also our resident phoographer, having had an epic year on the visual tip shooting under Phomandark. Big ups!

Kamikaze delivers a two-hour pop special for this edition of The Awkward Movements Sessions. Tune in for brand new techno belters from Rich Oddie and Powell; wonky sludge-hop from Expressway Yo-Yo Dieting, and a bit of grass-hop from Actress; whilst Silent Servant, Kalon, and Function all contribute on the Sandwell tip. Those bits aside, you'll also find a bit of sixties trip from The Velvet Underground and The White Noise, relentless crack n bass from Muslimgauze, fiery drums from Broadcast, and I'm-not-really-sure-what-you'd-call-it from Throbbing Gristle. Also within, a slice of head-melt nonsense from Marcus Schmickler, and my favourite album in frickin' ages in the shape of Ghedalia Tazartes' Repas Froid on Pan. And if all that leaves you hungry for more, Kid Koala takes his turn on the regurgaplate; Suum Cuique offers a barely-audible blisser; and Tropic Of Cancer raid the demo pile.
I know I always say it, but it really is all good. Dig in people, happy Friday x