Between SoundCloud, YouTube, Mixcloud and everything else, it can feel like we’re being overwhelmed by an impenetrable, almost infinite stream of music, often of varying quality. You need a soundtrack to start your weekend right, but you don’t have the requisite lifetime to trawl through the week’s new DJ mixes. To help you out, we’ve done the busy work for you. We’ll be running this series every single Friday of every single week to bring you the very finest house music, grime, techno, bashment, R&B, trap, D&B, Amapiano, and no doubt a bunch of stuff that doesn’t have a name yet.

Dive into TRENCH Radio’s best mixes of the week below.

Karen Nyame KG’s latest phase continues apace with this latest mix. Late last year, she launched her own label, RITC (Rhythm In The City) Records, and with it her latest release, the Red EP. She hasn’t really paused since, filling her time with a hectic DJ schedule, studio time and, of course, growing the label. There’s plenty to look forward to, and this mix most certainly does that, but it’s also a pretty good stock-take of the last few years, bridging the gap between the UK funky years that first inspired her and the smoother club sounds she’s so immersed in today.

This one is quite the journey. This week, Murkage Simulator—an ongoing project exploring the nexus between grime and video game music—returns for a Sunday night session at Ormside Projects in South London. Ahead of that, Chamber45 and namuh dropped by Balamii with Renz, M.I.C, and Kibo (the latter two also joined Zefer on his Reprezent Show this week) for a primer session. After blowing the cobwebs away with a multi-genre warmup peppered with the best of GTA’s radio ads, it’s straight down to business. With Chamber45 on deck for this portion, everything from 4x4 club cuts to the GoldenEye N64 soundtrack is served up for the three MCs to tackle.

Akito for the first half, followed by Kyoto-based drum-enthusiast ntank, who flies the flag for his MAVE party, in the latter half. They’re a solid pair; Akito’s flair for less-is-more club pressure and ntank’s more colourful but equally rhythmic selections are distinct enough to offer some contrast, but they have far more in common than first impressions might suggest. Between them, there are lots of subtle melodies and immersive textures, but the ever-present percussive elements keep this one lively and danceable throughout.

“You know how it goes / head, shoulders, knees and elbows”

A leading voice (literally) in dubstep’s formative years, Sgt. Pokes handles mic duties for this one, taking on an hour of thunder from Ila Brugal and More Cowbell head honcho Eich. Testament to the More Cowbell brand—which has grown considerably since its 2019 inception into a label, club night and online community—it’s stacked with rhythmic thunder, including lots of label gems plus cuts from Addison Groove and Nikki Nair, Ayesha, and a few unreleased (and hopefully forthcoming) tracks from Ila and Eich themselves.

Club Glow’s Denham Audio joined forces with Sheffield’s Silva Bumpa in the shopfront this week. The latter launched the Sterling club night series back in the tail end of last year, posting up in the Steel City’s popular Hopeworks venue, which also happened to be the spot where they shared the bill with Denham Audio last year. For this reunion, the DA and SB bonded once more over high-velocity house, garage and breakbeat slammers.