TRENCH Radio 167: The Best Mixes Of The Month
Words: James Keith
Photography: Alfie Fisher
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 month below.
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Mixtress for Rinse FM
Calling this one a ‘140 special’ doesn’t really do this new Mixtress set justice at all. Dubstep is the beating heart of Mixtress’ latest Rinse show, but the BPMs vary from 130-160, with gems from Slick Shoota, Scuba, Ehua, Phasmid, and acid jazz funk experimentalist Squarepusher all running up against each other—plus a Freddie Gibbs/Machinedrum blend she’s especially proud of.
Sicaria for The Lot Radio
Sicaria’s been cracking heads over on the other side of the Atlantic during her triumphant North America tour this month. While there, she dropped by a few radio spots for some sets to keep the blood flowing. This one for The Lot Radio saw her zip through the best of her collection of low-end belters, spartan steppers and weighty chuggers.
Jeremy Sylvester for DJ Mag
30 years into the game and Jeremy Sylvester seems to be going stronger than ever. Now back in his old stomping ground of Birmingham (away from the distractions), he’s a family man now, but still firing on all cylinders even if he’s not partying every night. The bulk of his time is split between his Rinse Residency, his newly minted Garage Paradise label and the club nights that spawned it. Largely focused on garage, this mix does a pretty solid job of tying in as many of the underground hero’s different sides as humanly possible.
PJ Statham for Free From Sleep
York-hailing DJ and producer PJ Statham’s enjoyed a successful year so far. Appearances at famed spots like Sneaky Pete’s and a spot on the lineup for the London leg of the Gemi’s + Friends tour have turned a lot of heads in his direction. Building on that, his new set for Free From Sleep leans heavily into the garage end of his record collection. Plenty colourful, plenty bubbly, it’s a high-energy showing from the rising star that’s sure to keep your feet moving until the end.
See No Evil w/ Ambro for Piano Rama @ Lakota Bristol
See No Evil were back on home turf this month with a rolling three-hour marathon of all things piano (with a bit of funky and Afro-house sprinkled in as well). They were joined by Ambro on mic duties, flying the flag for the Piano Rama crew ahead of their new series of club nights that kicked off this month. Plenty of warming bass and chest-rattling log drums, it’s enough to ward off the encoraching chill for at least another month.
Ayy Den for Crop Radio
June saw the inaugural edition of Ayy Den’s new monthly residency on Crop Radio. The Manchester-based selector has also had a belting year. With a packed festival calendar now wrapped up, she doesn’t seem any less busy now that the dance has moved back indoors. As ever, this one is a well-balanced blend of floor-fillers from across the underground spectrum. Listen out for diamonds from Doctor Jeep, LR Groove, Goth-Trad, and a fresh cut from Killa P’s debut album with Numa Crew.
Sabrina w/ cross the fingerzzz for SWU FM
This year marks four years since Sabrina’s first ever DJ set. As she humbly tells it, the crowd was seated and the decks were raised far too high for her; but she did it, and she’s now a Kool FM resident. As part of the celebrations, she took to the airwaves over at SWU for a team-up with Toulouse-based selector cross the fingerzzz for a two-hour session that’s built on a framework of bassy club cuts with touches of grime, dubstep and breakbeat for added pressure.
Plastician B2B Mak10 w/ Novelist for Balamii
Mak10 has been on a scorching run lately, earning praise for his gonzo, on-the-road live-streamed DJ sets filmed across the capital. For this set, however, he was back in the warmth alongside the equally hard-working Plastician and Novelist for an MC workout session. Built largely on grime, there are still touches of rap, wave and dubstep folded in to keep things interesting (and Nov on his toes).
HiTech for Mixmag
Detroit trio HiTech—aka King Milo, Milf Melly and 47Chops—threw caution to the wind with this kinetic, Ghetto tech-heavy mix. They’ve been racking up the wins on both sides of the pond, representing the Motor City’s rep for frantic percussion with the homegrown sounds that are second nature to them. Over here, they’ve found kindred spirits in the D&B and jungle scene, expressing admiration for the energy and heat of people like Nia Archives and Sherelle. Unlike a Nia Archives set, it’s best to assume any and all sets are NSFW.
Regal86 for Kindred
An unpredictable force on the decks, Mexico-born Regal86 is just as likely to fire off Southern rap as he is rolling techno, jawbreaker gabba or anything else that packs a weighty punch. This year alone has given us plenty of examples of that eclecticism in releases like the 100-track monster, Unearthed Vol. II, and the Stereographs album. For this latest set, he draws primarily for jungle, but he also adds in slammers from DJ Nate, DJ Swisha, EQ Why, and a few other club and footwork heavyweights to vary up the percussive flavours.