The Lost Art of the DJ Mix CD

After writing about Spotify last week I thought this week I’d write again about physical media, my real passion, and probably the format that got a lot of us started in this game.

For all the availability of music on streaming services we’ve become reliant on thier own ‘discovery’ medium - the playlist. I’m not going to go into the details of playlists too much, but you all know what they are - human-curated, or more increasingly algorithmically-generated selections of songs, completely out of context from their album, and themed around a genre, activity or mood.

For many streaming service users a playlist is their main tool for discovering new music, but there’s just as many users who will use a playlist in a ‘lean-back’ mode, putting it on and letting it play, and not engaging with what’s playing as long as they’re enjoying the songs. For many people streaming a playlist has replaced listening to the radio, and many playlists are tailored specifically to that user. In some cases, two seemingly identical playlists can vary from user to user, or depending on what link they followed to get there. Labels often consider playlisting as the be-all-and-end-all of any release campaign, but that’s really not the case, although I’ll write about this another time.

What the rise of the playlist and streaming services has done though, is all but killed off the DJ Mix Compilation CD, and the art in putting these together. On one hand, labels should be thankful; putting together DJ mix compilations is a pain in the backside, from having to licence all the tracks in the mix, sometimes from different rightsholders in multiple territories, to getting the DJ to turn in a tight mix on time (in a previous job I had to reject a mix from a well-known DJ because it was far too ‘loose’ to work on the CD format), to arranging packaging and distribution and the possibility of returns - all issues familiar to those who work with physical music formats. BUT - when a mix CD was great, they had the power to become legendary - and the art of a DJ selecting and sequencing tracks and putting them together in a 70 minute mix that was commercially appealing is something that we’re starting to lose. For labels now there is little point in putting a compilation on streaming services, when they can just create a playlist of the songs with no licensing fees (although some labels do still create amazing compilations of rare or previously unavailable tracks, and I respect the amount of effort that goes into these).

DJs can now upload mixes to Soundcloud & YouTube without clearing the tracks or even Spotify and Apple Music with a little more work and theres a plethora of online radio stations hosting mixes from every genre under the sun, but for me a radio show or online mix doesn’t hold that same magic - maybe because with the pace of music releases in 2023 we don’t have time to really sit with a mix that much any more, we play it once then move on to the hot new thing, whereas the CD mix was expensive (I remember Global Underground 2xCD packs costing over £20 in my local HMV) but it would live in your discman or car for enough time for you to get really familiar with it. There’s still a number of tunes I can listen to as singles now and tell you exactly what would come next on certain mix CDs. The best of these compilation CD’s would have added value, be it the beautiful packaging of the Renaissance Mix Collection triple pack, or the liner notes and photos in the Global Underground cases that transported you to whatever exotic locale the mix claimed to be recorded in.

Some online mixes do still hold that magic, everyone has a favourite Boiler Room, old NTS show or Lord of the Mics clash but these are few and far between, and most worryingly these mixes could be taken down at any moment by the user who uploaded them to YouTube, or by a change of heart by the rightsholder, whereas with the humble CD you can find it at the back of a cupboard (like I did with the ones above - admittedly the only mix CD’s I’ve hung on to) and they should still play. Some of these old CDs are becoming pretty pricey now (an original copy of Northern Exposure will set you back about £40, Renaissance The Mix Collection nearer £50) but the fact people are spending this kind of money on stuff that’s freely available online shows you the enduring power of these mixes and the nostalgia they create.

An Honest Meal

This weeks music then, and as always an absolute goldmine of stuff to get through. I’m gonna start with the new release from Equiknoxx man Gavsborg - get your ears round this, it’s one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time. We have the tendency to hype things up online these days, but this is something else. What does it sound like? It’s hard for me to say, I get the vibe of this is what a Massive Attack record could have sounded like if they were based in Kingston and not Bristol - there’s a real soundsystem root to the record based on Gavsborg’s experiences in the studio - and his vocals on the first track Hypervigilant reminds me of that old dBridge tune with the Peter Tosh interview sample where he talks about spiritual vampires.

Anyway, other bits this week - a new Actress album (I think it actually came out last week) which is one of his best - I mean you wouldn’t expect anything else from Actress would you, but this joins RIP, Splaszh & Hazyville at the top of his discography. Talking of his earlier records - when I used to (occasionally) DJ I’d often play Hubble and Again The Addiction along with Mark Pritchard’s “?” - three tracks I always knew could absolutely suck the air out of any room, like a musical gas, suffocating, claustrophobic but somehow able to move the audience to a higher plane. I can’t think of many records more subtly powerful than those three tbh.

There’s a new JTC album (shout to Ben as always for the tip on that one) which sees him moving in a harder, more raw direction, as well as a new one from Moritz von Oswald - not what you’d typically expect from him or the Tresor label, it sees him working with a choir to create something almost religious in it’s sound. That was the vibe I got from it anyway. I’ve shared the first twenty minutes of it in my playlist, but it’s worth sitting down with the album on the whole.

Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for listening. I’d love it if you shared the letter with friends, colleagues, peers, or simply wanted to give me some feedback on it.