Recently, I’ve been taking lots of long walks. Podcasts are usually a great companion, but when you’re trying to lose yourself in thought, radio host chatter acts like a firewall. It’s pretty difficult, once you’ve been pulled back into reality after poking around in the deepest recesses of your brain, to find your way back to where you went astray in the first place. It’s sort of like waking up before getting to the really good part of a naughty dream: you struggle with going back to sleep, but you’re too focused on your fun bits, you forget what he or she looks like and you end up solving the Syrian crisis by feeding homemade grape Jell-O to beloved singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett instead. The point is, I rather listen to straight tunes relatively devoid of speech that aid in entrancing than Podcasts. Enter the mix compilation, a brilliant form of LP which has the artists sift through the bad music for you, compile the gems that are left and organize those into a mix that sends the listener on a voyage through his/her grey matter. Here are a few of the tracks from mix compilations that have enamored me the most over the past years.

     Featured on the 3rd installement of Anjunadeep’s yearly compilation, all attention was directed towards the heavyweights’ productions: Stephen J. Kroos’s “Micrsh,” Martin Roth’s “Deep Style” and Maro Levi’s “Devotion.” But when you first pressed play on Electrobios, Liluca and Interplay’s “Depends On You,” the wayward support synths and bold bassline hooks let you know it was something more than the veterans had done.

Electrobios & Liluca ft. Interplay – Depends On You (Original Mix)

Beatport – iTunes

Released through Anjunadeep on October 25th, 2011

     Today, when I sat in front of my computer to finish this post, the area in which I live was hit with a power outage. Everything before this was already written so even if I hadn’t provided this information, you’d still have ease in distinguishing the difference in quality between all previous and the rest. What I’m trying to say is I’d like to stick to our schedule and get this post out to you on Thursday, so the rest of this is scribbled down somewhat hastily. Feel free to ignore the weakness of the script and turn you focus to the music, which is what I’m sure most of you do anyways, in which case, HERE’S ANOTHER BLOCK OF TEXT IN CAPITAL LETTERS THAT’S YOUR NOT GOING TO READ.

     One of the strongest exclusives featured on Sied van Riel’s Rielism compilation from two years ago, here’s the tyDi remix that propelled the Australian DJ/producer to the next level.

BT ft. JES – The Light In Things (tyDi Remix)

Beatport – iTunes

Released through Black Hole Recordings on May 9th, 2011

     One of my first everlasting loves in electronic music was this track from the 8th volume of Anjunabeats’s yearly compilation, a truly amazing straddling of the line between trance and progressive.

Boom Jinx & Andrew Bayer – Keyboard Cowboys (Original Mix)

Beatport – iTunes

Released though Anjunabeats on July 19, 2010

     I didn’t even listen to this kind of music back in 2006. I simply figured that since they’re known as two of the greatest mix compilation-ers, I should probably include a track from both John Digweed and Sasha. First up is Digweed and to my surprise, I found one of my all-time favorite uncategorizables on the first of his Renaissance compilations: “On Spec” by Knights of Columbus.

On Spec – Knights Of Columbus (Original Mix)

Beatport – iTunes

Released though Renaissance on June 5th, 2006

      This track is from the most recent edition of Sasha’s Involv3r series. Everyone has already heard of his Ultraista, Little Dragon and The XX remixes, so I thought I’d include one of my favorites from the non-obvious bunch. Here’s his Involv3r remix of his own “Shoot You Down” with vocalist Kicki Halmos.

Sasha ft. Kicki Halmos – Shoot You Down (Sasha Invovl3r Remix)

Beatport – iTunes

Released through Ministry of Sound on March 17th, 2013

Here’s wishing you a happy what’s left of Independence Day and a great weekend!