BC013 – Five Mixes: Essential Mix, 2022

A snapshot of the BBC’s DJ-mix warhorse in its twenty-ninth year.

Created and hosted from the start by Pete Tong, Essential Mix began in the fall of 1993, from midnight to two every Friday night/Saturday morning on BBC Radio 1—in the early years, sometimes bisected by the news. Early on, the DJ spot rotated reliably among a double-handful of men (almost always) who’d gotten on acid house’s ground floor: Tong, Oakenfold, Rampling, Sasha and/or Digweed, and—by far the best—Weatherall. (Here’s Wikipedia’s episode list.) But it came along at exactly the right time—British dance music was becoming big business, and EM became a showcase for the nineties’ hot new major-label electronic signings: Massive Attack, the Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx. It was early on trance (Oakenfold’s one major achievement as a DJ, sez me). It was well positioned to take advantage of the early-oughts’ stripping down of big-room dance music and its infusion of indie sensibilities and musicians-as-DJs—as well as catching the early end of the big-room styles that would mushroom into the EDM wave. Sure, it could be more adventurous. So could everything. And yeah, sometimes it’s cheesy. That’s part of its attraction, too—it induces DJs to spread their reach. That’s part of what I like about the sets below.

This isn’t my Top 5 EMs of the year or anything, either—nor was the Rinse D&B selection two weeks ago. It’s called simply “Five Mixes,” not “Five Greatest” or w/e—but also that they’re all at least good, worth your time. I know because I’ve played them through a bunch and kept liking them. That doesn’t always happen with delectable-looking subdivisions of one’s year-in-listening.

Another one for the payers! Don’t miss out!