THUMP's Top 10 UK Mixes of 2015

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THUMP's Top 10 UK Mixes of 2015

Masterful sessions from over the pond.

Here at THUMP UK HQ, we spend most of our working days listening to mix after mix. You might think that that's really lazy, that we should be out there scouring the internet for individual records and making mental mixes of our own. We do that, sometimes, honestly, but it's nice letting other people do the work for you while you're at work, isn't it? As such, we end up listening to about eight mixes a day. Multiply that by five and you've got 40 mixes a week. That's 160 mixes a month. Which is 1920 mixes a year. Which is a lot of mixes.

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Somehow we've wittled it down to just 10 of our favourite selections from UK selectors from 2015. We hope they bring you as much joy as they have us.

10. Andrew Weatherall - RA.470

As ResidentAdvisor's gold standard podcast series edges ever closer to its 500th edition, it's not surprising that they can get a mix from pretty much any DJ in the world. Earlier this year, the wizened wizard of UK dance music, Andrew Weatherall turned in a gorgeously gloopy, chewy, juicy hour or so of star-spangled, stratospherically inclined slow-mo-cosmic-disco. Imagine an Italian seaside resort disco circa '84 slowly filling with MDMA laced treacle and you're nearly there. Sort of. Josh Baines

9. Greg Wilson - Glastonbury Block 9 Genosys

Even if you haven't managed to see Greg Wilson all year, his SoundCloud offers some excellent vicarious living. The balearic and disco man has been solidly uploading sets from pretty much every festival he has played this summer. The reason we love this Glastonbury set so much is partly because we were actually there for this one, but also because it's such a prime example of why he continues excite as a DJ. Bouncing from Kendrick Lamar edits to Bessie Bank's "Don't You Worry Baby", it's pure, premium party music. Angus Harrison

8. Palms Trax - Dekmantel 005

Jay Donaldson's edition of the Dutch festival's absolutely fantastic mix series is evocative, stirring, and all those other words that basically mean This Is A Really Fucking Great Mix Of Really Great Deep House That's Actual Deep House Not The Deep House That People Call Deep House That Isn't Really Dee House At All. JB

7. Mala - Boiler Room

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"A man we've wanted to have on here for a very long time…" So begins the first ever Boiler Room from Deep Medi don Mala, and an hour that unequivocally proves the enduring power of his sound. From his own cuts, to Kahn and Neek, Coki and Jack Sparrow, it's a bruising session of bass-weight, dubplates and unholy heaviness. Oh, and it's also that rarest of things: a Boiler Room where people dance. AH

6. Ruf Dug - Guadeloupe Mix for Test Pressing

Manchester's crown prince of pause-button-edge-blunters, and conniseur of all thing's balearic dropped a few great mixes this year but our personal favourite was this exploratory session crafted for the ever-wonderful Test Pressing crew. 2014 saw Ruf Dug decamping to in the French Caribbean of the Lesser Antilles to record his gorgeous, dreamy, Islands LP. He's one of the best crate diggers in the game and if this mix of all local records is anything to go by, he clearly spent most of his paradise rummaging around the bargain bins. The result is an hour or so of glorious music we guarantee that you've never heard before. See you on the next flight out there. JB

5. Trumpet & Badman - FACT Mix 502

As Trumpet & Badman, Unknown to the Unknown boss DJ Haus and bassline supremo DJ Q have spent the last few years smashing it out of the park with a string of rough and ready, jackin' garage house 12"s, so it's no surprise that their entry in FACT's long running podcast series was an exercise in the endless pleasure of bass-heavy throwback MAW club bangers. It's not clever, but it is big. Massive. Huge. Gargantuan. Easily our favourite pre-going out mix of 2015. JB

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4. Jackmaster - Mastermix 2015

It might seem like a cop out but we don't really need to say much about this. It's one of the best DJs in the world playing the tracks he's loved playing in some of the world's best clubs over the last year. It's a Jackmaster Mastermix. Job done. AH

3. P.O.L - Guest Mix for THUMP

We tried to be modest, but in the end, we just had to admit that this mix, recorded for us by the Night Slugs label manager, was simply one of the most invigorating, exciting and unpredictable sets we heard all year, so leaving it out of our roundup would have been a mistake. In a nutshell, it's every lewd, crude, riotous and raucous Dance Mania song you've ever loved slapped together in an one long rollercoaster ride of total fucking exhilaration.

JB

2. BBC AZN Network - Just Jam

There's a reason why 2Shin, Manara and Sweyn J are three of the UK's most talked about DJs at the moment and it's a pretty simple one: they're fucking sick. The Radar Radio/Night Slugs affiliated threesome have been tearing up the airwaves with their Friday night shows and ripping the roof of any club that's booked them with their now-signature blend of bashment, bhangra, and contemporary club music. This set —filmed as part of Radar's first birthday celebrations back in October— is proof if proof needs be that the Network are one of the most exciting things to happen to London for years. JB

1. Gramrcy - Ceramics 01

It's only really been this year that Gramrcy really popped up on our radar. He had already caught our attention with his Berceuse Heroique released "Ruffian"—a thunderous, twisted breakbeat track—yet it was this mix for low-key Bristol label Ceramics that really caught our attention. It's only 37 minutes long, but in that time conjures the dark extent of the producer and DJ's stormy imagination. From ripping distorted guitar lines, to shattered unknowable rhythms, to ghostly stretches of soundscape; there have been few mixes this year that have so effectively summoned this level of depth of feeling. It's charged, threatening, and full of promise. AH