This post ran originally on THUMP UK.
Your evening had been going so well until now. Your trainers were still clean, you hadn't said anything stupid to anyone you didn't know, and your bottle of cheap, dark rum was still exactly where you left it – in the washing machine, obviously. You were floating from room to room like a hummingbird, kitchen chats, corridor chats, weird bit between front door and bottom of the stairs chats, all pulled off with the erudite finesse of Michael Parkinson, three bumps deep.
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Now you've found yourself in the living room. Worse, you've found yourself beside the speakers. Worse again, you've found yourself clutching an aux cable, looking down at it like a dead snake barely twitching in your palm. Your hand is hovering over the keyboard; Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, they're all there but your head isn't. Sweat begins to squeeze its way out of every pore like threads of oily toothpaste. You search the back catalogue of your brain, but nothing comes forward. No, not Drake, not fucking Drake, why is it always Drake? Think of something else. You like music! You're a person who likes music! When you're on your own, sat at your desk or lying on your bed you listen to great music! You even read about music on the internet! Come on!Yet now you're drawing a blank. Everyone in this room is looking at you and you've forgotten every piece of music you've ever loved.When this happens, some people crumble. They crumble and in doing so do something stupid like put on "Gold Digger"—cos everyone loves "Gold Digger" right?—or they accept defeat and pass the aux onto somebody else, a gesture that essentially says: I'm not an interesting enough person to think of even one piece of music. My head is, quite literally, blank.Sensible people, in this situation, however, will have a back-up. One song, or mix, that they know whatever happens, whenever they get handed the aux, they can put on and save the party. In order to get a healthy list of aux cable back-ups, we asked a bunch of writers to tell us their standby house party saviors. Read, listen, learn, and then this Saturday, when some louche dickhead in a Harrington jacket says "you want to put something on mate?" you can confidently tear the cable from his hands, and flood the living room with any number of these foolproof choices.
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Kornél Kovács - Szikra
–David Garber (THUMP US, Associate Editor)
Master Force - Don't Fight the Feeling
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And you know what? I'd do it all over again.
– Josh Baines (THUMP UK, Editor)Nothing brings people together more than singing in falsetto and sax solos.
–Sam Wolfson (VICE UK, Executive Editor)
–Anna Codrea-Rado (THUMP US, News Editor)Tweak-A-Holic #3 is more than just a life-line. It is my church, it is my safe-space. As soon as I hear the soft, blushing chords of Toto's "Georgy Porgy" blossoming into being, I know everything is going to be okay. The magical thing about this mix is how well it does bangers. Every tune is instantly recognisable and universally adored, yet none of them sound obvious or boring. It's as though the mix is comprised of every banger you'd never quite think to play, for some reason. It's also peak Jackmaster. He's probably the best party DJ this country has ever produced, and the blends on this are absolutely seamless. Actually to the point where now if I hear any of the tracks in isolation, I reflexively expect the rest of the mix to follow. I can honestly promise, if you put this mix on, you will not only save the party, you will lift it to a higher place.
–Angus Harrison (THUMP UK, Staff Writer)
– Josh Baines (THUMP UK, Editor)
There Must Be An Angel - Eurythmics
–Sam Wolfson (VICE UK, Executive Editor)
Dixon and Âme - Boiler Room
It's 4 AM and you've come to a fork in the road. Energy levels are dwindling and if someone doesn't inject a second wind into your deflated balloon of a house party, it's all about to go Pete Tong—literally and figuratively. The impulse is queue up a banger. But I'm here to tell you that's a schoolboy error. What you need in these situations is something nourishing, sustaining and—most crucially—really fucking long. You need to envelope your flailing guests in the warm embrace of Dixon and Ame's four hour Boiler Room set. You're welcome.
–Anna Codrea-Rado (THUMP US, News Editor)
Jackmaster - Tweak-A-Holic #3
–Angus Harrison (THUMP UK, Staff Writer)
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Grateful Dead - Live in Tampa, Florida (12/19/73)
–Colin Joyce (THUMP US, Managing Editor)
Crawling - Linkin Park
–Michelle Lhooq (THUMP US, Features Editor)
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Butterfly - Crazy Town
–Emma Garland (Noisey UK, Assistant Editor)Everyone who contributed to this article is on Twitter.