Music is the answer.

October 25, 2011 9:23 AM

Do you like listening to DJ mixes? The Mixes DB has tens of thousands of them, going back 30 years, broken down by genre, radio show, club, artist. Most pages have the mix embedded. Here are the most popular.

This was posted several years ago, but the streaming mixes from soundcloud and mixcloud are a recent addition.

posted by empath (24 comments total)

Fuck yes! You are a hero.
posted by chunking express at 9:28 AM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm currently playing Sasha from the Hacienda in 1990.

Before he was a superstar, before trance and progressive house existed, just a storming set of uplifting classic house music.
posted by empath at 9:48 AM on October 25, 2011

This is pretty cool! Although it reminds me of how shitty it is I didn't hang on to my old tapes. Some of my faves aren't there and I have been hurting trying to find them again over the years. There was a Beat Junkies tape--I think it was a J-Rocc and Babu mix?--I used to have that did a run-down of all these hits from artists between say 1989-1995 or so in sections. Like there was a Special Ed section, EPMD section, LONS section, Brand Nubian Section etc. Not only were the songs blended together perfectly, but there was amazing juggling and scratching on it too. Definitely one of the best mixtapes I ever heard and I can't find it anywhere.
posted by Hoopo at 9:52 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've lately been using mycloudplayers, which lets you search sound cloud with a length filter. Search for electro-swing with a 45 minute minimum, and you get a pile of fun mixes...
posted by kaibutsu at 9:54 AM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, and I not-so-long ago was at a show with a dj who was spinning 1950's and 60's dance music, but mainly stuff I'd never heard before... Anyone know good search terms to find dj mixes along those lines?
posted by kaibutsu at 9:58 AM on October 25, 2011

Fukkyah, finally something to replace Mixriot, which went subscription-only a few months back.

And kaibutsu - also awesome!
posted by filthy light thief at 10:00 AM on October 25, 2011

Kaibutsu:

Northern Soul.
posted by empath at 10:02 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can combine this with http://www.1001tracklists.com/ to search for set lists as well.
posted by carter at 10:03 AM on October 25, 2011

this is great! thank you!

also, a plug for the ever-awesome subnav
posted by jammy at 10:05 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ooooohhhh. Thankyou! Now I can finally re-dl all the DJ mixes I pulled off FTP sites, Napster and Kazaa all those years ago (subsequently lost in a harddrive crash).
posted by Hutch at 10:21 AM on October 25, 2011

Wowsers, this is fantastic!

See also:

• The Mixing Bowl, especially for Radio 1 Essential Mix recordings
• Rave Archive, for authentically muddy 1990s cassette rips.
• Deep House Page, for when you fancy a Frankie Knuckles set from 1985.

Anyone know good search terms to find dj mixes along those lines?

Andy Smith has a couple of decent Northern mixes on his download page. As a rule, though, Northern Soul DJs don't mix, so compilations are more common.

Your best intro to Northern Soul is probably the torrent floating about with every track mentioned in Kev Roberts' book The Northern Soul Top 500 (which is out of print and quite expensive, fittingly!).
posted by jack_mo at 10:24 AM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Here's 4000 Northern Soul tracks on spotify.
posted by empath at 10:27 AM on October 25, 2011

Here's a bunch of east coast mixes from the 90s that don't seem to be in the DB.
posted by empath at 10:28 AM on October 25, 2011

Oooooooooh, yes. This is brilliant, empath.
posted by dowcrag at 10:54 AM on October 25, 2011

I'm currently playing Sasha from the Hacienda in 1990.

Be sure to check out the Pickering & Park mixes.
posted by rhizome at 11:01 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

This soundcloud is also an excellent resource for mixes when it comes to house and techno.
posted by sparkletone at 11:10 AM on October 25, 2011

I've been hitting up this link for when I want a quick mix to listen to while at work. Mostly a collection of podcasts but all in one place and the mixes are downloadable if you find something you like.
posted by Mr. Merkin at 11:59 AM on October 25, 2011

Yes yes yes, thank you a thousand times.
posted by kinnakeet at 12:33 PM on October 25, 2011

A couple of years ago I compiled tracklists for all of the Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles mixes at Deep House Page. I'm actually working on the Farley mixes now.
posted by hyperizer at 6:22 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm currently playing Sasha from the Hacienda in 1990.
Be sure to check out the Pickering & Park mixes.

The biggest and best DJ in Mcr at the time (Sasha warmed up for him) was Steve Williams
posted by niceness at 8:37 PM on October 25, 2011

I'm loving this; thanks a lot.
posted by taz at 2:54 AM on October 26, 2011

I tried adding my own mixes to here, but you have to be an approved site for direct linking to mp3s. meh.
posted by Theta States at 7:31 PM on October 28, 2011

A couple of years ago I compiled tracklists for all of the Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles mixes at Deep House Page. I'm actually working on the Farley mixes now.

Great work, hyperizer! Really enjoyed the rest of your site, too, especially the interviews.
posted by jack_mo at 8:04 AM on October 29, 2011

OK, managed to get a few of my mixes added to The Mixed DB. It is interesting, and could be even better with some advanced search options.
posted by Theta States at 7:00 AM on October 31, 2011