Maya Jane Coles, 'Essential Mix 09.07.11'

Hello, all. I had a nice weekend in the North Star State and hope to blog about that soon. In the meantime I thought I would post some music, so let me introduce Maya Jane Cole’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix debut from the summer of 2011. (I assume the “09.07.11” listed as the date is day-month-year.)

During our return from Minneapolis, I told Bobblehead about the treasure trove of old Essential Mixes on YouTube. Honestly, they are all I have listened to for the past couple months; it has gotten to the point where I do not even open iTunes anymore. Whenever I listen to a new mix, I peek at the comments for fun. Inevitably, there are always a couple people who praise each mix as an example of how electronic music used to be, how it was during their bygone raver days, and bemoan the “crap” passing for techno, trance, and house today. They bash dubstep and the computer software that has mostly replaced physical, vinyl mixing. Now, I agree the music has a different sound and feel than when I started listening in the late-nineties. I feel vinyl editing imparts an organic, natural quality and flow, which many newer mixes lack. However, mixes from the modern era can still be stellar, regardless of how they are produced. That is where this Maya Jane Coles mix comes in.

Minimalistic, chill, and rhythmic, the pace is perfect and the segues are seamless. Though vocals normally turn me off, Coles keeps them minimal and tasteful; there are no bombastic lyrics about everlasting love and whatnot. It is an enjoyable and relaxing mix to listen to, especially when plowing through a backlog of work emails.