8 Tracks – Wax’d

This was one of the first records played at our first ever party way back in December 2009,and its not been out of my bag since. Wed found an unused room in the upstairs of an old boozer in Aldgate, which by some amazing coincidence had a 5am license, and convinced the owners to let us throw a party there. By midnight the place was packed, the windows had steamed up and the owners were trying to placate the next-door neighbours. The rest is history. This is the perfect warm up track and a record I find myself reaching for at some point in almost every early evening set.

Where to start with Marcellus Pittman? Pretty much every production the man touches turns to gold, but this is up there with his best. The track bubbles away for the first minute or so, and then suddenly gives way to a huge aural explosion of colour cue a sea of wide-eyed grins on the dancefloor. Ethyl played this at one of our parties in 2011 to devastating effect. He and compadre Flori are without doubt two of the best DJs in London, and regulars both behind and in front of the turntables at Waxd.

Miles Sagnia Relativity [Aesthetic Audio]This whole EP is great, but I think this track just edges it as the favourite for me. Keith Worthys Aesthetic Audio label is consistently excellent, and Miles is a seriously skilled producer. Hes also one of my favourite DJs, always weaving together tracky techno and forgotten deep house gems with impeccable mixing finesse. We had the pleasure of booking him for one of our parties last year, and his set is definitely up there with one of the best Ive heard at Waxd. Keep your eyes peeled for his debut album next year.

This one landed earlier this year on Sudden Drop, the sister label of Fear of Flying, and is one of my favourite tracks of 2013. Leif has been on fire this year check his stellar new album, Dinas Oleu, for further proof and this has got to be one of his best. Rattling drums, haunting, ambient pads and that hook that comes in half way through this has been one of the most played records at Waxd this year (alongside another gem on Sudden Drop – Roger Gerressens Faithful).

Its hard to choose a favourite track off the classic 1996 These Branching Moments LP, but this one has definitely seen the most airings at Waxd over the years. Its a well-documented fact that the deep house tag gets chucked around far too often these days, but this is surely one of the truest examples of the genre. A heavy, stomping kick drum and that melancholic synth line simple ingredients but devastatingly effective in a smoke-filled basement at 4am.

Je reside en Paris. Voulez vous venir? A husky spoken-word vocal, some catchy Rhodes keys and a crafty tech-house beat provide the perfect ingredients for this 1994 classic house track. This made regular appearances at some of the very first Waxd parties, so it put a big smile on our faces to hear Smallville head honcho Julius Steinhoff drop it towards the end of his set at our first party in our new home, Dance Tunnel, in February this year.

A sure-fire staple in warm up sets at Waxd over the last year or so, and another stone-cold classic on Patrice Scotts Sistrum Recordings. Deep and introspective, but with just enough kick to have dancefloor appeal, this remix is Mr Scott at his best. We were lucky enough to invite Patrice down to play at Dance Tunnel earlier this year, and he gave a stunning three-hour masterclass to a packed out venue. Bringing a true Detroit legend to our favourite Dalston basement is definitely one of the highlights of the last four years.

We invited Kosta Athanassiadis, aka XDB, down to the Dance Tunnel back in September, and to no-ones surprise he tore the roof off the place. Is he the best DJ around at the minute? Quite possibly. I must have seen him play at least five times this year, and every time he plays a perfectly mixed set of records Ive never heard before. This was one of the few tunes I recognised from his set at Waxd, and was one of the many highlights amongst a whole host of Detroit house, electro, techno and more.