The Essential Mix is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 01:00 and 03:00 Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, The Essential Mix features contemporary DJs and music producers of electronic dance music.

Background[link]

The Essential Mix is a weekly radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and features all styles of electronic dance music. Originally the brainchild of Eddie Gordon, the producer of the show from the first broadcast in 1993 to 2001. In 1993, after months of receiving weekly mix shows on tape-cassette, featuring New York DJs Tony Humphries WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM and Frankie Knuckles WQHT HOT 97 FM, recorded and mailed religiously by US Billboard's Dance Editor Brian Chin, Eddie advised BBC Radio 1 that a weekly dance mix show with DJs of different genres of music would offer more variety and the chance for the ever burgeoning UK dance music scene to flourish with new emerging DJs as well as the internationally famous. Eddie further encouraged the DJs he scheduled to flex their musical knowledge as the broadcast was not essentially playing to a dance floor but to people listening in their homes all over the world and that a high number of listeners were recording the show on cassette to listen to later. Hence the need for a straight out "4 to the floor" seamless 130bpm mix for 2 hours was not totally necessary so the DJs could include more eclectic music or offer something different from their normal set. DJ Paul Oakenfold particularly grasped the concept and after sitting with Eddie to blueprint his December 1994 Essential Mix produced the now world famous^{[citation needed]} Goa Mix which won a Silver Award in the Specialist Music Programme category at the 1998 Sony Radio Awards^{[citation needed]} and in 2000 was voted the Best ever Essential Mix by the BBC Radio 1 listeners. Then DJ David Holmes in June 1997 created another 2 legendary^{[attribution needed]} hours in the history of the Essential Mix: His set a surprising journey from Nancy Wilson to Jimi Hendrix – redefined the DJ as a collector of musical history.^{[citation needed]} In May 1998, DJ Ashley Beedle, known for his House music style completed a 2 hour Reggae mix to reveal his extensive knowledge of that genre of music and is blogged as the best reggae mix ever broadcast (see link Best Foot Forward^{[clarification needed]}).^{[citation needed]}

The show has been hosted since its conception in 1993 by DJ Pete Tong who was also the first performer, broadcast on 30 October 1993. Every Friday late night/Saturday morning a two hour programme is broadcast, usually between the hours of 1 am and 3 am UK-time (the programme was previously broadcast between Saturday late night/Sunday morning 1 am and 3 am, and before that, between 2 am and 4 am and originally midnight and 2 am). The standard format of the show is an uninterrupted guest mix of two hours provided by an invited DJ, group or producer, introduced by Tong. The mix is usually studio recorded in advance.

Special events[link]

Another Eddie Gordon initiative was to take the show on the road with live broadcasts from clubs or festivals, particularly during the summer months (Northern Hemisphere) and at the New Year's Eve end of the calendar months. The live broadcasts started from within the UK and soon broadened out as live from Ibiza, North America, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Hawaii and other destinations in Europe including Rome in Italy. One special broadcast was the BBC Radio 1 - One World Millennium celebration starting with DJ Carl Cox from Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia (more Eddie Gordon origination^{[clarification needed]}) before heading to Cape Town, South Africa with DJ Danny Rampling prior to broadcasting DJ Dave Pearce from Glasgow, Scotland, DJ Pete Tong from Liverpool, UK then DJ Junior Vasquez from New York, USA before closing with DJ Carl Cox who had flown backwards across the dateline to complete a DJ World first with two Millennium gigs by broadcasting from Honolulu, Hawaii.

The forerunner to this mammoth New Year's Eve Essential Mix was the transatlantic three cities broadcast on the New Year's Eve of 1997 into 1998 with simultaneous broadcasts from three clubs directly to each dance floor with DJ Pete Tong at the Ministry Of Sound, London, UK, DJ Todd Terry at the Nynex Arena in Manchester, UK and finishing with DJ Eddie Baez at the Tunnel venue in Manhattan, New York, USA. Produced by Eddie Gordon who originated the idea of linking the three venues via ISDN broadcast.

The broadcasts from Ibiza have taken place every summer since the first Essential Mix live broadcast from Amnesia. The first ever Essential Mix from Ibiza came in the summer of 1995 Ibiza as a pre-recorded broadcast of Nicky Holloway playing live at Ku (today Privilege) on 2 July 1995.

Overview[link]

The Essential Mix quickly established a strong reputation within the dance music community^{[citation needed]} and has gained prestige both in the UK and internationally.^{[citation needed]} Although Eddie Gordon originally had his work cut out attracting big names to the program due to their busy DJ schedules, he was with determination and a broad knowledge of the big name DJs dance music styles, and the hugely successful live Essential Mix the list of performers now essentially reads as a "who's who of dance music".^{[attribution needed]} The show's success can perhaps be partly attributed to Radio 1's unique ability to offer DJs the chance to play a relatively long set on radio uninterrupted by advertisements, something which cannot be matched by the BBC's commercial rivals (the BBC is funded through TV Licensing). The absence of any kind of interruption in music has led to the show being touted as a "two hour musical journey"^{[attribution needed]} rather than as simply an assortment of records. The show has been used as a platform for artists to showcase their talents, and for some is seen as a major boost to their careers.^{[by whom?]}

Significance[link]

Like all of Radio 1's dance music output, the Essential Mix is seen as significant in its contribution to the popularisation of dance music in the UK.^{[by whom?]} The programme has chartered the development of the dance music genre from 1993 to the present day and shows no sign of losing its influence.^{[citation needed]}

New technologies[link]

The advent of the internet brought the programme to an international audience for the first time (the Radio 1 website launched in 1996). In 2002 the BBC launched their 'listen again' online radio service and the Essential Mix (along with the Essential Selection) became consistently the most popular specialist music show of the whole BBC Radio network amongst internet users.^{[citation needed]} According to BBC server logs, the show receives around 50,000 online requests per week (though this can be significantly higher, with the 2003 Ibiza show attracting more than 96,000 requests), which compares to the show's "live" audience of 80,000.^{[citation needed]} Whilst demand for a podcast of the show is high, the BBC has resisted in making the show available in this way due to copyright issues. The development of peer-to-peer internet technologies spawned a new trend in which fans of the show made recordings of mixes available to users of services such as BitTorrent and eMule.^{[citation needed]} Although illegal, the BBC has taken little action against such activity.^{[original research?]}

However in 2010, Mixriot, a website which hosted stream and download links to past Essential Mix broadcasts dating back to the first ever edition for its members, was asked to remove all its past recordings by production company Somethin' Else due to copyright infringement.^{[citation needed]} The Mixriot website is still live though it has since taken down all Essential Mix broadcasts.

Still many torrent sites and internet forums continue to provide mp3 download links to past shows which can be found easily through internet search engines.^{[citation needed]}

Essential Mix of the Year[link]

At the end of each year, a shortlist of the most popular Essential Mixes from that year is drawn up by the BBC. Listeners are invited to vote for their favourite shortlisted mix in a poll on the Essential Mix web site around two weeks before the final show of the year. The mix with the majority of the votes is given the title of "Essential Mix of the Year" and is replayed in the final show of the year. The exception for the proper nomination of the essential mix of the year award was in 2007 - when voting and competitions were suspended on Radio 1 until further notice.^{[provide some background clarification needed][citation needed]} So for that year, the essential mix of the year (High Contrast) was chosen by Pete Tong and the Radio 1 Essential mix team.

Essential Mixes of the Year^[1]

• 1997 David Holmes 15/06/1997
• 1999 Paul Oakenfold 20/06/1999
• 2000 Dave Clarke 16/01/2000
• 2001 Sander Kleinenberg 10/06/2001
• 2002 Sasha & John Digweed 07/04/2002
• 2004 Above and Beyond 06/06/2004
• 2005 Sasha 22/05/2005
• 2006 Trentemoller 15/10/2006
• 2007 High Contrast 07/10/2007
• 2008 Flying Lotus 29/11/2008
• 2009 Sharam 29/08/2009
• 2010 Swedish House Mafia 04/09/2010
• 2011 Above and Beyond 02/07/2011

See also[link]

• List of Essential Mix episodes

References[link]

External links[link]

• Essential Mix at BBC Programmes
• Essential Mix - Archive - Tracklistings
• Essential Mix - Archive - Tracklistings & Downloads
• Essential Mix - Archive - Tracklistings & Downloads
• Essential Mix - Archive - 2007 to Now - Streaming, Tracklistings & Downloads
• Essential Mix - Archive - 1993-2006 - Tracklistings & Statistics

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Jon Gooch, more commonly known by his stage names Spor and Feed Me, is a drum and bass, electro house and dubstep producer and DJ from Hertfordshire, England.^[1]

Biography[link]

Spor obtained his name from one of the first set of samples he collected, entitled 'Spore Tactics', and a favorite piece of artwork by a friend, Karl Kwasny^{[citation needed]}. However, he soon dropped the "e" from the word to balance the arrangement of letters when displayed in a graffiti style^{[citation needed]}. After a school friend introduced Jon to the world of Drum & Bass he began experimenting with software to create his own music.

Spor attracted the attention of Renegade Hardware's label manager (at the time) Chris Renegade, and secured a deal with the label. Much of his work was released through this label, and soon Jon began DJing sets. He has also released work under the name 'Final Reckoning' with Codex, as well as under the name 'Unicron'. After a successful partnership with Renegade Hardware and Barcode Recordings, and releases with Teebee's Subtitles Recordings, in 2006, Spor and long-term friend Chris Renegade launched Lifted Music and signed music from producers such as Apex, Evol Intent and Ewun & Phace.

On 24 February 2010, Spor released his second double EP, Conquerors and Commoners on the Lifted Music label ^[2]. In an interview with K Magazine, he said the title was inspired by a quote by Harlan Ellison^[3]. The album was well received by drum & bass fans, with two of the tracks from the album ("Halogen" and "Kingdom") being played on Andy C's popular Nightlife 5 mix CD ^[4]. Spor has since then been traversing the globe playing his music at clubs across the world under the Lifted Music guise.

Spor's electro house side project, Feed Me, has also been rather successful. A two track EP has been released under Deadmau5's label, mau5trap, along with a track on Noisia's label as well. He released a second EP under mau5trap on 25 December 2010, titled 'Feed Me's Big Adventure'. It features eight new tracks including both electro house and dubstep. His third EP of four tracks is called 'To the Stars' has been available to the public since 3 June 2011. He released another EP titled 'Feed Me's Escape From Electric Mountain' on 6 February 2012. It features 6 new tracks, with vocals from Hadouken! and Lindsay.

Jon was also involved in a second side project called 'Seventh Stitch', which produced alternative IDM. He worked with another artist called Aker.

He has said he would like to release his debut album in August, 2012.

Discography[link]

Feed Me[link]

Releases[link]

Guest appearances[link]

Production credits[link]

Remixes[link]

Spor and other[link]

• Spor – Pacifica EP (2011) (LFTDUB002D)
• Noisia & Spor – Falling Through (2010) (VSN009)
• Spor – Pacifica (Vocal Mix) (2011) (LFTDUB003)
• Spor – Pacifica (Instrumental Mix) (2011) (LFTDUB002)
• Spor – Halogen (2010) (LFTD009)
• Spor – Kingdom (2010) (LFTD009)
• Spor – Overdue (2010) (LFTD009)
• Spor – Kaori (2010) (LFTD009)
• Spor – Some Other Funk (2009) (LFTD006)
• Spor – Silver Spaceman (2009) (LFTD006)
• Spor – Do Not Shake (2009) (SHA025)
• Spor – Aztec (2009) (SHA025)
• Spor – Claret's March (2008) (LFTD005)
• Spor – Stoppit (2008) (LFT005)
• Spor – Breathe In, Scream Out (2008) (SUBTITLES066)
• Spor – Resolute (2008) (SUBTITLES066)
• Spor – Valentine (2008) (Featuring Baz Abdul) (SUBTITLES066)
• Spor – As Dust Falls (2008) (SUBTITLES066)
• Spor, Apex, Ewun & Evol Intent – Dirge (2008) (LFTD003)
• Spor & Ewun – We Dominate (2008) (LFTD003)
• Spor, Ewun & Evol Intent – Levitate (2008) (LFTD003)
• Spor & Phace – Dying Of The Light (2008) (LFTD003)
• Spor – Supernova (2007) (LFTD002)
• Spor – 103 Degrees (2007) (LFTD002)
• Spor – 1 UP (2007) (LFTD002)
• Spor – The Resistance (2007) (LFTD002)
• Spor – Molehill (2007) (SUB057)
• Spor – Knock You Down (2006) (LFTD001)
• Spor – Hydra (2006) (ZIQ159)
• Spor – Powder Monkey (2006) (SUB055)
• Spor – Ignition (2006) (RH73)
• Spor – Dreadnought (2005) (RH72)
• Spor – The Eyes Have It (2005) (RH72)
• Spor – Lose It (2005) (RH72)
• Spor – To The Death (2005) (RH72)
• Spor – Cyberpunk (2005) (BAR12)
• Spor – Way Of The Samurai (2005) (BARLP01)
• Spor – Alpha Trion (2005) (BARLP01CD)
• Spor – Dante's Inferno (2005) (BAR07)
• Spor – Brickbeats (2005) (BAR08)
• Spor – Haunt Me (2005) (BAR08)
• Spor – Haywire (2004) (RH63)
• Spor – Outbroken (That Track) (2004) (RH62)
• Spor – Nebulous (2004) (RH62CD)
• Spor – Running Man (2004) (NITE002)
• Spor – Insecticide (2004) (TOV67)
• Final Reckoning – A Thousand Worlds (2005) (TOV73)
• Final Reckoning – Ghosthacker (2005) (TOV71)
• Final Reckoning – Nothing Less (2005) (TOV73)
• Unicron – Orion's Five (2005) (TOVLP06)
• Unicron – You Must Believe (2005) (TOV69)
• Spor – Three Ravens (2004) (BAR04)
• Spor – Judderman (2004) (DMIND008)
• Spor – The Whisper (2004) (DMIND008)
• Ewun – Hate Machine (Spor Remix) (Shades of Black LP, Barcode Recordings)
• Infiltrata & Spor – Three Faces (2006) (BAR14)
• Konflict – Messiah (Spor Remix) (2005) (RH65)
• Unknown Error & Spor – Untitled (2006) (SUB057)
• Unknown Error – Shadows (Unicron Remix) (2005) (TOV69)
• The Qemists – Stompbox (Spor Remix) (2007) (ZEN12205)
• Bad Company UK – Bullet Time (Spor Remix) (2009) (BT003)
• Don Diablo & Example – Hooligans (Spor Remix) (2009) (DATA219TP1)
• Two Fingers – That Girl (Spor Remix) (2009) (BD134)
• Noisia – Machine Gun (Spor Remix) (2010) (DIVISION005)
• Hadouken! - Turn The Lights Out (Spor Remix) (2010)

Unreleased^{[citation needed]}

• Fallout – Hesitate (Spor & Toxin Remix)
• Lumidee – Never Leave You (Spor Remix)
• Pendulum – Toxic Shock (Spor Remix)
• Spor – That's That (feat. MC Illy)(Spor Remix)
• Spor – Wretch
• Spor – Blue Girl
• Spor – Electro Funeral
• Spor – Cooka
• Spor – The Origin
• Spor – Deathray
• Spor – Little Change
• Spor – Thugged Out Elves
• Spor – Push Me, Pull You
• Spor - After The Flood
• Spor - Absinthe
• Spor - Bitten
• Spor - Bad Cards
• Spor - Knock You Down VIP

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lifted Music
• Trouble on Vinyl Group
• Spor at Discogs
• Spor at rolldabeats
• Spor at Last.fm