As 2012 winds to a close, it’s becoming safer to speak in superlatives with regard to the past year. That being said, I can venture to say that the best single DJ performance that I witnessed in 2012 was a roughly 5 hour set from German House moguls M.A.N.D.Y. at Chicago’s Spy Bar. For those not familiar M.A.N.D.Y. is comprised of longtime friends Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung. Their achievements in underground dance music over the last decade are massive. As the co-owners of the venerable Get Physical recordings (along with DJ T and Booka Shade), they have the firepower to throw down an extended set of fresh, forward-thinking, and often unreleased material. I always find myself enjoying Get Physical releases and the imprint is routinely among the most charted on Resident Advisor and in the underground recesses of Beatport.
I’ve been struggling to find a live set of theirs that lives up to the performance that I witnessed over Labor Day weekend 2012. Thanks to the Junk Department Podcast series, I was able to locate something recent that wins in both sound quality and the same edgy track selection that I was privy to at Spy Bar. This was one of those nights that the DJ’s were so on point that you had to stay until the lights came on, and even then you had to ask where the afterhours party was in order to prolong the experience. It was a night of non-stop underground missiles and this podcast comes very close to replicating one of my favorite nights of 2012. I love the edit of Fabio Gianelli- Maintain [Get Physical] to start things off (especially the Dead Prez vocal sample), I love the track that comes in after that (I am still searching for ID). I love Simon Baker – Hideout (ThermalBear Remix)—a quality release on Sasha’s Last Night on Earth label. Other highlights include Matthias Vogt – Copying the Future (DJ Le Roi Remix) and M.A.N.D.Y- Twisted Sister. Enjoy this superb mix and a couple Get Physical jams that I’ve included as well. Happy holidays, and please support the artists.