Just when you thought that Eric Prydz’s Essential Mix last week couldn’t be topped, everybody’s favorite genre-bending, tracksuit-wearing Brit unleashed a 70-track masterpiece on BBC’s Radio 1 to turn heads everywhere.
Calling it somewhat of an ‘experimental process’, Mat Zo took to Pete Tong’s renowned Friday night radio show and broke barriers, seemingly reaching into a hat and picking a different genre with every track, whether it was nu disco, drum & bass, tech house, trance, electro house and so on.
After all, he did once say in an interview, “This whole genres business is like the Berlin wall, and I’m there with a forklift and a wrecking ball”. On Friday night, there really wasn’t a sub-genre left untouched. At the end of the 120 minutes, Mat Zo left us all more musically diverse, hearing noteworthy tracks released far before the acronym ‘EDM’ was even created.
A Mat Zo DJ set leaves you that ‘Wait, did he really just play that?’ feeling on a regular basis, and while the majority of the tracks he played aren’t what you’d normally hear during Zo’s sets, he kept the audience guessing and pushed the envelope. Dropping anywhere from Duke Dumont’s spectacular deep house track ‘The Giver’ to new Birdy Nam Nam release ‘Defiant Order’ to drum & bass guru Netsky’s ‘I Refuse’, Zo covered all of the bases and then some. He hit the classics too, tracks like Chicane’s ‘Offshore’ and The Paradise’s ‘In Love With You’, to name a few.
While he was all over the place (in a good way), it was also refreshing to hear songs that reflected Mat Zo’s roots in trance. Iman Bluestone’s ‘Sinai’, Stoneface & Terminal’s ‘Leaving Earth’, two beautiful selections, both found their way into this stellar Essential Mix.
Just after the 32-minute mark, he dropped a new funk-fueled production he’s thrown into recent sets named ‘Pyramid Scheme (Club Mix)’ with vocals any casual music fan should surely recognize.
As a rather bizarre sidenote, the mix was also frequently laced with words from famed astronomer Carl Sagan, which after being edited, sounded something like a possessed James Earl Jones.
One favorite instance of mine that left me in awe occurred near the end: after dropping ‘Easy’, his chart-topping collab with fellow young gun Porter Robinson, he played a downright nasty reprise of the track, then going into Daft Punk’s legendary hit ‘Aerodynamic’ with a segue into Eric Prydz’s ‘Mighty Love’, one of my all-time favorites. Glorious.
Bringing the tempo down a notch for good, Mr. Zohar soon ended the mix with three unreleased tracks off forthcoming albums – Andrew Bayer’s ‘A Brief Interlude’ and Mat Zo’s own ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Fall Into Dreams’, complete with serene vocals. The latter two were simply outstanding – filled with emotion and different from anything else that is out there – making me chomp at the bit for their releases.
From the looks of it, his first album (for which there’s no release date yet) could very well put the ‘music’ into electronic dance music, something Zedd did wonderfully last October with ‘Clarity’, for example.
But then again, the L.A. resident is as unpredictable as they come, one of the many qualities that makes him one of the world’s most underrated DJs. His comfort behind the decks would make even some of the genre’s biggest moguls jealous and his skills in the studio can’t be overlooked either. While he doesn’t put out tracks as often as one might hope, Zo makes it worth the wait.
All in all, Mat Zo’s Essential Mix kicked off his sure to be special 2013 campaign in proper fashion, knocking the task out of the park and playing a bipolar, captivating and flat out ridiculous mix for the masses.
Take a bow, Mat. Well done.
Mat Zo Essential Mix Tracklist:
- Let’s Hear That B Section Again – Andrew Bayer
- Tiny Anthem – The M Machine
- Defiant Order by Birdy Nam Nam
- Honeymoon by DJ Falcon
- Helix (Gesaffelstein Remix) – Justice
- Only For You (Album Mix) – Mat Zo ft. Rachel Collier
- Rendev-vous – Spirit Catcher
- Baby Come Back – Kill Paris
- MYB – Oliver
- In Love With You – The Paradise
- Forme (Guy J PM Mix) – Gill Norris
- Moth – Burial & Four Tet
- The Giver – Duke Dumont
- Burnin’ – Daft Punk
- Giving It All Up – Mat Zo
- The Game – Filterheadz
- Ich R U (Jacques Lu Cont Remix) – Boys Noize
- Sinai – Iman Bluestone
- Luma – The M Machine
- Pyramid Scheme (Club Mix) – Mat Zo (ft. Chuck D)
- The Darkest Star (James Holden Remix) – Depeche Mode
- I Refuse – Netsky
- Moving Fast (June Miller Remix) – Enei
- Caller ID – Mat Zo
- Trilogique (Mat Zo Essential Mix Edit) – Airwave
- Mechanical – Oliver
- Blueprint – Stoneface & Terminal
- Karmma – John Dish
- Wakanda – Dimitry Vegas & Like Mike
- Oh Yeah – Darryl Green & Xendo
- Put Your Hands Up For Detroit – Fedde Le Grand
- Dozer vs Put Your Hands Up For Detroit – Fedde Le Grand vs. Sander van Doorn
- Without You Near (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) by Markus Schulz ft. Departure
- Tonight (Botnek Remix) – Felix Cartal ft. Maja Ivarsonn
- We Belong – Ferry Corsten
- Offshore – Chicane
- A Break In The Clouds – James Holden
- Nothing Matters (Original Club Mix) (ft. Skin) – Mark Knight
- Song In My Head (Revixed Mix) – Marco V
- Slam The Door – Zedd
- Monkey See Monkey Do (Re-Edit) – Tommy Trash
- By Any Demand – Sander Van Doorn (ft. MC Pryme)
- Feels Like Home (Marco V Dub) (ft. Dino) – Meck
- Refrost – Cid Inc.
- Melody in Harmony – Roul & Doors
- The Bass – Sander van Doorn
- Sorrow (Theme From The Gladiator) – Mat Zo
- Could This Be – Noisia
- Leaving Earth – Stoneface & Terminal
- Taito vs. Every Day of My Life (Acapella) – Mord Fustang & Dajai
- Dushi (Slap The Bass Remix) – Crookers
- Flirt (Club Mix) vs. Your First Time (Acapella) – John Dahlback (ft. Terri B)
- Frequency Flyer – Mat Zo
- Easy – Porter Robinson & Mat Zo
- Easy (Reprise) – Mat Zo
- Aerodynamic – Daft Punk
- Mighty Love (Instrumental) – Eric Prydz
- What You Want (Nozaeita Remix) vs. Aerodynamic – Boys Noize & Daft Punk
- Xpander (12″ Remastered Version) – Sasha
- Lilith’s Club – Noisia
- The Funk – Alex Kenji
- Higher State of Consciousness (Marco V Remix) – Wink
- On Edge – Pig & Dan
- Bird Is The Word vs. Rockafella Skank (Acapella) – Norin & Rad vs. Fatboy Slim
- E Samba – Junior Jack
- A Brief Interlude – Andrew Bayer
- Hurricane (Album Mix) (ft. Eyes That Lie) – Mat Zo
- Fall Into Dreams (Album Mix) (ft. Pete Josef) – Mat Zo
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