Mat Zo Outdoes Himself, Delivers an Essential Mix for the Ages (Stream + Download)

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:

1. Let’s Hear That B Section Again – Andrew Bayer
2. Tiny Anthem – The M Machine
3. Defiant Order by Birdy Nam Nam 
4. Honeymoon by DJ Falcon
5. Helix (Gesaffelstein Remix) – Justice
6. Only For You (Album Mix) – Mat Zo ft. Rachel Collier
7. Rendev-vous – Spirit Catcher
8. Baby Come Back – Kill Paris
9. MYB – Oliver
10. In Love With You – The Paradise
11. Forme (Guy J PM Mix) – Gill Norris
12. Moth – Burial & Four Tet
13. The Giver – Duke Dumont
14. Burnin’ – Daft Punk
15. Giving It All Up – Mat Zo
16. The Game – Filterheadz
17. Ich R U (Jacques Lu Cont Remix) – Boys Noize
18. Sinai – Iman Bluestone
19. Luma – The M Machine
20. Pyramid Scheme (Club Mix) – Mat Zo (ft. Chuck D)
21. The Darkest Star (James Holden Remix) – Depeche Mode
22. I Refuse – Netsky 
23. Moving Fast (June Miller Remix) – Enei  
24. Caller ID – Mat Zo 
25. Trilogique (Mat Zo Essential Mix Edit) – Airwave
26. Mechanical – Oliver
27. Blueprint – Stoneface & Terminal 
28. Karmma – John Dish 
29. Wakanda – Dimitry Vegas & Like Mike
30. Oh Yeah – Darryl Green & Xendo
31. Put Your Hands Up For Detroit – Fedde Le Grand
32. Dozer vs Put Your Hands Up For Detroit – Fedde Le Grand vs. Sander van Doorn
33. Without You Near (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) by Markus Schulz ft. Departure
34. Tonight (Botnek Remix) – Felix Cartal ft. Maja Ivarsonn
35. We Belong – Ferry Corsten
36. Offshore – Chicane
37. A Break In The Clouds – James Holden
38. Nothing Matters (Original Club Mix) (ft. Skin) – Mark Knight 
39. Song In My Head (Revixed Mix) – Marco V
40. Slam The Door – Zedd 
41. Monkey See Monkey Do (Re-Edit) – Tommy Trash 
42. By Any Demand – Sander Van Doorn (ft. MC Pryme)
43. Feels Like Home (Marco V Dub) (ft. Dino) – Meck 
44. Refrost – Cid Inc. 
45. Melody in Harmony – Roul & Doors
46. The Bass – Sander van Doorn
47. Sorrow (Theme From The Gladiator) – Mat Zo 
48. Could This Be – Noisia
49. Leaving Earth – Stoneface & Terminal
50. Taito vs. Every Day of My Life (Acapella) – Mord Fustang & Dajai
51. Dushi (Slap The Bass Remix) – Crookers 
52. Flirt (Club Mix) vs. Your First Time (Acapella) – John Dahlback (ft. Terri B)
53. Frequency Flyer – Mat Zo 
54. Easy – Porter Robinson & Mat Zo 
55. Easy  (Reprise) – Mat Zo 
56. Aerodynamic – Daft Punk  
57. Mighty Love (Instrumental) – Eric Prydz 
58. What You Want (Nozaeita Remix) vs. Aerodynamic – Boys Noize & Daft Punk
59. Xpander (12″ Remastered Version) – Sasha
60. Lilith’s Club – Noisia
61. The Funk – Alex Kenji
62. Higher State of Consciousness (Marco V Remix) – Wink
63. On Edge – Pig & Dan
64. Bird Is The Word vs. Rockafella Skank (Acapella) – Norin & Rad vs. Fatboy Slim
65. E Samba – Junior Jack 
66. A Brief Interlude – Andrew Bayer
67. Hurricane (Album Mix) (ft. Eyes That Lie) – Mat Zo
68. Fall Into Dreams (Album Mix) (ft. Pete Josef) – Mat Zo

 

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