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The Woodweaver (AKA The Tight White Grape) gave DJ Lurk a portable Sony DAT recorder once upon a time. He still has it, actually. Lining out from his mixer, DJ Lurk would pray to Pete Tong and press record, and get busy with a maximum time limit of 2 hours — exactly the length of a Radio 1 Essential Mix broadcast. This effort brought forth 13 DJ Lurk Essential Mixes, 95% of which are ranging through the Stacks of Wax. The pops and skips from vinyl, as well as a number of horrendous beat matches, are part of the learning process. It is damn difficult not to get an hour or so into recording, fuck something up, and decide to start over. Here are the EMs from the Parlour in chronological order:

December 14, 2000: Nagasaki Badger

Download: DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys 12-14-00

This was supposed to be just a test of recording for two hours on to the DAT. Kept it.

August 13, 2001: You Need More Experience

Download: 2001-08-13 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordy

This was the first iteration of choosing a sample to start out the mix. DJ Lurk found this one on a pair of DJ-only battle scratch records, and it is superb. Rolling it on top of the excellent Spirit Mix of his favorite Depeche Mode song of all time, Just Can’t Get Enough, is just magical.

December 30, 2001: When We Think Back On This (And I Know We Will)

Download: 2001-12-30 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

Speeding the mix up seems to be no problem, but slowing it down can wreck a mix. Started slow with The Cure and kept it mellow for quite a while.

January 27, 2002: Iron Hand

Download: 2002-01-27 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

The opposite of the previous mix: start with the king of big club mixes, Junior Vasquez, on a dance floor classic, Shalimar’s “Let the Music Play” and go from there.

February 9, 2002: Good Evening, Music Lovers

Download: 2002-02-09 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

DJ Lurk is a big Craig David fan in the early-oughts. He has no idea where that superb jazz club intro sample came from.

March 31, 2002: FIRE!

Download: 2002-03-31 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordy

Great piece of Beats International remix to start this one out, then it just goes electro-bananas.

July 1, 2002: Finished Symphony

Download: DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys 7-1-02

DJ Lurk attempted to mix ambient tracks for as long as possible with mixed results.

July 28, 2002: Party Alarm

Download: 2002-07-28 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

The antidote to the previous ambience. Straight to what was mislabeled all over the Interwebs as “Blood Rave Mix” because it was made popular in the intro scene to the first Blade movie. Actually, a re-remix of a New Order classic: Confusion.

January 15, 2003: Break You Off

Download: DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys 1-15-03

DJ Lurk back to his hip hop roots.

January 30, 2003: All the Things She Said

Download: DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys 1-30-03

On a contemporary compilation, DJ Lurk put the speed up on an existing Tatu remix and THEN compiled it because it sounded so much better. Started with that and went all over the place.

February 25, 2003: Just Blaze

Download: 2003-02-25 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

DJ Lurk luuuurves those hip hop beats.

July 26, 2003: Long Ago, When the World Was Young

Download: 2003-07-26 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

Sample from an old children’s Snow Queen record. One of the first songs he remembers hearing on the radio, losing who it was, and finding it again years later: Rupert Holmes “The Escape” or, as you know it, “The Pina Colada Song”.

August 1, 2003: Now You Will Receive Us!

Download: 2003-08-01 DJ Lurk essential mix live@Mordys

Ever a fan of Boondock Saints, DJ Lurk custom sampled the courtroom scene to lay the foundation for some Dancin’ Danny D produced D-Mob covering “That’s the Way of the World”. A love letter to house music over the decades.