I'll definintely check out a few of those. I dont have all that many essential mixes, i was more active listening to mixes in the Breezeblock era. I have a load of those to recommend, but more importantly the site: themixingbowl.org. Its a torrent site that has all kinds of mixes (essential, solid steel, breezeblock, one world, the basement, etc). It used to be the definitive site for high profile DJs, but i dont know how many still seed the old mixes. But any more recent big artists you'll definitely find. A great thing is that most mixes have tracklisting, which is always a good bonus. As an example of what you can find; I recently downloaded a Prodigy Experience tour concert from '93 there. Afaik, it's archive has over 60K mixes, though most probably dont have seeders any more. An example of listed mixes/seeders: A search for Deadmau5, gives ca. 120 mixes, whereof about 80 have seeders.
PS. It's perfectly legal.
A list of mixes that you should download from that site: + Show Spoiler +
Bomb The Bass, Breezeblock, 2001-04-30
Amon Tobin, Breezeblock, i dont have a date
Dr. Dre, '86 In The Mix!, young Dre totally wrecking the turntables
Fat City Allstars, Breezeblock, 2000-05-01
The Herbaliser, Breezeblock, no date
Kid Koala, Breezeblock, no date (amazing)
Liam Howlett (Of the Prodigy), breezeblock, no date
Mr. Scruff, Breezeblock, no date
RJD2, Breezeblock, no date
Portishead, breezeblock, no date
Roots Manuva, Breezeblock, 2001-07-16 (amazing)
Trentemøller, Poker Flat Recordings, 2009-06-06 (amazing)
UNKLE vs. Scratch Perverts, breezeblock, no date (amazing)
You must change OP to add John "00" Fleming's Mix of 02-12-10, Im not sure how many people like the Psytrance/J00F sound, but its technically one of the best mixes I have ever heard. Plus how can you not love John when he is passionately giving his all, once of the nicest and best DJ's in the history of EDM I would argue. I think it was the first playing of this badboy:
And also - Above & Beyond's first Essential Mix of 06-06-2004 is seen by many as one of the highlights of their career - and one of the very best trance mixes on the show ever. Highlights for me are the Brian Eno v Thomas Newman Intro, with vocal sampling:
I can't provide links because I only have downloaded files, and those have since died.
I listen to the Essential Mix every session, even if its not a genre I am associated with, hearing top talents from different fields showcase their work is an EDM dream.
The essential mix is how I first got into some of these bands and the reason why I am going to see Magnetic Man and Nero next month, if any I highly recommend both of their essential mix and also Netsky :D
Edit: I use the term bands loosely for lack of another word
The essential mix is just the best radio show ever.
My all time favorite 2000-10-29 - Dave Clarke His style might be a bit hard, but daaaaamn the guy is just so good <3
A few I especially remember 2006-04-09 - Tiga 2006-10-15 - Trentemøller 2009-09-19 - James Talk 2010-02-13 - John '00' Fleming
On September 09 2011 19:07 resilve wrote: You must change OP to add John "00" Fleming's Mix of 02-12-10, Im not sure how many people like the Psytrance/J00F sound, but its technically one of the best mixes I have ever heard.
I have to agree, Trance usually doesn't do much for me, but THAT was really really good.
Avicii write up added. Made an extra recommendation section for everything suggested in the thread that I haven't had time to listen to yet. Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'm working on listening to all of them, and constantly updating the thread at the same time.
great thread im definitely gonna check some of those out. Another thing i like to listen to besides BBC is ASOT (a state of trance) a weekly armin van buuren radio gig, they are really very good. An old one i really like is the 2008 yearmix, its very chill and i love listening to it while playing starcraft or just as background music, give it a go. Oh and dont fast foward the intro , its the best part. The first ten minutes are amazng and it gets even better.
I used to listen to ASOT a lot. Ever since i got into the more technical genres of electronic music I can't listen to that much trance though, I still enjoy the songs, but I can't listen to more than a couple trance songs in a row without getting bored of it.
Just added a write up for the recent Brookes Brothers mix, I've had it for a week and been listening to it over and over, absolutely amazing dnb, next write up either Basement Jaxx, Justice or one of the new ones I'll be listening to today.
Justice's and Wolfgang Gartner's Essential Mixes are absolutely beast I think I listened to Pendulum's 2010 EM for a month straight as their last album came out. Such a crazy set with some exploration you just never get bored.
as far as other shows go:
pretty much all of Mark Sherry's Outburst Radio Show (202 is a personal favorite)
Tone Diary 150 was sick.
oh and by far: Sander Van Doorn's set @ UMF for ASOT500. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
On September 09 2011 22:01 Mano wrote: I used to listen to ASOT a lot. Ever since i got into the more technical genres of electronic music I can't listen to that much trance though, I still enjoy the songs, but I can't listen to more than a couple trance songs in a row without getting bored of it.
I have the same problem, listened to ASOT and TATW religiously for years. I find that only psytrance and tech stuff give me the breakdowns and emotions that trance used to provide pre-2005.
Not saying anyting against the genre, its a personal issue if anything!
A lot of the DJ´s that have their stuff played on the various di.fm channels are also quite good. They may not be known to everybody but always deliver. Two I would recommend particularly are D´James (especially for his Filthy-Mixes, they rock !) and Vixro Otherwise the grand- or yearmixes of Ben Liebrand have always been worth it.
EPT
im definitely gonna check some of those out. Another thing i like to listen to besides BBC is ASOT (a state of trance) a weekly armin van buuren radio gig, they are really very good. 
