Running time: 1hr 06mins
Date: 04/12/2011
01. Digitalism - Encore
02. Jean Jacques Smoothie - 2people (DCUP Remix)
03. Maya Jane Coles - What They Say
04. Lifelike feat. Yota & Namebrand - Love Emulator
05. The D.O.T.- Word Crime
06. Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo
07. Raven - I Come From
08. Resketch - Freefall
09. TRC - Oo Aa Ee (Royal-T Remix)
10. The Streets - Has It Come To This (Joker Remix)
11. Sketch & Joyce Muniz - Malicia
12. Diplo & Datsik - Pick Your Poison
13. Julio Bashmore - Battle For Middle You
14. Volta Bureau - Alley Cat
15. Azealia Banks - 212
16. Morgan Page, Sultan, Ned Shepard & BT - In The Air (Mord Fustang Remix)
17. Falty DL - My Friends
18. Roof Light - Street Level
19. The Streets - It’s Too Late (Large Joints Remix)
20. Joker - Tron
21. Mutt - Art Of Forgetting
22. Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix)
23. Bjork - All Is Full Of Love (Chris SU Remix)
24. Deadmau5 - Not Exactly
Mike Skinner surely needs no introduction. In 2001, after slogging away as part of a three-piece for the best part of the ’90s, he released ‘Has It Come to This?’, a motion blurred combination of UK garage and stream-of-consciousness rapping that captured the UK at the turn of the decade like few other tracks did. UK garage had become the UK’s – and specifically London’s – pop music, with Kiss FM ruling the legal airwaves, but nothing before ‘Has It Come to This?’, the faded life story of a dark-eyed raver from Birmingham, had really sounded like it. The next year, he released his debut album, Original Pirate Material, and a star was born.
The years that followed were mixed; Skinner himself would probably admit that. His second album, A Grand Don’t Come for Free, was acclaimed by many as his best work yet, reaching number one in the UK album charts, but despite some glowing moments (‘Never Went to Church’, in particular), third album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living didn’t live up to the high standards set by the other two. Regardless, its these inconsistencies that make Skinner one of Britain’s most fascinating and relatable pop stars – that and the fact that he’s always repped for the underground, even at the height of his popularity drafting in radio-unfriendly MCs like D Double E, Kano and Bruza for remixes.
And so we have his FACT mix. We’ve never seen Skinner DJ, but it’s no surprise that he’s good at it: the mixing’s swift and tight, and as you might expect, he rolls through a selection of house and garage before indulging in some newer cuts from TRC, Joy Orbison, Julio Bashmore and Joker, and naturally, closing on jungle..
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