Rave Breaks Are Making a Comeback Using Social Media

I couldn’t have been happier a couple weeks ago when I was checking out the TrackItDown breakbeat top 100, and lone behold, half of the top 20 breakbeat tracks were classified as rave breaks. I got into electronic music in the early 90s when groups like Acen were churning out warehouse bangers like Window in the Sky and Trip II the Moon. The Illegal Rave compilations were another favourite of the time and groups like Hackney Hardcore and Urban Hype were belting out classic rave anthems like Trip to Trumpton, all well before the classic trance anthems of the late 90s.

So when I saw new artists like E-Lab Rat and Northbase resurrecting the classic rave breaks that I grew up with, I couldn’t wait to put together a set. And here it is. Oldschool rave breaks interwoven with new hardcore breaks and phat dubstep basslines. This mix is intense. Is you have a pacemaker, you should probably change the batteries before going any further.

Using different strategies provided by the agency they were working with from https://the-indexer.com/, they were able to get more people checking out their stuff than ever before. As it turns out, there were quite a few things they could have been doing to get more visibility, and unfortunately without them their talent was going unnoticed. Thankfully they’ve done something about sooner rather than later, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

(Did I mention that everything Blazer touches turns to gold?)

dj Smiley Mike Badass Rave Breaks Throwdown

Will Atkinson & Darkboy – Darker Shades of Black (Blazer Remix)
Sketi – Cladocera (Blazer Remix)
Blazer – Skill Cypher
Quadrat Beat – BlackJack (Blazer Remix)
Brian Cameron – Seratonin Syndrome (Eshericks Remix)
Wizard & Ivory – Jack in a Box (Specimen A Remix)
HardNoise – Breakaway (Blazer Remix)
Northbase – Hallow 808
Northbase – Acid Flashback
601 – Blackout
Northbase – Ruffneck
DaVIP – Brick (Imetic Remix)
Wizard & Ivory – Jack in a Box (Aquasky Remix)
Northbase – Fright Night
RadioKillaZ – The Cholo
E-Lab Rat – Ambitious (Electrux Remix)
E-Lab Rat – 3 Bad Rats (Ben Venom Remix)

dj Smiley Mike Electro House Mix

4 Strings – Rise Again
4 Strings – Cheesecake
Bassjackers & Angger Dimas – RIA
Deadmau5 – Sometimes Maths Gets Complicated (Ryan Enzed Bootleg)
Filo & Peri – Subzero
Gareth Emery – Tokyo
Melleefresh – Intuition (Darth & Vader Mix)
Nicky Romero – Toulouse
Niels van Gogh vs. Emilio Verdez – Beatrocker
Omnia & Ira – The Fusion (Armin van Buuren’s Intro Edit)
Sander van Doorn – Drink to Get Drunk (Extended Mix)
4 Strings – Cheescake
Avicii – Sweet Dreams (Gregory Klosman Remix)
Avicii – Sweet Dreams (Cazzette Meet at Night Mix)

Wish Yourself Away
An Upward Journey to Felicity

This week I started out with 38 tracks all competing for a spot in my hour long set. After thinning and thinning, and then thinning some more, I was left with 16 freaking amazing tracks that could be thinned out, no more. This set starts out at a throbbing progressive pace and slowly builds to an all out jaw smashing climax.

Volume on 11 please.

Caddyshack dropped some killer tracks too, but I was too busy launching this Wish Your Chores Away Contest to write down anything he played :)

dj Smiley Mike Super Badass Jaw-Smashing Trance Mix


Freq – The Moon & the Earth
Mental Force – Lost Angels
Philter – ID
Krama – The Lighthouse
Day Din – Sync Yourself (Krama Remix)
ID – ID
Krama – Restless Tides
ID – ID
Cyber Motion – Airborne
John ’00′ Fleming – Fight the Darkness (feat. Sascha Cooper)
John ’00′ Fleming – Frisson
Yahel – ID
ID – ID
ID – ID
ID – ID (dj Smiley Mike Dubstep Mashup)
Yahel – Soul (KamaSutrance Remix)

I know the tracklist is a bit sparse this week. It must be the old school DJ in me… Hit me up on the Trancendance Facebook page if you’re just dying to know one of those missing tracks and maybe I’ll be a little less elusive. After all, I gave away a ton of classic gems in last week’s tracklist ;)

This one will be posted on Soundcloud soon…

My Best Trance Anthems
Visual Attack Formation Mix

So I started going through my vinyl collection yesterday. I used to do it all the time. Now it only happens once a year, if that. Anyways, I came across a ton of rare white labels and test pressings, started looking up tracks on discogs and seeing if anything was available on iTunes. There were lots of bootlegs and test pressings that just aren’t available from the digital stores, but it inspired this trance anthem mix.

dj Smiley Mike Trance Anthem Mix


Natious – Arisen [2000 - Forward Recordings]
Natious – Lift [2001 - Bluestone Records]
Ashley Wallbridge – Jynx [2011 - AVA Recordings]
Rank 1 – LED (Let there be Light) (Extended Mix) [2009 - High Contrast Recordings]
Ali Wilson – Pandora [2010 - In Charge]
Jonas Stenberg – Trademark [2010 - Musical Madness]
Rank 1 – Symfo (Sunrise Festival 2009 theme) [2009 - High Contrast Recordings]
Claudia Cazacu – Quatrain 4 [2010 - Reset Records]
Push – Universal Nation (Easton Remix) [1998/2008 - Bonzai Music]
Nick Sentience – Below Zero [2011]
Sandstorm – The Return Of Nothing [1999 - Blueplate Records]
The Hague – Crank [?]
Push – Universal Nation (Guy Mearns Remix) [1998/2008 - Bonzai Music]
Jochen Miller – Red One (Extended Mix) [2009 - High Contrast Recordings]
Marcel Woods – Tomorrow (Dub Mix) [2010 - High Contrast Recordings]

Wow, a lot of those were more recent than I thought… Who knew I was so current ;)

dj Caddyshack Epic Trance Mix

Gareth Emery feat. Brute Force – Arrival (Ashley Wallbridge Intro Mix)
John O’Callaghan & Giuseppe Ottavianni – Ride the Wave
Mark Knight vs. Florence and the Machine – You’ve Got the Love
Nari & Milani – Kendo
Marcus Schossow – Acid, Festival, Champagne & B!tches
Kernkraft 400 – Zombienation (Chris Schweizer Bootleg Mix)
Tiesto & Hardwell feat Adele – Zero 76 in the Deep (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Bootleg)
Grace – Not Over Yet (Max Graham vs. Protculture Remix)
Rank 1 – Breathing (Breaks Dub)
Woody van Eyden & Steve Anderson – Everything’s Twisted (Woody van Eyden Mix)
Rebecca & Fiona – Bullets (Nause & Adrian Lux Club Mix)
Koer – Reactor (Rodrigo Diaz Remix)

Plus there’s part of the DJ Taucher Atlantis Non-stop Megamix from 1997!

Hard Dance Mayhem with Guyver Wragg and Log:one

Last week’s show was just a warm up for this! If you like hard dance, you’re not going to want to miss this episode. dj Smiley Mike puts the spotlight on Guyver. Guyver is Guy Mearns who hit the scene in 2002 with Man On The Moon and has been releasing dance-floor smashers ever since, mainly on Tidy Trax and Tidy Two. He’s gone by a few other names, most notably The Riot Brothers which released Flashback / Guyver Unit, a favourite that I still have on vinyl somewhere.

Caddyshack had actually planned out a set this week, but just couldn’t make it through my set without throwing it all out and putting together his own Hard Dance set for the second half of the show. His set features Wragg & Log:One. Wragg is Toby Veale and Log:One is James Logan. They caught our attention soon after they hit the scene around 2008 with tracks primarily released on iHDS and Atmosphere Records UK.

And if you get all tingly when you hear some dubstep dropped in where you least expect it, you’re going to love the second half of Cadyshack’s set. Especially the Bashy & Napt track right at the end that throws things right back to the days of Pump up the Jam by Technotronic. Let’s be honest, where you even born in 1989? ;)

dj Smiley Mike Hard Dance Mix

Fausto & Tommy Pulse – Meloncholika (Wragg & Log:One Remix)
Technikal & Marc French – Mad & Confused (Guyver Remix)
Costa Pantazis & Guyver – Providence
Guyver – Differences
Guyver – Man on the Moon
Technikal & Guyver – Rushin’ (Original Mix)
Kris Mclauchlan ft. Guyver – Gridlock’d
Guyver – Trapped
Technikal & Guyver – Rushin’ (P.H.A.T.T. Remix)
Dark Matter ft. Missing Jem – Sweet Dreams (Fabio Stein’s Dying Viao Remix)
Phil Reynolds & Ben Bennet – Progress (Adrenaline Dept. Remix)
Phil Reynolds – Global Takeover
Toryn D – Trip to Trumpton
Luca Antolini – Moments in Noise
Luca Antolini – Poison (Original Extended Mix)

dj Caddyshack Hard Dance Mix

Wragg & Log:One – Enemies of the Earth
DJ Husband – Real Life (Wragg & Log:One Remix)
Guyver – You’ll Know It (Wragg & Log:One Remix)
Force 9 – Boomin’ (Wragg & Log:One Remix)
Rye Rye feat. Robyn – Never Will Be Mine (Kill the Noise Remix)
Andy Farley & Base Graffiti – No More
Phil York & Dark By Design – Electric Cabaret (ShockForce Mix)
Kevin Energy & Proteus – The Number 6 (ShockForce Mix)
Josh Wink – Higher State of Conciousness (Vinylgroover & The Hed Hed Mix)
Hanuman Tribe – Muscle Step (Beatman & Ludmilla Remix)
Paul Maddox – Endangered (Wragg & Log:One Remix)
Bashy & Napt – Make My Day (Speciman A Remix)

The Digicult Mix
Full on Psytrance

I’m a bit late posting this set, but it’s been a long time coming as I’ve had a few reminders of requests for some Digicult. So here it is! In addition to several Digicult tracks, there’s several by Lamat, another favorite who’s tracks seem to fit quite well.

dj Smiley Mik Full On Psytrance Mix


Digicult & U-Recken – Days in Space
Digicult – Star Travel
F.F.T – Frequency Request (Lamat Remix)
Synsun & Kamasutrance – The Key (Lamat Remix)
Lamat – Mass Control
Digicult – Icarus One (Lamat Remix)
Digicult – The Zen Mind
Hunab Tech & Antigravity – Accidental Overdose
Ephedrix & Aquila – 10 Miles Out (Lamat Remix)
Ephedrix – Mexican Wave (Lamat Remix)
Laughing Buddha & Lucas – Binary Bonanza
Laughing Buddha – Space Race
Digicult & Fatali – The Return
Digicult & U-Recken – Into the Heartland
Mickey Noise – Miniballistic

I got lazy and didn’t write down Caddyshack’s set this week. It’s summer. It’s tqaken me a week even to get this posted :)