I don’t usually post radio shows because most label mix series are just glorified release calendars with a four-on-the-floor stapled underneath, but episode 684 of Spinnin’ Sessions is a decent hour if you treat it for what it is. This is the sound of a major dance label showing its hand, an hour of upcoming and recent Spinnin’ material strung together for people who want the new stuff without doing the digging themselves. The mixing is functional rather than artful, which is fine, because the point is the tracklist not the transitions. What’s useful about something like this is the early warning. Half of what’s on here will be all over festival main stages by summer, so you can hear the trends forming in real time and decide which ones you’ll defend and which you’ll mock in three months. I put it on while cleaning the apartment and it did the job, kept the energy up without demanding my attention. That’s a legitimate use case. It’s not a piece of art and it doesn’t pretend to be, but as a snapshot of where the commercial end of dance music is heading right now, it’s worth an hour. Skip around if you get bored.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.