Sometimes you have to look backwards to move forwards. In the case of Maceo Plex’s DJ Kicks mix, it’s case of looking back with a different perspective. While Maceo Plex’s mix is composed mainly of records that are up to 20 years old, it’s the tone of those records that is important. Eric Estornel, to use Plex’s real name, has certainly come up with a forward-thing set that doesn’t sound like much else out there. “The whole mix is very dark,” agrees Estornel. “But it’s very varied as well. It’s really boring to stay one style. If you’re a lover of music, you don’t love one style. I think it’s important to travel through different styles.” The end result is an education, a lesson in how electronic music for the dancefloor is done with intelligence. Crucially, Estornel has re-edited nearly every track on the mix. “Most of the tracks are really old, so they needed freshening up,” he says. “A lot of them were missing percussion, or some other element I thought they could use.” I went through my own stuff and previous DJ Kicks mixes. Y’know, research. I think it is the most important mix series so I wanted to make sure it was music that I really loved and I want to hear in five or ten years time. But isn’t it a bit of a contradiction, trying to bump electronic music out of a retro rut by looking to a different set of old records. Estornel reasons it thus: “A lot of the music on there is old, but basically has the sounds and the type of vibe that I think is missing these days. I went through a lot of new music. I didn’t want to select anything that everyone is playing at the moment and I definitely didn’t want to select anything that was already out on digital. The whole mix is comprised of vinyl only and is not going to be out on digital other than the DJ Kicks mix. To do that I had to go through a lot of new music and a lot of old music, and there wasn’t much new music that I really loved. In time-honoured tradition, the mix contains a massive 10!