September Collective Collaborative Blog: Favorite Boiler Room Sets

Boiler Room is an online music broadcasting platform streaming hundreds of live music sets from around the globe. ​For the September edition of the collaborative blog, members of the collective discuss their all-time favorite Boiler Room DJ sets, ranging from g-funk to minimal wave electronica.

Lolo's Picks

Artist: Dam-Funk
City: Los Angeles, CA
Year: 2015
Honestly. What is not to absolutely LOVE about this BR set? It’s not even a ‘set’, it’s just like getting high and chillin’ with Dam-Funk: boogie/electro funk and super good vibes creator extraordinaire (not to mention a marvelous musician himself). In this set, arguably the best “Boiler Room Collections” (cuz there’s no interview, just Dam-Funk and his lovely presence and fave records), Dam-Funk sits in his home studio with walls of records from god-knows-where and takes you on an amazing journey of some super hi-vibe boogie funk from largely the 70s and 80s. Bumpin’ bass, singin’ keys, wearing sunglasses in the basement. Seriously — take an hour and a half, sit down with your friends in a small cute living room (or your bedroom) and throw this on and watch the sun move. You won’t regret it.

Artist: Traxx
City: Dekmantel Festival, Amsterdam, NL
Year: 2013
Traxx is some deep altered state-inducing shit. Traxx (aka Melvin Oliphant III) is, in my humble opinion, one of the key leaders of the dark outsider techno world who runs Nation Records based out of Chicago, and this BR set highlights their incredible skills beautifully.

When I say dark outsider techno, you may not really know what I mean. I’m not talking empty boomp-boomp-boomp-boomp (though Derrick Carter has a pretty nice track with that name)—this is some dark magic wizard shit that will make your eyes bend into each other if you flow with it hard enough. This is trance out, lose yourself, cast a spell sort of music for a dark dank sweaty basement with like a billion other cosmic bodies surrounding you. Not for the faint of heart.

One of the deepest pleasures of this BR set is something you already know if you’ve seen Traxx DJ in person before. What makes Traxx so special as a DJ is that they get so deep into the music they’re DJing. In this set you get to watch the incredible states of mind you Traxx moves through as their DJ set goes on — witness them move through ecstasy, amazement, wonder, excitement, etc. This depth of DJing is a major aspect of the way that Traxx does their thing, and what makes them a DJ not to miss if they come to your town.

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Parisa's Pick

Artist: Nightmares on Wax
City: London
Year Recorded: 2013
There’s a reason why this is one of the most viewed Boiler Room sets. George Evelyn, aka Nightmares on Wax, is one of those OG electronic/hip hop producers that manages to keep his sound completely innovate and fresh while staying rooted in his signature old-school style. This set is a stellar mix of original and sampled chill-out hip hop and downtempo electronica seamlessly combined into one cohesive, intelligent mix. Evelyn proves here that he is a true master of transitions. Check out that godly transition at 20 min. in from Quadron’s “LFT” remix to “Nautilus”...you would never even know that those were two totally different songs. The fluidity of this set results in a natural groove with sunshine vibes that’s perfect for creating a laid-back, day chillin’ atmosphere with your friends. And, despite what the awful crowd behind him might have you think (f u, David Guetta), you can also very well get down to this mix at times and bust out your best b-boy moves.
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Artist: Kaytranada
City: Montreal
Year Recorded: 2013
There are two aspects of why this particular Boiler Room is a must-watch: 
1). It’s a great display of the versatility of Kaytranada’s music and mixing skills. You get some of his moody, ethereal remixes (i.e. “Move Love” - Robert Glasper remix at 0:45) to the hard-hitting dance bangers (i.e. “If” - Janet Jackson remix at 28:36, a personal favorite of mine).
2). This is, hands down, thee best Boiler Room to watch for crowd interactions. For forty minutes, you get the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at a club and watch all the amazing, cringey, and obnoxious interactions that go down as the night progresses. You witness everything from guys getting rejected on the dance floor, to an obsessive camera whore, to a dude appearing from nowhere with a PBR wizard staff, and more. I highly recommend watching this with your friends and adding your own commentary as if it were a BBC documentary on human interactions and mating strategies.
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Artist: Gaslamp Killer
City: London
Year Recorded: 2014
This set exemplifies why The Gaslamp Killer is and will always be my favorite DJ of all time. This Boiler Room (and all of GLK’s mixes, really) is a cinematic journey through time around the world. You’ll hear everything from 60s Thai funk to brazzy rap to glitchy IDM to neo-psychedelia jams and beyond. I always leave a GLK set with a new passion for a genre that I have never heard of and might have otherwise never been introduced to if it weren’t for his obsessive record collecting. I also love how this mix challenges the listener to explore all of these oddities and rarities rather than resorting to standard club mixes, but by the end it doesn’t feel like a challenge at all. He presents these various genres in a way that has us realizing the unifying, ecstatic spirit that all music carries. And on top of that all, homie looks like a mad scientist when he’s doing his thing live. You can’t help but get hyped when you see someone getting that into their set. If you dig this video, I recommend looking up Boiler Rooms from other friends of the LA Low End Theory family, such as LEFTO and Free the Robots (and you can check out an interview I did with Free The Robots here). ​
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Jasper's Picks

Artist: Container
City: London
Year Recorded: 2013
This live set isn’t too much different than most of Container’s studio output, which is not to say that it’s anything less that great. What makes this a great set to me is that there are people dancing… at a Boiler Room set. That doesn’t happen too often and is just goes to show the inescapable energy in Container’s music.

Artist: SØS Gunver Ryberg
City: Berlin
Year Recorded: 2014
SØS Gunver Ryberg, and this set in particular, has been a huge inspiration to me in my own work. This set is capital-P perfect. Polished, dynamic, hard hitting, textured - everything techno can be. It’s worth a close listen. Several close listens even. SØS Gunver Ryberg has done music in lots of settings for lots of projects, including several fantastic video game soundtracks, but this set has its hooks in me. I’ve listened to it at least a dozen times, and it’s fresh to me. I can’t recommend it enough

Artist: Karen Gwyer
City: London
Year Recorded: 2013
Shouldn’t be a surprise to see Karen Gwyer on one of my lists. I love the way her tracks take their time, roll in the sheets, stretch their arms and yawn, until before you know it, you are in bed with them too. This isn’t music to chew speed and gnash your jaw to death to, but it will make you move in different, more subtle ways. Put it on at sunrise. Or sunset. See what happens.

Kit's Pick

Artist: Veronica Vasicka
City Dekmantel Festival, Amsterdam, NL
Year Recorded: 2016
This is my favorite boiler room set because it’s appropriate for any occasion: you can chill to it, you can dance to it. When people come over and there’s an awkward silence, I always put it on. The only thing better than her beats are her eyebrows.

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