In some sort of vague attempt to make up for the lack of a Ctrl:Alt:TheBeat recording for you this week, I was going to give you some classic Nextmen shizzle as the next in my Mixtape Madness series. Then as if to taunt me, another spanner was thrown in the works when the mix I was going to point you at was taken down so at short notice I’ve selected another for you, and it’s an absolute corker.

To be frank, I’d be slightly surprised if you didn’t know Coldcut /  Journeys by DJ – 70 Minutes of Madness, as it’s probably one of the most influential mixes of the last 20 years, spawning many imitators but to my mind, never being beaten.

Looking at the track list it seems almost wilfully schizophrenic, covering genres as from dub, drum & bass, house, techno, hip-hop, poetry, experimental electronica, jazzed up breaks and Dr Who, but somehow Ninja Tune founding fathers Matt Black and Jonathan More manage to not only make it work, but also raise it to an artform, with the tracks forming an almost continuous whole shifting between moods and styles effortlessly. It really is that good.

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