My Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1, originally aired Aug 2018. Here it is without the radio drops.

I’m usually not much of a preplanned mix person, I massively prefer playing to a crowd and interacting with the atmosphere. Combine that with the extremely not insignificant fact that this is one of the most important and longest running mix series around, this was quite a challenge!

I spent a long time gathering these 40 songs and playing with the arrangement (even made a couple new edits). I included songs that have been staples in my sets, plus old favorites from before I was a DJ. Eternal shouts to Nathan Micay, Aurora Halal, Overmono, E-Talking and Koehler for letting me include your dope as hell unreleased new music (plus two unreleased songs from myself). 

The last song is by Oakland band Them Are Us Too and this mix is dedicated to those who lost their lives in a diy music space a year and a half ago. Your music and love lives on. FUCK technocrat capitalist greed in the bay. One of Ghost Ship’s spiritual predecessors, Ghost Town in Oakland, was one of the first gigs I ever played, back in 2011 right around the time when I was realizing that I loved making music and DJing. 

If someone told me then that I’d eventually make an Essential Mix and be touring around the world, I’d be incredulously curious to see just how that would unfold. It’s been wild. Thank you to everyone who has listened and danced with me since then. 

recorded on two cdjs and an xdj, xone 92 & extra help from the teil1 delay and blue sky reverb

Avalon Emerson Essential Mix

Just a ✨Sparkle Queen✨ living in her ✨Sparkle Palace✨     ✨💖✨

https://avalonemerson.com/andthecharm

Now one of dance music’s most respected DJs, Avalon Emerson first made a name for herself in the storied warehouse scene of her birthplace, San Francisco, before relocating to Berlin in 2013. Over a decade of performances at the famed Berghain led to appearances at numerous festivals around the world which all cemented Emerson, and her evocative, genre- and decade-spanning sets, as perennially in demand. 

In 2020, she released her first full-length collection: a contribution to the longrunning DJ-Kicks series (which Resident Advisor described as “The sound of a well-honed DJ at the top of her game.”), nestled alongside a steady stream of remix releases for the likes of Four Tet, Slowdive, Robyn and more.

Next up was 2023’s Avalon Emerson & The Charm, an instant classic which saw Emerson exploring her singing voice and more traditional songwriting outside of the boundaries of her dance music work.  Created after a move to New York, the resulting & The Charm album was released to critical acclaim, landing on numerous critics’ best-of-the-year lists.

The stage is now set, then, for her to carve out a wholly unique path, and with the help of new label home and indie giant, Dead Oceans, Emerson is poised to connect her various musical endeavors to create an untouchably rich output of material. First up is Perpetual Emotion Machine, consisting of songs created for her DJ sets, delivered via a living, evolving project and announced ahead of her worldwide tour.