There's good, and then there's great. And then there's essential. Steve Bug and his Poker Flat label, which is over fifteen years old now, are perennials in house and techno. Bug, German by birth, attained this canonical status through the sheer will of groove and melody, and his debut MIXED BY makes it look easy.

"We never want to go with the next big thing. We don't want to try to impress people with the newest artists who are super-hyped," Bug told THUMP last year. "We'd rather release music that has a timeless feel to it, rather than whatever is hip right now."

Lucky for Bug, house and techno are probably more hip than they've ever been, and his academic understanding of the history of club culture gushes from the speakers with every kick.

The mix features Poker Flat artists like Tim Engelhardt, Joeski, and Bug himself, before dropping cuts from Seth Troxler, Ten Ven, and Poker Flat alumni Josh Wink. With thirteen tracks in one hour, it shows you don't need to set off fireworks every minute to keep the crowd moving.

"I want to make people happy with the music that I like," says Bug. "I'd rather drown in my own sound than survive by doing something I don't really feel."

01 Tim Engelhardt - Isa - Poker Flat Recordings
02 &lez - Resall - Visile Records
03 Maurice Aymard - Air (Pezzner’s Shallow Mix) - Galaktika Records
04 Steve Bug - Pants On Fire - Poker Flat Recordings
05 Ten Ven - When I Met You - Noir 
06 Atjazz - Fox Tooth - Local Talk
07 Joeski - Come On - Poker Flat Recordings
08 And ID - Live Life - Mobilee
09 Seth Troxler - CZ - Tuskegee 
10 Josh Wink - Denial (Tweak Dub) - Ovum
11 Hyenah - Tale From The Dirt feat Aquarius Heaven - Freerange
12 Oxia - Just More - Saved

MIXED BY Steve Bug

The electronic music & culture channel from VICE.