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MAK & PASTEMAN TURN IN A CELEBRATORY EXCLUSIVE MIX: LISTEN

It caps off a stellar year for the Leeds-based duo...

Mak & Pasteman capped a busy 2016 by dropping their final release of the year with the ‘Function/Reflect’ EP on their own Materials label last week (Friday 9th December).

Previous releases of the last 12 months have landed through Unknown to the Unknown and Lobsterboy Records, and on their latest the Leeds-based duo have dropped two cuts of driving techno.

To celebrate the end of a stellar year, Mak & Pasteman have turned in an exclusive mix for DJ Mag that shows exactly where the pair are at in the booth right now, working through tracks from Boddika & Joy O, DJ Deep & Traumer, Tessela, Youandewan and Radio Slave, before concluding with both tracks from their Materials release.

Listen to Mak & Pasteman’s exclusive mix below, and read their Q&A below the stream.

First dance music song you loved?

Mak “Prodigy ‘No Good Start The Dance‘.”

Pasteman “Promised Land ‘Joe Smooth’. I came from a soul background so in my formative years the uplifting classics always resonated with me.”

First club you went to?

Mak “Beyond Beach Babylon. The north‘s finest.”

Pasteman “Liquid Envy. Trance in the main room, dutty R&B jams in second, generally followed by a scrap in the street at closing time and a mixed kebab on the way home.”

First label you loved?

Mak “Bedrock. I bought a t-shirt and used to wear it everyday.”

Pasteman “Probably Circulation. I always remember being about 13 or 14 and buying every colour I could find at the time. I think this love was surpassed when I heard DMZ001 though, that love still runs deep.”

First piece of tech you bought?

Mak “Kam belt drive. Studio wise a Korg MS200. I took it to get repaired and the guy disappeared, so if anyone knows a northern guy doing synth repairs in Bradford, please let me know!”

Pasteman “Had to be my first set of decks and mixer. Kam belt drives! If you could mix on those, you could mix on anything.”

First DJ you worshipped?

Mak “Cant remember his name but a local DJ who was like 10 years older than us guys. He had the records, the scratch moves and a residency at Beyond Beach Babylon. He was as good as DJ Sy anyway.”

Pasteman “Tough one, I really loved Masters at Work growing up. The breadth in production, extended sets and mixed vibes were always so fresh and interesting.”

First club you played in?

Mak “Beyond Beach Babylon, played on the same night as Ray Kieth and Grooverider. Me and Octane B2B, we weren’t bad I don’t think.”

Pasteman “My first proper set was at Wire in Leeds for Bigger Than Barry. I was pretty nervous but once the first mix clicked that was it.”

First wax you bought?

Mak “At 15 hardcore was the sound of the northern kids, so I think it was some hard bouncy techno! The first big tune I really pushed hard to find was Double 99 RIP groove. Heard it on the radio in 96/97 and almost ripped my pants running to the store. They didn’t have any copies but found a block of hash on a pile of flyers so it wasn’t a wasted trip.”

Pasteman “I got a lot of wax from my brother who had loads of Jungle and my dads collection was about 20,000 deep. The first record I brought I think was Timo Maas ‘Riding on a Storm/Trichter Music’ on BUSH.”

First band you saw?

Pasteman “I used to go and see a lot of soul bands with my Dad as a kid. Womack & Womack, Heatwave, people like that.”

First apartment you lived in?

Mak “No such thing as apartments where I grew up. Was a 2 bed flat with 5 mates. Some were AWOL and some were just hiding out. Crazy times.”

Pasteman “Probably my flat in Brixton. I always lived in shared houses before that.”

First vinyl shop you loved?

Mak “Fulcrum in Huddersfield. Ran by Eddie Scratch! Really nerve racking as a teen going in there.”

Pasteman “As I recall it was called Groove Records in Peterborough. Loads of house imports. Was cool as fuck, very helpful geezer on the counter who showed me loads of stuff before you could hear it on the net like now.”

First car you owned?

Mak “Cant drive, always been driven!”

Pasteman “VW Polo Mk3. Badboy little whip, tuned it up and used to love that car. In hindsight it was a piece of shit but I thought my JL Audio subs were sick!”

First London club you loved?

Pasteman “Fabric. It was always a dream to play there. The first time I went I saw Modeselektor and everything about it blew me away! So happy it's re-opening! It's such an important place for our culture.”

First album you played ten times over?

Mak “Goldie ‘Timeless’. I’ve played it more than 100 times.”

Pasteman “Nas ‘Illmatic’.”

First time you went to Ibiza?

Mak “2004 I think. Just finished college, went for 3 nights, didn’t sleep and fell in love on a beach!

Pasteman “I went pretty late, about 2012 when me and Craig first played together out there at Ibiza Rocks.”

Rob McCallum is DJ Mag’s deputy digital editor. Follow him on Twitter here.