As we come to a close for the year there are several awards that need to be dished out before 2011 can begin. One of which is the title of Essential Mix of The Year, a coveted prize considering the amazing quality of talent who are invited to do sets on Pete Tong’s show.

To try and decide who should initially make the shortlist, Pete and the Essential Mix production team looked at all the two-hour mixes broadcast between January 1st and December 11th 2010 and narrowed the nominees down to a mere ten names.Â The mixes that made the shortlist were the ones that “used the two hours to full effect, taking the listener on a creative, coherent, flowing musical journey”.

The ultimate winner is chosen by the fans themselves so I have decided to help you guys out a bit, I have rounded up and uploaded all ten essential mixes for your downloading pleasure (it took an absolute age by the way, 1.6GB worth of audio!). I tried uploading the mixes in one big .rar file but it didn’t really work, sorry! The artist name is a link to the audio download, the tracklist link directs to the BBC website. If there is trouble streaming then please don’t blame me, it’s free hosting from Usershare so it’s bound to be unreliable, the download links definitely work though!

My only request is that you then vote on the official page once your have made your decision, and then you come back and tell us who you voted for in the comments section! The most popular mix will be broadcast in full at 3am on Christmas morning. Good luck choosing a winner!

Please retweet and share this post as much as possible please, and without further adieu here are the ten nominees:



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Four Tet – Tracklist

A proper musical journey which joins the dots between jazz, dubstep, house, techno and more without ever losing its flow.

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Jack Beats – Tracklist

A big, bouncing mix from the kings of wobble. Clipped beats and throbbing basslines rumble underneath bleeps and vocals.

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James Zabiela – Tracklist

A lush soundscape which cleverly weaves in, and takes inspiration from, Duncan Jones’ movie Moon.

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John 00 Fleming – Tracklist

An homage to the roots of dark room trance-out music. John masterfully blends melodies and keys, adding live synths along the way.

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Magnetic Man – Tracklist

A future facing dubstep blueprint from the celebrated supergroup which caused a huge stir when it was first broadcast in the summer.

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Nero – Tracklist

An epic mix of dubstep, drum & bass, house and techno by one of the BBC’s Sound of 2011 artists. Its a deep and dark soundtrack full of menace and melancholy from beginning to end.

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Netsky – Tracklist

A deep and soulful drum & bass mix with slick quick fire mixing and bags of energy.

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Pendulum – Tracklist

The biggest drum and bass band in the world used all their live know-how to put together an epic set that runs through tempos and genres without ever stalling.

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Swedish House Mafia @ Creamfields – Tracklist

A blockbusting festival set from the biggest dance trio of 2010. This essential mix captured The Swedish House Mafia’s infectious energy in the red hot atmosphere of their own arena at Creamfields in August.

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Wolfgang Gartner – Tracklist

A high octane mix which manages to cram in over sixty tunes without ever sounding crowded or losing its direction.

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