(House, Tech House, Electronic) VA - Southern Fried & Tested 4 - mixed by Doorly [ECB370CD] - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

“A dream came true for me in around 2007 when I won a DJ mix competition for Southern Fried and got to play at one of their parties with Norm & Armand Van Helden, still to this day one of the best moments of my career and the start of a beautiful friendship with the label.”

Following in the footsteps of Mighty Dub Katz, Cagedbaby and The 2 Bears, DJ and producer Doorly has mixed the fourth instalment of Southern Fried & Tested, Southern Fried Records’ compilation series in which selected artists mix up tracks from the label’s vast back catalogue. The mix features plenty of exclusive tracks as well as some forgotten gems and stone cold classics.

Brit Doorly has proved something of a sensation in recent years, emerging from being a resident at his own party in Huddersfield into an internationally recognised pin-up of the EDM generation who plays across the world on a non-stop basis. He has collaborated with everyone from Grandmaster Flash to Beardyman, hosts his own show on Rinse.FM and is known to be a technically advanced DJ who has also toured with the Southern Fried boss, been Usher’s Tour DJ and is head of his own eclectic label, Pigeonhole This. Says Doorly of the new mix:

“Anybody that knew me in my early days of DJing 14 years ago will be able to tell you that my main inspiration as a DJ was Norman Cook and I used to buy Southern Fried Records on vinyl without even needing to listen to them because I trusted them so much. Tracks like ‘Mighty Dub Katz – Let The Drums Speak’ and ‘Markus Nicolai – Bushes’… ooooof! “

“Fast forward to now and I’m honoured to be able to release my own music on Southern Fried in great company with some artists I hugely respect and am inspired by with the likes of The 2 bears, Maribou State, Chicken Lips and Justin Jay as my contemporaries to name a few. So it is with great excitement, pride and passion that I bring you this mix compilation. I am a fan boy of the label so having full access to the back catalogue and some of its rarest obscurities was an absolute holiday for me and I hope this comes across over the 2 CDs.”

The mix is split into two halves – the first disc is full-on main room club fare and is packed with exclusive new tunes from DJ Touche, Doorly & Rory Lyons, Avec featuring Scissor Sisters man Jake Shears with their Disappearer track as well as some special Doorly edits of producers like Armand van Helden and Spork. Each one packs a punch and fits perfectly into the overall, genre-definat picture. Stitched together typically seamlessly by the man who works for Pioneer as a Pro-DJ, there are often more than two records playing at once and it makes for energetic, charismatic listening with hands in the air moments perfectly segued into twitchy house and molten acid drops.

Disc two offers a more emotional and deeper take on house, garage and tech with contemporary stars like Danny Daze and Waze & Odyssey popping up next to legends like Chicken Lips – whose All That You Do tune is as big now as it was upon first release – and dub cuts from Ashley Beedle. From the pinging kicks of Knight & Dahe’s It’s Coming to the choppy pianos of Mighty Dub Katz’s Guaguanco, it’s an arresting ride.

Expertly layered throughout with subtle loops, scorching acapellas and label favourites, Fried & Tested 4 is an expert overview of both this label and the modern electronic music scene by one of the most talented in the game.