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Jodi - Bag A Dub Mixtape 2026
Who wants to hear a mixtape featuring 24 of my own songs that I have produced?
At the start of 2026 I began to go through all my finished songs and I put together a studio-mix, which I have now published and named, Bag A Dub Mixtape 2026.
I am enthusiastic about this mix for many reasons that might not be obvious, and in an effort to have a presence within the scene, I wanted to share more content about my mix, and artistry, here on my Jodi The DJ Blog.
I produce music for the love of the practice, the art form of music production brings joy to my heart.
To look at the track-listing of this mixtape is special because I have a relationship with all the songs, a fun experience. Each song is a piece of the adventure I have been on, re-assembled to make sense in a particular order, and new meaning.
In this mixtape, most of the music is coming from 2021-2022, however the overall collection of songs is from 2019-2025.
Reflecting through playback of the mix, I can also hear how my own production has gone two steps backwards in certain aspects of my proven capability, and as equally it has excelled 10 steps forward in other areas, with such examples as; the improved consistency to my tonal balance, the modulation I am using (or not using), and my ability to render a variety of styles and sub-genres of Drum & Bass music.
To have 24 of my own songs in a mixtape means I had ‘as many’ songs that were auditioned from the record box, that did not make the final playlist, and so it is a personal achievement for myself that there is a wide spread diversity in my own song writing. I tried to make such a mixtape with other genres that I make - such as House, Dubstep, Garage, and or Hip Hop - but I did not have enough finished songs to curate a fluid mix, never mind a journey mix, because I had smaller stock piles to build from. However the volume of choice I had with my own produced D&B was what enabled me to find an interesting and fluent selection for the Bag A Dub Mixtape 2026.
Only 4 out of the 24 songs are externally mastered and what was deeply rewarding about putting together this mixtape was seeing those RGB’s in Rekord Box and noting aloud a verbal bass-positive ‘uh’ - as seen in full ‘HD’ below.
I am humbled by my own practice to reach the standard of being able to put together a 60 minute DJ set with 24 of my own songs.
When I started producing as a teenager, the idea of being able to play a DJ set of primarily my own music, and make it sound ‘good’ was - to me - a quintessential hallmark of what made a Dance Music artist, and therefore ‘DJ’.
A producer first, a DJ second.
Outside of the competitive underground UK Bass scene that I was raised in there are many other hallmarks that can indicate success as a DJ, but from where I learned, the stripes were earned in a higher ranking when one could rock a DJ set with their own music.
Growing up I listened to the likes of DJ Hazard, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, and Chase & Status, who were all artists that could play a relatively exclusive selection of their own songs and have people hooting and hollering for the track-listings, only to find out a few release schedules later that 80-90% of the set was their own music. So for me to have delivered an aim in this direction, feels like a hard earned stability in my own ability, which now makes for a new foundation to take aim from once again.
In the Bag A Dub Mixtape 2026, not only was I able to exclusively demo my own songs, but I was also able to axe songs from the mix, as well as put aside songs that I have made that I want to sit on, or develop deeper. I also got inspiration and new ideas for songs I left out or had writer’s block on, as the practice of DJing them revealed truths about the songs I was no longer able to hear in a typical play back scenario.
Another reason I am deeply enthusiastic about this mix is all the songs I have featured, I would feel confident about playing in a club. The mix kicks-off with a heavy standard that could step up to a prime time DJ slot, before heading off on an adventure of subgenres of Drum & Bass.
Another fanatical, personal, favourite-enthusiasm about this mixtape is that this ‘studio-mix’ selection sounds like the way that I DJ. To be clear, it is a studio-mix, and not literally DJ’ed by me, which is a shame, but to the point the mix’s song selection is what makes it a journey mix, providing an adventure, and with or with out my own songs, this is the level of performance quality that I bring as a ‘journey DJ’.
The range of music in this mix is something I can stand tall upon, and while there are sub-genre patterns of Drum & Bass selection, each chapter of the mix contains a diversity within sub-genres, meaning that there is a wide range of styles in the mix. For example, songs like ‘Toy Machine’ and ‘Melancholy’ are both Liquid D&B songs, while likewise unique, if not entirely different from one another.
It would have been fun to record this as a DJ mix, rather than put it together in a DAW as a studio-mix, but if I had not let go of perfectionism and radically accepted I did not have access to adequate recording equipment… then perhaps this mix and idea, and all the songs included, would have remained muted, collecting dust on my hard-drive(s), only to be alive with in my mind.
So what next?
My plan for the mix is to of course, share it, dwell on it, take in any feedback about songs that would favour them for a release.
My goal for this year is to launch my own record label and imprint Jodi The DJ Recordings.
I have a release schedule in mind that I could launch from this mixtape, and plenty of material and passion to feature and follow up with more content, in the future.
I am enthusiastic about my label because the fruition of this mix came at my own time and hands. I do not feel pressured by the scene, social media, or a label, to do anything, and this is the best part, because I do this for the love.
If you have enjoyed the Bag A Dub Mixtape 2026, I would be keen to hear from you, and to know where you are listening from?
Likewise, what songs that you would like to hear on a release for my forthcoming imprint Jodi The DJ Recordings?
Peace - Jodi
@jodithedj
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