Quality from start to finish, great stuff, whelans me b****x

Yeah, good stuff but hardly revelatory. Kills, Cure, Interpol, Franz, Daft Punk, Stone Roses..all the usual suspects.Bit student disco, no??? Best DJ (in a club, radio or otherwise) is Donal Dineen. A genius, if anyone can turn radio-DJing into an artform in itself it's him. He's got me into so much new stuff:The Album Leaf, To Roccoco Rot, Tarwater, Rod, Ulrich Schnauss, Icebreaker, Broken Social Scene, Alias, The Notwist.... Perfect for podcasting.

That isn't an entirely representative set for Erol Alkan. I managed to catch the end of his set at Electric Picnic and was greeted by the site of an entire tent of people completely losing it and having an absolutely great time. I also think merely looking at a playlist does not reflect his carisma and his ability to create a real party atmosphere. As a DJ he doesn't like to be put into any kind of niche, although most people actually think of him as a bootlege DJ, like Soulwax. He was offered large wads of cash to do a "2 many DJs" type album but he turned it down as he doesn't merely wanto be classed a bootleg DJ either. I have a Muzik Magazine mix CD that he did in 2003 and its ace, though definitely mainly Electro oriented. Feast your eyes on this tracklist: 01 Playgroup - Make It Happen (Zongamin Mix) (Edit) 02 Mitsu - Hush 03 Duran Duran - Girls On Film (Night Version) 04 The Faint - The Conductor (Thin White Duke Remix) (Erol Alkan Re-Edit) 05 Codec & Flexor - Crazy Girls Make My Heart Go Boom Boom 06 Headman - It Rough (Chicken Lips Mix) 07 Benny Bennasi / Goldfrapp - Train (Ewan Pearson Dub Mix) / Satisfaction (Acapella) 08 Grand Popo Football Club - Men Are Not Nice Guys (Goldrun Remix) 09 Gillieron and McArthur- Now It's Dark 10 Kiko / Alex Gopher - Italomatic (Kiko & The Hacker Remix) / Party People (Acapella) 11 Ferenc - Yes Sir I Can Hardcore 12 Archigram - Doggystyle 13 Uminski - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger I agree that Donal Dineen is definitely the best Radio DJ and have listened to his show for years discovering great stuff along the way, but I'm not sure if he'd match Erol Alkan as a party DJ. Of course the best of the lot for ripping it up old skool block party style (as opposed to Bloc Party) is still Grandmaster Flash.

Although I have to thank Donal for exposing me to an awful lot of quality music over the years (If he wasn't presenting No Disco when I was an impressionable teenager God know's what I'd be listening to now), he's not the most consistent club DJ in the world. The last time I saw him play Galway he was very poor. He kept playing boring ten minute minimal house records with absolutely no attempt to mix them. I've seen him three times and only once was I impressed and even then I only caught the last fifteen minutes of his set so god knows what he was playing before that. As for Grandmaster Flash he was atrocious at Electric Picnic. He was playing 50 Cent, Beyonce, Nina Sky, all kinds of sh*te. Half the time he wasn't even playing, his roadie was DJing and he was just shouting at the crowd. If you want to check out Flash's natural successor try and catch Dexter from the avalanches. The man's got serious skills (2'nd place in the world DMCs) and last time I saw him his set included everything from Jimi Hendrix, Snoop Dogg, Fischerspooner, Jackson 5, Andy C & Shimion, Missy Elliott, Moondog, Cypress Hill, QOTSA, Bob Marley and Square Pusher to DJ Zinc and it was all pefecly mixed. My personal highlghts were when he kept mixing Aphex Twin's Windowlicker into System Of A Down's Chop Suey and when he had Rick James's Superfreak and the Timo Mass remix of Dooms Night playing at the same time.

DJ Dexter and The Avalanches do indeed rock, but when the hell is that 2nd album ever gonna come out? Flash did do a lot shouting at the crowd and playing a lot of mainstream tunes at electric picnic alright and I would have liked something a slightly more interesting track selection, but he certainly seemed to get the crowd going didn't he? I certainly enjoyed it personally. Isn't that what he basically always aims to do? block party DJ rather than turntable gymnast?

Sorry guys. The Beep, BP Fallon is the man. Accept no substitute.

What about John Peel?

how about DJ Shadow? just got into his stuff recently, 'tis quite amazing, he has this one mix tape, Product Placement its called, really excellent, from Whole Lotta Love to 60s/70s groove, overall... nice!

DJ Shadow is good, but his stuff kinda strikes me as being a bit too downbeat and introspective to be anything other than something you listen to on your own with headphones, unless the mood of that mix is different and more "danceable" than his own material?

its definitely more... eh "groovy" but youre right, most of his stuff is mainly (excellent) headphone listening. Mind you a fewof my friends have seen him play and said it was amazing, very energetic, (how can it not be when he has songs like "Organ Donor" to pull out of the bag). Those gigs though were probably more like "raves" (dont like using that word) than gigs as such. As in a whole lotta people getting off, and just grooving on the music (and visuals). Right i'll stop rambling, Product Placement its definitely worth checking out though.

Guys, guys, guys, how could you forget Larry Gogan???