Over the last couple of months, we've been whittling hundreds (possibly thousands) of the year's mixes down to a list of just ten. There's so much we could have included from excellent DJs all around the world, but our final selection features the mixes that resonated most with our staff. These are the sessions we returned to again and again, the streams that turned into something as important as albums in our collective consciousness.

Our best mixes of 2023 run the gamut of styles and contexts, from ambient collaging and recordings of standout sets at beloved festivals like Houghton and Organik to carefully considered sonic journeys like Kia's psytrance-techno odyssey. What ties them all together is an uncommon ear for blending sounds and songs, and uncovering new meaning and ideas from existing material. In other words? It's the art of DJing.

Mix of the Year

Kia - Dekmantel Podcast 440

This two-hour journey showcases the multicolour brilliance of Kia's style. Back in 2020, the Melbourne-raised, Berlin-based DJ explained her meticulous approach to stitching together studio mixes: "I'm always trying to tell a story, or try[ing] to portray a specific theme." For this edition of Dekmantel's mix series, Kia demonstrates exactly what techno storytelling looks like for her. The DJ, who was also one of RA's Breaking Through artists this year, turns in deep, sometimes sticky selections—peaks of warbly, quick-footed techno and valleys of pointillist IDM and ambient.

The sound of her Animalia label, and Melbourne's psytrance scene, emerges through delayed vocals, the thrum of a dense sonic rainforest and bubbling trance. The deepness is at times obliterating, like when the radioactive synths lash out on Skee Mask's "448." Other times, the mix grows pensive and hazy, like when Laslo's "The Shuttle (Ghost Warrior Remix)" mists over like the opening theme of a '90s mystery show. And wrapped up in the rattling low-end of tracks like Gent1e $oul & Cubemod's "Recurve Bow," Kia's Dekmantel Podcast—our favourite mix of the year—sounds best played on a nice subwoofer. -Kiana Mickles

Malibu - DJ Mag Recognise

Malibu (AKA dj lostboi) received more votes in our staff poll than any other artist, which might be surprising given that she's not really a DJ in the traditional sense. But we could have picked any of the French artist's sets this year—her NTS show United In Flames comes highly recommended—though this DJ Mag set feels extra special. As usual, she layers her own vocals and effects over a variety of ambient-leaning tracks ranging from Bladee to Chicane to Peter Gabriel (who features twice). DJing ambient music is never easy, but Malibu takes an especially open-minded yet considered approach, bringing together artists and tracks that most people would never think of in the same breath. -Andrew Ryce

Devoye - Juanita's Mix 086

When a DJ is born and raised in New York, you can usually hear it in how they work behind the decks. Devoye puts together records with the measured sultriness of someone who has been surrounded by house music his entire life. He calls his contribution to Juanita's mix series an experience modelled after having sex on shrooms. He certainly takes us to a higher place, weaving breathy female vocals and twittering house through tunnels of heaving techno. It all comes to a convulsing climax with Barbara Brown's "Dammelo," where whispered vocals are swept up in a windstorm of jacking techno, only to see the light in the occasional breeze of bittersweet house chords. -Kiana Mickles

Sugar Free - DIM 276

You're about to read a paragraph on Sugar Free's exquisite mix for Dimensions Festival—but really, these four words nail the vibe: "ID on this monster??" Comments like this litter the SoundCloud page, left by vinyl nerds desperate for a slice of the action. Most will fail in their quest because these records are rare. They're also brilliantly funky and sleazy, each just different enough from the last to give the mix a palette of tones and textures without ever breaking the flow. Not an easy balance to master. -Carlos Hawthorn

Danielle - live at Organik

Taiwan festival Organik provides an enviable canvas for any DJ: the windswept foothills of Baisha Bay, black sand beaches sitting below hills of verdant trees. Among the 30 recordings shared from this year's festival, Danielle's is a highlight. It's a three-hour foray through delicate, spectral and trippy-yet-gritty selections, evocative of its dramatic sunset backdrop. And though it's a tribute to an old-school style of techno, it never leans too heavily on nostalgia. Danielle is an alumnus of two fabled UK record stores—Phonica and Idle Hands—and the breadth and depth of her musical knowledge is especially clear here, during the year in which she debuted not just in Asia but also at Panorama Bar and Houghton. -Bella Aquilina

MJK - ITPS094

MJK is fast gaining a reputation as a frighteningly good DJ. Throughout 2023, his concoction of classic dubstep, grime and pummelling techno has been turning London dance floors upside down. He made his fabric debut, landed a Rinse FM residency and made a hotly tipped EP with Skee Mask. Another highlight was this mix for Ilian Tape's podcast series. It sets off with sludgy dub soundscapes, progressing onto dreamy breakbeat before his signature brew of broken low-end wobblers reaches boiling point. But it's his trademark fader chops, bass swaps and mind-bending three-deck blends that really seal the deal. It serves as a good introduction to a DJ you'll probably be hearing a lot more about in 2024. -Fahad Akinsanya

Jade Seatle - BSU069

It might sound cliché, but Jade Seatle is the best DJ you may never have heard of. She's a regular at festivals like Field Maneuvers and Freerotation, counts Panorama Bar on her CV and runs a party with Jane Fitz. Despite all of this, she keeps a low profile. This is equally true of her mixes, which makes her entry for the Butter Side Up series essential listening. For 90 minutes, Seatle plays with the tension between eerie, crawling techno and the starry-eyed optimism of vintage progressive house. While there are plenty of DJs playing both these styles right now, Seatle weaves them together in a surprisingly intuitive way, never opting to go too far in the shadows nor allow for that full serotonin release. It's a seamless blend of the sinister and the funky from a DJ in a league of her own. -Henry Ivry

Lakuti - fabric podcast 018 (Pride 2023)

This year it seemed like Lakuti was touring more than ever—and in more locations than ever—embraced by a renewed, global queer dance music scene she helped lay the foundations for. The success is well-deserved, but it's not because she did anything differently. Rather, it's because everyone else is finally catching up to her. This Pride-themed mix for fabric bottles the extended, almost tantric pleasure of Lakuti's extended house and disco sets into less than an hour of pressure-cooking joy. At certain points—like when she drops The Clark Sisters' "Overdose Of The Holy Ghost"—it seems like the mix is heading off the rails in a paroxysm of ecstasy, but she always pull things back into line for another melodic gem to make way. A master of mixing unquantized music, Lakuti channels the earliest and most important DJs in queer history. -Andrew Ryce

DJ Heartstring - AVA x Boiler Room

If this year has revealed anything, it's that Berlin-based duo DJ Heartstring are dance music's it-boy iconoclasts, and that there's still plenty of fun to be had in a scene that often takes itself too seriously. Cruising briskly around 150 BPM, their live Boiler Room set from AVA Festival boasts a bulk of original productions (made with other talk-of-the-town collaborators like X CLUB. and Narciss). The duo zip through the glistening palaces of trance and Eurodance with sped-up teenybopper-esque vocals, pumping basslines and lurid synths aplenty. In recent years Eurodance has been reduced to punchlines and side eyes, but there's always an appetite for euphoria and well-timed nostalgia. It just takes a pair brazen enough to lean in. -Whitney Wei

Hamish & Toby - Houghton 2023

If 2022 was the year when Houghton's future felt like it was in the balance after Covid-19 and freak weather, 2023 was a well-deserved victory lap. And what better duo to soundtrack that celebration than two of the UK's best house DJs, Hamish & Toby? This mix is a four-hour recording from their opening set on the Friday afternoon. It's the perfect mixture of '90s dance music at its deepest and funkiest, touching on everything from tech house and breakbeat to hip-house and UK garage. Most of these tunes are un-Shazamable, but the vibe isn't pretentious. Instead, it's like your best mate—who knows how to mix perfectly—playing you their favourite tunes. Plus, when they drop Mood II Swing's classic "Ooh" in the home stretch, it feels just that little bit sweeter that you can finally ID a track. -Henry Ivry