A decade after topping the BBC’s Sound Of 2009 poll, Little Boots’ music sounds fresher than ever. Now a globally successful DJ, Little Boots tells us about the seven tracks she knows will take off, wherever and whenever she plays them.
Little Boots’ trademark blend of classic disco, house and techno has earned her the respect of Thump, Bugged Out, Mixmag, and of course BBC Radio. Her DJ sets are renowned for being eclectic, and they often feature obscure remixes and bootlegs. Appropriately, her Lucky Seven choices include tracks that span multiple genres and decades.
Columbus Circle – If You Read My Mind [Elektra]
I first discovered this track at a special disco set by John Talbot at Primavera festival a few years ago. The tent was rammed and he just playing straight-up really great disco, most of which I’d never heard before. I managed to find the track afterwards and opened a Mixmag Lab set with it – it’s always a great start to a set.
Hercules & Love Affair – My House [Moshi Moshi Records]
I am a huge fan of Hercules and have worked with Andy Butler on my own music, we have so much fun in the studio together. He is a brilliant DJ as well as a producer and I think you can hear this in all the Hercules records. They always work so well in the club as well as on your headphones. They always have a real sexiness and sass in the beats and bassline and great vocal hooks. It was hard to choose but this is one of my favourites.
Farley Jackmaster Funk & Jessie Saunders ft. Darryl Pandy – Love Can’t Turn Around [London Records]
I’m a huge fan of old Chicago house and always a fan of a big vocals so this track has to be up there. It’s such a classic. The way the a capella opens then kicks into the stabs and baseline never fails to make an impact. I remember playing it in the basement of Dalston Superstore a couple of years ago and everyone went crazy.
Maya Jane Coles – Everything [I/AM/ME]
The comparative lack of female DJs still gets me a little frustrated but it’s good to have someone as talented as Maya Jane Coles flying the flag as one of the top DJs in the world right now. Her sets are always unique and her sound isn’t like anything else around at the minute. She has a great ear for melody and chooses really interesting collaborators like Karin Park and Kim Ann Foxman. I played her debut album Comfort to death, and this was one of its singles.
Sister Sledge – Lost in Music (Dimitri From Paris Edit) [Not On Label/Bootleg]
I love all things disco and my set is usually packed with edits and bootlegs I’ve hunted down. Dimitri from Paris is one of the masters and this has to top his collection. The opening string riff cuts through everything that’s going on in a room. I played this at Space in Ibiza when I curated one of the rooms and pretty sure we stole a lot of the more serious crowd over with this one!
Lil Tony vs Lumidee – Uh Oh Semble (Dilzel’s Version Boot) [Not On Label/Bootleg]
This track is hard to find, as Little Boots herself says. She plays it towards the end of this mix:
I am obsessed with Lumidee’s song ‘Uh Oh’ from the early 2000s and was looking for an edit to play, this is more of a mash up which I first heard in a live mix by Jackmaster. It’s pretty hard to track down a good quality version but it still always hits the spot.
Little Boots – Get Things Done (Psychemagik Remix) [Dim Mak Records]
I’ve been a big fan of Psychemagik for a while and been to many London parties where they played, so it was fantastic to get a remix for one of the singles from my recent album. It’s the trademark Psychemagik psychedelic disco sound that has made their edits of classics like Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’ absolutely legendary.