Now that’s Y-40 - A birthday tribute | Re/Set 03

Sharing music has always been my love language. It earned me my first paychecks as a pre-teen, burning mix CDs in Pakistan for my older cousin. Um, do kids still make each other physical mixtapes? I hope so.

This next Re/Set is a whopping 2-hour birthday mix dedicated to my favorite DJ: Mt. Yusef, i.e. my husband. The reason I started DJing. A quiet legend who turns into a force of nature when dropped into his element. Two hours for four decades of life, sound, and the man who taught me how to rave with my whole chest. I just kept spinning until I got the most important songs in. My back hurts, but my heart is pleased. It is an electro, techno, and indie dance heavy mix.

Why listen?

I fell in love with electronic music because of Yusef. He cracked open a whole new music world within me. He introduced me to techno, a genre born the same place and time I was. So many electronica artists I admire are thanks to him, like:

Green Velvet. Gesaffelstein. Deborah De Luca. MSTRKRFT.  ANNA. Destructo. Boys Noize... also, he really deepened my love for Justice and The Chemical Brothers by showing me their brain-altering live shows.

Yusef walked me through this world like I was a baby raver seeing color for the first time. My hippie heart latched onto PLUR energy after my first real rave: HARD Day of the Dead 2013.

[Side note: HARD events hit much harder when Destructo (Gary Richards) was in charge. His electro curation especially lured in my rock-loving soul. I miss that era.]

Honestly, Yusef is a living legend. You’d be lucky to get a bear hug from this man at a rave.  Music has colored every step of our relationship... Just a couple of brown music nerds who love good sound more than anything.

Four decades on Earth and he has slayed every dragon placed in front of him. He’s the sun to my moon, the groundedness to my chaos. The name Mt. Yusef started as a flyer typo for his first show as Mr. Yusef; it ended up being the most accurate name possible. Nobody is more rock solid than this Protein Sheikh.

We met 13 years ago staying at the same house for my first Coachella. Of course we did. Since then, we've seen almost every kind of show, and eventually we started getting behind the decks. DJing together has already been a cute and wild ride.

This mix is also a thank you. When I'm falling apart, Yusef shows me a level of patience and kindness I didn’t even know was possible. He has loved me most through my roughest states. He’s a brilliant husband, son, friend, and human.

About the Track Journey
It opens with L’amour et la violence— one of the first French touch songs he shared. I envision him singing it sitting in a suit sipping on whiskey after our first official date (one that wasn't a 3-day festival, heh). Even more fitting that the song is a reflection on life. It starts soft, intentional, and deceptively calm. Then the floor drops like the Tower of Terror that I've forced him on a few times. Overthrow, Pursuit, and Techno snap you straight into that early-rave adrenaline he’s obsessed with. We love a good ironic techno track about not listening to techno. Bonus points if you can recognize the famous lyric sample...

From there, the energy builds like climbing the highest peaks—steady, relentless, confident. Krack into Genesis (a mild trainwreck transition 😆) is pure nostalgia for the era he inducted me into: the Soulwax-Justice-Boys Noize trifecta that shaped how he hears the world. There is the Thriller (ZHU remix) flip, then Destructo and Wax Motif's take on Regulate—because every LA native has some West Coast hip hop classic wired into their DNA. May you always Stay High Baby. Of all the glorious versions of Hey Boy, Hey Girl, I went with my latest favorite. To remind us of the gangster music curators and superstar DJs we've always been. Remember, When a Fire Starts to Burn... you must Evacuate. This was unintentional yet... *chef's kiss.*

Onto the late-night portion where you get a little breather between the main event and the afters. It eases you gently in with Faded and Lazer Beams, then drops you into Insomnia, Proper Education, Notorious, and Sleepless Nights. What you play with your ride-or-die rave crew—the ones who get the samples, the sermons, and that peak-hour transcendence. Insomnia just crossed its 30-year anniversary. The new Disclosure edit sure does it justice. Proper Education calls out his love for Prydz, Pink Floyd, and rejecting conformity. Notorious because you better recognize a real don when you see one.

By the time you reach 6am, you’re delirious, laughing, bonded - exactly the way we’ve ended some of our best nights. I had to include one of his favorite writers, Hunter S. Thompson, and My Pet Coelacanth is a little shoutout to our cat by way of Deadmau5.

The final stretch ended up a love letter to our journey in raving and romance. Sometimes the story just tells itself... Who am I to interrupt? Forever Ravers; Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat; Touch Me, Bonafied Lovin', and finally Swoon (Boys Noize remix) for the grand finale. Chromeo was one of the first bands he ever showed me. Their music, along with many others' in this tracklist, still paints our first two years together in vivid color. Swoon was the song he sent me while dropping hints that he loves me. I know...it is all so disgustingly musical and sweet. I wanna vomit too.

To sum up Yusef's monster mix, expect hip hop nods, killer remixes, sermons, and many moments that feel like standing on a peak. I found myself hollering with power while making it, reminded of why he's my favorite DJ. You'll hear the grand, expansive tracks that define his aura and his impeccable taste. Together, we’ve seen about 82% of these artists play live. Because our greatest gift is collecting live music experiences with each other.

Happy Y-40.
May you always be Like a Child in your pursuit of fun.
And when times are hard, may the music hit even harder.
Youre still peaking at 40.
May Mt. Yusef stand tall for all the lifetimes.
Because music sounds better with you.
Let's rave to the grave... and beyond.

Us dancing to Notorious at our wedding.
Photo credit: Jorge Kick

Tracklist

1. L'amour et la violence - Sébastien Tellier
2. Overthrow -  Boys Noize
3. Pursuit - Gesaffestein
4. Techno - Destructo
5. KracK - Soulwax
6. Genesis - Justice
7. Thriller (Zhu Remix) - Michael Jackson 
8. Regulate (Destructo & Wax Motif Remix) (ft. Nate Dogg) - Warren G
9. Stay High Baby - Maceo Plex
10. Hey Boy Hey Girl (Original Mix) - Annabell Kowalski
11. When a Fire Starts to Burn - Disclosure
12. ID (EVACUATE) - Cirez D
13. Faded - ZHU
14. Lazer Beams - Green Velvet, Harvard Bass
15. Insomnia 2021 (Epic Mix) - Faithless, Maceo Plex
16. Proper Education (Club Mix) - Eric Prydz
17. Notorious - Malaa
18. Sleepless Nights - Cristoph
19. 6am (Ready to Write) (ft. Joe Rogan) - Beardyman
20. SOFIA - Deborah De Luca
21. Street Justice (Original Mix) - MSTRKRFT
22. Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) - Junior Boys
23. My Pet Coelacanth - Deadmau5
24. Forever Ravers - ANNA & Kittin
25. Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat (Calvin 25 Harris Remix) - Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr
26. Touch Me (Original 12 Mix) - Rui Da Silva, Cassandra
27. Bonafied Lovin (Yuksek Remix) - Chromeo
28. Swoon (Boys Noize Summer Mix) - The Chemical Brothers