Continuing our series of posts speaking to the guys and gals who topped our Mixcloud Best of 2009 lists, this week we talk to Tim Noakes from Dazed & Confused magazine. He’s the man behind the superb “Electronica 2000-2009″ mix – hands down the most popular Cloudcast of 2009 on Mixcloud.

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Tim Noakes, Music Editor and Deputy Editor of Dazed & Confused magazine. I also run the blogs SocialStereotype.com and SynthHero.com. I live on a Cloud in East London. An electro Mixcloud.

Every month I do a new music playlist for DazedDigital.com that showcases music from the latest issue of Dazed and also fresh tracks I’ve been sent, bought, and found online. In the run up to Xmas 2009 I thought it would be cool to do a big retrospective mix of some of the most innovative songs and trends in electronic music over the last decade, from Grime to banging Ed Banger electro and beyond. As you can imagine that’s quite a task to set yourself, and after I had whittled it down to 750 songs I realised that it was near impossible to achieve, so I just thought I’d make an epic mix that I’d like to listen to on my iPhone, that rose in tempo. I guess I could have squeezed more then 70 tracks into the 2 1/2 hours, but then it would have become a bit too jumpy, and above all I wanted people to play this while they were getting really messed up having some wholesome family fun over the holidays. I made the mix on a Pacemaker. It took ages. But I’m super chuffed that it’s become so popular, it was well worth the effort! Thanks everyone!

A lot of the artists who were included tweeted about it, which was awesome, but I guess it’s a mix that contains a lot of classic tracks that treads the line between being too cheesy and too nerdy. It’s also a great nostalgia trip that reminds people of their different moments in club culture over the last ten years. Personally, I think it’s a good one for getting ready to go out to – chilled at the start and then it gets more and more hyper as it bounces along. My favourite blend on it is around the 1 hour 23 mins mark when it goes from LMFAO into Modeselektor into Shychild and then into LCD Soundsystem. Big fan of those 4 minutes.

I’m loving Gonjasufi and The Gaslamp Killer’s album, XL’s new rapper Giggs, and also Nicki Minaj. Crystal Castles new album should be pretty cool too.

Dazed & Confused magazine and DazedDigital.com stay fresh because we have a strong, well opinionated team of global contributers and in house staff who are into so many different things but share a love of discovering new, original talent. We love blogs, but a lot of them just provide free songs and then their audience rushes off to the next place that does exactly the same thing. I hope we have a degree of collective taste and professionalism that rises above just feeding people’s MP3 addictions. Dazed has always been about a distinct worldview and lifestyle. If you like it, cool. If not, that’s fine as well. I’ve found that if you’re authentic and be yourself, it generally all works out for the best. Like this mix, I guess. Oh, and if you want to hear what music we play in the office go here.

Tim’s Electronica 2000-2009 mix has had too many plays and is getting boring now

So we thought we’d end the post with his more recent upload – the Dazed crew broadcasting live on Diesel U Music Radio.

One of the things I most enjoyed about putting together our “Best of 2009″ was talking to our top listeners/community members to get their single favourite Cloudcast of 2009. The responses were diverse, sometimes surprising, often inspiring and most of all full of passion.

Check out the Mixcloud Top Listeners and their recommendations here.

Over the next few weeks we plan to catch up with some of the winners to learn more about the people who make up the Mixcloud community. Starting with Top Listener and passionate music fan from Singapore, fourwallsofsound.

Who are you and what do you do?

Just a fella who grew up on music that I was exposed to in the 80s and heard it evolve through the 90s. The first time I heard the electronic sound at a club was at a John Kelley guest night at Zouk, Singapore circa 1996 and I was hooked. Many educational club nights later, I bought my Technics MK2s, a Pioneer DJM 500 (on hire purchase naturally), pulled out my dad’s knackered old Koss’ and figured out how to mix records in a way that would connect with a crowd in the same way that each track was connecting with me; along the way I’ve played some small gigs and parties as fourwallsofsound, but remain a bedroom DJ at heart.

How did you discover Mixcloud?

A good friend of mine (he’s Kazitoshi on Mixcloud) sent me the invite for the beta site. I had a look, liked what I saw, signed up  and of course once I started ‘tuning in’ to the Cloudcasts it was easy to get hooked – there’s just so much talent and quality here.

What is it about DJ mixes and radio shows that appeals to you more than listening to playlists on Spotify?

A DJ mix is a fluid, emotional and sometimes ethereal ride, definitely not just tracks in a playlist but a creation whose sum is greater than its parts. As for radio shows (like Melodica, Jules Hallam‘s and Graeme Park‘s shows for example)  they’re enjoyable, engaging and relevant. It’s also great to hear these DJs’ take on the new tracks, and there’s lots of info to be picked up  and little known references to classics that you get every now and then. A proper radio show, like a DJ mix, is usually so much more than just a list of tracks played sequentially.

How have you been using Mixcloud to discover content you love? What are your tips and tricks on getting the most out of the site.

The ‘popular‘, ‘new‘ and ‘featured‘ listings make it easy. With the recently introduced ‘activity stream’ on the profiles, it’s just one look to know what other cloudcasters are tuning in to. Mixcloud being as interactive and easy to get around as it is, you wouldn’t really need any special tips to work it out.  Overall the site is brilliant, easy to navigate and focuses on what it’s all about  – bringing the music to the user and vice versa.

[note from editor: cheers fourwalls - we'll sort you that fiver later yeah?!]

Finally, what’s your favourite Cloudcast of 2009 and why?

“Sublime track selection and put together to create a sound that is familiar but yet new and horizon shifting all at once. It’s a stunner.”

After all the dedication listening in to everyone else’s creations, fourwallsofsound put up his own sublime indie electro Cloudcast just yesterday. Let’s show him some love!

Thanks to everyone who voted in our first ever Best of the Year poll. We’ve been totally overwhelmed by the response.

After a busy weekend playing with data and listening to lots of awesome new recommendations, we’re excited to announce that the Mixcloud Best of 2009 is now live:

Top 50 Cloudcasts of 2009

Top 50 Cloudcasters of 2009

Top 10 Listeners of 2009

Plenty of awesome sounds there to keep you occupied for the coming weeks… if not months!

Bigup to all the Cloudcasters and listeners who made it onto these lists. We’re look forward to hearing your comments on who made it onto the list and who didn’t below.