It's always so hard to choose a favorite DJ AM mix, as theres always some form of different magical moment in each set. The Aura one ranks up there for the sheer breadth of what he does in the set, most especially his classic ending going from his wonderwall routine into the rent/tipsy mashup into the cheers theme into the chachi mashup of PIMP/The Joker et al...
You can hear how AM sequenced out his set, switching between segments, like his abrupt switch into the hyphy sequence of lionel ritchie / e-40 or his mix into classic bmore remixes... the famous video of him playing his wonderwall routine really captures [to me at least] his immediacy to the crowd and their energy in the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctgptSSGOHM AM always struck me like a classical composer, he seemed to consciously divide his nights out like sections of a symphony, and this one is a masterpiece of realtime performance.
For non mainstream sets, I could really say any of the Banana Split mixes, as those are some of the most creative, innovative sets ever done. His approach to tone and texture was, and still is, ahead of it's time. AM didn't seem to think in terms of musical key, but in terms of energy, the flow, and to me none is finer than his 5/6/07 mix alongside Scottie B. For some context that I found in my studying of it: http://djmikeb.blogspot.com/2007/05/saga-continues.html This mix goes from Bmore to Indie Rock to classic Punk rock. I only wish more mixes of his Banana Split existed as there is nothing in the history of music quite like what AM did at these.
I could write pages and pages about all the nuances I learned from hearing these mixes (and his mainstream ones too). But that's for another time, now back to life, back to reality. Much Love.
