Staying true to the underground community is a quality that deserves respect, especially at a time when many DJs all too often abandon their roots in search of the big time. Annie Errez’s story is definitely one that flaunts a special loyalty to the scene in the North East of England, as well as a total devotion to delve right into the broad expanse of electronic music and explore its innermost regions. Having found solace in house and techno, she has a passion for purism that spills over into her sets and production.

Having started digging in the early 2000s, Annie’s penchant for collecting records soon morphed into a conviction to DJ and back in 2008 she landed a residency at Leeds’ legendary Mint Club. The confidence she gleaned from spinning alongside some of the world’s most renowned artists at Mint, whilst crafting her own intimate style, resulted in one of the North’s premier nights – System – which she co-runs with another of the city’s favourites, Bobby O’Donnell. Boasting an extensive roster of top DJs, including Ricardo Villalobos, Loco Dice and Steve Bug, Annie’s cachet is trusted enough to pull in those at the pinnacle of their game and it’s no surprise she featured in FACT Magazine’s Top 100 underrated DJs last year.

Of late, Annie has turned her hand to production with releases on Holic Trax and Saints & Sonnets, and her own Strobewax. Soon afterwards she was invited onto Steve O’Sullivan’s revered Mosaic Split Series, putting out two tasty tracks on last summer’s Part Four edition– Bell Curve and Auguste. This year O’Sullivan broke his own rule never to host the same artist twice and asked Annie back for Part Five. Her contribution to the forthcoming EP, Discovery Inn, is a dub drenched cut that has a serious dose of bouncy bass and stabbing chords. In anticipation of Mosaic Split Series: Part Five, we caught up with Annie to get five of her aural fancies, an eclectic mix it is too!

Jeff Mills – If (We) (Purpose Maker)
I’ll start with one of my favourites from Jeff Mills. I seem to fall into Jeff Mills then out again, but I always end up getting back into him again. I’m not really sure why but it’s probably because he (along with Robert Hood) is a master and genius at crafting the perfect loop. There is so much tension in this song that it’s almost unbearable and I do wish it was longer (it’s only 2.06 mins) but maybe that’s part of the attraction?

Bandulu – Recent Past (Foundation Sound Works)
This is another old one and is a fine example of stripped-back, hypnotic dub from the UK. It’s from the album Repercussions, the whole album is great actually.

Drummond. – This is Something (Mora Music)
A good friend of mine made this record but that’s not why I chose it for this feature. I wanted to share this one because it’s quite simply a great record and one of my favourite new releases. Everything is in it’s right place; the textures, the rhythm, the space. It’s just one of those records that works instantly and is so nice to play.

DJ Qu – Fearless (Secretsundaze)
Another fantastic new release. DJ Qu is one of my favourite producers, I love how he injects so much soul into literally every record he makes but they still retain an edginess. This can be quite a hard thing to do but he makes it sound so effortless and easy.

Damon Wild – Kabuki (Synewave)
Synewave is a benchmark for quality US techno and they certainly released a lot of that over the years. This is the one I come back to the most though. Straight to the point, housey techno. This always works when I’m in the mood for a bit of a 90s vibe, but it was actually released in 2005. It’s funny how we label things like that. After all, great music is timeless.

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