FACT Mix 52 is provided by Rinse FM resident Braiden, and it’s completely sick.

If you’ve seen Braiden DJ before, you’ll know he’s absurdly talented – him, Oneman and Brackles are spoke about in London circles like a holy trinity of mixers, and listening to his FACT mix you’ll immediately be able to see why – it’s done off three decks, and blends everything from fringe UK bass mutations (Zomby’s ‘1 Up’; Darkstar’s ‘Aidy’s Girl’s A Computer’) to wistful dubstep (Pangaea’s ‘Memories’), to top-end house (Supermayer’s ‘Hey Hotties!’, Daniel Wang’s ‘All Flowers Must Fade’) to Juke, to UK funky, to ‘The Jacking Zone’.

Basically, everything here’s great, and the mixing’s tighter than a gnat’s chuff. What more encouragement do you need? Oh, and listen to it on headphones. If you don’t, you’ll miss out on the cool ending.

SuperMayer – Hey Hotties!Risque Rhythm Team – The Jacking ZoneGreena – Actual PainUncle Bakongo – MaasaiMark Broom – Twenty Nine (Mihalis Safras remix)Kode9 – 2 Far GoneScuba – Ruptured (Surgeon remix)>>Mala – Bury The BwoyBrackles – LHCShortstuff – Regression//Kid Cudi – Day n NitePangaea – MemoriesTRG – Surreal (5am)Zomby – 1upHeadhunter – OSSGucci Mane – Freaky Gurl//Headhunter – Come DownSideshow ft. Tikiman – If Alone (Appleblim & Komonazmuk remix)Darkstar – Aidy’s Girl is a ComputerDaniel Wang – All Flowers Must FadeOleg Poliakov – Rainy Days (Portable remix)

Braiden – who are you? What’s your background?

“Well I was born in 1985 and have been in steady decline ever since.”

How did you get started DJing?

“I started DJing about 3 and a half years ago, starting off playing drum n bass and studying Andy C’s mixes obsessively. To this day his style is a big influence, the way he keeps the set flowing so well and his understanding of phasing is second to none, though I can’t really listen to his sets these days. I always wanted to do create something new with DJing rather than just blandly mixing tunes together – using the tunes as tools almost. I put together a DnB mix after 5 months and it got played on DJ Flight’s 1xtra show, and I got into dubstep around that time.”

Tell us about your Sub FM days. How did you hook up with the station? Was it the first show you had?

“I owe a lot to Sub FM and Whistla who runs the station. This was really the first time I had an audience, I think I started Sub before I DJ’d out anywhere. It was a lot of fun playing radio out of my bedroom, a lot more cosy than Rinse’s sterile studio. My sound was quite different back then though, selection was pretty much all dubstep.”

You’re now on Rinse – how did that happen, and how’s it working out for you?

“I used to know Youngsta well from going into Blackmarket [Records] and geeking out about music, mixing and food. He invited me on to his show at Rinse where I played for the first hour and they offered me a show from that. I love playing on Rinse, though I have quite a different sound to anyone else on there people still lock on and appreciate which is great. I enjoy taking different sounds to a station where, to be fair, a lot of the djs don’t really experiment so much. I also can play a lot of music on radio which I wouldnt necessarily play in a club.”

Tell us about the mix you’ve recorded for FACT…

“I spent time planning it out and analysing every part of it as I tend to do with studio mixes. It’s recorded live on 3 decks and has my favourite bits from UK funky, techno, dubstep and deep house. Oh yeah and the hip hop vocal mixes and the cosmic disco track by Daniel Wang as well. So its quite eclectic but I tried to make sure there was a strong flow to the mix which is important. And there’s lots of mixer trickery in there as well as I like to do.”

What else should we know about you?

“Check my Rinse FM show, details here. I’m also a photographer and just finished a degree in photography at LCC. I like bikes and some people.”