The winner of the inaugural Balance Community Series is Joe Miller from Adelaide in South-Australia. Looking at his tracklisting might make you exhausted as it features a whopping 40 tracks that takes in a lot of different artists and styles. He has created something that is akin to a piece of musical art, and you can hear the thought, effort and time that he has put into this mix to get it right. These type of mixes are usually hard to gel together without sounding like there is no narrative to the mix; Joe happily achieves both as this mix is cohesive and engaging.

"It’s more of an audio collage than a sequential mix, with many of the tracks edited beyond recognition and cheekily poppng up long after their rightful place" Joe explains. "I’ve taken a lot of time and pleasure in hiding secret treasures along the way for the most anorak-donning of trainspotters, including additional synth lines and thorough reworkings of existing chord-structures (listen out for Caribou’s “Irene” as it glides over “Vehemence of Silence”, “Kodomatchi”, and “Deer and Fox”, while the tiniest hints of “Over” and “Blume der Nacht” cut in an out like the needle of an old grandmother’s sewing machine).

The attention to detail in this mix really shines through, and trying to figure out where tracks begin and end is fruitless exercise - just sit back, turn off the lights and enjoy the journey. With Joe taking his first tentative steps into the production world, its only a matter of time before his skills will see him travel outside of Adelaide and Australia. Regardless of profile, this might just be one of the best mixes that we've heard all year. Period.

Tracklisting and interview here: http://www.balancemusic.com.au/features/balance-community-001-joe-miller/