WE REVISIT A BIG ENTRY INTO THE BALANCE SERIES CANON: BALANCE 008 MIXED BY DESYN MASIELLO
For many this is the one—the series crown jewel. Desyn Masiello might only have a modest four official mix compilations to his name, but even if he had 40, it’s hard to see Balance 008 rivaled as his best.
Upon its release, this two disc collection captivated tastemakers to such a degree it alienated those who couldn’t grasp its vision.
It was the perfect evolution of an artist who naturally arrived at a place of scene reverence.
Before Balance: The Rise of Masiello
Born and raised in London, Desyn Masiello came of age during the acid house explosion, immersed in Spiral Tribe and traveller rave culture before buying his first turntables in 1990.
While working as a computer technician, he built a reputation through a self-distributed mix CD sent to 100 people via early internet message boards.
The mix quickly travelled far beyond its original mailing list, reaching promoters and DJs worldwide and leading to his first international bookings in Finland.
By 2002, that momentum had accelerated into a full-time career, with Deep Dish’s Bullitt agency signing him in the US, alongside appearances at Glastonbury, Cream, Gatecrasher and Renaissance events worldwide.
Setting the Stage
By 2005, Balance Series were seven editions deep, the last one mixed Chris Fortier, a 3 disc electro tech epic that relayed in no uncertain terms that Balance does not believe in strict genre tropes.
Following that meant raising the stakes which would be quite the challenge for any DJ.
However, Desyn Masiello had other plans. Why raise the stakes if you can just change the game? He re-orientated the entire series with a timeless house effort that officially gave the series a sheen of musical adventurism.
It also made it official: Balance Series permits artist creative license to spread their wings.
A Sound Without Borders
Blending proto-electro house, new wave, and disco-flavored funk with daring unpredictability, this was progressive in the truest sense.
It garnered the kind of reverence typically reserved for the most discerning corners of the dance music world: polarizing yet undeniably groundbreaking.
Masiello always had a knack for digging up house gems with the precision of a truffle hunter.
Mining YouTube for old-school Desyn footage features plenty of grainy pre-iPhone videos of the Englishman laying down the law with some wildly loose gem mined from some unknown crate.
But here, he outdid himself, delivering a two-disc odyssey that would leave even seasoned crate-diggers scratching their heads.
Then again, Desyn has never been about chasing trends. He does not have to, as his selections radiate a timeless electronic futurism.
For a while there, he was the trend.
Still Ahead of Its Time
Revisiting the mix today, it is striking how fresh it still resonates. Sure, a few cuts quintessentially 2005 and, in context, land like sly winks to the audience.
Take Disc 1’s closer, Chris Lake “Changes”: it is so saccharine it might make purists nauseous. It arguably laid the blueprint for an entire generation of EDM producers that followed it.
Yet, here it is, on a Balance compilation, and in Masiello’s hands, that slice of sugary audio is transformed into an undeniable moment of unabashed fun—the kind of guilty, drunken energy we all indulge in during peak dancefloor moments at family weddings.
Elsewhere on the comp the same energy is switched back with the flick of a simple mix, fluctuating back into full chin-stroking mode with absolute ease.
It really is all about balance.
But even in those more playful moments, it feels like he is pulling from a crate frozen in time, selections that sidestep eras in favour of frequencies that transcend them.
These are tracks that keep trending toward the present. They might just sound current all the time, forever.
The Perfect Opening Run
Here is a hot take. The opening of Disc 1’s first five tracks might be the best opening to any mix ever.
In a time before sync and key sync buttons, Masiello must have made a pact with Mephistopheles himself to mix this selection of tracks together.
Opening Disc 1 with the solemn tech of Will Saul “Mbiria,” only to swerve into the 70s boogaloo electro of Dusty Kid “Jerry Cala” and the 80s action-synth soundscape of Clashing Egos “Love Sweet Love (Sterac Electronics Dub)” carries a big and bold comic book energy.
Once the well-known New Order drum break sample of Williams “Love Crisis (Kevin on the Beach Dub)” snaps into place, it not only signals an instant classic but hits with full force.
That is followed by the vocal drop of Chelonis R. Jones, delivered with such fierce confidence it hides the incompatibility it portrays on the tracklist: Reading it sounds chaotic. Yet Masiello makes it fit seamlessly.
By the time you reach The Visitor “A Month of Sundays,” a cyclical slice of cosmic house, the pull is hypnotic.
The Craft: Mixing & Flow
If track selection is one power, his other is mixing—applying a progressive house DJ lens of long, extended key mixes to a dynamic house template. Much of the magic lies in the blends.
The opening of Disc 2 sees the singing of Orbital “Halcyon + On + On” take center stage before a simple key change transitions into Spirals “X.”
Blending Moloko with the new wave romanticism of Killing Joke is another inspired choice, threading together opposites in a way only a confident selector could.
A highlight is Dealer’s Choice “Bomb This Place,” a seductive, cosmopolitan slice of Italo deep house that encapsulates the Balance 008 sound: epic, sexy, and euphoric.
Later, Ramsey “Dirty Delicious” explodes with funk-driven energy, while Joey Negro “Make a Move on Me” grounds the euphoria with organic piano keys.
Legacy
If you asked a first-time listener what decade this music is from, answers could range from the 70s to today.
Truly timeless music operates on its own plane, and that is where Masiello thrives.
Thankfully we were around to experience it. This is not only one of the most mischievous entries in the Balance series, but one of the global greats.
