“My set for No Way Back last year was a difficult one to pull off. On one hand, I was fortunate enough to be able to record the mix inside Globus. This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole world to play in: a combination of a phenomenal DJ booth, a great sized room and flawless sound, not to mention the fact that it is inside the legendary Tresor Berlin. But, on the other hand, I had learned only the day before that my good friend Andrew "Jasen Loveland" Smith-Rassmusen had committed suicide — around 36 hours before I was set to record this. Tresor allowed me to have a few close friends to be there for the recording, and Andrew was supposed to be one of those friends. Like most people who attend, NWB was a very spiritual thing for Andrew and his spirit was an integral part of NWB. To think that it will go on without him physically being there guts me. I miss him so much every day, and it really will sting to not have him there going forward. 

With regards to the mix, obviously that was weighing on me heavily. So, the set is by no means my cleanest. So, keep that in mind while listening, please. Musically, there are a few tributes here. I definitely wanted to play a few of Andrew's tracks, like I normally do (especially at NWB), and there are 6 of them in there. I also wanted to kick the mix off as a sort of tribute to BMG's old distribution company that he ran at the end of the 90's called Star 67. I used to work there with him, boxing up shipments to send globally back in a time when people bought WAY more vinyl than these days. Star 67 was responsible for releasing so many of my favorite jams from that time period, and I was feeling nostalgic about that time period in my life and wanted to kick the mix off playing some of those records, as well as a couple older records that I felt inspired the Star 67 era. Another goal was to play the 5 tracks I had just finished that will make up a release for The Bunker sometime this year. And, of course, a bunch of my favorites, old and new. 

As I said, it's not my cleanest work. But, I feel like it encapsulates what No Way Back means to me. I hope you enjoy it.” 

— Derek Plaslaiko