It’s tough to imagine that Duncan Beiny – a thoroughly unassuming guy with Regular Joe Bloggsy name to match – enjoys the distinction of being one of Q magazine’s ‘Ten DJs to See Before You Die’. That is, until you see him in his element: as world DJ scratch champ (and now judge), DJ Yoda. When it comes to manipulating the proverbial wheels of steel, this 31-year-old Brit displays dexterous skill to the point where the harshest hip-hop critics have little left to say.

In a world where the frantic beats of Baltimore club DJs are all the rage, DJ Yoda digs deep for old-school gems that do the double-tough job of winning over first-time listeners while tugging at the heartstrings of hip-hop aficionados like a long-forgotten lover. Garage, drum ’n’ bass, hip hop, indie, breakbeat – this dude just loves his music. ‘None of the stuff I do is ironic…I have [one] simple rule: if I love a song, I’ll play it,’ he tells online magazine Resident Advisor in a March 2008 interview.

Indeed, FabricLive 39 is unpretentious solid gold and guaranteed to make you snap your fingers and bop your head like it’s your job. Thick layers of swing and feelgood samples are sliced, diced and scratched with precision. Yoda goes way back with Violent Femmes’ classic ‘Blister in the Sun’ and slides it right in with British drum ’n’ bass stalwart MC Skibadee and big banger ‘EVA’ by Jean-Jacques Perry. He’s confi dent enough to slip in a snatch of Bell Biv DeVoe (the radio-friendly leftovers from the now-defunct 1980s group New Edition) without making you feel like you’re back in secondary school, and even whips out a fantastic big-band rendition of ‘Sexual Healing’.

It’s not Yoda’s objective to make his music accessible, but he inadvertently does anyway. Beneath the hand-clapping and butt-jiggling, there is a very real sense that this record was made specially to serve as the soundtrack for your morning commute. After all, DJ Yoda has been running this game way before Diplo and Girl Talk came along, and the oftendiminished and under-rated mash-up crown is rightfully his.