Boxed in: Johan Soh answers the questions (free mix inside)

Anyone who was lucky enough to catch Johan Soh's two incredible sets in the UK recently will know that the bearded Swedish maestro is one of the world's greatest underground progressive breaks DJs. In between blogging for thisisbreaks.com, producing under his Jariten moniker, and DJing all over Europe and beyond, he finds time to run the incredibly bloody good Sound of Habib label, an imprint which has been going since the start of nu skool breaks, and is currently putting a lot of other seminal labels from the scene to shame in terms of the quality and consistency of its output. We caught up with him for another instalment of our regular DJ Q&A. to celebrate one of the best mixes on a progressive tip that we've heard in a very long time

• Click here to download Johan Soh's latest mix

Where are you now and what are you doing?

In my rooftop hideaway filling this thing out (duh).

What was the best gig you played in the last six months?

Absolutely killing it at a big DJ battle here in Sweden back to back with one of my partners in crime, the awesome Karl von Spreti.

What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done in a DJ booth?

Back in the rave days I was trying to get my favourite DJ to notice me so I could tell him how great he was and get him to come do my radio show. In doing so I managed to knock the needle of the record that was playing. One of those moments where you ninja style smoke bombs ...

What are the top three tracks in your record box right now?

Jurassik We Should B (Run Riot remix)
White Lies Farewell to the Fairground (Future Funk Squad remix)
Karton Spacetrip82

Notice how I mangaged to wedge something in there that's not on my label? I run the label because I find it a bit difficult at times to get the type of breakbeat that fits my genre defying sets. Also I think it would be strange if you run a label for 10 years and don't put out stuff that you love.

Complete the sentence: "Women respond to ..."

Seeing as ID already smashed home the obvious "beards" answer, and "money, power and fast cars" is just a bit too real, I'll have to go empirical here and say "my DJ sets". I really only play to the ladies.

What tune would you never play, no matter how desperate?

Anything you'd hear at a wedding, really. And music that's supposedly "funny". Tunes that invoke drunken sing-a-longs ... I've been sat here for a good 10 minutes now parading horrible tunes through my head and would rather like to stop that now, please. There are no winners in this category.

If you could warm up for any DJ in the world, who would it be, and why?

I have had the good fortune of opening for a lot of my favourites over the years, so I really don't have that many left. One of the few on my list I've not managed to be on the same bill as is Sasha, so that is one. Wouldn't mind doing James Zabiela either. Needs to be someone who draws a huge and rather open minded crowd.

The crowd is flagging and you need an emergency tune to stop them all going to the bar. What would it be?

Aqua Ski's The Bomb. Rarely have to use it, mind, but always works.

Vinyl or CD decks?

CD decks until they reinvent vinyl. The environmental impact of vinyl is just silly.

Stone cold sober or elegantly wasted?

Sober. When you DJ as much as I do, drinking at gigs will only result in alcoholism.

Plump DJs or Stanton Warriors?

Stantons.

What would you have been doing now if you had not been answering Thisisbreaks.com's questions?

Packing for Italy.

Where do you see yourself in six months time?

On top of the world enjoying some Fernet Branca with my friends.