For the eleventh installment of our Leisure Mix Series, Amsterdam’s Gijs Poortman — better known as G-String and a contributing member of Crystal Maze and R-A-G — delivers a hard-driving tour through a self-described deep outer space techno mix.

This coming Friday, Love Dancing welcomes to town Future Times label boss, Maxmillion Dunbar. Prior to him touching down, we the chance to sit down with him and discuss utopianism, dance floor politics, and the overlooked history of DC dance music.

Meet the man they call Brother XIl, back from the dead, and journey into his bizarre and dangerous cult — the Aquarian Foundation of the Cedar-by-the-Sea. British Columbia’s own computer music mystics share side one of their newest self-titled cassette in the days leading up to their debut.

Over the last few years Los Angeles’ GB has secured his place as one of the West Coast’s most prolific producers. Before his Vancouver appearance later this month, he’s prepared a mix showcasing some of his more less obvious influences and answered a few questions about his Gifted And Blessed project.

Through a break in the clouds, a ray of ambient light. In anticipation of next month’s No Show, Vancouver’s Cloudface provides an exclusive mix of original material, recorded just for us, and shares insights into the meteorological forces behind his creation.

A youth spent dwelling in record shops with his musical mentors gifted Basic Soul Unit an ear for eclectic gems. In preparation for his Vancouver debut, Stuart Li shares a mix while discussing the ups & downs of being a part-time musician, part-time designer and a full-time dad.

Approximately one hour of House and Techno music from our very own Lukas VVarm. Recorded comfortably in the Leisure HQ late last month, with tracks from Marcus Mixx, Soundstream, Telex, Walt J and more.

We asked each of our contributors to share their five most essential tunes of 2011. It was a truly daunting task as the list of honourable mentions could have gone on for ages. 2011, you were a wonderful year. Check out our list after the jump.

After a recent road trip to Chicago, we sat down with Kevin Starke from Kstarke Records to discuss his feelings on Chicago’s dance music culture, and owning one of Chicago’s finest record shops.