Cue the airhorns – carnival is coming. As London gears for the street party known for having the best dressed dancers, loudest soundsystems and longest toilet queues, we present dancehall crew The Heatwave’s annual party-starting mix to get you in the mood.

“What we love about carnivals is the way they set aside a day or two where anything goes,” say The Heatwave. “It’s a release, it’s important for us as a society to have festivals like this that turn everything normal upside down. So that’s what we try and do with this mix each year – capture that feeling and bring together all the current tunes that will make you feel like that.”

The crew – who are a regular fixture at Notting Hill and recently celebrated their 10th birthday – count playing on a carnival truck among their favourite memories of the event. “We spent so many years traipsing around in the crowds getting stopped by police and losing friends down blind alleys, so to have everyone in your squad on one moving vehicle is heaven,” they say. “In 2012, coming around the corner of Portobello Road in the truck, having amassed a sea of ravers around us – blazing out a mix with the sun shining – was an all time highlight. It really is the dream set and the dream crowd.”