RA Podcast

A new record for the longest RA Podcast ever: Ten hours from the powerhouse duo sweeping techno, Chlär and Alarico. Both commanding performers in their own right, sparks fly when the Swiss-Italian duo of Funk Assault combine. The buzz surrounding their productions, DJing and their label Primal Instinct is at fever pitch, and short wonder: when it comes to gritty, high-impact sets that barrel through multiple shades of techno, few are in their league right now. RA.960 was laid down at Watergate this March during a signature Funk Assault marathon. The pair ramp up incrementally, and even before they hit top velocity, you can hear them ripping through records with tenacity and verve. You don't need elbows in your face to tell the place is rocking. We're informed that ID'ing the set would probably take longer than playing it (fair enough), so no tracklist for this one. Instead, fill in the blanks at your leisure. As well as 150+ BPM stompers and groove wormholes, there's everything from tribal to ballroom, electro to bassbin rattlers, and plenty of classics. As an encapsulation of a night out's full arc, RA.960 does the business—and best of all, you won't even need a trip to the bar for water. The gauntlet has been thrown down. @primalinstinctrecords @funkassault_og @chlaer @alarico_katana Read more at ra.co/podcast/960

Effervescent club cuts from one of Southeast Asia's rising DJ stars. In Indonesia, the term santai (relaxed) is more than just an adjective—it's a lifestyle, one endearingly embodied by DITA. The New Delhi-born, Bali-rooted DJ's breezy attitude to life is reflected in dreamy, blissful euphoria. DITA's RA Podcast is a window into both her disposition and sound, blending wiggly breakbeat into tweaking acid, Detroit house into Spanish electro, Balearic to '90s house and some grittier club fare, too. Her sets are rooted in a feel-good philosophy that allows her to freely play with energy and mood. Don't just take our word for it: DJ Harvey hand-picked DITA to be a resident at his new club Klymax, nestled within the world-renowned Potato Head Bali, where DITA is also Head of Music. With gigs at everywhere from Panorama Bar (the first Indonesian woman to play) to Rainbow Disco Club and Dekmantel under her belt, the world is now taking notice of DITA's killer groove. A breakout 2025 surely beckons. @dita-putri-widyanti @headstream Read more at ra.co/podcast/959

A journey through 35 years of house from the godfather of UK rave. In popular mythology, the '90s are without question, the halcyon days of dance music—an era of free raves and unadulterated hedonism. It's a myth that Matthew Nelson, AKA Slipmatt, knows better than most–he was there. During the late '80s, as the rave scene in the UK began to boom, Nelson began moonlighting as a DJ. He would land his first residency at Raindance, the East London rave that launched in September 1989 and would become the UK's first legal rave. By 1991 , he'd reach number two in the UK charts with "On A Ragga Tip" as one-half of SL2 and two years later, sell over 10,000 copies of the first pressing of SMD#1. Nelson has got a lot to share (as you'll see in his interview) so we'll let him do the talking. He's been variously called the godfather of rave and happy hardcore, but what you'll hear on RA.958 is as "a journey through my 35 years of house." A DJ with this much pedigree brings much more than that, of course: touching on the breakbeat, jungle and acid house that soundtracked that golden age, as well as nods to the rich cross-pollination with scenes beyond the UK, from Joey Beltram's "Energy Flash" to Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You." @slipmatt-1 Read more at ra.co/podcast/958

The singular Príncipe artist showcases her shapeshifting sound. Before she was simply Nídia, Nídia Borges was Nídia Minaj. Modelled after a musical idol of hers, Nicki Minaj, in 2017, she shed the borrowed surname. As she later said in an interview with The New York Times, "Today I have my own identity. I'm not going to imitate something that someone has done already." And Nídia couldn't be further from an imitator. As one of Príncipe's two non-male members, her body of work stands apart even within Príncipe's unique sonic universe. She traverses a broader emotional territory and extends to collaborations with Fever Ray, Kelela and Yaeji. Her RA Podcast is a restless affair–60 minutes of pushing, pulling, tiptoeing and gliding through the sounds of the Príncipe universe. True to the label's communitarian foundations, the mix contains predominantly original and unreleased material from her colleagues. In 2014, DJ Lilocox told RA: "Whatever your age, skin colour, sexual orientation, money in the wallet, clothes on: Noite Príncipe is for all who come to dance... forgetting the outside world." A decade on, RA.957 echoes this sentiment, a celebration of Príncipe's enduring magic: delirious, transcendent dancing for all. @nidiasukulbembe Read more at ra.co/podcast/957

Maximalist house from the sibling duo at the forefront of Berlin's new wave. Berlin is built on dance music. But of the many DJs who live, work and play there, few represent the evolution in the city's club culture like Tania and Dominik Humeres-Correa, AKA S-candalo. If the city was once governed by the tyranny of minimal, the post-pandemic era has cemented its reputation as the spot for "more-is-more" club soundtracks. It's still house and techno, but the chords are big, the drums are big and the basslines are even bigger. Nowadays, S-candalo are firm favourites at hotspots across the German capital, from Panorama Bar to Multisex and Radiant Love (not forgetting La Noche, their own burgeoning party). The duo find rich inspiration in '90s-era Latin house, a sound that takes New York house and incorporates rolling percussion from Latin genres such as samba, popularised on labels like Cutting Records and Strictly Rhythm (there's not one but two records from the latter in this mix). RA.956 fittingly lands at the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month in the US (more on that to come) and it's a resolutely fun affair. The duo's RA Podcast has got drive, sultry vocals and enough bounce to make you want to keep dancing way beyond the 90-minutes, marrying percussion-heavy house and ballroom with trance-inflected Eurodance from the '90s and early 2000s. (Oh, and a Shakira moment.) Genres aside, the duo's musical raison d'etre is pleasure. Perhaps the real scandal here is how it took us so long to get them on the series. @s-candalo @thc_dj @dhc_bln Read more at ra.co/podcast/956

Living, breathing, banging techno from an artist defining the highly-textured new frontier of the sound in 2024. Lindsey Wang, AKA Polygonia, has an amorphous style you could call organic—or, better yet, harmonious. She interweaves unfamiliar elements with a mercurial touch. Wang can make something completely otherworldly sound totally, well, natural. It's made her a fixture everywhere from Munich's BLITZ to major festivals like Sustain-Release and Draaimolen. Unsurprisingly, Wang is not one to be pinned down. Be it the sound design-anchored side project Lyder, her own label QEONE, or co-producing an album's worth of experimental percussion alongside jazz drummer Simon Popp, it's fair to say her personal output matches the feverish energy of her mixes. There's multidisciplinary, and then there's Wang: Poly-disciplinary, you might say. Wang's entry into the RA Podcast series is no different, another stellar emphasis of her artistry. RA.955 is a voyage into wild variations of texture, rhythm and feeling, guided along by the principle of endless metamorphosis. Supple driving grooves meet crinkled surfaces, scuttling hi-hats meet chattering sonics, and good luck keeping hold of a consistent drum pattern for long. Behold a living organism raised by the club and the great outdoors in equal measure. @polygonia Read more at ra.co/podcast/955

Three sizzling hours from the mind behind one of the world's best labels, Kalahari Oyster Cult. What you'll hear on this week's RA Podcast is the closing slot of 2024's Organik Festival—already a coveted moment. But as the sun dipped on Taiwan's north coast, something else was going on: Rey Colino was laying down quite possibly the set of his life. We're big fans of Colino, AKA Colin Volvert, here at RA. Few do it better when it comes to the type of pacy, lysergic thumpers that have become synonymous with both Kalahari and the distro One Eye Witness. A quick glance over the Belgian label's impressive alumni confirms how deeply his work flows through contemporary clubs. On RA.954, Volvert's sharp ear and swaggering DJ style are on full display. He locks in with many shades of his record bag, alongside a grip of new and forthcoming KOC cuts—some so fresh, the ink on the deal is barely even dry. We could go into the particulars, but it's best to just get stuck in: this one's a deep, deliriously effective trip. @reycolino @kalaharioystercult @oneyewitness @smokemachinetaipei Read more at ra.co/podcast/954

In time for 9/9, here's… 999999999. The Italian duo's reputation as a rave demolition crew has made them one of the most in-demand acts on the global circuit. Too nosebleed for 'business', and too close to Defqon.1-level hardstyle to be hard techno in the classic sense, 999999999's headline sets practically require a new category to convey the sense of scale: let's call it megatechno. Following a string of unsubtle yet undeniably impactful hit records in the late 2010s, Carlo B. & Giovanni C. became fast favourites of a generation who prefer their 303 cranked to 11. Their rampant velocity arrived at the right moment, proving parallel compatibility with acid lifers and younger audiences making the leap from EDM to hard dance. Flash forward to 2024 and they're flanked by flamethrowers while mashing down colossal crowds at festivals like Awakenings. Here, they purposefully strip it back and emphasise the core elements of the 9x9 formula—high drama, jackhammering kicks and the kind of tweaked-out acid air sirens that would make the likes of Hardfloor and Miss Djax scrunch their noses in approval. In other words, non-stop wrecking balls trained squarely at the foundations of a hangar near you. @999999999music Read more at ra.co/podcast/953

90 mins of Two Shell, live from Horst. We've been angling for an RA Podcast from Two Shell ever since they shifted from lowkey producers into hijinx hackers rummaging around the dance music mainframe. Now that we've bagged a mix from clubland's premier iconoclasts, it still poses more questions than it answers: Was this pre-recorded? What's the deal with that AI voice guiding the set along? How can we be sure it was even them? Hang on: is "even them" even them? What we can tell you is that the duo floored RA's stage at Horst Arts & Music 2024. Few genres were left untarnished as they veered off-piste on a thrill seeking mission toward breaking the 170+ BPM speed barrier. No tracklist, so ID crew over to you (Alex Gaudino makes an appearance, you can have that one as a freebie.) True to form, Two Shell always do it their own way. @twoshell @horstartsandmusicfestival Read more at ra.co/podcast/952

Ask Berlin's network of revered deep diggers who their favourite "DJ's DJ" is, and there's a strong chance you'll hear one name immediately pop up: KRN. Phil Kearney, AKA KRN, is one of those rare types who has built a reputation away from the limelight. Formerly a resident at The Ghost's Hoppetosse party as well as a Get Perlonized devotee (plus, full disclosure, reviewing events and working at RA in the mid-2010s), he's well-versed in both wiggle and waft. The hubbub around KRN can be put down to the fastidiousness of his approach: he unearths rare gems from the roots of the underground, before mixing it up with a deft hand. Kearney's RA Podcast, sweetly subtitled "Dadhouse," is an ode to his partner and newborn, as well as a window into his personal palette. He starts in serene IDM territory, before shifting into playful grooves and tactile house oddities. Good lucking ID'ing many of the tunes—we asked for a tracklist but, deep down, already knew the answer. We know this, too: one listen and you'll be hooked. @k_rn @theghost Read more at ra.co/podcast/951

A glorious ode to sound system culture. For her RA Podcast, Brooklyn-based DJ Ayanna Heaven celebrates vibrations echoing down the ages, connecting seven decades of trailblazers and trendsetters. It's a soundtrack we've timed with an eye to that golden late summer run of Notting Hill Carnival, Brooklyn's West Indian Day Parade and several crucial dates in the Jamaican calendar. Since 2020, the Brooklyn-based DJ, ethnomusicologist, dancehall advocate and promoter has held down two shows on the city's most popular stations: the monthly "Sounds of Heaven" on The Lot and biweekly "Across 110th Street" on WKCR. That's roughly 72 hours of radio every year. Light work for Heaven, though, whose sound traverses the limitlessly fertile ground of reggae, dancehall, funk, soul and beyond. From Sly & Robbie, Aswad and Vybz Kartel through contemporary heaters and reskins of platinum-plated standards like "No Games" and "Sun Is Shining," RA.950 is a story of a thriving culture, grounded in the past yet with intentions set firmly on the future. @ayanna-heaven Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/950

A roaring hour from one of the most vital talents in Naarm: First Nations producer Paul Gorrie, AKA DJ PGZ. The Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta artist is a fixture of forward-thinking dance music in Australia, with releases on labels like Butter Sessions, Pure Space and !K7, as well as numerous club and festival gigs on the circuit. An international breakout moment for the Naarm (Melbourne)-based talent feels inevitable. There's much to be said about the lack of visibility and support for Indigenous artists within the global electronic ecosystem, but at the root of all PGZ's disparate interests are community building and the advancement of marginalised peoples. To that end, DJ PGZ's RA Podcast is notably laced with multiple cuts from Nene H's Gaza fundraising compilation. It's distinctly fresh—the oldest track you'll find is from 2022—as he gallops through Kalahari-style wigged-out prog and techno, through to harder drum syncopations. Consider this a firm tip from us: PGZ is the truth. @dj-pgz Read more at ra.co/podcast/949

Speedy percussion meets screwface basslines: the Parisian club maestros are in session. Trying to find one word to describe the music of Amor Satyr and Siu Mata could run you into difficulty. But if we were to try, we'd reach for amphibian: slippery, nimble and evading borders with ease. With solo and shared releases on labels like SSPB, HARDLINE, TraTraTrax and their own WAJANG, they have evident kinship with what moves contemporary dance floors. The pair are also linked to the rise of an alchemical style they like to call "speed dembow"—taking the looping rhythm of dembow before pitching it up to modern club tempos and adding muscle. Combining tribal techno, baile funk, dubstep, jungle, dancehall and beyond, their RA Podcast makes for one hell of a ride, with over two hours of romping percussion, lysergic effects, high drama and plenty of wobble. @amorsatyr @siumata Read more at ra.co/podcast/948

What does great techno sound like in 2024? Enter LYDO. This week's RA Podcast captures @lydole in full flow, combining the old-school vernacular of European and North American techno—reduced rhythms, hi-hats and punchy 909s—with tracks from the new guard (Sev Dah, GiGi FM, D.Dan) sprinkled throughout. After moving to New York in 2015, the Vietnamese-American sound artist and X-XTRA.SERVICES founder became one of BASEMENT's first residents; the scene built around the revered Queens club has helped nurture their adventurous sound. Lately they've been making waves beyond North America, playing with the MARICAS crew in Barcelona and locking down slots at De School, Bassiani and Draaimolen. RA.947 is the sound of artful hypnosis: it's techno with elegance, depth and just the right amount of thump. Rig this up on a proper system, turn off the lights and any worries—about the genre's direction of travel, or otherwise—might melt away. Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/947

Bangers from around the globe. Dar Disku launched with a question: how to channel heritage into dance floor elation? Well, when your name translates to 'home of the disco,' the brief feels pretty self-explanatory. In the first few years, that meant crafting edits of Khaliji hi-NRG and Bollywood soundtracks to fit contemporary 'crates. They took off as DJs through a run of radio and parties in the UK—where they currently reside—flexing deep finds from across the SWANA region. Their vibrant debut album, out in September on Soundway, furthers the mission. True to form, their RA Podcast is stuffed with heaters from all over the map: Algeria, India, Chile, Jordan, Australia, Turkey, Libya and Morocco get a look-in, as well as a few staple acts that betray the kind of high-wattage European festivals the duo increasingly frequent. It's not hard to see why—this mix is 90 minutes of sunshine. @dardisku @soundway-records Read more at ra.co/podcast/946

Wormhole techno from a DJ you need to know. KYRUH is a high-impact specialist forced in the crucible of modern NYC's notable spaces, including WIRE, Dweller and Bossa Nova Civic Club. Their sound is that of a DJ skilled at pressure without requiring shortcuts through obvious terrain, adept at hammering it without defaulting to speed alone. After years burning a hole through the American underground, 2024 is proving to be a tipping point. KYRUH's appearance on Kelela remix compilation RAVE:N in spring lit the touchpaper for a run of gritty productions and increasingly prominent slots across North America and Europe. The tracklist for their RA Podcast goes deep, accommodating producers like x3butterfly and Faster Horses alongside veterans Lady Starlight, Femanyst, House of God resident Paul Damage Bailey and underrated Swedish ripper Tobias Von Hoftsen. To those still wondering where to find 'proper techno' in 2024: look no further. @kyruhx Read more at ra.co/podcast/945

As a producer and DJ, TSVI is in the form of his life—which you can't always say for an artist a decade in. He's been an enduring presence through several underground cycles for a reason: the man knows how to flow. TSVI's RA Podcast features a solid number of new and forthcoming cuts from the current vanguard pushing club music forward, amongst them Verraco, Surusinghe, DJ Plead, Doctor Jeep, DJ JM, WOST and Dj Babatr—who just dropped a split 12" with TSVI on TraTraTrax last month. Alongside the names you might expect, TSVI also leans into a streak of personal history. On RA.944 you'll hear fast, deep and percussive '90s and '00s cuts from Spain, Latin America and his native Italy, with a particular focus on the kind of playful progressive trance minted by the late, great Franchino. It makes for a truly dynamite mix. @tsvisions @nervoushorizon Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/944

Pure energy from one of electronic music's brightest lights: Sofia Kourtesis. Clamour had built around the Peruvian artist's poignant brand of house music following a string of EPs and 12"s, culminating in last year's Madres—a passionate, vulnerable and excellent album that resonated widely. Madres packed in rare specificity for a dancefloor record, combining paeans to the power of sound with direct tributes to the neurosurgeon who saved the life of Kourtesis' mother. (Kourtesis even took him clubbing in Berlin as an additional thank you.) The album's earworm melodies and approachable aura helped launch Kourtesis from bubbling to breakthrough on the global stage. In both sound and impact, it mirrors another record: Swim, the 2010 classic made by Kourtesis' friend and mentor, Dan Snaith. Speaking of @caribouband: RA.943 kicks off with a brand new Sofia Kourtesis & Daphni collaboration, before powering through summer-ready cuts from LUXE, Floating Points, IceMorph, DJ ADHD and an old Oliver Lieb classic. Even as her reputation as a recording artist swells, this power-hour mix is a sharp reminder of Kourtesis' DJing chops, teeing up a victory-lap summer ahead. @sofia-kourtesis Read more at ra.co/podcast/943

DJ Flight has been a constant throughout the many peaks and troughs of drum & bass. She's one of the genre's key chroniclers, with a real-time history of drum & bass in her archives as a radio presenter, and a level of behind the scenes involvement that spans decades. While Flight's advocacy for equitable gender representation in drum & bass through her EQ50 collective is the most visible, it's by no means the sole initiative. Her work also extends to the Prison Radio Association—the only radio station made specifically for incarcerated people—as well as the Windrush Stories series, which focuses on the cultural history and contributions of Afro-Caribbean migrants to the UK. Flight is also, plainly, a wicked DJ, who doesn't prefer one scene or subgenre over another—which also makes her a font of knowledge. (Her history of 2000s drum & bass is among the best genre deep dives we've ever published.) This RA Podcast is two hours of majestic, freewheeling beats that touch on every corner of drum & bass: from the minimalistic and razor-edged to ragga looseness, with a killer downtempo outro to smooth out the final landing. RA.942 is a first class journey from one of the scene's most enduring heroes. Big up Flight. @djflight Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/942

The first thing you might realise during a MUSCLECARS set is the sheer musicality of the duo's selections. Vocals glimmer at the centre, unfolding into enchanting, soulful coos, while drums strike captivating rhythms and gilded synths reach towards the sky. It's a jazzy New York house sound mythologised by pioneers like Joe Claussell, Carlos Sanchez and Timmy Regisford (whose songs all make it to this RA Podcast). For years, New York natives Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield have run their Coloring Lessons party as a way to introduce a younger generation to this vital piece of dance music history. In a city that prides itself on fast walking, fast talking and, as of late, fast BPMs, their music is an invitation to ease into a more relaxing pace. This RA Podcast comes at a golden time for MUSCLECARS. In May, they released their RA-recommended debut album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea!, whose sultry (and undeniably catchy) lead single "Tonight" has gotten the stamp of approval, and a remix, from New York legend Louie Vega. And this Sunday, they hosted their annual Juneteenth block party outside the Lot Radio, where scores of Black dancers latched onto one another during sets from a multigenerational crew of Black DJs including Ron Trent, Lovie, Shawn Dub and MUSCLECARS themselves. This two-hour-plus mix takes us through the spiralling jazz of Herbie Hancock, the flashy disco of The Originals and lands us, finally, in "Water," the track that also closes out Sugar Honey Iced Tea!. @musclecarsnyc Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/941

Young partygoers might know Man Power, AKA Geoff Kirkwood, as the earnest geezer going back-to-back with DJs like Ewan McVicar, Paul Woolford, La La and Skream—peak-time specialists with a fine line in boofy bangers and ravey techno. Kirkwood is also a dab hand at the kind of elliptical house and deep cut detours favored by '00s labels like DFA and Optimo. In spite of a long track record as a producer and promoter, if you had to boil Kirkwood's work in recent years down to a single quality, it might be altruism. He hails from North Shields, a small town fringing the boundary of Newcastle in England's oft-neglected North East, and wears his heritage proudly. The Me Me Me label boss's involvement in a flurry of civic restoration, and no-filter paeans to the importance of working class involvement in culture, have become as central to his life as music-making itself. For an accomplished DJ who has played at nearly every good club you could name, that’s no small feat. So which side of Man Power were we in for? The answer on RA.940 is: both. '60s free verse poetry, Zebra Katz, Gesaffelstein and John Carpenter in the opening stretch? Makes sense. Octave One punching through Rozalla? You got it. An extended Joe Claussell workout atop Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place"? Why not. In Kirkwood's hands, it all goes down as smooth as a pint of Newcastle Brown. @manpower-1 Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/940

People tend to remember the first time they see BEIGE DJ—and a lot of the times after, too. One RA editor described them as "doing some crazy shit" after seeing a set. The Detroit DJ is all about playing to party rock, but also gently subverting expectations. It's a cliché now that good DJs can make whole new tracks out of blending existing songs together. Few embody this as easily or effortlessly as BEIGE, who loves to take sounds you already know and present them in a context you've never heard them in before. BEIGE started DJing after they moved to Detroit roughly a decade ago, and has since become a vital DJ in the Motor City's ecosystem, bridging gaps, scenes and genres. Their DJing style is adaptable and versatile, but you can count on a few things: a techno foundation, rollicking drums, throbbing basslines and vocals coming at you from all angles. Their RA Podcast flows beautifully, with just the right amount of bumps and left turns to keep you from getting comfortable. And the edits? There's plenty of head-turning moments here, like DJ Chap's downtempo drum & bass remix of seminal emo band American Football, a 150 BPM version of "Energy Flash," a cheeky Skrillex flip from Darian and excellent weirdo beats from the freakier ends of the US underground, including producers like Davis Galvin, Alien D and the late Jasen Loveland. @justbeige Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/939

Actress' highlight reel needs little exposition. Darren J. Cunningham has been a prominent yet inscrutable figure in electronic music since the late 2000s, typically flickering to life from the margins before receding into the shadows. Beloved albums like R.I.P., Karma & Desire and Splazsh may switch up the template, but the Actress hallmarks of haze, murk and showstopping beauty remain. As you'll see in the interview below, he's a man of few words—that's in character for him. What's characteristic, too, is a taste for surprises. Ahead of the release of tenth studio album Statik on esteemed Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound next month, here's the "Дарен Дж. Каннінгем RA Mix"—a tapestry of 100 percent original and exclusive Actress music you won't find anywhere else. Flowing between pensive, rugged and stargazing moods across an album's worth of unaired tracks, Actress' first time stepping up on the RA Podcast was clearly worth the wait. @actress1 Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/938

Julia Govor is one of those artists who can take the fundamentals of techno and make it sound hers. At this point in her career, the Georgia-born, New York City-based artist has established a style that feels half-Rome school, half Japanese hypnotic techno, but fully Julia Govor. Her label Jujuka has become a home for the stuff, featuring plenty of her own work along with like-minded folks like EMIT and Victoria Mussi, and she recently put out the biggest and best release of her career with the hefty Laika And Ulka Were Here on Semantica. Her production style carries over to her DJing. Govor's RA Podcast is made up over half her own tracks, and the cuts she picks from others match her style: twirling arpeggios, rushing cascades of synth, heavy but groovy kicks. Much has been made of her childhood in a military family, and how she fell in love with techno via her classical musical education, where she felt drawn to the darker, romantic shades of composition. You get some of that here, but to call Govor's style "dark" would be overly simplistic. Instead it's sleek, aerodynamic and fluid, the kind of techno that gets you lost in a wormhole. @juliagovor Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/937

"All in my life, I've gone back and forth between North and East London," Karen Nyame KG said in a recent mini-doc about her studio process. "These areas are multicultural [...] you just become a sponge for that type of energy." More than two decades into her career, these parts of the UK capital remain a defining influence on The Rhythm Goddess, whose music weaves together ideas from across London and the diaspora, blending R&B and soul with global dance music forms. A leading face of London's hybrid club sound, KG's sound is seductive and luxurious. Her excellent productions, which span UK funky, amapiano and East Coast club, have a velvety touch, as if cut from high-end fabric. Her ear for smoky, sultry grooves, showcased on her Rhythm In The City party-turned-label, is impeccable, and her tracks have become more song-oriented, ranging from sultry to braggadocious. Her classy DJ mixes are a study in bounce and groove, incorporating everything from highlife to Afrotech to dubby rollers. Since re-entering the club circuit in 2018 after a six-year hiatus, KG has become a role model for women talents in the electronic music world. Her stance on racial and gender disparities within the industry has helped orchestrate safer spaces in music, inspiring aspiring Black creatives in the process. KG's RA Podcast is nothing short of sexy, loaded with swung rhythms and lithe drums across gqom, Afrohouse and jazzy deep house. It radiates a level of confidence and intimacy that can only come from years of vision—and a constant passion for sensual, soulful music. @KARENNYAMEKG Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/936

This past February, Tesfa Williams released his debut album—over 20 years into his career. Raves Of Future Past distilled decades of experience on London dance floors into a potent and powerful blend of grime, house, rave and techno. Made with an Elektron Digitakt to imitate the rough textures of early '00s UK dance music, the LP is an anachronistic history lesson that throws everything in a blender, imagining what gqom might sound like as an Eski track and giving new life to the short-lived "sublow" sound Williams helped invent with classic tracks like "Invasion," released under his earlier alias DJ Dread D. Since the sublow days, however, Williams has become a torchbearer for UK house music and African diasporic sounds like Afro house and gqom in London. He's put out soulful hits like "Heartbeat"—recently reissued by Local Action—and released a steady stream of dance records for PMR and Strictly Rhythm. He's what you might call a jack of all trades, except for that he's actually a master of them all. His RA Podcast charts his musical journey in reverse chronological order, starting with smooth, African-influenced sounds and winding through grime and dubstep, eventually landing at jungle. He threads a needle through diverse genres (and eras), and posits that the traditional UK hardcore continuum is a bigger spectrum than you might think, with gqom's heave and amapiano's log drum equally important in the musical equation. It's nearly two hours of UK dance music past and present, from a DJ who has lived it all. @twilliamsmusic Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/935

Simon Aussel is known for a particularly wild DJing style and leftfield bassy bangers, and it's his curious and playful approach to clubland that's won him loyal fans over the years. Whether photographing drink tokens from gigs or creating an 8-bit version of his debut album on a Game Boy cartridge, he seems to approach every endeavour with childlike joy and wonder—rare qualities in an industry that can leave so many jaded. The Nantes-born, Paris-based artist's love of club culture, digging and world-building has set him on a blazing path in club music. He's released an exceptionally wide range of music, including a Memphis rap tape for Trilogy Tapes, dubstep-trap-jazz hybrids with Egyptian singer Abdullah Miniawy and deadly hard drum for Livity Sound. His mixes, meanwhile, are fast becoming DJ lore thanks to his knack for connecting seemingly opposed genres like new wave and fast techno. Look no further than his now-infamous Dekmantel Selectors set from 2021 or a marathon back-to-back with Skee Mask in 2022. As the French DJ gets more comfortable with story-telling, he's getting more personal and focusing on deeper, slower sounds. That's evident on this RA Podcast—six months in the works—which incorporates woozy downtempo, weighty dub and bleepy beats. Of course, in the chaotic middle section there's plenty of huge basslines, plus old-school electro, acidic techno and even a bouncy edit of the Montell Jordan classic "This Is How We Do It." Showcasing his quirks, influences and growth, this is Simo Cell in prime time. @simocell Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/934

By anyone's standards, KI/KI has had a meteoric rise. She started DJing at queer party SPIELRAUM in Amsterdam in 2018, and by now she's one of Europe's most-talked about DJs. She blends modern strands of techno with trance and acid in a way that feels all her own, veering away from the sugar highs of other DJs or the clobbering kick drums of so much fast dance music. Her style is aerodynamic and sleek, not bludgeoning. In addition to her DJ career, KI/KI runs the label slash, which has put out music from the likes of Alpha Tracks, Peachlyfe and Newa, artists who share her canny blend of trance and techno aesthetics and sneaky pop sensibilities. Acid is another big love, as shown by her 5HRS OF ACID concept. The decades-old sound has become a key part of her style and appeal, as you'll hear on her RA Podcast. It's a barreling 90 minutes through techno and trance with trap and dubstep accents, breathless but perfectly paced. @ki_slash_ki Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/933

Earlier this year, we described Los Angeles act 1morning as one of the funkiest young producers in modern-day techno. And we stand by it. The fast-rising upstart is building a solid fan base around North America and beyond with a rugged, vintage style of swung techno and hardgroove. His all-vinyl DJ sets and pumping productions on the likes of Fixed Rhythms and Mála Ádh stand out for their distinctly old-school flavour—steamrolling hi-hats à la Robert Hood, swift choppage behind the decks and deep, deep grooves. Like many of his all-vinyl heroes, he's also a treat to watch behind the decks The up-and-comer had a hell of a year in 2023, from playing in Japan to going on his first European tour, and his momentum shows no signs of slowing. He debuted at New York's dweller festival this year and K9 Unit, his duo with Bloodhound, recently did a night with fellow hardgroove king Regal86. It's only a matter of time until 1morning gets to a festival or a club near you so until then, enjoy his RA Podcast for now. The mix unfortunately came with some less than stellar circumstances, as the records 1morning pulled were stolen from his car, and so instead this RA Podcast became a statement of resilience and creativity—and, in his words, "an outlet for my rage." @1morning Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/932

Sam Coates took to techno like a diligent pupil, falling in love with the genre through labels like CLR in the late '00s. It didn't take long for the student to surpass his proverbial teachers. Almost immediately, the Manchester native was putting out pitch-perfect, functional techno records with everything intricately balanced. The requisite move to Berlin only sealed his fate as a future techno luminary, and by now, based in Kyiv, he's one of techno's most reliable, yet exciting, workhorses. Setaoc Mass records (and those on his label, SK_eleven) are minimalist but colossal, deceptively simple but not easy to pull off. We've praised him in these pages for his "sense of economy—how to get the hardest impact out of just a few elements," and that's the idea behind his RA Podcast as well. Put together from records old and new, and intricately layered, Coates's mix is like a time-travelling wormhole connecting disparate eras from techno, and highlighting the genre's most timeless attributes: mechanistic rhythms, careful pacing, rudimentary melodies made out of the strangest sounds and, of course, the power of the bass drop. It's hard to imagine anything that sounds more capital-T techno than this mix, which is a high compliment. It's easy to hear why his records and DJ sets are only more in demand from techno heads across the geographical and generational spectrum. @setaoc_mass Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/931

Most underground movements in the arts can be boiled down to one key ingredient: friends doing dope shit together. Childhood BFFs Luca Medici and Delbert Perez have been doing just that with INVT (that's "innovate"), a multidisciplinary art project that spans club music and streetwear. Before exploding onto the international stage and playing to massive crowds in Ibiza and Tulum, the Miami natives built a solid community at home through electrifying DJ sets, releases and fashion. They might be globe-trotting artists now, going back-to-back with artists like Skream and playing Panorama Bar, but their raw DIY spirit stays strong. Their tunes and live hardware shows fuse jungle, techno, East Coast club and dubstep—and lately, tech house and tribal house—with bass-heavy Latin genres like cumbia and guaracha. A reflection of Miami's diverse demographics, their genre cross-pollinations bring together skaters, dancers, artists and various subcultures. Their clothing lines are equally cross-cultural: repurposed vintage items made from screen printing and acid washing, using photos and designs that represent their home city's vibrant street culture. True to their grassroots ethos, everything's done in-house, from mixing and mastering tracks to embroidery. The next-gen duo's ultra-rhythmic productions, characterised by deep, swinging drums and trippy textures, is delivered to the world at a rapid-fire pace, testament to Medici and Perez's seemingly insatiable hunger. Their explosive career has helped bring fresh shine to Miami talents who feature heavily in their sets, including this RA Podcast. Featuring DJ Babatr, Coffintexts and plenty of their own unreleased heaters, INVT's mix represents their friendships, community and Miami's thrilling melting pot of dance music that they're still a core part of even as they move across the globe. @invt305 Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/930

Last year, when we wrote that "the best UK garage is coming out of Los Angeles," we were talking about Introspekt. The US DJ, who has since moved to New York, really understands the genre—its appeal, swing and unique, bassy whomp. Listen to any of her tracks, like last year's "Forlorn," and you'll hear someone who produces like she's been making UKG all her life. This is probably partly because she comes from a dubstep background, but either way, if you're looking for new UK garage beats, Introspekt is one of the best going right now. Her DJing also hits a distinct sweet spot, zeroing in one of the proto-dubstep, dark UK garage days when producers like El-B were making the hottest shit around. Her sound is both retro and forward-looking, as you'll hear on her RA Podcast, which balances vintage Big Apple cuts from Skream & Benga with new-school tunes from Amaliah and Surusinghe. It's not so much a throwback as it is a rejuvenation of an old sound—a new way to look at it and a new way to make it. If hindsight is 20/20, then Introspekt has perfect vision, and mixes like this are the perfect way to educate listeners, make them move and innovate a little in the process. @sageintrospekt Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/929

Berlin label and collective Live From Earth crew does things its own way. And it works. Over the past ten years, the team has become a major force in the city, mixing a killer ear for techno and house with a sense of humour and pop sensibility that has proven irresistible to audiences and scenes around the world. That's why we chose Live From Earth for our latest cover story: its DIY attitude, humble origins and tenacious spirit are everything we love about underground dance music. Accompanying the cover story, this RA Podcast features a recording of a live back-to-back between two of the label's chief artists, DJ Gigola and MCR-T (the latter of whom has produced some of Live From Earth's biggest hits, including horsegiirL's "My Barn My Rules"). The hour-plus recording makes for a handy microcosm of the label's sound, rushing through contemporary and vintage techno with plenty of raunchy vocal samples and hip-hop a capellas. It's blazing but never too hard, catchy but never predictable. Above all, it's fun—the group's guiding principle. @mcr-t @djgigola @livefromearth Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/928

Of all the Berlin DJs who make a living spinning strange, I'm-not-sharing-the-tracklist kind of records, Sugar Free, originally hailing from Madrid, might be the most fun. She plays bold, colourful tracks with an air of sci-fi and sleaze, somewhere between Italo, hi-NRG, electro and house. (Her Dimensions Mix last year was one of our favourites of 2023.) She's the kind of DJ who messes with your perception of genres and tempos by how she blends tracks together, and also a DJ with a rare grasp of mixing melodies and moods—just check out the first transition of this RA Podcast for a spine-tingling example. Sugar Free doesn't speak much publicly, and you won't find a lot about her on the internet. She prefers to let her DJing speak for itself. And her RA Podcast says a lot: proggy basslines, heart-in-mouth descents into reverb-heavy breakdowns, eerie vocals and a general feel of psychedelia and '80s decadence. It's difficult to tell what era these records are from, which is part of the charm. For a bonus point, try and pick out two just-completed Sugar Free originals, some of her first productions ever after her debut track came out on Limousine Dream in 2022. @freesugarfree Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/927

FAUZIA is an artist of many moods. The UK talent moves from IDM to soul on her NTS Radio residency, while her club DJ sets reveal her love for '90s-style breaks, electro and bass-heavy sounds. In the studio, she explores her softer side through self-released homespun dub and ambient jungle. In recent years, she's gravitated towards live performances. Her gossamer vocals, one of her strongest suits, cuts through live instrumentation like a hummingbird in agile flight. In 2020, the London-based talent told Mixmag that she was done being categorised as a "dance music" artist—and so far, she's succeeded. While she incorporates clubby touchstones into her work, there's a deep level of cross-genre knowledge and blending at play. FAUZIA's RA podcast makes that clear. Free of any four-to-the-floor music, it moves from experimental jazz to orchestral melodies to R&B ballads for a thoughtful and introspective journey full of her own unreleased music that points towards her newer interest in composition. This is music to be felt, so let your guard down and let it wash over you. @FAUZIA Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/926

Shubostar's RA Podcast begins and ends with video game music. (The beginning kind of sounds like Mary Poppins, actually.) Lots of DJs and producers play or make music that emulates the nostalgic sounds of old-school gaming, but the South Korean artist goes direct to the source. Before falling in love with dance music, she went to an animation-focused high school and learned how to make video games—so it's basically in her musical DNA. And while her DJing isn't as out-there as you might expect from that description, '90s and '00s Japanese video game (and anime) soundtracks offer a good idea of what her playing sounds like: lush, synthetic and a little naive, full of wonder and positive vibes. With releases on labels like Permanent Vacation, Internasjonal and her own uju Records, Shubostar is also a student of cosmic space disco, inspired by artists like Daniele Baldelli, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas. Lately she's been rubbing elbows with Âme and Dixon. She picks tracks from across eras and genres on her RA Podcast, with cuts from Yellow Magic Orchestra, Baldelli and Kraftwerk alongside selections from DJ City and Private Agenda. It's a mix full of mood shits, dazzling keyboard runs and, of course, melodies that seem to reach out towards the heavens—or outer space. @shubostar Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/925

If Bitter Babe was a perfume, her scent would be animalic—heavy musk, bergamot, worn leather and burnt spices. The Bogotá-born, Miami-bred and now Berlin-based artist has a heady, ultra-rhythmic sound that feels made for sweltering summer nights and feral fantasies. Combining pan-Latin styles with hard drum and industrial touches, she's crafted a singular mood that defines her DJing and production: hazy, high-energy and sensual. Bitter Babe's ascent on the international circuit has been tied to her role in Miami's electronic renaissance. Whether it's proto-reggaeton, dense ambient or guaracha, her sets and productions are characterised by evocative low-end, darting synths and distorted frequencies that exude drama. With releases on TraTraTrax, Air Texture and SVBKVLT, she's cemented her position as an experimentalist, leaving the door open for more deconstruction and abstraction. As cofounder of multidisciplinary project LATITUDES, Bitter Babe seeks to unify Latin America's electronic music communities. Her mixes are a great source for discovering under-the-radar acts from Peru, Brazil and beyond, some of whom are featured on her RA podcast. Starting with subby downtempo before moving onto swampy baile funk, technoid mutations of dembow and cheeky UKG, it showcases her expertise for trippy yet deeply kinetic grooves. @bitterbabe Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/924

Detroit might be synonymous with techno, but it also has a rich house tradition. And Rick Wade—FKA Big Daddy Rick—is one of Detroit house's key players. Along with the likes of Keith Worthy, Theo Parrish and the late Mike Huckaby (who Wade had a lifelong friendship and friendly rivalry with), he created a hybrid sound that is both techno and house, effortlessly soulful, sculpted and glowing—and Midwest to the core. As Tajh Morris said in a retrospective review of one of his classic records, "growing up in Buchanan, Michigan, meant that Wade was much closer to Chicago than he was to Detroit." Many of Wade's best records were released on Harmonie Park, his era-defining label that also featured plenty of work from Huckaby. Those EPs still sound fresh and timeless today, qualities that extend to Wade's RA Podcast, which features 90 minutes of smooth-as-butter house old and new. Over the years he's kept the flame burning for the smouldering sounds of Detroit house, working in sounds from younger producers like Folamour along the way. Enjoy listening to a master at work. @rick-wade Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/923

Mogwaa is a Seoul-based DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist who can seemingly do no wrong. Since his debut EP in 2017, he's developed a stellar track record of releases and live performances that have made him an in-demand name across East Asia and beyond. And he's only just getting started. The South Korean artist's multi-genre palette and hardware expertise have earned him the description of boy wonder from peers and collaborators. His work is awash in bright textures and dreamy moods, whether it's electro-fused techno for Peggy Gou's Gudu Records, limber jungle for Klasse Wrecks or dubby dancehall for Sound Metaphors. At Wonderfruit festival in December, he played a thrilling live set of spacey techno and loopy acid, infusing rich sound design into elastic groove. His stamina and enjoyment of music is tangible—he could probably play all night long and still be raring to go. After learning classical piano, guitar and trumpet in his early years, he taught himself to compose and produce. He's now determined to work with South Korean producers through Walls And Pals, a label he runs alongside Jesse You. Mogwaa's RA Podcast offers a glimpse into his multi-faceted sound. It's full of club-ready heaters, from trippy house to breakbeats, that pack a serious punch. Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/922

In the music video for her new single with Manni Dee, Manuka Honey embarks on a money heist, robbing a venue with a comically tiny Louis Vuitton bag. Wearing a barely-there outfit, her cutesy goth girl demeanour and memeworthy one-liners capture many facets of modern-day pop culture. Whether through her music, fashion or astrology practice, the artist, born Marissa Malik, speaks to a large demographic of fans. Her sound is a composite of club genres from across the globe—everything from baile funk to gqom to pop edits. She he describes herself as an "unhinged, hostile girl" and is known for unfettered self-expression. "When you come to my sets, often, my tit will accidentally fall out or I'll step on the decks," she once told RA. Malik brings a sort of sensual chaos to the dance floor. Her DJ sets and productions are rooted in hot and humid rhythms that often distort into acrobatic shapes or blend into one another in a maximalist approach. Last year's Machete / 777 for Club Romantico combined elements of reggaeton with ballroom, while one Boiler Room show last year went from Waka Flocka's "No Hands" to new-school guaracha banger "Calentura Vaginal" (which translates to "vaginal heat"). She's dedicated to supporting the worldwide Latin diaspora through her music, which heavily skews towards regional styles like guaracha and raptor house, as well as with her collective and party SUZIO. Malik's many influences shine on her RA Podcast. Moving from dancehall to Afro house to bassy dembow, the hour-long high-intensity workout captures her core sound palette. It's energetic, steamy and a little disorienting—just how she likes it. @manuka_honey Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/921

Whoever Client_03 is—their official bio says "neither human nor machine"—they certainly love electro. In the interview below, they say making it is "all I do." The stubbornly anonymous project has been making waves across continents and scenes, introducing audiences used to dubstep, drum & bass and trap to the distinctive joys of electro. Through a series of self-releases dating back to 2019, Client_03 has earned a fanbase with simple graphics and wonderfully jargon-y titles—"Prosperity Stream Divider," "Interpersonal Relationship Assessment"—that more than live up to the genre pastiche with genuinely funky electro grooves. Pitched between loose and robotic, their tracks are what we call rollers: stackable, interlockable and reliable. This RA Podcast was recorded live at last year's Bass Coast Festival, where the masked producer's set was among the most anticipated. They—or it—didn't disappoint, and here we've got 60 minutes-plus of smooth and occasionally raucous electro that eventually mutates into dubstep, jungle and beyond. There are several spinbacks, tons of Client_03 material new and old and a few select tracks from artists like Sam Binga, Nikki Nair and Fixate. It's the sound of a certain kind of future, as refracted through its past. @Client_03 Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/920

Ariel Zetina is as charming as she is talented—one of the many reasons she was named "Chicagoan of the Year for Pop Music" by the Chicago Tribune last month. A straight shooter with strong principles, her witty personality shines through on social media and in person. She radiates both best friend and boss energy. Musically, she wears her heart on her sleeve, infusing her personality into her DJing and production. Her sets and mixes are adventurous, moving from hard to soft to playful with precision. From producing theatre shows and opening for Beyoncé to releasing her RA-recommended debut album on Local Action in 2022, the smartbar resident approaches each venture with meaning and depth. That LP explored the complex experience of being a Belizean-American trans woman, using fiery house and techno to express vulnerability and triumph. Ariel Zetina's multifaceted personality is on full display in her RA podcast. There's baile funk-infused techno, crisp drum & bass and plenty of tracks from queer producers from all sorts of scenes, including Michael Cignarale, StrikeStone! and Perfect Lovers. It's a grand statement of power, flow and seriously good taste. @arielzetina Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/919

Soul Summit is a New York institution. The DJ trio have been putting on a summer festival in Brooklyn's Fort Greene park for well over a decade now, and those gatherings have become a yearly house music pilgrimage for fans from all over the Five Boroughs. The party embodies the ethos of house music: free for everyone, open to families both blood and chosen, a place where everyone is welcome to groove (or just relax) to uplifting, old-school dance music with inspiring lyrics and bumping basslines. Sadiq Bellamy, Tabu and Jeff Mendoza have created something truly special, and more and more lately, they've been spreading their gospel outside the park, too. They've become residents at Nowadays, where this RA Podcast was recorded as part of a Mister Sunday party. It was also released as part of the Mister Saturday Night's cassette box set to celebrate the party's 15th birthday. This one features an hour of the cassette's 90-minute runtime, plus an additional 20 minutes only available here. It captures this trio at their soulful best, letting vocal tracks play out long and leisurely with expert blends and gentle transitions. The feelings of warmth, love and welcome land with every kick drum and flow through every bassline. @soul-summit-music Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/918

Purelink have been described more than once as an "ambient boy band." (They themselves say "jam band.") It's not meant dismissively—the American trio purposefully mean to function as a band, even if their main instruments are laptops. Ambient might not quite cut it as a descriptor, though. The group's music crosses eras and scenes, touching on the late '90s clicks & cuts boom as well as the billowy ambient techno put out by labels like 3XL, West Mineral Ltd. and NAFF. Their most recent LP, Signs, released on enigmatic imprint Peak Oil (and one of our favourite albums of 2023), is especially impressive, made of stuttering rhythms and glassy textures. In other words, it's ambient-not-ambient. While members Concave Reflection, kindtree and Millia have all made excellent music on their own, something special happens when they come together. Purelink's RA Podcast is another stellar contribution to our post-New Year's tradition, where we highlight a more laid-back sound to soothe weary minds and frazzled brain cells after the heavy holiday celebrations. This is 90-plus minutes of intricately textured downtempo, dub techno and even UK garage, all cut through with a floaty, almost drowsy quality, with plenty of exclusives and unreleased cuts from the likes of Nick León, James K, Downstairs J and more. It highlights Purelink's position as a bridger of worlds, sounds and tempos. Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/917

Dr Banana is a name that commands a lot of respect in certain corners of the dance music world. The man has his Ph.D in record digging—not literally, mind you, but play along—and key to his success is the sense of fun, joy and ecstasy he brings to his DJing. UK garage historian? Sure. Blinding DJ? Definitely. He likes to play records you've never heard before, records that not only make you dance but might remind you of some of your favourite, formative records of yore. The UK artist started out with a fashion line and some records and ended up an influential label boss, collector and DJ. He made his name with skippy, retro UK garage—sometimes from new producers and sometimes unearthed from the archives—and nicely coincided with the genre's explosion in popularity. Since then, he's highlighted everything from old-school German garage to new-school producers like K-LONE. His DJ sets have only become more adventurous and, crucially, even more bumping. Jungle, R&B, tech house, you name it. His RA Podcast zeroes in on a vintage-sounding, rollicking kind of house music, full of seismic disco basslines and quirky vocal samples. It's as celebratory as it is mysterious. Once, Dr Banana was a not so well-kept secret for the heads—the kids in Berlin and London who were starting to realize the similarities between UK garage, minimal and tech house. Now, he's for everyone, and starting to earn the wider recognition he deserves. @dr-banana Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/916

Quest's RA Podcast starts slowly, with a thrum of synths that feels like watching a rocket take off in slow motion. Before you know it, you're in outer space, floating through zero gravity with waves of synths and gentle breakbeats. The Italian DJ is a premiere selector in the world of digging for rare records, but his outré taste shouldn't be confused with willful obscurity. He's a beloved DJ partly because of his approachability. There's a serene, early '90s feel to RA.915 that's reminiscent of some of the earliest and best ambient techno. When he's not DJing, Quest runs the label La Nota Del Diablo. He's only put out two records, including this year's Red Tears EP from his dear friend (and fellow esteemed DJ) Christian AB, which RA's Henry Ivry described as "a careful balance of late-night tension and early morning twilight." That's not a bad way to describe Quest's RA Podcast—if it's not a soundtrack for an astral journey, then it's perfect for an afterhours, for when the laid-back vibes come to a simmer for one last stretch of dancing. @questwax Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/915

Detroit dance music thrives on intergenerational connections. In the late '70s and early '80s, the late Ken Collier mixed disco, soul and early electronic dance music in eye-opening DJ sets that left a mark on up-and-coming artists like Delano Smith. Once Smith established himself in the city's explosive techno community, he, in turn, influenced soon-to-be legends like Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Jeff Mills, Norm Talley, Mike "Agent X" Clarke and others. Now an elder statesman, Smith is etched into our history books as a crucial contributor to Detroit dance music, both house and techno. He's known especially for the Detroit beatdown sound he pioneered alongside Talley and Clark—slower, sexier records than what Detroit techno is generally associated for. (The trio even put out an RA Podcast under the name in 2010.) It's more recently that Smith has become known as a producer. He started his own label, Mixmode Recordings, and became a regular on Berlin imprint Sushitech, where he released many of his albums, including the jazzy deep house masterclass An Odyssey. His style has evolved over the years to incorporate ambient, dub and more contemporary techno influences. More recently, Smith's career has been sidelined by an ongoing battle with a rare and untreatable form of cancer. He's hosted livestreams throughout his ordeal to keep in touch with his fans. His RA Podcast, which he calls his "Legacy Mix," is a celebration of his favourite sounds: euphoric chords, jacking drums and deep-space melodies, the elements that have and will continue to reverberate through Detroit and beyond. It also marks the beginning of a more hopeful period for Smith, as he gets ready to travel again, especially with his Legacy Detroit series, which celebrates the lineage he's an indelible part of, and always will be. @delano_smith Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/914

It would be no exaggeration to say that 33EMYBW is one of the most original club music producers we've heard in recent years. In addition to being a talented visual artist and a bass player in the experimental band Duck Fight Goose, her solo productions are a highlight of Shanghai’s bustling underground scene—home to forward-thinking artists like Tzusing, Osheyack, Swimful and Hyph11e—moving with their own rhythmic language. She has a lexicon of drum sounds borrowed from all over the world, including tablas, bongos and mallets. As 33EMYBW, she puts together strange, multi-limbed rhythms that bring to mind images of dancing spiders and insects, something she addressed directly on 2019's showstopping Arthropods LP, released on the influential SVBKVLT label. As she says in the interview below, you basically need more than two legs to dance to her music. Maybe even eight. Her music deals with creatures that vary from the mythical to the everyday (her first album was called Golem). On her latest record Holes Of Sinian, also out on SVBKVLT, she imagines the mostly-unknown organisms from the recently discovered Ediacaran period. It's more esoteric, atmospheric and arguably even funkier than her previous work, with Marina Herlop on one hair-raising track that you can hear in a demo version on her RA Podcast. This mix is actually a version of her live set—a favourite at influential festivals like Unsound and CTM—featuring plenty of productions from across her career in mutated and improvisational forms. It's creepy, crawly and undeniably danceable. If you can keep up with it. @33emybw Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/912

What some refer to broadly as "Latin club music"—from dembow to raptor house—is having a moment on dance floors around the world. Since making his mark at Manchester's legendary Swing Ting parties in the 2010s, Florentino, who is of Colombian heritage, has melded high-pressure perreo, cumbia and other styles with high BPMs and fat-bottomed bass in his DJ sets and productions. The result is an ultra-kinetic, cross-cultural sound that's influenced by UK soundsystem culture as much as the sounds of the massive, diverse scenes across Latin America. The pan-Latin influences are a big part of Florentino's sound palette, but they by no means define him. Interspersed with dancehall and baile funk are dubstep, pummelling techno, house, UK funky, grime and more. Over the years, his experimental side has also crystallized, whether it's through the deep, sometimes trippy, reggaeton of Sangre Nueva, his collaborative project with Kelman Duran and DJ Python, his sought-after bootlegs of deconstructed guaracha, or the releases on his Club Romantico label. Most recently, he's signed with UK giant XL Recordings, including for his latest EP, Kilometro Quinze. His dizzying range and propensity for rhythmic contortions is on full display in his RA Podcast. This is a riotous mix with big drops, bouncy basslines and crispy textures, showcasing Florentino's talent as a proper party-starter. @deejayflorentino Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/912

At this point, Shy One might be familiar to most music fans as one of the hosts of NTS's daily breakfast show, Soup To Nuts, where she helps listeners across the UK and Europe settle into their morning routines with an eclectic and soulful selection of dance music and downtempo. But the London artist has been around a lot longer than that, with a discography that goes back well over a decade. She started releasing music as a regular on Scratcha DVA's label, and it was there that she sketched out a recognizable but impressively varied approach rooted in her home base of London. On her records, Shy One sometimes feels like London incarnate, synthesizing the histories of Black British dance music—drum & bass, grime, UK funky, broken beat, jazz, you name it—into one syncretic and immensely appealing sound. But her music glows with the warmth of American deep house, too, which lends it a timeless, ageless quality that has proven immensely appealing. She furthers this mission with Private World, a party she started with Ruby Savage. The name kind of says it all: she's inviting you to her own personal space, but what awaits is a whole wide world of music and culture. Her RA Podcast feels like a hybrid between a club DJ set and her morning show, and here, she zeroes in on a the lineage of American house music from the '90s and beyond, featuring tracks from the likes of Green Velvet, Marcellus Pittman, Roy Davis Jr., Wbeeza, Jay Daniel and more, plus a spotlight from Baltimore club king DJ Technics. It's patient and easygoing but perfect for a small dance floor (or a livingroom party), focused but stylistically diverse. It's everything we've come to expect from an artist like Shy One, who weaves stories and histories with her DJ sets, and does it effortlessly, too. @shyonebeats Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/911