Gritty house and techno from the Russian underground.

It would be easy to apply the word “controversial” to Nina Kraviz but we think that “honest” is far more accurate. We first spoke to the Russian DJ/producer at the tail end of 2009 as part of our Breaking Through feature, in which her views on DJing (“I hate tight mixes”) sparked heated forum debate. Her thoughts on the subject (“everyone’s so perfect it’s disgusting”) came up again in the middle of last year, again eliciting much discussion. What we’re essentially saying here is that Kraviz has an MO and she’s more than happy to defend it. The upshot of this is vinyl mixing, digging deep for her music and laconic productions. In terms of the latter, Jus-Ed’s Underground Quality imprint was an early home for her simple, smoky house tracks. Rekids have also been a key imprint and will release her eponymous debut album at the end of February.

We could try and explain the message behind Kraviz’s mix for us but it would be completely inadequate given her response to the question below. We will say this, though: Dance Mania.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been traveling around the world and experiencing some really good times. I’ve been meeting very interesting people. And they have been introducing incredible things to me that I have never thought of before. So I think recently I’ve been learning a lot…

How and where was the mix recorded?

This mix was recorded at home with two turntables, two CD players, a mixer and computer.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

The main idea is to present myself as a DJ. I was a DJ long before I started producing my own music. I hosted my Friday nights at Propaganda Club and played there every week. Since I’ve got the most recognition for songs like “I’m Gonna Get You” people often expect me to play this song or something similar. And I truly appreciate that people like my music. And I would love to make them happy but as a DJ I’ve always been more into playing acid house, for example, occasionally leaving some space in the end of my set to play my well-known songs. I always wanted people to appreciate my wish to separate me as DJ from my productions.

So I decided to record a mix which will be more or less about what I’ve been playing in clubs recently…simple as that. Of course I can play much harder (totally love playing techno sets) or indeed much softer—it all depends on the vibe in the club. But ideally I like spinning for three to five hours, to play anything that inspires me at that particular moment. To follow my dancing instinct rather than a genre. My instinct would probably guide me to the right place where I can finally get to drop a Dance Mania record. Sometimes I think that my only purpose of DJing is to play Dance Mania records! I love it so much. This mix contains some of my all-time favorites like “Blackholes” or Baby Pop’s “You Know What I’m Saying,” “Egotrip” or Pink Floyd’s “On the Run.” I shared some truly beautiful moments on the dance floor with these songs. By the way: I wanna use this chance to say “thank you” to people for sharing these moments with me.

You have a pretty distinctive style of vocal delivery, but are there other performers you draw inspiration from?

Inspiration can be very inspiring! I like Billie Holiday and her way of projecting pain; Grace Jones for her true narcissism; Letta M’Bulu for wild expression; Robert Plant for white voice of the century; David Bowie, Jim Morrison and Gina X for being David Bowie, Jim Morrison and Gina X in their very murky meaning. These are big names, yeah, but there is the name that stands out particularly in my world—Kate Bush. It’s not really about the voice, it’s a bit of everything that comes out of her inexhaustible creativity.

Your sound has always felt classics-rooted: do you tend to dig for old records as much as you do new ones?

I don’t know if this is a bad sign or good one…but I am a “hard to find” track freak. I always loved it to go to the second hand record store to spend an hour, two, three there. My hidden diamonds are the only logical explanation for why it is so exciting for me to lose myself in dusty records. Even if the salesman is far from being a friendly dude, even if he’s quite annoyed that you keep on asking all these ridiculous questions, that you ended up visiting his lovely store at all…even if you spend a day looking for a cool record, found it and a day later found it available on Discogs for less than a dollar (that happens pretty often to me). My heart beats faster when I enter a record store.

What are you up to next?

Continue experiencing every day of my life. It appears to be a true miracle. And it is not that I am a perfectionist, but I would love to be a little bit better than I am now.
Coming back to the music thing, when my album is released I would like to sing some of my songs live. I am working on it at the moment to be ready for my first show at Rex Club in Paris, 24th of February. It sounds unbelievable to me but finally I will be playing my own music for at least 50 minutes. This is very exciting and a little bit scary to be very honest with you. Apart from that I would like to continue working on my techno stuff that I never put out so far. I hope we can continue collaborating with DJ Stingray. And of course my DJ thing. I am looking so much forward to spin some records in good company! Wholeheartedly.

Top tier techno from one of Japan’s underground favourites.

DJ Nobu is quite simply one of Japan’s best DJs. In his home country he is known most widely as the man behind the fabled Future Terror parties, an event that has been running out of various venues in his hometown of Chiba for just over ten years. The likes of Marcel Dettmann, Mike “Agent X” Clark and Steffi have all been past guests; and in the case of the former, Dettmann brought Nobu over to Berlin in 2011 for one of his few performances outside of Japan. Detroit has been his other main international stomping ground, while back on home soil Nobu has been known to put in as many as 90 gigs across the country a year. Despite his limited international recognition and discography, Nobu is now thought of among DJs like Takkyu Ishino, Fumiya Tanaka and Ken Ishii as those most prominently flying the flag for Japanese electronic music.

So if you book techno events and haven’t yet invited DJ Nobu to man the decks, here’s what you’ve been missing: dark, angular, driving 4/4 put together by the hand of an expert curator.

What have you been up to recently?
On the weekend I’m DJing in different places in Japan, and with my extra time I’m producing music in the studio.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded it in my studio. I used Pioneer CDJ 2000s, Technics turntables and a Pioneer DJM 900 mixer.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

After the earthquake and nuclear accident at Fukushima in March last year, we entered a new era here in Japan. And this mix reflects that. When I made this mix I was thinking about how the world can change drastically every day. So the mix is somewhere in between music for listening at home, and for experiencing on the dancefloor.

Last November was the 10th anniversary of your Future Terror party.
Could you tell us your view on the scene in Japan over this time period?

Ten years ago the scene was more commercial, the clubs and parties were just following trends and what was ‘hot.’ Future Terror was started to do something different to this. After a decade of doing Future Terror, we have connected with many people who share the same vision, and while there are more parties now, the original principles are the same. So hopefully in some small way I have contributed to the scene in Japan. But there is still more work to be done, so I will keep trying to push the sounds I believe in through my parties and DJing.

How have your gigs abroad, such as those in Berlin and Detroit, compared to those in Japan?

I played at Berghain last spring and that was a special experience, something I will never forget. The resident DJs Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock played brilliant sets and I was really impressed by the quality of the whole club. I have been to Detroit three times and had really great experiences at the parties I played at. It was a different kind of energy from Berlin, but also very stimulating. Of course there are unique elements of each club or town, but you just need to find the right sound to connect with them, and then you should be able to get a positive reaction.

What are you up to next?

This year I will start my own label. It’s going to be tough but I believe it will be worthwhile. In February I’m going to play in Taiwan at Smoke Machine’s party. And every month I will continue to play at some special parties in Japan too.

Italy’s up-and-coming house talent offers a live house jam.

It’s fair to say that 2011 was a watershed year for young Nicholas Iammatteo. The producer known as Nicholas had releases on labels like 4Lux, Quintessentials and Ourvision Recordings. And he tackled the unenviable task of re-editing the celebrated catalogue of Nu Groove with aplomb. Despite his obvious devotion to the house sound of yore, you can hear that Nicholas has a distinct touch to his productions as well as those that see the light of day on No More Hits, his prolific vinyl imprint.

Lucky for us, on RA.293 Nicholas plays his own material, including some unreleased productions, so this live house performance will sound like the Nicholas you know and love, or otherwise provide an excellent introduction.

What have you been up to recently?

Enjoying my Christmas holidays, relaxing and of course making a lot of fresh new music.

How and where was the set recorded?

I did it at home with laptop and MIDI controller to manage FX, samples and plug-in instruments.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

It’s basically a live set like the ones I perform when playing out in clubs. So that’s why it’s exclusively my own stuff, remixes, edits and original productions. A lot of those songs are still unreleased. Lately I have spent a lot of time in the studio making raw tracks specifically for my live sets. Other than this, the idea behind it is to show and send out my love for the roots of underground dance music.

We heard that you didn’t have the original parts to work with for Back on Track, and therefore had to work directly from the original vinyl. How difficult did this prove?

Yeah, I didn’t have parts or master tracks so all I could do was record the original songs from my vinyl collection and start from that. The hardest thing was trying to achieve a good quality vinyl rip, especially because those 20-year-old records have been played several times, so they had a number of crackles and other sort of noises. But I also had a Nu Groove mix CD by Little Louie Vega I bought many years ago in NYC and I used that too, as the tracks were recorded perfectly. Getting those rips to sound right was a nightmare occasionally! Not having parts also means that the only way I could remix those tracks was by editing and sampling, so it was quite tricky that way.

What are you up to next?

I’m always making music, trying to play around with new sounds and experimenting with various styles of house and techno. I don’t like to stick to the same thing for too long. In the last months I’ve done a few techno tracks which is something I’ve never released up until now, although I did make a lot of techno music many years ago before I was even releasing music. Other than this I have some fresh wax coming out in the next months, so keep an eye out.

A rare live set from DJ Pete and Sleeparchive.

TR-101 is the collaborative live project of DJ Pete and Sleeparchive, although you’d been forgiven if this was your introduction as they’ve only stepped out under the alias a handful of times. Peter Kuschnereit is recognized as one of Berlin’s longest-serving techno figureheads through his work behind the counter at Hard Wax and in the studio as Substance and one half of Scion alongside René Löwe (AKA Vainqueur). Roger Semsroth, meanwhile, has been dabbling in the deepest recesses of minimal techno as Sleeparchive since 2004, releasing a string of low-key 12-inches through his eponymous imprint, and most recently appearing on Tresor with Ronan Point in the middle of 2011.

As for TR-101? Well, the name is a clue (the pair surround themselves with hardware for their live performances) and so is their established proclivity for pitch black techno. It may just be the start of January, but we doubt you’ll hear a more refined take of the genre this year.

What have you been up to recently?

Remixes for Function and Skudge. Playing regularly as a resident at the Wax Treatment parties here in Berlin. Working on a remix for Tresor to be released soon.

How and where was the set recorded?

The live set was recorded in October 2011 when we played a concert at Berghain.

You’ve only played a small number of shows together to date. How did the project start?

The first concert we played together was at the Hard Wax 20th anniversary party [in 2009]. We both had a great time on stage; we got really good feedback and some people asked us to play again at their parties. The first time we played a show as TR-101 was at a Wax Treatment party in 2010.

Are there any plans to do any production together as TR-101?

We like to play concerts—there are no plans to release a record.

2011 has been a standout year in a career of many for Roman Flugel. He told RA in January of this year that when he wrote the majestic “How To Spread Lies” in 2010 he was hoping to have it released on Hamburg imprint Dial, which of course transpired that November. The headspace Flugel had placed himself in to produce for label seemed to be working for him. Follow-up EP Brasil comprised an array of beautifully poised deep house cuts, although with the benefit of hindsight it was merely an appetiser. Even for a man who’s built a career upon diversity, Fatty Folders—released in September of this year—was a new high water mark. “Fatty Folders is arguably his best work to date,” said RA’s Derek Miller, and really, there was no argument to be made.

As for RA.290? Put simply, it’s one of our finest mixes of the year. Comprised of tracks from the year. By one of the men of the year.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been travelling, playing DJ gigs here and there around Europe and spent the rest of the time in my studio working on my own stuff and remixing other peoples’ music. The last remix I’ve finished was for Eamon Harkin. It will be released on Throne Of Blood around February 2012.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I used two 1210 Technics, one Pioneer CDJ 800 and a Rane Mixer. The mix was recorded in Logic so if something went totally wrong while I was mixing I was able to fix it later.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

All tracks have been released in 2011 and the mix is more or less divided in three parts. I’m trying to express some of my musical likes that do not necessarily have to “work” in a club, along with some of what I’d consider big club tunes of 2011. The first, let’s say more moody, part of the mix ends with the Basic Soul Unit track. From there on the temperature is rising until Worthy and Eats Everything’s “Tric Trac.” That track had some massive reactions this year. After that I approach for a landing.

Can you tell about the creative process behind Fatty Folders? 

Fatty Folders is my first solo album since my works under the aliases Eight Miles High or Soylent Green. These albums came out 2002 and 2006. The overall aim was to put as much of myself into the production process as possible. It took me a few months to finish the whole album but that is also because I’m away for DJing on the weekends. Everything is played and mixed by myself—more or less no preset sounds or sample banks were used. I’m very happy that I was finally able to touch some other peoples’ feelings with what I’m doing. I’m very thankful for that.

What are you up to next?

I’m currently thinking of producing another album and this time without a five year gap in between. There are still some remixes I have to finish and besides that I’m hoping to play some exciting sets on the weekends.

Advanced drum and bass from an Autonomic stalwart.

If you were to take his two album projects this year in isolation, it could reasonably be concluded that Cam McLaren had only a peripheral involvement with the drum & bass scene. As one half of They Live alongside Joe Seven, McLaren released Cancel Standard in March this year, a record RA’s Andrew Ryce described at the time as “basically an electro album.” His forthcoming full-length as Consequence, meanwhile, has far more in common with Aphex Twin than Andy C. So what are his drum & bass credentials? Well, dBridge signed McLaren while on tour in New Zealand back in 2009, figuring that his melodically rich and experimental take on the genre would work perfectly as an album for his label, Exit Records. And he was right.Live For Never stands as one of the finest examples in its class, coinciding perfectly with—and helping to define—the sound that would later be coined as “Autonomic” thanks to dBridge and Instra:mental’s ground-breaking podcast series of the same name.

On RA.288 we get the more floor-focussed end of the Consequence range: the velvety textures and grainy electronics are still in place, but are pinned to the canvas by some of the most dynamic drum programming you’re likely to hear this year—or any for that matter.

What have you been up to recently?

I only moved to London about six months ago, so I’m still finding my feet. When I move around it takes a while before I’m settled in, but I’m getting there.
Now that my album is complete and out of the way, I have found time to start work on some new collaborative projects with dBridge and Jon Convex. I have also been working on my live show. So time is always running low.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at my house in London using digital technologies.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

The mix represents an idea of blending different sounds and textures within the 170 BPM tempo. I like to think of mixes or sets translating into some kind of story. Recently I have been fortunate enough to have received so much good music from like-minded producers. In a way this mix is just a snapshot of what I’m into and what’s out there. I can see the style represented in this mix fitting into a number of scenarios, it all has a visual feel about the sound.

What are you up to next?

For the next while I’m focusing on developing my live show further and touring the new album. There is going to be another They Live album coming next year as well.
I’m also working under a bunch of new aliases in different areas of sound, more on those later… I look forward to working with more people now that I’m based in Europe, so we will see what happens.

While you’d hesitate to give it a name, the type of techno Xhin and Stroboscopic Artefacts have been pushing of late does feel somehow removed from what’s gone before. That could be part of the reason that despite being involved in electronic music since 1997, we felt it appropriate to feature him in our Breaking Through series late last year. Even as recently as last year the Singaporean producer was releasing solid—but in no way ground-breaking—house and techno. And then this happened. While it’s unclear whether recording with a new imprint, Stroboscopic Artefacts, simply gave him a new lease of life, the Fixing The Error / Link EP just felt that much more weighty than previous material. He then followed it up with a string of equally intriguing music for SA and his former stomping ground Meerestief, which has just culminated with Sword, Xhin’s sophomore album that brings his love for classic IDM and ambient triumphantly to the fore.

The sound of Sword informs much of Xhin’s 60 minute mix for us with—as we’ve come to expect from him—some additional WTF moments thrown in for good measure.

What have you been up to recently?

I’m touring Europe at the moment. Just got back from my album launch gig in London last weekend and am looking forward to playing at Trouw in Amsterdam this November 26th. I’m also working on our next LX tracks together with Luca (Lucy) for CLR as well.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in my home studio back in Singapore. It was done with my regular DJ set-up: Ableton Live on a laptop, a MIDI controller and an iPad running Griid.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

The idea is to mix some tracks from Sword, which are “Teeth” and “Vent” together with my current favourites, past influential ones and some tracks that I love playing for a while now.

The term “sound design” often comes up in relation to your music, but how does this manifest itself in terms of your approach to production?

Sound designing has always being a big part in my music production. I like to create new and interesting elements from scratch, perhaps in a more alienated way, for a style that I can eventually call my own. I guess also it’s the nature of my job as a sound designer in the day.

What are you up to next?

Getting back to the studio to work on some new materials and of course remixing too.

Contemporary electro from a Dutch mainstay.

It’s somehow satisfying when scenes collide. Dutch producer Remy Verheijen made everything from driving trance to quirky rock during the ’90s, but settled on a sound—electro—and a name—Dexter—at the turn of the millennium. Looking back to his early releases on Clone and Klakson, the label he ran alongside Ostgut’s Steffi, it’s easy to hear why bass music figures such as Boddika and Bok Bok are still playing his music. There’s something about Dexter’s elastic basslines and sense of funk that dovetails neatly with what’s going on in the UK these days. Or it could simply be the timeless nature of electro itself. Who knows? Dexter appeared to return the nod from the UK earlier this year with the release of “Great Northern Diver,” a track that through its warp-speed vocals and hyper-kinetic rhythms felt decidedly south London circa-2011.

As he explains below, though, the man himself just sees this as the continuation of a sound he’s been pushing for over ten years. Plenty of UK names make it on to his mix for us, along with fellow electro adopters from his homeland and original innovators from Detroit.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been working on my liveset and just finished a remix I did for a new Dutch label, Balans. Also working on ideas for an album and finishing stuff that already had to be finished, like a release on Steffi’s Dolly label and a collaboration with Steffi for Klakson, which is the label we used to do together, and that we wanted to use for this joint release. Most important is probably the move to a new studio place which cost some time to get used to and get things set up.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was completely done in Ableton with no editing and just two controllers that I also use live. Just one take, straight through my mixing desk and recorded it into Logic. I can’t work with Ableton as a studio tool. The only part I know is the live part. I didn’t want to get into that and wanted to keep it fun to do. So as you can hear there are some mistakes in it but I didn’t feel like taking them out because I didn’t want to take out the raw edges.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

First I wanted to do it on my iPad. My idea was to do an eclectic thing with all the musical genres I like. So I put a lot of songs on my iPad and tried to do a mix with an app called Idjay. Very cool app but I think the iPad1 is a bit too slow for the way I work… or the app is too slow. I’m changing ideas all the time and the loading time for tracks was just too slow. And at a certain point I got fed up with that touch screen.
So I thought I should just do it the way I play live: throw everything in Ableton and start to build something out of the chaos.

After trying a few times I decided that too many different genres was getting too chaotic or I needed to do a lot of editing that I didn’t want to do. After all, I’ve stopped DJing for a long time now, I always play live. But after having so much fun putting this mix together I feel like doing some DJ gigs. So, I decided to do a mix with the music from producers I’ve been listening to most over the last couple of months and just have some fun selecting and mixing the tracks I like.

The mix and your recent Clone release feel like a new direction for you. What does this all stem from?

Actually I’m not sure if it’s such a different direction. Of course I’ve been influenced by new music and also some of the younger bass music guys from the UK (I actually never heard that name, bass music, until recently when we received feedback on theGreat Northern Diver EP). But also I got influenced by some Dutch guys like Martyn and A Made Up Sound or artists such as Dâm Funk for example. I always will have my love for electro and funk, and my roots in techno… And I just love trying out new things, and even though I don’t release that many records I always do new tracks and stuff when I play live, so for me it feels like a natural progression and not something completely different.

What are you up to next?

Checking out new gear, working further on ideas for an album, looking for new ways to do live gigs and right now finishing a remix for Clone and some releases that already had to be finished but got delayed because of moving to the new studio space.

A wonderfully composed selection from the breakthrough duo.

Italian-raised, Berlin-based duo Tale of Us are part of a movement, the signifiers of which can at times be nebulous. Hot Natured are a good point of reference. As is Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint and parties like Circoloco at DC-10 in Ibiza. In fact, viewed through a wider lens it’s evident that the house sound with which the duo have become famed is a widespread trend. The sound arguably has its base in London but it’s unlikely that there’s a corner of clubland that it hasn’t touched in the last 12 months. It may have dropped at the end of last year, but the Tale of Us remix of Thugfucker’s “Disco Gnome” serves as a perfect encapsulation. Carmine Conte and Matteo Milleri have also completed re-rubs for Maceo Plex, WhoMadeWho, DJ T. and Gus Gus (among others) during 2011; coupled with the fact they’ve released only a pair of original EPs to date—through Visionquest and Barraca Music—they’ve rightly been marked out as remix specialists. In any case, it’s a tag that has facilitated them becoming one of the busiest breakthrough acts of the year.

With all this scene setting, you’d be forgiven for thinking that RA. 283 was comprised solely of druggy basslines, judicious sampling and DC-10 anthems, ticking along steadily at 120 BPM. Sure, there is some of that. But in the main the mix is delicate and displays what Tale of Us are about beyond their growing dance floor reputation.

What have you been up to recently?

MM: We have been gratefully touring and when not doing so working on new material, something we do constantly.

CC: And I have been searching the fridge for fresh food and eating cereal with my bare hands.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at home in Berlin using straightforward Traktor with vinyl and then some final touch ups on Ableton live.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

Quite simply the concept behind the mix was to put together some of our influences of the music we are feeling and some really cool new stuff that was around us. We didn’t plan it for too long and it all came together quite nicely actually. The mix spaces though different genres and areas of music, from deep house to disco and also into bass/dubstep (whatever this is now?). This is an overall idea of how we envisage music to sound nowadays and what we will be aiming for in the future.

You seem to have been favouring remixes over original productions to date. Is there a particular reason behind this?

Basically we are our own biggest judges and are super critical of our productions. We really only have released one full EP up until now but still we are constantly inspired by the music people send. We always have an opinion on it and that is why we took on so many remixes in the first place, we enjoy giving our atmosphere and dimension to other people’s ideas and art. Taking somebody else’s art and then giving our own interpretation of it is super challenging for us. This being said, we have a lot of unreleased original material, which will stay so and we will pick only the best for our future EPs and album.

What do you feel has been the biggest component in your rapid ascent this year?

CC: I think it has been a combination of popular productions, fresh ideas and lively DJ sets accompanied by the whole breeze (not winds) of change that has overcome electronic dance music recently (more song based productions and pop melodies). We were inspired by it from the very beginning and we decided this was our time to start. Another component has been our management team and co-label owner (Life And Death) Manfredi Romano, who has helped us bring our concept to the next level. Two of his mash-up edits are actually in the podcast under his artist alias, Tennis.

MM: I think a lot of the rapid ascent has to do with our haircuts also.

What are you up to next?

MM: We have the next release forthcoming on Life And Death alongside Fink and Tennis and featuring a super remix from Ryan Elliott. Hold tight for that one!

CC: I’m going Halloween shopping.

Droning techno from an Italian duo.

Italians do it darker. Or so we put it last year in a feature centered around the amount (and type) of techno emanating from the Mediterranean country. Giorgio Gigli and Obtane’s Zooloft label is one of its main proponents. Each have released for other labels throughout the years—Gigli for Mental Groove, Dumb Unit and Prologue; Obtane for Sonic Groove, Synewave and Stroboscopic Artefacts—but Zooloft is their baby. On the imprint the duo have explored a palate that resides somewhere between modern classical, dark ambient and droning 4/4 rhythms. They also have a knack for an EP title: Their latest was called Analysis of a Nihilist Who Wants to Be Famous.

Why so serious? Because, as they put to us, “this mix is the output of our lives, our hopes, our fears, our dreams.” You’ll begin to understand just what they mean when you dive into this enveloping soundworld crafted by the self-proclaimed “Zooloft researchers.”

What have you been up to recently?

We’re trying to do a step forward, a further development of our proper drone-techno concept, taking advantage of innovative and interesting remixers who are suitable to rework our specific stories. We propose an advanced sound-vision of every shade of high-quality techno: we had a smooth transition from the tight and industrial rhythmics of Smear to the decadent and apocalyptic atmospheres of Milton Bradley, from the obsessive analog sequences of Mike Parker to reach the submarine dub-techno of Tin Man. Remixer choice is very accurate because every artist must have the right requirements for every single release. Behind every record we tell our story, who we are, what we do and where we want to go. The matrix is the same, we get lost in time and, sometimes, someone is there to tell us what time it is…

How and where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded in Rome, at the studio. We did it in a hybrid way, using vinyl and a laptop to play some promotional tracks.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

A deep scan of our vinyl collection, loads of listening… Then, finally, the choice of these tracks that fit perfectly with our Zooloft concept, also if in a different way. In the podcasts and during our gigs, we put some of our tracks as well but almost all of the records we play are from external artists. Because every time we see a vinyl artwork and we listen to a vinyl, it’s like we would read the story behind that record. So every vinyl is telling us something new, bringing us new emotions… It would be a monotone affair if we would focus on our own material only.

Can you tell us about some of the newer developments you’ve seen in the Italian techno since we spoke to you both for the Italians Do It Darker piece in July of last year?

Apart from cities such as Rome and Turin—which have an informed and careful audience regarding the electronic music scene—the rest is still in a training phase. Paradoxically, there are more advanced producers than clubs with an experimental/innovative attitude. The true clubs, following the European standards, are hard to find in Italy, except for some little situations. We have closing-hours restrictions, some clubs are closing earlier and people are moving to clubs later… This is a very negative issue for Italian clubbing. Of course it may be a momentary thing, since a lot of dynamics are changing and evolving, exactly like the club concept does. It has developed an international circuit of spaces and locations, from contemporary-art museums to theaters, to industrial floors. Every artistic location can become a good and useful place where you can express yourself at 100%. We like all of them because it gives us the opportunity of doing good clubbing and express every Zooloft-related sound, from modern classical to ambient and drone-techno.

What are you up to next?

We’re very focused on our next Zooloft releases. Since our label is “homemade,” we pay a lot of attention to create the tale, the graphic subject and the vinyl manufacturing, from sleeves to artwork. We thought making an album right now would be satisfying for our egos only. To deliver special and unique stuff, we would need to take a break and stop listening to any music, like a total reset of ourselves to set a “zero-point.” In a parallel way, we’re setting up a new exclusive project for dark ambient, modern classical and vintage/retro experimental electronic music; beatless, for vinyl collectors and not oriented to dance floor usage. The idea of composing soundtracks has been always stimulating for us.

Techno with a touch of the cinematic.

It seems somehow clumsy to say it, but the defining feature of Max Cooper’s music is melody. And glitch. But mainly melody. The UK artist has been DJing since the late ’90s, turning his hand to production around the middle of the ’00s as a way of generating more bookings. It worked. Cooper has produced music for a number of European labels since making his entrance, although Cologne’s Traum Schallplatten has by far been his preferred home: No less than ten releases bearing his name have seen the light of day over the last couple of years, including soaring club hits such as “Harmonisch Serie.” This prolific form has translated to Cooper’s live show, in which he regularly twists out his material from Ableton and an APC40 for up to two hours.

As if to further emphasize the point, RA.281 showcases no less than five unreleased Max Cooper productions, forming the spine of a mix that through artists like Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, Amon Tobin and Underworld presents a panoramic view of Cooper’s tastes and influences.

What have you been up to recently?

Working like a fiend. I’m attempting to keep up with my production commitments but have a life as well. It’s like when you go to check an email to do the one specific job you need to do for the day, but in the process find five other VERY IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO (possibly even written in capitals), each one referring to five other emails containing equally important URGENT STUFF, and so on. The branching tree of exponential confusion. Getting the opportunity to do this mix for you was a greatly welcomed excuse to ignore everything else and do what I actually love, so thank you!

How and where was the mix recorded?

I made the mix at home in my studio with my laptop and not much else. It’s the same as my productions in that way; I don’t use lots of machines, just lots of completely not live at all fiddling with details.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

The mix is a balance of contrast against continuity. I think that contrast can make any musical message more powerful. Like if everything is really beautiful and soft and quiet and then some nasty drill and bass drops its brutality will have more impact than it would in the context of a full set of noisy mania. Then there are contrasts of melody versus atonality, glitch versus simplicity, old versus new etc. But a whole set like this is going to have zero flow and wouldn’t really work well in most clubs, and I wanted to make something representative of what I play out too. So the result is this amalgamation of genres which I’m in to, which I hope holds together in some sort of reasonable way. There’s a fair few exclusives in there too, which won’t have been heard anywhere else yet.

Do you see your sound, and in particular your use of melody, as part of a niche within the wider scene? 

There does seem to be some sort of niche, but thankfully it’s not well defined at the moment, and doesn’t have a genre name. That means it can cover quite a range of different artists and stay fresh with maximum flexibility in the sound. I prefer it like that because I’ve never managed to settle on one or even a few genres which I would be happy to stick to. I’ve tried my luck with everything like a dutty genre stop out.

The fact that you were studying genetics while pursuing a music career seems to get brought up a lot, but did you have an ultimate non-musical aim in mind for after you’d finished education?

I was hoping that I could keep doing science research and music at the same time indefinitely, and I was working in science for some time, trying to get my own research program off the ground. Music was always something I worked hard on and loved, but I didn’t ever plan to make a living from it because it seemed too unlikely a basket to be worth putting all my eggs in. Then the science funding faltered at the same time as some new music opportunities arose, namely Traum, and I thought, OK, why not give this a proper go and see what happens? I’m pretty sure I’ll go back to some sort of academic work at some point in future, though. I miss it a lot.

What are you up to next?

There are some nice gigs on the way. I’m really busy until Xmas, including a Saturday night slot at ADE next week, the electronica night FIELDS in London on November 4th and an Australian tour next month. I have remixes of Ripperton and Agoria coming on Systematic and Infine, EPs coming on Herzblut and Last Night on Earth, plus an electronica remix of a classic I can’t talk about yet on Skint, and some modern-classical-derived work via a collaborative project with Michael Nyman.

I’m also excited about developing my live show further with some brand-new amazingness in touchscreen technology coming from the guys at Liine, which I’m sure you’ll hear all about shortly. I’ve got to get my album finished soon too, really. That’s been held up again and again by opportunities that were too good to turn down. I’ll need to cut myself off from everything for a while to get that done.

A little bit of everything from a true genre-bender.

Martyn played both Berghain and Panorama Bar this past weekend. What’s so special about that? Well, when you consider that one set was live at Sub:stance—bastion of bass music—on the Friday, and the other was a Sunday evening DJ session as part of Panorama Bar’s weekly house music throw-down, then you start to get a sense of his music’s inherent versatility. Martyn was among the first to make explicit the links between UK bass music and Berlin/Detroit techno through works on his own 3024 imprint, Apple Pips and Hessle Audio, and cemented this MO on his superlative 2009 debut album, Great Lengths. He was invited to mix the fiftieth instalment in the fabric series the following year, which in itself was a point of discussion along similar lines (“A dubstep DJ mixing a fabric CD?”). The follow-up toGreat Lengths dropped this week and it actually sees Martyn in his most straight-up form yet; an album the man himself describes as a return to his early love affair with Chicago and Detroit.

The dots between Blake Baxter, Mosca, Oni Ayhun and Prince are all connected on RA.280—and you’ll be unsurprised to learn that Martyn makes it sound effortless.

What have you been up to recently?

Many things! My second album is coming out this week so I’ve been working hard on promoting and touring it. Myself and Erosie (artwork) were involved in an album launch night in London recently which was a lot of fun, and besides that I’ve been developing my live set that I have been premiering at various festivals over last summer.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I did this mix in the studio, in one take, with two turntables, Serato Scratch Live and my little Pioneer DJM400 mixer. The morning I did the mix I just received the Boss Re201 which is a guitar pedal remake of the infamous Space Echo, so I connected that and used it while mixing as well, so that’s the delay effects you can hear on the recording.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

It’s not really themed. I wanted to play a few new tracks I’m really loving alongside some of my favourite records that have really worked for me in DJ sets. As in most of my sets and recorded mixes, I like to show how digging in a wide range of areas of the musical spectrum can still produce something coherent and personal.

Your DJ sets and recorded music seem to have been far more 4/4 orientated recently. Is there one thing—DJing or production—that tends to inform the other?

I have been playing 4/4 for years, but DJing and producing music comes out of the same inspirational mood so I’m sure one counteracts with the other. It’s actually quite liberating, I used to rave to Chicago/Detroit way back in the day but never properly produced it, so writing this album made me feel a little bit like I came home (from a long Frodo-like adventurous quest into the land of broken beats haha).

What are you up to next?

A lot more touring. I’m looking forward to going to Japan at the end of this month for two special Brainfeeder events. I’m also extremely proud to be playing Berghain (live) and Panoramabar (DJ set) on the same weekend, as not many people have ever done that. Then I’m preparing a special live set as a warm-up to a very special event at London’s Roundhouse on October 22nd, with Flying Lotus and the AntiVJ collective, and we’re doing a 3024 label night at Amsterdam Dance Event. Lots going on.

Balearic vibes, straight from the island.

Luca C & Brigante may be Italian, but it’s Spain—specifically Ibiza—that they have on their collective mind. The duo have already crafted one of the year’s most sun-drenched singles in “Different Morals,” and will continue with the Balearic vibes on the forthcoming Invisible Cities EP on Southern Fried. They come by it honestly. Brigante, AKA Sebastiano Properzi, has lived in Ibiza for nearly a decade, and cosmic synths and a bit of rock music have always found a place in the Italian clubbing landscape anyway. (Just ask Daniele Baldelli.) On their mix for RA, they’ve captured that feeling expertly, bringing you through tracks both obvious and not for a perfect end-of-summer comedown.

What have you been up to recently?

Sebastiano: We have just finished a session for the album with Martin Craft and the next few days we will be working with Zeb Jameson (A Mountain of One). Also, we have been both collaborating on more music with Ali Love on two separate projects. Luca and Ali have been working on a new project called Infinity Inc. The first release will come out on Hot Creations in the next couple of months and the second one on Crosstown Rebels. Ali and I have been working on a few dance floor tracks for an Ali Love release on No.19. Not decided if it will be a full EP yet, but look out for the Jungle track if you get a chance to listen to an Art Department DJ set. They’ve been rinsing it lately.

How and where was the mix recorded? Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

Sebastiano: The mix was recorded in Ibiza where we’ve been doing most of the recording for Invisible Cities. It is basically a tight selection of songs from the playlists we were listening to while working on the music with the additional analogue embellishment here and there to make the whole thing flow. There are a few classic artists on the mix that sometimes get left out of mixes because of their mainstream appeal. We tried not to let their status influence our selection. If we loved the songs enough, they stayed in the mix. In retrospect I guess it is an atmosphere that ties all those songs together. There is a certain blissful haze surrounding the mix which reflects our head space during those months and what we were trying to achieve with Invisible Cities.

We understand that your edits EP on Double Drop was an effort to draw attention to ’70s Italian songwriting. Could you elaborate?

Luca: Those two tracks are re-edits of songs by two of my favorite Italian artists of the ’60s/’70s : Lucio Battisti and Fabrizio De Andre. My father used to play their music, and I kept listening to them growing up. These guys never had any exposure/success outside of Italy so I thought it would be a nice idea to add a bit of our own feel to them and bring them to a new audience.

Why did you chose Ibiza as the location in which to write your album?

Sebastiano: There is more than one reason. Firstly I have lived on the island for the most part of the past ten years; it’s my home and where our studio is. But also we were trying to tap into a certain moment in time and space in which Ibiza was a key element. Like it is today in the world of club culture, there was a moment in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when the island was part of the European cultural and musical theatre. You know Pink Floyd were out here working on Barbet Schroeder’s soundtrack to the film More, Bob Marley, the Stones… they were coming out on adventures, to look for magic, to explore the boundaries. And they found all the magic they were looking for…. People still find it today.

What are you up to next?

Sebastiano: Finishing off the LP for Southern Fried is definitely the priority. A full band live show is still in an embryonic stage, but is certainly something that will take up lots of our time in the near future. Also I am working on a very special Italian EP with Roisin Murphy. Having worked with her on a song for the album I discovered she is a bit of an Italian-ist too—certainly capable of the drama associated with divas such as Mina or Patty Pravo! We have started with a cover version of a song that my uncle wrote for Mina in 1969. She is singing in Italian!

A Detroit favourite plays his favourite house records.

Mike Huckaby is one of electronic music’s teachers. Here’s a man that recently told us that he’d prefer to stay in his home city of Detroit tutoring kids on music production at the city’s Youthville centre than playing festivals in Europe. A deep house producer who spent years honing his synthesis and programming skills only to publish his knowledge in the form of a sample CD. (“I just have a sense of compassion to help others not to be stuck regarding the music making process like I was in the past,” he told LWE last year.)

Our Machine Love feature with him last year was full of anecdotes concerning this struggle to succeed in music making, yet it always ran parallel with his desire to share all he’d unearthed. If this is all beginning to sound a little too feel-good then we should also emphasise that Huckaby is pretty badass DJ and producer in his own right. He’s been releasing grade-a deep house since 1995 and despite his statement to the contrary regularly finds himself touring throughout Europe among other worldwide destinations like the upcoming Decibel festival in Washington state.

As for Huckaby’s mix for us? “These are the records that I want to hear for the rest of my life.”

What have you been up to recently?

I’m quite busy these days. I’ve just finished Tresor’s 20th Anniversary mix CD; remixes for Vladislav Delay and Pole; a limited release for Sushitech; Sun Ra Edits Vol 2; a sample CD for Red Bull Music Academy in Australia; a lecture and workshop there; the Decibel Festival in Seattle; as well as a European tour that starts in October. In addition to that I have several workshops in Europe and Russia too. So yeah, I’m quite busy these days.

How and where was the mix recorded?

At home in Detroit with vinyl and turntables.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

These are the records that I want to hear for the rest of my life. This is also my last podcast for 2011. So the best has been saved for the last, so to speak. I found an old reel tape when I was on the Electrifying Mojo’s show, so I crafted a nice little intro, and mixed from there. That was one thing my reel-to-reel came in handy for.

It’s impossible to capture a city in a film. What did we miss that you think is important about Detroit in Real Scenes?

I think coverage of Ron Murphy’s contribution to Detroit should have been discussed, as well as Archer’s vinyl pressing plant in Detroit. Those things should have been included. J. Dilla’s influence and popularity in Detroit could also have been discussed.

Has there been much of an upsurge in interest in Youthville since its premiere?

Absolutely. I am overwhelmed by the amount of feedback I have received about the documentary. People from all over the world have begun to contact me and make contributions towards my Ableton and Reaktor classes at Youthville. People have donated computers to students in need, and as well as financial donations to help students in need of purchasing software for the classes.

But the greatest thing that has been achieved after the documentary’s premiere has been landing a sound design opportunity for the two students featured in the video. Being able to do sound design for Reaktor at 11 and 14 years old is mindblowing!

When the concept of the Detroit / Berlin connection is being discussed, Tresor and Hardwax is often the source of the conversation. But the next Detroit / Berlin connection beyond the millennium is a technological one that exists between Native Instruments, Ableton and the work that I’m doing at Youthville. Those companies have lent a tremendous amount of support.

What are you up to next?

I’m trying to get My Life with the Wave Vol. 2 done, and I’m soon on my way to Russia.

Techno through a bass music filter.

It’s actually kind of sad that Cosmin TRG’s exploration of genres has been a talking point—can’t an artist, you know, do more than one thing?—but such is life. The Romanian producer was a dubstep/garage dude when he started out back in 2007, hopped over to house for a bit and is now residing in techno country. One by-product of this restlessness is the name Cosmin TRG (or TRG as he was initially known) has adorned many a leading label these past four years—Hessle Audio, [NakedLunch], Tempa, Immerse Records, Hotflush, Hemlock and Rush Hour being merely a selection of them. The latest to put a welcoming arm around him was Modeselektor’s Fifty Weapons. Separat / Izolat, released at the beginning of 2011, signalled Cosmin’s intention to get truly stuck into the tough stuff, while it seemed the dream had been fully realised when it was announced in June that a full-length offering was in the works for Fifty Weapons.

Try as it might Simulat wasn’t quite able to shake off Cosmin’s roaming past—which is exactly what made it so great; RA.277 suffers the same affliction with exactly the same outcome. This is techno but not quite as you know.

What have you been up to recently?

Well, since finishing my album I’ve been playing some nice places, reading some pretentious books, putting together Ikea nightstands. Would love to say I’m working on my German but the truth is that every day I hope I wake up magically speaking it without the actual academic / linguistic effort. That would be grand.

How and where was the mix recorded?

In my living room, on a computer.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

I’ve been trying to put this mix together for the past six months, went through all stages of human emotion, made about a million playlists, tried to think of a very clever concept… It only worked when I woke up one day, played a few tracks together and it sort of clicked. Then it sucked, so I recorded it again. And again. In the end the idea was to put together some tracks that I really like, which convey my favourite sonics, from the past as well as the present. I think this one is as accurate as it gets at the moment.

Now that you’ve had some time to sit with it, how do you feel about what you recorded for the album?

Curiously I’m still very comfortable with it. Out of everything I wrote in the past years, it comes closest to what I want to sound like. The time I spent on it was the best time I ever spent in a studio, and I actually can’t wait to record another one.

You’re famously restless when it comes to genres. Do you see yourself sticking with techno for a while?

I’m restless when it comes to sound in general. I think genres are still too political. In my early days as a producer I’d find myself involuntarily trying to prove something, and I’m well over that now. I think my current format fits my ideas and I’ll stick to it as long as it suits what I’m trying to say. A lot of people are acting patriarchal over genres and it’s not something I’m into. At the same time there’s a thin line between experimenting and inconsistency, one which I skirt with equal amounts of pleasure and caution.

What are you up to next?

Going to turn in a Skudge remix about eight months past its deadline. I’m also happy to have contributed a track on the forthcoming Ann Aimee Inertia compilation. Other than that, a few more things before the end of the year and then taking on 2012 and whatever this will bring.

A rare DJ mix from one of electronic music’s chief practitioners.

Alva Noto is a pseudonym of German sound/visual artist Carsten Nicolai. It’s difficult to bring into focus the breadth of Nicolai’s achievements in the various disciplines he’s been involved with since the early ’90s, but he is perhaps most well-known in music circles as a co-founder of the groundbreaking Raster-Noton imprint, and his collaborative work with Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. The pair has proffered several full-length pieces through Raster-Noton in the past decade, and Nicolai has been no less prolific elsewhere, releasing around ten albums over that time period either solo or in tandem with artists like Opiate and fellow Raster-Noton founders Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider. As with most things Nicolai turns his hand to, the music of Alva Noto is characterized by fierce experimentation. Wild packs of glitches, tone generators, looped oscillators and communication signals are tamed and assembled into sprawling ambient passages and/or rhythmic explorations, the latest of which, univrs, sees release on October 17th.

On RA.276 Nicolai somehow captures the breadth of the Alva Noto sound world in a 51-miute set that moulds the music of Fennesz, Andy Stott, M.I.A., Steve Reich, Nine Inch Nails, Byetone and Donnacha Costello into a coherent whole.

What have you been up to recently?

I was very busy finishing my album and now I’m preparing the visual presentation for the live shows for the new album. There will be a video out of univrs, I’m working on implementing the video in the live situation. I will have two possible live shows, like a small scale live show with single projections and a live show with double projections; what I call Uniscope.

I will also work on some visual installations. I’ll have an opening in September in New York on the 22nd at Space Gallery. And preparing for the Japan tour and the 15 year anniversary gigs in Europe and Japan—the 15 year anniversary of Raster Noton. We will have a very big event at Womb in Tokyo, and then we’ll have a very big event at Berghain in Berlin with a huge line-up and then we have smaller presentations in Birmingham, Turin and a few other locations.

How and where was the mix was recorded?

Actually I recorded the mix in Croatia on an island. I recorded it on my laptop.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

In a way it’s kind of an Alva Noto techno-style mix. I occasionally started to DJ a few years ago for specific occasions. Everybody who has joined one of my DJ sets maybe knows that I’m quite dance floor-orientated but with a big variety and style, so it’s not a pure style of classical techno. It’s really like a mix of contrasts as well, and of course the BPM is always very different.

I have to say I was very inspired from visiting Berghain as a club. I think I saw a set by Marcel Fengler and I was really amazed about how experimental the sound was on the dance floor that night or how experimental things can be on the dance floor. In a way I wanted as well to explore ideas of experimentation and at the same time being dance floor-orientated.

What is the most interesting difference in electronic music in your mind from when you started until now?

I would say the tools have rapidly changed. I would say that you have much more flexibility now. In the beginning as I started tools in real-time was something rarely possible. Now the term”real-time” is not only involved in playing live with music—we have lot of possibilities creating visuals with real time, working with very complex video arrangements in real time. Things you would need a huge truck of equipment in the past can fit now in a backpack.

I think technology has moved really fast, and that’s great. As well technology disappears almost because it gets so small. So interfaces become more important, real interfaces that bridges back to instruments, so the computer is not only a computer. It is just a core and you build an interface around a computer and make it a more visible instrument as it used to be. I think it is probably a big advantage. And of course tools are really fast moving.

Would you say that over last few years you were no longer afraid of stepping into traditional forms? Why is that so?

I think one of my goals was always to bridge things. To transform ideas of transformation, bridging experimental with classical pop elements with new elements was always a goal with my things, and this has not really changed. I have never been afraid of both fields of experimental and of popular music. Maybe the tendency now goes more a bit more classical, old school. The new album has some kind of electro-ish flavour as well. But in a way of course there is always a place of experimentation but there should always be a place for driving things in a certain way that you can dive into them. It’s difficult to describe what I mean but creating more flows rather than breaking everything apart is pretty much my intention.

What are you up to next?

There are always a lot of things as I said in the beginning; the live tours, the installation tours, continuing working on visual installations and objects. At the moment I’m planning to create some short films again and maybe for next year I’ll start working on the Xerox series again.

A transatlantic trip through house and techno.

Cyril Etienne des Rosaies has been a part of the Parisian house and techno scene for almost two decades. He got his initial break in the first half of the ’90s playing for Laurent Garnier at his Oz, Zoo and Wake Up parties, while schooling himself in the art of Detroit techno and NYC and Chicago house in local record stores. His first efforts in music production hit shelves in 1997 (as The Deep alongside Julien Jabre), and although the name DJ Deep has since been more readily associated with the excellent City to City mix CDs, Etienne des Rosaies has proffered a stream of music through labels like BBE, Distance and his own Deeply Rooted House. With regards to the latter, DRH was set up in 2004 alongside the now defunct House Music Records reissue label. Artists like Kerri Chandler, Franck Roger and Manoo formed the backbone of those early days; more recently it’s been techno talent like Ben Klock, Mike Dehnert and Marcelus drawing a crowd.

Old meets new, house meets techno and Deep gets, well, deep on RA.275.

What have you been up to recently?

Taking care of the label, DJing, listening and classifying about ten years of European techno records that I never had time to really organize in my collection, so that’s been very inspiring.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at my dear friend Emmanuel’s studio. He used to run a 12-inch record shop in Paris, and he has a nice little studio where it’s cool to record. I used a DJR400, two Technics SL1200 and two CDJs.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix.

Well, as always when I try and record a mix, I spend a lot of time and attention in trying to present the best mix possible for music lovers. I put together a lot of records I wanted to include in the mix without thinking of how they will fit and if they will fit etc.; just stuff where I thought “oh this has to be in the mix.” It could be a nice classic that sounds very relevant today or a brand new track that I love. After that I have to find a path, where I can tell a “little story” and try and bring people into my own world if I can.

Can you tell us about the initial inspiration behind setting up E&S?

The initial inspiration was meeting Jérome Barbé in his studio around 2003! He was very encouraging about trying to produce a nice unique product.The first step was to produce a great sounding rotary mixer (DJR100) as it was also harder and harder to get the vintage US ones, then came the idea of doing a portable version (DJR400).Sometimes it’s not easy to convince people of how good something sounds, but if you manage to put it in a small box that you can travel with and plug it into a system it makes things much easier!

What are you up to next?

I’m really looking forward to going back to Japan in September, playing in Paris in October at Batofar with Marcel Fengler, and looking forward to playing a small party in Amsterdam during ADE. I’ve just started working with Uzuri Artist Bookings & Management so looking forward to that working relationship. Clone will be reissuingBack in the DarkEP in September, a collaborative EP between myself and Jovonn. The EP was first released back in 2000. I’m also looking forward to more releases on Deeply Rooted House. There will be a Francois X EP which includes a remix by Marcel Dettmann, out on September 12th. There will also be new EPs by Marcelus as well as Rootstrax plus more.

House and bass music collide.

Claude VonStroke has released tracks featuring monkeys, whistling and gurgling. Claude VonStroke has also retained credibility. These two things don’t exactly add up. But that should tell you something about the man in question. The San Francisco-based producer has been releasing bass-heavy house with a sense of fun since 2005. The ongoing twist, however, is that just when you think you have him figured out, he’ll go deep on a track like “Aundy” or remix a bass music anthem to devastating effect.

VonStroke’s Dirtybird label has been the vehicle for almost all of his original material but that’s not to say it’s been a one man show: a family of artists has formed around the imprint, with names like Justin and Christian Martin, Catz ‘n Dogz, J. Phlip and Julio Bashmore all achieving international recognition from the Dirtybird stable. Looking at RA.271′s tracklist you could be forgiven for thinking that this was mostly an “influences mix” but as is explained below, Claude VonStroke has recently taken to playing whatever the heck he feels like. And he has his grandma to thank for that.

What have you been up to recently?

I’m on my new remix album tour called “Makeovers.” Right now I’m doing the North American part of the tour. After this I’m going to my dad’s birthday in Detroit with our family for a week. Then finally I will get home to work on new tunes!

How and where was the mix recorded?

It was actually made at a cabin in Minnesota—no joke. I didn’t have any access to a DJ setup so it’s done in Ableton, but in the wilderness of Minnesota where my wife is from. Every year we go on a cabin trip to the middle of nowhere, like an hour past Brianerd if you know Minnesota. I had to wait until everyone was asleep to work on it in the middle of the night which might give you a sense of the vibe in the second half. When it was done I had to go into my brother-in-law’s car, turn it on and listen to it on his car stereo like a nut in the middle of the night.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?

You can hear the beginning of the set is very bass-oriented, then going Dance Mania style, then deeper into house. The concept of my stuff is always the same: just choose all the tracks I love and try to put them together in a way that makes sense. I also wanted to throw in a couple surprises like the EPMD track because I’ve started to drop all kinds of music in my sets. I’m not really satisfied with just playing three hours of house. I’m doing tons of drum & bass, hip-hop and reggae edits—like Easter eggs for the crowd. No obvious radio tracks but cool stuff like Krust, EPMD, Ed Rush, Fela Kuti, Damien Marley, whatever.

You just had a show on Rinse and put out a remix of Girl Unit’s “Wut” through Night Slugs. What do you think is the common ground between yourself and the UK scene?

I really enjoyed meeting all the Night Slugs guys in London and to tell you the truth I asked them if I could do that remix for free. So part of it is me kind of putting myself in the position to be in alliance with the UK bass scene. It really harkens back to my original first love, drum & bass. I was an unsuccessful drum & bass DJ, I never got into the right clique or made the right tracks or got the right lucky break or whatever. I’m still overcompensating for that perhaps.

As far as house music, Dirtybird is one of the only American bassline labels. We always deliver on basslines. That is definitely not the focus at most labels. So it’s not really any accident that we have strong ties with towns like Bristol and Leeds—towns where people go ape-shit for basslines. We definitely give it a different flavour on the West Coast; not quite as dark or moody perhaps. But even as I say that I just signed another Bristol guy last week!

Are there any firm plans for a Claude VonStroke live show?

Nope. But maybe something else. I’m delving into some different ideas this year, no concrete plans but I am practicing live loop making on Maschine—that kind of thing. You can expect the unexpected I imagine. I’m getting a lot more comfortable with big risks and just going for it musically. As your grandma always says, you can’t please everyone all of the time, so you might as well go crazy.

What are you up to next?

I’m working with some other producers and exploring new ideas. I think there will be a new VonStroke album next year as well. Definitely some new singles soon. I can’t say much more until I actually do some tunes and see what happens.

LA beat science.

Jennifer Lee, AKA Tokimonsta, is part of the Flying Lotus-helmed Brainfeeder crew out of Los Angeles. Bearing in mind their deep impact upon the wider electronic music scene, it’s easy to forget that this coterie of artists, which also includes the likes of Gaslamp Killer, Samiyam, Ras G and Daedelus, have only been operating in a formalized group structure for the last couple of years. In fact Lee only put out her debut 12-inch at the beginning of 2010. Since that release, through UK imprint Ramp Recordings, her melodically intricate and rhythmically challenging take on instrumental hip-hop has surfaced on labels like All City Records and of course Brainfeeder, while her debut album, Midnight Menu, was put out in July of last year by Japanese imprint Listen Up. By the time RA profiled her for our Breaking Through series a couple of months later Christine Kakaire found Lee humbled and somewhat wide-eyed by the extensive touring and exposure the release had afforded her.

RA has never been to Low End Theory, the fabled LA beats party that so many of the Brainfeeder crew, including Tokimonsta, regularly frequent, but we’d like to imagine that it sounds something like this mix. The likes of Gonjasufi, Flying Lotus, Africa Hitech and Samiyam coalesce to form a cloud of hazy, humid hip-hop.

What have you been up to recently?

Lately, I’ve been touring quite a bit, but I’m looking forward to getting back in the studio.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was done with Ableton at a Starbucks.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix.

As with all my mixes, I want to present songs that I really enjoy listening to. In which case, some songs are quite old, some new, some of a completely different class of music than what I’m regularly associated with. It covers a pretty wide range of moods and emotions as well.

You’ve been on the road almost constantly in the last year. Do you get the chance to get back to Low End Theory much these days?

I definitely try to drop by when I’m at home. I must admit that it’s getting a bit hectic as of late with the notoriety it has now, but it’s the best place to meet up with friends you haven’t seen for a while.

You were chosen as the #1 female DJ by LA Weekly. What did that mean for you?

Overall, I felt quite happy about it. However, I don’t really DJ when I play out, as I do a live set. They had this in mind, but couldn’t justify having a separate category for “live performers” for women as they did with men. Then there’s the other topic of genderizing music and having to do two categories instead of just one. I might have been more happy being within the top 10 for a combined male and female category versus being #1 for an all female one.

What are you up to next?

Working on tunes!

House music for warmer climes.

Lewie Day trades in the sort of slow-mo, sample-heavy house music pushed by Mark E and The Revenge in the recent times. This is best exemplified by his pair of 12-inches for Jimpster’s excellent Delusions Of Grandeur imprint—itself a key proponent of the sound—released during 2010. Paddlin’, his debut release as Tornado Wallace, was all swirling organs and valium-addled disco loops, while its follow-upAlways Twirling pushed a similarly assured sub-120 BPM button. Under his given name the Australian producer has been releasing music since 2005—Dave Seamen’s Audio Therapy were the first to give him a platform—and bits and pieces of largely house-orientated material have subsequently surfaced through labels like Murmur Records and 8bit. In his hometown of Melbourne the name Tornado Wallace had been established as a regular fixture of the scene, before Day packed up and headed to London earlier this year, since enjoying gigs across the city under the tutelage of promoters/booking agents Warm.

Although it admittedly bears its teeth in places, Day’s mix is the sort of celebratory house music best consumed as night turns to day.The tempo is measured, a flash of melodic brilliance never too far away.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve moved to London with my girlfriend for six months during the ‘summer’ here, playing gigs here and there and connecting with the world outside of Australia. Before I left home in May I wrapped up two new EPs which are forthcoming on Instruments Of Rapture and Delusions Of Grandeur respectively, plus my remixes for Cut Copy’s next single and Mike Callander’s”Twilight” are also around the corner.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded the mix using 1200s, CDJs and Ableton. Because all my gear and most of my records are at home in Melbourne, I ran around London recording bits where I could and piecing it together in Ableton to give it a logical semblance.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix.

It’s just a collective noun of great tunes spanning a few styles which really influence me as both a producer and DJ. I threw in some of my own soon-to-be-released tracks for good measure too.

What is your take on the electronic music scene in Melbourne currently?

I think it’s great. I miss it a lot actually. There’s a plethora of amazing producers and DJs whose international anonymity is purely a result of their physical distance from the rest of the world. There are nights and parties that comfortably measure up to what’s happening overseas. You have to pick and choose where to go and what to do carefully though. It isn’t like London or Berlin where there will be at least three good parties on every night of the week, but when you know what’s happening you can always have a fun night out with great music and great people. The music scene in Melbourne may not be what it used to be when people ate their weight in pills and filled-up warehouses listening to techno every weekend—but maybe that’s a good thing.

What are you up to next?

I’m in a comfortable position to have some music being slowly released over the course of the year, so I’m happy taking my time working on new ideas and trying to innovate my own sounds. There’s been talk of an album and I’d really like to do one. It’s nice to have the idea of an album in the back of my mind when working on music—it encourages me to look at the writing process a bit differently. I’m hoping it comes together on its own accord, but these things can’t be forced and I’m not going to release an album just for the sake of it. I also have some side projects with some mates back in Australia which I’m quite excited about, but it is far too early to predict if that will amount to anything, particularly with our terrible discipline in replying to each other’s emails.

Timeless house and techno.

It would be easy for an artist such as Ed Davenport to slip through the cracks. An ex-pat making house music in Berlin? It’s not as though they’re in short supply. But take a listen to the UK producer’s output since he relocated to the German capital in 2008, or the volume of gigs he picks up at venues right across the city and it’s clear that Davenport has been making his mark. His journey began back in 2006 with a batch of minimal-inclined releases for labels like Leftroom and Gumption Recordings. As the decade wore-on it seemed as though he began to find his feet. A more refined strand of house/techno began to emerge as Davenport shopped his music out to a variety of leading European labels. Hamburg imprint liebe*detail became a primary partner, while 12-inches for NRK, Falkplatz, Poker Flat and Figure SPC further spread the message.

John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, Photek, Minimal Man, Jeff Mills and Rick Wilhite all feature on Davenport’s predominantly “influences”-based mix for us, outlining house and techno’s evolutionary steps between the “now” and “then.”

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been working a lot on new music, concentrating on finishing a couple of singles for NRK and Falkplatz, and also continuing with plans for my first album. That’s been a slow but enjoyable process—I want to get it right!

How and where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded at home using both vinyl and digital tracks, and was edited in Ableton Live. I mixed some passages on the decks and then brought in digital tracks, edits and effects. There are some extra details that I wanted to add with software, like panning, delay and EQ.

Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix.

It’s largely an ‘inspirations’ mix; music I’ve found recently that gets me excited or older tracks that still deserve time to shine. I also really wanted it to be a proper podcast that people can listen to at work or at home—not just an hour of the latest club tools. For that reason the mix travels though quite a lot of genres along with a few surprises…I think that’s what you can expect from my DJ sets too.

You play out constantly across Berlin—are there venues you rate that people from outside the city wouldn’t necessarily know about?

One of my favourite smaller clubs that’s popped up in recent years is Chez Jacki, behind the old Maria club. There’s very little attitude there, a great atmosphere and varied music, and the owners are really dedicated to keeping it fresh and a bit different.

What are you up to next?

Really putting a lot of time into producing new, (hopefully) timeless music. My main focus at the moment is to get my album finished. I have a lot of other ideas and projects that are in development too. There’s some real moody electronica about to surface that I made with a certain US producer in Berlin, and some weird out-there droney, spacey stuff that I’ve been making along with some other friends—these other projects keep me inspired and busy!

I’ve also just finished a pair of remixes for Ian Pooley that will come out on his Pooled label, and there’s a great synth-heavy track with Oliver Deutschmann that will come out on Polytone soon along with a Peter Van Hoesen remix.

Deep house music from America’s East Coast.

DJ Qu is a deep house DJ and producer who doesn’t mind being called as such. Most artists are sniffy at best—outwardly hostile at worst—when labelled with a specific genre tag, whereas Ramon Lisandro Quezada has embraced the term, spending the last few years mining the very depths of the sound. Many will have first encountered Qu via his association with Jus-Ed’s New York-based Underground Quality imprint and its coterie of artists’ rise to international prominence during 2009, although Qu did have something of a lead up to this. He began Strength Music Recordings back in 2006, using it as a platform to showcase mainly his own productions, which as of earlier this year includes a classy full-length offering in the form of Gymnastics.

It has been said before but Qu and his aforementioned NYC contemporaries are among the most affable people you’re likely to meet on the scene—qualities we think translate to the music selected on RA.267. Unreleased tracks from Fred P., Levon Vincent, Jus-Ed and Qu himself nestle in alongside deep house cuts of the highest calibre.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been away on some DJ gigs, promoting the Gymnastics album and also praising my oldest nephew for graduating from high school and making his way to college. That’s a big deal for me.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in my home using my Vestax PMC mixer, two Technics 1200s, two Pioneer CDJs, a Pioneer EFX500 box and then through my recording studio to spice it up a bit.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix.

The idea behind the mix is simple. I basically put together a combination of music that I personally dig. Some of the music is released and some unreleased.

You sampled our 2010 in review Exchange on Gymnastics. Does sampling generally form much of a basis for your productions?

Sampling is definitely a huge part of my production right now. I’m slowly learning to play instruments and getting better with live recording, but I have no shame in sampling.

What are you up to next?

Next up for me is a three week tour through Europe in August 2011—going to visit numerous countries in Europe so I’m looking forward to that. I’m also getting some releases ready for the Strength Imprint and have some remixes coming out on other labels so it’s definitely busy around here.

A rare recorded session from one of techno/electro’s cult figures.

There’s not too much to go on when attempting to decipher Gerard Hanson, AKA Convextion. What’s clear is that he resides in Dallas, Texas, records techno as Convextion, electro as E.R.P and released his debut 12-inch back in 1995 through Matrix Records. His biography also isn’t particularly enlightening—merely a run through of his influences and releases—but does confirm that throughout his 16-year recording career Hanson has remained “willingly anonymous.” This mysterious shroud coupled with a limited number of releases (Hanson put-out only two 12-inches between ’97 and ’05) has led to something of a cult Convextion/E.R.P. following. Those who’ve tracked Hanson’s limited manoeuvres have seen their faith rewarded recently, however, as fresh E.R.P. material came to light through highly regarded Spanish imprint Semantica, revealing some of Hanson’s finest work to date under either moniker.

On this live set, recorded last year at a Bleep43 party in London, you’ll hear Hanson moving through his trademark sound of fast-paced techno and electro.

An expert house selection from a German institution.

When everyone “discovered” minimal and tech house back in 2004, German DJs such as Tobi Neumann were hailed as new heroes, when in fact most of them had been doing their thing for ten years previous. It also didn’t help that Neumann’s work in the studio was away from the limelight, producing Euro trash outfits like Chicks on Speed during the late ’90s and Miss Kittin in the early ’00s. To this day Neumann has always seemed more comfortable on remix duties and in collaboration—Gucci with Ricardo Villalobos, Sensitiva with Onur Özer, EMT with Matthew Styles—over straight-up solo material. As a DJ and promoter, Neumann’s Flokati House Club party out of his hometown Munich took on something of a legendary status during the late ’90s, while his hook-up with Cocoon almost ten years ago has subsequently seen him enjoy gigs across the globe on an annual basis including the Cocoon Arena at this year’s SW4 Festival in London.

Neumann now resides in Berlin where you can routinely find him plying crowds at Club der Visionaere, Watergate and Weekend with the type of broad-ranging, groove-based house selections this mix is packed with.

What have you been up to recently?

Currently I am playing every weekend, which I love but which also requires a lot of energy and time. Also I am working on music in my studio, and trying to find enough time for my friends and for listening to new music every week. Now I am just coming back to my hotel from three amazing days at ‘Off Sonar’ in Barcelona. We had great fun and heard some good music. I played twice there and met many sweet people!

How and where was the mix recorded?

I selected some tunes over the last weeks before I did the mix. Then, when I was standing in front of my two turntables and my CD player, I was a bit unsure how to start the mix. It’s difficult to mix without an audience to entertain directly and using a computer or Ableton for it is not my style. I wanted to do the mix as I do my work every weekend in the clubs. So I invited a friend, made her some drinks, and then inspiration came and I did the mix in one take.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

My idea about the mix was to make it nice for home listening. Not too fast and pumping, some dub elements and a nice build up of the energy. Actually like a warm-up for a club night.

We heard something about a remix you and Matthew Styles completed as EMT of Perry and Rhodan’s 1993 track “The Beat Just Goes Straight On And On.” Can you tell us about this?

Since I first heard techno I adored the two masterpieces: Transform’s ”Transformation” and “The Beat…” One of the guys behind both the projects is an old friend of mine, and Matthew and I are often making music together. So one evening we discovered that we both had a love for these tracks. So after talking with the Tommy Eckhart, the writer, three years ago, we made our remix of “Transformation” which had good feedback, and so now in the last weeks we made a new version of “The Beat…” We tried to keep a lot of the original flavour of the tunes.

What are you up to next?

I am just finishing a remix for Arnaud Texier for Cocoon and then I will continue with my songs, though of course it’s summertime, so weekends sometimes start on Wednesdays and last until Mondays. Ibiza is calling and of course some festivals like Melt, Merkwürdiges Verhalten, SW4, Creamfields, Sonne Mond Sterne,
Technootjes etc.

A major new techno talent steps up.

“No way!” (or something along those lines) was our immediate reaction to Marcelus’EP 1. It seemed astounding that the four tracks, released late last year through DJ Deep’s Deeply Rooted House, represented French producer Cédric Bros’ debut release, such was their fluidity and assuredness. The 25-year-old Paris-based producer followed up a few months later with EP 2 and confirmed what we had first suspected: that Marcelus was definitely on to something. His style to date has sat somewhere near to that of Berghain’s more house-inclined residents, although tracks such as “Sulfuric,” with its raging acid lines, have proved him unafraid to tear down this shroud of subtlety.

So with our interest officially piqued we asked Marcelus to turn in a mix—in a little over an hour’s worth of atmospheric house and gritty techno he’d demonstrated his DJ skills to be on par with those of his superlative productions.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been working on some music, a remix for Deeply Rooted House. I finished a track for a compilation on Ann Aimee, and I had a nice gig in Turin too.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at home with vinyl and a Xone:92.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

It’s a techno mix; I just wanted to play some records I love, some old and some more recent tracks.

How did you hook up with DJ Deep?

I tried to reach him at the Rex club and on his e-mail, because he is the guy here for house and techno, so I insisted and he finally listened to my demos. We met near Bastille, then he told me he wanted to release a record—it was “Perception,” “Friction” etc and the EP 1 came out like this.

What are you up to next?

I am working on new tracks for DJ Deep at the moment, on a remix for Ascion’s new label and I’m planning to open my own label next year.

Afterhours house and bass-inclined tunes from the Scottish producer.

Sei A is young Scottish “tech house” producer Andy Graham. The quotation marks reference Graham’s Discogs page. And while this might not be an entirely inaccurate description of the music he makes, it would be an over-simplification of an artist who’s drawn upon a wealth of 4/4 styles since debuting back in 2008. Graham’s first LP dropped that year through Missive, showcasing an artist who wasn’t afraid to marry melody to stomping club beats, while his latest full-length on Turbo, White Rainbow, combined claustrophobic synthesizers with restless vocals and rhythms. In addition to marking himself out as a bit of remix specialist—Terrence Fixmer, Booka Shade and Azari & III have been among his recent refixes— Graham heads up the Seinan Music imprint, which has proffered a modest trio of releases since being established in 2008.
For all of Graham’s acquired credits these past few years we have to admit to being a little taken aback by this mix for us. As touched on below, a subtle yet distinctive bass music influence runs through these 65 minutes (think Mount Kimbie rather than Skream), all fleshed out by a delicately composed selection of afterhours house.

What have you been up to recently?

For the last couple of months I’ve been getting together some fresh tracks. I’ve been back and forth with a lot of material but really trying to nail/develop a certain sound, trying to curate a fresh sound for myself and listeners alike to keep it all interesting and different at the same time. On the release front I’ve been finalising two new EPs for Turbo, with one of the tracks featured at the start of the mix, “Frozen Flower.”

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in my small studio in London. I used two Pioneer CDJ-1000s and a Pioneer DJM-600 mixer. I then took it all into Logic 8 and fixed it up slightly. I use Logic for production and like to have my mixes at the end to have a somewhat wholesome sound/mix.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

The mix was to try and cover various elements of techno/bass/dub; mainly using it as a warm-up tool to bring it forward into the “later hours” type vibe and also to showcase a couple of new Sei A tracks/remixes.

Your mix appears to draw upon bass music influences—would this be accurate? And if so, has this influence been creeping into your music recently?

Without a doubt, yes. I’m glad this mix shows that. My DJ sets are somewhat covering that sound more and more. Living in London has helped this as well. Although Glasgow has something really special going on at the moment but that’s well deserved. There’s so much good music out there, the wealth of talent at the moment is so inspiring, it’s amazing.

What are you up to next?

Next I have a couple of EPs lined up for Turbo. A new collaboration with someone (no names attached for twitter legal reasons) which will cross loads of sounds—bringing in some really cool singers to work on the collaboration as well. I also have film and game scripts to work on. On top of all that I will begin to make new bodies of work, hopefully making the third album something to remember, if it even becomes an album.

The London trio explore all the colours of the bass music rainbow.

LV are London-based trio Will Horrocks, Gervase Gordon and Si Williams. If you’ve encountered them in recent weeks we sincerely hope it was via their excellent debut album, Routes, alongside MC Joshua Idehen, a record RA’s Andrew Ryce described as “a deeply conflicted, complex album at its heart, [full of] forward-thinking music that perfectly portrays the bipolar nuances of city living.” Routes was released through Martin Clark’s Keysound label, although traditionally LV have formed an integral part of Steve Goodman’s Hyperdub stable, releasing four 12-inches since 2007 that have ranged from digital dub to kwaito-infused 2-step.

It’s this multifarious vibe that carries over to their mix for us. The words “UK bass music” and “diversity” have merged to form something a truism in recent times, but in this case we just can’t help ourselves.

What have you been up to recently?

We’ve been jamming with Josh and getting ready to do it in public in front of real live people. Also we’ve been doing some tunes with our favourite peeps, Okmalumkoolkat, Zaki Ibrahim, Spoek Mathambo, Errol Bellot…

How and where was the mix recorded?

We made it at Will’s place over a couple of sessions, basically throwing a load of tunes we like in a blender and seeing what stuck.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix.

We had a pretty good time making it—that was the idea!

Can you outline the process you guys and Josh undertook in writing Routes?

It started with us making a load of sketched-out ideas and Josh wrote words to them. Then after a while he came down and we did a few quite intense sessions, he recorded definitive versions of the stuff he’d written. Then we went in on each tune, and on a few of them we ended up making new music around what Josh had done. That’s basically how it went.

Did you set out to make a ‘London record’? How does the city feed into what you guys do?

For us, this album really is just the music we wanted to make with Josh at that time. London is home, it’s inspirational and boring. We have that love/hate thing, we dream of escape… yes, this place feeds into what we do and Josh’s writing at the time seemed to be dealing with his relationship with his own weird imagined London.

What are you up to next?

We’re doing some gigs with Josh and our “live” setup—looking forward to that. As far as releases go, there’s a single coming out on 2nd Drop records, it’s a three way collaboration between us, Zaki Ibrahim and Message To Bears called Explode. Mothy, DJ Rum and Charlie Dark all did great remixes too. Plus our mate Josiah made a wicked video for it. There’s been a bit or remixing going on too, our version of “Speckles Shine” by Jahcoozi is coming out on BPitch soon.

Standout live business from the breakthrough UK duo.

We’d usually start here by giving you some biographical details on our featured podcasters, but this week we’re going to go right ahead and cut to the chase. Setting the tempo to a steady 120 BPM, Matthew Burton and Kate Rathod here fashion their own sonic microcosm. Weirdo flourishes coalesce with balmy chords and suggestive vocals, evoking the sunnier side of Pronsato or Villalobos. UK production duo Matthew Burton and Kate Rathod have only appeared on record together a couple of times to date, with remixes and original material on Jay Shepheard’s Retrofit label, although Burton has had a somewhat more storied journey hitherto. A handful of digital releases on various labels culminated in Burton producing the maiden 12-inch for Sammy Dee’s new Ultrastretch label, coupled with appearances at a selection of top-tier nightspots in and around his former hometown of Berlin.

What have you been up to recently?

We have mainly been concentrating on the live performance as we have had a couple of shows in the last month. I’ve been quite busy with gigs recently so Kate’s been able to concentrate on some solo work too.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at home. We use Cubase for the live sequencing and also an Akai MPC 500 to play in live melodies, pads and stabs. Then on top of that a microphone going through a reverb and delay unit for both mine and Kate’s vocals. All of this goes through a Xone 92 Allen & Heath mixer. Everything was recorded live but we had to go back and edit the vocals here and there.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

We wanted to do a mix that wasn’t strictly for the dance floor. We wanted to show the more mellow side to our work so decided to start slow and build it up using various loops and swoops that both of us have worked on over the last few years.

How did you hook up with Sammy Dee for the first release on his Ultrastrech label?

I had been going to the Perlon nights at Panorama Bar since we first moved to Berlin and then eventually got round to giving him a couple of my records. A week or so later a friend told me he had heard Sammy playing mine and Kate’s first Retrofit release we did with Jay Shepheard so I got in touch. It’s been love ever since. Sammy’s been great to both of us and has helped us out whenever he can.

Does producing with your other half ever lead to difficulties?

On the whole we are quite compatible when it comes to making music. Kate brings a more musical element to the music. She’s always good at busting out melodies, chords and pads which I always found more difficult. I usually start things off with getting a good groove together. Music comes really naturally to Kate so she’s picked it up a lot quicker than I did when I first started. We do have disagreements (mainly when I wanna add sleazy vocals to everything) but they never last that long when you can make up with a quick kiss and a cuddle.

What are you up to next?

We’ve got a couple of joint releases coming up including an EP on Visionquest with our track “Flip Reverse Girl” that we are really proud of. We will also have future releases together with Retrofit and Ultrastretch. I have a couple of solo releases coming out on Organic Art Movement and Back To You in the next few of months, also a track I made with Nick Lawson coming out on a Visionquest release. Over the summer I’ve got monthly parties with Sammy Dee at Club der Visionaire and also the Busta Groove parties in the UK that I run with Nick Lawson. Other than that just working on music together and working on our live act.

Dubstep’s biggest DJ steps up.

Croydon. Big Apple Records. Hatcha. Skream’s back story evokes all the right passages of dubstep folklore. Oli Jones began making music as a 15-year-old; he was an employee of the now legendary record store and one of dubstep’s first and foremost producers before his teenage years were through. Much of the music in the developmental stages of his career was recorded alongside Benga, with whom Jones now lines up—in addition to Artwork—as Magnetic Man. The group became the genre’s biggest crossover success to date at the end of last year with the release of their self-titled album, although Jones as always remained entirely difficult to pin down—NonPlus+, Swamp 81, Deep Medi Musik and Tempa are just a few of the imprints to host his zig-zagging 12-inches in the past few of years.

If you’ve caught Skream spinning at any point in his breakneck career you’ll know that the man is all about energy—and his mix for us is no different. Gigantic basslines knock heads with UK-centric rhymes and rhythms, and plenty of new and exclusive music.

What have you been up to recently?

Same old really; touring, making tunes etc. We (Magnetic Man) did Coachella last month, which was amazing!

How and where was the mix recorded?

Recorded through my computer on 2 CDJ 1000s and a Pioneer 800.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix.

It’s definitely a club/dance floor-orientated mix with a lot of tunes I’m playing out at the moment.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without tweeting this year?

About five minutes (while I’ve been doing this LOL).

What are you up to next?

The same as what I’m always doing: making tunes and touring. Oh yeah, and being a dad.

Classic house music from the Poker Flat boss.

Back in August 2010 we asked Steve Bug what the unifying idea behind his long-serving Poker Flat was. “I think in a way it is a love for the sounds of early Detroit and Chicago house,” he said. Never was that more explicit on the label’s Forward to the Past compilation which was released last month. Producers like Deetron, Redshape and The Revenge were asked to indulge in their own love of circa ’85-’92 dance music, producing original compositions befitting of the era. Bug has been involved in the scene long enough to remember these sounds from the first time around. He was among the original pool of German house DJs, plying his trade from his hometown of Bremen and latterly Hamburg. It was during the minimal boom of the mid-’00s that Bug began to truly receive widespread international recognition, though. By this stage the Poker Flat family had grown to include the Dessous and Audiomatique labels, enabling Bug to release and revel in all different shades of four-four indebted house and techno.

And his mix for us? We need say no more than late ’80s house music.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been touring a quite a lot, but I’ve also been working on some tunes with my mate Clé, to be released on Poker Flat in June as well as a remix for Simon Baker. Besides I am doing some label work and I am trying to find some time for beach volleyball with a bunch of other DJs here in Berlin on those sunny days.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I decided to mix it in Ableton as I like to have all the editing opportunities while working on the mix. It opens a whole new world and I love that, because it’s in between DJ and studio work. I started working on the mix at home, then I continued in my studio and did a lot of extra work on my flight to Miami where I finally gave it the finishing touch.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix.

Since we [Poker Flat] just released the Forward to the Past tribute to the early days compilation I decided to only use tracks from that era. Tunes that had been produced in the late ’80s, some of those tunes may not be known by many of the today’s clubbers, but they are still great tracks and they are still playable. They are a big part of the history of house sound and they shouldn’t be forgotten.

Is house music revivalism here to stay?

I don’t know, it is around since a while now and it seems to become bigger, but usually every little hype is over after some time. The good thing about this is that these are the roots and somehow they will always be a part of modern dance music. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

What are you up to next?

I am going to Japan next week and after that I have two weekends off and will concentrate on working on my new album that hopefully will be released by the end of this year.

Ruskin and Regis are live.

O/V/R is the production outfit of James Ruskin and Karl O’Connor, AKA Regis. The pair are techno figureheads in their own right. Ruskin is boss of the long-serving Blueprint label, an outlet which since 1996 has been one of the go-to platforms for quality UK techno. Regis, meanwhile, has been playing and producing music since the early ’90s. He began the seminal Downwards imprint in 1993, which to this day is still emitting “bleak, imperious” post-punk and techno, and rolls as part of the Sandwell District collective. As O/V/R the pair has proffered a pair of 12-inches to date. The most recent, 2010′s Post-Traumatic Son, was fleshed out by three sets of remixes, which featured versions from Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, DVS1 and Robert Hood.
“The O/V/R live shows are based around a collection of increasingly random equipment, and tend to swing between structure and total chaos,” Ruskin told Juno Plus earlier this year, although you wouldn’t necessarily have guessed as such from this measured performance. Over the course of an hour their set is at once imposing, bleak and triumphant—techno at its most refined.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The set was recorded live in Berlin earlier this year.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

It’s a live interpretation of the O/V/R sound.

How and why did the O/V/R project start out?

The project began around five years ago. We were working together at various gigs and from that we decided to move the project into the studio, but allow the music to evolve before anything was released. It was important that we began releasing the material at the right time, and the re-launch of Blueprint was the perfect opportunity.

How does the project work in the live setting? Who does what?

We have a main idea of how the set will be structured and how it will evolve, but this can be deconstructed to suit the environment we are playing. The sequenced material is coupled with various effects units and sound generators that are manipulated and played manually within the set.

What are you up to next?

We have various ideas and material ready, and now that the Post-Traumatic Sonseries has come to an end we can put together the next release.

Extras

Check their liveset at Kinetic

http://media.motortechno.org/OVR_(Regis_and_James_Ruskin)_live_at_Motor10-10-08.mp3

Headman provides the latest RA Podcast, a ravetastic mix featuring Hot Chip, Cut Copy, an electric Daft Punk remix and the latest Headman single Moisture.

Five years ago Headman, real name Robi Insinna released his first artist album ‘It Rough’ on Munich’s Gomma label. The LP was one of the first of the post-punk-funk sound combing dancefloor production with the raw edge of an indie band. Now on his third album ‘On’ released in March this year, Headman continues to mix guitars and beats, collaborating with friends such as Steph from Soulwax, Matt from The Rapture and Erol Alkan who all provide vocals on the new release.

RA caught up with Headman on the road during a recent North American tour…

What have you been working on recently?
I have just finished a few remixes, the last one is for a band called the Valentinos from Australia. I have to do some more. I’m doing my own mixes for the Headman 12 inches. I did one for Moisture and I’m working on the next one…

Where was the mix recorded?
While on tour, in Toronto.

What are you up to next?
Next up is mixing the Relish Records label compilation and preparing the compilation EP. I’m working on loads of Relish releases coming up after September.

The Jena joker turns in an eclectic mix of hip-hop, pop, chill wave and more.

Delicacy is not necessarily an adjective you’d attach to Robag Wruhme if you saw him behind the decks. Either solo or in tandem with Sören Bodner as the now defunct Wighnomy Brothers, Wruhme has gained a reputation for his boisterous, hard-drinking DJ sets. But scratch the surface of his recorded music, and in particular his recently released Thora Vukk LP for Pampa, and a whole microcosm of elegance and grace is there to enjoy. Wruhme was the production brains behind the Wighnomy Brothers, who from their hometown base of Jena in the east of Germany put out a string of leftfield house and techno releases through Freude Am Tanzen until their split at the end of 2009. During that time they also proffered a seminal mix CD in the form of Metawuffmischfelge, a feat Schablitzki followed up on earlier this year with his excellent Wuppdeckmischmampflow for Kompakt.

Much like his latest full-length, Wruhme has only minor dance floor considerations on his mind for this mix—hip-hop, pop, chillwave, spoken-word and (of course) bags of oddities are much more the order of the day.

What have you been up to recently?

Interviews and podcasts.

How and where was the mix recorded?

In Jena in my bedroom and in my kitchen, with a turntable, apples and a lot of vinyl and CDs.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

“Good Morning” was and is the idea … I hope I can share that.

What are you up to next?

I have to work in my own car wash centre and then I will bring out the vegetables in my garden… it’s April!

A dark exploration of rhythm from the Stroboscopic Artefacts boss.

Lucy and his Stroboscopic Artefacts label are arguably the most important additions to the global techno scene in the past two years. You may have known the Italian producer (Luca Mortellaro) from his work for Meerestief Records and Perspectiv in the latter half of the ’00s but it was at the end of 2009, and the founding of SA, that his name truly began to ring out across the scene. The Berlin-based Lucy assembled a coterie of artists who, much like himself, were indebted to sounds from far outside the techno canon, and went about releasing around 15 separate examples of this vision during 2010 alone. The culmination of these endeavours surfaced earlier this year in the form of Lucy’s debut LP, Wordplay for Working Bees, an album RA’s Andrew Ryce described at the time as “one of the most personal, affecting and diverse techno albums since Shed’s The Traveller.”

It’s in the spaces between genres that Lucy seems to thrive and his mix for us expertly stalks these shadowy corridors—at times it’s unclear whether you zoning into techno, dubstep, ambient or something else entirely.

What have you been up to recently?

Following the making of my first album Wordplay For Working Bees, a process that took almost one year of my life, I moved house and moved studio which meant I had to take a three month break from producing. It’s been a really well timed break, it’s meant that ideas have been stockpiled, mulled over and given time to become more fully formed.

When I got back in the studio I didn’t dive straight back into creating new material. Instead I took the opportunity to explore the remix process more closely. It’s a whole other creative challenge to rethink and remould someone else’s blueprints. I’ve turned my hand to tracks by some formidable artists. Just released are my remixes of Xhin’s “Arrival” for the Resampled release on Stroboscopic Artefacts, Darko Esser’s “Clean Slate” for Curle and Pfirter’s “Audiometria” on Stockholm LTD.

Forthcoming are my reworks of Peter Van Hoesen’s “Defense Against the Self” which will appear on Time To Express, “Talus” from Tommy Four Seven on CLR and also Iori’s “Lapis” for Prologue.

In between the remixes, there’ve been SA showcases in many intriguing clubs across Europe; there’s something really inspiring about these SA parties. I’m thinking particularly of the nights and early mornings at Berghain in Berlin, at Danzoo in Madrid and at London’s Corsica Studios / Cable.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in February 2011 at my new studio in Berlin’s Tempelhof district. It signaled the end of the three month break from the studio that I was talking about and was the first new project since the release of my album. I recorded it using exactly the same Traktor based set-up as when I perform in clubs.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix.

As with all my mixes I don’t like to post-edit, I record in one take. It’s important for me to keep the vibrancy and energy of being in-the-mix. For me this state is both unique and somehow precious, I feel it shouldn’t be airbrushed afterwards. It’s important that a mix captures a mood in its entirety and in its singularity. I arrived in the studio charged with a backlog of three months’ ideas and they came out spontaneously, and this underpins the sound. The mix resonates with my musical curiosity.

Judging by past interviews, it’s clear that you think quite carefully about your work. Do you worry sometimes that it could stifle the creative process?

Thinking about what you’re doing doesn’t result in stifling creativity. In fact it really catalyses the process and propels me forward. Over-thinking can stifle and that’s something I avoid, for instance, the rule I have about not post-editing mixes to preserve spontaneity.

I find the romantic vision of the artist (in the literary sense) as the lone genius who acts in isolation from a purely instinctive, raw creativity, as growing to be more and more redundant. The C20th’s artistic community worked very hard to destroy that romantic legacy—the “Great Man” myth. In the C21st, the way that Joyce or Nietzsche set about redefining the perception of the self has put the artist, the creator in a position to explore the process more than the result. And most importantly, to exchange ideas and collaborate. This innovation is creating hybrid forms that are truly new.

In this way it was always important to me that Strobsocopic Artefacts was not a Lucy imprint. Instead it’s a platform with a distinct and well thought through collaborative approach. Each artist has their own thoughts, their own approach to the artistic process, their own background. But all of these thoughts come together, spurring the creative process onwards. All the diverse influences that the artists have makes the emerging sound richer.

What are you up to next?

Following the release of Resampled, the next Stroboscopic Artefacts 12-inch, SA009, has just been mastered at the Artefacts Mastering studio. At the HQ we’re gearing up for the continuation of the Monad Series. New ideas are bubbling and some new artists are joining the family. Yet again there are new directions emerging, especially in terms of albums. Wordplay For Working Bees was just the first full-length, and new productions from our core artists are in the lab right now.

Moving towards the summer, I’m looking forward to the fact that the SA Showcases will be coming to new listeners at Sonar and Melt festivals. For me personally, I’ve finally allowed myself back into the studio to work with all those ideas that have accumulated and all the new stimuli that I receive from the label itself. New creatures are coming to life.

A new moniker from an old name.

“Maceo Plex is me having fun,” Eric Estornel recently told EQTV. Listen to his debut album under the moniker, Life Index, and you can clearly see what he means. The album was camped in the quintessentially Crosstown Rebels terrain of slow-burning, yet floor-friendly house, and brought together enough outside influences to triumphantly nail the format. In opposition, Estornel said that his other main alias, Maetrik, is him “thinking” about his productions. How that manifests itself is tenebrous club music that could loosely be described as techno. Treibstoff, Mothership and Cocoon are among the many established labels to put out Maetrik productions since the debut record back in 2001, although, as is discussed below, Estornel has somehow flown below many peoples’ radars for all these years.

The US-born, Valencia-based producer proffers a seedy 73 minutes of low-slung house on his mix for us, stopping off to enjoy a spot of disco and electro as he does so.

What have you been up to recently?

Recently I’ve been mainly writing a lot of new Maceo Plex music and working on my live set. I had a really good debut of my live set at the Get Lost party in Miami last month and now I’m just finding ways to improve it further.

How and where was the mix recorded?

It was recorded in my studio with Traktor using [digital] vinyl to mix. I’m not into using CDJs or mixing in Ableton. The mix was done in an on-the-fly type way the same as I would do in a club. I hate planning mixes too much, no fun.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I mainly wanted to showcase some of my own new music as well as new and old tracks by people I really love. There’s some Idjut Boys in there who have been huge influences in my music for the past 17 years. Also some amazing stuff from Crazy P and cool new bits on some great labels I really like. No big idea behind it really, just great jams and a nice touch of beauty which I think is really important to round out a mix properly.

You’ve been releasing music for years yet people still refer to you as a word-of-mouth success. Why do you think that is?

Yeah, that is weird. It could be that people aren’t completely aware of me due to a lack of good PR for the past 11 years I’ve been releasing music. I never cared much about blowing up and having the best press shots or writing whatever style is in fashion. I make music my way and have fun with it. It’s now that people are connecting a little better with the Maceo Plex style which could be because of the moment in time we are in musically and socially and the great job by Crosstown at getting it heard. I’m just going to continue improving myself as a producer and releasing tracks people wanna move to and hope that’s enough to live beyond these “15 minutes.”

What are you up to next?

At the moment finishing up and planning my next release on Crosstown called “Can’t Leave You.” Damian is getting some amazing remixers on board for it, and I’m sure it’ll be insane. Also just finished something for Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ new label Hot Waves, and working closely with Jamie on planning some new fire for Hot Creations. I also have a remix I just did for Get Physical and another remix for the label Serialism. My Maceo Plex project is relatively new, and I’ve been having a crazy amount of remix requests coming so I’m still figuring out all that before announcing anything else. Under the name Maetrik I have a few remixes coming soon for Adam Beyer, Timo Maas and M.A.N.D.Y. And also a new EP on Cocoon titled Crush On Me. Busy, busy I suppose!

The tenth edition of the Resident Advisor podcast is brought to you by former Radio Slave member and edits specialist Serge Santiago.

Santiago brings a playful cowboy vibe and distorted twang to his productions, but as a DJ he is surprisingly eclectic. On this mix, a deep respect for Chicago house shines through alongside his trademark electro fun and games. The set also features three brand new cuts of hotter-than-fire arpeggiated madness from Detroit techno legend Carl Craig.

Santiago’s collaboration with Matt Edwards as Radio Slave resulted in the release of over thirty remixes before the pair went their separate ways in 2005. Highlights of this deep catalogue include reworkings of Kylie Minogue, Tiga and Fisherspooner.

Santiago is also known for his colour series, a string of six Italo-disco/house re-edits, each packaged in a differently coloured sleeve. Quietly released in 2004-2005, the series was quickly snapped up by those with an eye for prized cuts of vinyl.

Since then Santiago has set-up his own label Arcobaleno Records and the epic Atto D’Amore, its first release, brings this podcast to a close. Santiago talked to RA about his colourful mix…

What have you been working on recently?

I have been getting the Candidate brand up and running for my label. The first track, “Anticipation,” is looking very good, lots of great feedback from it already. I’ve just finished a remix for Sunshine Underground on City Rockers which turned out great, sounding very bandy and live. A new series of coloured edits are on their way too, six in all I hope.

Where was the mix recorded?

It was done in Paris in T1T’s Studio. He’s a great friend with a great set up that gives everything an edge with warmth. He’s a lovely guy too, big thanks to him.

What are you up to next?

I’ve got a remix on Stompa Phunk on its way at some point, as well as some other labels too. I am off to Australia in June again, always have a laugh out there, lovely people. And as I said, I’m just plugging away at the edits…

The veteran Italian techno jock records his first podcast.

Marco Carola is quite simply one of the biggest in the business. The Neapolitan selector was there from the very beginning of Italy’s love affair with techno, helping to kick-start the scene through extensive DJing, production and party promotion in his hometown. His message throughout the late-’90s/early-’00s was spread via a number of successful labels he founded—Zenit, One Thousand, Question—although the ascent towards his currently enjoyed level of fame seemed to begin around 2006/07 with the release of his excellent fabric mix and association with Minus/Plus 8. By this time Carola had quite drastically altered his approach from the frantic three-deck mixing style he previously employed, instead concentrating on stripping things down in search of the ultimate groove. However you look at this transitionary period, it most certainly worked for him: Carola now enjoys one of the busiest touring schedules on the circuit, regularly given top billing for some of the largest scale techno events in the world.

Carola’s dedication to the rhythmic exploration is certainly apparent on his RA mix, although as he explains below, he allows a little more warmth and a lot more breathing room then you might ordinarily expect from hearing him pack a dancefloor.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been on my album release world tour, which started at home in Napoli in February. I’ve just finished some of the South American dates and a party at SXSW with Richie—and am currently in LA getting ready for the Miami parties this week.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded it in my studio at home in Napoli using Traktor Scratch—that’s what I use when I play out now, with two decks and the C-Loops machine to make longer mixes. I get asked a lot about the three-deck style I started out with for many years, but I eventually found that there was too much thinking about the technical side. The way I play now means I can think more about the music and where the set is going.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I recently did the BBC Essential Mix at the time of the album release in February. I was really pleased with how that turned out, but as that was a two-hour club-style set, I wanted to do something that was a little more relaxed for this. I recorded it during a short break in the tour dates a couple of weeks ago—I try to always play new tracks in my sets, so these are ones I was into at that time.

You’re credited as helping to kick-start the Italian techno scene during the ’90s. How would you assess the scene in 2011?

Back when I started, Napoli was really the only real techno scene in Italy. Rome had a scene, but that was more of a rave style. You could say that in the beginning it was perhaps more contained, but now it’s opened up and there are great parties put on by amazing people around the whole country. I think it’s great, I always love to play in Italy—Italian crowds have so much energy, so if you play well they really love you.

Do you see your particular brand of techno as being divisive? Certainly online it seems to evoke very strong reactions for and against it.

Well one of the best things about techno is that the people are so passionate about it. Perhaps sometimes some people forget that the purpose of it is to have fun and to dance, though. There’s room for all kinds of styles—my style is not going to be loved by everybody, but that’s OK because I’m just expressing who I am, what I like to play and hear in the club. My music is quite specific, it’s made to be played by DJs in clubs—pretty much everything on the album was tested this way so I could see what was successful and what I needed to work on some more. And the reason the album comes as a mix is that it makes more sense for the music to be heard played as part of a DJ set than individual tracks.

That’s why I called the album Play It Loud!, because without that context of being played by a DJ it’s not going to make sense. My music is about the groove, the bassline—if you can’t feel that, if you listen to it on some laptop speakers with no bass, you’re not going to get it! So it’s great for people to have those strong reactions and to be passionate—just don’t forget to have fun!

What are you up to next?

The album tour continues with more European dates from the beginning of April. There are the festivals like Timewarp and Exit, and of course there will be Ibiza too which I am always excited to do. And after the tour hopefully some new EPs on 2M later this year.

The New Zealand-based producer brings the funk.

If you only knew Recloose’s ubiquitous 2005 single “Dust” it would be enough to ascertain his influences. Jazz, soul and funk have all been overt in the producer’s (real name Matthew Chicoine) work since debuting on Carl Craig’s Planet E label back in 1998. Their hook-up is a well-worn tale but it bears repeating: Chicoine supposedly slipped Craig a demo along with his sandwich as he served him at an Ann Arbor cafe. There followed a run of EPs through the imprint, before Chicoine relocated to New Zealand in 2001and continued to proffer his highly musical take on house and techno through European labels like Playhouse, Peacefrog and Rush Hour. In fact, the latter has recently released Early Works, a collection of Chicoine’s unreleased or unavailable material from the beginning of his recording career.

As far as Chicoine’s mix goes, this is house music that pushes hard at the boundaries of the definition, with brand new material from the man himself thrown in for good measure.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been busy hosting a weekly radio show in Auckland, New Zealand (www.hititandquititradio.blogspot.com), working on lots of new productions (pending on Rush Hour) and, by day, coordinating a full-time DJ and production programme in Auckland for up-and-coming artists.

I’m also finishing up a full-length radio compilation and mix (Hit It & Quit It Radio Revue Vol. I) with my radio partners that will be released in June along with a double-vinyl Serato Pressing to commemorate the release. The Oliverwho Factory and new Recloose track in the podcast are just two of the exclusive tracks that will appear on it. (World premiere!)

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded this at home using Serato Scratch Live, The Bridge and Ableton Live.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I did the bulk of this mix in early February when everything was first jumping off in Tunisia and Egypt (and now Libya, Bahrain and elsewhere). I’ve been glued to the news ever since of course and wanted to acknowledge the struggle that people are enduring, hence the title Three Words and starting with Kenny Larkin’s 1990 opus “We Shall Overcome” (and of course, The Jones Girls…). I tried to maintain the intensity through the mix and the idea of music and dance being a form of release from the tensions that the world is going through.

You seemed to have moved further away from house and techno in recent years—would you say that these forms still excite you?

I think I found myself initially exploring these forms of music due to where I was living—Detroit. Before hooking up with Carl Craig in 1997 I had been more involved in DJing funk, soul, hip-hop as well as more dance floor-oriented music. So changing up the sound over the years has been a continuation of my artistic exploration and basically finding ways to continue to learn and challenge myself.

These days, house and techno are my focus in the studio and a big part of what we do on the radio show (though not exclusively; we still play lots of soul, jazz, experimental stuff, etc). I’ve become extremely fond of new technologies (specifically Serato Scratch Live and Ableton Live) which have both dramatically improved my work flow and, in turn, my studio inspiration. Sampling will always be a huge part of what I do (remnants of growing up with hip-hop I think) and it’s been a lot of fun playing with new ways to freak audio in Live as well as doing some wild things with my synth collection.

What are you up to next?

In addition to the Hit It and Quit It Radio Revue Vol. I I’ve been in the studio most nights finishing up new material for Rush Hour. Having lots of fun and getting great feedback from Christiaan at RH. Very excited to unleash this new stuff, feels like the same headspace as I was in back in 1999 when Spelunking dropped…

Heady home listening from the French duo.

Discodeine is French producers Cédric Marszewski and Benjamin Morando, who are more commonly known as Pilooski and Pentile. The duo have been releasing a colourful brand of club music under the name since 2008′s Joystick EP, and have just put-out a self-titled album, which called upon the vocal talents of Jarvis Coker, Baxter Dury and Matias Aguayo. Pilooski built a name for himself in his own right during the ’00s, thanks largely to his Dirty Edits series and remixes for LCD Soundsystem and Mystery Jets. While less widely recognized, Pentile was part of several recording projects at the beginning of the last decade—Octet, France Copland and solo as Morando.

The way in which artists label their mixes for us is often as intriguing as it is nebulous, and in the case of Discodeine “a pop selection” was how it was tagged. We’re not sure we’d entirely agree with that description, although if pop music didsound like this we reckon the world would be a much happier place.

What have you been up to recently?

Living the life.

How and where was the mix recorded?

With a lot of records, sweat and chocolates in the Discodeine HQ.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

It’s just some songs we like in some very different styles, not especially electronic or club; a short journey into our record collection.

How did you guys hook up with Jarvis Cocker for the track “Synchronize”?

We didn’t know that Jarvis was a great fan of the Dirty edits. One day he sent a mail to buy a copy to the Dirty mail order. Then he proposed to Pilooski to do a remix. We naturally thought of him when we were searching a singer for the “Synchronize” demo.

What was the inspiration behind the artwork for your debut album?

Some flashy 19th century lions! We wanted to finish with some colour this series about Gustave Dorée’s engraving initialized with our EPs.

What are you up to next?

Preparing and rehearsing our live set.

The Bristol producer explores a range of tempos and textures.

Pinch is among a core of dubstep figureheads who have helped define the very meaning of the term. From his Bristol base the producer, real name Rob Ellis, has headed up the highly respected Tectonic label and Subloaded parties since the mid-’00s, releasing groundbreaking bass weight from Loefah, Skream and 2562, while engraining dubstep in the psyche of the city’s club goers. In terms of his own productions, Ellis has often played away from home—Planet Mu, Soul Jazz, Punch Drunk and Swamp 81 have all welcomed his deeply meditative music down the years—while tracks like “Midnight Oil” and “Qawwali” could rightly be termed as classics. Ellis’ deep-seated appreciation of dub’s origins was formalized late last year as he enlisted pioneering producer and engineer Scientist to rework a collection of new music from some of dubstep’s biggest players.

House, techno and a bit of Brian Eno inform the first half of Ellis’ mix, before the screw is turned and the tempo raised for a rousing and bass-heavy finale.

What have you been up to recently?

Aside for the usual fare of running the labels and gigging on weekends, I’ve been busy with a bunch of collaborative production projects. Out soon is a 12-inch on Tectonic featuring one by myself and Loefah (my knackered dubplate crackling away in the mix here!), on the flip will be one I’ve done with UK funky producer Roska (though the track we made together is at the 140 BPM tempo of dubstep rather than funky). I also have an ongoing project with Distance under the alias of Deleted Scenes—expect to see some more 12-inches this year finally(!) and I’ve also been working a lot with Shackleton, working on a project that hopefully we’ll finish up this year and will see light of day as an album of sorts. I’m also hoping to get stuck into a full length LP this year of my own to follow up on 2007s Underwater Dancehall. Also gearing up for a full weekend at BLOC; once again I’m pleased to say that Subloaded is hosting a room there on the Friday, with a totally killer lineup to boot!

How and where was the mix recorded?

I used two turntables and a cheap two channel Gemini mixer—basic ingredients—and I played all vinyl or acetate as I usually do. I then put the mix into Logic and laid down some subtle atmospherics and short film samples to add to the texture of it. It’s generally quite subtle but you can pick out bits and pieces easily if you’re listening for it.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I guess I took the opportunity to do something a little different here than people may expect of me—I usually have stuck to the dubstep tempo (around 140 BPM) in the past, however, I wanted to play a mix of tracks I’m mostly feeling at the moment so the first half is at the slower tempo of around 128 BPM and the latter half at around 140 BPM. I wanted to give the mix a bit of a journey vibe rather than a straight up dancefloor selection. I decided to layer some additional samples to give the mix a bit more a unique ‘Pinch’ flavour (i.e. dark with lots of strange reverb!). Some of the mixing isn’t exactly perfect but I like the idea that these imperfections give it a bit of ‘life’—something I personally find a little lacking when DJs seamlessly mix with CDs/Ableton or whatever. [But it's] just a personal preference really.

How did the hook-up with Scientist come about for the compilation?

I got his phone number from George who co-runs the BLOC festival, late 2009, called him up at his home in California and just took it from there really! He’s been great to work with and over the course of 2010 I got to know him fairly well just from regular long phone calls and later in the year a two week tour in support of the release. He might come across a serious guy but he’s got a really good sense of humour about him too!

Do you feel like there’s been an under appreciation of dub in the narrative of modern dance music?

Yes and no. I think if pushed any half-decent electronic producer will happily give a nod to the golden era of dub music and will concur that it’s had a huge influence on dance and electronic music. In terms of the space dub creates—use of reverb and delay/FX to create soundscape spaces as part of a subtractive process rather than an additive one—along with a general mindset of the originators of the sound, who favoured experimentation and progression over “playing it safe”—no one can really deny that dub flipped the script completely. Overnight it turned a mixing desk into an instrument and that helped massively to break away from the tried and tested ‘band’ format of music making and open up a path for manipulating sound itself as a means of creating music.

On the other hand, we don’t have any commercial representation for this music. Not even BBC1Xtra has a dub show—there’s absolutely nothing on commercial radio dedicated to support this end of reggae music. Dub is real underground music. It’s had a huge influence yet gets little overt recognition or support and despite this there are still dances every weekend in the UK and across Europe in particular, there are pirate radio shows—people working hard to keep the music alive for no real profit of their own—some 35-40 years after its initial impact on the world. Do your bit: go buy a 7-inch from your local record shop today, check out a dance if you see a flyer for a soundsystem night—it’s the original immersion music!

What are you up to next?

Cup of tea and watch the news. Might have a biscuit too…

The man behind RA’s top album of 2010 mixes bags of new and exclusive music.

Topping end-of-year polls is one measure of success. Another is bookings. Take a look at Dan Snaith’s 2010 tour dates and you’ll know instantly what sort of year the Canadian producer had. The demand and critical acclaim stemmed from Swim, his fifth album as Caribou. The record was his attempt to make “liquid dance music”; nine tracks RA’s Derek Miller described as a “mesmeric aural delight.” Swim issued Snaith the license to cross the great indie/dance divide: fans of his previous trips through ’60s-indebted psychedelia—and the rock press—warmed to his new dancey direction, while those on the other side of the fence welcomed him as one of their own.

Five new and exclusive tracks recorded under the name Daphni adorn this mix, all confirming in their own warm and deliciously lo-fi manner that Snaith is still very much enthralled by the hum and buzz of electronic music.

What have you been up to recently?

Well, in mid December I got back from being on tour with the band for the better part of a year. Since then I’ve just been wandering around aimlessly looking for a sound-check I could lurk at the periphery of or a backstage where I could eat Value Range nachos and salsa.

How and where was the mix recorded?

At my flat—some of the music’s from vinyl, some digital and some tracks that I made myself for the mix.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the mix

I made a lot of new music for this mix—the tracks credited as Daphni. It’s been over a year since I made any music at all so I was eager to get back to making some. The tracks on this mix are just sketches really—rough ideas that allowed for mixing the other tracks together in different ways. The tracks by other artists on this mix are there because I was excited about them when I was working on the mix—having just come home after being away for a long time there was a big pile of 12-inches that I’d bought but hadn’t listened to.

Has DJing been a more recent pursuit for you?

Yes and no… I’ve been DJing for about 15 years I guess… but sometimes more than others. We had a club night in Toronto called Social Work where my friends and I used to play when I was in university there ten years ago. That’s how we became friends with Kieran [Four Tet]. We flew him over to DJ at it and spent the next week hanging out and record shopping. Since then there was a time when I stopped DJing and spent more time focused on live music—distanced myself from electronic music. But in the last few years the excitement about dance music and DJing has come back with a vengeance: I DJ more now than I ever have.

Which artists or time period does your appreciation of dance music stem from?

I’m not so concerned about genre or time period. I look for the same things in dance music that I look for in any music: idiosyncrasy and distinctiveness. People like Ron Hardy, James Holden, Gary Davis, Todd Edwards, William Onyeabor, Ricardo Villalobos, Daft Punk, DJ Harvey and Moodymann have all had a big influence on me. Often, though, my favourite dance music is danceable by happenstance rather than by design.

The New York techno veteran enters the wormhole.

Adam X is pleased with himself, and rightly so. While every man and his dog were extolling the virtues of minimal during the last decade, the US veteran producer was sitting quietly on the sidelines with only his tastes for company. That may sound overly dramatic, but let’s just say that Adam Mitchell stood firmly by the harder techno and industrial he was pushing during the ’90s and is now reaping the rewards. That said, it did take an adroit name change to properly reconnect with the scene. Traversable Wormhole was established to put an anonymous front on his music: Mitchell felt that DJs and music buyers harboured preconceptions over his ’00s “industrial/EBM” output. The TW limited pressings flew instantly off shelves. Mitchell remained tight-lipped, however, releasing five parts of the series in the second half of 2009 before casually unveiling himself in an interview with us at the start of 2010. Chris Liebing’s CLR imprint picked up the releases for a five-part remix project—Surgeon, Marcel Dettmann and Funtion were among the talent—before compiling the originals to CD.

Mitchell started out in Brooklyn during the early ’90s, running the Sonic Groove record store before founding a label of the same name back in 1995—his years of experience are brought to bear on this assured encapsulation of his range: from murky ambient textures to hostile industrial, right through to straight-up techno bangers.

What have you been up to recently?

I just got back from spending several weeks in NYC for the holidays and performing a few shows in North America. Since being back I have been hibernating in the studio from the dark rainy January days of Berlin.

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded the mix while in NYC. The mix was done using Ableton software, UC-33 Midi mixer controller and a Novation Launchpad.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I had wanted to have a go at creating a multi-song layered mix for quite a while now—something where throughout the majority of the mix you would have at least two records riding over one another at any given time. When I perform live at events I use Ableton and controllers. For my DJ gigs I prefer to keep the setups separated. I still also love DJing on Technic 1200s. I feel more in tune with the audience using two decks, a mixer and the pitch controls. However, I do feel there are more possibilities with using Abelton and a controller. You can really get into multi-layering tracks in a way that can’t be done on turntables. So I wanted to make a mix in a different way than I could using turntables.

As someone who has always stuck with industrial, how do you now feel about its recent return to techno?

I’m very excited by it. It’s nice to finally have friends in techno again who are like-minded to the same music as me. For quite some time I felt like an outcast around most people in the techno scene. Especially when most were full-swing into the minimal hype. I could not get with that program. I knew it was just a matter of time before harder edged sounds would return to the scene. So it feels good to have stuck by my guns with it the entire time, never compromising my beliefs in what I love to produce and love to play.

You began recording as Traversable Wormhole to shed any preconceptions people may of had of your music. In hindsight do you think the success of the series would have happened if the music was released as Adam X?

Definitely not because at the time of the first Traversable Wormhole releases in spring 2009 the return of more pure of techno was just starting to bubble up again. My name as Adam X was still heavily stigmatized as being an Industrial/EBM producer so most of those looking for techno probably would have skipped right over little old me.

What are you up to next?

Well, like I said before, I am hibernating in the studio this winter, so there will be some new releases coming soon from me. I decided with TW that I want to go back to the original mystique of the series, so I won’t reveal anything about future release plans for the project right now. At the end of March I will be re-releasing my ADMX-71Luminous Vapors album that was available only on CD format through Hands Recordings and sold mostly in the industrial music circuit. It will finally be available for digital download through all the major techno shops come March. I am really looking forward to get this album out to more people. It is some of my best work ever. Then for my label Sonic Groove, I have a full release plan for the label this year with a great roster of artists.

The revered German producer records his very first podcast.

Raijko Mueller is one of electronic music’s master craftsmen. His 1998 single “Beau Mot Plage” and the 2000-released LP Rest would be sufficient enough to support such a statement. The former is a melodic classic—the latter helped engineer the DNA of microhouse. Both were released through Frankfurt imprint Playhouse, Mueller’s hometown label with whom he began a relationship back in 1996 and went on to release numerous 12-inches and a pair of albums. Rest was followed up in 2005 by We Are Monster. The record was widely believed to have exceeded the temperate majesty of its predecessor. Six years since its release, and Mueller has put out music with Diynamic, Mule and Dial, and is about to proffer Well Spent Youth, the latest Isolee full-length, set to drop through DJ Koze’s high flying Pampa Records.

As he explains below, Mueller is not a DJ—but therein lays his podcast’s strength. Think of these 56 minutes as a mixtape: one that offers a window into the world of Isolee by bundling together house, electronica, downtempo, soul and techno.

What have you been up to recently?

I have been to Montreal’s Igloofest this weekend, an open-air event, where people dance at -20 degrees outside with a great atmosphere. The right clothes are essential for survival.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix is mostly from vinyl recorded into Ableton Live and then adjusted in the software at home. I’m not a DJ—I have two 1210s and a mixer [but] I can’t mix records.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the mix?

This is my first mix for a podcast. I found it quite difficult to make a choice of tracks/songs as I don’t regularly buy new records and don’t keep myself up to date all the time. I also didn’t want to make something that would sound like a straight DJ mix. I guess the mix is more like a journey or a soundtrack, putting tracks together that don’t always fit together due to their rhythm and tempo, but where I liked the changing of atmosphere.

How would you say that your new album differs from your previous full-lengths?

I would say the new album is a bit more going back to what I have done before We Are Monster. I think it is a bit more abstract, more intimate, and more electronic. There is less, or nothing, of the disco and indie appeal of my last album.

What made you settle on DJ Koze’s Pampa Records to release the album?

This happened because we are good friends, and since I quit Playhouse in 2007 I still did not know where to release my new album. This [Pampa] became a serious option because of many reasons. DJ Koze lives in Hamburg—so do I. There has been a close communication about the tracks and the album. It is a new and small label which gives you a lot of freedom in creating sound and artwork, and with Marcus Fink running the business of the label, there is someone with a long experience in music business.

What are you up to next?

I will do some live gigs and make music for a skateboard video, and hopefully some new tracks in between.

Buenos Aires is in the house. Or is that techno?

Jonas Kopp’s releases have been bubbling under for a number of years now—2010 was the year they boiled over. A more dark and considered ambience ran through the Argentinean producer’s appearances on Stroboscopic Artefacts, Ostgut Ton and Perc Trax last year, while Kopp continued to build upon the housier end of his range with a second EP for Belgium label Curle Recordings. Promoters across Europe and Asia seemed to smell the producer coming into bloom: Kopp was booked on his first world tour towards the end of 2010, playing gigs in Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, China, Hong Kong and Japan. And this mass of forward-momentum spills over to his RA podcast. Techno is of course the common denominator, although his love for deeper house sounds is never more than a couple of chords away from the picture.

What have you been up to recently?

I was on tour around the world the past six months. I first went to Europe and then I was playing in Asia, in places such as Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. I have been working on my new project and label that will be in stores soon this year (it will be available only as vinyl). I also had the opportunity to teach music production. I want to show my knowledge to the people that love electronic music. 2010 was a great year for me!

How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded this mix with two Technics 1200 MkIIs and an Allen & Heath Xone:92 mixer—this is the current technical equipment that I’m using at the moment in my shows as DJ (classic way!). It was recorded at my studio in Buenos Aires.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

This is a little sample of the music that I’ve been playing lately in my DJ sets. I like to play from ambient to house and techno. I really like to create different atmospheres. I try to mark a strong difference between my live PA and my DJ sets—because the direction of my live PA is more techno. I really enjoy playing different kind of styles as a DJ.

How is the house and techno scene in Buenos Aires at the moment?

Techno is the beat of the moment at the underground nights in Buenos Aires, but house is taking the stage… I think this year will be good for house and techno music. I want to start to do some parties in Buenos Aires in May and start to book some interesting names, friends of mine that would love to play in Buenos Aires. The crowd are waiting for new artists proposals in Buenos Aires.

What are you up to next?

Setting up my next European tour in March/April, a lot of huge gigs have been confirmed: Berghain, Culture Box, Harry Klein, Trouw and Cassette Club among others. I’m working hard to get a lot of new music, I have talked with DJ Deep about making an EP on his great label Deeply Rooted House, so I’m working on this project at the moment and lots of remixes. 2011 is really interesting for my label Traut, with really solid releases coming up and working on tracks for my new label M too. I have a lot of remixes to do, but one of the most important is my contribution to the new label project of my agency Pullproxy. They are releasing the first record soon, a Falko Brocksieper track with a remix of mine among others.

The Polish duo raids their record collections for a wide-ranging mix.

Poland has one of the fastest growing dance scenes in Europe, and there are arguably no artists aiding this ascent more than Catz N’ Dogz. Grzegorz Demianczuk and Wojciech Taranczuk (Greg and Voitek) are both from the town of Szczecin near to the German border, but actually met through the internet and a shared interest. 3 Channels was the pseudonym under which they first gained traction on the dance scene, releasing a string of minimally-inclined club tracks for Trapez, Trenton and Crosstown Rebels, before switching to the name Catz N’ Dogz full-time back in 2008. The new moniker brought with it new relationships—most notably with Claude VonStroke who has put out almost ten singles and two albums through Dirtybird and its sub-label Mothership. It was the latter label who released the duo’s Escape from Zoo album towards the end of last year, a record that saw Catz N’ Dogz let their hair down and explore all manner of house, techno and dubstep textures.

On their mix for us the duo reach right to the back of their record shelves in order to present the length of breadth of their house music interests.

What have you been up to recently?

The main thing is that we are in the middle of an album tour, playing DJ sets, playing live all over the world. We are kinda workaholics so we do everything at the same time. Right now we have couple of residences in Polish clubs and one at Berlin’s Farbferhnseher, where from time to time we invite friends to play.

We’re working on our label, Pets Recordings, (signing new artists, remixes and the new website is online now). We also want to do some videos. After the album we are already focusing on some new stuff that will come out and, of course, a lot of edits. Oh, and there will be album remixes coming out as well. (Carl Craig, Sect, Julio Bashmore.)

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded in Ableton during our travels but we first ripped a lot of our old vinyl. Actually the biggest amount of time that we spend doing this mix was the track selection.

Can you tell us a bit more about the mix?

We wanted to do a mix that includes the whole spectrum of music that we play at parties. We play big room parties but small private venues in Berlin and in Poland as well. For us the biggest fun is to play various stuff.

How healthy would you say the electronic music scene is in Poland currently?

It’s a very difficult question… There are a lot of cool parties in various locations. If you want to party you should visit Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow and Wroclaw. Clubs have better soundsystems than a few years back and line-ups are cool. The best are festivals in the summertime: Audioriver, Opener, Boogie Brain, Tauron, Unsound and many more. We’re very happy that there are more and more new producers and the quality is OK. Some people still produce only for their friends and they don’t want to release it because they are too shy. This is one of the reasons why we started Pets.

Your recent album featured a dubstep track in “Only for The Moment”: is this a genre you will look to explore more thoroughly in the future?

We are working right now on a new project but we can’t say anything more because we don’t know exactly what it is until it’s finished. [laughs]

What are you up to next?

Increasing workoholizm.

London’s newest house talent steps up.

Maya Jane Coles is a 23-year-old London-based house producer whose recent work under her own name has been a point of intrigue for those in the wider dance music community. Club-going folk in her hometown may actually have been acquainted with Coles for a while now. Despite her relative youth, she’s been playing DJ sets and live shows in and around the city for a number of years. Others may have had their introduction—whether they realised it or not—through Scuba’s RA podcast at the beginning of last year, on which her excellent “Can’t Hide The Way I Feel” track under the dubstep moniker Nocturnal Sunshine shone like a beacon. Coles can also be found performing live as part of the duo She Is Danger alongside Lena Cullen. Her breakthrough moment arrived back in October 2010 with the release of “What They Say” through French label Real Tone. The track reached the summit of RA’s top 50 for that month and continues to reside within the top 10 months after its release.

On her RA podcast Coles plots a steady course through grooving and often melodic house music, with plenty of her own unreleased tracks and edits thrown in along the way.

What have you been up to recently?

I’ve been busier than ever with gigs so that’s been occupying most of my time. It’s been really nice seeing lots of new places and faces. I’ve been working on some cool remixes too, and I’m excited about my EP coming out on Mobilee at the end of the month.

How and where was the mix recorded?

Just at mine on a pair of CDJs.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

It’s quite different to what I would play out, but I wanted to include some stuff that I wouldn’t usually get the opportunity to play in clubs. I wanted to express a bit of musical variation within the house genre. I wasn’t really thinking about trying to prove anything or impress anyone, I just wanted it to reflect a certain part of me and that I like. (And of course it’s always a bonus if others like it too!)

There’s a review of “What They Say” on discogs that suggests the track is a nod to ’90s house producer MK. Is he, and this time period, indeed an influence on you?

To be honest I wouldn’t say MK was a specific influence as I was only familiar with a couple of tracks of his before I made “What They Say.” Obviously after the comments I checked out more of his stuff I can see why people would make the link. I respect his work a lot and can see that he’s definitely carved a strong sound in early house. Actually Defected have asked me to remix his track “For You,” which they are re-releasing sometime this year, which is pretty cool, so that’s currently something I’m working on.

Even though I’ve never been a hardcore follower of ’90s house music, (mainly because it was just a little before my time) I’ve always liked and respected the early sounds of house. I appreciate the simplicity yet effectiveness of early dance music, and I think this is what I was trying to achieve with “What They Say.”

Will your Nocturnal Sunshine alias, and by extension dubstep, always be a secondary/side project for you?

I guess it will be, just because I set it up as a genre-specific project. With the MJC stuff (including my album that I’m currently working on) I haven’t set myself any boundaries genre-wise, which I guess is why it will always be my main outlet.

What are you up to next?

When I have a little more time I’d like to get my label up and running, mainly because I want to have an outlet for my music alongside my artwork and have 100% creative control. But that probably won’t be for a while. I’ve got sooo many ideas for projects and things I want to do I just wish I had more time to be able to carry them all out. My main priority is always making new music!

The Canadian producer offers up his live set from Labyrinth festival 2010.

Mathew Jonson’s substantial contribution to electronic music this past decade should be evident to anyone who has ever caught his live show. His pool of original material is teaming with prodigious 12-inches, released chiefly via his own Wagon Repair imprint, while tracks like “Marionette” and “Decompression” are rightly considered as techno classics. You may recognize much of what Jonson plays during performances in clubs and festivals around the world, but it will no doubt have been expertly reconfigured, right there and then on the fly. This virtuosity at the helm of hardware carries over to Cobblestone Jazz, the live electronic improv group Jonson formed with friends Tyger Dhula and Danuel Tate back in 2002. The group has since released a pair of albums–23 Seconds and The Modern Deep Left Quartet–while Jonson explored the format solo in 2010 through the warmly received Agents of Time.

Jonson’s podcast for us captures the producer in his full majestic flow. The set was recorded at Labyrinth festival 2010 in Japan, and finds Jonson maneuvering among a substantial array of gear for what is undoubtedly one of his favourite places to play.

What have you been up to recently?

I have been spending a lot of time on my label, Wagon Repair, this year. I also just purchased the rights to Spencer Drennan’s Itiswhatitis Recordings and so have been re-mastering the catalog, getting it ready to release in the New Year. Itiswhatitis was the start for Cobblestone Jazz, Hrdvsion and myself. It seems only right to keep the music where it started rather than re-release it on Wagon Repair or elsewhere. Wagon Repair is catching speed again with some nice singles coming soon as well as an all-stars compilation we are putting together.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded live at the Labyrinth festival, about four hours north of Tokyo up in the mountains. I played live on the last day of the festival right before Donato Dozzy took over to rock it till the end. He is a great DJ and friend so it felt awesome for us both to be up there together again! I love sound systems that make you feel like you’re swimming in bass, and this is was the biggest Funktion One system that I have ever seen. Russ doesn’t fuck around!

What is your preferred live set-up?

There is actually a picture on the Labyrinth feature that RA did here. I was using two SH-101s, a 909 and 808, an Elektron Machinedrum, a Midas V320, Yamaha and Eventide effects and some MIDI controllers for the computer. Usually I only have one SH-101 but they had a spare for me at the festival so it was better than usual! It’s also the reason why you hear so many new synth parts being played like in the beginning of “Symphony for the Apocalypse.” (Hopefully it’s not too busy.)

Can you tell us a bit more about your experiences of Labyrinth this year?

I always stay for the whole weekend. It’s in a really beautiful location, the people are really sweet and the music is always killer! In the previous location, the artists stayed in an Onsen hotel and this year it was a nice ski hotel close to the springs. It was hard to decide when to sleep, though, as I really didn’t want to miss anyone’s set. Everyone played amazingly well. For me I think A Guy Called Gerald was what really turned me on my head—his set was bad ass! Super wide frequency range and so much funk in the basslines… the man is talented! Dancing to Scuba with my girlfriend totally wasted the first night was super fun too. Function, Dozzy etc, etc… I could go on and on about how good it was there.

What are you up to next?

Been writing a lot these days, getting ready for the festival shows this coming summer. I don’t want to go into it too much yet but for the first time I will be working with more of a stage show, but I’m (as
always) putting focus on the music and want to make this new show something really special. Actually, you can hear some of the new stuff I have been writing in this set. I plan to have it so there is 80 or 90% new music and all played differently so spending the majority of my spare time in the studio right now. Other than that, my band Cobblestone Jazz will tour in India again, following that we will go to my house in Goa together to write some new music in that environment. Don’t worry—it’s not going to be Goa Trance. It might have some bird noises leaking through the mics, though, as we are going to try and set up in my backyard and do it all outside!

Expect an orgy of edits on the secretive duo’s mix for us.

What do we know about Tiger & Woods? Well, they’ve released three parts of an ongoing edits series that have surfaced through their own Editainment imprint. The squirming funk of “Gin Nation” has been marked as their standout track—one of the two cuts that made up last year’s Caddy Shag EP. They made their DJing debut at Robert Johnson in Offenbach late October and followed it up with a number of European dates throughout the remainder of 2010. And now we have this mix. Adroitly snatched samples are the basis for the duo’s trip through soul, disco, boogie and house music; if there’s a more feel-good way of seeing in 2011 we’d like to hear it.

What have you been up to recently?

We started touring Europe, we just finished the album, we did a remix for someone from Germany, and mainly we’d love to say that we’ve been playing in the Ryder Cup, but unfortunately we can’t really…

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded somewhere in central Europe, but most of the music on it has been treated, sliced and dubbed on audiocassette in our lab which is somewhere else, way warmer than central Europe.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

Most of the music on it comes from a kind of research we do in our studio, a sort of groove extraction that we need to regenerate those unknown and known classics. The idea of the mix is to blend those obsessive essential flavours with new and old tracks we love.

What’s the motivation behind your cloak of anonymity?

It’s so easy to get to know things nowadays; for once we tried to keep it spicy like it was back in the day.

Why edits?

We love it when you discover something new in a song you already know. If the edit is just meant to “fix the beat” or just extend it, then it’s not our cup of tea.

What are you up to next?

There’s a lot of music coming out from our side in 2011, and yes that includes an album (as you can read on Wikileaks). But mainly we’ll be looking for a new scandal to “ride”—and this time it won’t be based on the golf player, it will be just based on us.

The Hessle Audio co-founder gift-wraps the year in house/techno/bass music.

“Connect the dots”—it’s a phrase that seems to have entered into the electronic music vernacular in recent years. One of the labels running the most reliable boat service between the increasing number of genre-related archipelagos is Hessle Audio, the UK-based imprint Ben UFO, AKA Ben Thomson, runs alongside Pangaea and Ramadanman. It was at this point we intended to give you a run-down of the genres the label put out this year, but many of its releases have simply been unclassifiable. Thomson brings his and the label’s endless influences together for a regular show on London’s Rinse FM, while you’ll often find him stringing together house, techno, UK Funky, garage, grime, dubstep and their derivatives during his DJ sets across the UK and Europe.

For his RA podcast we asked Thomson to summarize 2010 on the dancefloor and 48 hours later he sent us back this blistering 29-track mix, emphatically emphasizing that the dialogue between almost all types of electronic club music has been thrown wide open.

How and where was the mix recorded?

At home on Technics 1210s and an Allen and Heath Xone:42. I used Serato SL3 for the digital releases, but used vinyl for the most part.

Can you tell us a bit more about the idea behind the mix?

I limited myself to new records I’d bought and played out this year. The only exceptions are the Wiley tune, which was given away as part of his massive twitter leaking campaign (one of the biggest events of 2010 for me) and the “Woo Glut” mash-up by Ramadanman, which is unreleased, although both original tunes were released in 2010. It’s worth mentioning that the “new music only” policy means that I haven’t included anything on Rush Hour, which feels like a big omission given how instrumental they’ve been in pushing under-valued older music, and in turn influencing the music new producers are making. It’s also worth pointing out that this mix is nothing more than my favourite dance records of the year, it’s not supposed to be a comprehensive “best of” and it’s not really representative of my DJing or record buying habits—I play a great deal of older music when I play out.

How will you personally look back on 2010 from a music standpoint?

2009 felt like the year where most of the boundaries in our corner of the scene in the UK started to disintegrate; personally 2010 felt like the year where I figured out where I wanted to take my DJing and where we could go with Hessle Audio as a result of that. On a more general level I’ll look at it as the year where people from this scene felt free to move away from 140 BPM in any direction they wanted, encouraged and propelled forward largely by new labels.

Hessle Audio enjoyed another standout year in 2010 (and reached #4 in our labels poll). Can you tell us how you hooked up with artists like Blawan and Elgato who all had debut releases for you this year?

Elgato was someone who we’d all known and DJed with for a couple of years, and when we heard the music he was producing it felt only right that we release some of it. We first heard Blawan’s music through Untold, who forwarded us a few of his tunes that he’d been sent through MySpace, which included “Fram.” It was the first time we’d signed music by a producer we knew nothing about, although it transpired that he’d grown up in Yorkshire and had been coming to the nights we ran in Leeds. Aside from playing the music in clubs and on the radio, we don’t tend to speak much about our release schedule, and as a result of that people have often thought these guys might be other producers in disguise, or even me, but I think people are coming round to the idea that there’s no conspiracy or genuine mystery behind it.

What are you (and the label) up to next?

The next 12-inch is a two-tracker by Pangaea. That’s been mastered and should be out early next year. Aside from that we’ve got a couple of 12-inches lined up followed by a project later in the year on a bigger scale than anything we’ve done before. I’ve just contributed to a cassette series called the Trilogy Tapes run by the designer Will Bankhead and David [Kennedy/Ramadanman] will be mixing the next FabricLive CD as Pearson Sound.

The London techno selector turns the genre inside out.

Perc is currently enjoying some much deserved limelight on the global techno scene, but it’s been a slog. The London-based producer (real name Ali Wells) has been putting out records since 2002, although him and his Perc Trax imprint only truly hit their stride these last few years. The start of this purple patch also seems to be traceable: Wells released the sizable Up single through Kompakt Extra in 2007 and has since signed material to labels like Drumcode, CLR, Ovum and, more recently, Stroboscopic Artefacts. It’s on home soil where he’s shinned brightest, though. Both as an A&R and producer, Wells’ ear for dark and club-ready techno has seen Perc Trax’s stock rise exponentially, giving a platform to artists like Forward Strategy Group and Ben Gibson. On his mix for us, Wells offers both an indication of the Perc/Perc Trax aesthetic and some context—Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle—as to its experimental influences.

What have you been up to recently?

The first Colony vs. Perc Trax night was a few weeks ago in London. Working on that dominated the last few months. Thankfully it was a great success and we will return in 2011. Apart from that I’ve moved apartments, played in Kiev and Amsterdam and completed three new tracks in collaboration with Giorgio Gigli. It terms of releases my EP with Modern Heads is out now on Stroboscopic Artefacts and my split 12-inch with Sawf is out on Perc Trax. Different sounds for different people, but the reactions to both have been very good.

How and where was the mix recorded?

The mix was recorded at my new place in north London. I used a mixture of current tracks and old tracks from my vinyl and CD collection. Some of these were edited in advance; others were rearranged live as the mix was recorded in Ableton. Say what you like about Ableton, but it makes it possible for me to fuse together a wider range of influences and sounds than I ever could before.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?

For the last 18 months I’ve been doing both club mixes and downtempo/experimental mixes and always keeping the two separate. For this mix I wanted to cover both sounds, so you get the opening blend of Hammer soundtracks mixed with those early British industrial tracks which leads into the first techno tracks of the mix. This idea is continued with the various ambient and drone tracks that are layered over the more rhythmic tracks later on.

Perc Trax has always been a strong label, but it seems like it’s really hitting its stride at the moment. Would you agree with that?

Thanks. Perc Trax was set up initially as a vehicle for my own productions. I really believed it would stop after a handful of vinyl releases, leaving me with a garage full of unsold vinyl and a mountain of debt, but somehow it just keeps marching on. I think the recent rise in profile for Perc Trax is due to the label having a more focussed sound, whilst retaining its slight air of unpredictability. Even now the label can release a range of 4/4 and broken beat techno and people seem to understand what each release is about. One thing I firmly believe in is keeping things interesting by releasing the occasional curveball. The Ed Rush & Nico record with the Peter Van Hoesen remix is a perfect example of this, as is the forthcoming Justin Berkovi release, which is remixes of a track of his from 1999. Early 2011 will see releases from Forward Strategy Group, Samuli Kemppi, Donor/Truss, Sawf and me, plus one of the Berghain residents remixing for the label.

How would you personally sum up the state of the techno scene in London currently?

Good question. Like most scenes there are ups and downs. Fabric is the only constant in London but other good parties appear all the time, some of which stay whilst others vanish after a few nights. The popularity of Corsica Studios has really given the London scene a shot in the arm. The Bleep43, Plex and Border Community nights at Corsica all have their own flavours and it is the venue for the Colony vs. Perc Trax parties. Most of the producers and promoters I know in London seem to work together rather than in competition which is refreshing and it certainly has not always been like that. What London needs now is a monthly event with local DJs playing, maybe just in a bar with a decent soundsystem, to act as a social hub for producers, DJs, promoters and label owners. With most vinyl shops having gone from London, the scene misses the social environment and chance meetings that a good record shop used to provide.

What are you up to next?

My next release is Antifunk/Purple on CLR. Two very different tracks on one 12-inch and I’m really happy that Chris [Liebing] and CLR believe in it. It is my third release on CLR and I think the label is in great shape after the Traversable Wormhole remix series. In the studio I am getting stuck into my first album which should be released in spring 2011. The first single from it is being remixed now and I think a few people will be shocked when the remixers are announced. Next year there are gigs lined up in Berlin, London, Liverpool and Dublin followed by another tour of the USA and Canada.