Tag: Resident advisor podcast

RA.946 Dar Disku : Bangers from around the globe. Dar Disku launched in 2020 with a question: how to channel heritage into dance floor elation? Well, when your label name riffs on ’70s Egyptian zine DAR and translates to ‘home of the disco,’ the brief feels pretty self-explanatory.

At first, that meant edits of Khaliji hi-NRG and Bollywood soundtracks to fit contemporary ‘crates, as well as a run of radio and parties in the UK—where they now reside—flexing deep finds from across the SWANA region while steadily upping the tempo. Their debut album, out in September, furthers the mission.

True to form, their RA Podcast is stuffed with heaters from all over the map: Algeria, India, Chile, Jordan, Australia, Turkey, Libya and Morocco get a look-in, as well as a few staple acts that betray the kind of high-wattage European festivals the duo increasingly frequent. And short wonder: this mix is 90 minutes of sunshine.

@dardisku @soundway-records

Read more at ra.co/podcast/946

EX.722 Bicep : “We used to roll up socks in our shoes to give us an extra inch.” The childhood friends talk about coming of age in Belfast and their label and event series, CHROMA.

Bicep—the Irish duo Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar—have been winning over the hearts of fans with trance-inflected, melancholic dance music since 2009. In this interview with RA editor Gabriel Szatan, the childhood friends talk about how they got where they are, unpacking their creative process and the abiding musical influence of their hometown, Belfast, a city where emotional trance reigned supreme.

They also discuss their ongoing multidisciplinary project, CHROMA—a record label, event series and evolving live audiovisual show. Ferguson and McBriar say that the idea for CHROMA came from a sense that their DJ sets were becoming too “sugary,” so they buckled down with a renewed focus on creating dynamic new productions made specifically for the dance floor and their sets. The result is a string of hard-hitting EPs which you can find online now. Listen to the episode in full.

RA.945 KYRUH : Wormhole techno from a DJ you need to know. KYRUH is a high-impact specialist forced in the crucible of modern NYC’s notable spaces, including WIRE, Dweller and Bossa Nova Civic Club. Their sound is that of a DJ skilled at applying waves of pressure without requiring shortcuts through obvious terrain, adept at hammering it without defaulting to speed alone.

After years burning a hole through the American underground, 2024 is proving to be a tipping point. KYRUH’s appearance on Kelela remix compilation RAVE:N in early spring lit the touchpaper for a run of gritty productions and increasingly prominent slots across North America and Europe.

The tracklist for their RA Podcast goes deep, accommodating contemporary producers like x3butterfly and Faster Horses alongside veterans Lady Starlight, Femanyst, House of God resident Paul Damage Bailey and underrated Swedish ripper Tobias Von Hoftsen. To those still wondering where to find ‘proper techno’ in 2024: look no further.

@kyruhx

Read more at ra.co/podcast/945

RA.944 TSVI : As a producer and DJ, TSVI is in the form of his life—which you can’t always say for an artist a decade in. He’s been an enduring presence through several underground cycles for a reason: the man knows how to flow.

TSVI’s RA Podcast features a solid number of new and forthcoming cuts from the current vanguard pushing club music forward, amongst them Verraco, Surusinghe, DJ Plead, Doctor Jeep, DJ JM, WOST and Dj Babatr—who just dropped a split 12″ with TSVI on TraTraTrax last month.

Alongside the names you might expect, TSVI also leans into a streak of personal history. On RA.944 you’ll hear fast, deep and percussive ’90s and ’00s cuts from Spain, Latin America and his native Italy, with a particular focus on the kind of playful progressive trance minted by the late, great Franchino. It makes for a truly dynamite mix.

@tsvisions @nervoushorizon

RA.944 TSVI : @tsvisions @nervoushorizon

Read more at ra.co/podcast/944

RA.943 Sofia Kourtesis : Pure energy from one of electronic music’s brightest lights: Sofia Kourtesis. Clamour had been building around the Peruvian-born, Berlin-based artist’s poignant brand of house music following a string of EPs and 12″s, culminating in last year’s Madres—a passionate, vulnerable and excellent album that resonated widely.

Madres packed in rare specificity for a dancefloor record, combining paeans to the power of sound with direct tributes to the neurosurgeon who saved the life of Kourtesis’ mother. (Kourtesis even took him clubbing in Berlin as an additional thank you.) The album’s earworm melodies, sparkling production and approachable aura made it a snap favourite, helping launch Kourtesis from bubbling to breakthrough on the global stage. In both sound and impact, it mirrors another record: Swim, the 2010 classic made by Kourtesis’ friend and mentor, Dan Snaith.

Speaking of @caribouband: RA.943 kicks off with a brand new Sofia Kourtesis & Daphni collaboration, before powering through summer-ready cuts from LUXE, Floating Points, IceMorph, DJ ADHD and an old Oliver Lieb classic. Even as her reputation as a recording artist swells, this power-hour mix is a sharp reminder of Kourtesis’ DJing chops, teeing up a victory-lap summer ahead.

@sofia-kourtesis

RA.942 DJ Flight : DJ Flight has been a constant throughout the many peaks and troughs of drum & bass. She’s one of the genre’s key chroniclers, with a real-time history of drum & bass in her archives as a radio presenter, and a level of behind the scenes involvement that spans decades.

While Flight’s advocacy for equitable gender representation in drum & bass through her EQ50 collective is the most visible, it’s by no means the sole initiative. Her work also extends to the Prison Radio Association—the only radio station made specifically for incarcerated people—as well as the Windrush Stories series, which focuses on the cultural history and contributions of Afro-Caribbean migrants to the UK.

Flight is also, plainly, a wicked DJ, who doesn’t prefer one scene or subgenre over another—which also makes her a font of knowledge. (Her history of 2000s drum & bass is among the best genre deep dives we’ve ever published.) This RA Podcast is two hours of majestic, freewheeling beats that touch on every corner of drum & bass: from the minimalistic and razor-edged to ragga looseness, with a killer downtempo outro to smooth out the final landing. RA.942 is a first class journey from one of the scene’s most enduring heroes. Big up Flight.

@djflight

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/942

RA.941 MUSCLECARS : The first thing you might realise during a MUSCLECARS set is the sheer musicality of the duo’s selections. Vocals glimmer at the centre, unfolding into enchanting, soulful coos, while drums strike captivating rhythms and gilded synths reach towards the sky. It’s a jazzy New York house sound mythologised by pioneers like Joe Claussell, Carlos Sanchez and Timmy Regisford (whose songs all make it to this RA Podcast). For years, New York natives Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield have run their Coloring Lessons party as a way to introduce a younger generation to this vital piece of dance music history. In a city that prides itself on fast walking, fast talking and, as of late, fast BPMs, their music is an invitation to ease into a more relaxing pace.

This RA Podcast comes at a golden time for MUSCLECARS. In May, they released their RA-recommended debut album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea!, whose sultry (and undeniably catchy) lead single “Tonight” has gotten the stamp of approval, and a remix, from New York legend Louie Vega. And this Sunday, they hosted their annual Juneteenth block party outside the Lot Radio, where scores of Black dancers latched onto one another during sets from a multigenerational crew of Black DJs including Ron Trent, Lovie, Shawn Dub and MUSCLECARS themselves. This two-hour-plus mix takes us through the spiralling jazz of Herbie Hancock, the flashy disco of The Originals and lands us, finally, in “Water,” the track that also closes out Sugar Honey Iced Tea!.

@musclecarsnyc

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/941

RA.940 Man Power : Young partygoers might know Man Power, AKA Geoff Kirkwood, as the earnest geezer going back-to-back with DJs like Ewan McVicar, Paul Woolford, La La and Skream—peak-time specialists with a fine line in boofy bangers and ravey techno. Kirkwood is also a dab hand at the kind of elliptical house and deep cut detours favored by ’00s labels like DFA and Optimo.

In spite of a long track record as a producer and promoter, if you had to boil Kirkwood’s work in recent years down to a single quality, it might be altruism. He hails from North Shields, a small town fringing the boundary of Newcastle in England’s oft-neglected North East, and wears his heritage proudly. The Me Me Me label boss’s involvement in a flurry of civic restoration, and no-filter paeans to the importance of working class involvement in culture, have become as central to his life as music-making itself. For an accomplished DJ who has played at nearly every good club you could name, that’s no small feat.

So which side of Man Power were we in for? The answer on RA.940 is: both. ’60s free verse poetry, Zebra Katz, Gesaffelstein and John Carpenter in the opening stretch? Makes sense. Octave One punching through Rozalla? You got it. An extended Joe Claussell workout atop Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place”? Why not. In Kirkwood’s hands, it all goes down as smooth as a pint of Newcastle Brown.

@manpower-1

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/940

RA.939 BEIGE : People tend to remember the first time they see BEIGE DJ—and a lot of the times after, too. One RA editor described them as “doing some crazy shit” after seeing a set. The Detroit DJ is all about playing to party rock, but also gently subverting expectations. It’s a cliché now that good DJs can make whole new tracks out of blending existing songs together. Few embody this as easily or effortlessly as BEIGE, who loves to take sounds you already know and present them in a context you’ve never heard them in before.

BEIGE started DJing after they moved to Detroit roughly a decade ago, and has since become a vital DJ in the Motor City’s ecosystem, bridging gaps, scenes and genres. Their DJing style is adaptable and versatile, but you can count on a few things: a techno foundation, rollicking drums, throbbing basslines and vocals coming at you from all angles.

Their RA Podcast flows beautifully, with just the right amount of bumps and left turns to keep you from getting comfortable. And the edits? There’s plenty of head-turning moments here, like DJ Chap’s downtempo drum & bass remix of seminal emo band American Football, a 150 BPM version of “Energy Flash,” a cheeky Skrillex flip from Darian and excellent weirdo beats from the freakier ends of the US underground, including producers like Davis Galvin, Alien D and the late Jasen Loveland.

@justbeige

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/939

RA.938 Actress : Actress’ highlight reel needs little exposition. Darren J. Cunningham has been a prominent yet inscrutable figure in electronic music since the late 2000s, typically flickering to life from the margins before receding into the shadows. Beloved albums like R.I.P., Karma & Desire and Splazsh may switch up the template, but the Actress hallmarks of haze, murk and showstopping beauty remain.

As you’ll see in the interview below, he’s a man of few words—that’s in character for him. What’s characteristic, too, is a taste for surprises. Ahead of the release of tenth studio album Statik on esteemed Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound next month, here’s the “Дарен Дж. Каннінгем RA Mix”—a tapestry of 100 percent original and exclusive Actress music you won’t find anywhere else. Flowing between pensive, rugged and stargazing moods across an album’s worth of unaired tracks, Actress’ first time stepping up on the RA Podcast was clearly worth the wait.

@actress1

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/938

RA.937 Julia Govor : Julia Govor is one of those artists who can take the fundamentals of techno and make it sound hers. At this point in her career, the Russian-born, New York City-based artist has established a style that feels half-Rome school, half Japanese hypnotic techno, but fully Julia Govor. Her label Jujuka has become a home for the stuff, featuring plenty of her own work along with like-minded folks like EMIT and Victoria Mussi, and she recently put out the biggest and best release of her career with the hefty Laika And Ulka Were Here on Semantica.

Her production style carries over to her DJing. Govor’s RA Podcast is made up over half her own tracks, and the cuts she picks from others match her style: twirling arpeggios, rushing cascades of synth, heavy but groovy kicks. Much has been made of her childhood in a Russian military family, moving from place to place and falling in love with techno via a classical musical education, where she felt drawn to the darker, romantic shades of composition. You get some of that here, but to call Govor’s style “dark” would be overly simplistic. Instead it’s sleek, aerodynamic and fluid, the kind of techno that gets you lost in a wormhole.

@juliagovor

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/937