ohh this is so cool, been listening to this mix non stop the past few days.. would you mind sharing this ID, the 'freak out' electro one :)

20.11

friday at sustain-release 2021, 12-2am. thank you karen nicole for the photo :)

thank you @sustain-release-nyc

livwutang @ Sustain-Release Year 7

Entering our minds through the rumbling of bass bins planted firmly on the ocean floor, Cousin’s deep earth rhythms span wide, from massage chair dubs on 7" to peak time dust burners echoing live under the stars. Summoning sounds from well below the surface and far beyond the ozone layer, we're treated here to a blissed out blend of atmospheric groovers inspired by the natural surrounds of the Moonshoe boss' daily commute.

Click here for our chat with Cousin: melbournedeepcast.net/portfolio/cousin/

@secondcousins

www.melbournedeepcast.net

Interview

MDC.274 Cousin

@reptant_the_lizard live at floresta

foto: fofo.altinell

Reptant live at Floresta - Waking Life '24

A real pleasure to have the extremely gifted @xiaolinmusic from Hongkong for our fourth SoundSculptors episode 😍 She crafted a beautiful trip through many different moods and styles, capturing our musical heart and soul. It's such an interesting story accompanied by high skill not only in the electronic but also in the instrumental parts. Ambient, Downtempo, old school gamy sound, cantonese pop music vibes and more interesting colours appear in this versatile journey. Real earcandy 🍭

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More about Xiaolin ~

Xiaolin (曉霖) is a DJ, producer, vinyl collector and classically-trained musician from Hong Kong. Driven by a relentless curiosity for warm sounds, complex emotions and colourful textures, she enjoys crafting magnetic sets that draw audiences in, while her live ambient sets reveal the more contemplative side of her natural musicality as a former concert violinist.

Xiaolin spent a decade studying classical violin, jazz, world music and electronic composition at Juilliard (BM’14) and Berklee Valencia (MM ’15/’16), where she played in Batucada/jazz bands and began collecting records under her mentor, Nacho Marco. Having spent two years in London just before the pandemic, she developed an interest in UK underground culture and Detroit electro.

Inspired by sounds from the the mid 80’s-early 00’s, her love for video games, anime, nature as well as a respect for her Cantonese roots, Xiaolin’s analog synth-heavy productions range from gritty acid house and breaks with earthy percussion to tripped-out electro, bassy groovers and raw downtempo ambience that invoke deeper feelings of romantic adventure with a dreamy, theatrical touch.  

Despite her ever-evolving nature, Xiaolin’s ethereal-yet-raw sound remains a signature throughout all productions.

Xiaolin is sensitive to the dancefloor and crafts an intuitive journey unbound by genre, digging deep to discover dynamic connections.  Her energetic, acid-laden selections explore the vast in-between of house and techno, while her original live set has three formats: “Sun” for daytime settings, “Moon” for meditative settings and “Body” for nightclub settings.

Releases include two EP’s on 宀 Records, a collaborative track on Klasse Wrecks “Michaelsoft", VA contributions on 20/20 Vision (Exit Planet Earth – “Helium”), Polychrome Audio (“Diffraction EP”) and Harmony Rec (upcoming), as well as three 80’s Cantonese disco tribute EP’s on Sound Metaphors’ “Bless You” imprint (A&R by Jane Fitz).

Xiaolin's ‘HEX’ residency at 宀 (Hong Kong) has seen her invite & play alongside guests such as Polygonia, Mary Lake, Peach, Merve, Vlada, Joe Delon, Closet Yi, Jesse You, Maara etc.  She hosts a bimonthly show on Baihui Radio China and has done guest mixes on EYA, Test Pressing, The Mudd Show, The Lot Radio, NTS and Balamii amongst others.  

Recent highlights include Boiler Room (Singapore), Blitz Club (Unchained), and Panorama Bar on live set as part of Sound Metaphors’ 9-year-anniversary event (coinciding with the release of her second EP on Bless You), with upcoming sets at Wonderfruit Festival and Womb Tokyo.  She will make her Rainbow Disco Club live set debut with Kuniyuki Takahashi in April 2025.

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Follow Xiaolin
https://soundcloud.com/xiaolinmusic
https://www.instagram.com/oliviaxiaolin
https://ra.co/dj/xiaolin

More music from her
Bandcamp (Tower Moment EP)
https://xiaolin.bandcamp.com/album/tower-moment-ep
Bandcamp (MIHN002 EP)
https://xiaolin.bandcamp.com/album/mihn002

SoundSculptors No 4 - Xiaolin 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦

Exposé Noir (March 1st, 2025) - Amelia Holt

My set (with crowd noise) from the Grove Saturday Night 1-3am, after Djrum, before Identified Patient. 

Out to all the sexy witches of the forest, thank you to everytone there + entire crew @sustain-release-nyc :)

<3 Mastered by the best @wordcolour

CCL @ Sustain-Release Year Ten

Al Wootton brings his signature blend of experimental dub and percussive rhythms to this spacious, slow-burning mix built for the early hours.

If you’re a fan, become a Supporter: crackm.ag/subscriptions

Crack Mix 607: Al Wootton

The German minimal DJ returns to the spotlight with two hours of artfully subtle house and techno.

There's an old German proverb that goes "Der stete Tropfen höhlt den Stein." Literally, it means a constant dripping wears away the stone, but the point isn't about force but patience: slow, steady repetition can leave the deepest mark. It's an apt metaphor for the career of Kosta Athanassiadis, better known as XDB.

Active since the early '90s, first as a DJ and then producer by the decade's end, Athanassiadis has built a career less on hype than persistence. His catalogue spans labels like Dial, Metrolux and Echocord, alongside a steady trickle of EPs and remixes that have quietly cemented his reputation as one of minimal house and techno's undersung heroes.

That patience carries into his sound and production ethos. Where many of his peers embraced software upgrades and new workflows, Athanassiadis has long stuck to Cubase, a handful of trusty instruments and 30-year-old speakers he claims to have run "hundreds of thousands of tunes" through. He also still prefers to use inexpensive, straightforward gear—what matters, he insists, is not the tools but the feel. The result is a sound that’s stripped back, direct and enduring.

Lately, Athanassiadis has found himself back in focus. With minimal enjoying fresh attention, his calendar has filled, and with it a run of back-to-back sets—most often alongside PLO Man, a regular sparring partner this year. True to form, though, you won't find that his style has changed much. Over 30 years after his first gig, you can rest assured you'll still find him playing with patience, carving out long arcs rather than sharp peaks.

His RA Mix captures him in a reflective mood. Running just over two hours, RA.1003 is a hushed yet absorbing affair, moving seamlessly from the delicate atmospherics of Valentino Mora and Caldera to the machine funk of Robert Hood, Solid Gold Playaz and Marcellus Pittman. There are left turns folded into XDB's patient narrative arc, too: John Carpenter's brooding scores here, DJ Sprinkles' melancholic work with Will Long on "Acid Trax N (Acid Dog)" there.

It's the sound of a DJ who has been quietly chiseling away for three decades, and who understands the value of persistence as much as restraint.

@xdb

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1021

RA.1003 XDB

/ˈeɪ.nəl ˈpiːs/

Universal and electric, flowing with liquid and environmental sounds. Latin rhythms collide with broken fragments, building a crescendo of sensuality and velocity. Intriguing vocals ride over rolling grooves, acid tones, and techno kicks, creating irresistible bursts of energy.

Kia’s meditative cosmic aura meets Bitter Babe’s rhythmic fire in a tribal, sassy mix that moves, pulses, and evolves. Layered textures, ancestral grooves, and veteran bass carry the set through ravishing hours of sound.

Kia b2b Bitter Babe - Climate of Fear x Sustain Release - June '25

A closing set is always something special, and here is no exception. Thorgerdur (@thorgerdur-johanna) saw Space out with just over 3 hours of playful progressive wizardry. It’s deep whilst remaining ecstatic, charged; an ode to dancing impulses.

photo by Simon Englyst

Kune Festival 2025: Thorgerdur @ Space Stage

The first-ever live recording from an elusive icon of dubby electronic music.

Lore is an underrated quality. Neuroscientists have mapped that music elicits similar feelings in the brain to when we satiate cravings, but what about the psychological impulse that drives listeners of a certain disposition toward everything they don't know?

It's tricky to put your finger on, but artists able to conjure intrigue without overhawking the backstory can really cut through—just ask SAULT, [ar:pi:ar] or Gerald Donald. Then there are those who don't try whatsoever. These are the ones who stay in mind the most.

In 2001, a striking 12" called Ship-Scope emerged through Chain Reaction, credited to Shinichi Atobe, with no other info available. Okay, mulled fans, this is probably a cat-and-mouse game dreamed up by someone on a label with a fine line in foggy obfuscation. Vainqueur on a wind-up? Another Moritz 'n Mark alias?

But no: Atobe was real, and really had posted a demo to Hard Wax. It was that simple. Then he went back to his day job—until, after 13 years of silence, an even better follow-up emerged.

From the near-perfect Butterfly Effect onwards, Atobe has built up one of the most revered catalogues in underground circles. A steady clip of elegant, transportive dub techno and deep electronics has arrived on Demdike Stare's DDS, complimented by the launch of his own label, plastic & sounds, earlier in summer 2025.

Atobe has also made strides into the public domain, DJing intermittently, as well as performing live for the first time in 2023, gracing WWW at the tender age of 52. It's that debut 2023 show heard on RA.1009: a hypnotic yet comparatively pumping set full of Atobe staples, as well as material you won't find anywhere else.

Contact with the big man, as you might anticipate, is glacial: since we first reached out, the RA Mix has changed name, look and rolled over into its second millennium. Still, patience pays off. This is a one-off we're stoked to run. – Gabriel Szatan

@shinichiatobe

Find the interview at https://ra.co/podcast/1028

RA.1009 Shinichi Atobe

🎄 CALENDRIER DE L’AVENT – FREAK BOY 🎶
Chaque jour jusqu’au 24 décembre, je dévoile un nouveau son, un edit ou un remix exclusif.
Bass House, Hard Techno, Open Format… juste du pur plaisir pour faire patienter avant Noël.

🔥 Un track par jour
🎧 100% exclusifs
🎁 Cadeau pour la commu

Merci pour la force, partage si t’aimes — et prépare-toi, ça va taper jusqu’au 24. ❤️‍🔥

Freaked Out From Da - Freak Boy

NEWIRE & Yo - Gurt - Vibe Increase

17. Beatz from L.E. - Take Off

Any inquiries email me:  inyourdirtyears@gmail.com

https://linktr.ee/ameliaholt

resident @ The Lot Radio
party series / label @ honey trap

Exposé Noir (March 1st, 2025) - Amelia Holt

Amelia Holt

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