Ashland Mines, AKA Total Freedom, AKA Big Gay Idiot DJ, AKA Bobby Beethoven, is one of the best and most influential DJs of the 21st century. Starting out at pioneering parties like Mustache Mondays and Wildness (which he cofounded with Wu Tsang)—and a regular at GHE20G0TH1K—Mines helped to define the style that would become known, however cringe-inducingly, as experimental club or deconstructed club, directly inspiring fellow visionaries like Arca. 

Like some of the best DJs before him, Mines uses the CDJs as an instrument, but that doesn't mean just fancy tricks and looping. Instead, he artfully throws together clashing sounds—effects, samples, monologues, pop and R&B acapellas, and beats that run the gamut from dancehall to kuduro to breaks and techno. He's not afraid of the grotesquerie of human life and movement (just check out the monologue at the beginning of this mix), and he likes to push buttons. Once he put on a party where dancing wasn't allowed. Some of his sets are intentionally anxiety-inducing, evoking horror movies and modern classical composers like Penderecki, while others are bouncy and ebullient, weaving between genres and tempos like an old-school platformer. The best are both.

On Mines's RA Podcast—a milestone 900th in the series—he shows off this inimitable style, sharpened and reinforced over a decade-and-a-half of playing some of the world's best parties, fashion shows, you name it. He's the kind of DJ who creates his own music as he goes along. He makes you hear old tracks—especially pop music and R&B—in a whole new way. Titled "Cursed Piercing," this is a near-hour of controlled chaos that'll confound you at one moment and deeply move you the next.

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/900

RA podcast

RA.900 Bobby Beethoven (FKA Total Freedom)

Bobby Beethoven (fka Total Freedom) - live from Boiler Room in Los Angeles.

Bobby Beethoven | Boiler Room LA: Hood Rave

Verdigris @ Groove Therapy 11.26.24

recording of my set from SLIP @ Bossa Nova Civic Club 11/16/24 <333 my second live set ever and i carried, STORMED even. enjoy 🌪️ ilyyy!

SIS, YOU CARRIED.

BEARCAT is a London-born, New York-based, DJ, producer, and performance artist of Jamaican and Irish descent.

BEARCAT’S DJ sets activate her masterful knowledge of black diasporic genres to evoke a dance floor experience of healing and release; both for herself and others. This incantation of uncompromising, pulsating rhythm and bass has brought her to perform at prestigious nightclubs around the world; festivals like Pitchfork, Afropunk, and Panorama; and museums like The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim, The Whitney, and The Brooklyn Museum. Most recently she was Madonna’s opening DJ for a portion of her U.S. Celebration tour, additionally playing her iconic Oscars party.


BEARCAT’s sets are best described as transcendental, captivating, pounding and eclectic at their core, seemingly bringing together everything from jungle, drum’n’bass, techno, and house; to dembow, dancehall, rap, punk, deconstructed pop edits, and grime. This range of musical interests is reflected further in her work as a producer. BEARCAT has created a number of mixes for Boiler Room, RinseFM, NTS and The Fader. As well as producing fashion soundtracks for brands like Chromat and NoSesso. She's been a part of recent vinyl releases from legendary labels Invadar and Epitaph and a digital release with Nervous Records. BEARCAT’s next release as a producer is an album that spans experimental sounds, blending unlikely genres but stressing visual storytelling through film.

BEARCAT has always embraced music as a part of her lifelong, anti-colonialist project, which began growing up in London; performing on the live music scene and discovering music as an escape from the daily violence of white supremacy. Throughout her journey, BEARCAT has conceived of her work as a therapeutic release, not only for those listening in the present, but as a healing exorcism that channels ancestral pasts through music. BEARCAT has performed and talked on panels regarding anti-racist /-colonial rhetoric, spirituality, queer politics and art at universities including Cornell, Wesleyan, and Oberlin, additionally sharing deeply personal stories of survival and adversities she has overcome.

BEARCAT’S queer politics, vast experience in the industry, and passion for equality inspired her to curate SELTZER, a night prioritizing queer, black and brown, experimental club DJs and artists. Originally born out of DIY spaces in West Philadelphia, SELTZER went on to hold a five-year residency at the infamous NYC nightclub Nowadays where, notably, BEARCAT was the first DJ to ever perform. She was one of the first DJs to be represented by the original female-lead booking agency Discwoman, and as a part of this collective, helped diversify club lineups around the world.

BEARCAT - Black Techno Matters Radio

DOLL DAYS - MEMPHY B2B SEVYN 0000

Henry R. Live DJ set with Ledef and Breezy MCing

Henry R. Live at Touching Infinite

okay… this one is really special… 

our sister, your sister, Sister to All, TIKE has something to say. 

in our latest installment, our dear founder steps outside of the club, past a crowd of words to deliver an urging brook of feelings; a babbling bass; a shifting, knowing sound… and to know is to love 🦢 

The Jig is Never 🆙

#3 - TIKE

No Signal

HowDoUDo

lie to me ?

Tap into our vast archive of DJ mixes and original music from Black Techno Matters contributors.

Our mission is to reclaim techno as a manifestation of Black expression in a society that has oppressed it by creating spaces, both virtual and IRL, that celebrate the black roots of techno. An assertion and a reminder that Techno IS Black.

BEARCAT - Black Techno Matters Radio

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