DJ Set at @cphdistortion Distortion Festival Copenhagen 2023.

Danilo Plessow @ Distortion Festival Copenhagen 2023

Detroit might be synonymous with techno, but it also has a rich house tradition. And Rick Wade—FKA Big Daddy Rick—is one of Detroit house's key players. Along with the likes of Keith Worthy, Theo Parrish and the late Mike Huckaby (who Wade had a lifelong friendship and friendly rivalry with), he created a hybrid sound that is both techno and house, effortlessly soulful, sculpted and glowing—and Midwest to the core. As Tajh Morris said in a retrospective review of one of his classic records, "growing up in Buchanan, Michigan, meant that Wade was much closer to Chicago than he was to Detroit."

Many of Wade's best records were released on Harmonie Park, his era-defining label that also featured plenty of work from Huckaby. Those EPs still sound fresh and timeless today, qualities that extend to Wade's RA Podcast, which features 90 minutes of smooth-as-butter house old and new. Over the years he's kept the flame burning for the smouldering sounds of Detroit house, working in sounds from younger producers like Folamour along the way. Enjoy listening to a master at work.

@rick-wade

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/923

RA podcast

RA.923 Rick Wade

Prosumer  Live From NYC Downlow - Glastonbury 2023

GOP TUN #2024

Tornado Wallace - Gop Tun Festival 2024

Detroit native @marcelluspittman played this summer a massive set at our gig in Collins Club: The Garden. He's been a stalwart of Detroit's music scene since the '90s. Reigning the scene as a part of Three Chairs, whose members include Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish and Moodymann.

MARCELLUS PITTMAN - GARDEN SESSIONS

One of the most requested files from the Figaro vault is being declassified. Prins’ set at Echo Beach this year sure was a doozy, it had the paddock bopping as day turned into night ~ undeniably fun, undeniably classy. Get your laughing gear around Prins Thomas’ Echo recording.

Echo Tones #4 - Prins Thomas

Andrew Weatherall's first official posthumous mix. The only b2b DJ Harvey ever agreed to. Six hours at Trouw. This one's special.

When mulling which direction to go in for RA's 1000th mix celebrations, many options came to mind. Some shadowy character 2-stepping around the fringe of our collective consciousness? An impossible-level IDM icon?

All tempting. But, ultimately, we are a DJ-forward publication and this is a DJ mix series. It felt truer to the history of the RA Podcast to release deep vault material from a time when the world of niche records felt different, tighter, more discrete.

The fourth-longest mix in the series' history is an unrepeatable marathon set recorded in 2012 at a superclub that no longer exists. 2012, incidentally, is farther away from 2025 than 2012 was from 2000... if we have to clock it, so do you.

It's the coming together of one British icon who passed away in 2020, and another whose time on the road has scaled back considerably as of late. DJ Harvey agreed to exactly one b2b set in his life: this one, with Andrew Weatherall.

The night took place at Trouw, an Amsterdam club already considered legendary before it shuttered its doors in the opening hours of 2015, as part of an RA series anchored around start-to-close combinations. Harvey was at the peak of an irresistible career second act, which dovetailed with a disco revival that dominated clubs for years. Weatherall, with infinite brownie points stockpiled from the '90s, remained everyone's favourite debonair psychonaut. 

What follows is 385 scintillating minutes of arpeggiated chug and slow-cresting climaxes: a moment when the resting heart rate of dance floors plunged lower than any comparable point in the 21st century. A masterclass, entirely self-contained in audio form.

If you've got time to spare, a fun side game is sussing out who plays what. A disco-dub cover of Echo & the Bunnymen? Smart money's on Weatherall. Exuberant EQ'ing of The Isley Brothers? Gotta be Harvey. As for the low 'n slow, lightly spangled house that was all the rage in the early 2010s (think Maxxi Soundsystem, Disco Bloodbath, Rub & Tug, C.O.M.B.I. and Full Pupp), it's anyone's guess. 127 BPM feels practically like an F1 car.

When we kicked off our RA.1000 campaign, we outlined a few goals: tick off a handful of long-awaited dream guests, honour architects who shaped the world around us and deliver recordings you truly can't hear anywhere else. Full send.

DJing and the mythmaking around it has undergone a quantum leap since 2012, let alone 2006, 1996 or 1989. For those of us who were kicking around in the former, there's a creeping melancholy that our prime is fast becoming a matter of historical record. The killing moon really did come too soon. 

Where will electronic music, DJ sets or any of this be in 2044? Hard to say. Best not to overthink that one. Instead, we want to say thanks to all contributors on the series so far. Now enjoy luxuriating in the company of two of the greatest to ever do it, together, for the first and last time.⁠ – Gabriel Szatan (Editor, RA)

@andrew-weatherall

Read the interview with DJ Harvey and Andrew Weatherall's family at https://ra.co/podcast/1016. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 DJ Harvey & Andrew Weatherall

B1. Sonic Of Joy ft. Eve

U wanna do

Buy On Bandcamp

& David Coroner  - U wanna do

Motor City Drum Ensemble shows his love for Detroit and Chicago on this week's RA podcast with a mix of smooth house and disco.

RA.132 Motor City Drum Ensemble

The power of music to unite us in joy is unparalleled. That was particularly evident during Optimo's closing set at last year's festival. Every face in the crowd was grinning from ear to ear as they slung out two hours of belters from across the musical spectrum as only they can.

It feels like we need a bit of that joy right now, so @Twitch & Wilkes have been kind enough to let us share the recording for you to listen at your socially-distancing leisure.

Look after yourselves and those around you, we'll get through this if we all stick together. Love to you all, from everyone at Skye Live.

Photo: Tim Craig — instagram.com/_scot.sman_

Optimo (Espacio) | Skye Live 2019

Official account for Danilo Plessow
DJ / Producer / Labelowner 

Bookings: Bruno@circuit-online.de