this reminds me of swimming around as mario on nintendo 64 🥲<3

Australian Kia very quickly rose up through the grimy after-hours rave scene of Melbourne to make her mark on the international stage. Now Berlin-based, her unique grasp of rhythm is rooted in a love of bass, IDM and deeper techno though she is adept at exploring a wide range of moods within those worlds. She has done so at places like ADE and our own festival and extends her good taste to the curation of her Animalia imprint and its ambient sub-label Cirrus as well as her own original tracks on Nous'klaer Audio.

In this week's mix, Kia showcases a colourful and kaleidoscopic take on techno which she says was awakened by an early trip to Japan's famously head Labyrinth festival. It's a hi-fidelity feast of supple rhythms, icy synths and deep space ambiance that unfolds in late-night fashion. The melodies are as delicate as silk, the drums rubbery yet punchy. It's high-paced future music that manages to be as delicate and beautiful as it is dynamic.

Dekmantel Podcast 440 - Kia

Priori (@priori-ties) has always explored a wide range of techno from dense and introspective to more joyous, often against the backdrop of technological possibilities. He hails from Canada and has been prolific since first emerging with two full-lengths to his name on his own NAFF label. They pair dubby undercurrents with crystalline melodies and contain the sort of unresolved tensions that keep you locked in for the ride. This weekend he plays Dekmantel Naarm 2024 but first has served up this new mi for us.

Priori says this is the first dance mix he's done in a long time, adding "It's an hour and a half of fresh rhythms and rave sounds that I recorded while on tour in Australia. It features a few tracks I have been playing a lot lately and some forthcoming bits by myself and some friends." In just over 90 minutes he works through a rollercoaster of deep techno rhythms that are firmly focused on the future and flow as fluidly as water.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 459 - Priori

Words by Ceci (@ccl-url): 

"Special thanks to Steevio & Suzybee & all the volunteers, workers & dancers 💙

This is my recording from Friday night Room 2, 12:30-2am, my first time being at the mythical Free Rotation. Playing one of the first sets & seeing the room, decor and the big bad subs of Room 2, years of fantastical lore and reality melded, I wanted to keep it sexy, wonky, trippy— imagining a psychic electric swamp and how one would levitate thru it... to the sky. No bpm trickery this time. Out to the heavenly bodies of the universe! ;)

Mastered by Wordcolour"


i <3

ani/live Fifty Six: CCL @ Freerotation

Recording of Steffi's set at Dekmantel Ten

Pre-register for Dekmantel Festival 2025 here: bit.ly/4fyWKXc

Photo by David Muallem

Steffi at Dekmantel Ten

@sunjuhargun is based in Thailand and has been bringing all new energy to the Asian scene for more than 20 years. He has Indian heritage and Japanese roots which inform his mystic sound and the music he releases via the the label he co-founded, Siamese Twins Records. As he proved when he played our festival back in summer, he transcends musical and cultural borders to bring everything from, warm and percussive tribal grooves to more psychedelic sounds, acid textures and mind altering techno.

Sunju explains his approach to this week's mix. "I wanted to capture a special memory using records picked up during my trips between Amsterdam and Japan over the past few years. The result is a selection that blends the past, present, and future. As with every mix, I approach things naturally, with spontaneity. Live recordings have a unique energy that you can only feel in person, but sometimes that feeling can get lost when making a mix at home. This here is 60 mins of a raw, spontaneous reflection of friends in my living room, just hitting record and going for it. No filter, no perfection—just creativity with a limited selection.”

Tracklist

Dekmantel Podcast 482 - Sunju Hargun

Kaleidoscopic psychedelia from one of Australia's finest.

While it might feel early to call bets on DJs of the decade, Kia Sydney, best known as Kia, is undoubtedly one of them. The Animalia founder began in Naarm's (Melbourne) underground scene in the mid-2010s, crediting a trip to the influential deep techno Japanese festival, Labyrinth, as the inspiration behind her sound.

Deep techno might not cut it as a descriptor for Sydney's sound, though. Hypnotic ribbons of steely techno mix with atmospherics and nimble grooves, drawing from IDM, dub and tech house, sharing as much with DJ Nobu and Donato Dozzy (try to find the track that overlaps with Dozzy's own RA Podcast) as well as modern practitioners like Priori and Beatrice M.

This distinctly Australian scuttling psychedelia has made Kia one of the most sought-after underground DJs globally. Her brainchild, Animalia, showcases a plurality of sounds and scenes, serving as living proof of the fruitful shift of the 2020s: less serious, perhaps, but with a sense of open-minded worldliness that offers a far more promising vision of what dance music can be and achieve.

Sydney's rare talent lies in forging connections, bringing people, sounds and ideas together with a distinct playfulness. Her RA Podcast showcases this alchemy in abundance, weaving classics like Monolake and Enya with peers such as OK EG, Cousin and Command D.

As she told us in her 2023 Breaking Through profile, "people tell me I have quite a distinctive sound but I can't tell so much because I hear so many different versions of it." RA.973 serves as confirmation that Kia's style is, to say the least, the mark of a generational talent.
 
@kia-sydney @animalia-label  @cirruslabel

Read more at ra.co/podcast/973

RA.973 Kia

Interview: https://truantsblog.com/2025/truancy-volume-342-space-drum-meditation

Soundcloud: @spacedrummeditation

Access the download and full tracklist (Confirmed added) on our Patreon (patreon.com/truants). However if you need anything leave us a nice comment here with @spacedrummeditation tagged and either of us will get back to you with an ID! Your support helps cover all our costs allows Truants to continue running as a non-profit and ad-free platform.

https://truantsblog.com/

Space Drum Meditation

Truancy Volume 342: Space Drum Meditation

Room 303 ・三○三号室
https://instagram.com/room303radio

19:30-20:30 JST
2024/12/04

Aurora Halal
https://www.instagram.com/aurorahalal/
@itsallhalal

@ WPÜ HOTEL SHINJUKU
https://wpu-shinjuku.com

Aurora Halal

@garcon at Waking Life 2024, 23h - 02h after L.B. Dub Corp and before Vlada at Floresta <3

ani/live Sixty Seven: garçon @ Waking Life

@gigi-fm at Floresta

foto: fofo.altinell

GiGi FM at Floresta - Waking Life '24

amiri

Amsterdam based DJs, events company and record label. - support@dekmantel.com for all your webshop and label enquiries.

Dekmantel Podcast 440 - Kia

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