All time favourite Aurora Halal @itsallhalal warming up for D-Dan 12th December 2022 11.00-1.30am at NYC's legendary Nowadays.

ani/live Thirty Three: Aurora Halal @ Nowadays

an excerpt from the middle of a four hour opening set. enjoy.

photo by willem mevis

Richard Akingbehin @ Draaimolen x Sustain Release, Tilburg - May '24

Living, breathing, banging techno from an artist defining the highly-textured new frontier of the sound in 2024.

Lindsey Wang, AKA Polygonia, has an amorphous style you could call organic—or, better yet, harmonious. She interweaves unfamiliar elements with a mercurial touch. Wang can make something completely otherworldly sound totally, well, natural. It's made her a fixture everywhere from Munich's BLITZ to major festivals like Sustain-Release and Draaimolen.

Unsurprisingly, Wang is not one to be pinned down. Be it the sound design-anchored side project Lyder, her own label QEONE, or co-producing an album's worth of experimental percussion alongside jazz drummer Simon Popp, it's fair to say her personal output matches the feverish energy of her mixes. There's multidisciplinary, and then there's Wang: Poly-disciplinary, you might say.

Wang's entry into the RA Podcast series is no different, another stellar emphasis of her artistry. RA.955 is a voyage into wild variations of texture, rhythm and feeling, guided along by the principle of endless metamorphosis. Supple driving grooves meet crinkled surfaces, scuttling hi-hats meet chattering sonics, and good luck keeping hold of a consistent drum pattern for long. Behold a living organism raised by the club and the great outdoors in equal measure.

@polygonia

Read more at ra.co/podcast/955

RA Podcast

RA.955 Polygonia

Aaron J B2B Oberman at Draaimolen Festival 2024

A lesson in rhythm from a former De School resident.

When it comes to minimalist dance music, Ruben Üvez, AKA Konduku, is one of the best in the game right now. With a masterful and ever-shapeshifting understanding of rhythm, the Berlin-based artist crafts sublime dance music with a staunchly leftfield bent. Don't just take our word for it: how many DJs, after all, can claim to have moved De School to a puddle of tears?

Musically, Üvez is hard to pin down. He's often billed as a techno artist, but actually you'll find his sound sits outside of the genre's many conventions. With an outsider's curiosity, he leans into diverse moods, tempos and genres, though one throughline is always how he arranges his drums. Whether it be deep, Nobu-core techno such as 2023's Hayal EP or UK beat science á la Peverelist on 2019's  Gegek, he leads with rhythm across his DJing and production. The end product is a hypnotic, one-of-a-kind sound that hits the body before the brain has time to catch up. In short, it slaps.

As Üvez's RA Podcast demonstrates, he's got a serious knack for crafting and selecting tunes that can  deeply captivate a dance floor. Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, RA.967 is an excursion through a timeless sound, packed with long, layered blends, flick-of-the-wrist transitions, locked grooves and spine-tingling atmospherics. In 2020, we called Ruben Üvez one of techno's brightest new talents. This mix sees him ascending to a seat at the top table.

@kondukukonduku

Read more at ra.co/podcast/967

RA.967 Konduku

Recording of L.B. Dub Corp's set at Dekmantel Selectors 2024.

Dekmantel Selectors 2024

L.B. Dub Corp at Dekmantel Selectors 2024

"You go through this feeling to then be in freedom." The notorious photographer and bouncer talks about the ethos behind selecting the world's hardest door, early life in East Berlin and Berghain's 20th anniversary.

Today's Exchange guest is Berghain's infamous figurehead and doorman Sven Marquardt, who was born and raised in German Democratic Republic (GDR)-era East Berlin. He lived a rebellious life as a queer punk in Prenzlauer Berg, which banned him from entering Berlin's central districts because of how he looked. It was during these years that he congregated with fellow East Berlin new wave kids and began documenting their relationships and his own life through photography. When the wall fell, electronic music and the exciting scene that arose in the DDR's vacuum became Marquardt's focus. He started partying at gay fetish parties and bouncing doors at new clubs alongside his brother. 

In this interview, he talks to RA Exchange producer Chloe Lula about how Berlin has evolved from his adolescence in the post-war years and his thoughts on the changes erasing institutions in the city's clubbing landscape today. He also reflects on the contemporary nightlife industry and how Berghain's policies have shifted with the times, initially catering to an almost exclusively gay male crowd but now welcoming a demographic more representative of the diversity of people who make up club culture. While German politics and the rise of the right wing have deeply affected him, he says, he recognizes the opportunities it enables for his community to use art and culture as a reactionary, countercultural force. Listen to the episode in full.

Photo by Torsten Ingvaldsen.
Audio overdubs by Marios Gavrilis.

EX.744 Sven Marquardt

Echoes hum, bodies moving.
This is true spirit of Breakfast Club, unfolding.


Ogazón: "This set felt like a homecoming — warm, familiar, and charged with energy. The familiar faces and unwavering support are something I don’t experience anywhere else, and that drives me to perform at my absolute best. But the real magic? Locking into an effortless groove from the very start while playing alongside a legend like Marcel. That was the cherry on top: a true highlight I won’t be forgetting anytime soon."

Marcel Dettmann: "Playing at Breakfast Club in the early morning is always a unique experience — the people there are musically open, ready for experimentation, and come with a certain expectation: they want to be taken on a journey. What made this set special was the combination of Ogazón and me. I think we had a great feel for the moment, for the groove and the tension. The energy was electrifying."

Marcel Dettmann b2b Ogazón - BFC ADE 2024: RADION Saturday

Buy on Bandcamp

Coconoize & Del Piero - Wave (Original)

Guessing My Soul

The first single from the epic 'Rhythmic Realms' VA (compiled by Nikki Sig) is an absolute heater from the combined forces of Ewake and Zulluz. Driving, powerful and psychedelic in equal measure, this track boasts a top-notch sound design and production quality that will guarantee it ends up in many charts and carts (it's already in our hearts...)

title: Rhythmic Realms - compiled by Nikki Sig 
catalog: [TGNR222]
release date: December 19
Beatport pre-order: Dec 8
Bandcamp pre-order: Dec 5

PREMIERE: Ewake & Zulluz - Tell Them (Original Mix)

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