An opening set at the refuge worldwide night at post bar.

Richard Akingbehin @ Post Bar, Helsinki - Oct '22

@2shy2dj
www.wakinglife.pt
19 - 24 June 2024

📸 antoine grenez

DJ Fart In The Club at Floresta - Waking Life '23

🌐 Refuge Worldwide is a radio station and community space based in Berlin-Neukölln.
➡️ More info, more music: www.refugeworldwide.com

Support us by becoming a member on Patreon for just 3€ a month: www.patreon.com/refugeworldwide

Richard Akingbehin & Priori - Residency - 01 Jul 2024

Punk house and techno from a modern Midwest icon.

Every DJ has their own genesis story: a pivotal sound, a formative scene, a defining philosophy. In Kiernan Laveaux's case, her philosophy, rooted in psychedelia and experimentation, sets her apart. Inspired by Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and New Order, she came of age in Cleveland’s acid house and queer party scenes, developing an ethos that constantly pushes dance music’s limits. Her DJ style is scrambled (in the best way), with zany tricks like scratching, creative EQing and modulation.

This approach reflects the Midwest's DIY tradition, where artists thrive in isolation and cultivate a radical disobedience, as seen in contemporaries like Eris Drew and ADAB. As Laveaux recounted in a 2023 interview with GROOVE Magazin, "Titonton Duvante once told me that being a Midwest DJ is about playing music from anywhere and making it sound like a piece of your spirit."

Spanning two and a half hours, Laveaux's RA Podcast showcases this spirit. It’s a testament to her decade-long career, blending tracks from friends and cherished memories into a transcendent mix. It’s "music to shake your hips to and decalcify your pineal gland." (For the curious, the pineal gland helps regulate your circadian rhythm.) RA.963 will make you dance and think in equal measure—a beautiful, restless and resolutely wicked journey through a singular imagination.

@kiernan-laveaux

Read more at ra.co/podcast/963

RA.963 Kiernan Laveaux

Recording of PLO Man's set at Dekmantel Selectors 2024.

Dekmantel Selectors 2024

PLO Man at Dekmantel Selectors 2024

Introducing: Hervé (@superons) — with a special two-hour vinyl session for our Nous’klaer Radio series. Sun-drenched, spaced out housey summer vibes. Just the way we like it.

Asked by 3voor12, promoters in the Netherlands named Hervé as one of the biggest talents to surface this year. And with good reason: Hervé oozes with passion for vinyl, playing and digging - but not only behind the decks. He is a driving force in the Amsterdam nightlife, being involved in the label Polychrome Audio, arts & community space Noord Space, and the newly launched club night Interfering Grounds at RAUM and more. Get to know Hervé through the Q&A here below.

Together with a Q&A, Hervé’s mix is now available on our SoundCloud.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆?
I was born in Côte d'Ivoire and grew up on the African continent. After some studies in France, I moved to the Netherlands for a job in 2016. Music was very present in my upbringing, with one of my brothers being a hip-hop artist. Settling in Amsterdam in 2018 opened new perspectives, as I delved into electronic music and its nightlife. Alongside collecting and playing music, I am involved in a few collective projects, including record label Polychrome Audio, creative network misuse, and arts & community space Noord Space. We are also starting a new club night called Interfering Grounds at Club Raum.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲?
Curiosity has always been my driver. Being open to different perspectives and cultures. I like asking questions and experimenting to build understanding and create new things. Sharing is what keeps me going, with music and life in general.

𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁-𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼?
If there is an artist who consistently impresses me through his craft, both as a producer and a dj, it is RDS. Part of the De Lichting crew, his commitment to sound, ability to express emotions through it, and deep musical knowledge are inspiring. I highly recommend listening to his catalogue and seeing him play records from his collection, it is very special. Two picks: his E-mutations album released on De Lichting, and his Underwater EP that we released last year on Polychrome Audio.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁?
Playing the Nous'Klaer festival 2025 edition is definitely a bucket-list moment, and I am really excited for it :) There are so many festivals and clubs around the globe that I have yet to discover. I am very sensitive to artistic risk in both the program and design. Horst is also one of them, I remember vividly discovering its unique stages in 2024. Sustain-Release is also a festival that I would love to experience! I keep coming to the festival recordings, they channel a very special energy. It is a dream for me to play in Brazil, I fell in love with this country, where Gop Tun has been curating top-tier events.


Catch Hervé coming June 28 at Nous’klaer Festival on the outdoor stage De Beeldentuin. More info on https://nousklaerfestival.com!

Photography by Marius Renard ( @ mariusrnrd on Instagram).)

More Nous'klaer Radio

Nous'klaer Radio #40 - Hervé

Nocturnal acid lines and swirling, soft rotations meld mental spaces with melodic threads. Downtempo energies and soulful traces of ’90s R&B entwine with lava-lamp psychedelia and interstellar journeys. Smoky, visionary passages and unexpected intervals of ‘80s pop pay homage to the lost art of crate-digging and compilation craftsmanship.

The unmistakable Ivkovic signature emerges: slow-motion BPMs, drum-heavy basslines, and tastefully warped distortion — all blending into a masterclass in futuristic acid.

Experimental club culture shuffles through ISAbella’s grooves, echoing her role as a trailblazer of Barcelona’s queer nightlife and co-founder of the MARICAS collective.

Words by Laura Caprino

ISAbella b2b Vladimir Ivkovic - Climate of Fear - April '25

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

moving through shadow, trance and flickers of the unknown with @erensuerensu

SpeLL: ERENSU

https://plntddy.bandcamp.com/track/isura-free-download
Free Download via Bandcamp.
Mix & Master: PLNTDDY

Isura [Free Download]

Powder at Sustain-Release 2017

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