Safe Passage

Safe Passage (Matthew Herbert’s “Withers” Dub)

Introspekt at Ring, Horst Arts & Music 2025

Some percussive nonsense I'm guessing!

https://www.instagram.com/djplead
https://www.instagram.com/babymfleo

https://soundcloud.com/1djplead
https://soundcloud.com/djbabyleo

 

DJ Plead b2b Baby Leo @ The Lot Radio 06-06-2025

Hessle Audio feat. Dave Huismans (ex-libris, A Made Up Sound) - 30 June 2025

Ploy - 01 July 2025

Subsonic Ebonics with Huey Mnemonic - 04 July 2025

The Medellín maverick opens RA.997 with another mind-altering home run.

As part of our countdown to the 1000th edition of the RA Podcast, a milestone in the 18-year history of Resident Advisor's weekly mix series, we're switching up the usual format.

This week, following heady excursions through Lagos, Kampala, Detroit and Chicago, our focus shifts to Latin America—arguably the story in underground electronic music since the pandemic.

After years of being all but overlooked internationally, the explosion of distinctive club sounds emerging from Peru, Brazil, Colombia and beyond has finally begun to get its due.

Among the movement's great success stories are two artists who exemplify its refreshingly undogmatic energy: Verraco and Bitter Babe, and the former handles the A-side of RA.997. 

Is there a more compelling electronic artist around right now? Both in the studio and behind the decks, the Medellín-based DJ and producer currently sits in that coveted creative sweet spot, where every fresh musical morsel feels like a moment. To bask in any of his singular tracks on VOAM, Timedance and now XL Recordings, is to be bowled over by their rhythmic brilliance, madcap hooks and whirlpool basslines. ("Basic Maneuvers," anyone?)

His mix is tough to pin down—a blend of dubby techno, tribal atmospheres, slanted bass and sharp edits. Or, as he puts it in the accompanying interview: “an intersection between dub-infused techno but with some flow, reduced atmospheric tribal, edgy bass cuts, mental emo-tek.”

There’s plenty of unreleased TraTraTrax material here, alongside tracks from artists like Virginia, A Made Up Sound and a euphoric flip of Ploy’s “Ramos.” Slippery, emotional and surgically precise, it’s Verraco doing what he does best.

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1001

RA.997 Verraco

Bitter Babe takes the second half of RA.997, revelling in the fullness of the Latin electronic continuum. 

As part of our countdown to the 1000th edition of the RA Podcast, a milestone in the 18-year history of Resident Advisor's weekly mix series, we're switching up the usual format.

This week, following heady excursions through Lagos, Kampala, Detroit and Chicago, our focus shifts to Latin America—arguably the story in underground electronic music since the pandemic. 

After years of being all but ignored internationally, the glut of special club sounds coming out of Peru, Brazil, Colombia and beyond have finally received their flowers. 

Among the movement's great success stories are two artists who exemplify its refreshingly undogmatic energy: Verraco and Bitter Babe. 

Bitter Babe, naturally, takes the B. As a DJ, she reflects the fullness of the Latin electronic experience—"diverse, messy, emotional, political and full of contradictions," as she says in her interview. 

Her rollicking rides through guaracha, dembow, cumbia, techno and everything in between are powerful counters to anyone who believes the culture begins and ends with Shakira and Bad Bunny. And, as she'd like to remind everyone, "not every offbeat rhythm with Latin percussion is reggaeton."

Skip through the 60-minute mix and you'll hear wildly different rhythms at every juncture. Surely, you might assume, at the expense of flow? And yet enjoyed (as intended) from start to finish, the tunes gel like milk and honey, each silky transition subtly phasing in fresh tones and percussive flourishes. It's fast, feverish and intensely riveting.

@bitterbabe
Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1001

Correction: the final version of this mix was uploaded on Tuesday, July 15th.

RA.997 Bitter Babe

A debut back-to-back for the books from AliA & Mia Koden—Brussels meets South London meets bass weight, live and direct from RA's stage at Horst Arts & Music 2025.

@aliamusicc
@miakoden
@horstartsandmusicfestival

RA Live - AliA & Mia Koden - Horst Arts & Music 2025, Belgium

Recorded live from our Weaving Weeds stage at Horst Arts & Music 2025, this is two hours of bolshy club and hip-hop cuts from MAD CITY affiliate Cheyanne Hudson.

@peenievageenie
@horstartsandmusicfestival

RA Live - Cheyanne Hudson - Horst Arts & Music 2025, Belgium

Part three of RA.999: a celebration of soulful footwork and the timeless influence of DJ Rashad.

As we gear up to celebrate the 1,000th episode, RA.999 lands with five mixes across five days. First up was 1morning and Regal86, then Prosumer and Peach. Today, we turn our eyes to Chicago, with two of footwork staples, DJ Spinn and Manny, taking the reins of the third installment of RA.999 (both make their RA Podcast debut).

Ten years ago, Teklife Records was founded, following the untimely death of DJ Rashad in 2014. His collaborators started the label to honor the Chicago-born producer’s musical genius and continue his legacy of soulful footwork. Its first release would be Afterlife, a compilation of unreleased Rashad material that, in the words of Pitchfork, "captured the spirit of familial connection and experimentation integral to the Teklife crew."

Listening to RA.999, it doesn't take long for any footwork fan to realise that this is an hour-long homage to Rashad's phenomenal discography. The first lyric we hear is "Throw your L's up for Rashad!" on "L's UP FOR RASHAD," and a string of Rashad classics follow, many of which Spinn and Manny collaborated on. It's a that reminder  you of not just how staggeringly talented Rashad was, but how central collaboration was, and still is, to the Teklife project

Although many of these songs are more than a decade old, not one song sounds out of place in 2025. This is an emotional, riveting listen documenting the work of the best to do it in footwork. Back then, Rashad was the future, and he still is.

@deejay-manny-2
@dj-spinn-1
@teklife57
Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1007


RA.999 DJ Spinn & DJ Manny

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