Selectors Podcast Series

Each year, we ask a few artists from the Dekmantel Selectors line-up to deliver a mix in anticipation of the new edition. Who could be a better fit than DJ Python to re-initiate this tradition?

Even before Dulce Compañia, which introduced the Python alias to the world, Brian Piñeyro has been providing a wide array of unique sounds to those who care to listen. To be fair, he makes it hard not to care, and also to describe his ambling, dembow-inspired rhythms as something other than ‘deep reggaeton’. But if Piñeyro has taught us one thing, it is that music is just moods flowing into one another. Sometimes, the mood is a percussive therapy session, and sometimes it warps drone-driven electronica, tingly synths, and steely dancehall.

It is unsurprising that this mix is all about the mood too. A 60-minute journey across genuinely emotive songs and honeyed hymns. In his words, it’s just about “enjoying the time with people around you, whatever shape the people or the time may take”. When listening to this mix, keep in mind DJ Python’s approach to making soup: you can only really do it well if you allow yourself to move beyond the recipe. The only thing left to do is let go and get locked in.

Selectors Podcast 028 - DJ Python

This instalment of our annual Selectors Podcasts series comes from Mika Oki, who is probably best described as a sensory artist. Heavily influenced by a background in sculpture and electro-acoustic music, her work frequently revolves around weaving together sound and vision – simultaneously creating and exploring intangible spaces, be it in installations, performance pieces, music, or mixes. And when it comes to the latter, Mika Oki has proven, time and time again, that an amalgamation of grime, reggaeton and dancehall might just be an essential component of a well-crafted, esoteric soundscape.

What you’ll hear in this industrial and organic mix partly derives from Mika Oki’s friends, producers and residents at LYL radio, as it happens that she recently opened the third, Brussels-based branch of the Belgian webradio together with a collection of dedicated musicians. Combined with sounds reminiscent of “broken machinery” and a “glitched, collapsing world”, we are left with a celestial selection that converges across the realm of sonic experimentation and - somewhat otherworldly - club rhythms. One thing is for certain: this mix will leave you wondering what you were doing before you started tuning in, once it’s over.

Tracklist

Selectors Podcast 029 - Mika Oki

Each year, we ask a few artists from our Dekmantel Selectors line-up to deliver a mix in anticipation of the new edition. First up in this year’s series is Garage Noord resident and LYL radio show host @merelrhizoom. As a proper connoisseur of modular synth tracks and avant-garde compositions, merel rhizoom tends to navigate the musical stratosphere between what one could refer to as “weird psybient”, hypnotic jungle, trance downtempo or industrial breaks with implausible ease in her selections.

The mix at hand makes a good case for doing what feels right: merel rhizoom told us that she “initially was very tempted to make a more dance-oriented mix”, but then decided to go into a different direction: “focussing on (modular) synthesis of veterans such as Max Loderbauer, Robert Aiki Low, Andreas Tilliander and Driftmachine, while on the other hand including more avant-garde compositions by Jon Hassell, Oren Ambarchi, Upperground Orchestra and others”. What already sounds good on paper, has turned out to be a mesmerizing and thoroughly mind-altering listening session – enjoy it with your eyes closed and mind open.

Selectors Podcast

Selectors Podcast 030 - merel rhizoom

For this instalment of our Dekmantel Selectors podcast, we welcome Amsterdam-based Nèna (@castro-nena). Her song selections range from reggaeton and bass-heavy beats to dancehall and dreamy pop. When Nèna enters the booth, an emotional genuineness and an open atmosphere will connect the audience.

Defined by its day to night feeling, this mix continues to enter your ears with beams of sunlight and fast-paced emotions revolving around 'break-up season'. "This mix is created to break away from anger and sadness, dancing forward towards a new season," Nèna explains. "A higher pace than my usual mix, characterizes this podcast. It is created to trigger emotions." Moving your body and processing all kinds of feelings is facilitated by this sincere Dekmantel Selectors 2022 artist.

Selectors Podcast 031 - Nèna

Fantastic Man b2b Tornado Wallace live from Barbarella's at Love International 2024

TASCAM DR-100

Live from the Adriatic 2024: Fantastic Man b2b Tornado Wallace

Shanti is a veteran and expert in four to the floor dance music - tune in once a month for a considered two-hour selection of the best house and techno around, transmitting direct from the NTS studio. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/shanticeleste/episodes/shanticeleste-27th-february-2025

Shanti Celeste B2B w/ Sinéad 270225

London’s friendliest DJ duo Merchant summon their deepest club crates for two hours of summery prog and rhythm heavy house heaters!

Oozing their signature feel good sensibilities, this one’s a bumping ride with classy 90s groovers and contemporary UK dance music mixed up with love as the main ingredient..

@merchantrecordslondon

Q. What inspiration did you guys draw upon when planning out and making this mix together, and what kind of listening environments might you see it being easily enjoyed in?

A. We’ve always loved a variety of different music and it feels really nice to be able to put out a dance mix that shows that side of our sound. We often spin dance music with our mates at home before a night out, so this could be quite good for the pre-game or as you’re gearing up for the dance in the festival campsite.

Q. Are there any songs in the mix that are especially close to your heart, and what is it about these tracks that resonate with you so much?

A. Two of the three tunes we’ll be releasing in our first EP this summer are in the mix so look out for tracks Viva and Twenty46. We worked with our very talented producer friend Strath on those and we are excited for playing them more this summer. 

Another standout is Rockin The Boat by Reflex Blue. It’s got the perfect amount of groove to it with that sax coming over that acid line and it’s a great track for moving sets in different directions. 

We are also really fond of the last two tracks. 

Life Formation by Epsylon 9 is a 90s trance track that has got a lot of positive energy. We paired that with the closing track Please Come To My Show by Kolter which carries that atmosphere but with a more contemporary sound. 

Q. Harry I know you’re heading back to the UK to reunite with Al after spending the summer down here in Aus. What are you guys looking forward to upon your return, any new projects or parties in the works?

A. Mainly excited to give each other a big hug, crack a bottle of wine and chuck a few records on. DJing never feels the same when we aren’t together so we are really looking forward to some nice European gigs soon. Obviously the EP is also exciting. We are also starting a run of parties later this year so keep an eye out for that on our insta if you’re listening from London.

MDC.306 Merchant

Friday eve with Dresden

https://www.instagram.com/dresden_dance
https://soundcloud.com/dresden-dance



Dresden @ The Lot Radio 03-14-2025

Pixie is a member of the record shop "RECORD SHOP rare groove" in Osaka. She has steadily gained recognition in Japan and abroad for her mysterious playstyle, which was established through her unique interpretation of house music, mainly Chicago house and Italo disco.

With a rich international performance history, she has graced stages at Bambi's and Do West Fest in Toronto, Canada, Yu Yu in Mexico City, Zodiac in Jakarta, Peels in Bali, Grey Area and Rabbit Hole in Taipei, Savage in Hanoi, and numerous other overseas gigs.

In Japan, she performed at Rural, the long-established festival, the Rainbow Disco Club’s pre-event celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2024, Larry Heard’s show in Japan, and more.

In addition to her DJ work, she has provided mixes for NTS Radio, The Vinyl Factory, and other media at home and abroad.

MIX078 - Pixie (大阪)

Deep house with heaps of soul to guide spring into summer.

"House music to me is about emotion… it's about how it moves you," says Suze Phaff, better known as Suze Ijó. Emerging from a thriving Dutch scene, Ijó belongs to a generation of DJs reshaping dance culture from the ground up, restoring soul and musicality to the centre of house music. It's a conversation happening not just in her home town of Rotterdam, but globally, among kindred spirits like MUSCLECARS and Dee Diggs in New York, Errol and Alex Rita of Touching Bass in London, and OMOLOKO in Belo Horizonte.

You could call Ijó a deep house DJ, but it's much deeper than that. Her sets embody house music in its most musical sense, rich in nimble percussion, woodwinds, calypso drums, gospel vocals, and romantic string sections. They channel the jazz-inflected heartbeat of the East Coast, the breeze of Balearic shores, and the light-footed rhythms of the Caribbean.

As Ijó explains in her Q&A, her RA Podcast "hopefully feels like a loving embrace." Opening with Key Trunks Ensemble's "Calypso of House (Paradise Mix)," she sets a buoyant, life-affirming tone that carries through the next 90 minutes. As the mix unfolds, her affinity for timelessness is clear, with selections that hark back to the golden age of house, from Lonesome Echo Production's "Sweet Dream (Shrine Sweet Mix)" to the euphoric swell of Blaze's "Klubtrance."

Listening to RA.986, it's no surprise that The Loft—David Mancuso's legendary, much-missed New York party—serves as a key influence for Ijó. "He wasn't confined to just one genre but would just play 'good music' in the right context," she explains. "He allowed the music to breathe."

If ambient music is defined by its ability to breathe in and reflect its surroundings, then Ijó's RA Podcast is ambient in the truest, most human sense: a deep, enveloping soundscape that feels like sunrise, like community, like home—wherever you may choose to listen.

@suze_ijo

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/986

RA.986 Suze Ijó

The Tartan Records boss and equally boss DJ Wallace signs off on his recent stint down under with a mix packed with deep sea dubs and bumping 00s techy rollers. Based in England, and having previously run a string of club nights in Edinburgh, Wallace is a proud tartan enthusiast with a full tank of punchy dubwise grooves in his sporran, with plenty of nods to his UK roots here over a glorious hour and a bit full of chunky d-floor burners. Let's have it!

@wallacejimmygs

Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in?

A. It’s been a pretty bruising winter back here in the UK but we’d just had our first smattering of sunshine when I came to putting this mix together. I think that shift—the changing seasons and the first signs of trees beginning to bloom in my hometown (as pictured)—definitely influenced the first part of the mix. The middle section leans more into the kind of stuff I’d play out, but I wanted to bring things to a softer landing toward the end. There’s certainly an outdoor feel to the selections so maybe a listening environment to match but equally I love music’s ability to transport us from our current states so bang it on indoors and see what happens.

Q. Are there any songs in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these tracks that resonate with you so much?

A. There’s a Steve O'Sullivan Dub early on which I recently found & it’s just a gloriously mixed and executed piece of dub techno. Towards the end another recent find by Argentinian producer Federico Molinari which to my ears sounds like a lost 80’s gem but was produced just last year. It's rare to hear a modern producer capture that classic vibe so authentically, without tipping into pastiche.

Q. You were just out here in Australia over the past weekend and from all reports the shows were on point! What kind of directions did you take people in during those sets, and how might the energy of your club sets differ from your mixes? 

A. Yes, so glad to have finally made it out here. Was a real joy to meet some lovely people in your scene and to get the chance to do my thing. Always revel in the challenge of playing in a new country as you’ve got to be on your toes to adapt but stay true to what you’re all about. I truly felt the warm Aussie welcome, so let’s call this mix a little parting gift to tide things over until next time x

MDC.310 Wallace

C.K at Ring, Horst Arts & Music 2025

FEELS GREAT

IT ABOUT NUMBERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA PEOPLE FEEL LIKE HAVING 5 FRIENDS ITS NOTHING BUT IN REALITY, 5 FRIENDS ARE ENOGH.

SOCIAL MEDIA NUMBERS

After starting the mini Dekmantel Selectors podcast series two years ago, it feels like a tradition to bring this back to life again in anticipation of the third edition in August. In the next couple of months, we will release 6 podcasts by some of the exciting artists from the line-up. This year’s podcasts challenges the artists to work around a theme or idea they picked theirselves. First up: French/Belgian selector Raphaël Top-Secret.

Raphaël Top-Secret is known for his notorious digging skills, which he prefers to put in practice at the best Parisian record stores or unknown flee markets. In his earlier days, he used to dj frequently with Antinote label boss Zaltan, touching on everything in between balearic, boogie, reggae, world music, disco and house. As a producer, Raphaël’s work is remarkable too — his ‘Love So High’ EP dropped in 2016 on the same label and three dance floor gems we still can’t get enough of. It should come as no surprise that we’re more than happy to have Raphaël joining us not only for Dekmantel Selectors, but also for Lente Kabinet later in May.

For us, he put together a special mix that covers and touches on many genres. Raphaël on is own podcast for us: "This mix going from 90s hip-hop and R&B to downtempo, house and tropical dance. Overall, it's stuff that I recently found out about and that I really wanted to incorporate in a mix. Beside that, it includes long time favorites as well. I only had two days to do the mix, so the approach was more spontaneous - it was quite fun to do as I was less prepared and just went with the flow. Hope you'll like the vibe and see you in Tisno!".

Selectors Podcast 017 - Raphaël Top-Secret

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

Selectors Podcast 017 - Raphaël Top-Secret

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