Name: Sugar Free at Selectors - Dekmantel Festival 2025 by dekmantel
Duration: 2 h 17 min 2 s
Description: Recording of Sugar Free's set at the Selectors stage during Dekmantel Festival 2025.

Of all the Berlin DJs who make a living spinning strange, I'm-not-sharing-the-tracklist kind of records, Sugar Free, originally hailing from Madrid, might be the most fun. She plays bold, colourful tracks with an air of sci-fi and sleaze, somewhere between Italo, hi-NRG, electro and house. (Her Dimensions Mix last year was one of our favourites of 2023.) She's the kind of DJ who messes with your perception of genres and tempos by how she blends tracks together, and also a DJ with a rare grasp of mixing melodies and moods—just check out the first transition of this RA Podcast for a spine-tingling example.

Sugar Free doesn't speak much publicly, and you won't find a lot about her on the internet. She prefers to let her DJing speak for itself. And her RA Podcast says a lot: proggy basslines, heart-in-mouth descents into reverb-heavy breakdowns, eerie vocals and a general feel of psychedelia and '80s decadence. It's difficult to tell what era these records are from, which is part of the charm. For a bonus point, try and pick out two just-completed Sugar Free originals, some of her first productions ever after her debut track came out on Limousine Dream in 2022.

@freesugarfree

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/927

RA podcast

RA.927 Sugar Free

Three hours of high drama, recorded live at Nowadays in New York.

We know what you're thinking: why did it take so long to get Binh on the RA Podcast? There's no easy answer, especially given that he's been a favourite of ours for over a decade now. So to make up for lost time, the revered digger lands on the series with a tantalising three-hour mix, recorded live at Nowadays in New York earlier this year.

Crammed with rare and unreleased gems spanning house, techno, and electro, RA.989 is heavy on drama, catching the Düsseldorf native in unbridled performance mode.

This is Binh in 2025. But rewind across the past two decades and you'll find a DJ who excels in pretty much any situation, whether warming up for Zip or Margaret Dygas, going back-to-back with masters like Nicolas Lutz or rolling out solo sets that stretch across ten or even 12 hours.

He's acted out all these scenarios most often at Berlin institution Club der Visionaere, the cosy canalside club that became a kind-of spiritual home. (He'd sometimes spend every night of the week there, before parenting duties got the better of him.)

To play for half a day you need a lot of records, and the backbone of Binh's craft has long been a freakish passion for vinyl. Along with Lutz, Vera, and others in CDV's orbit, he approaches the pursuit of wax, new and old, with next-level dedication and a fondness for blind buys. 

That's true of RA.989, although among the un-Shazamables are many tracks that are either out or coming out on Binh's popular Time Passages label. The mix finds him on a house-y tip, luxuriating in roomy basslines, driving 303s and twinkly melodies—with just the right amount of evil. Lock in and savour a one-of-a-kind DJ, completely in the zone.

@binh

Find the interview at ra.co/podcast/989

RA.989 Binh

Mix number 14 in our series, and the first live recording from Bonanza 2025 from none other than Ivan Smagghe. 

Recorded on the Sunday night of the festival, Ivan ushered the terrace through the penultimate set, handing over to Unai Trotti just before the light began to creep in over the river for the final sunrise of Bonanza. This is Ivan in deep, trippy and bewitching mode, just how we like it. 

In his own words, “I am always unsure recordings translate what happens in the moment, but people like them”. Hopefully some of the electricity from what was an incredibly special experience at the time trickles though your speakers at home xx

Rio 014 - Ivan Smagghe (recorded live at Bonanza 2025)

Part four of RA.999: the sound of shared history, courtesy of two legends of minimal house in full flow.

A lot can happen in 20 years. Especially in dance music, where movements rise, collide and dissolve at dizzying speed. It takes conviction, dynamism and a formidable record collection to stay the course.

That’s why Margaret Dygas and Sonja Moonear have remained such enduring underground favourites. Step into one of their sets, solo or side by side, and an assured calm takes over the floor. You're in the sleekest, safest hands imaginable.

Recorded live at fabric's 25th birthday, their RA.999 captures that feeling perfectly. High-tempo, irresistibly groovy and full of quiet authority, it marks a return to the series for both: Moonear with RA.520, and Dygas with the fourth-ever RA Podcast all the way back in 2006.

They also gave rare interviews, reflecting on a deep musical connection that began in 2007, the legacy of minimal and lessons from a life spent in DJ booths the world over. 

"I felt excited and lucky to be invited so early in what I now see as a much longer journey," wrote Dygas. "Music holds memories in its frequencies, and the right track can transport you instantly to a past version of yourself. That’s powerful. That’s the kind of power I respect." Amen.

@moonear
@margaret

Read the full interview at ra.co/podcast/1008

RA.999 Sonja Moonear & Margaret Dygas

For our latest episode, we welcome Chez de Milo, a key figure in Bristol’s underground and beyond.

Founder of Club Blanco, a party, label and platform that’s brought some of the most adventurous selectors to the UK – Chez has spent years carving out his own distinct voice as a DJ and producer. Between his Magic Carpet Ride show on Noods Radio, releases on Emotional Espacio and Futureboogie, and standout sets at Fabric, Fold and Barbarella’s, he’s become known for weaving eclectic, psychedelic-tinged journeys through hypnotic grooves, cosmic rhythms and leftfield textures.


Chez de Milo - Cartulis Podcast 068

Dresden live from The Beach Stage at Love International festival 2025

Live from the Adriatic 2025: Dresden

Recording of DJ Koolt's set at the Selectors stage during Dekmantel Festival 2025.

DJ Koolt at Selectors - Dekmantel Festival 2025

Recording of Sugar Free's set at the Selectors stage during Dekmantel Festival 2025.

Sugar Free at Selectors - Dekmantel Festival 2025

Cassy at Waking Life 2025

Refused (original mix)

FLOW
A straight UK minimal roller with that Josh Baker–style bounce.
Groovy drums, tight low end, and a smooth, locked-in feel.
Underground vibes only.

FLOW [FREE DL]

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

Sugar Free at Selectors - Dekmantel Festival 2025

dekmantel

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