Recorded live at Above Below 2024, Chiltern Hills, UK.

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of finally visiting Above Below, a magically warm and inspiring festival tucked intimately within the Chilterns which I had heard so much about over years. What I discovered there was a community that immediately felt like home, a weekend full of moments both immaculately deep & breathlessly exuberant, and a true sense of independence and discovery in the spirit of the festival.

Playing in the UK will always be a special honor for me, and I wanted to capture my appreciation for such a pivotal scene while pushing myself in ways that are distinctly my own. This set helped me find more than a few footholds in my own practice and I’m so happy to share the recording, one from a lineup full of friends & inspirations. Hope you enjoy it!

@arn_j
@abovebelowfestival

Artwork by Malte Schumann.

Sure Thing Mix 131: Aaron J

When they’re not lurking through the deepest corners of Bandcamp and Discogs, Distrikt—comprised of 宀 residents Jordy, Scott, and Justin—are undoubtedly making their mark in the city. In our opinion, they are Southeast Asia's newest aliens, sending signals across regional shores and bending the rules in their own way (as it should be!).

On their second-year anniversary night, they brought together a pairing of two familiar faces in the Asia region, both sharing a similar interest in running a record label, music with no boundaries, B-sides that could turn Hare Krishna into a bad boy, and finding witchcraft gems on YouTube.  
The results are in this recording—we’ll let the music speak for itself.

Archived at 宀 on June 22, 2024, using 2 Technics SL-1210M5G, 4 Pioneer CDJ 3000s, and an Allen & Heath Xone 96.

Enjoy the space ride!

@distrikt_hk
@sunsiare
@mihnclub

Sunju Hargun & Sunsiaré @ 宀 (Hong Kong)

Aaron J B2B Oberman at Draaimolen Festival 2024

The tunnel is a magical stage and im very grateful to have been asked to play the Saturday late afternoon set, before one of my biggest electronic-music inspirations, voices from the lake. I took the opportunity, considering the impeccable programming, open minded crowd, and perfect soundsystem to play a more slow building, delicate festival set - which felt very true to my real taste, and an homage to many of my deepest and longest standing inspirations. Thank you so much to the entire Draaimolen team for the trust.. and for the other worldly reality you have created in this very special festival. - Kia

Kia 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

Voices from The Lake hybrid live at Draaimolen Festival 2024

Enter the wormhole with one of the techno artists we're most excited about in 2025.

Born in Osaka and now based in Tokyo, DJ MARIA. joins a decorated lineage of Japan's psychedelic elite, cut from a similarly explorative cloth as Wata Igarashi, Haruka and esoteric icons ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and DJ Nobu. This nerdy sanctum of deep techno is a notoriously hard world to break into: only the very best make the grade. DJ MARIA.'s head-spinning sets emphasise why she's already part of the club firmament at home, and is now in the midst of a global breakthrough.

Her trademark is tapestries of acid, trance and techno that strike a perfect balance between vibrancy, impact and restraint. She bit the bug through a teenage discovery of DVDs showing legendary psytrance raves like Solstice and Vision Quest, yet it wasn't until 2014 that she started DJing, balancing gigs with shifts at Tokyo's Face Records and, as of late, motherhood.

Today, as well as producing and touring venues such as FOLD and Bassiani, she helps run two boutique forest festivals—Moment and Transcendence—both of which play a big part in upholding Japan's storied techno tradition. DJ MARIA. has reached these heights principally because of her exceptional talent as a DJ, which is on full display on this week's RA Podcast.

The two-hour mix is pure manna for psychedelic techno heads, though we're confident the depth of feeling, subtle pacing and seamless stitching will lure in fans from across the electronic spectrum. RA.971 is a total treasure—the latest wow moment from an artist destined to have a career littered with them.

@djmaria-jp

Read more at ra.co/podcast/971

RA.971 DJ MARIA.

Sunju Hargun's set recorded live on Sunday, 11th of August 2024 at Paral·lel Festival in Port del Comte, Spian.

Sunju Hargun @ Paral·lel 2024

Bandcamp

RALPH WIGGUM

Fast dance track I sketched out in August, and made tweaks to since then. Got some lovely help from friends and some useful pointers from Tom VR, who I sent this to a few months ago. 

Was super happy that Louf played this last weekend on his NTS set, so I'm really excited to put this out. Cheers!

Octec

core´s overload

Tilburg-based electronic music events organization and artist agency.

DRAAIMOLEN FESTIVAL 2025
September 5 & 6
MOB-Complex, Tilburg

Aaron J B2B Oberman at Draaimolen Festival 2024

DRAAIMOLEN

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