Storytelling

Side 1

Enchantment

Reactance

Dolphins

Recording of Vladimir Ivkovic & Ivan Smagghe's set at Lente Kabinet Festival 2023.

Lente Kabinet Festival 2023

Vladimir Ivkovic & Ivan Smagghe at Lente Kabinet Festival 2023

Vladimir Ivkovic live from Dimensions 2024.

@vladimir

Vladimir Ivkovic - Live From Dimensions 24'

Donato Dozzy has long been a revered figure in the global electronic music scene, known for his rare ability to craft hypnotic soundscapes that linger in the mind. Whether in contemporary clubs or classical settings, his sets consistently conjure deep moods and immersive atmospheres.

With this being his first mix release in over 5 years, we’re treated to an early insight into what he’ll bring to Continuum on February 1st. 

RA tickets: https://ra.co/events/2051095

051 - Donato Dozzy - fabric podcast

Regis and Function's first mix in over 10 years is a unique paean to Silent Servant, heavy on unreleased material.

When it came time for RA to compile our Albums of the 2010s, one record with a tauntingly limited availability of 500 copies was never in doubt: Sandwell District's era-defining 'Feed-Forward'. Encompassing Karl O'Connor (Regis), Peter Sutton (Female), David Sumner (Function) and Juan Mendez (Silent Servant), Sandwell District had the underground in a vice grip for over a decade.

The collective imploded in 2013, with Sumner and O'Connor's relationship appearing beyond repair. And yet, an unlikely second phase is here, featuring imminent comeback LP 'End Beginnings' and their return to the RA Podcast after 16 years. In 2023, the trio of Function, Regis and Silent Servant had been performing and laying down new material before the latter's shock death last January. It's in the shadow of loss that this unique mix was forged.

Founded in 2002 as a spiritual sister to seminal Downwards, Sandwell truly began to hit its straps in the late '00s, as shadow-stalking cuts sliced through clubland orthodoxy like a switchblade. In parallel, the label's artwork—a noir recombination of Burroughs cut-ups, DIY zines and arthouse amour that Silent Servant made his own—helped fortify a movement which placed an aesthetic premium on grit, grain and sadism.

By the early 2010s, this fixation on the dark arts had utterly permeated the mood inside techno's masonic temples. Labels like Blackest Ever Black, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Avian and Modern Love were in their pomp, razorwire legends like Severed Heads and Chris & Cosey benefited from second winds, and it was briefly a jailable offence to not have a press photo in black and white. 'Feed-Forward' was the exceptional coronating statement.

RA.978 features a stack of unheard recordings from each of the trio, as well as close allies Stefanie Parnow and Tropic of Cancer, while also gathering many of Silent Servant's all-time favourite songs, including Psychic TV, Grace Jones and Galaxie 500. It's a strikingly vulnerable listen, one without many parallels on the Podcast. We're glad to run it. – Gabriel Szatan

Read more and find the tracklist here: ra.co/podcast/978
Read our new feature with Sandwell District here: https://ra.co/features/4426

RA.978 Sandwell District

A clinic in minimal from the elusive Acting Press boss. 

Why do certain sounds cultivate a cult following? Simply put, it's often because they resist easy consumption. PLO Man and his imprint Acting Press lean into this. 

Searching for the Berlin-based DJ and producer, you won’t find much online presence, interviews or conventional PR. What you will find, if you look hard enough, is a catalogue of records and mixes with a kind of tape hiss charm (a spiritual successor to Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, but scuzzier and lighter on its feet).

Founded in 2015, Acting Press once seemed to belong to the short-lived "outsider house" trend, but is now synonymous with a certain strain of modern minimal, one that is analogue, spacious and pointedly opaque. PLO Man's output is equally sparse by design: this week, he joins the RA Podcast with a characteristically elusive style, accompanying the near two-hour mix is a one-answer Q&A that gives almost nothing away.

Stripped-back, ever-so-slightly sleazy and coated in dust, PLO Man's RA Podcast continues that lineage in style. Opening with the featherlight microhouse of Margaret Dygas, RA.988 unfolds into a carefully curated spectrum of minimal, dub and deep techno. Among familiar names—look out for the blinding Rhythm & Sound and Moodymann blend—are deep cuts and left turns alongside the odd outlier, like lovers' rock pioneer Gregory Isaacs.

Like the best of his forebears, PLO Man wants RA.988 to take time for you to settle in. But once you do, you won’t want to leave. 

@p_el_oh

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/988

RA.988 PLO Man

Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter back to back at the opening Sunday of Mister Sunday's 2025 season. May 11, 2025. "We wanna see this every week."

Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin at Mister Sunday, May 11, 2025

I’m sharing my set from @nowadaysnyc from February, closing out the Sunday evening of the Nonstop party after Ayesha's crazy set. This was one of my favourite moments DJing ever I think. Pure synergy in one of my favourite places to play in the world.

The first track is something new from me, keep your eyes peeled more info soon. 👀

Theres a load of genre hopping over the four hours but everything felt quite natural and seamless, taking things from peak time bass music down to a soft house music landing with a few twists and turns along the way.

Beautiful and affirming moment dancefloor moments are not to be taken for granted! Much love to everyone who danced.

Batu @ Nowadays Nonstop - NYC [16th Feb 2025]

Three hours of sun-kissed-bliss, made for endless beach days, long sweaty nights and dancing until sunrise. This year arriving right in time for solstice and the official start of summer.

Featuring music by Pianoman, Alex Kassian, The Trip, Spray, Wigs, Aldonna, Masalo, Di After, Clint, Sam Alfred, Match Box, Aiden Francis, Mixolydian, Baldo, Demi Riquísimo, Man/Ipulate, André Zimmer, Vince Void, Lewis Taylor, Kara Okay, Chicane and many more.

Dagen Van Diamant Vol. 3 (Summer Mix '25)

"Designing clubs is about understanding psychology." The famed architects talk about bringing emotions, durability and hidden logic into era-defining nightlife spaces.

How do you design the world's best clubs? Studio Karhard, the architecture firm started by Thomas Karsten and his wife, Alexandra Erhard, in 2003, know exactly which ingredients go into a successful nightlife space. The Berlin-based duo are the visionaries behind Berghain and ∄ in Kyiv, as well as a number of private residences, businesses and smaller venues around the world. Their specialty, they say, is salvaging forgotten spaces and resurrecting them to serve a new purpose. 

In this RA Exchange, Karsten talks about first coming across the building that's now Berghain and working tirelessly with engineers and city planners to preserve its neoclassical facade. As he explains, creating a memorable atmosphere goes beyond just designing for aesthetics. There are countless hidden design features that serve to make venues like Berghain comfortable. 

But according to Karsten, Studio Karhard's masterpiece is ∄, which they began designing in 2018. He describes the special experience of first visiting the abandoned  brewery—which was then in extreme disrepair—and bringing the lessons they took away from building Berghain to make this Ukrainian space their most successful project yet. 

This episode takes a look under the hood of the psychology, anthropology and emotional study that inform the venues that have shaped underground electronic music culture. Listen to it in full. -Chloe Lula

EX.775 Studio Karhard

Mister Sunday, Mister Saturday Night, Planetarium & Nowadays. NYC.

Reactance

Eamon Harkin

Related tracks