www.wakinglife.pt
19 - 24 June 2024

📸 antoine grenez

Anthony Naples at Floresta - Waking Life '23

Flying away from the Typhoon Kong-rey with the last plane from Shanghai, arriving straight to Miki Abe, his inaugural wonderful Picnic People Panic to the DJ booth at Womb Tokyo to take over from the superb Alien Sex Friends.

Here is the live recording.

Ryosuke Tsuchiya, who also served as PA, mastered this mix. He used a unique approach, including IR reverb, to simulate the environment of the day with an immersive feel.
WOMB is a club with a very high ceiling and wooden floor. The subwoofer, with its large horn, gives the kick a rich ambience.

Enjoy!

Vladimir Ivkovic Live at PICNIC PEOPLE PANIC - November 1st 2024 at Womb Tokyo

For RA.1000, DJ Sprinkles' first mix in over a decade is a powerful meditation on the genocide in Gaza.

Dance music often relies on simple narratives: release, escape, unity. But those narratives can often feel inadequate, and even at times, hollow. Or, as Terre Thaemlitz might bluntly put it, just "shitty."

For her first mix in around 15 years, Terre Thaemlitz AKA DJ Sprinkles, challenges us to think differently. "I felt this 1000th podcast should reflect the moment in which it was made," she told us in her Q&A.

And what is this moment? Every day since Israel's 2023 assault on Gaza began, an average of 28 children have been killed. That's an entire classroom, every day, for over 600 days (at the time of writing). It's a staggering figure that only captures a fragment of the listless cruelty imposed on the strip.

Faced with such a genocide, what can music really do? How political can it truly be?  For their RA.1000, Thaemlitz gives us an unflinching rebuke to the idea that music should provide escapism. The mix weaves ambient fragments and jazz passages, woven around samples from Israeli media and the voices of outspoken Jewish critics like Gabor Maté and Norman Finkelstein. 

The result is not just a protest, but a document of our time. For Terre Thaemlitz, music is never just music. Her RA.1000 serves as a reminder that in an age of relentless suffering, the most political act is to reject the illusion of escape, and search for something greater.

Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1013. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Terre Thaemlitz / DJ Sprinkles

For the penultimate RA.1000, we take it back to the source with unreleased tapes from the private collection of Frankie Knuckles, the Godfather of House.

This is Pt.I, from 1989. The mix is provided courtesy of the Frankie Knuckles Foundation.

For RA.1000 Frankie Knuckles in full and all information on this unearthed audio, head to https://ra.co/podcast/1018 or 1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Frankie Knuckles Pt.I (1989)

Need something to listen to en route to FM? Toshiki Ohta has got you covered

As both a meticulous technician and a built-in-the-90s raver, Toshiki Ohta is the kind of DJ who can mega-mix his way out of the tightest genre corner. Which is handy, because his gift to FM this year is a near-three-hour mix crafted entirely from this year’s line-up – a task so excessively awkward you have to wonder if there’s some sort of masochistic kink going on here.

Now the risk, obviously, is completing the task to the letter only to deliver a rizzless plodathon of C-tier tunes and awkward transitions. But this is Tosh we’re talking about: no half measures! The result is monument to the moment: hoving into view under a fog of ambient Midland, it starts heady and heads-y, flowing through chuggy electro (auratekh, Lena Willikens) and rugged club tesselations (Ikonika, Prince of Deptford) before hitting a shinier seam of techno intensity (Roza Terenzi, Benton) and exploding into confetti cannon rave (Angel D’Lite, Big Ang).

Unsurprisingly, Tosh rates it as one of the most time-consuming sets he’s ever put together (including his recent eight-hour Goodhood mix). “It was a massive researching process – there were spreadsheets,” he sighs, “because I treat every mix that I do like I’m recording a mix CD in 1995.” Standing O, please!

https://soundcloud.com/tosh-ohta

1 Midland - First Light Over The Grove | Graded Records [2025]
2 Toresch (Vladmir Ivkovic) - Guayabame | Offen [2017]
3 auratekh - Phat Controllers - Flat Control | Self Release [2020]
4 Oklo Gabon - City Gym (Lena Willikens rmx) | H&P [2016]
5 EM + STAV - Orbit Groove | Graded [2020]
6 Billy Jack - 4th & soundwave | Self Release [2020]
7 ISAbella - That Thing | Self Release [2020]
8 Dan Beaumont - Trippy Pumper | Classic [2014]
9 Wheelman - Broke | Stereotone [2021]
10 Lewis Lowe - Toto's Cave | Redstone Press [2024]
11 Prince Of Deptford - Peak Human | Blaq [2021]
12 Ikonika - PR812 | Hum&Buzz [2012]
13 Jaded & Rami Ali - Acid | Club Sweat [2024]
14 Paurro - Relax The Rax | Cómeme [2022]
15 Daisy Moon - Eclipse | Timedance [2024]
16 Ahadadream - Bamboo Riddim | More Time [2017]
17 mi-el - so shook | HoMies [2024]
18 MJK - Twin Pistons | Kenyon Sounds [2020]
19 JASSS - Turbo Olé | AD93 [2020]
20 Sistrix (Hannah Holland) - Dirty Talk | Shall Not Fade [2024]
21 Jeremy Sylvester - Ghetto Tech | Garage Paradise [2024]
22 Shivum Sharma - Planningtobefull Steel (PTR remix) | Super Nature [2023]
23 Kode9 & Spaceape - Konfusion (Vox) | Hyperdub [2012]
24 Paurro - Marry B | Self Release [2022]
25 Toshiki Ohta - E.I.D. | Unreleased [2015]
26 Desire / Roza Terenzi - Danse Libre (Roza rmx) | Maricas [2023]
27 Volte-Face - Blatchington Mill (Wata Igarashi rmx) | BleeD [2017]
28 Tasha & Kamikaze Space Programme - Nine Spirit | Neighbourhood [2019]
29 Benton - T's Offerings | Neighbourhood [2024]
30 Mike Parker (Richard Akingbehin) - Heat Inducer | Kynant [2021]
31 A For Alpha - Dee Lite | Hardline Sounds [2024]
32 Aloka - The Joker | Self Release [2020]
33 Ambient Babestation Meltdown - The Drum Machine | Ritual Poison [2023]
34 CHERIII - Cupcakke - LGBT | Self Release [2024]
35 A2A (AYA) - Turf | Local Action [2020]
36 Big Ang - Jumping | Self Release [2021]
37 J. ARIA - EGO TRIP | Self Release [2024]
38 DJ Ping - Warp Room One | West Friends [2019]
39 Compliments - On accident | Self Release [2022]
40 Nazar - Pausado | Self Release [2020]
41 Angel D'lite - Aquatic Riddim | Super Drama [2020]
42 FAFF - What's The Other One? | ec2a [2024]
43 Local Group - Watch This Beat | 1Ø Pills Mate [2021]
44 Ryan Lovell - Agora Kills | Self Release [2022]
45 LMajor - 160 Yo | Gutterfunk [2025]
46 Parris - Crimson Kano | Can You Feel The Sun [2021]
47 YNZN.P - Flea | Consolidate [2021]
48 Yazzus - The Wolf Has Come | Self Release [2021]
49 unkle G - Everybody got their hello but me | Equinoxx Music [2023]
50 Raf Reza - Exit Point | Heart to Heart [2019]
51 Cooly G & Scratchclart - Remember | DVA [2024]

FM063: TOSHIKI OHTA 100% FM MIX

Current Material is a mixtape (C60) recorded by C.K and released in '25. It contains 90% unreleased material.

In total 50 copies were made. The cassette tapes were distributed through Safe Distribution and in various (offline) record stores worldwide.

*Update 15/09/2025: Still a few copies left!

C.K - Current Material

@second_contact, Honey Trap mainstay, mix series pathfinder and metalsmith at @forge-fm is inspired by those who know the rules well enough to break them. Behind the decks, he oscillates between downtempo, dark wave, and progressive trance exploring the idea between restraint and release.

Second Contact at Nowadays for .·:*¨༺ Honey Trap༻¨*:·. 08-14-25

Ethio-jazz luminary Mulatu Astatke graces us with an hour of music – including Ethiopian jazz that has influenced him over the years, and some picks from his new record Mulatu Plays Mulatu. Astatke plays the Southbank Centre as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival November 16th.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/mulatu-astatke-28th-september-2025

Mulatu Astatke 280925

In the words of Scott Zacharias, who closed the Outer Space Room at No Way Back, May 25, 2025, Day 2 of Return to the Source at Tangent, Detroit:

“NWB, being more than just the sum of its parts, always reflects my current life state(or lack of) and this year was no different. My friend Zach reminded me of this ultra-special cut by Arthur Russell: “In the Light of the Miracle.” It’s one of those holy grails and this mix (by Danny Krivit & Tony Smith) only existed as unreleased Talking’ Loud promo until a Soul Jazz comp finally issued it properly in 2005. I used to run it occasionally some 20 years ago, but hearing it again left me shook and set the stage for my entire set. And the rest of my life. My partner Ellen and I learned we were pregnant that same weekend.

Completely overwhelmed, I felt like I just wanted to share music for folks like I do in my own living room. Not really as a mix, but an intimate family affair. In the wee hours of the morning when I finally decided to share Russell’s opus, Ellen joined me on stage. We embraced and cried as we saw all our friends dancing in a now sunlit room. 

“I love you and that's all, living in the light.” — Arthur Russell”


IT.podcast.s14e07: Scott Zacharias at No Way Back 2025

XDB & PLO Man at Waking Life 2025

Minimal dark glitch techno: distorted kicks, glitchy textures, and cold female fragments. Four originals, each fractured into alternate corrupted states—packet loss, checksum errors, clock drift, and human-coded anomalies. Built for concrete floors at 4AM.


Heart Throb Palace (Lisa Procees Fork)

FM2025: 15-17th August. Somewhere in Norfolk

FM063: TOSHIKI OHTA 100% FM MIX

Field Maneuvers