an excerpt from the middle of a four hour opening set. enjoy.

photo by willem mevis

Richard Akingbehin @ Draaimolen x Sustain Release, Tilburg - May '24

The producer best known as Huerco S. accompanies One Day, our record of the year, with two hours of minimal and dub introspections.

This summer, Kansas-raised DJ and producer Brian Leeds released One Day under his revived Loidis alias. Enamoured with the restrained, loopy sounds of early '00s dance music, the album’s eight tracks linger in the air, luxuriating in dubbed-out chords, swung beats and sub vibrations. It's our favourite record of 2024 for a reason. 

It's a sound he's coined, in his typically teasing fashion, "dub mnml emo tech." All winks aside, it’s no wonder One Day became the soothing balm we all needed. In a scene overwhelmed by hard and fast trends, the softer—and Leeds might argue, more sincere—stylings of minimal and dub techno enjoyed a welcome second wind. 

Not only was One Day one of our favourites of the year (more on that this week), but it also inspired us to break our usual no-repeats rule, inviting Leeds back to the RA Podcast under a different alias after his 2019 turn as Huerco S. 

"The prevailing trends in dance music are more and more maximalist," Leeds noted. "I missed restraint, subtlety, and sensuality." Clocking in at just under two hours, RA.965 embodies that ethos in spades.

@huerco_s

Read more at ra.co/podcast/965

RA.965 Loidis

*recorded live in Field, ON at Best Out of Town Year 4 (09/01/24)

Ciel was gracious with her eight hours on the beach, offering an extended trip through house and techno’s touchpoints before dropping it down and bringing the whole festival together for a downtempo singalong. In truth, we’ve come to expect this fidelity and care from Cindy. Memories of old Geary Ave, 500 Keele, the grotto, and community radio rebound through these blends, solidifying her place as one of the Toronto underground’s biggest exports of the past half decade-plus. Take a listen and enjoy the ride.

@ciel_dj

Ciel // Best Out of Town Year 4 (09/01/2024)

Kaleidoscopic psychedelia from one of Australia's finest.

While it might feel early to call bets on DJs of the decade, Kia Sydney, best known as Kia, is undoubtedly one of them. The Animalia founder began in Naarm's (Melbourne) underground scene in the mid-2010s, crediting a trip to the influential deep techno Japanese festival, Labyrinth, as the inspiration behind her sound.

Deep techno might not cut it as a descriptor for Sydney's sound, though. Hypnotic ribbons of steely techno mix with atmospherics and nimble grooves, drawing from IDM, dub and tech house, sharing as much with DJ Nobu and Donato Dozzy (try to find the track that overlaps with Dozzy's own RA Podcast) as well as modern practitioners like Priori and Beatrice M.

This distinctly Australian scuttling psychedelia has made Kia one of the most sought-after underground DJs globally. Her brainchild, Animalia, showcases a plurality of sounds and scenes, serving as living proof of the fruitful shift of the 2020s: less serious, perhaps, but with a sense of open-minded worldliness that offers a far more promising vision of what dance music can be and achieve.

Sydney's rare talent lies in forging connections, bringing people, sounds and ideas together with a distinct playfulness. Her RA Podcast showcases this alchemy in abundance, weaving classics like Monolake and Enya with peers such as OK EG, Cousin and Command D.

As she told us in her 2023 Breaking Through profile, "people tell me I have quite a distinctive sound but I can't tell so much because I hear so many different versions of it." RA.973 serves as confirmation that Kia's style is, to say the least, the mark of a generational talent.
 
@kia-sydney @animalia-label  @cirruslabel

Read more at ra.co/podcast/973

RA.973 Kia

Mike Servito's closing set from 10:30am until noon at No Way Back, May 25, 2025, Day 2 of Return to the Source at Tangent, Detroit. 

"Mike Servito is an artist intertwined with his Detroit origins. No matter how far he travels and how long he lives elsewhere, the essential imprint of this city remains in everything he does.

If you asked where this mix was recorded, I would say "Detroit" without hesitation and if I thought about it for a bit, I would guess that it was most likely one of Mike's legendary closing sets at No Way Back at Tangent Gallery. The level of care and reverence that go into these sets is very evident in this mix from start to finish. The track selection moves effortlessly from past to future playing with darkness and light, depth and joy, tension and release. It's a remarkable demonstration of taste and skill but also a paean to Mike's personal artistic history that calls to the creative power center that Detroit comprises. This mix provides a true glimpse into Mike's long-term dedication to the art of working in tandem with the dancefloor, creating a shared journey where the challenge is to let go and just trust the DJ." 
– Michelle Erfer, Beyond Booking / The Bunker


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IT.podcast.s14e05: Mike Servito closing No Way Back 2025

Welcoming one of our personal favourite's from the big apple! A positive conductor of all things deep and dreamy, NYC's @yibingg is a longtime resident on The Lot Radio with an impeccable ear for contemplative sonics, ever thoughtfully sliced and diced with a big signature smile :)

Time to hit recline and let Yibing tranquilify your mind.

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. I’ve always been drawn to uplifting sounds, but I also love deep, percussive music and melancholic minor key melodies, which I think there’s a lot of in this mix. Hopefully a nice journey to drift into and daydream with :)

I really wanted this mix to be a sort of homage to the sound of MDC and the AU music community (as I hear it), which I connect with deeply. I find it so playful, psychedelic and beautiful. It definitely took me a while to untangle this, especially knowing it was for one of the most goated series out there… One that’s inspired me time and time again.

Personally, my favorite place to test mixes is on my bike. Maybe not the safest spot to zone out, but it’s become part of my post recording ritual. 

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. Atone's "Lost & Found"! I became obsessed with Tonal Ocean's Atone Special after it aired on NTS last year. Atone is, of course, an Australian project from the mind of Andrew Fitzgerald. I've listened to that mix countless times. "Atonement" is really just such a perfect record to me.  

I played "Lost & Found" last year at a festival that Doc Tom and CZ Wang curated called In The Open. It's still one of my favorite sets I've ever played and a memory I will cherish forever... I felt people really locking in during it and I was surrounded by some of my closest friends too… Music & friendship - truly nothing better than it.

Q. Tell us about the evolution of Tranquilamente Radio on The Lot Radio, you play such a wide variety of beautiful music on the show, do you approach each show with a theme of sorts or just let things flow naturally?

A. It's wild to think that I've been involved with radio in one shape or another for over a decade at this point... Through so many changes, radio in its different iterations has remained the only constant.

When I started the show on The Lot Radio almost five years ago, it was deep during the pandemic and I wanted to foster a space for more laidback, at-home listening music. The inspiration for the title of the show was the Pacific Ocean - thinking about oceans as connectors of all these beautiful ~music waves~ around the world.

I have done some themed shows over the years - I do an indie rock special every year, as a nod to my roots and to what I was playing back at KCSB, a college radio station in California where everything started. I also did a Canto-pop special a while back with some music I grew up listening to. More recently, I did a Music From Memory special that I really enjoyed, using the opportunity to really dive deep into everything that's come out from that label. I definitely want to keep doing more of that.

I find it exciting that even though the show is pretty eclectic, it’s developed a sound of its own. I definitely have a predilection for weirdo, left-field music and I love that the show can be a platform where me and my guests are encouraged to explore different sounds beyond the club. I think doing the show has also taught me and motivated me over the years to bring that sound into my sets too.

MDC.314 Yibing

An hour of deep cuts by Kia ahead of her set at Abrupt Festival.

Abrupt Festival w/ Kia @ Kiosk Radio 10.10.2025

Ploy at Dekmantel Selectors 2025

3:37 am

MOVE YOUR BODY

I recorded this mix in 2018 for the Her Damit festival and titled it the Mystery of the Motherbeat. I was hungry to tour Europe for the first time and agreed to do a mix and play the festival on a shoestring budget. Her Damit went into bankruptcy later that year, failing to pay artists and others for their work.  They also let their Soundcloud account expire, losing all the mixes they commissioned for the series. 

I am re-releasing this mix under its original name. Its real name. It is one of my deepest mixes. It is filled with the love and hope for the future that I put into it. It was recorded a week before I went to visit Maya and Brooke for the first time in March of 2018, exactly two years ago. That visit would change my life.  

Metronome - Voyage to the Bottom of the Bass (WBR Records 1991) 
Visions of Rhythm - Power of Purchase (Klasse Wrecks 2017)
Christian Tiger School - If You Want To (Original Version) (Lissoms 2018)
DJ Python - Cuál (Incienso 2017) 
Pseudopolis - Tracer (Redstone Press 2017)
Bassbin Twins III - untitled (Bassbin Records 1995)
Nitro Delux feat Silk - Hypno House (Deep Dub) (Cutting Records 1990)
Christian Tiger School - If You Want To (Edmondson Version) (Lissoms 2018)
Friends of Mathew - Out There (Raw mix) (Pulse-8 Records 1991)
DJ bwin - Mit Bonus... (First Second Label 2017)
Glas Rm - Fully Dipped (Wells Street  2017)
Ben Cohen - Entrance (from “Lesser Mysteries”) (Brokntoys 2018)
DJ Psychiatre - Trust Issues (Gasp 2017)
Hawke - 3 Moods in a Gurple Parden (Hardkiss Music 1993)
Dream Cycle - Paradise State (Sneaker Social Club 2017)
Human Movement - I Need (12 inch mix) (Of Leisure 2017)
Waterpark - Data Orb (Deep Blue 2016)
Environments - Ultimate Thunderstorm (Syntonic Research, Inc. 1979)

IT.podcast.s14e05: Mike Servito closing No Way Back 2025

ithqdetroit