Que buenos recuerdos <3 mil gracias por la sesión!

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

*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)

Dj BonClient - Southern Euphoria (Breaks, vocoders y subidones en Andalucía 00-08)  PT.1 (MP3)

A rare club mix from the ever-evolving artist, with 90 minutes of shadowy, atmospheric pressure.

Music's therapeutic value is often linked to relaxation—gongs, singing bowls and the like. Dense passages of foggy droning and eerie static aren't traditionally considered restorative, but Laurel Halo makes a pretty good case for it.

The Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based musician's abstract, often improvised productions are heavy on sound design and emotional climax. Driven by atmosphere rather than rhythm, they push listeners to grapple with their innermost insecurities, fears and dreams. "I'm lucky my music has helped people through crises," Halo once told Discwoman. It's easy to see why.

Since her 2010 debut King Felix, Halo has built a stunningly diverse catalogue of classically-informed records. A multi-instrumentalist—piano, violin, guitar, keys—her sharpest instrument is arrangement. Inspired by the surrealism of Italo Calvino and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, her releases, from Atlas to Behind The Green Door, unfold with slow-burning narrative and dense emotional weight. Her soundworlds are layered and labyrinthine—an architectonic space where self-reflection happens almost by force.

Even in the club, the sought-after composer excels in immersion. Her sets extend the expressionist palette of her records, trading traditional rhythm for tension, space and surprise. It’s no wonder she takes a genre-agnostic approach to the dance floor—her deep roots in freeform radio began at WCBN-FM in Michigan, followed by Berlin Community Radio, Rinse FM, and now a regular show on NTS.

RA.992 stitches foggy ambient loops, propulsive techno, mutant percussion and heady left turns with care. Tracks from DJ Rush, Octave One and Eddie Fowlkes nod to her Midwestern heritage, balanced out by deeper, psychedelic fare from the likes of Polygonia and Cousin. It's the mark of an artist revealing both deep curiosity and a precise hand as a selector. Rare, indeed.

@laurelhalo

Find the full interview at ra.co/podcast/992

RA.992 Laurel Halo

Paranoid London - 28 July 2025

the 11th entry in our series come from a dear friend and label regular, Toronto based musician and DJ - @ciel_dj

Words from the artist :

"little sounds in huge expansive spaces"

This mix was my musical extrapolation of this quote. As I put together the tracks in the mix, the idea of small sounds in big spaces became more metaphysical, as a metaphor for memory and nostalgia. Small, seemingly insignificant events in our past can expand in significance over time, informed by our experiences later on in life, and with our emotions acting as a tool of reverberation, extending their presence in our lives far past their time of occurrence. What begun as a process of selecting tracks that quite literally feature "small sounds in big spaces" soon morphed into a dig into my distant past, to nearly 20 years ago when I first started learning to DJ. I pulled from the mnml tracks that had an important influence on my formative years, their impact can still be heard in the contemporary tracks I play today, all of them bouncing next to each other in this nearly 2hr musical collage.

naffcast011 ⦾  *̣̥☆·͙̥‧‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙ Ciel ˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

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

HUNEE at Selectors - Dekmantel Festival 2025

https://wakeandbreak.bandcamp.com

Enjoying the sound? Follow us on Bandcamp to stay updated, support the upcoming releases — and don’t forget to share the vibe!

Wake & Break Records presents a journey through the deeper side of underground breakbeat — where minimal, deep, and groovy rhythms meet emotional textures. Each track reflects the label’s vision: honest, uncompromising music that connects the dance floor and the listener at home.

Don’t miss out on this must-have album.

www.instagram.com/wakeandbreak.records
www.youtube.com/@WakeandBreak.Records
www.facebook.com/wakeandbreak.records
www.tiktok.com/@wake.break.record

Mastered by RV Audio
Artwork by Skeam

Dj BonClient - Southern Euphoria (Breaks, vocoders y subidones en Andalucía 00-08) PT.1 (MP3)

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