Enigmatic Japanese producer Shinichi Atobe evokes a range of sensations in his music that few others can. Whether he's listened to in headphones on a long journey, on the sofa on a lazy Sunday, deep into an afters or during a peak time reprieve, the rich, vivid strokes of his heady work has equal power to relax, heal, move, energise, envelop and flaw. 

Another scholar of patient tension-building in electronic music, Prins Thomas included Atobe in the footnote homage of his sixth album, alongside luminaries from all sounds and ages. As a mark of how much Atobe's work has impacted on his own, Thomas has paid tribute with an hour mix.

Read a mini-essay from Thomas: http://www.stampthewax.com/2019/04/16/praise-you-a-shinichi-atobe-tribute-mix-by-prins-thomas/

Praise You: a Shinichi Atobe tribute mix by Prins Thomas

Artwork by karltechno
Mastered by Bob Macc @ SC Mastering

Push And Pull

upsammy at Praia - Waking Life '24

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

@priori-ties mix begins and ends with a gentle embrace, prowling seductively with dub-driven grooves before retreating into the ether like dusk yielding to dawn. Consistently in motion, but never in haste. Don’t miss the lion’s roar. 

The jewelry released with this mix is inspired by Priori’s fascination with labyrinths. Priori feels like mazes and labyrinths were omnipresent in youth literature and movies but hey rarely encounter them in culture these days.

Explore more on www.forge.fm 🔥

Priori

My set (with crowd noise) from the Grove Saturday Night 1-3am, after Djrum, before Identified Patient. 

Out to all the sexy witches of the forest, thank you to everytone there + entire crew @sustain-release-nyc :)

<3 Mastered by the best @wordcolour

CCL @ Sustain-Release Year Ten

Under the Priori (@priori-ties) moniker, Québecois musician Francis Latreille has established himself as a crucial voice in underground techno — as a producer, DJ, and live artist. Across a sprawling discography that includes four full-length albums, several EPs, and a host of collaborative projects, he has crafted a sound that is richly textured and genre-defying.

Priori’s work spans the full spectrum of techno, from introspective and meditative passages to driving, dancefloor-oriented momentum. His productions blend elements of ambient, dub, IDM, and tech house, navigating fluidly between nature and technology with a signature sense of unresolved tension. Fractal-like rhythms, crystalline textures, and meticulous sound design define his sonic world — intricate, vibrant, and emotionally resonant.

Beyond his solo output, Priori is also an accomplished mixing engineer, having collaborated with artists such as james K, Bambii, Maara, Ex-Terrestrial, Roza Terenzi, and D.Tiffany. As a co-founder of both NAFF and Jump Source Studio, his influence continues to shape the contours of underground electronic music across Canada and Europe.

PURE Guest.087 Priori

A journey through Japan’s quietly radical independent underground of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Drawn from small-run CDs, obscure compilations, and deeply interconnected label networks, reflecting a moment where ambient, glitch, IDM, and experimental club sounds flourished into new forms — shaped by a generation of artists working across clubs, galleries, and record shops.

Created by [Cameron Cullen](https://www.instagram.com/cam.eee_/) 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/the-nts-guide-to/episodes/the-nts-guide-to-data-haiku-music-from-japan-s-cd-era-electronic-underground-8th-july-2025

NTS Guide to: Music from Japan’s CD-era Electronic Underground 080725

The Sustain-Release co-founder steps up to the Phonica mix just ahead of the acclaimed festival’s 11th year. 
New York has an iconic history when it comes to club music, and over the years has seen many great names emerge from its underground scene. In modern times, Aurora Halal is undoubtedly one of those names. 
Aurora has become a staple at forward-thinking institutions like Berghain, De School, and her home base, Nowadays, where she holds a residency. Alongside her international touring, she’s carved out her own vital space through the long-running Mutual Dreaming parties and Sustain-Release, the DIY-rooted festival she co-founded, which continues to push boundaries as it enters its second decade.
Her Phonica mix offers a vivid snapshot of her deep, intuitive approach to DJing—captured live at Mansions, a cozy NYC wine bar turned house party haven. Known for her genre-fluid sets that blend hypnotic techno, house, acid and experimental textures this is the perfect calling card to showcase why she can hold it down with a range of greats like DJ Nobu, Vladimir Ivkovic and more.
We had a chat about the mix with Aurora as well as touching off Sustain and some of her favorite moments at the festival.

Phonica Mix Series 134: Aurora Halal

Honoured to welcome one of the finest ambient selectors on the planet...

'A certain recluse monk once remarked, "I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky." I can quite see why he would feel this.' - Yoshida Kenkō

"Mostly new music, brought together in the moment - at home, one afternoon in Tokyo, summer 2025." - Chris SSG

https://soundcloud.com/mnml-ssgs

Artwork by Clayton Ciolac
https://claytonciolac.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cccccclaytonciolac/

The Observatory - Chris SSG

It's impossible to talk about the sound of DjRUM without using the word cinematic. Whatever he does, it has a feeling of grand importance, widescreen elegance and moving emotion that elevates it way above a dance floor soundtrack. Throughout the course of his career, the UK artist has drawn on downtempo, blurred the lines between drum & bass and dubstep and always imbued his music with spoken words snippets, piano and chamber instruments. His Portrait With Firewood album was a real high-water mark in 2018, and last year his latest outing on R&S once again managed to draw on every aspect of electronic music and come up with something all his own. 

His mix for us this week is a perfect ethereal rave that finds plenty of beauty in the sparse rhythms he draws on from the worlds of garage, techno and drum & bass. There is a delicacy and elegance throughout, even when the beats hit hard and fast as they do at the overdriven and manic mid point. The amen breaks come thick and fast after that, but eventually melt away to propulsive ambient soundscapes that suspend you in time and space. Blissful.