Australian Kia very quickly rose up through the grimy after-hours rave scene of Melbourne to make her mark on the international stage. Now Berlin-based, her unique grasp of rhythm is rooted in a love of bass, IDM and deeper techno though she is adept at exploring a wide range of moods within those worlds. She has done so at places like ADE and our own festival and extends her good taste to the curation of her Animalia imprint and its ambient sub-label Cirrus as well as her own original tracks on Nous'klaer Audio.

In this week's mix, Kia showcases a colourful and kaleidoscopic take on techno which she says was awakened by an early trip to Japan's famously head Labyrinth festival. It's a hi-fidelity feast of supple rhythms, icy synths and deep space ambiance that unfolds in late-night fashion. The melodies are as delicate as silk, the drums rubbery yet punchy. It's high-paced future music that manages to be as delicate and beautiful as it is dynamic.

Dekmantel Podcast 440 - Kia

Recording of Batu B2B Donato Dozzy (the secret B2B) at Aura, Draaimolen Festival 2023, Day 1.

Batu B2B Donato Dozzy at Draaimolen Festival 2023

Recorded at UNDISCLOSED X by @zenkerbrothers
HAL25, Alkmaar

ZENKER BROTHERS AT UNDISCLOSED X - 10.08.24

It was my first Draaimolen and no one knew it which was great. 
It was also my first encounter with Addit Audio and their sound system installed for the first time in its full glory. I can't recall being brought to tears during one soundcheck.
So there were no news, no algorithms, no expectations to be disappointed. The pit was not announced. It felt like a curious manifestation of something paranormal.
Wonderful sound system, records and sweetest weather.  
Those who found us in the small pit in the middle of the forest most likely didn't know what was going on. 
For the most part of the first 5 hours I figured out that it would be great to play for and with the sound guy, playing right and wrong records and figuring out which one sound good. Research and development mission for Addit Audio.
After 5 hours ISAbella joined for a brief back to back session. Everything can happen in the realm of paranormal. Luckily she stayed and we played together for the next 3 hours until the last song, the one for the deceased. Probably as close as it gets to transcendence. 

Thank you all. You know who you are. 

Vladimir Ivkovic

Vladimir Ivkovic at Draaimolen Festival 2024

21st century electro-futurism, Helsinki style. 

Sometime around a decade ago, electro started to surge onto dance floors again. A new generation of DJs, from Helena Hauff and DJ Stingray, brought the sci-fi, cyborg funk to new audiences, as a modern retool of the style began enjoying the ubiquity of its four-to-the-floor cousins. And few embody its future for our current decade like Sunny Seppä, AKA Sansibar.

Cutting his teeth in Helsinki's underground with residencies at Kaiku and Post Bar, Seppä's sound draws from a broad range of influences far from the Finnish capital. His first releases channeled the high-definition Motor City school of electro, but he has since evolved.

Not one to be confined by the narrow confines of any genre, the Finnish producer and DJ's discography has steadily begun to encompass a wider palette of influences, including releases with fellow new-gen electro artist Reptant.

It's no wonder Seppä has found a home on Kalahari Oyster Cult. Sans Musique was released by Rey Colino's label, and both are united by a love for an amalgamation of gritty and ecstatic sounds of the '90s. As Colino put it himself, the Cult espouses "nostalgia with a modern sound design."

You can hear that peppered throughout Seppä's RA Podcast. From Simulant's stone-cold classic "Wav.Form" to shades of tech house from the late '90s and early '00s (as well as some of his own unreleased material), the full vision of his broad sound world comes alive on RA.976. You won't technically hear too much electro in this mix—but underscoring many of the selections is the retro-futurism that electro elicits, that bleary-eyed optimism of dance music's halcyon era.

@sunnysibar
@sin-sistema-sin

Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/976

RA.976 Sansibar

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

Party People

🌐 Refuge Worldwide is a radio station and community space based in Berlin-Neukölln.
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pi pi pi  - deep creep - 23 Apr 2025

Kiosk and The Lot Radio proudly team up for a three-day broadcast from the Moon Ra stage at Horst Festival, highlighting the vibrant music scenes of New York and Brussels at one of Europe’s renowned festivals.

https://www.instagram.com/secondcousin_

www.kioskradio.com
www.thelotradio.com
www.horstartsandmusic.com

Cousin | Kiosk Radio x The Lot Radio at Horst Festival 2025

The Scion and Hard Wax man gets low on this week's RA podcast.

RA.147 DJ Pete

Freerotation Festival (a.k.a. the highlight of every year a.k.a. the four best dancefloors on the planet) was on top form this year – it's always a total joy to play and spend the weekend there and I'm really happy to share the recording of my set. I was playing second-to-last on Sunday night in Room 1, between XDB and Sebastian Mullaert, so I figured I'd leave out the drastic tempo shifts and just have A LOAD OF FUN keeping the party going instead, maybe coaxing out a couple of end-of-festival tears in the process.

If you were there then millions of thanks to you, there's no bunch of people I'd rather play to (or hang out with) and I've spent the last 3 days wishing I could go back. Hope you've managed to get through the last few days without almost weeping at the coffee machine. (I've had no such luck.)

And, obv, thanks as ever to Steevio and Suzybee for having me :)))

x

TL:

Liaisons D - He Chilled Out (Remix)
Subculture - Dreams (Tribal Life Remix)
Frankie Bones - When The Bass Drops (edit)
Neil Landstrumm - Snowdawn
Arttu - Walking On A Fine Line (feat Roberto Q. Ingram)
Objekt - Theme From Q
Digital Domain - I Need Relief
JLin - Hatshepsut
Atom TM - LTBCYB
Dynamo Dreesen, SVN, AMUS - Untitled (Acido 20)
Aleksi Perälä - UK74R1513080
XY0815 - Tool Matter
ERP - Vox Automaton
Miss Modular - Earplug
Shake - March Into Darkness
DJ Skull - The Drum
Frankie Bones - Pure Ecstasy
Woody McBride - Dr J
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins - It’s Like That (edit)
Truss & Sync 24 - Tri-gate
Versalife - QU_AD
Function - Untitled
EQD005B
Oliver Ho - Magic
Rhythm & Sound w/ Jah Cotton - Dem Never Know (Sleeparchive Remix)
Reinhold Friedl - KORE performed by Zeitkratzer

Live At Freerotation 2017 (DJ set)

Adventures in machine music built to make subs rattle and feet wiggle; a convoluted mess of elektrology and teknology, 3-step, bass-core, post windmill, proto-minimal wankstep, gondola, shithouse, acid wonk, ambient gabber, no more, no less.

BOOKING
chris@unfoldartists.com (ROW)
joe@surefireagency.com (NA)
a.montes@cuatroveinte.tv (LATAM)