A collection of Fireside Chat interviews that I recorded in 2017 2018, all originally broadcast on redbullradio.com 

"We pull up a chair with some of music’s most errant characters, to find out how they defined an era, recorded a masterpiece, or just simply pioneered a life in sound."

Fireside Chat

A selection of lectures I hosted that have been broadcast as part of Red Bull Music Academy's Couch Wisdom (2014-2018)

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Couch Wisdom

A section of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Peak Time

A selection of mixes I curated for the Choice Mix on Red Bull Radio (2016-2018). Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. All episodes engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall.

Choice Mix

A selection of hosted editorial shows for redbullradio.com, including episodes for Shawn Reynaldo's First Floor and Chal Raven's Top Flight.

First Floor: house, techno, disco, beats, breaks, ambient, experimental weirdness and more; Shawn Reynaldo surveys the latest offerings from across the electronic spectrum.

Top Flight is your weekly destination for high-grade club material from the furthest reaches of the dancefloor. Chal Ravens presents the freshest tracks, mixes and in-depth interviews with the DJs, producers and labels currently expanding the definition of bass.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com (2017-2018)

Hosted Shows (First Floor, Top Flight)

A large group tuning mediation, led by Pauline Oliveros, on the Sunday evening of the Deep ∞ Minimalism series at St. John's Smith Square in London, June 2016. The sound is of group inhalations and exhalations, and the resonance of the church itself - no music, purely human. This was recorded as an iPhone voice memo. I recorded this originally for myself, but after the passing of Pauline Oliveros I wanted to share this and show how beautiful this was. Thank you Pauline. Journey well.

Tuning Meditation led by Pauline Oliveros at Deep ∞ Minimalism (London, 2016)

Laurent Garnier grew up fascinated by African-American musical culture, an obsession that led to an early elevation of radio as both mode of discovery and engine for further exploration. Lucky enough to have an older brother who would sneak him into nightclubs, it was in those gay French establishments where Garnier first caught the disco bug. Garnier eventually moved to Manchester, where he worked as a caterer in an effort to improve his English —
more importantly, Garnier fell under the spell of house music at Manchester’s famed Hacienda nightclub. If Mike Pickering’s Friday nights at the Hacienda were a baptism, hearing Farley “Jackmaster” Funk for the first time was a legitimate miracle, and Garnier came away from the club a true zealot of house. It was at the Hacienda where Garnier first began to DJ in earnest, eventually leading to a well-earned reputation for eclectic, marathon sets —he also established himself as a legitimate producer and A&R man in his role at F Communications. Garnier’s approach to DJing and live performance is practically religious — for him, a DJ set is a rite, a live performance an opportunity for continuous revelation through improvisation. Garnier has helped push house around the world as much as anyone in the last 25 years, influencing an entire generation of DJs and producers.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on September 28th 2017

Written and engineered by Frank Westerkamp
Produced by Carmen Hofmann

Fireside Chat with Laurent Garnier

Peter Zummo is an American trombonist, producer and composer whose work in the downtown scene of New York City’s mid-20th century interdisciplinary avant-garde has been deeply influential. His celebrated trombone style is one of the beloved features of Arthur Russell’s work, as well as of artists such as Peter Gordon and his Love of Life orchestra, Downtown Ensemble, the Flying Hearts, the Lounge Lizards, Tom Skinner and Oliver Coates, among myriad others. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Zummo studied music at Wesleyan University, adapting his love for Western classical, jazz and world music into an improvisational style of trombone playing with a focus on live, ensemble performance — a style he wryly calls “minimalism and a whole lot more.” Much of his recorded output is archival, with albums such as Zummo With An X and Dress Code (Don’t Look At My Car), released by Optimo Music, and Lateral Pass and Frame Loop, released by Foom Music.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 15th 2018

Written, produced and engineered by Marc Übel

Fireside Chat with Peter Zummo

From Rufige Kru’s dancefloor killers to the era-defining album Timeless, Goldie was, is and always will be the global face of drum & bass. Spearheading the Metalheadz label and its legendary east London club night at the Blue Note, the man born Clifford Joseph Price went from childhood care homes to graffiti writing in the Bronx before establishing himself as a foundational presence in ’90s British rave music. Since then he’s found wider fame as an actor in film and TV, and has scored and conducted orchestral works, but he’s also found solace. Recent years have seen Goldie produce music with a reflective tone, and talk about himself with wisdom. Currently living in Thailand, Goldie is a balancing act, working between the drum & bass badman seen by the world and the man named Clifford Price who he sees in the mirror.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on June 25th 2018

Written and engineered by Tobias Jansen
Produced by Carmen Hofmann

Fireside Chat with Goldie

The son of an Army Sergeant’s Major from the English countryside, David Rodigan just might be the most unlikely man to become one of the most recognizable and respected figures in reggae music worldwide – but at 65 years old, with an MBE and a reputation as one of the finest in the British music broadcasting canon, that’s exactly who Sir David Rodigan is today. For an older generation that grew up as reggae, dub and roots lovers, tuning into Capitol, Kiss FM and pirate radio across England to connect with the Caribbean musical and cultural diaspora throughout the ’70s, and then the dancehall, ska and rocksteady of the ’80s and ’90s, Rodigan was a familiar voice who championed these radical sounds with infectious enthusiasm. For the rave generation onwards, he’s revered for his style as a selector and encyclopaedic knowledge of reggae’s lasting influence on genres such as dubstep, drum & bass and jungle, most notably through presenting on BBC 1Xtra and having his own station on Grand Theft Auto. Today, Rodigan continues to keep his heart and head deep in the sound, even if his feet barely ever touch the ground: going into the reggae heartlands of Jamaican dancehalls to compete in sound clash tournaments against the greatest dub sound systems around. To celebrate the publication of Rodigan’s autobiography, My Life In Reggae, the man himself weaves frank stories of his life and legacy with characteristic flair.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 6th 2017

Written, produced and engineered by Frank Westerkamp

Fireside Chat with David Rodigan

The youngest son of afro-beat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and now leader of his father’s ensemble group, Egypt 80, Seun Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his father ever was. His take on the afro-beat sound honors the revolutionaries who have gone before and rallies the torchbearers to come, working with producers like Brian Eno and Robert Glasper to create albums that speak to African politics, identity, culture, spirituality and socio-economic injustice. A divisive figure in his native Nigeria, Kuti uses music to speak truth to power, and push for a global conversation about what it means to be human. His fourth album as the leader of Egypt 80, Black Times, was released on Strut in the spring of 2018.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on April 3rd 2018

Written and engineered by Tobias Jansen
Produced by Carmen Hofmann

Fireside Chat with Seun Kuti

Born and raised in Detroit, DJ Bone is one of Midwest techno’s most revered artists. As a teenager he would sneak into Music Institute to see hometown heroes like the Belleville Three perform, and he’d listen to the Electrifying Mojo on local radio — that’s as fine an education as you could hope to get in the roots of techno. His triple-deck setup translates to a tactile style of house and techno DJing, a polyrhythmic sound bolstered by highly technical mixer antics. DIY to the core, DJ Bone has independently run his own label, Subject Detroit, since the beginning, and has released original music largely under the aliases DJ Bone and Differ-Ent. Among dozens of EPs and singles, he’s released three solo albums: 2007’s Out of Knowhere and 2018’s A Piece of Beyond on Subject Detroit, and 2017’s It’s Good To Be Differ-Ent on UK techno label Don’t Be Afraid.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on May 24th 2018.

Written and engineered by Marc Übel
Produced by Carmen Hofmann

Fireside Chat with DJ Bone

Pop singer and producer Kindness has a deep understanding of how music ties into identity and ways of seeing the world. Having collaborated with Dev Hynes, Kelela, Robyn and more, his outlook on how musical cultures inform one another is a breath of fresh air in an often-stifling world. In this lecture from the 2015 Red Bull Music Academy in Paris, his stories on identity, bigotry and the music business prove touching for musicians and non-musicians alike.

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Produced and engineered by Frank Westerkamp and Denis Hürter

Couch Wisdom with Kindness

Liberation of soul and mind is essential to the work of Dev Hynes. In addition to crafting socially-minded R&B as Blood Orange, he’s worked with artists ranging from Solange Knowles and Nelly Furtado to David Byrne, Grace Jones and Kindness. In his lecture at the 2016 Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal, Hynes talks about his fascination with found sound, working with female voices and what it means to be a black classical music fan.

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Produced and engineered by Frank Westerkamp and Denis Hürter

Couch Wisdom with Dev Hynes

Durban, South Africa, is one of the hottest scenes for dance music right now. Black Coffee, real name Nathi Maphumulo, serves as its elder statesman. The 40-year-old first appeared at the Academy as one of two South African participants at the 2003 Red Bull Music Academy in Cape Town. His style of Afropolitain house is, in his words, “home-brewed but future-focused.” Maphumulo’s recording career began in 2005 with a remix of Hugh Masekela’s 1972 hit “Stimela” and has gone on to include five solo albums, including 2015’s Pieces of Me, which has been certified double platinum in South Africa. In this episode of Couch Wisdom recorded at the 2016 Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal, Black Coffee discusses the early club sounds of South Africa, breaking through in a burgeoning local industry, working with Masekela and more.

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Produced and engineered by Marc Übel

Couch Wisdom with Black Coffee

One of the most respected DJs working today, The Black Madonna has never shied away from speaking up for women, people of color and the LGBTQ community, both on and off the dancefloor. In her lecture from the 2016 Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal, the former Midwest raver tells us what it takes to challenge the status quo.

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Produced and engineered by Frank Westerkamp and Denis Hürter

Couch Wisdom with The Black Madonna

Many musicians are genre-hoppers these days, but few have an inventive take on every style they touch. RBMA alum Objekt could be an exception to the rule. His first record, the white-label Objekt #1, came out in 2011. Across his subsequent club output on labels such as Hessle Audio, Leisure System and Power Vacuum, audacious sound design and meticulous arrangements have served to buckle and twist dancefloor conventions. His debut album, 2014’s Flatland on PAN, consolidated his influences – IDM, electro, techno, industrial and ambient, among others – into a sonically adventurous narrative imagining “a world in which any scene can be seen from every angle at once.” His 2018 follow-up, the introspective Cocoon Crush, deploys a more organic sound palette of foley recordings and ASMR-inspired textures in service of more personal themes. In parallel, Objekt has built a reputation as one of the must-see DJs of his generation thanks to a deft, highly technical mixing style combined with a technician’s mindset honed through his years working as an instrument developer at music software company Native Instruments. In this episode of Couch Wisdom recorded at the 2018 Red Bull Music Academy in Berlin, Objekt delved deep into the intricacies of his sound design process, as well as his meticulous approach to DJing.

Taken from a selection of lectures I hosted that have been broadcast as part of Red Bull Music Academy's Couch Wisdom (2014-2018).

Couch Wisdom is a weekly podcast presenting the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lecture archive. Questlove has called these in-depth interviews “Inside the Actors Studio for music”, and who are we to disagree with Questlove? With personal stories and creative insights from Björk to The Black Madonna, Young Thug engineer Alex Tumay to Moodymann, there’s something for every music fan. 

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Produced by Jordan Rothlein
Engineered by JP del Mundo

Couch Wisdom with Objekt

Live from Berlin’s Funkhaus, today’s Peak Time falls deeply under the influence of the hypnotic rhythms and cosmic proto-electronics of krautrock. We’ll hear a conversation between Lauren Martin and Manuel Göttsching, leader of the groups Ash Ra Tempel and Ashra in the 1970s and ’80s, and one of the most important guitarists of the kosmische style, whose work has influenced ambient, balearic, post-rock, techno and beyond. Martin talks to Göttsching about Timothy Leary, the ’60s trip, proto-electronics and his influential hit E2-E4 among many other topics. 

Taken from a selection of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Engineered by Ryan Woodhall
Produced by Sara Casella

Peak Time with Manuel Göttsching and Christian Rich

It’s just past the 20-year anniversary of Altered States, author Matthew Collin’s era-defining book on acid house and rave culture in Britain. Collin is back with a brand new one: Rave On: Global Adventures in Electronic Dance Music ponders how electronic dance music — once the utopian frontier of underground pop culture — is surviving its transition into the global mainstream. RBMA correspondent and Choice Mix host Lauren Martin sits down with Collin in London to discover more about his travels to the big-room clubs of Ibiza, Las Vegas and Dubai; his explorations into the techno idealism of Detroit and Berlin; and embedding with DIY party people in South Africa and New York City. 

Taken from a selection of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Engineered by Ryan Woodhall

Peak Time with Matthew Collin

“I think the Motherbeat might be Gaia herself—a constant message in the sound around us with the capacity to restore our connection to nature.” Eris Drew told Resident Advisor last year. Named by a friend in the late hours of the rave many years ago, the Motherbeat was at the time to Drew a rhythmic, healing energy and a reprieve from dysphoria. This language of pulsation continues to inform Drew’s creativity, resulting in a release of ecstatic energy unto the dancefloor and invocation of transcendental states in her listeners. At the top o the show, we’ll hear Lauren Martin’s conversation with Drew on the Motherbeat and what else the Smart Bar resident has been up to.

Taken from a selection of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Engineered by Ryan Woodhall
Produced by Sara Casella

Peak Time with Eris Drew and Iceage

Scotland is currently experiencing a cross-pollination between the art school and rave communities, which has resulted in a new scene of collectives that are creating electronic music with a fusion of analog and digital instruments and forming live bands with vocalists. Performing at house parties, venues and club spaces, these artists represent a new wave of punk and DIY spirit coursing through the underground dance music of Scotland. Today we’ll hear Lauren Martin in conversation with some of the scene’s influential characters. First she speaks with Michael Kasparis of Night School Records, the Glasgow-based label that has released music from Molly Nilsson and Julia Holter. We’ll then hear from LAPS — Ladies as Pimps — the Glaswegian duo breaking sonic boundaries with clashing percussion, riotous vocals and beats pulled every which way through house, R&B and dub. Plus, Lauren’s got more music from Glaswegian bands you need to hear.

Take from a selection of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Engineered by Ryan Woodhall
Produced by Sara Casella

Peak Time with The New Sound of Scotland

Peak Time’s London correspondent Lauren Martin brings us a grime-heavy episode today. At the top of the show, we’ll hear her conversation with rising MC and producer Novelist. Coming from Lewisham in south London, Novelist is one of the most critically acclaimed new artists on the scene - known for witty lyricism, youthful energy and taut, bouncing beats. After releasing EPs on his own label, MMMYEH Records, and in collaboration with Mumdance, on XL Recordings, he’s self-released his debut album Novelist Guy - an entirely solo affair, produced and written by himself. He speaks with Martin about his process, mixing and mastering the album at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, what his “Ruff Sound” is, and much more. Later, we’ll listen to her chat with Dan Hancox. The London journalist has written for publications such as the Guardian, Frieze, Dazed & Confused, Q Magazine, VICE and The Wire, among numerous others, on the subjects of socio-political countercultures and UK underground music. His new book, Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime, is a definitive telling of the genre’s history. He gives Martin a lively overview of the book and its themes, and how he’s grown up with grime as a fan and author.

Taken from a selection of interviews recorded for Peak Time on Red Bull Radio (2017-2018)

Peak Time is your daily digest of everything fresh in music, from the best new tracks to breaking news, in-depth artist interviews to cultural commentary, event coverage and so much more. Music journalist and DJ Vivian Host curates and contextualizes the world’s most interesting artists and sounds into two hours that will keep you up to date on the best new music now.

All episodes originally broadcast on redbullradio.com

Engineered by Ryan Woodhall
Produced by Sara Casella/Lauren Martin

Peak Time with Novelist and Dan Hancox

Hailing from suburban Beijing but currently based in London, @objectblue is a Chinese-Japanese producer and DJ whose work bridges sound art and experimental club music. Using vocalizations, sound-design techniques and elements of techno and ambient music, her sound is an eerie and absorbing bricolage. That sound was explored on her debut EP, Do you plan to end a siege?, on Tobago Tracks, and has developed further with her forthcoming EP, due later this year on Let’s Go Swimming.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on April 24th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Object Blue

A veteran of UK pirate radio, working within sounds such as grime, jungle, drum and bass, hardcore and techno, East Man (@hiteksounds) is the new project of Anthoney Hart, formerly known as Basic Rhythm. As East Man, his recordings moved into a more freeform abstract compositional structures: breaking grime down to its steely fundamentals; bringing in influences from dancehall, drum and bass and techno. For his 2018 album on Planet Mu, Red, White & Zero, his sound merges with the voices of the MCs he works with (his own name for this hardcore continuum mongrel is Hi Tek). For his Choice Mix, East Man’s technique of finding stylistic commonalities sets its sights on grime and broken techno.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on May 29th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: East Man

Belgian producer Sky H1 has two releases under her belt to date – a 3-track EP for German label Creamcake in 2015, and the 6-track Motion EP for PAN sub-label Codes in 2016. The latter gained her early, enthusiastic praise for how she softened the rougher edges of grime, trance and heavy-hitting club music while retaining the emotional impact of it’s synth-led melodies and rapid-fire chord progressions. For her Choice Mix, Sky H1 explores the silken synthesis of her sound – emotional club tracks, floating in a neon haze.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on January 3rd 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Sky H1

Born and raised in Paris, Crystal Mess has absorbed the myriad sounds of the city’s clubbing underground. From vibing at vogue balls where realness, energy and social change are beautifully in action – and where you can find fellow Parisian DJ Betty Bensimon of the House of Mizrahi behind the decks – to dancing all night to electro, hip-hop, booty and techno in basements and warehouses. Crystal Mess, though, is a woman and DJ very much of her own tastes. “To put it simply,” she says, “regional club music holds a special place in my heart because it’s so deeply rooted to the land in a world that is perfectly globalized and dematerialized. I love playing coupé décalé, kuduro beats, lush synths and uncanny sound designs.” In blending all of this music together in her sets with a passionate and anti-dogmatic mindset, she loves to highlight what she feels is often lost in conversations about what it means to be French in 2017. “I invite people from all horizons and backgrounds to sweat, dance, feel and question,” she says. “DJing is the best medium right now to express myself as a black French femme. It’s about ending The Grand Narrative – like French postmodernist philosopher Lyotard said – and letting people in the margins contribute too. With my set, I tried my best to make my own versions of what trance is collide - the Western one and the African one. It is important, especially in France, where assimilation is a violent, collective reality.”

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on January 10th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Crystal Mess

When Detroit’s Sinistarr listened to the radio at night as a teenager, he’d hear the sounds of Godfather, Gary Chandler and DJ Zap playing hip-hop and ghettotech on Saturdays, and then in-house club mixes from a variety of local DJs, playing Miami bass and R&B. This seasoned eclecticism worked its way into his bones and helped him grow into the DJ and producer that he is today - taking drum and bass as a solid foundation that he’s built his production and mixing styles on. His music has been released on legacy labels of the genre – Metalheadz, Creative Source and Hospital Records, to name a few – but aptly also labels that use drum and bass as thematic starting point from which to reach out from, like UK dubstep imprint Tectonic and Doc Scott’s forward-thinking 31 Records. Most recently, his Naine Rouge EP on dBridge’s Exit Records features his own work, and that of Drexciya affiliate Stingray313 and ghettotech hero Detroit’s Filthiest AKA DJ Nasty – a weaving of old and new sounds of his hometown across genre lines to glorious effect. As a DJ, Sinistarr is also a child of Detroit. His DJing style is quick and slick: teasing out more high-octane, high BPM genres like drum and bass, footwork, juke and jungle into slower and more spacious blends; bringing house and techno into the fold to create playfully unpredictable sets.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on January 31st 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Sinistarr

Started by Ezra Ereckson and Tracy Harrison in 2012, ZamZam Sounds is a Portland, Oregon-based label that’s focused on the dub continuum born of Jamaican roots reggae and dub, and grown worldwide through electronic sounds such as dubstep, techno and dark garage. Growing from Ezra and Tracey’s time spent running the Bucolic Sound Investigations label in the ’90s, another experimental dub outlet that released the likes of Muslimgauze and Jah Warrior, ZamZam Sounds focuses on a dub sound that rattle bones on contemporary club dancefloors as well as more traditional dub dances. With their slavish attention to detail and dedication to the vinyl format – all releases are on 7” single, and have beautiful, screen-printed artwork, too – ZamZam Sounds is has grown into one of the finest new dub labels around. For their Choice Mix, Ezra has woven together a range of music from the label’s history, including lots of forthcoming material and exclusive dubplates. This one is shaking out your demons.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on February 14th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: ZamZam Sounds

Ugandan DJ and producer Jenifa Mayanja made her name in the New York house music scene in the ’90s as a buyer for the respected (but now defunct) Dancetracks record store, regularly DJing at underground parties and working for Joe Claussell and his Spiritual Life label. Partly inspired by the latter, she’s an active figure in three labels – Bu-Mako Recordings, her own project, Sound Warrior, which she runs with Dakini9, and EDJ Records, which she runs with her husband Jus-Ed. As well as DJing and running labels Jenifa is an accomplished producer: focusing on the soulful grooves of deep house music, the uplifting melodies and harmonies of soul and R&B; across nearly two dozen singles and EPs and two solo albums, 2007’s Stream of Consciousness and 2011’s Woman Walking In The Shadows. This month, Jenifa will release the Warrior Loves double compilation on Sound Warrior – featuring original productions by female artists such as the late Cherushii, who the release is dedicated to – and this May, Jenifa will release her third solo album What A Strange Dream on Bu-Mako Recordings.

Originally broadcast on April 4th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward.

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Jenifa Mayanja

When Russian-born DJ and producer Anastasia Kristensen moved Copenhagen as a teenager, she discovered electronic music genres like ghettotech, Detroit techno, Germanic 4/4 techno, acid and minimalistic UK bleep. In developing these tastes, she drew on her upbringing with classical musical and ballet: thinking about the relationship between listening, musicality and movement; music- and dance-based performances which are “rough, full of attitude, change and disruption,” honing in on electronic styles that convey these traits. It’s this multi-genre, internal map-drawing that has made Kristensen’s club sets well regarded as a new DJ and producer, the latter through releases on the Montesario and Nous Disques labels, in 2015 and 2016 respectively. With a fire in her belly, 2017 is looking like her best year yet, having completed on a one-woman club tour of the US and become a resident at arguably Copenhagen’s best dance music club, Culture Box.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on May 30th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Anastasia Kristensen

São Paulo is the New York City of Brazil – grey, intense, dirty – while Rio de Janeiro is its Los Angeles – bright, laid back, beach-centric. For the industrial sounds that slink up from the concrete and heat of the former, Amanda Mussi gives these sounds the air they need to breath. The Brazilian-Paraguayan DJ and producer runs a party São Paulo called Dûsk. The techno is acid-tinged and twisted, but the tropical-ness of Brazil adds a looseness and spirituality to the party and the sound of the locals who play there. As well as DJing, producing and running Dûsk, Mussi recently started her own booking agency, Sequential Bookings, in partnership with Paraguayan club Sequence - promoting local artists abroad and bringing international artists to their shores in return. For her Choice Mix, Mussi focuses exclusively on productions by South American electronic artists close to her heart, and to the spirit of Dûsk.

Originally broadcast on June 6th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Amanda Mussi

Born in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, SAMA (formerly known as Skywalker) is regarded as the first electronic producer and DJ to come from Palestine. She started to DJ in 2006 and took up producing her own beats in 2010, focusing on deep house and techno. Gaining a degree in audio engineering and music production from SAE Institute London the following year, she went on to produce two solo records: Life’s Pace, an EP on Itchycoo Records, and Quantum Morphosis, a self-released, three-part album. After graduation she moved to Cairo and began working as an audio engineer and sound designer for film, and hasn’t slowed down since. Last year she partnered with Cairo-based music agency Eka3 to start her own publishing agency, Awyav, which represents independent Arab diasporic artists, and she switched her artist name to SAMA (her actual name, which means “sky” in Arabic). In 2017, SAMA was selected as a laureate by the French Institute to attend a six-month residency at the International City of Arts in Paris, to work on her next album and live show.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on August 1st 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: SAMA

@rekchampa is an Atlanta-based producer and DJ who’s released original music under his own name, on labels such as Smart Bar’s Argot and Kai Alcé’s NDATL Muzik, and under aliases such as REKchampa, Black Suede and Al Hype. Taking inspiration from local house figures like Alcé as much as from his love of rap music and DIY production aesthetics, Ringer’s sound draws from a broad church of black American music to create a subtle soundscape of laid-back house beats imbued with boogie basslines and downtempo raps.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on August 22nd 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Stefan Ringer

When @bam_bii started JERK four years ago, she wanted to throw a party where the stratified Toronto club scene could come together and listen to music from the black and brown underground, and create a space where LGBTQ people could dance in safety and joy. An ode to her Caribbean heritage, JERK, in her own words, “pushes subversive new sounds, and gives some serious nostalgic moments.” Recently she’s worked with long-running Toronto queer club crew Yes Yes Y’All, toured the world as Mykki Blanco’s DJ and started making multimedia works, like her EUTHANASIA video mix. Full of twists and thrills, Bambii’s DJ sets celebrate the black musical diaspora and the inventive potential of the dancefloor.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on August 15th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Bambii

When her first record came out on Dance Mania in 1996, Jana Rush (@jaru-1) was only 15 years old, one of the youngest artists in Chicago’s developing footwork music scene. She had learned how to DJ with the help of Gant-Man and Jam Master K, and began to develop her skills and sound, but eventually pivoted to a career as a chemical engineer and CAT scan technologist. Still, the music never left her. With a wealth of original productions to her name, Jana teamed up with Lara Rix-Martin’s Objects Limited – a new UK label dedicated to women and non-binary musicians – for her MPC 7635 EP (released in 2016 under the name Ja Ru), and her debut album, Pariah, which came out earlier this year. With footwork at its core, Jana’s style merges silky soul samples with bombastic rhythms and frantic drums – it’s a hypnotic cacophony that pays homage to Chicago’s musical history, while pushing the shape-shifting sound of footwork forward.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on August 8th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Jana Rush

Zernell (@grimyedits) started DJing as a young teenager during the early days of the Chicago house scene. Inspirations from Farley and the Hot Mix 5 and Ron Hardy at the Music Box helped to shape his style and taste in music. Zernell’s style focuses on house, disco and acid trax to shape his mixes. His extensive collection of rare vinyl in these genres inspired him to start Grimy Edits and its sister label Grimy Trax. Alongside touring as a DJ and running his imprints, Zernell is the co-founder of the Crate Diggers Record Fair and after-party series, a worldwide program of free marketplaces and events owned by Discogs that promote vinyl culture and the diverse community of buyers, sellers, collectors and DJs.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on October 31st 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Zernell

Jump Source is the duo of house producer @projectpablo and his friend and collaborator Francis Latreille aka @priori-ties. Having moved from his native Vancouver to Montréal, Project Pablo became well known in the Canadian electronic music scene through his 2015 debut album, I Want To Believe, on the 1080p label. After a string of solo EPs in 2017, Project Pablo’s work with Latreille is developing. Latreille runs the NAFF label and has solo material forthcoming under his newest alias Priori. Jump Source has one record out on Pablo’s ASL Singles Club — 2016’s Guide To Action, which mines the sounds of the MPC2000XL, Moog Source, modular equipment and some Juno synthesizers — and their second is due for release on a yet-to-be-named Canadian west coast label in the spring of 2018. For this Choice Mix, they explore the house and techno influences — the classic chord progressions, structures and melodies — of their own sound.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on February 13th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Jump Source

@zulimusic is an Egyptian producer and DJ whose experimental electronic music draws from North African and Middle Eastern influences to fascinating effect. A familiar face in Cairo’s small but passionate underground music scene, he’s cofounded three different collectives: The venue space, party and festival, VENT; the Kairo Is Coming musical crew; and the multidisciplinary arts team AHOMA. His first two EPs, 2016’s Bionic Ahmed and 2017’s Numbers, were released on Lee Gamble’s UIQ label, and held a residency at the prestigious EMS Stockholm. After debuting his incendiary live show at Berlin’s CTM Festival 2018, Zuli is due to release his third EP, Trigger Finger, on Haunter Records (Haunter is the label behind Macao, a squat devoted to alternative arts and culture, and the Saturnalia Festival, both in Milan). For his Choice Mix, Zuli invites us into his world.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 06 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Zuli

Hailing from Manchester, producer and DJ @yung-anz knows what it takes to get the party started. Her self-titled debut EP was released in the summer of 2017, on Manchester club-and-label Chow Down, and was championed by fellow UK club figures like Murlo, Amy Becker and Butterz for its playful, high energy sound - steel percussion blended with UK bassline, half-time 808s, icy grime minimalism and synth polyrhythms. As well as producing her own music, Anz has made beats for grime MCs like Jammz - her track “Mission” featured on his 2016 mixtape, Underdog Season Vol. 1 - and has been honing her DJ skills, often appearing on UK radio stations such as NTS, Rinse and Radar Radio. For the 100th Choice Mix, Anz lets rip, with a riotous hour that, in her own words, “is dedicated to that moment when you decide you’re going out tonight.. the soundtrack to that feeling of anticipation is super important to me. Strictly ‘Friday feeling’ bangers, please use responsibly.”

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 13th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Anz

@roza-terenzi is an Australian DJ and producer whose sound folds into the fuzzy, lo-fi style of contemporary house music that’s blossomed in recent years. Originally from Perth, and now based in Melbourne, Roza Terenzi has released two strong EPs in 2017: The O.G., on Good Company Records, and Mwah, on rising Dutch label Kalahari Oyster Cult. This April, she’s due to release the Planet Euphorique EP, a collaboration with DJ Zozi, AKA Vancouver producer D. Tiffany; it’ll be the debut of D. Tiffany’s Planet Euphorique label. The EP was recorded over the past year, between Vancouver and Melbourne, and features, in their own words, “heavenly pads, intricate bleeps and breakdance-worthy drums.” For her Choice Mix, Roza Terenzi’s sound orbits Planet Euphorique.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 27th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Roza Terenzi

@completewalkthru is an alias of Brooklyn-based house producer Max McFerren, a moniker he uses to produce twisted, colorful house music. After 2016’s self-titled album on 1080p, and 2017’s Social Security album on Complete Walkthru Records, McFerren has released a bumper double act: Never Online: Collected Works Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, again on his own label. For his Choice Mix, McFerren explores the universe of Complete Walkthru: strange techno grooves bubbling under surface ambience, vivid splashes of house and far-reaching electronics.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on March 20th 2018. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward. 

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Complete Walkthru

This week, guest host Lauren Martin takes you through the hottest new tracks, and speaks to two underground heroes of the American Midwest techno and house scenes. From Pittsburgh, it’s Shawn Rudiman, a hardware enthusiast and deeply respected producer and engineer, whose debut double album, Timespan, for the Pittsburgh Tracks label, explores his two decades in techno. Then from Chicago it’s Mike Dunn, the OG house producer who brought us seminal tracks like “God Made Me Phunky” and “Let It Be House.” His second album, My House From All Angles, for the Blackball Muzik label, is his first in 27 years.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on November 30th 2017

Produced by Shawn Reynaldo and Jordan Rothlein
Engineered by Oswaldo Terrones

First Floor: Mike Dunn and Shawn Rudiman

Guest host Lauren Martin speaks to Visible Cloaks and Nabihah Iqbal about their unique take on ambience, and plays new electronic sounds.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on December 7th 2017

Produced by Shawn Reynaldo and Jordan Rothlein
Engineered by Oswaldo Terrones

First Floor: Visible Cloaks and Nabihah Iqbal

In South Africa, particularly the city of Durban, the townships and clubs have ignited in recent years with a new electronic genre called gqom: It roughly translates in Zulu to “bang” or “ricochet,” and is pronounced with a tongue-heavy click. It’s a hypnotic and steely coming together of broken beat, house and kwaito — its ominous drones and punctuating, distorted vocal snatches create an intense dancefloor mood. In 2018 the Rome-based Gqom Oh! label continues to push the style internationally. After the success of their 2016 compilation, Gqom Oh! The Sound of Durban Vol.1, the label returned with Gqom Originators, a compilation of tracks from the founding producers and DJs of the scene. To celebrate the evolution of gqom, guest host Lauren Martin speaks to two of these originators — Durban’s DJ Lag and Griffit Vigo — and runs exclusive mixes and tracks from both artists.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on April 5th 2018

Produced by Donelle Kosch
Engineered by Oswaldo Terrones

Top Flight: Gqom Special with DJ Lag and Griffit Vigo

With Shawn Reynaldo on vacation this week, longtime Red Bull Music Academy contributor Lauren Martin takes the reins of First Floor, offering up two hours of the best new electronic music. Amidst all the excellent new tunes from across the electronic spectrum, she also carves out some time to interview rising techno talent Russell E.L. Butler, whose debut album The Home I’d Build For Myself and All My Friends is set to arrive this week via the Left Hand Path label. Created in the aftermath of the tragic Ghost Ship fire, the LP finds Butler building an ideal world defined by freedom, community and social justice. The Oakland-based producer speaks about the record’s genesis, its intensely personal origins and an optimistic vision for the future.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on November 15th 2018

Produced by Shawn Reynaldo and Donelle Kosch
Engineered by Oswaldo Terrones

First Floor: Russell E. L. Butler

When she started her residency at Berlin’s Griessemuehle in 2015, @darwinspec used the rough-and-ready setting of the club to introduce a decidedly UK-indebted sound into the Berlin 4/4 techno landscape. With a stack of breakbeat-centric styles like rave, electro and tech house tucked under one arm, and the spacious bass of 2-step garage and dubstep under the other, Darwin cultivated a local following that inspired her to start her own party, REEF, also at Griessemuehle. As an all-vinyl DJ, she was keen to support new artists through the medium; she started her SPE:C label, which has so far released music largely from young Bristolian producer Decka – his bruising techno rhythms are inspired by the experimental dub legacy of his hometown. Darwin is a DJ that can make extremes on the techno spectrum fold into one another, with a playfulness and sincerity that is often found lacking in the scene. “There are a lot of pretty ‘serious’ parties [in Berlin],” she says, “and I wanted to make shit more fun. My party is not about challenging people. It’s about transcendental spaces where you can lose yourself for hours on end, completely geared towards dancing. No chin scratching!” For her Choice Mix, Darwin invites us to experience REEF and her style.

Originally broadcast on redbullradio.com on September 19th 2017. Choice Mix is Red Bull Radio’s home for mixes from some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJs. Unconstrained by location or genre, each Choice Mix spotlights a unique artist from the global underground whose style is pushing music forward.

Engineered by Joe Hazan and Ryan Woodhall

Choice Mix: Darwin

For over 30 years pioneering DJs Fabio & Grooverider have sat at the forefront of UK dance music. Meeting in 1987 on the pirate radio station Phase One spinning house and groove records, the duo went on to helm London venue Heaven’s weekly Thursday night, Rage, the following year. With sets that spanned house, techno, hardcore, acid, and New Beat, they set the dancefloor alight and earned a cult following. Expertly blending sped-up hardcore with dancehall riddims, dynamic breakbeats, and Detroit techno, they birthed the sound that would be dubbed jungle. Continuing to play until Rage ended in 1994, they introduced a world of sound to UK dance music shifting its energy in the process, an effect that can still be felt today. Now, as Rage has celebrated its 30th anniversary, the duo looks back at their legacy and tell their story with the best way they know how; a hand-picked selection of their favorite cuts collated in a 3-part compilation. Featuring music by Rhythim Is Rhythim (AKA Derrick May), Frankie Bones, Q-Project, Richie Hawtin’s Cybersonik project and so much more, the compilation encapsulates the spirit energy of a Fabio & Grooverider set. On today’s show, Peak Time correspondent Lauren Martin sits down with the two to listen to stories from the early days of Rage, discuss how they went about selecting the tracks and how they tracked down artists.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on May 15th 2019

Peak Time with Fabio and Grooverider

Growing up in rural Jamaica, Agent Sasco (also known as Assassin) used to lie in bed at night and feel the walls and roof of his home shake from the pressure of the local reggae soundsystem clashes — that’s what drew him to the music and made him want to get on the mic as a dancehall DJ. Decades later he’s become one of the most recognizable Jamaican voices of the past few years. His thundering presence on on Kendrick Lamar’s “The Blacker the Berry” and on Kanye West’s 2013 dancehall-inflected “I’m In It” helped him climb the charts and break into mainstream US rap culture in what seemed like a lucky instant. He’s worked with Caribbean music superstars such as Mr. Vegas, Lady Saw, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Capleton and Elephant Man; released several solo album and been featured on hundreds of singles; and founded Boardhouse Records, furthering music by Tony Matterhorn and Busy Signal. As a student of his craft and a lifelong champion of Jamaican music and culture, Agent Sasco has a deep understanding of his work and the power it has to bring people together, speak to injustice and heal.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio in 2016.

Fireside Chat with Assassin AKA Agent Sasco

@willowmcr is a DJ and producer based in Manchester, UK. After starting out DJing in her home city, she became a resident at Nottingham club night 808 in the late 2000s, and has been behind the decks regularly ever since. While making her name as a DJ, she started producing a few years ago, and her 2015 breakthrough track Feel Me saw her hailed as one of the most interesting new house artists around. With a close connection to German techno don Move D, who featured Feel Me on his 2014 Fabriclive mix CD, Feel Me was signed to Workshop, and her signature has already been written: stripped back, sexy, minimal house music, with naughty basslines and smashed computer vocals. In her RBMA Radio Choice Mix, Willow teases out this signature style with flair, with a pointed selection of old and new house jams that creep up on you.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on April 12th 2016.

Choice Mix: Willow

@wwwings have never met before – well, IRL that is. The trio are spread across thousands of miles of Central Asia. Lit Eyne lives in Tyumen, Siberia (or as he dryly calls it, “Cyberia”), Lit Daw in Kiev, Ukraine, and Lit Internet on the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east of Russia, near Japan. They met, befriended each other and now produced music together as WWWINGS entirely URL, largely through forums and the 100 million-strong VK social network. Their IRL and URL lives are almost as separated as each other in distance, too. “It feels like you exist only URL, because IRL u can be eaten by bears or die of the cold,” says Lit Eyne, via the Telegram instant messenger network. “Even if we like the nature in our places, corruption is everywhere and we ain’t respect dat laws about censorship, lgbt and internet. It’s easier to communicate through music here.” As the latest signing to British experimental electronic label Planet Mu, WWWINGS fold in internet-centric club and experimental electronic music to create a patchwork landscape of oblique, playful and almost anti-harmonic sounds, from generic tropes gradually stripped further and further away from their original source materials. As with their debut EP on Planet Mu, PHOENIXXX, WWWINGS have created a Choice Mix that reflects their scattered deluge of sonic interests.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on August 23rd 2016.

Choice Mix: WWWINGS

@paramida is a German DJ currently based in Berlin, but is stylistically thousand of miles away from the hard, dark styles of techno that have come to define clubbing in the city. After working at Berlin record shop Oye Records for five years Paramida took to touring as a DJ in earnest, playing consistently at small, choice parties throughout Europe and bringing a warm, shimmering style of disco and funk-influenced house music with her. It’s most visible through her label, Love On The Rocks, which has released music from the likes of Massimiliano Pagliara, Fantastic Man and Telephones, among others. Paramida’s taste is focused on uplifting grooves and colourful swathes of texture, and her style is a free-flowing and upbeat one: from new wave to disco, jagged pop to deep house, you’d be one soul short of human if her sets didn’t make you crack a smile.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on December 20th 2016.

Choice Mix: Paramida

Glasgow is known for its obsession with classic techno music, but also it’s ability to put a special, homegrown energy into it to create something new - just like up-and-coming producer @lanark-artefax does. Also inspired by IDM, jungle, ambient and modern classical, Lanark Artefax’s sound is rooted in techno but branches out into myriad, morbid strains of powerful electronics. He’s only had a few releases to date - the Window Rush EP for Cong Burn Waves in 2015, and the Glasz EP for Lee Gamble’s UIQ and a super-limited dubplate for Tasker’s Whities in 2016 – but with such promise from and praise for him so far, he’s on the Choice Mix to show us what’s going on in his head and in his studio.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on December 27th 2016.

Choice Mix: Lanark Artefax

London-based producer and DJ @therealendgame is the latest signing to the Hyperdub label with his four-track EP entitled Flesh: a distillation of forward-thinking club music, drawing from genres such as grime, kizomba and dancehall, and converging into the experimental sounds of Bala Club; the collective that Endgame is part of, and is shaping a new underground sound in the capital. Endgame has worked along the frantic club track axis with his self-titled EP for Lisbon’s Golden Mist label in 2015 and this year’s Savage EP on New York’s Purple Tape Pedigree label, and with Flesh the lines are being sharply drawn – or slashed apart, perhaps. Heady machinations of ice-cold riddims, convulsing synths and face-melting vocal samples are executed with glee and originality. For his Choice Mix, Endgame lays it all out.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on July 26th 2016.

Choice Mix: Endgame

@pininga is a Brazilian DJ and producer who lives in the vast metropolis of São Paulo, but is from the city of Recife, in the north east of the country. The vast musical landscape of Brazil has inspired his Choice Mix: the beaches and intense heat of Recife, and its huge carnival: a week-long celebration where you can hear genres like maracatu, frevo, samba, forró, house, techno, funk, opera and folk, all blasted out into the same streets. Woven even deeper into the Choice Mix is the sound of brega, a genre at home in the northern Amazonian state of Pará, that’s being fused with the funk sound of São Paulo and Rio de Janiero. There’s sensuality, chaos, power and joy in hearing all of these sounds put together in the way that Pininga has done. In his words, “I hope that you can get a glimpse of the musical melting pot that we are living in, despite all the political madness and depression.”

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on June 21st 2016.

Choice Mix: Pininga

As a fourth generation member of New York City’s vogue house, House of LaBeija, DJ and producer @joeylabeija is deeply embedded within the sounds, fashions, attitudes and experiences of ballroom culture. In 2015, though, he moved from his lifelong home of New York City to Kansas City, Missouri, where he started playing at the monthly Club Stain party: hosted by DJs Zara and Lagan, and in collaboration with visual artist and producer, Christian Velasquez. Club Stain proved a turning point in Joey LaBeija’s already head-rattling style: pop, R&B, rap and Latin American vocals; blended with nu metal riffs, raw grime beats, trance melodies, and other club-based experimentations. Joey’s taken the Club Stain ethos into his productions, working on unique edits for his Choice Mix alongside Christian Velasquez. In this heady hour of sounds, Joey LaBeija proves why he’s such a radical and hot figure for experimental sounds in the New York City underground.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on May 10th 2016.

Choice Mix: Joey LaBeija

Born in Tokyo, Japan, @akirakosemura began playing the piano at 3-years old. 28 years later, he’s a self-taught composer and arranger who has released nearly a dozen solo and collaborative albums of contemplative, minimalist piano work. Drawing inspiration from film scores, he writes and records albums in the style of a soundtrack composer: ambient and acoustic sentiments of classical composition, what he describes as a way to “imagine, but not imagine, to find something beautiful in my mind.” Since 2007, he’s also been running his own label, Schole, to release his own music and the music of like-minded composers who he’s found online. Born of a relationship with the Australian artist Lawrence English, who started his Someone Good label to release Akira’s first album, It’s On Everything, the Schole label is deeply connected to Akira’s compositional mind-set. “The living world is always connected to composing music,” Akira says. “All living things are saving in my mind deeply. Composing music is not special thing for me - it’s something obvious, like breathing, crying and smiling.” For his Choice Mix, Akira Kosemura has woven together one hour of gentle piano compositions by himself and others.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on November 1st 2016.

Choice Mix: Akira Kosemura

Growing up in a small Russian village, @ingamauer felt isolated from her peers musically: writing and recording at home, with few people to reach out to around her; using the internet as a way to communicate with friends in Europe and North America about music, even though they “felt like they were on a different planet.” On the day that a friend of Inga’s opened the now well-known St. Petersburg techno club Stackenschneider, a small space that gives a home to strange underground electronic sounds, and agreed to be a resident DJ there, Inga met another kindred Russian spirit who would become her booking agent-and-champion. Between “Stacken” and this new friendship, Inga played every weekend, in various locations around Russia, for one year: building a loyal fanbase under the radar of the wider dance music community. Some of those internet friendships – with Toulouse Low Trax of the Düsseldorf club Salon des Amateurs, and Guy Tavares of The Hague’s Bunker Records – invited her to play at their parties, and Inga has barely been able to call Russia home since, travelling and DJ-ing with fervor. As a producer, too, she’s started to release her own work on the Hivern Discs label (her debut EP, From Cologne To Clone, and a second EP, due in December 2016) and Matias Aguyao’s Cómeme label, too. For her Choice Mix, Inga Mauer delves into the morbid sensuality of fuzzy post-punk, synth-led pop, and thundering techno and electro to unearth dark gems.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on November 8th 2016.

Choice Mix: Inga Mauer

In 2014, Turkish sound artist @ipekgorgun came to the Red Bull Music Academy in Tokyo as a participant, and stunned us into submission with her powerful soundscapes. Before she came to the Academy, she’d been working across the arts in her native Istanbul: playing bass and singing in avant-garde rock bands, programming for electroacoustic projects and performing live solo shows at opera halls and composing soundtracks (most notably for 2012’s Yok Anasinin Soyadi, which portrays the Turkish women’s struggle to keep their original surnames after marriage). In early 2016 she self-released Aphelion: a 7-track solo album focused on ambient and electroacoustic experimentations. As well as writing, recording and performing music, Ipek Gorgun writes poetry for contemporary Turkish journals like Yumusakge and Tenedos, is an award-winning street photographer and is currently a Ph.D candidate in Sonic Arts, at Istanbul Technical University-Center for Advanced Studies in Music. For her Choice Mix, she’s created one hour of sonic and vocal abstractions that tell stories about her the music and people that inspire her.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on November 15 2016.

Choice Mix: Ipek Gorgun

After joining the 2015 Academy in Paris as a participant, Belgian producer @hielehiele has been working on new sounds and projects: from his Antwerp-based label Ekster, which he runs with V Robyn, to live performances, releases and soundtracks; all focusing on his style of synthetic and acoustmatic music. 2016 has proved to be a divergent year for Hiele. In April, he released a live tape of a performance at the Schinkel Pavilion (alongside Lorenzo Senni, M.E.S.H. and others) on the YYAA label, which was followed a month later by his latest album, Ritmische Bezinning, on Ekster: etching his love for complex rhythmic patterns onto a tactile bed of melodies. This November, he’s got soundtracks lined up –one for a documentary about the island of Saint Helena, entitled Saints, and another for a film entitled Birdwatching, which documents young people from different ethnic backgrounds in Brussels. (Saint Helena, too, has continued to inspire Hiele, as he prepares his first quadraphonic audio-visual performance, to be hosted on the island in December.) In between such labor-intense works, Hiele’s composed his Choice Mix as a more subtle exercise in sound. “I like to mix thinking about tonalities,” he says. “Messing around with mood pleases me”. For the hour, he’s included forthcoming material of his own and others on Ekster, as well as “classic exotic dopamine material, and material from those I consider among the greats.”

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on November 22nd 2016.

Choice Mix: Hiele

When the young cellist @ollycoates graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, he did so with the highest grades in the institution’s history. Since the end of his studies, he’s immersed himself in and continually challenged the traditions of classical composition, recording and performance. He’s worked with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonietta, to name a few, and held a residency at London’ Southbank Centre, but his rise to prominence is largely being guided by his divergent musical tastes and willingness to use his acoustic, stringed instrument to take on radical forms of electronic music – using digital techniques to manipulate the sound of his cello, re-scoring and re-presenting works by the likes of Squarepusher and Arthur Russell. Most visibly, he’s worked with Radiohead on their 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool, and with guitarist Johnny Greenwood, on the scores for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood and The Master, and Mica Levi, on her award-winning score for Jonathan Glazer’s 2014 film Under The Skin. In 2016, Coates has taken on two album projects – a solo album, Upstepping, on Moshi Moshi offshoot PRAH, and a collaborative album, Remain Calm, with Mica Levi. Blending skittering techno beats, avant-pop structures and digital processing of the cello, Upstepping and Remain Calm’s taut energies and forward-thinking processes present Coates as a singular talent. For his Choice Mix, Oliver Coates sketches out the dark matter of Remain Calm, while criss-crossing from the concert hall to the dancefloor.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on November 29th 2016.

Choice Mix: Oliver Coates

Montréal-based Odile Myrtil is a vocalist, lyricist, DJ and multimedia arts student whose work encompasses experimental club music, hip-hop and R&B. As a vocalist, she’s written lyrics and sang on songs with fellow Montréal artist CRi, most notably their sensual, upbeat pop jam “Why I Love You” from earlier this summer, on TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art Records. In a live capacity, she also performs with CRi and bandmate Ouri, experimenting with collaboration. In the club world, she’s the languid vocals featured on “Iron Cages”: the 2015 single from the LA-based Fade To Mind member Rizzla; a 21st century love letter to pop, R&B and soft, melodic trance. Odile releases work sporadically, but with great care. Taking influence from experimental R&B bands Inc and artists like FKA Twigs to shape a sound that is emotive but malleable, she plays with the traditional singer-songwriter narrative to fold experimental electronics, visual arts and performative techniques into recordings and live shows. As a DJ, this sentiment is apparent. Although she began in earnest with her Booty Bakery parties in Montréal – hosting juke, footwork, Jersey and Baltimore club and other such genres, tapping into the underground sounds of east coast US cities – she now mainly focuses on playing in-the-know after hour parties in the city and creating emotive, mixtape-style blends. For her Choice Mix, Odile draws on a brooding and sensual mood: strung out R&B with ambient jams, contemporary iterations of trip hop and pop meshing.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on October 4th 2016.

Choice Mix: Odile Myrtil

As part of our time in Montréal for the 2016 Academy the Choice Mix is devoted to artists from the city, and Adam Feingold (@ex-terrestrial) has been working in the Montréal musical underground for years. His current sound is a dream-like, wiggling one: bringing acid, house, techno, ambient and dub together in tactile folds through machine-led jams; what he’s described as “hazy, jacked techno, spaced-out house and reverberant jungle rhythms.” As well as releasing on Canadian labels like Forbidden Planet, 1080p and Booma Collective, and running his own label, Temple, he’s been reaching out beyond Montréal with his work on Steven Julien’s Apron label. For his Choice Mix, he’s switching it up, creating a gentle world of dub and reggae.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on October 11th 2016.

Choice Mix: Adam Feingold

Loose Excursions are the production and DJ duo of @genetellem and Gabriel Reichhold, two Montréal-based artists who run a bi-weekly Sunday show on local online radio station, n10.as. Their interests lie in the more oblique axis of techno music, and for their Choice Mix, they’ve recorded a one-hour long live improvisational hardware jam that orbits this techno axis. With delicate vocalisations and alluring analog strains, they build up the world of Loose Excursions, loop by loop.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on October 25th 2016.

Choice Mix: Loose Excursions

Dancehall duo @equiknoxxmusic, AKA Gavsborg and Bobby Blackbird, are based in Kingston, Jamaica, and have been making music for the better part of a decade. In 2016, Gavsborg and production partner Time Cow released the debut Equiknoxx album, Bird Sound Power, on British techno-noise act Demdike Stare’s DDS label. A collection of experimental dancehall riddims dating from 2009-2016, the album was mastered and cut to vinyl for the first time by Matt Colton (the engineer behind music by Lee Scratch Perry, Kanye West and Aphex Twin, among others): a collation of broad influences across the dancehall and dub spectrum, noughties R&B signifiers and US rap techniques; sonic mutations of underground experimental British dance music, too, sawn off and licked back together with sizzling flair. Before Bird Sound Power, the Equiknoxx story has been a fascinating one. After dabbling in performance as part of a rap group in high school and then starting to produce in college, Gavsborg’s beats were selector-favorites in the early 2000s. His breakthrough was “Step Out,” dancehall vocalist Busy Signal’s Billboard-charting 2004 single, but after a lack of proper credits and a closed-door culture in the Jamaican music scene for new producers, Gavsborg decided to focus on new underground talent rather than trying to break the charts with established MCs. Briefly faltered but quickly energised by the late 2000s controversy of the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission’s crackdown on dancehall and soca music – where certain references and even the bleeping-out of such references were banned on the airwaves – the Equiknoxx sound dug its heels in. Focusing once again on raw riddims rather than pop-leaning songs, the character of the Equiknoxx production sound has mutated into a fascinating beast. For the Choice Mix, Gavsborg explores the universe of Equiknoxx and the underground dancehall style.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on September 6th 2016.

Choice Mix: Equiknoxx

As part of a new wave of young DJs coming through in the UK grime scene, 22-year old @alialoren represents an exciting blend of perspectives and tastes. Grime’s ascent from the early 2000s – in underground raves, street and basement clashes filmed for DVDs and pirate radio sessions – to 2016, has been often bumpy and constantly debated, but always fascinating. In the late 2000s, grime was in the charts and on the radio almost in spite of grime, not because ofit: choruses over bars, silliness over sincerity. In 2016, MCs are chart-topping stars, grime causes moshpits at major UK festivals and Drake has a BBK tattoo. There’s a spectrum of grime being made and played, and Alia Loren has been playing a wide selection of old and new grime just as hard as the crowds are screaming for it. Hailing from the county of Essex, not far from London, Alia Loren fell in love with grime’s passionate portrayal’s of real life and disregard for tradition and started out on south London station Reprezent Radio, the UK’s only station run by under 25-year olds. Since then, she’s moved to a bi-weekly slot at central London station Radar Radio, where she brings in the hottest new MCs and plays a toxic blend of beats and bars so rapid that necks practically break in unison to her sets. For her Choice Mix, Alia Loren doesn’t mess around – with nearly one track per minute, this is a whirlwind trip through the dark, pulsing energy of the UK grime-focused underground today.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on September 13th 2016.

Choice Mix: Alia Loren

Writer and radio host for Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio. A selection of work for Red Bull Radio: programming for Choice Mix series, hosted live shows (Roll Call) hosted editorial shows (Counter Intelligence, Top Flight, First Floor, Peak Time), long-form artist interviews (Couch Wisdom, Fireside Chat), artist-led playlist shows (Headphone Highlights), more. If you'd like to hear any specific work pre-2017 from Red Bull Radio, please get in touch.

Lauren Martin

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