Tokyo's @sapphire-slows has her own distinctive aesthetic. The music she makes is ghostly and delicate, eerie yet beautiful. The multi-talented artist plays her own synths and keys and layers her own beautiful vocal drones into her tracks to lend them extra intimacy. This of course means she has toured extensively and released on labels such as Japan's Big Love, Greece's Nous and LA's Not Not Fun/100% Silk. Despite often making and playing music with the brain cleansing purity demonstrated on 2017 album Time, Sapphire Slows can also do more caustic and mechanical sounds, as on 2014's Allegoria LP.

This week's mix explores a melancholic and introspective mood, but it is never dark. A range of mid-tempo rhythms set the tempo. Sometimes they're dubby and linear, at others more bubbling and off-grid, while the synths above glow like fireflies or glisten like knives in the sun. Organic bird calls float above hyper-real synthetic textures and the overall effect is to cocoon you in suspensory and meditative sound that feels out of this world.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 330 - Sapphire Slows

Live at Robert Johnson x Radio80000 Takeover - March 25th 2023

Mixed by @Liloshh.

Unknown Album

Live at Robert Johnson x Radio80000 - Lilosh

Evasione Digitale founder and Cocktail d'Amore resident Andrea Dama joins me live on WeserStraße.

Transmigration on Refuge Worldwide | 14.07.2023 | David Fogarty and Andrea Dama

Dub techno, deep house, and minimal tunes, opening our patio party at Number 12 cider in Minneapolis.

live @ side effects

@gardenpartyy sets the opening vibe at Canyon Vibration 2023 in Tygh Valley, Oregon. 

Photo by Drew Cornwall.

Gardenparty @ Canyon Vibration 2023

Did a bit of enlivening at Nightmoves the other Sunday. Here are the couple first hours! Nightmoves = my favorite club––just so you know.

Justus Arvelin at Nightmoves, Sun 15th Sep '24

For the tenth episode of There Is No Planet Earth Stories, I'm joined by guest Alan Oldham representing stories from Detroit.

ALAN OLDHAM has been called “Detroit’s Renaissance Man,” equally as known for his art as for his music under the pseudonym DJ T-1000.  



The Detroit-born polymath, now living and working in Berlin, began his dual careers in the late 80s. First as the host of the “Fast Forward Program” on WDET FM 101.9, Detroit’s first-ever radio show devoted exclusively to electronic music, and as a young indie comic artist, writing and drawing his own original creation, “Johnny Gambit” (predating the Marvel character). Oldham was later tapped by his childhood friend, Derrick May, to illustrate the label art for the now-classic records “Nude Photo” and “Beyond The Dance” on his fledgling Transmat label, and Detroit Techno history was made. 

Oldham was later hired by another childhood friend, Jeff Mills, to do freelance PR for the nascent Underground Resistance collective, writing press releases for the label. When Mills departed for a solo career, UR partner “Mad” Mike Banks tapped AO to replace him as DJ for their Australian Tour of 1992. The codename DJ T-1000 was adopted, and history was made once again.  



Jumpstart to infamy.

Since then, as an international DJ, Oldham has spun all over the planet, as far afield as Tokyo, Manila, The Phillipines, and Shanghai. When he’s not behind the decks at home clubs Tresor Berlin and RSO, on the road to places like Batumi, Georgia or Trapani, Italy, or in the studio making music for labels like RSPX/Rekids, BPitch Berlin, Suspected Music, Third Ear, Elypsia Records, or his own Pure Sonik Records label, he is making new paintings and organizing art openings showcasing his iconic works. 



Oldham has put on art happenings in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna, and Detroit, as well as his iconic techno artworks being on view in Paris, London and Dusseldorf, as part of its traveling “Electronic: From Kraftwerk to the Chemical Brothers” exhibit. The multi-talented Oldham has also made his artistic debut in Kobe, Japan in 2022 with the exhibit “Massive Dynamic” at the Nick Jerky Art Cafe. 

In 2024, Oldham was also honored by the Mayor and Detroit City Council with a “Spirit of Detroit” Award for his musical and artistic contributions to his hometown. 

And back in Berlin, as part of Love Parade founder Dr. Motte’s Rave The Planet team, Oldham helped Berlin Techno to achieve UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. 

Oldham’s long-awaited EP as DJ T-1000 for Rekids sub-label RSPX is out now, as well as his new “Ask Me No Questions And I’ll Tell You No Lies” EP on Pure Sonik Records, currently riding high on several Spotify techno charts including Mary Anne Hobbs’ on BBC6. 

New releases to come!

There Is No Planet Earth Stories - Episode 10 w/ Alan Oldham

Download

PJ Statham - ZIPPA

Intervals

"Lux Aeterna - Created with a deep inspiration I found in the Ritualismo collective in Milan. Their music marked a turning point in my artistic journey and fueled my creativity. A huge thank you to the entire group for their influence and for the light they brought to my musical path

Lux Aeterna

In the early hours of 2018 a duo of house preachers of the highest order was in control of the Ankali dj booth. Map.Ache and Sevensol aka Manamana hail from Leipzig where they run the label/recordstore Kann Records and if their debut Prague performance has taught us one thing, it's that the two know where the groove is at. We're glad we could share an hour-and-half long excerpt of their set, as the vibe they delivered is a supreme cure for the vicious frost outside.

Ankali #002 — Manamana [extract]

As the name states Live at Robert Johnson is the associated label of the respected venue in Offenbach and incorporates what the club stands for. The imprint has been establishing a solid ground for the new Frankfurt sound since 2009. By featuring internationally acclaimed artists LARJ has been providing DJs and audiences with essential tunes in an extensive range of high-quality house music. Laid-back dance-floor awareness with a sense for particularity in sound is what might describe best most of the releases and artists.

Live at Robert Johnson x Radio80000 - Lilosh

Live At Robert Johnson