Our tenth installment of the podcast was an unforeseen and unplanned one. Often, the unforeseen, unexpected, and unplanned are unsettling, but in this case, they brought an unbelievable musical journey. We want to welcome Manfredas from our 10th installment. A bespoke selector with a musical knowledge that would fill several musical libraries, he kindly extended his Saigonese soiree and filled our Sunday session with great joy. Expect a mix that meanders, accelerates, and wanes, all over the course of 90 minutes. An unimaginable journey between genres, tempos, musical styles, and directions, showcasing the versatility of Manfredas.

Manfredas - NLDMIX 010

The German minimal DJ returns to the spotlight with two hours of artfully subtle house and techno.

There's an old German proverb that goes "Der stete Tropfen höhlt den Stein." Literally, it means a constant dripping wears away the stone, but the point isn't about force but patience: slow, steady repetition can leave the deepest mark. It's an apt metaphor for the career of Kosta Athanassiadis, better known as XDB.

Active since the early '90s, first as a DJ and then producer by the decade's end, Athanassiadis has built a career less on hype than persistence. His catalogue spans labels like Dial, Metrolux and Echocord, alongside a steady trickle of EPs and remixes that have quietly cemented his reputation as one of minimal house and techno's undersung heroes.

That patience carries into his sound and production ethos. Where many of his peers embraced software upgrades and new workflows, Athanassiadis has long stuck to Cubase, a handful of trusty instruments and 30-year-old speakers he claims to have run "hundreds of thousands of tunes" through. He also still prefers to use inexpensive, straightforward gear—what matters, he insists, is not the tools but the feel. The result is a sound that’s stripped back, direct and enduring.

Lately, Athanassiadis has found himself back in focus. With minimal enjoying fresh attention, his calendar has filled, and with it a run of back-to-back sets—most often alongside PLO Man, a regular sparring partner this year. True to form, though, you won't find that his style has changed much. Over 30 years after his first gig, you can rest assured you'll still find him playing with patience, carving out long arcs rather than sharp peaks.

His RA Mix captures him in a reflective mood. Running just over two hours, RA.1003 is a hushed yet absorbing affair, moving seamlessly from the delicate atmospherics of Valentino Mora and Caldera to the machine funk of Robert Hood, Solid Gold Playaz and Marcellus Pittman. There are left turns folded into XDB's patient narrative arc, too: John Carpenter's brooding scores here, DJ Sprinkles' melancholic work with Will Long on "Acid Trax N (Acid Dog)" there.

It's the sound of a DJ who has been quietly chiseling away for three decades, and who understands the value of persistence as much as restraint.

@xdb

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1021

RA.1003 XDB

recording of my all nighter at golden pudel, hamburg (05.09.25)

safe to say that was one of the most wonderful and terrifying djing experiences of my life.

thank you pudel and your wonderful team for the night! will keep this one forever.

all night long @ golden pudel (050925)

Next in the series, we welcome babyschön!

"babyschön is a DJ and radio host based in London. Whether in her live sets or on her weekly Soup to Nuts slot on NTS Radio, she connects the dots between new wave, new beat, synth pop and house, always keeping it weird and sleazy but rhythmic"

Today’s mix drifts through babyschön’s signature dancefloor energy, perfect for those smoke filled rooms.

Kick back and enjoy!

Photo Credit - Julius Dettmer / https://www.instagram.com/jollovision

@babyschon

babyschön | 135

Trushmix 244 presents Orbita. A DJ crew and party organisers in Berlin with a strong love for balearic music, and the early hours of a night. Here Llupe and  DJ Aficionado the 2/3 of Orbita gives you a two hour and twelve minutes disco mix. A soundtrack created with the mindset of the early start of a party in the club. These crucial early hours when things slowly are building up, while people start to come and get into to groove. And suddenly it's full, it's a vibe and it's magic on the dance floor!

Enjoy music from the top!

Trushmix 244 - Orbita

Fade In Gently, 9 September, 2025

Manfredas, a DJ/producer based in Vilnius, Lithuania, is also known as one half of Dresden party with Ivan Smagge. His kaleidoscopic play, shaped by the genre-spanning musical knowledge cultivated as a radio DJ, radiates an eclectic and irresistible attraction while evoking influences from electro, disco, post-punk, and beyond. This two-hour set, live-recorded at BAR Inc Osaka in July 2025, is no exception to his spellbinding style.

@manfredas

DREAMING 049 :  MANFREDAS @BAR INC JULY 2025

Nosedrip b2b Orpheu The Wizard live from The Olive Grove at Love International 2025

Live from the Adriatic 2025: Nosedrip b2b Orpheu The Wizard

Vladimir Ivkovic b2b Sean Johnston live from The Olive Grove at Love International festival 2025

Live from the Adriatic 2025: Vladimir Ivkovic b2b Sean Johnston

Back again with a new mix! Manfredas, recorded live at The Carpet London, all night long in August. We hope you’ll love the ride.

pieces 004 - Manfredas - Recorded live at The Carpet Shop London

F0CU5 5Y573M5 0NL1N3

Manfredas and Vilnius are not one and the same but so intrinsically linked that the Lithuanian capital makes a good starting point. Although, Manfredas got his first musical experience via his hometown radio (long shifts soundtracking a country exploding itself out of the Soviet glaciation), it was his move to Vilnius that started it all. 

Skip a few shifts at legendary club Gravity and an electroclash band and we get to Opium and Smala. It is quite hard to fathom how important the club and Manfredas’ imprint were to the Vilnius nightlife, and still are. For years, this was the party and what a party that was; creating a scene out of not much, educating a couple of generation of clubbers, tightening friendships and making Manfredas the international DJ he is today. For many, it made Vilnius unexpectedly the best clubbing city in the world.

After a string of solo releases and remixes aimed at the furthest corners of the dancefloor, Manfredas took a deep breath and reached out even beyond that furthest corner. With drummer Marijus Aleksa, he created Santaka, an organic/electronic post-jazz (insert whatever term you please) with releases on Byrd Out and legendary Finnish label Sahko, and a live project where the dance floor and non-dancefloor merge hypnotically.

When Manfredas co-created Radio Vilnius in 2021, a hub for experimental music in a dire national landscape, it was another way to pay his dues to the local scene. Born online, Radio Vilnius has now launched it's own record label, inaugurated by Santaka themselves.

When The Last Smala happened in 2020, Manfredas & Ivan Smagghe created a new party outfit: Dresden, a bastard child of Vilnius and London, mother of all nighters, designer of t-shirts, travelling circus (from Love International to Wonderfruit, Glastonbury to Sonar). More hours put in for unruly people, more psychedelic music, including a two-day “weekender” at Gallery, the new hyper-club opened by the Opium crew.

Jack of all trades but master of many (we haven’t talked about his love of food), you can find Manfredas touring the world searching for that extra sparkle and sharing it with all of us.

bookings : caroline@spunoutagency.com

Fade In Gently, 9 September, 2025

MANFREDAS

Recent comments

slugauoswi

proximal/distal

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