Samhain XXIV at Tangent, Oct 26 in Detroit. Erika did a captivating under 120 bpm techno set to launch the night, Wata Igarashi was on directly after me, with Mike Servito following Wata and ultimately Scott Zacharias closing the 12 hour party. In the other room the Luv NRG Soundsystem raged as T4T did their thing. 

For this set I took the approach that at this time of year, in the Halloween time period, that feelings morph and change, how we feel about music on these nights is different, the context is altered. What is stern, scary, and stark can be very exciting at this time. What is warm and funky also takes a new shape and can be oh so freaky. I felt an impeding doom in the air and I wanted to channel that into solid sound system experience that was transformative and immersive. A sonic description of another world, the true power of techno. I am extremely excited about the shifting of eras happening within techno right now, and there was so much fresh music that fit the No Way Back concepts, but within a more pure techno language. I was also thinking of Mike Huckaby, who I worked with in the Record Time Dance Room, and his theories that a few amount of sounds makes a record the most powerful. There’s so many thrilling jams with only 4 sounds right now, this set gave me a special chance to explore that. 

Technically I used 4 CDJ-3000s and a Pioneer V10 and its internal effects with lots of layering with a new approach to mixing. If I’m doing something historic, it has to fit perfectly within the sonic context of what I’m playing, and for an older cut that can be very hard with today’s sonics, so I spend time remastering the older songs through my mixer and outboard equipment to give them a way to be played and allow them to glow within this new and living context. It’s all experimental at this point, a work in progress. The ones called QM are an older “quick master” technique that I did with software. Enjoy this journey to the other side. 

Podcast mastered by BMG.

Monks of the Drukpa Kagyu Order–Doungchen And Gyaling
Architectural — Rare Ceremony Tapes
Edit Select — Translate - Backward Signal
Terrence Dixon — Unconditional Love
The Vision — Detroit: One Circle (BMG Remaster)
Psyk — Disconnected
Mod21 — Childlike Wonder (Rrose Remix)
Feral — Flare
Orbe — Bronze
Feral — Chez Driss
Neel — Riflesso
Yan Cook — Cipher
Gene Hunt — Wildside Danny Dubb (BMG Remaster)
Shlomi Aber & Kashpitzky — Bazement
Troy — Awakening
Innersha — Emeralds
Dialog — Better Way (Feat. Benji)
Helena Hauff — Humanoid Fruit
Mod21 — Will You Ever Stop
Sexual Harrassment — I Need A Freak (BMG edit)
Psyk — Fear Of Sleep (Edit)
Allana Letm — Temois Multiplos (Centrific Remix)
Wata Igarashi — Collision
Erika — Wandering Mountain (Mike Parker Remix)
Mike Parker — Heat Inducer
Perfo — Muse
Luigi Tozzi — Spiral (Rrose Remix)
Kerrie — Replicants 
Andy Toth — Sycorax ver.1 [forthcoming IT]
Acid Junkies — Design The Future (BMG Remaster)
808 State — Flow Coma (BMG Remaster)
Aphex Twin — Isopropophlex (BMG Remaster)
CHBB — NBKE (BMG QM)

BMG at Samhain XXIV

This one's for the dreamers. I'm extremely proud of this re-recording of my live tracklist, performed in one take just a few days after The Great Beyond to keep the original vibe intact. It captures the feel of my set, and I really settled in after the first handful of blends. Hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing it. ❀

LET FREEDOM REIGN

SPACE & TIME (TGB '25)

On the third night of rural, OCCA delivered a truly "unconventional" set.

With IDM-oriented, programmatic techno sounds, trance-infused half-step rhythms, and moments of pure psychedelia woven throughout, his performance turned the night into something close to a special ritual.

As a DJ who continues to explore the uncharted territories of dance music and present futuristic visions of it, OCCA captivates not only the connoisseurs but every single person on the dance floor. Please enjoy his uncategorizable, sonically hypnotic dance set.

rural 3日目の夜、OCCAが、まさに"型破り"なセットを披露してくれました。

IDMオリエンテッドなプログラム・テクノサウンド、異次元へ誘うようなトランス経由のハーフステップ、随所に高純度なサイケデリックサウンドが織り交ぜられたこのDJセットは、この日の夜を特別な儀式へと導いていきました。

ダンスミュージックの未開拓領域に挑み続け、未来的なダンスミュージックを提示するDJとして、好事家のみならず、ダンスフロアの一人ひとりを魅了してきたOCCAによるカテゴライズ不能な音響派催眠ダンスセットをお楽しみください。

OCCA at rural 2025

Dirty Epic welcomes aboard @shantievanti for the 127th installment of Amplify Series.

Shanti has made textured waves in Chicago’s techno scene with her curation of dark, sinister, and ethereal soundscapes. Music has always been a means of coping with the otherness and hybridity Shanti experienced throughout her life. She has been deeply moved by the transcendent ability of music to express concepts, states of consciousness, and conflicting emotions. Shanti’s sets weave a story of the simultaneous despair and yearning that are intertwined with the human condition and illustrate an intentional trajectory through combining and cultivating surreal, atmospheric, and haunting sounds.
 
Enamored by the liminal dynamics of sound, she cohosts Otherworldly Ambiguity with Scum.ee –an experience that is centered around the phenomenon of existing in between and outside of pre-existing concepts and rigid categories. She is also a member of techno collective Research & Development and hosts a monthly radio show, “Liminal Radio” on WIIT 88.9 FM featuring thoughtful artists at the core of Chicago’s underground music scene.
 
Experiencing music outside of the confines of a club or the underground is extremely important to Shanti as she had initially discovered her favorite artists through online podcasts and radio. The universalizability of podcasts and radio enable music to be experienced by more humans situated in different contexts. This is why she has contributed to many notable online mix series and radio channels. Her mixes have been featured on The Black Lodge Radio, SutroFM, Mutant Radio, PPRZ, Distant Signals, Death Decay & Magic, Braid Records, Low Visibility, Dance All Day, and m50’s etc radio among other podcasts and shows.

"For this closing set, I wanted to cultivate an atmosphere of releasing the turbulent emotions we have been experiencing in Chicago as a community. I anticipated the desire for this release but experiencing it in the subterranean context of Smartbar - in the darkness - in real time- felt so powerful and transcendent. This experience was not merely an escape, but a channeling of the heaviness within us - how do the mind and body cope and grasp what is happening? I was fueled by the defiantly heavy energy from the dancers and it was such a testament to the healing power of music during these dark times."

LINKS:

SHANTI:
Soundcloud: @shantievanti
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shantiism/
RA: https://ra.co/dj/shanti

DIRTY EPIC:
Website: www.dirty-epic.com
Merch: shopby6am.com/collections/dirty-epic-collection
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DirtyepicLA
Twitter: twitter.com/dirtyepicla
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dirtyepicla/

Amplify Series 127 - Shanti (live Smartbar, Chicago 10/25)

at BYYB Radio, Shanghai, 01-11-2025

Klex is a DJ and producer based in Berlin, known for his eclectic blend of trance, breaks, and progressive sounds. Since 2017, he has been at the helm of Strictly Strictly, a label he co-founded with friends that also organizes festivals and events in and around Berlin. Klex’s DJ sets are a journey through diverse styles, always with a deep love for basslines, hi-hats, and energetic vibes. As a producer, Klex has released music on respected labels like his second home Warning, Mana Abundance, and Electric Shapes, and his debut EP, Klextasy, on his own imprint, Strictly Strictly.

Follow artist - https://soundcloud.com/klex
Follow label - https://soundcloud.com/strictly_confidential

368⚡️Klex

"Some dubby and spacious sounds I like to play these days✨"

@youngchae-lee

Mantissa Mix 380: Sunday Lee

RA concludes its podcasting year with a mix from Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann.

Resonate (Ben Sims Remix 2) *digi exclusive

Mike Gervais