At Field Maneuvers 2023, Optimo (Espacio) played the final set in the Sputnik tent as part of the Watching Trees takeover. "We expected everyone to be on their final reserves of energy," they said. "But it was instantly apparent that there was electric energy in the tent. It ended up being one of the most joyous, life-affirming gigs of [the year]."

@optimo-music @fieldmaneuvers

Find out more about Field Maneuvers 2024: https://ra.co/news/80472

RA Live - Optimo (Espacio) - Field Maneuvers, UK

@reptant_the_lizard live at floresta

foto: fofo.altinell

Reptant live at Floresta - Waking Life '24

Sound Metaphors (@sound-metaphors) is Nemo Ripoll and Castro Moore, but it is also the name of their famously well-curated label and record shop in Berlin. As such the pair has been helping to define the sound of the underground on many different fronts - electric DJ sets, cult events and even through the custom-made sound systems built for customers worldwide. With a vast musical knowledge between them and a never-ending supply of their own unreleased edits and DJ tools, they are able to tell musical stories that draw from all across all genres and many different eras.

That plays out in the superb mix they have put together for us this week. It's a full-bodied selection that shows off their love of contrasting styles - loose, percussive house music brushes up with deep and dubby cuts, dark acid grooves sit next to '80s synth sounds before a disco finish goes from stomping to funky. The exuberance of it all is infectious and leaves you wanting more.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 477 - Sound Metaphors DJs

Nemo & Castro Live in the Valley.

https://solsticefestival.fi

Sound Metaphors DJs at Solstice 2024

300 mixes! What a journey. Big respect to those still listening since it all began back in the late 2000s, and a warm welcome to those who might just be tuning in for the first of hopefully a few more to come.

Thought it must be about time for another episode from Deepcast HQ, with Myles Mac & DJ Possum back in the mix for a relaxing journey guided by the eternal balearic breeze of the 90s. Two and a half hours of smooth summertime groovers with plenty of vocoders, utopian dream states and moments of total rave nostalgia. Dancefloor chillers for the deeply inclined and/or reclined. Here's to 300 more :~)

@myles-mac & @djpossums

MDC.300 Myles Mac & DJ Possum

The 2024 Review has landed with MDC's @myles-mac blending up some the tastiest treats from the year that was.

Tracklist:

C.K - We Share The Skies // PRS
AV Moves & Alex Ho - Perennials // Public Possession
naemi - Couch Angel w/ Arad Acid & Huerco S. // 3XL
Pleasure Planet - Alien (Alex Kassian's Sphinx Gate Mix) // SELF:TIMER
DJ Relax - Anti Free Flowing Anxiety // Speed Dial
Mosam Howieson - Ether // Semantica
OP BOOMBOX - Mystery Bay // Serenity Now
Alex Kassian - A Reference To E2-E4 By Manuel Göttsching // Test Pressing
Picasso - Sub Rosa [l.o.v.e] // Tackle Audio
Jamma-Dee - On & On // Public Possession
Patrick Holland - S Mobile // Verdicchio Music Publishing
BùLù - Senegalese-Sharpshooter (Original Mix) // Nummer Music
Mayurashka - 12:00 P.M. // Serenity Now
Cousin - ~O.V.O~ // Self Released
Huerta - Cool Frijoles ft. CJ // Leizure
DJ SWISHA - WEIRDO BEHAVIOR // Self Released
Julie Marghilano - All I Need // RAWAX
DJ Pipe - Deeper Strainz // Global North
Shinichi Atobe - Dub 6(six) // DDS
Picture - Sea // Help Recordings
Retza - Solum Silvus // Looking For Life
Fantastic Man - Warm Waters // Axis of People
DOC 'N' P1LL - Fastforward // Serenity Now
Opal Sunn - Elastic - Phase I // Test Pressing
Avalon Emerson - A Dam Will Always Divide (Lew E Asks the Dust Remix) // Another Dove

MDC 2024 Review

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

Sound Metaphors DJs at Solstice 2024

Post Bar / Solstice