These are mixes made by the current members of Research & Development, Makeen, Shanti, Zona Cinco, Dan B Hood and JS Alvarez

Mixes by R&D members

Juanita's Mix 076 with jek @earthdogbk

Q. How would you describe yourself?
A. crazy but cool guy

Q. How long have you been a part of the NY music scene?
A. since 2019

Q. Tell us about this mix.
A. music for deep sea exploration

Juanita's Mix 076: jek

For mix number 18 in the PPRZ Podcast series, we have a mix from Chicago's @makeensound

Chicago based producer and DJ Makeen is focused on groovy textural techno
with a dark edge. He co-organizes the party series Research & Development
with J.S. Alvarez and founded the parties Spent and Near Dark.

His electronic music obsession began when he started performing live sets
on tables full of gear. With an interest in sound design and synthesis, Makeen
spent the early part of his artistic life composing and performing
experimental music more focused on acoustic instruments. The latest leg of
his journey has brought him back to electronic music with an elevated
passion for dance floor-focused beats.

Mix Description:
I decided to take a playful approach to this mix— playing some lighter and
groovier tracks with an emphasis on trippy sounds and atmospheres. This
mix was recorded with 3 x CDJs and an Allen & Heath Xone 92 mixer. The
focus was on long continuous blends, while shifting between new and
unexpected sonic worlds.

Tracklist:
Oktobr - Sleepdancer
Dj Hyperactive & Jason Patrick - Harrier Env (Original Mix)
BLANKA - Howl
Atonism - Back And Forth
Temudo - P is For Paula
Karo - Uväll
Vladw - Aou Mallku
Augusto Taito - High Trip
Ohm - ASKE
CRAVO - Innerversion
Tsibo - M25
Takt - Groove Chaser
Orbe - Post-Cycle
Toru Ikemoto, bw - Don’t Play 050r
Amotik - Saat
Zisko - State of Rhythm
Seigg - Secondary Options
Planetary Assault Systems - Raww
Speedy & Steve - Rotor
Temudo - Susto
Gaetano Parisio - Klytia

PPRZ Podcast 18 - Makeen

Vladimir Ivkovic @vladimir in the Makers Space at Contact Amsterdam, October 19th for our joint ADE event with @polychrome-audio

Vladimir Ivkovic - RPU x Polychrome Audio ADE 2023

ZONA CINCO - MICTLAN - VOL 4

The vaunted techno producer discusses the connections between visual art and music, balancing a full-time career as a fine artist and how he creates his signature sound.

There's a connection between visual art and dance music that's seldom explored on our channels. Mike Parker is well known in the underground techno scene for minimal, hypnotic and beautifully executed sound design that sits somewhere at the edges of club music. But he also received his master's degree in fine art and teaches drawing and painting at Daemon University in Buffalo, New York. Fans of Parker will recognise his visual trademark: monochromatic prints that adorn the covers of the records he puts out on his label, Geophone.

In this Exchange, Parker sits down with Chloe Lula to talk about how he balances his art- and music-making practices and how they inform each other. He also opens up about the long process of sticking to his sound and finding an audience rather than catering to the demands and suggestions of labels and distributors. His 2001 breakout album, Dispatches—which he reissued last year—is a meditation on the act of living far away from any listeners or immediate influences, and he discusses the ongoing drawbacks and rewards of balancing the Eurocentric pursuit of DJing with day-to-day work that's so geographically removed. He also opens up about his longtime collaboration with Donato Dozzy, his love of mid-20th-century sci-fi movies and how free-form radio shaped his approach to music and art. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.761 Mike Parker

We are thrilled to present this mix by Chicago based JS Alvarez for our 39th entry in the series. Both Adam and I admire what Jeremy contributes to the music scene with their podcast and event series Research & Development.

JS Alvarez is a shape shifting lizard that has learned human behavior from living in cities such as Chicago and Miami. He succumbs to no one genre and can be found exploring the depths of mutant techno and unruly bass music alike.

He is the founding member of Research & Development which ignited in the iconic Chicago mainstay of Smartbar. The event series has moved on to host community focused events centered on a wide variety of often cutting edge electronic sounds at venues like Podlasie Club, The Whistler and various DIY spaces. R&D also hosts a biweekly podcast 100+ episodes deep ranging from rising talents, hometown heroes and well established DJs and producers from North America and around the world.

He's shared the booth with artists such as DVS1, Veronika Vasicka, D.Dan, Hodge and others. His mixes have been featured on NTS Radio, Mutant Radio and SutroFM among others. Catch him at The Great Beyond this July! 

I was trying to find a very textured sound within the first quarter of the mix. My attempt at some sort of atmospheric sci-fi horror score followed by something a bit more hypnotic. By the end of the mix I wanted those vibes to explode into something highly rhythmic. Something to shatter what came before and get the sweat dripping off the walls. 

If you enjoyed this mix, please consider donating to JS Alvarez' organization of choice:
https://www.organizedcommunities.org/ 
https://www.organizedcommunities.org/donate

PPRZ Podcast 39 - JS Alvarez

Translation of the poem read by Asik Daimi at 2:38:

I clung to a Truth, O Saints
It took my selfhood and brought me to an end
I was but a drop, and I merged with a river
It carried me from sea to sea

I poured from cup to cup, emptied and filled
I blended with the sea — and the sea became me
I found the universe within a single drop
And once again, it brought me from myself to myself

I became vapor, and fell with the rains
I mixed into the soil, into the mud
I was baked in the ovens with the doughs
My master laid me upon the table

They chewed me, crushed me with their teeth
I passed through the body’s sieve, I was refined
The pen moved, and I was written into a notebook
It raised me in the school of knowledge

I am Daimi (permanent), the goal of the perfected saints
Such was nature’s will
I became the child of an immortal mother
She took me and seated me upon his knees

Travaspango - Royal Highness 270425 @Fitzroy

An analog drift into the synthetic unknown where raw texture meets high tension in a sequence of distorted groove

Artwork by instagram.com/jul.ua

B:Transition

"The context:
I am alone. I am found. I died alone. I never thought I’d be found. I am overwhelmed by memories of a dystopian existence on a collapsing planet where evil took over and subsumed good. All of the kindness evaporated and was swallowed by greed. Memories of my past life occlude my consciousness causing confusion between modes of time like a mirage. Is it the past, present, or future? I can no longer tell.

A journey through being:
Confronted by the pain of knowing but trying to exist and embrace being in the world. Did I give up too quickly? Did I fail to change reality? What did I sacrifice in order to function and live a worldly existence like everyone around me? Blinded by hedonism, the collapsing of the mind and soul into the throws of desire left me empty. I gave up. I lost myself. I returned to the comfort of despair. It’s throbbing. To live without hope is to live in despair. Was there a reprieve from it all? Distractions, pleasure, and attachments turned into a vicious cycle of yearning and loss. Accepting impermanence with a half-open heart. It never got better. It just got worse. Functioning with an ever-growing sense of doom. And now I’m here. Alone. All I have are my memories. But existing in confusion from when these memories took place. Introspection with escapism outside of time. The vicious interplay between existence and non-existence. I am left with nothing."

Opening for Rrose at Smartbar, Chicago in June utilizing 4 CDJs and a V10 mixer.

@shantievanti
IG: @shantiism
https://ra.co/dj/shanti
https://youtu.be/QqfMYAyS8bM?si=iwapv-7i2LFIPNlG

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. Shanti has had the privilege of warming up and closing out dancefloors for incredibly inspirational artists such as Rrose, DJ Nobu, Ø [Phase], Aurora Halal, Mozhgan, Lady Starlight, Black Light Smoke, Esther Dune, Zenker Brothers, Noncompliant, Xtin, and more. She has had the immense pleasure of conjuring spirits at Chicago’s most beloved clubs such as Smartbar, Smoke & Mirrors, Podlasie Club, and several underground gatherings.

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, Death Decay & Magic, Braid Records, Low Visibility, Dance All Day, and m50’s etc radio among other podcasts and shows. This past year, Shanti has expanded her surreal storytelling beyond Chicago by playing in Amsterdam, LA, Detroit and notable Midwest festivals such as Minnesota’s The Great Beyond and Madison’s Musique Électronique. This Halloween, she will be playing at Chicago’s notoriously dark music festival, Sanctum.

Distant Signals 084: Shanti

For the ninth edition of our Listening Café we present Wuppertal's Sequence Collective (@sequence-techno). Carefully selected soundscapes mix with dubbed out Ambient and introspective Techno elements on this extensive journey into their sound. Mexem (@mexem_techno) Danyon (@danyon-sequence) and KØKØ (@multik-tamin)

Lightroast Sessions 009

[CBB015] Ultimate Stickiness by Angioma.
Remix by Ebass.

Angioma is back on the label for his first full EP.

Groovy, Techno, Sexy.
credits
released November 17, 2025

Written and Produced by Alexy BIllon, between Berlin and Barcelona in 2025.
Remix by Ebass

Mastered at koschitzky Mastering
Artwork by Domingo Casanova

All rights reserved © Casanova Bar Records 2025.
license


Bandcamp 

Angioma - Ultimate Stickiness

Depth Charge 05: Exhale

NTN017 is a three-track EP where Vostro expands on his raw, hypnotic techno signature with sharpened club intent and deeper sonic tension. Mechanical rhythms collide with pulsing low-end architectures, metallic atmospherics, and tense, evolving motifs, each track engineered to lock bodies and minds into motion. A forward-leaning blend of industrial grit, broken perception, and dancefloor hypnosis, delivered with precision and unrelenting focus.

*Concussion: A direct, driving cut built around a commanding vocal motif. Heavy low-end pressure, sharp percussion, and a hypnotic push designed for peak-time impact.

*Gateway: Industrial-leaning textures meet a tense lead and deep atmospheric layers. A gritty, immersive trip that balances weight and space.

*Kicker: Tight, thumping rhythm work with timbale-like hits and bleep-driven movement. A rolling groove with a mechanical edge and pulse-raising energy.

NTN017 | Concussion EP
Release date: 11 - Dec - 2025

Nineteen92 Records
---
Follow Nineteen92 Records
Beatport: https://www.beatport.com/label/nineteen92-records/125057
BandCamp: https://nineteen92records.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nineteen92_records/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565655290809
---
Artist: Vostro
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4WKYhUAAtIofyzxckgD2ow
Beatport: https://www.beatport.com/es/artist/vostro/1276514
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vostro.music/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/vostro-280530560
---

Concussion EP

Gateway

Buy On BandCamp

Gateway (Original Mix) [Nineteen92 Records]

N!smo has done it again and is presenting his club heater - IN MY MIND. The song features N!smos driving bassline sound and the pure club identity makes it a must have for every house DJ. 

Stream 

N!smo - In My Mind (Radio Mix)

🌐 Refuge Worldwide is a radio station and community space based in Berlin-Neukölln.
➡️ More info, more music: www.refugeworldwide.com

Help us stay on air by donating to our fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-refuge-worldwide-community-radio

TWIRL! - Dan B. Hood - 01 Dec 2025

Vancouver BC record label & podcast series by @adamtwo and @djhockey

Based in Chicago, R&D is a music event/mix series focused on nurturing new sounds, experiences and atmospheres while exploring the music and culture it was born or mutated from. Techno, electro, EBM, bass, breaks, club and beyond.
Current personnel
Jeremy Alvarez - JS Alvarez
Eric Fernandez - Makeen
Shanti Chu - Shanti
Dan Hood - Dan B Hood
Kona Mazariegos - Zona Cinco

PPRZ Podcast 39 - JS Alvarez

PPRZ

Recent comments

DN

threv

DJ HOCKEY

Adam Pecho

Related tracks