Every month, RA staffers share their favourite new music and reflect on key news stories from the electronic music scene.
ra.co/exchange

Critics' Roundtable

Reflections, a mini series within the RA Exchange podcast, takes a magnifying glass to the long-form journalism on our website. On each episode, writers break down their latest feature in an effort to shed more light on underlying issues surrounding the story. 
ra.co/exchange

Reflections

Documentaries

Getting to know the music behind the man. 

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/562

@vvvirgilabloh

RA Exchange

EX.562 Virgil Abloh

Navigating the rough and the smooth with the revitalised UK producer.  

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/563

@KARENNYAMEKG

EX.563 KG

Clipz, Lobster Boy and a Dream Vision Future. 

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/565

@redlight-uk

EX.565 Redlight

Riding Chicago house's second wave with the edits specialist. 

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/566

@jamie3too6

EX.566 Jamie 3:26

The journalist documenting abuses at sea who opened an archive of field recordings to musicians.

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/570

EX.570 Ian Urbina

The 600th episode of the Exchange marks a pivot in Resident Advisor’s audio coverage. Source Material, one of our new series, moves towards in-depth, documentary-style reports on the electronic music community and beyond. For the inaugural edition of Source Material, we invite perspectives from Ukraine following the country’s invasion by Russia, which has sparked a humanitarian crisis with over 1.5 million displaced refugees.

Starting in 2014, Kyiv became a global dance music destination, due to its world-class venues and festivals, plus the government’s relatively hands-off approach towards enforcing social gathering regulations during Covid. Many flocked to its dance floors during a time when other countries operated under stringent lockdowns, and interest in the city only continued to grow. But the promise of Kyiv’s fertile club scene has been completely decimated by the war.

Those who made the community so vibrant are now faced with  the unimaginable decision to either flee or fight. The voices within this episode include Timur, known as the producer John Object, an affiliate of CXEMA, who is defending his country as part of the Territorial Defense Force, and Margareeta, RA’s City Manager for Kyiv, who discusses the emotional toll of fleeing from the war. Woven throughout are also interviews with anti-war protestors in the streets of Berlin and the volunteers helping refugees at the city’s main train stations.

Guests: John Object, Margarita Evi
Interviewer: Whitney Wei

Tracklist: 
John Object - Draft (2010)
John Object - Xanax & Silk (Live) (2016)
John Object - Kiss (2018)

EX.600 Source Material: Kyiv’s Club Community, Fractured By War

Every day at Resident Advisor, we discuss the latest interesting music but there's only so much information we can pack into features, reviews and news. The Critics' Roundtable podcast, part of our Exchange series, is a chance for the team to go deeper into striking artists, records and industry trends in the global club underground.

This instalment, featuring senior staff writer Nyshka Chandran, music editor Andrew Ryce and chief creative and brand officer Kazim Rashid, touches on recent releases in London, Ecuador, Atlanta and beyond. First, each highlight their favourite albums from the past four months, with selections ranging from Terrence Dixon's supremely abstract techno to Marcela Dias Sindaco's sexy electro. Next, contributors discuss an artist or platform of note. Washington DC label PPU gets a mention, as do the hard-hitting bass mutations of Nikki Nair and Colombian label Insurgentes. Finally, Nyshka, Andrew and Kazim reflect on significant developments in the electronic music world, commenting on the ongoing attempts to get artists paid for online mixes, the intersection of club music and theatre and the recent passing of hip-hop icon DJ Kay Slay.

Tracklist:
Alabaster DePlume - Visitors XT8B – Oak [International Anthem] 
Terrence Dixon - Aurora - Other Dimensions [30D Records] 
Marcela Dias Sindaco - À Flor Da Pele - Rio de Janeiro 3025 EP [Fixed Rhythms] 
Nikki Nair & Nala - The World Is Always Ending - The World Is Always Ending [Dirtybird] 
Dwight Sykes - You’re Exactly - On The Rocks [PPU]
PVSSY & Entrañas - Manía (Menzi remix - Fervor [TraTraTrax]
Terrence Dixon - Aurora - Other Dimensions [30D Records]

EX.608 Critics' Roundtable [May 2022]

On the debut episode of our new Reflections series, New York staff writer Kiana Mickles analyses recent developments in local nightlife following the closure of a treasured Brooklyn venue.

Resident Advisor publishes several pieces of long-form journalism per week but due to word count limitations, there's only so much information our reporters can pack in. To ensure important stories get the full coverage they deserve, we've started a new series on the RA Exchange. Reflections takes a deeper dive into the editorial content on our website by inviting writers to dissect one of their recent features. A behind-the-scenes look into the conceptualisation and research behind these articles, Reflections aims to provide updates on the highlighted topic as well as shed light on the journalistic process.

For the inaugural episode, New York staff writer Kiana Mickles discusses her feature on Bossa Nova Civic Club from February this year. Ever since a fire forced the iconic venue to close indefinitely, Brooklyn nightlife hasn't been the same, she explained in a conversation with Martha Pazienti Caidan. The club was celebrated for its weekday programming but now that it's shut, Brooklynites have fewer party options on school nights, Mickles described.

Bossa's fire is one of many disturbing incidents in New York nightlife this year, she continued. Recent episodes of violence and crime in various clubs have shaken artists and punters, particularly those from minority backgrounds. Mace-like fumes were reported at Nowadays, Rash was the victim of an arson attack and allegations of drink spiking at popular venues remain rampant.

Listen to the full conversation below for more details on these issues.

https://ra.co/exchange/610

Tracklist: 
quest?onmarq - Tropical Goth https://questionmarcdj.bandcamp.com/album/tropical-goth-rave-water
Ben Bondy - Everything I Can't Be [Quiet Time] https://benbondy.bandcamp.com/album/ben-bondy

EX.610 Reflections: Volatility In New York Nightlife

Collaboration is intrinsic to creative jobs. Whether you're a lone wolf or a team player, it's impossible to avoid partnerships and group coordination. But working with other people can get messy, especially when ego is involved. As part of Resident Advisor's ongoing collaboration with Black Minds Matter, this episode of the Exchange explores how alliances affect an artist's craft and wellbeing. In separate conversations with UK singer-songwriter Aluna and Hamburg-based DJ crew SLIC Unit, host Vanessa Maria asks them about the challenges of building collectively versus individually.

For SLIC Unit, being part of a network is all about mutual trust. Each person brings different talents to the table so it's important to reinforce each another while streamlining the decision-making process, founding members Nissa and SENU describe. "Being together or being in a collective always means more work," they say, referring to the need for clear communication, empathy and making time for everyone's projects. SLIC Unit practices what they call "radical solidarity," a support system that reduces chaos and stress while enabling them to have fun while working.

Aluna, on the other hand, has a solo career in addition to being one-half of the duo AlunaGeorge. For her, going solo meant confronting her relationship with fear. Being in a band provided her with a sense of safety but that ultimately became a warning bell, she explains. "I knew that I was using it as a safety net from a place of either displacement or fear," she continues, alluding to her issues with racism and sexism. At the end of the day, it's important for artists to establish stability and security within themselves before they can join a group, she notes.

For more insights on how creatives can preserve authenticity and self-worth in a team environment or on their own, listen to the hour-long podcast.

EX.612 Source Material: Collaboration & Mental Health

Two new faces join Head Of Podcasts Martha Pazienti-Caidan on the June edition of Critics' Roundtable, Resident Advisor's monthly podcast that showcases the varied tastes of our contributors. Over the course of 40 minutes, Glasgow City Manager Rose Manson, Staff Writer Zoey Shopmaker and Pazienti-Caidan herself present their favourite music and new stories from the past three months.

Their selections include New York producer K Wata, whose recent 12-inch connects the dots between loopy drum patterns and experimental ambient, as well as the 10 year anniversary compilation of UK label Local Action. Kiernan Laveaux's March mix for Noods Radio is also highlighted, as is the new Air Max '97 EP and Glasgow community radio station Buena Vida. Towards the end of the chat, the trio discuss a directory of women, trans and non-binary producers, the slow pace of festival ticket sales and efforts to end sexual violence at large gatherings.

Listen to the conversation in full.

EX.613 Critics' Roundtable [June 2022]

Reflections, a new addition on the RA Exchange, takes a magnifying glass to long-form journalism on our website. On each episode, writers break down their latest feature in an effort to shed more light on underlying issues surrounding the story.  

As part of Resident Advisor's technology month, senior staff writer Nyshka Chandran investigated how blockchain networks known as Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) are looking to disrupt the global nightlife industry. Here, she outlines how she came across the niche world of Web3 nightlife and explains the cautious sentiment behind this fast-growing sector.  

While several DAOs throw parties featuring electronic music artists, only a few seek to operate their own venues and transform the process of event curation, she notes. But their lofty ambitions are tied to the fate of the cryptocurrency market, which could ultimately make or break a DAO, she warns.

Listen to the full conversation for more details.

EX.616 Reflections: Web3 in Nightlife

New music, community-driven parties, tech talk and more from RA staffers.

Every month, members of Resident Advisor's global team highlight their favourite artists, exciting labels and industry trends on the Critics' Roundtable podcast. This edition, featuring senior designer Lucy Ross, senior US partnerships lead Lottie Moore and senior staff writer Nyshka Chandran, jumps across genres and regions in a reflection of the trio's myriad tastes. 

Selections feature records with an introspective touch, setting the tone for a mindful summer. From the furious breaks of NIGELTHREETIMES to V.C.R's gospel-inspired soul to Joy Orbison collaborator KEYAH/BLU, the group describes how each artist incorporates a cinematic gloss into their respective compositions. Elsewhere, Honolulu-based label Aloha Got Soul gets a mention for its commitment to showcasing Hawaiian funk and jazz, as does young amapiano star Uncle Waffles, whose global footprint keeps expanding.

Recent developments impacting the electronic music ecosystem are also discussed. Moore looks at community-building initiatives of promoters, highlighting Los Angeles' Mapamota and noting the potential of chat platforms such as Discord to strengthen ties with punters. Ross, meanwhile, summarises how AI is influencing brand identity from a designer's viewpoint.

Listen to the full podcast for more.

EX.618 Critics' Roundtable [July 2022]

Berlin has witnessed an alarming number of drug and needle spiking incidents in recent months, raising worries about nightlife safety in one of the world's top clubbing destinations. In this edition of Reflections, a new series on the RA Exchange that breaks down important journalism on our site, staff writer Anu Shukla and managing editor Chloe Lula examine the context surrounding recent spiking claims.

Shukla, discussing her article on the topic, describes how she spoke to two women who said they were spiked with needles at Berghain and Sisyphos. Their stories have pushed others to share their own experiences with spiking, Shukla says. Lula, who has been looking into the socio-economic and political climate behind spiking, notes how some clubbers may now feel unsafe going out alone. The pandemic has brought about a rise in anti-social behaviour and regressive attitudes towards sex, which could be a factor behind spiking, she describes.

Listen to the full conversation to understand how spiking poses serious implications for women and minorities in nightlife.

For resources on community care, harm reduction and mental health, revisit our list from earlier this year: https://ra.co/features/3961

EX.620 Reflections: Inside Nightlife’s Spiking Epidemic

This volume of the Critics Roundtable, Resident Advisor's monthly podcast that showcases staff selections, looks back at the summer's important moments and releases in electronic music. Over the course of 40 minutes, podcasts chief Martha Pazienti Caidan, events writer Katie Thomas and content intern Fahad Akinsanya each recap a memorable news story, record and live performance from the past two months. 

Offering insights, opinions and most importantly, discussion, the trio praise the reopening of London venue The Cross and analyse The Jaguar Foundation's latest report on gender diversity in UK dance music. Also on the agenda is the public backlash against RA's critical review of Beyonce's new album. In terms of new releases, the new EP by Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal gets a mention, as does Sierra and CalvoMusic's "Fast Lingo." Finally, the trio highlight their favourite festival gigs, which include Vanyfox and Tame Impala at Primavera Sound.

Listen to the episode for all the details.

EX.623 Critics' Roundtable [August 2022]

What did your summer sound like? For the RA staffers featured on this month's episode of the Critics' Roundtable, the answer ranges from dubby jungle to cheeky UKG to hazy krautrock.

Looking back on their favourite records from recent months, managing editor Chloe Lula, Mexico City manager Valeria Martin del Campo and senior writer Nyshka Chandran highlight Dax J's Soul Enforcer,Prelude by Barbie Bertisch and Lichi's latest fruit-inspired compilation.

The conversation then shifts to special live performances. Aquarian's dextrous mixing at Dekmantel gets a mention, as does SCHNITT and Gianluca Sibaldi's captivating AV performance at MUTEK Montreal, where they scanned audiences in real-time. Moving onto industry trends and significant news stories, the trio discuss the significance of Mexico City online radio station Aire Libre shutting down, the impact of algorithmic populism on artists and the massive labour crunch in event production jobs.

For more details on each of these topics, listen to the full conversation.

EX.627 Critics' Roundtable [September 2022]

This past August, a panel of artists, creatives and various members of club communities gathered in Berlin to discuss the threats weighing on global nightlife. Part of Jägermeister's #SAVETHENIGHT initiative to rejuvenate the after-dark economy as well as Tresor's 31st anniversary celebrations, the discussion touched on a variety of social, economic and community issues such as gentrification, inclusion and safety that Resident Advisor later unpacked in a digital feature.

The latest instalment of Reflections, a new series on the Exchange that explores content on RA's site, goes deeper on some of these topics. Discussing the sustainability of club culture, Bernard Koomson from Berlin-based creative studio DeadHype notes how more collaboration has helped build critical infrastructure while knowledge sharing can help a younger generation learn from their predecessors. Manchester promoter Alice Woods, who co-runs the Meat Free club nights as well as her own event for people with disabilities called All Under One Roof, emphasises the importance of parties as a welcoming arena for all individuals. "People with disabilities are still quite left behind," she describes. "That's a wider societal issue but I think as a nightlife industry as, as a clubbing sector, I think we can be ones to lead the way on that."

For more details, listen to the conversation in full.

https://save-the-night.com

EX.631 Reflections: Protecting the Future of Nightlife

New York's dance music culture evolves every weekend. A constant wave of new collectives, promoters and artists, combined with a host of legacy names and an ever-growing batch of enthusiastic ravers, infuse the city with a vivacious energy that's hard to find elsewhere. This episode of Reflections, a series that digs deep into RA content, pays tribute to New York nightlife through three heartfelt anecdotes that capture the vibrancy of past and present communities.

Taken from RA's new limited-edition book Sacred Spaces, each message focuses on special party moments. Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy describes her quest to seek spirituality and communal transcendence through music, focusing on her experiences at David Mancuso's seminal The Loft party. Sharon White, a veteran name in New York's clubbing history, recounts the night of her unexpected debut at The Saint, an East Village spot that operated during the 1980s. The impromptu set went until 2 PM in the afternoon, leading the way for White to become one of the top grossing DJs on The Saint's roster. Finally, RA's editor-in-chief Whitney Wei describes coming of age at Palisades, an intimate Bushwick venue that lasted only two years but considerably shaped her club experiences.

Sacred Spaces, available for £29.99 via the RA Store, features 26 tributes to the dance by the likes of Kevin Saunderson, Róisín Murphy, Eris Drew and Octo Octa, among others.

EX.634 Reflections: Sacred Spaces

Faced with shrinking margins and higher rents, event organisers are finding new ways to keep the party going.

As the cost of living crisis continues to eat into club land, promoters around the world are increasingly being forced to adapt to shrinking margins. This new episode of Source Material, our documentary-style podcast series, shines a spotlight on Glasgow, Taipei and Chicago, where local organisers are testing out unconventional forms of inclusive promotion in response to widespread economic uncertainty. 

In Glasgow, Han Read runs a monthly night called Events Research Programme that operates off a Patreon subscription model. Bonjour, meanwhile, is a queer venue in the Scottish city that runs as a co-op, sharing a minimum 50 percent of its profits among staff in an effort to acquire more financial freedom. In Taipei, venue 23 Music Room is using its non-traditional business model to bolster the next generation of promoters while RA contributor Steve Noah describes the state of DIY parties in Chicago.

Listen to the full conversation for details on each of these scenes.

Producer: Rose Manson
Executive Producer: Martha Pazienti Caidan

EX.637 Source Material: Sustainable Promotion

Since at least the 1970s, artists have composed music for plants. From Mort Garson’s Plantasia to dublab's Plant Music compilation, albums recorded with nature in mind often intend to stimulate growth or simply entertain leafy creatures. This episode of Source Material, a documentary-style series, explores the symbiotic links between electronic music and house plants.

Diving into the world of frequencies and root systems, @martharadio speaks to various experts to learn how nature responds to ambient tunes and synthesisers. Among them are biotherapeutic musician Imka, Joe Patitucci of PlantWave, an app that translates plants' biorhythms into music, sound artist Karine Bonneval and composer Erland Cooper.

To discover how bass frequencies mimic bees and why festivals are adopting sonic soil pollution, listen to the episode.

EX.641 Source Material: Plants and Electronic Music

In honour of World Radio Day—which landed on February 13th—this week’s RA Exchange celebrates the power of radio in a documentary-style deep dive. UNESCO inaugurated World Radio Day in 2011 in order to commemorate its efficacy in reaching remote communities, connecting with people everywhere regardless of their education level, and providing a platform for positive and democratic discourse. It's also critical in spreading critical information during times of crisis or emergency. According to UNESCO, "increasing radio's journalistic standards and capacity should be considered as an investment in peace."

On a more modest level, podcasting and radio, especially in the world of underground music, can help forge in-person and virtual networks and celebrate and spread new and lesser-known music. During the pandemic, it also held together underground music scenes when people couldn't be together in the club, and sustained a kind of intimacy and connection by letting people share music over the airwaves and community platform chat rooms. 

In this episode, we hear from various radio producers around the world—including Jamz Supernova, Hana Walker Brown, Dublab Barcelona and Hong Kong Community Radio, among others—about why radio resonates so strongly with them. "Good radio is always an exercise in connection, especially host-led radio,” says Rory Bowens, NTS’s Head of Radio Production. “The fact that it's a live experience is really crucial. People can listen to something in real time with a huge audience of other listeners at the same time, and that intrinsically connects them to each other." Take a listen to the episode in full.

EX.648 Source Material: The Power of Radio in Times of Crisis

"Devotion is the main aim—to try to encourage commitment in people." The fabric resident and Houghton festival founder discusses his love of the crowd, DJing and more.

Craig Richards, arguably one of UK dance music's most respected DJs, is normally averse to the spotlight. But the multi-hyphenate artist and fabric resident has played the London institution every Saturday for nearly two decades, DJing alongside fellow household names like Ricardo Villalobos and Nicolas Lutz. Over the years, Richards has profoundly shaped the canon that's defined the space and its programming week in and week out.

He’s keenly attuned to other DJs and the flow of a night, and he's not indebted to one particular style or genre. In a Resident Advisor feature from 2019, Ray Philp described his sound as "intergalactic space metal" that goes far beyond techno, house or electro, instead interplaying classics with deep, headsy tunes that he tirelessly seeks out every week.

In this interview with RA's European deputy editor Carlos Hawthorn, Richards talks about what makes a good record, and the DJ's role as a bridge between the past and present. He also discusses his endeavours beyond the booth—most notably the idyllic festival he started in 2017, Houghton, which is set in the English countryside—and his passion for painting and cross-disciplinary creativity. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.671 Craig Richards

"These records changed my emotional perspective on music." Recorded live at Dekmantel, the Italian techno artist dissects the records that shaped his approach to DJing and production.

There are few artists as widely respected as Donato Dozzy, who is known for his unique approach to building hypnotic, acid-infused atmospheres as a solo artist and as one half of Voices From The Lake. He is also a singular curator at the head of Spazio Disponibile alongside Neel, and a DJ with a reputation for building sophisticated and slowly unwinding sets at festivals like Labyrinth, Terraforma and Horst, as well as in public spaces and museums.

In this Exchange live from Dekmantel 2023, Resident Advisor's editor-in-chief, Whitney Wei, asks Dozzy about the songs that shaped his craft in our Playing Favourites flagship series. He takes us back to his childhood, playing the first track that introduced him to electronic music before moving chronologically through his life and the pieces that acted as lynchpins in his creative development. He discusses how he grew up in a musical household, listening to classical orchestrations with his parents before finding Italo disco and the stylings of Giorgio Moroder, Lory D and The Future Sound of London. These albums, he says, influenced how he builds his sets, leaning into slowly unfolding narratives as he moves from one track to another. "When I started releasing albums, I decided that I wanted to create stories," he says. Listen to the episode in full.

Tracklist:
Franco Battiato - Summer on a Solitary Beach
Giorgio Moroder - The Chase
Lory D - Abrupt Interruption
The Future Sound of London - Cascade
Kruder & Dorfmeister - DJ Kicks 1996
Mike Parker - Dispatches
Die Woodys - Fitchtl's Lied
Verde Prato - Nina Sonando
Donato Dozzy - Valentina

EX.675 Donato Dozzy

"I always want to challenge myself as a musician." The DJ, producer and T4T LUV NRG cofounder talks about her new live set and overcoming hearing loss live from MUTEK.

Eris Drew is something of a mentor to many, including people she's never met. Her words on psychedelics, the ritual of dancing and other topics have become near-gospel for many fans, and it's always a treat to hear her speak on practically any topic. While many of her discussions veer towards the esoteric or spiritual, when it came time for our live RA Exchange at MUTEK, she wanted to get down to brass tacks about making and playing music.

Ahead of the first North American performance of her stunning live show, Drew sat down with RA's music editor, Andrew Ryce. She spoke at length about her live show and DJing—including her old-school style of mixing she calls "riding the pitch"—and the trials and tribulations of proofing stages and booths for turntable use, hearing protection and more. She spoke with all the authority and feeling she usually does, with a deep, technical knowledge that makes this talk almost as much a tutorial as it was a conversation. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.682 Eris Drew

"DJs don't hit their stride until their 40s." The DJ and creative multihyphenate discusses maturing as an artist, having a family and navigating the worlds of contemporary art and cuisine.

Resident Advisor has followed Detroit native Seth Troxler's DJ career since the beginning. And on his first appearance on the RA Exchange, he is in his domestic bliss phase, living with his wife and kids in his new home of Zürich and partying at least a little less—and only on the weekends.

Since taking the house and techno scene by storm in the late '00s, when he was still in his teens, Troxler has become one of the most famous DJs in the world, known almost as much for his jokester personality and party antics as his craft. But the public image belies the skill behind his work: he's one of the most popular artists in the world simply because he's also one of the best, able to string music together almost preternaturally, as if he was born to do it. You never know what kind of records he's going to play—sometimes he doesn't, either—but you can count on it being a journey worth taking.

These days, Troxler isn't putting himself through the wringer like he used to, but he has his moments. Before this interview with RA music critic Andrew Ryce, he played New York, then Miami, then New York again, then Toronto, all in the span of one weekend. He opened up about his more responsible lifestyle, his family life and his love of food, as well as his passion for pairing art and technology and his hopes for a lasting legacy.

EX.687 Seth Troxler

"There's a joy I'm trying to depict in my artwork." The American DJ and producer discusses her latest painting exhibition, the power of poetry and exploring queer fantasy in visual art.

Today, Berlin-via-New York multidisciplinary artist Juliana Huxtable might be best known for her DJing and dance floor productions. She's the co-founder of the party Shock Value and a regular at Berghain, Herrensauna, Basement and more clubs and festivals around the world. But she's equally prolific in the worlds of poetry and visual art, and in her first appearance on the RA Exchange, she talks to senior producer Chloe Lula about her multimedia painting exhibition, -USSYPHILIA, which is on display through the beginning of January. A champion of queer and trans theory, Huxtable uses collage, painting and poetry to explore themes around identity anarchy and sexuality throughout the exhibition. While the collection is serious and somewhat academic, it's also playful, diving deep into fantasy, psychedelia and allusions to soft porn.

These days, Huxtable enjoys dabbling in other kinds of art as well. In her interview, she talks about her longtime love of performance art, which she says is ghettoized in the art world context, usually relegated to awkward programming add-ons in gallery exhibitions. Her band Tongue In The Mind is  shaking off the performance art stigma and bringing it into the club with their forthcoming EP on PAN, Pretty Canary, out in late 2023. 

To hear about how she keeps on top of parallel creative practices, her thoughts on writing, experiences with psychedelics and more, listen to the episode in full.

EX.688 Juliana Huxtable

"All I want to do is express what I love." The beloved Berghain resident talks about learning from failure, putting in the time and how good sound systems have changed his life.

Born and bred in Minneapolis, Zak Khutoretsky, AKA DVS1, has been throwing and playing raves for decades. Now 47, he's at the top of his game. As one of Berghain's most popular residents and a producer known for his deep and versatile sound, he's amassed thousands of followers around the world, releasing on Klockworks, Transmat and Ostgut Ton, in addition to his own label, HUSH.

Not just an artist, Khutoretsky has garnered a reputation for speaking critically about the challenges facing the electronic music community, notably through his essay about the battle between art and entertainment, and more recently through the inauguration of his revenue sharing platform ASlice. The organisation was designed in 2020 as an antidote to the pay disparity between DJ earnings and producer earnings, and its basic conceit is that DJs submit playlists of their tracks and share small percentages of their gig fees to be redistributed among the artists whose tracks they've played.

In this RA Exchange live from ADE, Khutoretsky talks with journalist Christine Kakaire about the platform and the impetus behind it, as well as his underlying tendency to be a "fixer,"  from the problems in his house to the issues he sees plaguing his community. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.689 DVS1

"Always notice whatever is happening in the background." The acclaimed producer and composer discusses the art of meaningful listening and his latest LP, Silencio.

Moritz von Oswald's legacy as one of the trailblazers of contemporary techno precedes him. The artist's initial claim to fame was his involvement in the duo Basic Channel with Mark Ernestus, a project that formed the dub techno canon in the '90s and is still a primary reference point for many, if not most, modern producers. He was also at the helm of the famous cutting and pressing plant Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin, which has become a home for countless artists over the years.

But on this occasion, Oswald sat down to discuss a more recent project: his LP Silencio on Tresor Records, which came out in November. He talked with RA's senior producer, Chloe Lula, about his lifelong love of  jazz, tapestry, French film, Southern Italian opera and music from Central Asia. He also reflects on his production process—an endless exploration of drama and dynamics. Oswald is fascinated with reducing sound to its most basic elements and broadening the capacity of what the ear can perceive. Most importantly, he's a critical listener, and in the final moments of the episode, he imparts wisdom on how he's learned to keep a conscious ear open to the world around him. Check out the episode in full.

EX.690 Moritz Von Oswald

"When I first heard electro, I had an epiphany." The Georgian artist and Herrensauna resident talks about the genre she loves most, preparing for sets and remaining authentic to her sound.

SALOME, now one of the scene's foremost purveyors of electro, has shot up in popularity over the last two years. Hailing from Tbilisi, she now lives in Berlin and is a resident of Herrensauna, where she's become a champion of the fast-paced dance music that the group tours worldwide. She's also graced the lineups of festivals like Pitch, Wire, and Dekmantel - where this talk was recorded live - and has released searing electro on labels like Lobster Theremin, Mechatronica, International Chrome, Darknet and more.

In this interview moderated by Souhayla Ou-Oumar, SALOME talks about first falling in love with electronic music after a visit to Kyiv. She says she heard every local artist playing electro and breakbeats instead of techno, and she hasn't turned back since.

The artist plays multiple gigs each weekend, and she talks about the process behind her preparation. She spends hours each week digging for music in multiple genres, creating what she calls "sound maps" for each of the territories she DJs in. This can be tricky, SALOME says, especially when she appears in places like Italy and Spain that expect to hear techno. But no matter where she's booked, she says she makes it a goal to remain true to her sound. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.693 SALOME

"I didn't see myself in French electronic music." The Parisian artist talks about representation, Southern rap and Notting Hill Carnival's enduring influence on her music live from C2C Festival.

Crystelle Oyiri, the artist otherwise known as Crystallmess, has had a circuitous route through dance music. In this Exchange recorded live at C2C Festival with Whitney Wei, the  Ivoirian-Guadeloupean artist discusses how she never saw herself represented in French techno, where artists like Daft Punk reigned supreme. "When you don't see yourself, you can't tell yourself that [music] is what you want to do," she reflects. Instead, she fell in love with Southern rap and artists like DJ Screw, who ignited her passion for music before she began experimenting with beats for the dance floor.

Today, Oyiri is a full-time electronic music artist. A resident of NTS radio, she's also released on labels like PAN and created original productions for films and fashion brands, including Ottolinger. Her unique production style combines melodic techno, afro-trance, abrasive dancehall and what she calls "synthetic music"—genre-fluid mixes that switch effortlessly between pummeling techno cuts, high-speed electro and melodic trance. Listen to the conversation in full.

EX.694 Crystallmess

Get familiar with Southeast Asia's myriad forms of maximalist dance music.

Around Asia-Pacific, more producers and DJs are experimenting with popular music. From Vinahouse in Vietnam to dangdut in Indonesia, these interpretations of happy hardcore, house and gabber have traditionally been played out in taxi cabs, cybercafes and other public spaces but they're now increasingly being heard on the club circuit amid demand for culturally authentic sounds. Embraced by the likes of Manila Community Radio, Gabber Modus Operandi and others, these hybrid styles of high-BPM rave are part of a global movement championing local dance music—just look at the meteoric rise of South African and Afro-Portuguese genres like amapiano and batida. 

Since 2018, London collective Eastern Margins has been playing out music from North and Southeast Asia at parties in an effort to educate audiences on the region's diverse landscape of fast-paced club tunes. Speaking to Resident Advisor's Nyshka Chandran, cofounder David Zhou, AKA LUMI, dives into the cultural context behind Southeast Asian genres like budots and manyao, explaining their connection with contemporary rave music and the self-sustaining ecosystem behind their popularity at home.

Listen to the conversation in full.

EX.695 Eastern Margins

In this re-run from 2020, the late DJ and radio host reflects on memories from BBC Radio 1, disrupting the patriarchy and the keys to success in broadcasting.

Annie Nightingale, who died last week at the age of 83, was the first women radio presenter on BBC Radio 1-and the longest serving broadcaster in the station's history. She became known for championing new, underground music and led the movement for women to become DJs and broadcasters, becoming a necessarily disruptive force across radio and live music. 

Fans of Nightingale's knew her as the Queen of Breaks, given her strong affinity for the sound. But she also introduced listeners to prog rock, punk, indie and dance music, and was unfeignedly passionate about them all. While she had no technical know-how when she started at the BBC, that didn't stop her. Despite her parents' request to "have something to fall back on," she dove head first into broadcasting, establishing herself quickly and even braving listeners' expectations by booking acts who weren't considered trendy or mainstream at the time. 

In this archival conversation with Martha Pazienti Caidan—who worked closely with Nightingale at BBC Radio 1—she discusses her memories and encounters in the music industry: being sworn at by Johnny Rotten; touring with Underworld; discovering her love for drill and grime; and the keys to success for aspiring broadcasters. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.696 Annie Nightingale

In this live talk with Tama Sumo, Lakuti and musclecars, the New York legend sets the record straight.

DJ, producer and remixer Yvonne Turner was one of the only women instrumental in shaping New York's early house scene, yet her story has gone largely undocumented. Born in Harlem in 1953, she started DJing regularly by the late '70s, playing weekly parties in Flatbush and getting her musical education at The Loft. There, she says, she learned how "good music" should sound. It inspired her to start going to the studio and sharing her musical revelations with other people.

As a woman producer, she was often relegated to the small print on records, bumped to associate or co-producer status or marked as a mixer instead of a remixer. Many of the male vocalists she worked with got credit for the music. But Turner penned some acclaimed house tracks, such as "Set Fire To Me," "Music Is The Answer" and the official remix of Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight." While Turner took a back seat for a few years, deciding to teach in elementary schools and wind down her touring, she recently got back in the studio and wants to set the record straight about the history of house and her place—and many other women's—within it. 

This conversation was moderated by Tama Sumo, Lakuti and the DJ duo musclecars live at Public Records in New York. Listen to the conversation in full.

EX.697 Yvonne Turner

"Art and music are the same, they're just different dialects." The Chicago house music legend talks about co-curating the photo exhibit Walk The Night and nightlife's '90s heyday. 

Ron Trent grew up in Chicago, where he dreamed of being a musician from a young age. He would end up becoming one of the architects of the Chicago house sound and working alongside contemporaries like Chez Damier, and across the pond, Basic Channel. His label, Prescription Records, became a renowned purveyor of the deep house sound. He spread his vision from the American Midwest to New York, Europe and beyond. 

In this talk recorded live at Miami Art Week, Trent talks to Resident Advisor music critic Kiana Mickles about the songs and dance floors that shaped him in this early part of his musical trajectory. In addition to playing some of his favourite jazz, funk and disco songs, he reflects on clubs like Studio 54, Paradise Garage and The Warehouse, which he claims matured him as an artist and irrevocably shaped the trajectory of club culture. Trent was instrumental in co-curating an exhibit called Walk The Night (which premiered at this multidisciplinary event), a photographic homage to these spaces and other historic clubs around the world.

To hear more about the legacy of Trent's favourite clubs and the music that shaped him, listen to the episode in full.

EX.698 Ron Trent

The Berghain resident talks about re-queering the goth scene, exploring a lighter side of his sound and preparing for marathon closing sets.

Hayden Payne, AKA Phase Fatale, grew up fully immersed in the world of music; his dad is a recording engineer and musician, as are many members of his family. After joining post-punk outfits like Dream Affair and consuming a diet of new wave and synth from parties like Wierd in New York, Payne eventually relocated to Berlin, where he saw possibilities emerge around ways of fusing guitar music with sounds for the dance floor. It was only shortly after relocating that he landed a residency at Berghain and began releasing his own productions as a techno artist, becoming known for darker-edged sets and productions that fuse industrial, EBM and techno.

In this episode of the RA Exchange, he talks to senior producer Chloe Lula about all of this and more, like "re-queering" the goth scene; exploring a lighter side of his sound with his Italo duo, Soft Crash; his label, BITE Records; and sustaining strong ties to dance floors in Kyiv and Tbilisi, two cities that he reflects as being refreshingly socially and politically motivated for queer artists living in the margins. His new EP as Soft Crash, NRG, is out now. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.699 Phase Fatale

Our landmark 700th episode in partnership with Detroit’s Blueprint presents the first in a new three-part series exploring the untold history of Detroit techno from the perspective of the women who built it.

The history of Detroit techno is often recounted in waves. First there was the Belleville Three—Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May—closely followed by a second cohort of artists who further developed the sound in the '90s. Names like Carl Craig, Octave One, Robert Hood, Jeff Mills and Mike Banks are among those that have been codified in the official annals of techno history.

But there's another, lesser known story that is seldom told about the women who grew the scene right alongside them. Equally esteemed artists like DJ Minx (the founder of Women On Wax Recordings), K-Hand, DJ Cent, Stacey Hotwaxx Hale and more ran labels, collectives and DJ nights that aren't bestowed with the same credit as those from their male counterparts, and have consequently been lost in the chronicles of time. For the 700th episode of the RA Exchange, we counter correct this gender inequity with the first episode of a three-part series hosted and produced by the all-female Detroit collective and party series Blueprint. 

Alanna Greenlee, Janisa Nelson and Crystal Mioner embark on interviews that illuminate an alternative history of Detroit techno that unfurled alongside these better-documented techno waves, tracing the birth of a woman-led community that put mutual support at its heart and fought to earn respect from their male peers and the scene at large. Listen to the episode in full.

Credits:
Produced by Blueprint
Hosts: Alanna Greenlee, Janisa Nelson, Crystal Mioner
Guests: DJ Minx and DJ Cent
Writer/Researcher: Crystal Mioner
Technical Production: Janisa Nelson
Consultant: John Collins
Consultant: Conor Anderson

EX.700 Detroit's Blueprint: Episode 1

"The road is incredible but has a lot of pitfalls." The fabric resident discusses striking the balance between DJing and production, the challenges of a life on tour and choosing to stick out.

Daniel Avery wasn't expecting to make it big. Born in the seaside town of Bournemouth, his early musical diet consisted of shoegaze, post-punk, electroclash and indie rock; he was a die hard fan in attendance at every local live show. But when he moved to London, he was introduced to dance music and became immersed in nightlife, meeting artists like Erol Alkan and Andrew Weatherall who were using the sounds of guitar bands with techno and electronic music for the dance floor. Soon Daniel was working out of a studio next to Weatherall's—who became his longtime mentor—and started warming up the dance floor at fabric on a regular basis. His debut album, Drone Logic, was released to critical acclaim in 2013, and has been followed by six more full-lengths and a number of EPs and singles since. 

In this episode of the RA Exchange, Avery reflects on the shock of being catapulted into the limelight after Drone Logic's unexpected success, and the ongoing struggle he's contended with as he's taken on a full-time touring schedule as a DJ. He also touches on his eclectic range of influences and how he's integrated them in his forthcoming album and newly revitalised fabric party series, Divided Love, which launches on March 2. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.701 Daniel Avery

"I often myself being responsible for a film's music, but also fighting for its absence." The composer discusses movie scoring, his love of opera and his new album, Scope Neglect, on Mute Records.

The multidisciplinary Australian artist Ben Frost might best be known for his score work: he's soundtracked Netflix shows like Dark and its spinoff 1899, as well as a number of major motion pictures and video games. While his formal studies were in visual art, he started experimenting with music-making from an early age, homing in on a unique sound that is truly a melange of his influences in punk, black metal, classical and modern minimalism. His unique approach to composition has led him to some extreme places to capture field recordings, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Amazon rainforest and the empty hulls of fishing boats docked on the banks of Icelandic port towns. Artists like Steve Albini, Björk, Brian Eno and the band SWANS have tapped Frost to work with them, and he's performed extensively as a solo performer and as part of an A/V outfit at the world's biggest festivals and art world circuits. 

In this episode of the RA Exchange, he sits down with senior producer Chloe Lula to discuss his latest venture, a full-length album, Scope Neglect, on Mute. It pulls heavily from his proclivity for guitar music and metal, but still nods to the cinematic minimalism that has become one of his work's primary tropes. Frost dissects some of the recording techniques he used to make the record—he borrowed from the methods used by Mark Hollis of the band Talk Talk—as well as his studio practice, his love of opera and his approach to writing scores. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.702 Ben Frost

"Every opportunity to learn something new is what's going to grow your craft as an artist." The Toronto star talks discipline and gaining self-confidence as a producer.

Cindy Li, AKA Ciel, always seems to be one step ahead. The label head, DJ, producer and activist has a hard-won career that dance music producers dream of—when she's not playing underground institutions across the globe, maintaining radio residencies, planning her own parties or collaborating with her favourite artists, she's thinking about what's next. "I'm the type of person that I'll stay up trying to finish everything rather than going to bed knowing that I didn't finish everything on my list," she tells RA's Nyshka Chandran in this week's episode.

The Toronto resident is a conservatory-trained pianist who uses the discipline she learnt from a lifetime of lessons to balance DJing and production. "For me, it is challenging to juggle both because they use very different parts of my brain," she describes. A deep digger whose love for atmospheric textures and '90s grooves influences her fresh take on UKG, tech-house and jungle, Li has been putting out music since 2017. She has various EPs and singles under her name, plus several joint releases with the likes of Dan Only, D.Tiffany and Priori but says she didn't always have the confidence for a solo full-length.

"I never thought I could write an album," she admits. But after playing live for the first time at MUTEK Montréal in 2021, that changed, leading to the 2023 release of Homesick, her debut album. "Don't ever let fear influence your decision-making," she says, describing how that show pushed her to overcome lingering doubts in the studio.

For more on Li's process, listen to the episode in full.

EX.703 Ciel

"You could feel the ground shifting beneath you." The long time BBC Radio host talks about her party, All Queens, her love for SHERELLE and music as a force for good.

Resident Advisor continues its celebration of Women's History Month (and International Women's Day) with a special conversation with Mary Anne Hobbs. The long time BBC Radio presenter has been a diehard documenter of music culture and a radio fanatic ever since she was a young girl. As she recounts in this episode, the transistor she kept in secret while growing up became her getaway to another universe, a beacon of hope that she listened to every night under the covers at home. 

In 1996, she became a host at BBC Radio 1. It was a time when there were few women involved in the music industry in general, and few people at all championing leftfield electronic music. Hobbs famously started the Breezeblock show and championed dubstep and grime, pushing new artists whose work she admired and helping usher them into the limelight. 

Today Hobbs' iconic voice is still hosting the radio every day—this time at Radio 6. She's leading an exciting project called All Queens, a platform that started as a radio show for women's music that has quickly turned into a touring club night at fabric run by and starring women, from the sound engineers to the bouncers and headliners of the night. Hobbs discusses the platform and is joined by close friend SHERELLE, who dissects some of the nuances in representation the scene fails to overlook when it discusses gender in nightlife. The pair recently performed sets together at the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival. Listen to the episode in full.

This episode was recorded at Recorded at Pirate Studios – Recording, Rehearsal, DJ, Podcast and Dance studios spread across New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles and beyond. For more information, visit pirate.com.

EX.704 Mary Anne Hobbs

"Humans think they're top of the hierarchy." The Live From Earth member talks about growing up in Sunshine Farms, the perils of competition in the music industry and how TikTok changed her career.

You might know horsegiirL from her horse mask, her viral singles on TikTok or her hugely popular online videos. The DJ and producer—who famously never breaks character—has launched into popularity over the past two years, bringing her frenetic and contemporary style of hardstyle-meets-Europop mash-ups to dance floors around the world. Her fans, or "farmies," go crazy for her music, donning cowboy hats and pitchforks at all of her shows.

In this episode of the RA Exchange, horsegiirL sits down with senior producer Chloe Lula to talk about her upbringing in Sunshine Farms and the key differences between the animal kingdom and the human world. They also discuss her involvement with the Berlin-based label Live From Earth Klub, an irreverent art and DJ collective featured as part of our latest cover story. (Two of the crew's other key artists, DJ Gigola and MCR-T, also mixed this week's RA Podcast.) Listen to the horsegiirL episode in full.

EX.705 horsegiirL

"The Beatles blew my mind." The LA artist talks about her new album—Something in the Room She Moves—writing music while pregnant and how she works in the studio.

The LA-based composer and musician Julia Holter has garnered a reputation for releases that toe the hazy edge of shoegaze and dream pop, always skirting the contours of the electronic music world. 

On today's RA Exchange, she takes a deep dive into her sixth studio album, Something in the Room She Moves, with music editor Andrew Ryce. Holter talks about writing all but one of the songs while she was pregnant ("Evening Mood" even captures a sample of her child's ultrasound, recorded from her phone), which lends the album a warmth and tenderness unparalleled in any of her past releases. But it's also a somber record; her nephew died while she was recording it, an event that forced her to process the complexity and gravity of two conflicting, converging experiences while composing. 

For the technically inclined, Holter also discusses how she works in the studio and manages post-production. As the artist tells Ryce, she likes to play with resonant frequencies and processing that puts each of the sounds she records into the same sonic world on a record, using effects and composition tricks to give everything what she calls a "sensuous vibe." Something in the Room She Moves is out now on Domino Records. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.706 Julia Holter

"It's a pure form of love." The hardcore artist talks about collecting ephemera from rave zines, working in high fashion and his undying love for the gabber community.

Alberto Guerrini, better known as Gabber Eleganza, has made a name for himself as a hardcore and gabber DJ, as well as a fervid documenter of the culture that surrounds it. Growing up in Italy, he started going to raves at a club called Number One Hardcore before eventually traveling to the Netherlands with his parents' blessing and starting to DJ himself. 

Guerrini's love of hardcore spilled over into a Tumblr blog he started in 2011, a project that aggregated the rave zines, photos and stories he collected from his time spent in the gabber community. The goal of the project, he says in this interview, was to build up anthropological dialogues on the "sonic landscape and aesthetic of the hardcore continuum." The online compendium contains amazing pieces of hardcore ephemera: clippings of Soviet era rave zines, letters ex-ravers sent to the hardcore community from jail and Guerrini's own appendices providing context around the global subculture.

Much of this archival work made its way into a book that Guerrini published with artists Ewen Spencer Mark Leckey called Hardcore Soul, a photography collection that traces the similarities and relationships between hardcore and the UK's Northern Soul movement. He discusses this and more—including his own label, Never Sleep, and his work with the fashion industry and art worlds—in this conversation with Chloe Lula. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.707 Gabber Eleganza

"I discovered how to build sound systems at our dairy farm." The DJ talks about growing up in rural Australia, starting her own label and more in this Playing Favourites live from Pitch Music & Arts.

On this week's Exchange, we reintroduce our flagship live format, Playing Favourites, where artists discuss the songs that shaped their taste in music. Today's episode features CC:DISCO! at Pitch Festival in Australia. As the artist's name suggests, her style fuses disco with French touch, synth-driven electro and funk; she's collaborated with artists like Jennifer Loveless and released her first EP with Erol Alkan on his label Phantasy Sound, and last year she launched her own imprint, Miami Daddy.

In this interview, CC:DISCO! plays songs that were formative in her career development and reflects on growing up outside of big cities. Born and raised on a dairy farm in rural Victoria, FM radio became her cultural lifeline and her first introduction to dance music. The artist also talks about working with indigenous promoters from beyond Sydney (Eora) and Melbourne (Naarm), the music that defines Australia today and the protest songs that have helped serve as the backdrop for the First Nations fight for representation and sociopolitical change. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.708 CC:DISCO!

"We always put minorities to the front." The Mala Junta cofounder and affiliate talk about prioritising femme queer ravers, the value of local party crews and not taking themselves too seriously.

Friends and colleagues Hyperaktivist and Yazzus share one important value: putting marginalised folks to the front. The Venezuelan and Ghana-via-London artists, respectively, met in Berlin not long after Yazzus went to the Berlin-based Mala Junta party, a collective co-founded by Hyperaktivist, DJ Tool and door selector Nyaam Hassany. Yazzus was asked to be a party resident and has collaborated with the crew extensively, playing their shows and helping curate lineups ever since. 

In this <i>RA</i> Exchange with Berlin DJ and journalist Juba, the two talk about their shared passion for better representation on party lineups and what authentic diversity means in a climate that often privileges checking boxes and meeting quotas. They also talk about their solo endeavours, their trajectories into dance music and their shared passion for nurturing the growth of homegrown parties and scenes. Amid Berlin's rising prices (and competition), they reflect that the ideals of collaboration and connection remain stronger than ever before. Listen to the conversation in full.

EX.709 Hyperaktivist and Yazzus

The electronic-pop auteur speaks her mind.

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?exchange=510

@actuallygrimes

EX.510 Grimes

The weekly RA Exchange is a series of conversations with artists, labels and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape.

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