RA Exchange Archive [Episodes 100-600]

"My real gift is arrangement." William Orbit opens up on his 40-year career. 
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Born in Hackney, London, in 1956, Orbit has been writing, producing and arranging music for four decades. With almost 1,200 credits to his name on Discogs, his vast and varied body of work spans classical, pop and electronic. He produced for some of pop music's most seminal artists—Madonna, All Saints, Blur, Robbie Williams, Pink—as well as being, as his interviewer Matt McDermott explains, "one of the most prolific electronic music remixers of the '90s." He released 11 solo albums and seven collaborative albums—as part of Torch Song, Strange Cargo and Bassomatic—and founded Guerilla Studios in the '80s, working with artists like Cabaret Voltaire and Gary Numan. In 1995, Orbit released the Pieces In A Modern Style LP, which paved the way for musicians like Nils Frahm and Jon Hopkins, who bring together classical arrangements with electronic production in revelatory ways. 

The journalist Kate Hutchinson described Orbit as "the Mark Ronson or Jack Antonoff of his day." But as this conversation with RA highlights, Orbit is once again enjoying his day. Having, in his own words, "spent 20 years becoming disengaged," he has just put out his first solo release in seven years—the Sunbeam EP on Anjunadeep—and things are feeling good. "I know how to have fun," he said. 

In conversation with McDermott, Orbit shares stories about his fascinating career, how to make a great record, working with Madonna and how to stay relevant in a fickle industry.  


Tracklist:
William Orbit - Diso [Anjunadeep]
William Orbit - Wordsworth [Anjunadeep]

@williamorbit

EX.596 William Orbit

Suzi Analogue spoke with Kadallah Burrowes about using her label Never Normal to champion innovative Black creators.  

Suzi Analogue is a loudspeaker for innovative Black creators. In this week's RA Exchange, the producer, singer, songwriter and founder of Never Normal Records speaks with trans-disciplinary artist, musician, creative technologist Kadallah Burrowes about championing art from across the African diaspora. This is the first of two Exchanges hosted by Burrowes, who, next week, will be exploring the term "Afrofuturism" in an audio documentary that forms part of our celebration of Black History Month in the US. 

Suzi Analogue first experienced club and electronic music in her hometown of Baltimore. Starting out in her teens as a songwriter and producer, her engagement with creative platforms online led to her involvement in events and community radio while studying in Philadelphia.  

It was when she moved to The Bronx in New York that Analogue first started to feel there wasn't space for young and innovative Black electronic artists to showcase their work. As she played shows abroad and across Europe, she felt encouraged to start a platform of her own, a space to build her own archive and celebrate fellow artists. In 2014, she launched her label Never Normal, a commitment to bolstering Black femme-identifying people to advocate for music, whether through running labels, parties or just shouting about the new music you love. Since its launch, the label has featured work from artists in Atlanta, Oakland, Chicago, Brooklyn, Miami and more. "They're originators in their cities," she explained. "Never Normal is a journey that's building over time." 

In conversation with Burrowes, Analogue discussed the politics of Black futurism, travelling to Uganda as a US state department cultural diplomat and the importance of capturing and echoing ancestral messages through art and sound. 

Tracklist:
Suzi Analogue - Slow [Never Normal]

@uziklip
@sunjiru

EX.597 Suzi Analogue

Kadallah Burrowes explores the term "Afrofuturism" with the help of Suzi Analogue, Neema Githere, Mia Imani Harrison and Jackie Queens.

This past Juneteenth, Burrowes held a digital event called A Moment In Between (after which this podcast is named) at COMMON, a digital club that forms part of Currents.FM. It was, in their words, "a digital pan-African celebration of Black liberation." The interviewees in this week's Exchange all helped make A Moment In Between possible: artists Jackie Queens and Suzi Analogue, plus cultural critics Neema Githere and Mia Imani Harrison. 

In this documentary-style podcast, which forms part of our celebration of Black Futures Month in the US, Burrowes et al. discuss the term "Afrofuturism. They discuss its imperfect, controversial nature (it was coined by a white academic), how it intersects with electronic music and its relationship to the legacy of the writer Octavia Butler. 

Last week's Exchange saw Burrowes in conversation with Analogue, the producer, singer, songwriter and founder of Never Normal Records. This week, Analogue delves deeper into her connection to the concept of Afrofuturism. "Afrofuturism to me is just being Black," she said. "It's a bunch of things. Self-determination, self-preservation and self-expression." 

Born in Nairobi and now based in Brooklyn, Neema Githere is a guerrilla theorist who works within the digital diaspora. In 2017, Githere coined the term "Afropresentism," which presents the idea that the Afrofuturism being theorised in the '90s and early '00s exists here and now. "Afrofuturism is concerned with space," Githere said. "Afropresentism is concerned with earth." 

Mia Imani Harrison is an interdisciplinary artist and conceptual creator working within dream technology. Her part in A Moment In Between saw COMMON, which had primarily been a space for music, become a place for Black people to come and talk about their dreams. Harrison's understanding of Afrofuturism began with "intergalactic Black folks" in music—Sun Ra, Grace Jones, Parliament-Funkadelic—and has grown into an interest in artists that build worlds and galaxies in their work. "I've always been interested in expanding our concept of the realities we exist within," she said. "Especially as Black people, because we're already told what we can and cannot do, and the perimeters of the spaces that we exist in." 

The final speaker is Jackie Queens, singer, songwriter, label and agency founder, and community member of Currents.FM and electronic music network female:pressure. Queens' thoughts about Afrofuturism tie in with Githere's Afropresentism. "People say Africa is the future," Queens said. "But I don't like to look at it that way. I always feel like we're the present."

https://ra.co/exchange/598

EX.598 A Moment In Between

The jungle and drum & bass pioneer—and captivating storyteller—unpacks his life, career and new book.

Alongside peers like Fabio, Grooverider, Jumping Jack Frost, Randall, Micky Finn, LTJ Bukem and Nicky Blackmarket, Ray Keith played a leading role as jungle took over London in the mid '90s. His new autobiographical book, Dark Soldier, is a reflection on his life: his personal journey, his career, the highs and lows, and the many people who have influenced him. It's also the story of how he and the scene moved from analogue into electronic music. 

"I was in the right place at the right time," he said in this week's Resident Advisor Exchange, referring to the many Monday nights spent at Heaven in London, catching sets from the likes of Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold and Paul "Trouble" Anderson. "I was a purist, absorbing the sounds." 

Keith has put out so many records over the years, under so many different aliases, that he's lost count. He's also had radio shows on Vibe FM, Kiss FM and recently Thames Delta radio, cofounded a booking agency and headed up several record labels. He's a legend in the scene with a wealth of stories to tell.  

In this week's Exchange, Keith talks about growing up in Colchester, the importance of record stores as a community hub, dubplate culture, how music saved his life and the thrill of watching his daughter, AKA LO Selecta, play her first DJ set.

Tracklist:
Dark Soldier - Need Me (Forthcoming)
Dark Soldier - Newman Elec (Forthcoming)

EX.599 Ray Keith

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

Vancouver-based musician Yu Su demonstrates her unique combination of ambient dub and downtempo house with elements of trip hop and traditional Chinese folk music - soft beats, crystal echoes and enchanting electronics.

Recorded specially for Grains of Peace - recreational zone and charity marathon on Kyiv-based 20ft Radio to help Ukrainians who have suffered from russia's aggression. 

Like what you hear? Support us with a donation, because it will greatly help us to continue working on the project. More details: https://20ftradio.net/donate

Grains of Peace w/ Yu Su @ 20ft Radio - 28/03/2022

После "перерыва" на переосмысление мы продолжаем.  В качестве очередного подкаста выступает часовой диджей сет от Евгения Джакса, соучередителя Washing Machine. Этот микс был записан в один из воскресных вечером в клубе Stackensneider во время дружеской встречи единомышленников и как многие удачные вещи всего лишь фиксирует момент для воспоминаний. Именно по этому спасибо хочется сказать людям без которых этот "момент" бы не случился.

https://soundcloud.com/evgeny-jax

https://soundcloud.com/michel  - Cпасибо что ты приехал и собрал нас в этой точке времени и пространства.
https://soundcloud.com/xlqupnazqd01  - Благодаря тебе эта запись случилась, спасибо!

Графика (акрил) - Регина Тимирова
https://soundcloud.com/reggishow


After a "break" to rethink, we continue.  The next podcast is an hour long DJ set from Eugene Jax, co-founder of Washing Machine. This mix was recorded one Sunday night at Stackensneider club during a friendly meeting of like-minded people and like many successful things just captures the moment for memories. That's why I want to thank the people without whom this "moment" would not have happened.

WMPodcast #025 Jax

Noods Radio Live From Barcelona w/ Tamarindo: 20th May '22

Konx-om-Pax – Radio Buena Vida 20.07.22

TESTFM ) Bandcamp

Mutenoise @ TESTFM — 14/08/2022

У своїх міксах продюсерка та співзасновниця лейбу OBRIY @oanawhoama об’єднує академічну та експериментальну музику, саунд дизайн та плотний бас. У записі трансформовані релізи з лейблу, треки улюблених артистів упереміш з вокально-інструментальними імпровізаціями на стику дабу, ембієнту, джазу, хіп-хопу і мінімалістичної танцювальної музики. 
____

In her mixes, the producer and co-founder of the OBRIY label @oanawhoama combines academic and experimental music, sound design and dense bass. In the recording for Gasoline Radio we can hear transformed releases from the label, tracks of favourites artists mixed with vocal and instrumental improvisations at the intersection of dub, ambient, jazz, hip-hop and minimalist dance music.
____

Слідкуйте за артисткою:

www.soundcloud.com/oanawhoama
www.instagram.com/oanawhoama

Підписуйтесь на Gasoline Radio:

www.gasolineradio.com
www.instagram.com/gasoline.radio
t.me/gasolineradio

GASOLINE GUEST MIX: HELLEROID 01/10/2022

TESTFM )) Bandcamp

TESTFM @ WIP w/ Versatility — 24/09/22

https://www.nts.live/shows/ganga-blues/episodes/ganga-blues-26th-january-2023

Ganga Blues w/ Symrin 250123

A calming spiritual journey through the hard times led by vinyl collector, software developer from Kyiv - grsmnk.

www.20ftradio.net/archive

Healing Hour w/ grsmnk @ 20ft Radio - 06/12/2020

>> Tracklist included below <<

Gated gear - https://gatedrecordings.bandcamp.com

Welcome again to the Gated podcast and we've hit the two year mark!
To celebrate, we have for you a fantastic mix from the hugely talented whø?
Genre-defying interests, combined with curiosity, a passion for collecting and good feelings to build a set. These are the coordinates where whø? feels most comfortable. In this set he's melted driving acid electro with proper breaks and really hits the sweet spot.
He's recently released his first EP 'Paula Z Leaving The House' on his own imprint and coming up soon there will be a track on a forthcoming Compilation from Berlin's 'Bewegungsfreiheit' collective to support refugees.
Go check out his bandcamp for the release and for future project info
https://who22.bandcamp.com

Tracklist

01) Sound Synthesis - ADSR606 [Eudemonia edmn008]https://soundcloud.com/eudemoniarecords https://soundcloud.com/sound-synthesis-official
02) Datawave - Red Nebula [AC Records AC_33]https://soundcloud.com/datawave
03) Dibu-Z - Snatchers [Dominance Electricity DE-029]https://soundcloud.com/dibu-z https://soundcloud.com/dominance-electricity
04) Odd Lust - Planet Is Transparent [The Trilogy Tapes TTT089]https://soundcloud.com/oddlust https://soundcloud.com/the-trilogy-tapes
05) MOY - Cosmic Vapour [Altered Sense AS005] https://soundcloud.com/moy
06) Wedding Acid Group - Thickening Agent [Undersound Recordings USR016]https://soundcloud.com/undersoundlondon
07) not even noticed - Transcendence [Gated Recordings GTD013]https://soundcloud.com/not-even-noticed
08) CRC - Dta Corossion [Zyntax Motorcity Zyntax 13]https://soundcloud.com/zyntax-motorcity
09) Loïcc - Falloff (Acidmix) [Mind Controlled Rectifier VA002]https://soundcloud.com/loicc https://soundcloud.com/mindcontrolledrectifier
10) MOY - Verteron Beam. [Altered Sense AS005]
11) CRC - Downstairs [Furthur Electronix FE048] https://soundcloud.com/furthur_elect0nix
12) Ever Vivid - Lost Epoch [Exalt Records Summer 2020 Dubplate 3] https://soundcloud.com/exaltrecords
13) not even noticed - Get Outta Here [Gated Recordings GTD013]
14) G-Prod - Boiling Bubble (Reedale Rise Remix) [Fourier Transform FTV002] https://soundcloud.com/reedalerise https://soundcloud.com/user-956993165
15) Cignol - Chorus Envy [Libertine Records / Furthur Electronix LIB X FE] https://soundcloud.com/cignol https://soundcloud.com/libertine-berlin
16) MOY - Dreamcoast [Emotec EMOTEC001] https://soundcloud.com/damo-b
17) whø? - Train Station [Who Is Paula WIP001]

Gated up and comers

1) not even noticed - Acid Dream (GTD013)
2) Perseus Trax - The Telesterion (GTD014)
3) ?? - ??? (Gated Forthcoming)
4) ??? - ?? (Gated Forthcoming)

The Telesterion

Gated Podcast 24 // whø? // February 2021

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

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

RA Exchange

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