RA Exchange Archive [Episodes 100-600]

Talking mental health and jazz with the Booty Bass boss. 

For more, visit Resident Advisor: https://ra.co/exchange/589

EX.589 NGAIO

"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

For the 23rd edition of our series we welcome the London based dj/producer @fr0nd 
Sophie has demonstrated her keen ear for everything psychedelic through her many radio appearances on stations like Pollination and Aaja music and guest features on some of our favourite mix series like CommaCast and On Rotation. She also Co-founded the amazing @pollination-uk which hosts amazing parties based in London and also acts as a label and mix series. 
For her mix she has curated a mesmerising blend of soft, dreamy breaks and techno progressing into a driving array of prog and trance

Fuaim Mix 023 | FROND

Interview + Download:  https://truantsblog.com/2022/truancy-volume-297-fio-fa/

Soundcloud: @fiofahhh

Access the download and tracklist (Confirmed) on our Patreon: patreon.com/truants

http://truantsblog.com

Fio Fa

Truancy Volume 297: Fio Fa

Smoke & Mirrors Residency - November 2022 - Radio Raheem
w/ @autumn-bpr

ambient / idm / deep techno / jungle

tracklist:
1. A Strange Wedding & Camille Claire Olympie - Murmures Sur La Côte De Granit Rose [Bamboo Shows]
2. Lord Of The Isles - Storm Mother [Lapsus Records]
3. Salamanda - Overdose [Human Pitch]
4. Memotone - Sporeprint [Accidental Meetings]
5. Nueen - Veta [Balmat]
6. Robyn Schulkowsky & Gebrüder Teichmann - Loose Cycling [Noland]
7. YV - Doaf [Loveless Records]
8. Javier Salazar - Lepante [rdg tribe]
9. Bas Dobbelaer & Vand - Reflect [Something Happening Somewhere]
10. Cousin - The River [naff recordings]
11. Ben Bondy - Lovestory
12. Lara Sarkissian - A City Underwater Ft. Miqayel Voskanyan [Club Chai]
13. Ocean Stirs - Stitch [X-Kalay]
14. K-LONE - Together [SWEET N TASTY]
15. DJ SWISHA - 5X
16. Carlos Niño & Friends - Actually Ft. Deantoni Parks & Jamael Dean & Nate Mercereau

Smoke & Mirrors November 2022

BPR mailer

Smoke & Mirrors w/ DJ Autumn

Jio - All City Radio on DDR 26.11.22

Rinse Podcast France

Quartiers Rouges avec Adam Pits : Kalahari Oyster Cult - 02 Décembre 2022

The fortnightly broadcast on Mouthfull Radio. This time Hugo Jay joins me. A driving force in the local community, DJ & producer Hugo Jay has been a fantastic influence on me so it was a pleasure to have him on. 
Enjoy :p

Mirrored Itch w General Data & Hugo Jay 021 - 05/12/22

k2k brings the heat on this months show, with tracks from Chaos In The CBD, Valentino Mora, and Aldonna.

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k2k - December 2022

Nu Skool Breaks (Late 90s Early 2000s)

soundcloud.com/milesybwoy
instagram.com/ohsomanley1998
soundcloud.com/straightouttabrompton

special guest Miles kicks things off this year. Miles already has an impressive discography, full of ear-worms + groove (w/ discogs sharks swarming like crazy 4 his latest release!). he took us on a cracking journey headlining Top Thwomps over the summer + this mix is no different, i'm very excited to share this1...

Basement Traxx 006 w/ Miles

Three hours of all-original jazz, dub, reggaeton, house, and bass.

Download and tracklisting: https://bit.ly/XLR8Rpodcast_PabloArrangoiz

XLR8R Podcast

Download & Tracklist

XLR8R Podcast 785: Pablo Arrangoiz

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

EX.589 NGAIO

RA Exchange

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