Documentaries

@nickleon

Joshua Chuquimia Crampton - Twilight Ceremonies
Significant Other - Demonology
Simo Cell - its not all its cracked up to be
Josi Devil -the devils dance face b
Tristan Arp - Gypsum
Soul Oddity - Soul Communications
Aristidez ft. Milka, Nimia & Rawa - Bañemonos con plantas
OL - mt sonix
Sangre Nueva - Hurt
Stacktrace - Heatwave Riddim
Krikor Kouchian - Slow Riddim
Yssue - Downsampled doesn't mean dead
Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie - Entangled
Lechuga Zafiro - Despues De La Tormenta
Entrañas - 01100011 01100101 01110010 01110010 01101111 - 01 01101001 01101110 01100110 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101111

Nick León - sunny place for shady people

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

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

Born from OOST club of north NL, the character of MSJY continually changes form. Taking early shapes in residencies with Noorderling, De School, Griessmuehle, and currently Oxi, she shifts to bill without compromising her sound and unafraid to provoke; her sets are characterised by pace, energy and a balancing of different moods. Enjoy!

ITPS080 MSJY

Please enjoy a recording of my set at Knockdown Center for Fourth World. I had a lot of fun building a mood and opening up the space for many friends and vibers.

Live Recording: Downloadable Content @ Fourth World

AliA is driven by a fierce and passionate love for a variety of genres. Each time she's able to seamlessly craft an uncompromising and genre-hopping story, without losing coherence or verve. She’s a resident at HORST Festival, a regular at the C12 club in Brussels and has a monthly show on Kiosk Radio. Enjoy!

ITPS082 ALIA

@paramatiq 's set warming the floor for Al Wootton & Pugilist - 30.11.22

Club 77 Live: DJ Paramat

Recording of NVST's set at Dekmantel Selectors 2022.

NVST at Dekmantel Selectors 2022

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

The first Big J show of the year! This month, JiaLing broadcasts the creme de la creme in Breaks and Percussive Club. Listen out for tunes from Kahwe, Scarper, and Kade Young.

**For the first time in our 7 year history, we’re asking you, our listeners to help support and build a better Balamii. By subscribing monthly you can contribute to the future of Balamii and help us to continue to nurture our creative community. From as little as £3 a month you'll help cover the cost of generating thousands of hours of great radio and support up and coming artists. As thanks, you’ll receive a code for 20% off our merchandise (code sent 24-48hrs after you subscribe) as well as being the first to hear about our events. Our goal is to develop new features that improve our service and therefore build a better Balamii for our family of artists and listeners.**

Subscribe here - www.balamii.com/supporters

Big J w/ JiaLing - January 2023

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

Gamelan Tokyo single from forthcoming Kiwi Synthesis Diary Vol 2 album. 

~ We are mermaids swimming in-between supernatural tides, forever following the emotional waves of the universe ~

Written, composed, arranged and performed by Giulia Fournier - Mercadante as GiGi FM
Mix & Mastering by Florian Plass aka Mordio
Artwork image made By GiGi FM from AI generative program
Video and Pictures in the video by the attendees of Rural Festival & Contact Tokyo and Myself.
Video edit by Florian Plass aka Mordio

Special thank you to Atsushi Maeda, Tai, Naoko Hisatsune, Jun Yokoyama, Mikihiro Abe, The Rural Festival teams, The Contact Tokyo teams, Shiriy Bradshaw, Romy Mats, Omar Onsen San, Jarred aka DJ Plead, Jane Fitz, DJ Nobu, Wata Igarashi, George aka Black Merlin, Sunjun Hargun, Rilla Sakaguchi, Hideki Shirasawa, all the beautiful souls and dancers, Florian Plass and last but not least Kiwi special soul, Donato Dozzy.

みんなの魔法ありがとう！あいしてる！


© 2022 GiGi FM

GiGi FM - Gamelan Tokyo

@cassius-select is a rhythm master. His grooves twist and turn you inside out and contort themselves into bold new forms. Drawing on the weight of bass music and the skip of garage, he has landed on labels like Matthew Herbert’s Accidental JNR and Banoffee Pies over the last few years. The Canadian - who is also one half of SUMAC Sound System - is now based in Hong Kong and continues to serve up killer club tracks with eerie vocal sounds and alien sound designs that make each and every production standout. 

His mix for us is just as unique. It starts off by skating on low riding skeletal rhythms, bumping on stripped back bass and drawing you in with a rich array of vocal, percussive and synth details. Just as you think it’s all set to explode, the dexterous DJ draws back to a murky world of bass and dub then rebuilds with a more high pressure sound before ending on some blissed out r&b. It’s dark, sweet and thoroughly seductive.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 316 - Cassius Select

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

EX.637 Source Material: Sustainable Promotion

RA Exchange

Related tracks