A lesson in rhythm from a former De School resident.

When it comes to minimalist dance music, Ruben Üvez, AKA Konduku, is one of the best in the game right now. With a masterful and ever-shapeshifting understanding of rhythm, the Berlin-based artist crafts sublime dance music with a staunchly leftfield bent. Don't just take our word for it: how many DJs, after all, can claim to have moved De School to a puddle of tears?

Musically, Üvez is hard to pin down. He's often billed as a techno artist, but actually you'll find his sound sits outside of the genre's many conventions. With an outsider's curiosity, he leans into diverse moods, tempos and genres, though one throughline is always how he arranges his drums. Whether it be deep, Nobu-core techno such as 2023's Hayal EP or UK beat science á la Peverelist on 2019's  Gegek, he leads with rhythm across his DJing and production. The end product is a hypnotic, one-of-a-kind sound that hits the body before the brain has time to catch up. In short, it slaps.

As Üvez's RA Podcast demonstrates, he's got a serious knack for crafting and selecting tunes that can  deeply captivate a dance floor. Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, RA.967 is an excursion through a timeless sound, packed with long, layered blends, flick-of-the-wrist transitions, locked grooves and spine-tingling atmospherics. In 2020, we called Ruben Üvez one of techno's brightest new talents. This mix sees him ascending to a seat at the top table.

@kondukukonduku

Read more at ra.co/podcast/967

RA.967 Konduku

Donato Dozzy has long been a revered figure in the global electronic music scene, known for his rare ability to craft hypnotic soundscapes that linger in the mind. Whether in contemporary clubs or classical settings, his sets consistently conjure deep moods and immersive atmospheres.

With this being his first mix release in over 5 years, we’re treated to an early insight into what he’ll bring to Continuum on February 1st. 

RA tickets: https://ra.co/events/2051095

051 - Donato Dozzy - fabric podcast

Smoke Machine Podcast 155 DJ Tool

Ciao tutti 💖
So happy to share the recording from my last set at Open Ground from December 2024. 

It was an emotional journey ~ I wanted to tell a story of diving into underwater dream lands, where spirit guides and glitchy creatures meet and send us messages from the other side... where sound takes over the brain and opens something in the heart and body.
I waved through many genres ~ ambient, jungle, electro, dubstep, drill, jazz, techno and the wonky in-between. It felt like I had the chance to express a fuller spectrum of who I am as a music lover. 🙏

That night, I had the honour of opening for the legend Surgeon ~ someone who’s deeply inspired my path since the very beginning. Sharing that moment with him and connecting was just wow. 🥹

Open Ground truly is one of the most special places on earth ~ the care, the sound, the freedom, the community, the crew… just perfection. 

So grateful to be invited back this saturday ! (26.07.2025) 
Don’t skip ~ come sweat and feel with us 🌀💎💦

~ with love & gratitude ~ 
GiGi🧜‍♀️

GiGi FM at Freifeld / Open Ground 14.12.2024

"Designing clubs is about understanding psychology." The famed architects talk about bringing emotions, durability and hidden logic into era-defining nightlife spaces.

How do you design the world's best clubs? Studio Karhard, the architecture firm started by Thomas Karsten and his wife, Alexandra Erhard, in 2003, know exactly which ingredients go into a successful nightlife space. The Berlin-based duo are the visionaries behind Berghain and ∄ in Kyiv, as well as a number of private residences, businesses and smaller venues around the world. Their specialty, they say, is salvaging forgotten spaces and resurrecting them to serve a new purpose.

In this RA Exchange, Karsten talks about first coming across the building that's now Berghain and working tirelessly with engineers and city planners to preserve its neoclassical facade. As he explains, creating a memorable atmosphere goes beyond just designing for aesthetics. There are countless hidden design features that serve to make venues like Berghain comfortable.

But according to Karsten, Studio Karhard's masterpiece is ∄, which they began designing in 2018. He describes the special experience of first visiting the abandoned brewery—which was then in extreme disrepair—and bringing the lessons they took away from building Berghain to make this Ukrainian space their most successful project yet.

This episode takes a look under the hood of the psychology, anthropology and emotional study that inform the venues that have shaped underground electronic music culture. Listen to it in full. -Chloe Lula

EX.775 Studio Karhard (Berghain, K41)

The Sustain-Release co-founder steps up to the Phonica mix just ahead of the acclaimed festival’s 11th year. 
New York has an iconic history when it comes to club music, and over the years has seen many great names emerge from its underground scene. In modern times, Aurora Halal is undoubtedly one of those names. 
Aurora has become a staple at forward-thinking institutions like Berghain, De School, and her home base, Nowadays, where she holds a residency. Alongside her international touring, she’s carved out her own vital space through the long-running Mutual Dreaming parties and Sustain-Release, the DIY-rooted festival she co-founded, which continues to push boundaries as it enters its second decade.
Her Phonica mix offers a vivid snapshot of her deep, intuitive approach to DJing—captured live at Mansions, a cozy NYC wine bar turned house party haven. Known for her genre-fluid sets that blend hypnotic techno, house, acid and experimental textures this is the perfect calling card to showcase why she can hold it down with a range of greats like DJ Nobu, Vladimir Ivkovic and more.
We had a chat about the mix with Aurora as well as touching off Sustain and some of her favorite moments at the festival.

Phonica Mix Series 134: Aurora Halal

Recorded live at Thuishaven, Amsterdam 22 March 2025

Skudge Live at Thuishaven, Amsterdam 2025

We’re opening our new mixtape series Umwege — a dedication to the detours, connections, and encounters that shaped a year spent traveling through Germany’s dance music landscape.

For the first edition, we’re joined by TILS (@tils303), an upcoming artist from Haan, a small city between Düsseldorf and Wuppertal. Recently, he has been making a name for himself in NRW’s dance music scene with his DJ sets and music productions. His debut release just landed on Victor’s imprint Magic Power, marking the beginning of a promising journey.

Tils - Umwege 01 / Mixtape Discos Movimiento

@noname_community 2025❤️
Mastering - Daniel[i]

LaNatureFestival 2025

Recording of Efdemin's set at the UFO I stage during Dekmantel Festival 2025.

Efdemin at UFO I - Dekmantel Festival 2025

This leading light from the Berlin scene is up next with 85 minutes of feel good tunes guaranteed to get you moving. Partok’s rise as go-to DJ for clubs like De School, Blitz, Basement and Panorama Bar is really no surprise. The recipe? Bridging genres and histories from Detroit to early UK rave, and constantly correlating those with more recent developments in music, and always through a queer lens. These deckside stints have a soft galvanising power, chugging rhythms with social change front and centre, grassroots house that spurs dancefloor denizens to action with selections that prioritise the work of fellow queer artists. Along with Roi Perez and David Elimelech, Partok's also at the reins of transnational party series Laundrette, a forum for endurance-testing B3B sets. And the fun doesn’t stop there, his past forays into production as 1/3 of Partok Matushka Apfelberg on Kompakt have set the bar even higher, fleshing out a vision for sound that flips the script at every turn. For Bassiani Podcast 279, this Berlin selector brings a singular magic, anthemic grooves and butter-smooth transitions, this is highly combustible house from a one-of-a-kind talent, an exclusive mix recorded at the K41 garden in Kyiv for Bassiani.

@partok

EX.775 Studio Karhard (Berghain, K41)

Resident Advisor