Steve Rachmad’s techno project STERAC has for many years been a seminal force in his native Netherlands and beyond. Releasing over 100 releases across the much feted Delsin, Klockworks, Mote-Evolver, Tresor and others, he’s become something of a cult figure, and dubbed a father of Detroit in The Netherlands for added points. It’s hard to imagine a more venerated artist and there’s good reason why, Rachmad’s fearless approach to production puts him a cut above many of his peers, often taking pure feeling and a collection of well worn machines as a starting point and trusting his gut along the path to finished product. For Bassiani Podcast 190, the Dutch master of techno delivers a thorough lesson in expert mixing. From orchestral strings to utilitarian bleeps, Rachmad’s sound bridges a gap no one else can. An ode to the motor city with a healthy measure of string composition thrown in, recorded live at the club during the Token X Reclaim Your City night on November 3rd.

@steverachmad

BASSIANI PODCAST SERIES

Bassiani invites Sterac / Podcast #190

From London’s inner suburbs comes this next guest, a through and through veteran of UK techno whose touch has left a lasting mark on the world around him. Steve Bicknell’s early days were spent in the intoxicating worlds of dub, reggae, acid, DIY warehouse parties and pirate radio, an auspicious mix of references that would inspire him to make music of his own. After a string of residencies at the UK’s then most influential parties, he launched his own series with creative collaborator Sheree Rashit: LOST. These legendary gatherings brought together names like Plaid, Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, Robert Leiner, Basic Channel, and a wider array of future techno hegemons. This was swiftly succeeded with the duo’s launch of imprint Cosmic Records, whose triumph went on to spawn another three successors: LOST (early provider of Bicknell’s dancefloor sounds), Clubtracks (for Chicago-leaning fare) and ID(entity) (a channel for the work of well established music-makers who wanted to release under a secret alias). A nine-year pause in productions came to a halt in the mid 2010s with Steve’s most recent label, 6dimensions, an exploration in sound and the whole spectrum of human emotion. Finally, 2017 saw Steve team up with Luke Slater and David Sumner under the LSD sobriquet, a force for the creation of ‘lysergic machine music’, heavily danceable stuff (just ask ADE, Dekmantel, Awakenings). With a story as full and enduring as Steve’s there’s much to pull from, and only experience in the flesh could attest to the depth and scope of his musical evolution, but it’s clear that the voice he has honed has only become louder and more refined. It’s a techno that’s fully embodied, a blistering percussive barrage that invokes something profoundly human and fundamental. Bassiani Podcast 217 is just a taste of what Steve has to offer, a window onto a world of sound he’s meticulously crafted for over three decades: masterfully layered and piercing sounds that shimmer and relentlessly rise in lockstep with a formidable 4/4 beat.

@steve-bicknell

Bassiani invites Steve Bicknell / Podcast #217

A true pioneer of the techno scene, Italian DJ and producer Gaetano Parisio needs no introduction but we'll just underline that since his first steps in the then-burgenoning electronic world back in 1992, his influence on the sound hasn't flinched one bit. Responsible for countless seminal releases on the likes of Primate, Zenit, Mosaic, his own structures Conform, ART and Southsoul and a myriad more, Gaetano has been pushing techno in new directions with ultimate drive and devotion to duty. Clocking in with a two-hour trip into his boundary-pushing headspace, the Neapolitan maestro treats us to a wild ride of trampling uptempo funk, sci-fi-indebted flights and further alien-engineered heaters. The forward-looking power of rave in its purest expression.

soundcloud.com/gaetano-parisio

Reclaim Your City 

Reclaim Your City 598 | Gaetano Parisio

Back in the series with a special hour-and-a-half-long live set, fellow RYC alum Arthur Robert graces us with a mix that best exemplifies his cosmonautical approach to production, flush with alien-engineered sounds and sci-fi-indebted atmospheres. Like traversing a dynamic hall of mirrors and prisms, distorting our cognitive scope to hypnotic effect, Robert’s mix is a maze of fast swiveling grooves and bubbling, modular-like reflections. If you like your techno both hi-velocity and uncompromisingly trippy, Robert’s blends extrapolate the finest of galloping techno and outer-spacey poetics, birthing the kind of transporting narrative that’ll sooth your nerves from the daily heartbreak we’ve come to process as an integral part of our lives.

soundcloud.com/arthurrobert

Reclaim Your City

Reclaim Your City 631 | Arthur Robert Live

The 2h recording of my closing set debuting at the iconic @fusebrussels on February 08, 2025 - invited by @oscarmulero for his residency night.

Isabel Soto @ Fuse Brussels | 08.02.25 (closing set)

Right on cue to support the release of his newest EP on SK_eleven, here comes Manchester via Berlin's own Setaoc Mass with a banger of a mix to break June in proper, pedal to the metal. Exponent of a sound both intrinsically rugged yet layered to mind-altering effect, the British producer has been dishing out unstoppable slices of hi-velocity techno laced with a signature stripped-back, psychedelic edge. This new RYC podcast doesn’t veer off from such a direction and we’re graced with a two-hour mind trip boasting both bass-driven warehouse impact and an elegantly-woven tapestry of abrasive grooves, leaning by turn towards atmospheric elation and on other occasions pushing in the direction of utter fibrous, steel-coated industrial pound. The result is a wilder than wild ride down a smouldering pit of acid-washed hard hitters. Brutal. 

soundcloud.com/setaoc_mass

Reclaim Your City 646 | Setaoc Mass

Designer II - RO

3 Technics SL-1210 MK2, 2 Pioneer CDJ-2000 NXS, 1 Allen & Heat Xone 92 and a lots of vinyls for a unforgettable night!
Here's one hour of my set from the new faces night @ Tresor Berlin wed/ 07.09.2016/ 
hosted by DE VS. TROIT

event:
https://tresorberlin.com/event/tresor-new-faces-31/

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FywgHCVxQQQ

RA:
https://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?868240

D-Leria @ Tresor Club

Resident Advisor podcast

RA.582 Steve Bicknell

Stanislav Tolkachev Special I did during my latest ANGLS On Air Radio Show at Radio Nachtlab May 16th 2019 {vinyl only}

Dimi Angélis * Stanislav Tolkachev Special * ANGLS On Air 16-05-19

Andrew Shobeiri AKA @ReneWise flaunts an artistic flair rare for his years. Possessing an uncanny ability to create a sound that fuses hip-shaking grooves with a raw but modern touch, Wise breeds a deep sense of knowledge and maturity beyond what you'd expect for an artist of his age. His ear for infectious rhythm derives from a love of classic 90’s era techno, always being drawn to the relentless energy felt in the faster tempos. These influences can be heard throughout his productions and selections as a DJ, winning him a growing fanbase of peers and music lovers alike.