Spend enough time at (or listening to) The Lot Radio, and chances are all you'll find Gabrielle Kwarteng. Even though she lives in Berlin now, the American DJ wears New York on her sleeve, repping for the station that helped make her name (she won a Mixcloud award for "Best Eclectic Show" pretty early on). Sure, you could call her sound eclectic—she jumps from house to Afrobeat to Jersey club and beyond—but it seems like "intuitive" might be a better word. She has the taste of someone raised by musical parents on a diverse diet of albums, of someone who eats, breathes and sleeps records.

Buoyed by her success in the US, Kwarteng moved to Berlin in 2019, not too long before the pandemic. Like so many other up-and-coming DJs, her momentum almost stalled as a result. But here we are in 2022 and Kwarteng is more successful than ever, with a string of upcoming festival dates highlighting her wide, transatlantic appeal. Her RA Podcast is equally welcoming, with a taste for house music that feels perfectly pitched between the classic and the new. You can hear an old soul, but she also has cutting-edge tracks from the likes of NIkki Nair, and a gutsy, fantastic edit of "Can You Feel It?" by Tom Carruthers. The mix also reflects her recently getting back in touch with her roots, featuring smatterings of East Coast club music and ballroom, all wrapped up with an exquisite finishing touch courtesy of a long Moodymann play-out.

Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/837

RA podcast

RA.837 Gabrielle Kwarteng

Artist Soundcloud: 
https://soundcloud.com/kimannfoxman

Kim Ann Foxman... IsBurning #107

****Physical Cassette Mixtape Available Our Bandcamp****
https://octoocta.bandcamp.com/album/love-hypnosis-vol-2

I heal myself weekly with the music I play. I listen deeply to the words buried within; the intention behind the lyrics either peppered-in or chorused. So much of the house music I connect with is rooted in love. It’s rooted in desire and hope. It’s rooted in narrative, “Do you want to trip with me?”, “I’ll outstretch my hand”, “I won’t forget about you, you won’t forget about me, we won’t forget about love vibrations!”. I listen to the messages to remind myself what I need and why I continue to move forward.

Vol.2 is represented in two mixing styles; long-melded blends (Trippin’ On Love) and fast, tight radio-style cut mixes with overdubs (Slammin’ With Love). Both convey the deep need for connection to one’s body and to others. It’s this connection energy that I find so powerful about house music’s healing magic.

Xoxo Octo Octa

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎ 50% of the profits the mix will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. ♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

Octo Octa - Love Hypnosis Vol. 2 Mixtape

a floaty housey fix to soundtrack your afterparty, full of old and new favourites (✿◠‿◠)

Sunrise at the afterparty mix

September

HÖR - Love On The Rocks - Paramida - September 19 2022

The latest Off-Kilter submission comes from DJ extraordinaire Shanti Celeste.

All killer/no filler - over an hour of colourful club ready techno, electro and house - we struck gold with this one - it's like fizzy golden fireworks melting into the night sky.

@shanticeleste

OK008- Shanti Celeste

You know me, live from the board recording plus crowd mic. One of my final festival sets of 2022, closing out Making Time ∞ in one of my favorite cities, Philly (long live dave p!) eternal gratitude crystals to all and to all a good night <3

Avalon Emerson Live in Philadelphia 2022 - 09 - 24 @ Making Time ♾️

With what was mostly a full and fruitful year for us with many beautiful moments, we now turn our eyes forward to what is looking to be a very exciting year for us at Phonica as we walk into our 20th year of being alive. 2022 saw our mix series get even more killer contributions from artists like Paramida, Sally C, Fred P, Eden Burns, Alex Kassian, Erol Alkan and more. 2023's series line up plans to keep moving up and we have opened this years mix season in the capable hands of two of the finest DJ/Producers doing it right now. Bringing nothing but powerful, euphoric and goddess energies it can only be Octo Octa and Eris Drew of T4T Luv NRG. Amazingly celebrated for their strand of psychedelic, rolling progressive, trancey-house and break rhythms we can't think of two better selector's to take on our series. With an excellently curated compilation and mix for our good friends at Fabric last year as well as two banging cassettes on T4T we can't begin to imagine what this year has in-store for Maya and Eris but we have no doubt it's even more on the upward trajectory! Most likely to the heavens and back! We had a chat with Maya and Eris to see what they have been up to lately and little about how they approached the mix.

Interview Here

Phonica Mix Series 103: Octo Octa & Eris Drew

Deemed the queen of long sets, Stella Zekri https://soundcloud.com/stella-zekri-ouiddir made her IsBurning debut on New Year’s Day and ever since we’ve been longing for her entry in podcast series. Each record she plays is a found gem and she has a favorite in this mix:  

“Romanthony - Let me show you love (Morales Erotic Mix) is a track on a record that I digged during my last visit in Paris. I love it for the iconic vocal sample we’ve all heard, and the dreamy pads combined with a driving groovy beat. I also just love a track with many parts, a track that is a journey in itself.”

Stella Zekri... IsBurning #120

Born and raised in New York but now transplanted to Berlin, @gabriellekwarteng has quickly become a Panorama Bar regular known for her eclectic radio shows. The move to Europe widened the scope of her DJ sets which tend to be high energy and punchy with plenty of techno, while on the airwaves she is likely to serve up a mix of boogie, Afro-disco, and neo-soul. That broad approach no doubt stems from growing up in the musical melting pot that is the Bronx, but also from childhood summers - and later a year studying abroad - in London. Add in a desire to champion the classic Black American genres and you have the foundations of the Kwarteng sound. 

All this is reflected in this week's mix which traverses global genres with effortless enthusiasm. Hefty bass cuts and weighty rhythms build into acid-tinged workouts, sounds of the diaspora spread across the course of 70 minutes and energy levels drop even when the mood changes. It's a great snapshot of a DJ at ease with worldly sounds and the ability to thread them all together into a communal dance floor experience.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 429 - Gabrielle Kwarteng

Guest show, debut The Lot radio show on first American tour. Lil post pride recovery set.

http://www.instagram.com/jenniferrloveless

RA.837 Gabrielle Kwarteng

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