"Working my ass off, to be honest," is how Eli Escobar starts our interview  below. That basically sums up his vibe. The New Yorker might not have the same household name status of other DJs who have been soundtracking Manhattan clubs since the early '90s, but he certainly deserves it. Any New York resident worth their salt should have him near the top of the list of their favorite local DJs. He plays anywhere and everywhere in the city, and he can play pretty much anything he wants to, as his RA Podcast will attest.

When it comes to his own music, Escobar puts out records equally informed by disco, hip-hop and house—in other words, a very New York sound. He hasn't been producing as long as he's been DJing, but his albums and EPs for labels like Classic, Night People and Razor N Tape are full of the soul, humor and talent of someone who knows dance music inside out.

As Escobar says below, he doesn't really have any one type of sound. His DJing varies greatly from night to night, and he's always adding to his considerable collection, so no one set is quite the same as another. For his RA Podcast, put together painstakingly with many specially edited tracks and recorded in a hotel room in Colombia, he strikes a relatively reflective tone, but it's still eminently danceable. He moves gradually through two hours of house and disco that ranges from celebratory to muted, from minimalist to rich with live instrumentation. It's the sound of New York dance music as passed through generations, from one of its best and most beloved musical storytellers.

@eliescobar

Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/839

RA podcast

RA.839 Eli Escobar

This is my 4 hour opening set from the December edition of Group Therapy in Copenhagen (@grouptherapy_cph). I was really sick in the week running up to this party and very nearly pulled out but am so glad I made it. 

The party was a world AIDS day fundraiser raising money for AIDS-Fondet and “Ungegruppen”. It was also the first party in their new venue Den Anden Side. The vibes were incredibly special and I was honoured to play the first songs in their new home. This was my love letter to everyone we lost to AIDS and a chance to play some of my most cherished records. 


x

Midland @ Group Therapy - Copenhagen [03.12.22]

For this special edition of the fabric podcast, Lakuti joins us ahead of her B2B with Tama Sumo for Love Child's Pride takeover.‍ A diverse range of uplifting sonics, deep dance-ready grooves, and selections that seem to warp and traverse through continents and cultures.

Born and raised in South Africa, Lakuti has become an internationally acclaimed DJ, record label owner, and influential figure in the electronic music scene. With a passion for music developed at a young age, Lakuti’s sound has developed since her move to the UK in the 1990s to one that seamlessly blends a wide range of genres from house, techno, disco, Afrobeat and beyond.

Alongside her DJ career, Lakuti has been instrumental in fostering creativity within the industry. In 2001, she co-founded the Uzuri Recordings label, which has since become a respected platform for groundbreaking artists. Through Uzuri, Lakuti has championed innovative sounds, pushing boundaries and introducing emerging talents to a global audience.‍

Also known for her activism and commitment to social change, using her platform to address issues of diversity, equality, and inclusivity within the music industry, Lakuti's dedication to her craft extends beyond the DJ booth and record label. With a tireless efforts to create more inclusive spaces have inspired and empowered countless individuals, Lakuti is blossoming into a true icon in the industry.

For our Pride Special Lakuti is back with frequent collaborator Tama Sumo for another iconic B2B set, and joins the fabric podcast with a very special mix ahead of time.

018 – Lakuti - fabric podcast (Pride 2023)

Honored to have John Talabot as my April guest on @dublab. 

I play the first hour then JT takes over at the top of the hour with a special set!

Analogue Players Club w/ Masha Mar & John Talabot

John Talabot @ MakingTime 2024

Deep house with heaps of soul to guide spring into summer.

"House music to me is about emotion… it's about how it moves you," says Suze Phaff, better known as Suze Ijó. Emerging from a thriving Dutch scene, Ijó belongs to a generation of DJs reshaping dance culture from the ground up, restoring soul and musicality to the centre of house music. It's a conversation happening not just in her home town of Rotterdam, but globally, among kindred spirits like MUSCLECARS and Dee Diggs in New York, Errol and Alex Rita of Touching Bass in London, and OMOLOKO in Belo Horizonte.

You could call Ijó a deep house DJ, but it's much deeper than that. Her sets embody house music in its most musical sense, rich in nimble percussion, woodwinds, calypso drums, gospel vocals, and romantic string sections. They channel the jazz-inflected heartbeat of the East Coast, the breeze of Balearic shores, and the light-footed rhythms of the Caribbean.

As Ijó explains in her Q&A, her RA Podcast "hopefully feels like a loving embrace." Opening with Key Trunks Ensemble's "Calypso of House (Paradise Mix)," she sets a buoyant, life-affirming tone that carries through the next 90 minutes. As the mix unfolds, her affinity for timelessness is clear, with selections that hark back to the golden age of house, from Lonesome Echo Production's "Sweet Dream (Shrine Sweet Mix)" to the euphoric swell of Blaze's "Klubtrance."

Listening to RA.986, it's no surprise that The Loft—David Mancuso's legendary, much-missed New York party—serves as a key influence for Ijó. "He wasn't confined to just one genre but would just play 'good music' in the right context," she explains. "He allowed the music to breathe."

If ambient music is defined by its ability to breathe in and reflect its surroundings, then Ijó's RA Podcast is ambient in the truest, most human sense: a deep, enveloping soundscape that feels like sunrise, like community, like home—wherever you may choose to listen.

@suze_ijo

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/986

RA.986 Suze Ijó

GALA Warm Up Mix - Tama Sumo & Lakuti

Studio Barnhus - 20 June 2025

Andrew Weatherall's first official posthumous mix. The only b2b DJ Harvey ever agreed to. Six hours at Trouw. This one's special.

When mulling which direction to go in for RA's 1000th mix celebrations, many options came to mind. Some shadowy character 2-stepping around the fringe of our collective consciousness? An impossible-level IDM icon?

All tempting. But, ultimately, we are a DJ-forward publication and this is a DJ mix series. It felt truer to the history of the RA Podcast to release deep vault material from a time when the world of niche records felt different, tighter, more discrete.

The fourth-longest mix in the series' history is an unrepeatable marathon set recorded in 2012 at a superclub that no longer exists. 2012, incidentally, is farther away from 2025 than 2012 was from 2000... if we have to clock it, so do you.

It's the coming together of one British icon who passed away in 2020, and another whose time on the road has scaled back considerably as of late. DJ Harvey agreed to exactly one b2b set in his life: this one, with Andrew Weatherall.

The night took place at Trouw, an Amsterdam club already considered legendary before it shuttered its doors in the opening hours of 2015, as part of an RA series anchored around start-to-close combinations. Harvey was at the peak of an irresistible career second act, which dovetailed with a disco revival that dominated clubs for years. Weatherall, with infinite brownie points stockpiled from the '90s, remained everyone's favourite debonair psychonaut. 

What follows is 385 scintillating minutes of arpeggiated chug and slow-cresting climaxes: a moment when the resting heart rate of dance floors plunged lower than any comparable point in the 21st century. A masterclass, entirely self-contained in audio form.

If you've got time to spare, a fun side game is sussing out who plays what. A disco-dub cover of Echo & the Bunnymen? Smart money's on Weatherall. Exuberant EQ'ing of The Isley Brothers? Gotta be Harvey. As for the low 'n slow, lightly spangled house that was all the rage in the early 2010s (think Maxxi Soundsystem, Disco Bloodbath, Rub & Tug, C.O.M.B.I. and Full Pupp), it's anyone's guess. 127 BPM feels practically like an F1 car.

When we kicked off our RA.1000 campaign, we outlined a few goals: tick off a handful of long-awaited dream guests, honour architects who shaped the world around us and deliver recordings you truly can't hear anywhere else. Full send.

DJing and the mythmaking around it has undergone a quantum leap since 2012, let alone 2006, 1996 or 1989. For those of us who were kicking around in the former, there's a creeping melancholy that our prime is fast becoming a matter of historical record. The killing moon really did come too soon. 

Where will electronic music, DJ sets or any of this be in 2044? Hard to say. Best not to overthink that one. Instead, we want to say thanks to all contributors on the series so far. Now enjoy luxuriating in the company of two of the greatest to ever do it, together, for the first and last time.⁠ – Gabriel Szatan (Editor, RA)

@andrew-weatherall

Read the interview with DJ Harvey and Andrew Weatherall's family at https://ra.co/podcast/1016. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 DJ Harvey & Andrew Weatherall

Novo Amor - Anchor - Ambasa remix

For the final recorded set from Campout 2019, we wanted to share a special moment from the weekend. @midland played a stunning three hour set at Hemlock Hole that helped set the tone for the weekend. 

Reflecting back on this time together feels almost like a dream. The threat of COVID-19 and the quarantine we’ve been forced to endure has forced us to hit pause on our lives and rethink our immediate futures. As much as we’d love to dance with you this summer, we tearfully must postpone Honcho Campout to August 19-22, 2021 due to COVID-19.  

For more information on our decision and future updates please visit: honchocampout.com/updates

RA.839 Eli Escobar

Resident Advisor