Donato Dozzy at The Labyrinth 2014.

Venue: Naeba Greenland, Gunma, Japan.

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To celebrate 20 years of building Labyrinths, we have decided to release one set from each of the last ten years. I've chosen ten timeless moments that both document the history of the event and provide a historical snapshot of underground electronic music over the past ten years.

We have chosen a broad range--from closing techno sets, to morning ambient sets, to experimental sets to close the night. Each set represents a different side of the event. Taken together, they present a portrait of a decade of music.

The Labyrinthの20周年を記念して、過去10年間を振り返り、それぞれの年からひとつのミックスをピックアップすることにしました。イベントの歴史を記録すると同時に、過去10年間のアンダーグラウンドエレクトロニックミュージックの歴史的なスナップショットを提供します。今聞いても色褪せない、タイムレスな極上のミックスをお楽しみください。

テクノのクロージングセットから、朝のアンビエントセット、そして夜を締めくくるエクスペリメンタルセットまで幅広いセレクトですが、どのセットもThe Labyrinthの欠かせない側面を表しており、ここ10年におけるエレクトロニック ミュージックの全容とも言えるでしょう。

The Labyrinth 2014 - Donato Dozzy (closing set)

When Smoke Machine started doing parties in Taipei, and then created a revered online mix series, it was clear that it was the work of someone with impeccable taste. That would be Diskonnected, once a resident at the beloved Taiwan club Korner who now posts up at Pawnshop and 宀 in Hong Kong. He's also behind Organik, a festival that takes place on the coast of Taiwan and has become one of the world's top techno gatherings in just over a decade.

True to his alias, the elusive artist likes to switch off from the world. He rarely makes his presence known online, sparingly accepting press and mix requests. He's not one to seek attention—in fact, he actively avoids it—but there's a spotlight on him regardless.

Everything Diskonnected does is executed with patience and class, but don't mistake that for restraint. His style of weightless techno shimmers with the spirit of nature, moving with aerodynamic force. On his RA Podcast, we hear a six-hour all-night set recorded at 宀 earlier this year, keeping an open-ended view of techno as it barrels on, gradually getting faster all the while. It's clichéd to say that if you know you know, but truly, anyone who knows about Diskonnected knows that he's one of the world's greatest techno DJs, with a style and flair that feels both old-school—or maybe just late '00s—but also cutting-edge.

@diskonnected

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/904

RA podcast

RA.904 Diskonnected

All time favourite Aurora Halal @itsallhalal warming up for D-Dan 12th December 2022 11.00-1.30am at NYC's legendary Nowadays.

ani/live Thirty Three: Aurora Halal @ Nowadays

Recording of Batu B2B Donato Dozzy (the secret B2B) at Aura, Draaimolen Festival 2023, Day 1.

Batu B2B Donato Dozzy at Draaimolen Festival 2023

Priori (@priori-ties) has always explored a wide range of techno from dense and introspective to more joyous, often against the backdrop of technological possibilities. He hails from Canada and has been prolific since first emerging with two full-lengths to his name on his own NAFF label. They pair dubby undercurrents with crystalline melodies and contain the sort of unresolved tensions that keep you locked in for the ride. This weekend he plays Dekmantel Naarm 2024 but first has served up this new mi for us.

Priori says this is the first dance mix he's done in a long time, adding "It's an hour and a half of fresh rhythms and rave sounds that I recorded while on tour in Australia. It features a few tracks I have been playing a lot lately and some forthcoming bits by myself and some friends." In just over 90 minutes he works through a rollercoaster of deep techno rhythms that are firmly focused on the future and flow as fluidly as water.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 459 - Priori

Recording of Sybil's set at Dekmantel Ten

Pre-register for Dekmantel Festival 2025 here: bit.ly/4fyWKXc

Sybil at Dekmantel Ten

In late 2023 I was chatting with a musician friend about labels, and whether they're really all that necessary these days. As someone mainly focused on self-releasing my music through Bandcamp, I think for the most part the answer is no. One should focus on passionately creating things and being involved in their local music community. Over time, label or not, things will hopefully start to take care of themselves on their own. I did however mention that there was one label I thought was really cool, and would definitely be interested in working with: it was Nous'klaer Audio. Incredibly, the next day I received an email from Sjoerd Oberman, who runs Nous'klaer, inviting me to join for a release and performance at Draaimolen. Of course, I was delighted to be involved. This would be my first show in the EU. I spent about 3 months preparing a new set. Having grown rather bored of CDJs and DJ mixers, I opted to prepare a live set, in which I control 8 channels of audio tracks along with drum machines and FX. This setup gives me a lot of freedom to explore new arrangements of my catalog, and better command the dynamic energy on the dance floor, pushing and pulling things forwards to capture the mood of the crowd. To prepare for Draaimolen, I organized several shows across Japan (where I live), further refining the setup after each performance, and deciding what tracks would be the best fit for the 60 minute peak time set I was scheduled to perform. I was very nervous about how my set would be received, but it ended up working very well, and was the highlight of my year. From the very start, the positive reaction from the crowd put me at ease, and Draaimolen's focus on sound and stage design gave me peace of mind, knowing that every frequency was being perfectly reproduced on the floor. I'm so grateful for the opportunity Nous'klaer and Draaimolen provided me. Long live Nous'klaer and long live Draaimolen. Thank you Sjoerd and Milo and Kani and Hannah! 
- Erik Luebs

Erik Luebs live at Draaimolen Festival 2024

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

Dj Maria. b2b Oceanic at Draaimolen Festival 2024

The next Dekmantel mix is a wild melting pot of dark, murky techno grooves by @mattikk. A pillar of the Amsterdam underground, the Garage Noord resident has a long history of DJing in the city and is closely connected to your favorite techno labels. He’s the mind behind Delsin Records' Mantis series, collaborating with artists like Forest Drive West, Konduku, Lemna, and Dino Sabatini.

Drawing on UK sound system culture, his selections always carry an experimental edge, whether diving into deep Italian techno or ambient. Usually, he crafts mixes for immersive listening pleasure, but here he makes a rare turn to the dance floor, inspired by his closing set on the UFO2 stage at last year's Dekmantel Festival. Over an hour of powerful, driving grooves and subtle details, sprinkled with new tunes and some personal favorites that span low-end-heavy electro and broken beats.

Tracklist/
Dasha Rush - 100 Hearts
O.utlier - Evoparation 
Tammo Hesselink - Harbour Launch
R-010 - Exhaust Pipes (Absis Remix)
Amotik - Iktalis
Kon Janson - Unbound Perspective 
Saku Niamh - Unreleased 
Roseen - Separation
Stenny - Hazy Grove
CAIV - Shimmer 
Broken English Club - Ghost
Konduku - Unreleased Remix
Agonis - Unreleased
James Ruskin - Lahaine (O/V/R Remix)  
Konduku - Unreleased
Firn - Rakaposhi
Vand - Futureshock
Gez Varley - Purgę
DJ Slip - Spice
VC-118A -  Unreleased
Carrier - 2 Slow
Kellen303 - Pinehearse
Fret - Stuck

RA.904 Diskonnected

Resident Advisor