This week on the podcast we welcome Lucy Cook, long time friend of the festival who's been behind some of our favourite downtempo mixes of the past few years for the likes of Outsiders and MMSU. Settle in for 90-minutes of earworms, passing by downtempo, hip hop and acid jazz on a leisurely summer stroll.

Catch Lucy spinning this year for The Ghost's takeover of The Beach on the festival's last day.

DIM292 - Lucy Cook

Prosumer: 23rd November '24

Kaleidoscopic psychedelia from one of Australia's finest.

While it might feel early to call bets on DJs of the decade, Kia Sydney, best known as Kia, is undoubtedly one of them. The Animalia founder began in Naarm's (Melbourne) underground scene in the mid-2010s, crediting a trip to the influential deep techno Japanese festival, Labyrinth, as the inspiration behind her sound.

Deep techno might not cut it as a descriptor for Sydney's sound, though. Hypnotic ribbons of steely techno mix with atmospherics and nimble grooves, drawing from IDM, dub and tech house, sharing as much with DJ Nobu and Donato Dozzy (try to find the track that overlaps with Dozzy's own RA Podcast) as well as modern practitioners like Priori and Beatrice M.

This distinctly Australian scuttling psychedelia has made Kia one of the most sought-after underground DJs globally. Her brainchild, Animalia, showcases a plurality of sounds and scenes, serving as living proof of the fruitful shift of the 2020s: less serious, perhaps, but with a sense of open-minded worldliness that offers a far more promising vision of what dance music can be and achieve.

Sydney's rare talent lies in forging connections, bringing people, sounds and ideas together with a distinct playfulness. Her RA Podcast showcases this alchemy in abundance, weaving classics like Monolake and Enya with peers such as OK EG, Cousin and Command D.

As she told us in her 2023 Breaking Through profile, "people tell me I have quite a distinctive sound but I can't tell so much because I hear so many different versions of it." RA.973 serves as confirmation that Kia's style is, to say the least, the mark of a generational talent.
 
@kia-sydney @animalia-label  @cirruslabel

Read more at ra.co/podcast/973

RA.973 Kia

A 50-minute run through the best higher tempo tracks from 2024. Good for running., workouts or a banging short party

Best of 2024 part 2

Part 1 of best tracks of 2024, warmers, ~120bpm, dancing, running, cooking, gym

Best of 2024 Part 1

Settled back in the UK after a long stint in Berlin, London chill-out devotee Lucy Cook treats us to one of her notoriously nostalgic blends, with meditative vocal swept soundscapes and smoky jazz lounge space dub fused with trip-hop cuts resurrected from obscure CDs from the 90s and 00s. Deeep mood exploration at its finest! 

@lucyscook

Q. What inspiration did you draw upon when planning this mix, and what type of listening environment could you imagine it being enjoyed in? 

A. I put the mix together after a bright and productive start to the year. It’s somewhat reflective of my mood I guess, maybe not through the vibe of the tracks, but in the space around them. I’ve explored some deeper sounds in this one.. so maybe one for some introspective listening. 

I recently visited Japan too and was super inspired by how intentional everything is, with a focus on simplicity and quality. Stripping things back and consistency are new-ish themes in my personal life too, which feels really good.

Q.  Are there any songs in the mix that are especially close to your heart, and what is it about these tracks that resonate with you so much?

A. I really can’t choose, but there’s a couple of edits and things I made which feel special. I had fun layering some interesting vocal samples and weird sounds I’ve been collecting over the years, and created some bits with these which are peppered throughout. 

Quite a few of the tracks are CD rips from the 90’s and 2000’s, which is a method of digging I love. For me without it, so much amazing music wouldn’t be shared. There’s also one or two from friends’ labels Truffle101 and Sonido Chido which are really cool ones. It’s important to me to support those around me and get good music heard :)  

Q. I know you recently made the move back to London after some years living in Berlin, how's the transition been and what are a couple of your favourite UK parties or festivals that you're looking forward to reconnecting with this summer?

A. It took a little while to “arrive” here actually. I’m a pretty calm person and the energy is very different, but I’m feeling happy and at home here now. 

Electronic music wise, I went to Houghton for the first time last year and was blown away by the quality of the music, so I’m looking forward to being there again. Otherwise, I’m enjoying seeing more live musicians. There’s always a lot of great psychedelia, jazz, soul, and hip hop to see here, especially outdoors in the summer. Oh and number 1, Glastonbury!

MDC.307 Lucy Cook

Another Barker masterclass.

Sam Barker asks more from techno. The artist known simply as Barker is one of electronic music's most consistently conscientious and curious producers, challenging listeners to question the norms we accept about our shared culture—whether it's the music that fills the room, the process behind it, or the purpose of the space itself.

British-born yet based in Berlin since 2007, Barker forged a connection to many of the city's leading institutions, including Ostgut Ton, and over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, he carved out one of the more singular paths on the club and label's roster.

Not one for orthodoxy, Barker challenged four-to-the-floor techno framework in favor of melodic experimentation. By decentering or completely stripping away the typical trappings of kick drums and claps, his productions are both light and immersive, buoyant in low-end presence and shimmering in weightless space.

Six years after Utility, his sophomore album Stochastic Drift arrives this month. Shaped by pandemic-driven reinvention, it burrows deeper into harmonic twists and freeform drift. "At some point I became conscious of the process," he wrote of his latest album. "The only thing you can do is embrace the uncertainty and see every change as a potential positive.”

Consider his RA Podcast another sequel. Like his much-beloved 2019 mix for FACT, it's a collage of live recordings and a fitting expression of the artist's own internal spring. RA.982 radiates wide-eyed optimism: percussion cloaked in foggy, swirling pads and trance-like chords, neatly synched in synthetic glimmers. 

All in all, it's an hour of music crafted for contemplation, collective euphoria, or heads-down epiphany—or for that matter, any moment, really, its emotive depth seemingly endless.

@voltek

Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/982

RA.982 Barker

Stars On 33 - I Feel Music In Your Heart (Lifelike & Kris Menace Remix)

(Full recording) inspired by the Sea of Clouds in Alishan National Park (Taiwan)

𝙡𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 w CCL #14 Sea of Clouds @refugeworldwide

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

Crazy Penis - There's A Better Place
Chemical Brothers - Swoon (Lindstrom and Prins Thomas Remix)
The xx - VCR (Four Tet Remix)
Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work It Out) (Todd Terje Version)
M83 vs Aphex Twin vs Khia - Pussylicker
Azari &amp; III - Into The Night (Prince Language Remix)
John Talabot - Matilda's Dream
Aeroplane - Without Lies (Black Van Remix)
Cut Copy - Take Me Over (Thee Loving Hand Remix by Tim Goldsworthy)
Storm Queen aka Morgan Geist - Look Right Through (vox)
Butch - No Worries (Original Mix)
Tensake - Coma Cat (Round Table Knights Remix)


Bit of this Mix

Black Swan