Moonchild - Variations On A Theme [V_S 2-STEPPER]

Heard Britney's song get naked and NEEDED that slowed vocal on a poppin dance track so naturally this absolute banger by Spray came to mind. and us two lovers had a lot of fun putting it all together.

I Got A Plan x VT Trad

Raucous club jams from the trio setting pace for a new generation of electronic fans: Dazegxd, gum.mp3 & Swami Sound, AKA EldiaNYC.

Something exciting is happening on the margins of online club music. As one generation ages out, another, predominantly made up of Zoomers and Zillennials who fell into rave music mid-pandemic or arrived via gaming, is on the rise. Some of the most dialled-in electronic fans out there have threadbare connection to formalised nightlife, filling their diet instead with DJ Ess, Jane Remover, Jet Set Radio and a thriving ecosystem of global splinter styles that would draw stares from anyone who settled into their preferences pre-2019. 

Leading the charge—while pointedly reaffirming the value of connection as they go—are EldiaNYC, whose combination of jungle, garage, vintage Black American dance music, regional rap and screen-glued splinter styles hits like a shot of adrenaline. Swami Sound broke first with sexy drill-laced 2-step edits, and last year we named gum.mp3's "Black Life, Red Planet" as one of our favourite records—but it could have just as easily been Dazegxd's breaks-splicing "exhibition mode" instead.

Eldia stack sets on radio and at parties with startlingly-fresh producers, many still in their teens. This might also be the only RA Podcast to fold in soulful ghettotech from Mr De', head-in-the-clouds plugg from rising star 454, edits of both Bounty Killer and Toro Y Moi, and multiple names (Guido YZ, synta3x, DJ B) who haven't registered on the series before.

With one eye on the occasion, Eldia tip their hats to lineage, too. The trio kick off with a double scoop of Fred P, before ramping up steadily through slick forthcoming material and ironclad modern anthems on their way to a crescendo of footwork chops, baile drums and breakbeat delirium.

Leaders of a new wave in the US, it surely won't be long before Daze, gum and Swami have swept the international circuit. For now, RA.977 will leave your subs smoking.

@dazegxd
@eldia000
@masutaswami
@gum_mp3

Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/977

RA.977 EldiaNYC

DJ Plead - 19 May 2025

Live recording of Hodge and re:ni's set at Parameter 10, San Francisco.

Such a fun set from the loft on the second night of our anniversary weekender with Endzeit. Big thanks to Jake and Lauren for letting us release this one!

@hodgebristol
@renildn
instagram.com/hodgebristol
instagram.com/reni_ldn

Mastered by @mark-pistel

Hodge b2b re:ni at Parameter 10

Five days, five mixes. RA.999 launches with two of the 2020's most exciting techno producers tearing a portal to the future.

When it comes to purveyors of contemporary hardgroove, it's hard to top 1morning and Regal86. The duo have emerged from a buzzy, and decidedly funk-oriented techno scene on the American West Coast, repping Los Angeles and Monterrey respectively. Bound by a shared love of old-school flair and intuition behind the decks, you'll often find Regal86 ditching headphones altogether in favour of studying waveforms in real time, while 1morning's vinyl-only sets are steered by the movements of the dance floor and the fire in his heart.

So it comes as no surprise that we had to invite them back in session. In the last week before we celebrate the 1000th RA Podcast, we'll drop five back-to-backs over the course of the week. From the NYC Downlow to Berlin's Bar25, what unifies this cohort is a sense that they capture where dance music has been—and crucially, where it's going.

Kicking off the week, we have this exclusive recording from the duo's co-headline show at New York's Bossa Nova Civic Club—the "extra special" final stop of their recent US tour. As the first instalment of RA.999, this one-hour set makes a strong case for what it means to achieve ultimate freedom in the booth.

Regal86 and 1morning might be known for their raw, swung techno explorations, but here, their more sensual leanings carry the most impact. You'll find hardgroove's very own daddy Ben Sims, Paul Mac's 2002 melodic beauty Struggling Event and the lavish stomp of Percy X's As Is. And, of course, it wouldn't be a Regal86 and 1morning linkup without a healthy dose of Mexico City rising star—and the former's frequent sparring partner—1OO1O.

But really, this mix proves just how perceptive the two are. It opens a portal into the beating heart of groove-first techno, masterfully flowing between impulse and restraint, tradition and modernity. And who are we to resist?

@bregal86
@1morning

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1004

RA.999 1morning & Regal86

RA.1000 launches with Theo Parrish, live at fabric: a vanishingly rare club mix from the king of deep crates and impossible transitions.

There are DJ sets and then there are Theo sets. No matter how many times you've caught him in action, every time still feels like the first. Running hot, levels smoking, isolator working over time. You think you know dance music? Think again.

Parrish's long-awaited debut on the RA Podcast is a milestone for the series, one we've sought for over 15 years. So it was only right that Theo led off our 1000th celebrations, the first of ten mixes this week. Recorded live at fabric last December as part of RA's collaborative party with the London club for their 25th anniversary, this three-hour segment documents the crescendo of his eight-hour marathon. 

The Detroit legend doesn't release mixes often, and when he does, they're usually studio recordings: think NTS shows, his 100% Detroit edition of DJ-Kicks or classic tapes Body (1997) and Methods of Movement (2020). A capture of the Sound Signature boss on the dancefloor is hard to come back. On RA.1000, you'll hear Theo in his element.

Sure, there's galvanising build-ups and crowd-pleasers, but laced throughout a Parrish beatdown are rarities designed to shock the system. In a business dominated by image-driven marketing, the vinyl master towers above thanks to a relentless hunger for lustrous melodies, moods and textures of all stripes, which he and he alone can fold into an inspiring and exhilarating joyride.

On RA.1000, blissful reggae precedes new wave disco; '80s R&B morphs into synthy techno; bleepy Chicago jack makes way for a poignant vocal ballad. Theo, once again, proves that anything and everything is possible with the right records.

@theoparrish @fabric @soundsignaturedetroit @crownruler

Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Theo Parrish

RA.1000 continues with the pride of Palestine's techno scene, Sama' Abdulhadi.

What makes the sound of resistance? For Palestinian DJ and producer Sama' Abdulhadi, it's the freedom to explore her artistic expression in all its authenticity and complexity. What stands out in her mix for our 1000th celebration is defiant energy, the kind that galvanises more than just dance floors.

Born in Ramallah but a student of Beirut's underground scene, Abdulhadi plays charging, self-assured techno, as calibrated for basement parties as for conquering festival main stages.

Her sets are powerful journeys through moods, tempos and stimuli, connected by a deep sense of love. A love for the music, the craft, the soil from which Abdulhadi grew. It's a love we've explored in a cover story, a film and now one of our ten RA.1000 mixes.

As Abdulhadi notes in her accompanying interview, her entry to the series forms a link back to another "pride and joy of Palestine," with Bethlehem-descending Nicolás Jaar's entry on RA.500. Yet ten years on, the landscape is altered beyond all recognition.

As we all watch the ongoing destruction of Palestinian land, this mix is an unequivocal reminder that we cannot look away. It continues techno's decades-old lineage as vital resistance music.

@sama_abdulhadi

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1010. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Sama' Abdulhadi

For RA.1000, DJ Sprinkles' first mix in over a decade is a powerful meditation on the genocide in Gaza.

Dance music often relies on simple narratives: release, escape, unity. But those narratives can often feel inadequate, and even at times, hollow. Or, as Terre Thaemlitz might bluntly put it, just "shitty."

For her first mix in around 15 years, Terre Thaemlitz AKA DJ Sprinkles, challenges us to think differently. "I felt this 1000th podcast should reflect the moment in which it was made," she told us in her Q&A.

And what is this moment? Every day since Israel's 2023 assault on Gaza began, an average of 28 children have been killed. That's an entire classroom, every day, for over 600 days (at the time of writing). It's a staggering figure that only captures a fragment of the listless cruelty imposed on the strip.

Faced with such a genocide, what can music really do? How political can it truly be?  For their RA.1000, Thaemlitz gives us an unflinching rebuke to the idea that music should provide escapism. The mix weaves ambient fragments and jazz passages, woven around samples from Israeli media and the voices of outspoken Jewish critics like Gabor Maté and Norman Finkelstein. 

The result is not just a protest, but a document of our time. For Terre Thaemlitz, music is never just music. Her RA.1000 serves as a reminder that in an age of relentless suffering, the most political act is to reject the illusion of escape, and search for something greater.

Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1013. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Terre Thaemlitz (AKA DJ Sprinkles)

Seven and a half exhilarating hours from one of modern club's sharpest.

Tim Reaper's mammoth entry for RA.1000 is all about range. You thought the Future Retro London boss was just a jungle and hardcore head? Think again.

The mix's infinite-scroll tracklist (the longest we've ever published in full!) includes a who's who of top-rate producers, from A Guy Called Gerald and Cari Lekebusch to Batu, Mia Koden and the one and only Shackleton.

Opening with weighty grime and ending on head-spinning drum & bass, the mix journeys through US club, wobbly dubstep, classic techno and, of course, many shades of jungle. Rather than go the easy route, the Londoner approached the assignment with the curiosity, integrity and vulnerability of fellow shapeshifters like dBridge, Calibre and ASC.

"The idea was to represent other styles of electronic music that I've been a bit self-conscious about openly expressing my interest in," he told RA.

RA.1000 isn't just another side of Tim Reaper's artistry: thankfully for us, it feels like only the beginning.

@tim-reaper

Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1012. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Tim Reaper

The arena-conquering duo glide from gritty rave to skyscraping arpeggios on RA.1000, a mix many years in the making.

A new name undeniably entered the pantheon of major electronic live acts over the past decade: next to Faithless, The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, now sit @feelmybicep.

The Belfast duo's music doesn't half reach for the stars: a melodic blend of ambient, breakbeat, trance and tech house, able to turn the biggest arenas into intimate affairs.

If anything, mainstream success, BRIT Award nominations and mammoth dance crossovers like "Glue" have only hardened Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar's resolve to keep innovating.

Their prized blog, running for nearly as long as the RA Podcast, regularly platforms upcoming artists. And you won't find many festival headliners releasing climate change-themed records with Indigenous artists, as they did recently on Takkuuk.

RA.1000 exists in that spirit. After many polite declines, and before a year off to usher in the next era, Bicep come through at the last: from dub techno and screwface breaks to São Paulo garage, before a tide of signature synths floods the zone. Stadium-sized intimacy at its finest.

@feelmybicep 

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1015. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 Bicep

virtue_signal
New Orleans underground purveyor.
Sinner, selector & synthesist.

Body Language NOLA
Premonition.ISO