RA Podcast

'90s nostalgia, big beat and bargain-bin house courtesy of the NYC dance-pop duo. Fcukers don't really care about success. Or at least, that's how it started. "We don't give a shit. We're not going to have a music career. Who cares? We're going to do exactly what we want," Jackson Walker Lewis told Rolling Stone, recalling the duo's early mindset. The origin of their name, lifted from the iconoclastic slogan that defined a generation of anti-fashion kids, is a fitting touch for a duo transforming '90s nostalgia into something distinctly modern. That irreverence still runs through Lewis and Shanny Wise. Indie kids turned club kids, Fcukers draw from big beat, filter house, dance punk, drum & bass, reggae and dub. Their rise has been swift, catching ears across music and fashion circles alike — including Hedi Slimane, who flew them to Paris to soundtrack a show afterparty. Behind the attitude is a genuine education in dance music lineage, an instinct that's since drawn the attention of artists like Charli XCX and Tiga. Their RA Mix channels the wide-eyed optimism of an era they clearly hold dear. And with debut album Ö landing this week, success seems to have found them all the same. Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1051 @fcukers

Electroclash icon Tiga talks about the manosphere, the currency of cool and his first album in 10 years, HOTLIFE. Canadian producer Tiga—born Tiga Sontag—has navigated the peaks and valleys of electronic music for over three decades. A key architect of the electroclash explosion in the early 2000s, Sontag reigned supreme over the indie sleaze era of the dance floor during the 2010s. But eventually, that momentum stalled. Sontag, one of the scene's most charismatic figures, found himself contemplating retirement while battling a health crisis that threatened to derail his career entirely. In this rare interview, Sontag talks to RA editor Gabriel Szatan about those lost years. Rather than retracing his anthemic hits ("You Gonna Want Me," "Sunglasses At Night"), the pair discuss why, after stepping back from the public eye for over a decade, Tiga is entering a new chapter he describes as "all answers, no questions." His upcoming LP, HOTLIFE, unpacks personal demons alongside his takes on everything from Elon Musk and the manosphere to the "pornographic" repetition of the music industry's relentless churn. It's out April 17th via Turbo Recordings and Secret City Records, and features contributions from Boys Noize, Maara and Priori and more. Listen to the episode in full.

A key architect of the 2020s underground debuts on the RA Mix. Scroll through end-of-year features or the tracklists of a certain kind of new-school techno DJ, and Priori is rarely far away. The Montreal artist has built a reputation as a kind of studio chameleon, working with the biggest names across the underground. Whether it be james K, Tiga or Paul St. Hilare, or his work co-running naff recordings, his output will be familiar to any raver who has touched grass at the likes of Sustain-Release, Dekmantel or Waking Life in recent years. The "Priori touch" is easy to spot. It shapeshifts as you listen: strange, synthetic textures, enveloping low-end, everything draped in a fine silk gauze that seems to hover just above the surface. But for all its hallmarks, it's also deeply versatile. Priori is prog, Priori is dub, sometimes Priori is even pop. Just as you think you've grasped his sound, it slips away. This is by design. Priori takes inspiration from myriad genres and mediums—as likely to be moved by an obscure illbient 12-inch as a Wong Kar-wai film. "I love world-building," he once told Butter Sessions, and that instinct lends his productions a sense of richness. Making his long-overdue debut on the RA Mix, Priori opens the door to the chillout room. RA.1031 is built on thick, enveloping bass and atmospheric drift, as dub, prog and electronica cuts are folded together with ease. Who knows what thrilling new forms await in the future. Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/1050 @priori-ties @naffrecordings

The ATW Records boss and honorary prince of UK Garage steps up with a mix that might surprise you. From the post-lockdown school of UK garage producers, Adam Emil Schierbeck, AKA Main Phase, is a rare international graduate. The Copenhagen producer has closely studied the British sound, shaping an international garage revival in his wake. Schierback stands as one of UK Garage's premiere tastemakers. Ordained as the king of the speed garage shuffler, a Main Phase track is easy to spot: infectious swing and rippling melodies, underpinned by a sensual, determined mood. With Interplanetary Criminal, he now co-runs ATW Records, invigorating what was once a exploratory imprint into one of the scene's most crucial nurturers of new talent. Some listeners might press play expecting the corybantic ragga edits of "100%," but patience is required: what you may expect from a Main Phase set only pokes its head out briefly (there's exactly one speed garage drop, two hours in). Instead, treat RA.1030 as Main Phase 101. Opening with a dub-techno soundbath, the mix traces the roots and outer edges of his sound, and lands like an artistic statement he has been building towards since he was an awestruck teenager, racing home to catch Rinse FM. Read more at ra.co/podcast/1049 @mainphase001 @atwrec

The singular percussionist turns inward for a rare solo excursion. Valentina Magaletti at the drums is a picture of freedom: laughing, loose-limbed, entirely absorbed. For RA.1029, the London-based percussionist channels that instinct into a rare solo outing—a personal excursion through her musical archive. The atmosphere moves as freely as she plays, shifting from ominous and claustrophobic passages to contemplative field recordings. Collaboration is one of the central ways she continually reinvents herself, whether it be spiritual dub excursions with Shackleton and Holy Tongue, or post-punk melancholia with Moin. As she told The Guardian in 2024, "dialogue is more interesting than monologue." Take her work with Princípe associate Nídia, in which she used Angolan kuduro as a springboard for new acoustic visions of dance music. But Magaletti is also a solo artist in her own right, and RA.1029 is the sound of her own monologue. The 90-minute mix sees her roving through her personal archive, from wild drum excursions and Midwestern industrial to frenetic free jazz, eerie gqom and Ukrainian electro. It captures, she says, her current inner state, a feeling of being "suspended between introspection and anticipation." Fitting, then, for a groundbreaking artist who thrives in the spaces in between. Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/1048 @magadrum

Jared Beeler, aka DJ Plead, is an Australian-Lebanese producer who weaves Arabic rhythmic traditions into techno and post-dubstep. The mix explores polyrhythms, Maqam-inflected phrasing, tactile drum programming, and shifting vocal motifs. Expect tight percussion, chest‑shaking sub-bass, and rhythmic experimentation spanning global club textures.

Two hours of groove, texture and Black excellence from new-school New York royalty. New York native JADALAREIGN has always represented Black excellence, but in recent years her vision crystallised. The in-demand act and former Nowadays booker has fine-tuned her creative practice, experimenting with tempo and selection in ways that have led to a deep, nuanced relationship with Black artistry, one that centres musical education through storytelling. Behind the decks, JADALAREIGN is principled. They say wisdom brings sorrow, but RA.1027 suggests the opposite. It opens with a vocal sample whose message mirrors her wider creative practice: "I'm an African woman who believes in justice for all people. The priorities of this planet have to completely change." From there, the mix ricochets through rumbly drums and sci-fi whirr, peppering house melodies with slo-mo bleeps and techy steppers. She moves across club genres with fluid ease, keeping the cadence loose-limbed yet dynamic throughout. It's strange and tactile—and it sounds like freedom. JADALAREIGN seems surer than ever about all aspects of her career, and it shows in her RA Mix. If you see her at the function, her joy for her work is ever bountiful. For US Black History Month, it's a timely reminder that history isn't only something we look back on; JADALAREIGN is making it, live. Find the Q&A and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1046

Kim Gordon, veteran musician and artist who co-founded Sonic Youth, discusses her return to beat-driven solo work and new album PLAY ME. She explores rhythm over melody, critiques streaming and playlist culture, and reflects on masculinity, stage power and Riot Grrrl. Conversations touch on club life, electronic influences, art practice and political stakes.

Mike Banks, co-founder of Underground Resistance and Detroit techno stalwart, joins the stage and keys. The mix dives into Motor City anthems, '80s classics and deep cuts. There is live chemistry, crowd call-and-response, and celebrations of Detroit as a spiritual, communal space. The set weaves performance, spoken moments and timeless records into a momentous live musical journey.

The Brazilian party starter unveils 60 minutes of sun-drenched house. Minas Gerais isn't the typical Brazil of postcards. Yet from this landlocked terrain emerged one of its most accomplished sons. As OMOLOKO, João Vitor has mastered the art of summoning summer on the dance floor. Armed with a pair of CDJs and a USB, he carries sun-kissed house dreams shaped by countless hours lost in Discogs rabbit holes, forgotten corners of YouTube and the dust of hidden record shops. Vitor was born in Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil's northeast, before moving south as a child when his family set out in search of new opportunities—a well-worn path in the world's fifth-largest country. Adopting the alias OMOLOKO in the late 2010s, he quickly became a beacon in Belo Horizonte's bubbling electronic scene. Carrying sounds from home deep in his memory alongside a restless desire to make the world dance to his own findings, he carved out a singular voice with genre-hopping sets, grounded in an affection for infectious grooves and warm, rolling kicks. In recent years, Vitor's fine-tuning of his craft behind the decks have made him more than a familiar face at countless essential nightlife hubs around the world, from Panorama Bar to Dekmantel, São Paulo's Gop Tun to Ibiza's DC-10. His résumé, already impressive, is expanding nicely. So to mark the beginning of carnaval in Brazil, who better for RA.1025. Vitor's RA Mix draws deeply from the lineage of house's most celebrated names, alongside obscure gems your Shazam wouldn't dare recognise. With slow-cooking patience, the session follows wherever the language of dance leads: South African kwaito, diva vocal flashes, funk-laced deep house, vibraphone-led strides and salsa-laced drumwork. It’s like a dream team of house offshoots, all meeting for the very first time at the beach. Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/1044 @OMOLOKOO