RA Podcast

Relentless rhythms and Latin dance history, courtesy of the TraTraTrax innovator. Percussion is, at the root, a conversation. It's about different instruments meeting each other, and interacting to form something bigger than the sum of its parts. Few engage in this dialogue as boldly as Pablo De Vargas, AKA Uruguayan experimentalist Lechuga Zafiro, who draws from tradition, to make sounds like candombe and clave feel, well, completely new. De Vargas' music reaches outward, building bridges between Montevideo and Bogotá, Tijuana, Berlin and beyond. He's a key figure in the hybridisation of Latin American club music, with releases on labels like NAAFI and an album on TraTraTrax. His RA Podcast plays like a manifesto in motion. RA.985 opens with a recording of Jorginho Gularte, a Uruguayan composer, playing a jazz rhythm, from there, it expands: cuban guaguancó, Venezuelan drums, batida, tribal, techno—it's all here, stitched together with precision and intention. De Vargas is also, crucially, reckoning with these roots. His 2018 EP Testigo confronted the colonial violence embedded in the history of the Río de la Plata. His sets are similarly alive with memory—asking, without nostalgia: what does it mean to inherit rhythm? Who gets to carry it forward? He's also just a killer DJ, one of those rare artists who uses CDJs like an instrument. His sets are full of hot cues, delay FX and left turns. It's technical, but never cold. It’s, in a word, funky. @lechugazafiro Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/985

A mix beamed in from the future by singeli's young star. If singeli has a new era, DJ Travella is its leading light. At just 23 years old, the Tanzanian producer is pushing the genre into fast, frenetic and unmistakably futuristic territory. And while there aren't too many entries in the RA Podcast's 20-year history where you can say, "this has no parallel whatsoever," RA.984 shatters that assumption in style. Singeli emerged from Dar es Salaam's underground in the early '00s, forged from limited resources and unlimited creativity. Producers looped and sped up taarab instrumentals using basic software like Virtual DJ, creating a sound that was chaotic, witty and lightning fast. With support from local studios like Sisso and Pamoja, singeli took root as the breakneck pulse of Tanzanian youth culture. Travella—real name Hamadi Hassani—came up outside that infrastructure. He began producing music aged ten, self-taught and internet-savvy. By 2022, he was touring Europe with Kampala-based collective Nyege Nyege and gaining global attention for a distinct style he's dubbed "cyber-singeli." Like gabber, hardcore and jungle before it, singeli is unapologetically go hard or go home. It's unique and utterly infectious. After all, what could possibly connect pop provocateur Arca to the late president of Tanzania? Not much—except singeli. Travella's RA Podcast is a white-knuckle ride through this blistering sonic universe. It's wild and joyful yet controlled—a window into one of the most exciting young minds in global club music. @user-643479850 Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/984.

Tripped-out excursions through percussive club music with the Nowadays resident. Ayesha Chugh, AKA Ayesha, makes club music that activates the body. The Brooklyn-based artist has spent the last few years carving out a distinct lane in modern club music. Her fusion of dubstep, techno and essential '90s rave elements into dynamite club tools that test and support dancers in equal measure. This time though, for her RA Podcast, Chugh purposefully tilts in a "more colorful wonky direction." Since first turning heads with releases on labels like Fever AM and Kindergarten Records, she’s continued to refine a sound that feels both playful and punishing, marked by writhing basslines, rumbling drums and an innate ability to make bodies move. Her productions capture a kind of kinetic precision—tracks that are slippery yet forceful, balancing psychedelic textures with dubstep-like physicality and club-focused power. As Andrew Ryce wrote of her debut, Rhythm is Memory, her skill is "full of textures that wrap around the otherwise thudding, sub-heavy kick drums." After a serious accident in 2024 stopped her in her tracks, this year marks a full return to global touring with a new vantage point on life and the sound she seeks to push. RA.983, clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, finds Chugh flexing that club muscle once again. Offering a tour through global club music both old and new, it's based around a set at her home base Nowadays this February. It's a patient but relentless ride: from deep, tunneling psytrance, progressive techno and slippery electro before really turning on the gas at the half mark, moving into slanted UK techno territory. As she explains in the Q&A, it's a carefully curated selection of tracks that probes "what we perceive as tasteful." It's a mix that speaks to her deep knowledge of dance music’s lineage—and her intuitive ability to push it forward. @aye5ha Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/983

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

Big feelings for big rooms with the Club Heart Broken founder. Club Heart Broken is perhaps a misnomer. The party and label, founded in Cologne by MALUGI, may take its name from one of life's tougher emotions, but the vibe is all about unfettered, unadulterated joy. It's a state of mind its founder fully embodies—he's called himself the "happiest man in dance music." (We tried fact-checking this, but watching him perform seems proof enough.) Club Heart Broken's motto is simple: a party should be fun. A "party for lovers, loners and losers," the crew also made up of ferrari rot, SURF 2 GLORY and fellow maximalist Marlon Hoffstadt, represent the sound of young Berlin in the 2020s, notorious as they are beloved. Since relocating from Cologne, the party has snapped the German's capital infamously serious techno stereotype with its anything-goes, unpretentious music policy. It's made him and Hoffstadt especially in-demand worldwide—queues used to extend out of the door of Watergate and across Oberbaumbrücke. Musically, MALUGI is the most eclectic in the crew. His metaphorical record bag carries a lot of label material, from zingy Eurodance to upbeat pumpers, but also plenty of steppy, tuff UK bass music. Releases from Main Phase and Interplanetary Criminal, the likes of dubplate label ec2a, and even the odd Big Ang record pepper his sets, much of which you'll hear here. MALUGI's RA Podcast is a window into the more house-y side of his sound. From bubbling garage to chunky chords, RA.981 is a testament to MALUGI's belief: the best parties should leave you grinning, not crying. @malugienergy Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/981.

Modern hypnotics from a new techno star. It's a tale as old as time: techno DJ moves to Berlin to chase a dream. Philippa Pacho is part of the latest wave of talent to tread that familiar path. But don't let that fool you. She's one of the classiest artists around—no TikTok gimmicks here. Pacho's formative years were spent in her native Stockholm, navigating a vibrant DIY party scene that included warehouse raves and illegal parties. She eventually took up a long-standing residency at beloved local club Under Bron and the experience, as she details in this week's Q&A, sharpened her technical skills, teaching her to handle every type of set—whether opening with patience, supporting a headliner or closing with finesse. She also played with countless touring DJs, from Answer Code Request to Antony Parasole, which ultimately inspired her move to Berlin. That relocation has firmly paid off. It's a testament to Pacho's talent that you'll find her playing pretty much every big club and festival across Europe, from Berghain and Dekmantel to FOLD and Monument (we were exhausted just looking at her upcoming listings on RA). Other recent highlights include closing out Bassiani's tenth birthday, and back-to-backs with Fadi Mohem and Sandrien. Pacho's RA Podcast showcases her preference for classy, hypnotic techno, striking a balance between muscle and subtle groove. Her aptitude for what makes dance floors tick is also evident on her two labels—Phorum Records and positivesource (co-run with Blue Hour)—both of which mirror her DJ style, blending intensity with delicate textures. positivesource has released several standout records, including this year's "Psycho" by BLANKA and Phil Berg's "Psyckik" (which you'll hear on this mix). Spanning 70 minutes, RA.980 is a window into Pacho's thoroughly modern sound (the oldest track is from 2018). And yet it retains a refined, sweeping quality. Give it a spin and you'll soon twig why she's in demand on dance floors worldwide. @philippapacho Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/980

Mesmerising dance floor tapestries from a singular experimental musician. Can you reinvent the human voice? The oldest musical instrument in existence, our voices are the foundation of music as we know it, and few push its limits in electronic music today like Lyra Pramuk. On her masterful debut, Fountain the Berlin-based, US-born artist's voice was the only instrument. No drums, no synths—just her voice warped, synthesized and layered to achieve orchestral-like electronics. Five years on from her breakout, Pramuk's practice has steadily evolved, with a continued interest in ideas of folk and futurism, and how technology can enable us to build community beyond boundaries of time and space. There’s a holistic nature to her artistry, one that extends seamlessly into her DJing. As she explains in the Q&A accompanying this week's RA Podcast, she sees her work as "part of a continuum of sacred, folkloric, and communal music represented by many different subcultures and communities across the world." It's an approach that, like much of Pramuk's output, feels explicitly choral in nature. The first voice we hear on the mix comes from Lonnie Holley, his woozy Southern drawl calling out, "Earth will be there to catch us when we fall." (Although, you have to wonder, if we keep flogging the Earth, will it?) More voices follow across an eye-catching tracklist, from the poetry of friends (Nadia Marcus) to esoteric French chantresses from the ’80s (Anne Gillis), while Pramuk wraps an extensive amount of her own forthcoming material around tracks from SD Laika, Leyland Kirby, rRoxymore and 33EMYBW, to name just a few. By the end, voice and noise become indistinguishable—stammering, glitchy vocals colliding with an orchestra of instruments. The effect is mesmerising. Unfolding as one continuous composition, RA.979 exists somewhere between an ambient set at Kwia and the main stage at Unsound, voices and textures blurred into a fluid tapestry of sound. It's a singular offering to the series from a singular artist. @lyra_songs Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/980

Regis and Function's first mix in over 10 years is a unique paean to Silent Servant, heavy on unreleased material. When it came time for RA to compile our Albums of the 2010s, one record with a tauntingly limited availability of 500 copies was never in doubt: Sandwell District's era-defining 'Feed-Forward'. Encompassing Karl O'Connor (Regis), Peter Sutton (Female), David Sumner (Function) and Juan Mendez (Silent Servant), Sandwell District had the underground in a vice grip for over a decade. The collective imploded in 2013, with Sumner and O'Connor's relationship appearing beyond repair. And yet, an unlikely second phase is here, featuring imminent comeback LP 'End Beginnings' and their return to the RA Podcast after 16 years. In 2023, the trio of Function, Regis and Silent Servant had been performing and laying down new material before the latter's shock death last January. It's in the shadow of loss that this unique mix was forged. Founded in 2002 as a spiritual sister to seminal Downwards, Sandwell truly began to hit its straps in the late '00s, as shadow-stalking cuts sliced through clubland orthodoxy like a switchblade. In parallel, the label's artwork—a noir recombination of Burroughs cut-ups, DIY zines and arthouse amour that Silent Servant made his own—helped fortify a movement which placed an aesthetic premium on grit, grain and sadism. By the early 2010s, this fixation on the dark arts had utterly permeated the mood inside techno's masonic temples. Labels like Blackest Ever Black, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Avian and Modern Love were in their pomp, razorwire legends like Severed Heads and Chris & Cosey benefited from second winds, and it was briefly a jailable offence to not have a press photo in black and white. 'Feed-Forward' was the exceptional coronating statement. RA.978 features a stack of unheard recordings from each of the trio, as well as close allies Stefanie Parnow and Tropic of Cancer, while also gathering many of Silent Servant's all-time favourite songs, including Psychic TV, Grace Jones and Galaxie 500. It's a strikingly vulnerable listen, one without many parallels on the Podcast. We're glad to run it. – Gabriel Szatan Read more and find the tracklist here: ra.co/podcast/978 Read our new feature with Sandwell District here: https://ra.co/features/4426

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

21st century electro-futurism, Helsinki style. Sometime around a decade ago, electro started to surge onto dance floors again. A new generation of DJs, from Helena Hauff and DJ Stingray, brought the sci-fi, cyborg funk to new audiences, as a modern retool of the style began enjoying the ubiquity of its four-to-the-floor cousins. And few embody its future for our current decade like Sunny Seppä, AKA Sansibar. Cutting his teeth in Helsinki's underground with residencies at Kaiku and Post Bar, Seppä's sound draws from a broad range of influences far from the Finnish capital. His first releases channeled the high-definition Motor City school of electro, but he has since evolved. Not one to be confined by the narrow confines of any genre, the Finnish producer and DJ's discography has steadily begun to encompass a wider palette of influences, including releases with fellow new-gen electro artist Reptant. It's no wonder Seppä has found a home on Kalahari Oyster Cult. Sans Musique was released by Rey Colino's label, and both are united by a love for an amalgamation of gritty and ecstatic sounds of the '90s. As Colino put it himself, the Cult espouses "nostalgia with a modern sound design." You can hear that peppered throughout Seppä's RA Podcast. From Simulant's stone-cold classic "Wav.Form" to shades of tech house from the late '90s and early '00s (as well as some of his own unreleased material), the full vision of his broad sound world comes alive on RA.976. You won't technically hear too much electro in this mix—but underscoring many of the selections is the retro-futurism that electro elicits, that bleary-eyed optimism of dance music's halcyon era. @sunnysibar @sin-sistema-sin Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/976