RA Podcast

There's a track on HAAi's upcoming debut album, Baby, We're Ascending, called "Louder Always Better." That kind of sums up her approach right there. (See also: "Biggest Mood Ever.") Since her first record, 2017's "Be Good" her approach to dance music has been to make as dense, overwhelming and uplifting as possible. Much has been made of her background in psychedelic rock, which definitely informs records like the muggy, intense Motorik Voodoo Bush Doof Musik, but it's not the whole story. A better point of reference might be DJ Harvey lost in the Australian desert, but comparisons are beside the point. At this point, HAAi is completely unique. The Australian producer has made quite a name for herself as a DJ in her adopted hometown of London, and while her album shoots off in all directions—from ecstatic rave-pop to sultry stunners—her RA Podcast captures the spark that makes her such a beloved force behind the decks. Weaving powerful techno from artists like Atrip and Piska Power with weirder, adventurous

Louie Vega shouldn't need an introduction, but we'll do it anyways. The Bronx-born Puerto Rican artist embodies the soulful sound of New York house music, and he's been doing it since the '80s. His history features a litany of legendary names and clubs, from the Devil's Nest to his much-vaunted residency at The Sound Factory in Manhattan, and he's made music with the likes of Todd Terry, Mood II Swing and Barbara Tucker. But it's with Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez that Vega made his most cherished and influential work as the duo Masters Of Work, putting out huge singles and making house remixes for some of the most iconic names in '90s pop music. To listen Vega's discography, especially as part of Masters At Work, is to hear the evolution of house music and garage (yes, both US and UK). It's difficult to overstate the impact those '90s records had on New York and beyond, and they're still some of the most swinging, undeniable house records ever made. Just try playing a MAW Dub for a newbie and see their reaction.

To an international audience, NIKS might be best known as one of the cofounders of Black Artist Database, but she's also an incredible DJ. And public speaker. Over the past few years, through a mix of activism, thought and DJing, the London selector has created an all-encompassing approach to her artistry that centers dance music, social justice and an endless desire to uplift those around her, especially Black artists. Through Black Artist Database, NIKS has created a resource to support Black artists from around the world. What started as a spreadsheet called Black Bandcamp has become a fully-fledged platform with editorial, mixes and, of course, the powerful directory of artists that started it all to begin with. Outside of that, NIKS curates panels, hosts and gives talks and DJs. Her RA Podcast is inspired by a specific night she played in Manchester, but it's also a wonderful snapshot of her style, connecting the dots between Drexciya and Octave One, Nicola Cruz and Seth Troxler, Lyric Hood and James B

Physical Therapy has as many vibes as he does aliases. You never really know what you're going to get from his sets—you can probably count on a bit of UK garage and some breakbeats, but beyond that, it's a free-for-all. He's gone through phases ranging from DIY pop edits to grayscale Berlin techno to all the fantastic and unpredictable music on his label Allergy Season to his latest EP of vocal-heavy 2-step tracks, part of a recent move towards more emotional dance music that he says captures his "twee" side. If there's anyone that truly believes in the power of crying on the dance floor, it's him. He's an expert at themed mixes, pulling together loosely categorized sections of his vast and sometimes hilarious collection. (Other sets, like his revered Honcho Campout recording, are gloriously all over the place.) But for his RA Podcast he's gone straight for the dance floor, choosing the kind of thing he would play at a club rather than one of his NTS sets. It's typically era-spanning and adventurous, yet wo

The first weekend of February was a big one for Ahad Elley, AKA Ahadadream. On the Friday, he was featured in Vogue India alongside other South Asian artists and crews currently lighting up UK dance music. 24 hours later, he launched a residency at London club Colour Factory, playing to a packed crowd who, during a brief power cut, chanted his name like adoring teenagers. To outsiders, this might feel like a story of overnight success, but Elley has been grafting away for years: DJing, producing, running a label (More Time), throwing parties (No ID) and, perhaps most importantly of all, co-founding the first edition of London festival Dialled In, which launched last September. As well as showcasing a wealth of South Asian talent, the event fostered a new community of ravers who, in Elley's words, "felt seen in a club space for the first time." When he was younger, Elley shied away from centering his Pakistani heritage in his music. Today, it's a huge part of his identity, from the events he runs and the mu

Nicolá Cruz is a master of meaningful engagement. Whether he's studying North African melodies or spiritual chants, he shows profound respect for a given sound's cultural context. This is evident across his entire discography. His earliest releases on Multi Culti and ZZK Records layerered traditional woodwinds and percussion with folktronica and tribal house, reflecting a holistic understanding of global rhythms. His more recent work takes an adventurous, polyglot approach to club music, with EPs on Highlife, Rhythm Section and Tra Tra Trax exploring breaks, acid and other spirally sounds. But even his deep, drum-heavy techno cuts feel unusually organic, vibrant polyrhythms bursting with character. For his RA Podcast, the Ecuador-based producer shows off his rave education. This display of futuristic chuggers and electro—Marcela Dias Sindaco's "A Flor Da Pele" is a particular highlight—speaks to Cruz's deep appreciation for body music. He treats dance floor jams with the same nuance as culturally significant

Chris Clark's music is hard to describe, but if you wanted to explain it to an electronic music fan, you might use the dreaded term "IDM" to encompass the many strange and alluring records, some frantic, some chill, the UK producer has put out through Warp over the years. We can be a bit more specific: he uses field recordings, out-there drum patterns and all kinds of hardware (seriously, there's a lot) to make make meticulously processed music, some of which you can dance to. Lately, though, he's turned his attention to classical music, scoring films and televisions shows and culminating in last year's Playground In A Lake for vaunted label Deutsche Grammophon, which featured guests like AFRODEUTSCHE and Oliver Coates and a member of Grizzly bear on a moving, string and horns-led suite about climate change. You hear all these ideas at once on Clark's stirring RA Podcast, which features music, as he explains, from 1922 all the way to 2022. Classical rubs elbows with Burial and Ricardo Villalobos, as once fam

GiGi FM is a trained dancer, which gives her a deeper insight into the intrinsic relationship between music and bodily movement. You can read a lot more about her philosophy and approach in the interview below, but you don't even need to know about it to hear this in her RA Podcast—a collection of swirling deep techno that rivals anything made by the usual cohort of "hypnotic" techno heads. Looking at the tracklist doesn't really do it justice, but the names involved give you an idea of what to expect: Varuna, ASC, Donato Dozzy, The Orb, Sunju Hargun. This is techno that ripples rather than bludgeons, that moves with an ethereal grace, where tracks bleed into one another beautifully, with a few surprises, too. While you're here, you should check out her Magnetite EP for Bambounou's label Bambe, already one of the young year's most bewitching techno records. But if this is your introduction, then turn off the lights, light a candle or some palo santo, and sink into two hours of your new favorite techno DJ. R

Southeast Asia is made up of diverse dance music markets that feel strongest when united. A steady stream of cross-border collaborations has come to define the region's underground nightlife, with Bangkok-based Sunju Hargun at the forefront of many of these exchanges. Over the years, he's honed a signature sound of minimal techno, tribal rhythms and deep downtempo while playing in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. Inspired by the traditional music of these countries, his DJ sets and productions are lush tonal sound baths, with plenty of nature references. Shimmering ambient evokes misty mountain tops while whiffs of Goa trance nod to beach sunrises. His current project, Siamese Twins Records, is also rooted in pan-Asian connections. A platform to explore old-world chants and ceremonial percussion, the label hosts much of Hargun's own work, including Bollywood-inspired acid made as Mogambo, a production outfit he runs with Jerom Doudet. All these myriad styles are present on Hargun's RA Podcast, an hour-long

If gqom has a CEO, it's probably DJ Lag. The South African artist has found enormous success since teaching himself to produce and DJ as a teenager in Durban, to the point that he famously worked with Beyoncé on the Lion King soundtrack. His style of gqom, a heaving, powerful type of club music, has become sleek and often catchy, growing from classic tracks like "Ice Drop" into thrilling hybrids like "Lucifer," his collaboration with amapiano artist Lady Du. Like so much dance music around the world at this point, DJ Lag's newest productions are informed by the red-hot, ultra-suave sound of amapiano, another South African-born genre. His long-awaited debut album, Meeting With The King, features plenty of flirtations with amapiano and house styles, working with some of South Africa's most talented artists and coming up with a sound he's christened Gqom 2.0. You can hear DJ Lag's expansive, exciting vision in his RA Podcast, an hour of cutting-edge South African dance music that lays out some of the sounds (a

Over three hours of ambient and rolling rhythms from a master of minimal. Since his early days as a resident at the legendary Montreal afterhours club Stereo, Maher Daniel has been a stalwart in the world of minimal-leaning house music. It was there that he learned and mastered the foundations of his style: deep melodies, rolling beats, extended mixes, all put together with a wash of psychedelia. Following a move to Barcelona, the Palestinian-Canadian DJ more firmly struck out on his own, appearing on Lee Burridge's world-conquering All Day I Dream label before starting his own, The Other Side, in 2016. The Other Side has become an important outpost for a kind of dance music that blends old-school microhouse sensibilities with the rolling basslines and three-dimensional sound design of Rominimal, notably through a series of collaborations with Ricardo Villalobos with the Changes EP trilogy. During the pandemic, Daniel also started dipping his toes into ambient music, which starts off this epic, three-hour

Flava D brings us into her world of garage, bassline, grime and, now, drum & bass. Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/818 @flava_d

Late-night murmurs and coldwave rhythms from a one-of-a-kind DJ. Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/817 @okodj

A sunny live recording of the Peckham DJ in Melbourne. Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/816 @bradleyzero

Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/815 @sky_h1

Eclectic, global club selections from one of Rinse FM's most beloved DJs. Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/814 @jyotysingh

Warehouse music. Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/813 @melladeemusic

Old-school house from a UK standard-bearer. Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/812 @chesus-aka-earl-jeffers

Read more: https://ra.co/podcast/811 @sound-metaphors

Ballroom club music from one of the genre's most important artists. Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/810 @djmikeq