RA Podcast

The Innervisions cofounder reflects on the label's 20-year anniversary, the art of DJing and bringing politics back to the underground. One of the most popular record labels in the RA ecosystem is Innervisions, and one of its most popular DJs is cofounder Steffen Berkhahn, AKA Dixon. He started the outlet in 2005 with Kristian Rädle and Frank Wiedemann of Âme. Back when RA ran DJ polls, Dixon was #1 several years in a row. We've since retired them, but Dixon's appeal remains as widespread as ever. He made a name for himself in Berlin in the '90s when he was just a teenager, spreading a melodic strain of house and techno that became the Innervisions brand and continues to pull heartstrings around the world. This year, the label has been celebrating its 20-year anniversary, and Dixon reflects on its astronomical success on the heels of two major anniversary parties at Berghain and fabric. He also discusses how he's kept the label—and his own career—fresh and relevant; his feelings around commercial success; t

57 minutes of sharp, fast, freaky techno from the underground pop star. Long before SoundCloud made him famous, RJ Glasgow was already producing edits from his bedroom in Philadelphia. The artist now known as LSDXOXO spliced R&B classics with DMX Krew and Madonna, then graduated from bedroom producer to internet provocateur with his 2010 mix series Spit or Swallow, where La Roux met Ratatat and Rihanna collided with Crystal Castles. A decade later, that same DIY energy has taken him far beyond the online underground. Now based in Berlin, Glasgow has opened for Beyoncé on her Renaissance tour, remixed Kelela, Lady Gaga and Björk, and taken his Floorgasm party worldwide. His RA Mix captures that evolution in full flight. Across 57 minutes and 26 tracks, RA.1012 tears through shades of contemporary techno—from big-room precision (Adam Beyer) to looping hardgroove (Italia 90, River Moon) and razor-sharp edits (EsDeeKid & Fakemink). “Maybe my music invokes that freaky feeling,” he told Resident Advisor in 2022

Dubwise atmospherics flood Guy Brewer's third RA Mix. Hear the word "Dionysus" and you picture the Greek god of ecstasy: overflowing tables, delirious revelry, chaos. Not the austere soundworld of Guy Brewer, AKA Carrier. On the surface, the UK artist's latest alias feels almost Spartan. But look closer and the Dionysian link starts to show: it's about shedding fixed forms and identities, to allow something more true, more alive, to form. RA.1011 marks Brewer's third entry in the RA Mix series, following editions as drum & bass outfit Commix (RA.269) and, later, the techno alias Shifted (RA.310). "I guess it's an effort to step away from purism," Brewer told Resident Advisor back in 2023. "Right now the thresholds between genres are where you find the most exciting music." Carrier's phenomenal debut album, Rhythm Immortal, delivers on that promise. Low-end pressure cloaks like foreboding shadows, punctured only by eerie, otherworldly percussion comparable only to Photek or T++. Listen to the LP in full

The German legend talks about the state of modern trance, what it takes to create a legacy and writing his most recent album. Poll the average dance music fan and they'll have almost certainly heard of Paul van Dyk. The German DJ and producer is so synonymous with trance that it's impossible to talk about the genre's history without mentioning his name. He's also been one of the most successful electronic artists full-stop since the '90s, when he first started touring around Berlin. His 1994 hit "For an Angel" launched him into the limelight, and he's been selling out clubs and arenas ever since. In this RA Exchange recorded at the Berlin Synth Museum, he reflected on the current state of trance and how its modern DJs are missing the mark; his lifelong engagement with politics and his efforts to enlist Americans to vote alongside Bono; his experience growing up in East Berlin; and a life-threatening accident he suffered at a festival in Utrecht, which left him with multiple spine and brain injuries. He said

"Combining sounds that wouldn't normally be thought of together." So reads the final line of Mexican DJ and producer 1OO1O's short-but-sweet artist bio. It's a claim many make but few pull off. Are truly new fusions still even possible in 2025? Hasn't electronic music reached saturation point? Not in the hands of 1OO1O, AKA uno cero cero uno cero, or one O O one O. For the best part of a decade, the Xalapa-born artist has been mashing up footwork, jungle, techno, electro, UK garage and breaks with Latin America's myriad folkloric styles, from salsa and merengue to mambo and dembow. The results, like 2023's SALSA & BREAX, or last year's SALÓN CANDELA, feel electrifyingly fresh, connecting threads across eras and traditions with a subtle dexterity. The secret is a deep respect for the source material. Indeed, foregrounding the best of Latin America—and specifically Mexico—is the dominant theme on RA.1010 (do you like what we did there?). By his own admission, 1OO1O switched up his DJing a couple years ago to

The first-ever live recording from an elusive icon of dubby electronic music. Lore is an underrated quality. Neuroscientists have mapped that music elicits similar feelings in the brain to when we satiate cravings, but what about the psychological impulse that drives listeners of a certain disposition toward everything they don't know? It's tricky to put your finger on, but artists able to conjure intrigue without overhawking the backstory can really cut through—just ask SAULT, [ar:pi:ar] or Gerald Donald. Then there are those who don't try whatsoever. These are the ones who stay in mind the most. In 2001, a striking 12" called Ship-Scope emerged through Chain Reaction, credited to Shinichi Atobe, with no other info available. Okay, mulled fans, this is probably a cat-and-mouse game dreamed up by someone on a label with a fine line in foggy obfuscation. Vainqueur on a wind-up? Another Moritz 'n Mark alias? But no: Atobe was real, and really had posted a demo to Hard Wax. It was that simple. Then he went b

There are few names as widely loved in clubland as Bristol-based producer Omar McCutcheon, AKA Batu. His label Timedance, currently celebrating its ten-year anniversary, has been instrumental in shaping a certain corner of contemporary electronic music. It champions a mutant, rhythmic, UK-flavoured sound that escapes any obvious genre touchstones, as well as spotlighting the careers of artists like Verraco, Ploy and Hodge who push musical and cultural boundaries. In this Exchange, McCutcheon sat down with Resident Advisor's editor, Gabriel Szatan, in London to reflect on the label's Afrofuturist philosophy, its journey over the past decade and the sense of purpose and direction that have developed over time. He spoke about the impact that scenes beyond the UK—such as China, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico—have had on his productions and label curation, and how they offer fresh perspectives that contrast with Europe's sometimes overly nostalgic take on dance music. He also discussed finding positivity in a d

A joyride through rave-ready tech house, speed garage, jungle and more. To the casual onlooker, Enzo Siragusa may seem easy to pigeonhole as just a UK DJ playing chunky house music. Wrong. The Maidenhead native has serious pedigree, earned from 30-plus years fully immersed in the rave, first as a dancer at jungle and hardcore parties, then as a hobby DJ and finally as the cofounder of one of London's most influential club nights: Fuse. What began life in 2008 as a ramshackle afterparty on Brick Lane is now a global brand with multiple festivals and roving events, and Siragusa its figurehead. For years, Fuse's MO was doggedly down to earth, built on a love for intimate shows where the residents took top billing. Its impact on modern dance culture is clear to see in the runaway success of the so-called UK tech house movement (think Michael Bibi, PAWSA and Chris Stussy). And yet Fuse always cut deeper, darker and dubbier. "I felt you could bring the emotion of jungle and hardcore into minimal house, which is

The gifted London DJ and curator goes big on bass futurism. "To pull a thread." This old English adage means to follow a small detail that might unravel into something larger and more significant. It's also the inspiration behind London artist mi-el's NTS Radio show, and a neat way of understanding her approach as a DJ. Take mi-el's rich archive of mixes. From NTS to The Trilogy Tapes, they show her to be a deeply personal selector and curator, pushing past functionality into something more expressive, narrative and often political. A show about Refugee Week? Afrofuturist world-making? Interlocking systems of domination? All material is putty in her hands. Now based in Berlin, mi-el is simply a wicked club DJ. In just a few years she's played Panorama Bar, De School and FOLD, as well as festivals including Waking Life, Terraforma and Field Maneuvers. Alongside peers and predecessors like Josey Rebelle, she represents a new generation of Black British artists reinventing the wheel, and as we mark the be

Three hours of incendiary techno, as two veterans go head-to-head. When Speedy J described his studio dynamic with Chris Liebing back in 2014, he put it bluntly: "I try to piss him off a little." The result? Dance music that's as functional and precise as Liebing demands, with just enough chaos to keep it interesting. That tension has defined the duo's partnership, Collabs 3000, since their first releases, and it's alive and well on their debut RA Mix. Both artists are techno heavyweights in their own right. Jochem Paap, AKA Speedy J, helped Europe slow down after the breakneck '90s, proving that techno could chug as well as pummel. Liebing, meanwhile, commanded his popular label CLR and went from transforming schranz into the hard techno sound that recently swept up a younger generation of ravers. As a pair, Collabs 3000 undeniably has its ear trained on the big room. Paap and Liebing are both former Berghain regulars, and the Berlin club's influence is clear across RA.1006: taut, muscular techno, or "e

A rare mix from the critically acclaimed experimentalist. Lucrecia Dalt isn't your typical electronic artist. The Colombian singer and composer approaches music-making in the way a fantasy writer builds worlds. Over the past two decades, she's produced a catalogue that reads more like a bookshelf of strange, interlinked novels, each with its own laws, characters and textures, extending the one before it. Dalt's RA Mix is a fascinating entry into the series (and will sit comfortably with RA's recent archival playlist, Mixes From Artists Who Don't Call Themselves DJs, But Probably Should). Take the opening track, "Cellophane," by Beak>, the band led by Portishead's Geoff Barrow. The lyrics set the tone for the hour to come: "Now the wind has blown down / Now the truth is laid out there." True to Dalt's oeuvre, RA.1005 has little regard for convention. Kick drums and beatmatching are nowhere to be heard; instead, she offers a collage of inspiration, drawing connections across eras, moods and geographies.

Sultry low-end grooves from a rising house enchantress. "What kind of music do I actually want to play?" Every artist asks themselves this at some point in their career. What is a sound? And why do we personally identify with it? For Lea Lang, AKA dj sweet6teen, this question is the guiding force behind her RA Mix. Born in Aachen, a German spa city close to the border with Belgium, Lang found her musical feet in the vibrant student hub of Cologne. It was while studying social work at the Technische Hochschule that she fell into the nightlife scene. Finding her sound wasn't an instant process. Lang cut her teeth on breaks-heavy house and prog (think Angel D'Lite), traces of which you can hear peppered across RA.1004. But as she explains in this week's Q&A, the pandemic years were, musically, a turning point. "High BPMs and short-lived trends became very dominant and I realised I couldn't stand the pace anymore," she writes. "That's when my sound naturally shifted into something more minimalist and timele

The German minimal DJ returns to the spotlight with two hours of artfully subtle house and techno. There's an old German proverb that goes "Der stete Tropfen höhlt den Stein." Literally, it means a constant dripping wears away the stone, but the point isn't about force but patience: slow, steady repetition can leave the deepest mark. It's an apt metaphor for the career of Kosta Athanassiadis, better known as XDB. Active since the early '90s, first as a DJ and then producer by the decade's end, Athanassiadis has built a career less on hype than persistence. His catalogue spans labels like Dial, Metrolux and Echocord, alongside a steady trickle of EPs and remixes that have quietly cemented his reputation as one of minimal house and techno's undersung heroes. That patience carries into his sound and production ethos. Where many of his peers embraced software upgrades and new workflows, Athanassiadis has long stuck to Cubase, a handful of trusty instruments and 30-year-old speakers he claims to have run "hundr

From speed garage to Arabic pop, one hour of borderless club energy from the Saudi DJ and curator. "We're making history tonight," hollered the MC at the start of Nooriyah's London Boiler Room in 2022. Sat next to the decks was her baba (Arabic for father), dressed in traditional Saudi garb. He opened the one-hour performance by playing the oud, a Middle Eastern instrument similar to a lute. Surrounded by smiling faces and pumping arms, it's a picture of joy. The set was a turning point—and not just for Nooriyah's career. Scroll through the comments on YouTube and you'll find notes of endearment, gratitude and teary appreciation, proof of how powerful it was for people to see Middle Eastern music placed at the centre of contemporary club culture. This speaks to Nooriyah's MO. Born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Japan and now based in the UK, her musical vision reflects her global upbringing. But her style isn't eclecticism for eclecticism's sake—she's spoken about the importance of carving out space for unde

Expansive dub vibrations from the On-U Sound maestro. Adrian Sherwood has spent nearly five decades reshaping how dub is heard and felt. From absorbing reggae and funk as a teenager at the Newlands Club in High Wycombe to cofounding On-U Sound in 1979, he’s been a restless force in British sound system culture. His debut production, Dub From Creation, signalled his instinct to twist the Jamaican form into bold, experimental directions. That spirit defined On-U Sound, where reggae collided with post-punk, industrial and synth pop to forge a catalogue still unlike anything else. Sherwood became a crucial bridge, producing for legends like Prince Far I, Bim Sherman and Lee “Scratch” Perry, while also working with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Sinéad O’Connor. His RA Mix (yes, you read that right) arrives at a moment of renewal—RA.1001 is the first in a new era for the series. (After 1,000 editions of the RA Podcast, we're updating the name to better reflect what it's become.) Recorded at his Ramsgate s

Andrew Weatherall's first official posthumous mix. The only b2b DJ Harvey ever agreed to. Six hours at Trouw. Full send — this one's special. When mulling which direction to go in for RA's 1000th mix celebrations, many options came to mind. Some shadowy character 2-stepping around the fringe of our collective consciousness? An impossible-level IDM icon? All tempting. But, ultimately, we are a DJ-forward publication and this is a DJ mix series. It felt truer to the history of the RA Podcast to release deep vault material from a time when the world of niche records felt different, tighter, more discrete. The fourth-longest mix in the series' history is an unrepeatable marathon set recorded in 2012 at a superclub that no longer exists. 2012, incidentally, is farther away from 2025 than 2012 was from 2000... if we have to clock it, so do you. It's the coming together of one British icon who passed away in 2020, and another whose time on the road has scaled back considerably as of late. DJ Harvey agreed to exa

For RA.1000, we take it back to the source with two never-before-heard tapes from Frankie Knuckles's private collection There is no house music without Frankie Knuckles, literally or figuratively. The queer icon's luxurious DJ sets at Chicago's Warehouse gave a rising movement its name. From there, countless offshoots splintered and travelled the globe. But what did the genesis and growth of the sound really feel like? The Godfather of House left behind not only timeless records, but personalised cassettes with hand-drawn liner notes handed out to friends and family. Two of those, dated to 1989 and 1996, have been digitised especially for RA.1000. (Thank you to the Frankie Knuckles Foundation.) To put that in context: the first tape predates not only many of today's active clubbers, but the entire existence of jungle, drum & bass, UK garage, French touch, Jersey club, Afrobeats, IDM, baile funk, hardcore, footwork, dubstep, dub techno, tech house, breaks, minimal, maximal, gqom, gabber, grime and hyperpop.

One of the enduring powerhouses of our era returns for RA.1000 with a riotous mix. When Helena Hauff made her first RA Podcast appearance back in 2013, she was on the eve of releasing her debut production on Actress' Werkdiscs imprint. In the 12 years that have elapsed, she's become not just a household name within electronic music, but the kind of rare talent that lives in seclusion from industry tumultt. (Hauff, enviously, has never even owned a smartphone.) Her calling card continues to be her penchant for rough and ready EBM, electro and new wave. Her unique ability is creating a singular listening experience from disparate or out-of-favour tracks, with a raw immediacy that functions as a redress to over-choreographed modern DJing. Her outsider approach is on show once again for RA.1000. Threaded together by strobe-lit DIY electronica, old-school acid house and corrosive machine funk that chews up the ear, the nearly two-hour set raises the bar once again. In the sci-fi themed first half, Hauff drops

A four hour document of dance floors in the 2020s, from one of modern club music's most passionate advocates. One major shift since we went 5 for RA.500 ten years ago has been the rapid adoption of anything-goes DJing. What goes us there? Upgraded technology, audience appetite for thrills, instant access to music from every corner of the globe: take your pick. To corral the infinite possibilities of our age, glide seamlessly across lanes and be a trusted conduit in a sea of over-saturation takes chops. And few do it with more gusto and charisma in the 2020s than Jyoty. Recorded at a raucous Nowadays party just a few weeks ago for maximum freshness, Jyoty's RA.1000 finds room for 122 tracks dotted over the clubbing map (although, when you tally up all the blends, you can probably round up to 150). From aya to Logan Olm, Hardhouse Banton to DJ Babatr, Busy Signal to Baalti, a delicious double splice of Kelela and a staggeringly unlikely remix of Noir & Haze's "Around" (yep), it's an audacious statement from

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 t