Beat Wala

In this brand new series of Beat Wala we team up with AlphaTheta, the parent company behind the iconic Pioneer DJ brand, known globally for shaping the landscape of electronic music through cutting-edge technology and innovation. 

We are back in Ibiza for the next few episodes and today we sit down with one of the most exciting and boundary-pushing DJs to emerge from the underground in recent years — Kikelomo.

She was the lead artist in the recent documentary We Become One: The Power Of The Shared Musical Experience and she tells us how she stepped into the spotlight to go on a journey to learn why people choose music as a vehicle to connect with others, appreciating it as a universal "language" that speaks to everyone. And how the human brain harnesses sound to evoke euphoria and reduce stress."

She is London-born and Berlin-based, and brings a bold,  fearless approach to club culture, blending UK sounds, bass-heavy rhythms, and genre-defying energy in every set. 

As a broadcaster, Boiler Room host, radio station founder and passionate community builder, she’s become a powerful voice in shaping the future of dance music — not just behind the decks, but through activism, inclusivity, and intention.

Today we are here to talk about music as a healing force, the neuroscience behind the dancefloor, and what it really means to create safe, transformative spaces through sound.

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In this episode of Beat Wala, we dive deep into the sonic journey of Bushwacka!, aka Matthew Benjamin — a true pioneer of the UK underground, previously one half of the legendary duo Layo & Bushwacka!.

From his early roots in the acid house explosion of the late ‘80s to becoming a cornerstone of the global tech-house movement in the 2000s, Bushwacka’s path through music is as iconic as it is evolving.

We talk about his London legacy and his residencies at The End nightclub, what it was like shaping a sound that defined a generation, and his transition into a powerful solo career that’s still pushing boundaries today.

Mathew is about to release another new album very soon and has just started a monthly Ibiza residency at Pikes, where you can see him in action all summer.

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We head to London to meet Kidnap and talk about the release of his second album, Something Lost, Something Gained.

The record chronicles his shift from playing endless shows and constantly touring and releasing music to becoming a dad for the first time and explore feeling all the feels of loss relating to his close knit group of friends.

Over the past decade, the UK-based artist made a name for himself with his rich, evocative soundscapes, winning over a global fanbase and he is still playing some smaller shows in London and next month in India, but things have calmed down considerably.

Matt says last year was mostly him making music at home alone and in his studio, despite collborations on the new record with Leo Stannard again and this year he wishes to work with more outside influences once again.

Lost Without You and Feels Like Home both feature female vocalist Gabrielle Aplin and are stand out singles which have been leading up to last years release.

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In our last Episode recorded at ADE we hear from NYC born and raised techno Queen Louisa Pilot about her struggles in the music industry and how she is now working with those suffering with mental health issues and to help create a safer dance floor and world where these conversations can be had.

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Archie Hamilton joins us at the Amsterdam Dance Event to talk us through his remarkable rise through the ranks of the house and techno world and gives us his take on how Ibiza Summer 2024 went down at Paradise, where he played five gigs, headlining the final affair.

Archie used lockdown to create a lot of music and talks to us about those moments he felt his career could have taken a nose dive but luckily he soon re-boarded his International touring train and the trajectory of his has been high rolling ver since.

He was an early originator of a new European sound, with his unique take on minimal house and techno: his signature sound of rugged basslines and ethereal atmospherics has established itself firmly on dance floors around the world.
 2022 marked the launch of Archie's MicroHertz label, a venture that curates and releases music from a diverse array of artists within the scene.

The label has quickly made its mark as a go-to for cutting-edge music, consistently appearing in the charts across the platforms and regularly included in the DJ sets of the best in the industry.

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We meet Detroit duo, Octave One, at ADE in the first of three shows recorded at the Andaz Hotel in Amsterdam last month.

Brothers Lenny and Lawrence Burden made their techno debut on Derrick May´s Transmat label with I Believe in 1989.

It was the start of their 35 year career and was included on the compilation Techno 2: The Next Generation.

It marked the start of their LIVE performance and shows they deliver in a very hardware heavy fashion.

With their other brother Lynell, they formed the record label 430 West Records to release the vinyl record Octave One "The Octivation EP" and have remixed recordings for Massive Attack, Joey Negro, DJ Rolando, Steve Bug amongst many others.

In 2000 they released their most commercially successful recording, "Blackwater" but say it took them in a direction they didn´t want to go and returned quickly to a more underground style.

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After nearly a decade producing mostly mainstream artists in LA, Osunlade headed East, took a two-year spiritual sabbatical and launched Yoruba Records.

Early on, he established two rules: 1) only sign artists willing to be mentored, and 2) only release works you believe in.

In today´s podcast with Jo Youle, he explains how these artists have become his family and he only starts to release records after roughly four years and he really gets to know people.

He created five albums in the pandemic and is in the process of putting this music out after a hugely prolific spell whilst the world slowed down.

Taking time out to become ordained as a Yorubian Priest also had a huge impact on his sound.

He moved to NYC, went to a lot of house parties in the late 90´s and crafted a more folklore focussed style of electronic music we hear in his sets today.

Henrik Schwarz, an internationally renowned music producer and composer known for his eclectic musical approach to composition and sound design, joins us in Ibiza for Episode 11 at Sunset overlooking Dalt Vila.

As a producer and performer, he has successfully maintained a balance between electronic music, classical and jazz, and between energetic, highly charged dance sets at huge Techno events and concert performances in seated auditoriums.

He explains his love for techno to podcast host Jo Youle in todsays episode and says that when he first heard it in his local club, he found it "horrible," until Jeff Mills turned up one day, took charge and literally "opened the door" for him, so that he could finally wrap his head around it.

He says for him techno "is the most open music he can think of," and he hasn´t looked back.

Amongst those whose work he’s tailored for the global dance floor are Michael Jackson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Boy George, Coldplay and Mary J. Blige.

Since 2002, Schwarz has been releasing his own music, and has accrued over 250 music releases.

One half of Groove Armada, Andy Cato, joins us as we celebrate 25 years of House music record label, Defected.

The electronic duo, made up of Tom Findlay and Andy, put out their latest EP, Freejamm on DFTD, a sub label of Defected back in May and in this episode Andy shares how they created the tracks and plan to release more new music very soon with them.

Tom recently made a trip to New York where he hit A1 records and Andy says they needed excess baggage to return from the trip with the amount of samples they plan to go through to start putting out some new projects, including one featuring Candi Staton.

Groove Armada play Defected´s next Tuesday party at Ushuaia on 10 September.

New York-based DJ and Grammy nominated record producer Danny Tenaglia joined music journalist Jo Youle for an explosive start to Series 02 in front of a live audience on the rooftop of W Hotel Ibiza.

They first met at DC10 more then twenty years ago and Danny spent an hour revealing some of his finest stories, from starting to DJ at the tender age of 15 after his brothers snuck him into a club to see the scene that would become his life for the next 5 decades.

His success came not behind a major label release, or a world tour, or a hit remix. It happened when enough people had the private Tenaglia experience for themselves.

He has held residencies at Twilo, Vinyl, The Tunnel and so many other of NYC´s finest establishments, but it was not until he returned from Miami playing at Cheers, that he began to produce his own music.

In 1998 Danny released his LP titled Tourism which featured his track “Elements,” which he talks us through the making of in todays conversation, as well as how he "borrowed" a few bits off Moby to craft the song.

With his own warped voice providing the narration, “Elements” walked the listener through the different components of a dance track in real time, going from kick to drum loop to snare hit, letting each layer over the other until the track exploded with dark, drum-heavy energy.

“Music is the answer” came next featuring Celeda which he explains started over a phone call with the vocalist and after a short get together, Be Yourself was also created during the few spare hours at the end of the session.

Music is the Answer is now 25 years old, about the same mental age as Danny´s huge heart and never ending passion for his music, which he still making today, with his the latest release landing on Nervous Records soon.