@eli-verveine is a musical chameleon who can do it all from banging peak time sets to pensive warm-ups via weird and wonderful hour hours sessions. She has proven that over the years in many of the scene's most cultured clubs whether playing solo, B2B as Among Trees with Andrey Pushkarev or live with Gwenan as Gin & Tonic. On top of all this, she has a well-formed discography that delves further into her versatile sounds.

This week's mix reflects her musical malleability as she draws on plenty of diverse tempos and textures to craft a lively trip. There are moments of blissful deepness next to more nuanced rhythms, futuristic bass explorations and cosmic electro sojourns that keep things moving at pace, but always with great control and expert selections.

Milan-based Piezo (@piezopz) sits at the heart of the current club sounds. He has long had an obsession with sound system music and that defines what he does today: mutant and beguiling club tracks with meticulous sound design and thrilling energy, heavy low ends and a real dose of UK influence from d&b to garage, grime and techno. He kicked off the year by dropping his genre-busting Ecstatic Nostalgia EP on our Dekmantel-UFO sub-label and now returns with a podcast that is just as fresh.

It's a futuristic mix of bleeping machines and lurching rhythms with bright synth designs and deep space ambience. Over the course of 90 minutes, the pace picks up and you're whisked along a variety of rhythms from broken to dubby, head spinning to minimal. It feels utterly spontaneous but is also a fully coherent mix from this restless innovator.

Wata Igarashi - Kaleidoscopic - Dekmantel - DKMNTL-UFO14

buy: https://wataigarashi.bandcamp.com/album/kaleidoscopic

a1. Kaleidoscopic

a2. The Sailage

b1. Steaming

b2. Interweave

Dekmantel continues to shape out the return of its UFO series with an EP of mind-massaging techno-trance futurism from Wata Igarashi. Capturing the energy of the UFO stages which indulge Dekmantel Festival's darker, experimental tastes, Igarashi turns out four shapely serotonin injections in his inimitable style.

There's an immediacy to the Kaleidoscopic 12" which rushes into earshot the moment the EP fires up with the insistent acid throb of the title track. The eternal undulation of a 303 provides the bedrock for Igarashi's fluttering brushstrokes, while a tough yet supple beat charges underneath. Cascading arps are a core element of the richly melodic sound on this release, reaching measured peaks of ecstasy on 'The Sailage' without ever taking a cheap shortcut. Understated, emotionally-charged eloquence spills out of every sequence. There's a softer, blurry-eyed sentiment to the synth work on 'Steaming', while 'Interweave' tempers classic acid techno tropes with gaseous atmospherics.

There are plenty of crisp edges in his tracks for the dancers to latch onto, but Igarashi specialises in a fluid motion that encourages less thinking and more feeling—a lysergic techno flow to truly melt into.

Piezo - Ecstatic Nostalgia - Dekmantel - DKMNTL-UFO13

buy: https://piezopz.bandcamp.com/album/ecstatic-nostalgia

a1. Ultra

a2. Deepa

b1. Sok Lung

b2. Turbines

After a brief pause, Dekmantel are returning to their UFO series to present a cybernetic rush of non-conformist techno from Italian maverick Piezo @piezopz. Anyone familiar with Dekmantel's flagship festival will know the UFO stages showcase spikier strains of modernist body music, and the label series serves to push these sounds forwards in the hands of consistently visionary producers.

Milan-based Piezo is usually found at the helm of his Ansia label, exploring a versatile spectrum of experimental club music grounded in soundsystem presence and non-linear structures. On Ecstatic Nostalgia he edges his sound into a more driving, techno-spirited framework which lends itself to the energy of the UFO series beautifully. From tightly wound, artfully fractured 150 rumble and elegant sci-fi breakbeat on to needlepoint electronica and subtly trance-brushed atmospherics, Piezo's broad palette fuels an ear-snagging EP which balances visceral impact with a deft touch.

@sunjuhargun is based in Thailand and has been bringing all new energy to the Asian scene for more than 20 years. He has Indian heritage and Japanese roots which inform his mystic sound and the music he releases via the the label he co-founded, Siamese Twins Records. As he proved when he played our festival back in summer, he transcends musical and cultural borders to bring everything from, warm and percussive tribal grooves to more psychedelic sounds, acid textures and mind altering techno.

Sunju explains his approach to this week's mix. "I wanted to capture a special memory using records picked up during my trips between Amsterdam and Japan over the past few years. The result is a selection that blends the past, present, and future. As with every mix, I approach things naturally, with spontaneity. Live recordings have a unique energy that you can only feel in person, but sometimes that feeling can get lost when making a mix at home. This here is 60 mins of a raw, spontaneous reflection of friends in my living room, just hitting record and going for it. No filter, no perfection—just creativity with a limited selection.”

Laksa's (@laksauk) contribution to techno is as vital as it is hard to define. The London-based Bristolian never sits still in one stylistic niche and is as likely to ramp up the techno as he is slow then down. His meticulously designed grooves have come on tasteful labels like Hessle Audio, Timedance and Ilian Tape, always with a focus on dance floor dynamics. Further creative outlets come in the form of the re:lax label, club night and NTS show he runs with with re:ni. Most recently he has cooked up the WONDA EP which includes a vocal collaboration with Nyege Nyege-affiliated Phelimuncasi

The podcast he serves up for us is, in his own words, "a mix of hype and hypnotism" and it includes some tasty unreleased music from the man himself as well as the likes of Ma Sha, Siu Mata, Erik Luebs and Crespi Drum Syndicate. The 90 minutes are as wide-ranging as you might expect with bass-heavy grooves, trance-inducing synths, broken techno workouts and tribal rhythmic explorations all making sure both head and body are catered for in style.

Whatever Jennifer Loveless (@jenniferloveless) turns her attention to, she always looks to find real human emotion. The Berlin-based, Australian-born multidisciplinary artist works across a wide musical realm as a DJ, producer and top-line writer who also scores for the screen. In the club, she is all about big energy, warmth and colour as she flits between future sounds and euphoric nostalgia all while dropping plenty of big tunes on labels like Sex Tags UFO, Planet Euphorique and Future Classic.

Over the last decade-plus, she has proven herself adaptable in the DJ booth and just as able to lock in a heady crowd at Panorama Bar as she is making her mark on festival stages like Horst. Across 90 minutes in this week's mix, Loveless draws on all of that experience to lay down a silky smooth trip that touches on deep techno and lush electronic minimalism before delving into more menacing atmospheres, jacked-up house and feel-good sunrise sounds.

London's Moxie (@djmoxie) has always embodied a fearless approach to DJing. Her sets are driven by her famously eclectic taste and can go from deep Detroit techno to face-melting bass via loved-up disco in an instant. She made her name as one of the earliest hosts on NTS Radio but is now a favourite of the global underground who has often impressed at our own events. Her "Moxie Presents" compilations have shown her dedication to championing forward-thinking artists and have helped make her a genuine new school tastemaker.

This week Moxie has put together a breezy jaunt through many different facets of her sound. There are balmy summer pads and carefree house beats to start with then things head indoors for deeper, darker sounds but always saved up with plenty of warmth and emotion. This mix is a perfect encapsulation of how Moxie can take you from the early evening to late into the night without you even noticing.

FAUZIA (@djfauzia) is an artist who is always evolving. The UK DJ, producer and live act first broke through as a DJ who played fast music be it techno, electro, IDM or bass-heavy breaks. Her famous NTS show has always shown a different side, where anything from soul to jazz can be called upon to tell a story. As a producer since 2020, she has tended to mine a more emotive side with releases that explore dub, ambient and jungle. She has also done pop collabs with Kelela and sings ever more on her own material. Basically, she is anything but easy to categorise, and instead works in many different worlds with equal style and skill.

For this week's mix, FAUZIA focuses on the dance floor with a thrilling 90-minute selection. The scene is first set with some escapist ambience, deep and beatless jungle and spine-tingling vocals but then some serious breakbeats arrive. They come thick and fast and take on many forms from heavy and apocalyptic to blissed out and astra. FAUZIA's own voice occasionally arrives to lend them a personal, intimate quality while the mix grows faster and more futuristic. It's a showcase that's as brilliant in taste as it is in technique.

Sound Metaphors (@sound-metaphors) is Nemo Ripoll and Castro Moore, but it is also the name of their famously well-curated label and record shop in Berlin. As such the pair has been helping to define the sound of the underground on many different fronts - electric DJ sets, cult events and even through the custom-made sound systems built for customers worldwide. With a vast musical knowledge between them and a never-ending supply of their own unreleased edits and DJ tools, they are able to tell musical stories that draw from all across all genres and many different eras.

That plays out in the superb mix they have put together for us this week. It's a full-bodied selection that shows off their love of contrasting styles - loose, percussive house music brushes up with deep and dubby cuts, dark acid grooves sit next to '80s synth sounds before a disco finish goes from stomping to funky. The exuberance of it all is infectious and leaves you wanting more.