Dekmantel Podcast

Swiss pro­duc­er and DJ NVST (@ghettonast) likes to shock her crowd. She thrives on clashing sounds, scenes, genres and textures into uncomfortable new worlds, all of which is a result of coming up from the illegal party scene in her homeland. She works hard to develop and preserve that native scene in many different ways: she is part of the Female:Pressure fam­i­ly, co-runs the French label Big Sci­ence and hold­s down res­i­den­cies on LYL­Ra­dio and Rinse FM.

This week's mix was recorded in Le Bourg, a club in Lausanne that NVST tells us has recently been taken over and is working hard to bring something fresh to the scene. The mix is filled with unreleased tracks from NVST's favourite artists and forthcoming tunes from labels like Big Science, Kindergatern and moshtrq next to some of her all-time favourites. It opens with a collage that includes Tamika D. Mallory's 'State of Emergency' speech of which she says "I remember the first time I heard it so accurately; I knew I should include it symbolically as well because it resonates so much with me."

For our first mix of the year, we keep it homegrown with Rotterdam duo @black-cadmium. Mike Richards and Joginda Macnack's artist alias is influenced by two things - their Surinamese descent, and a poisonous chemical which they say is a metaphor for "the discrepancy between one's capabilities and the world's view." Their own capabilities lay in mixing up everything from hi-tek to Detroit tech, London grime to Dutch electro. They have landed on labels like Vault Wax and really open up their collections for this week's podcast.

In usual Black Cadmium fashion, anything goes here as they race through rave, bass, acid and club with relentless energy. The mixing is tight and quick as tracks fly by at a high pace but always in a great balance between the mind, body and soul. A jacked-up soulful house cut will lead to a double-time bass workout then deep and punchy Motor City sounds make way for head-wrecking bass futurism. Hold on tight, then, because this is one thrilling ride.

Truth is, we’ve been dying to share this one. PSY X records' @buttechno aka Pavel Milyakov takes on the brand new Dekmantel Podcast. Buttechno's ability to manipulate sound and massage rhythm into new forms is laid bare in this week's mix. It starts off as deep and atmospheric - swampy dub, sub-aquatic bass, funky static electricity - and then slowly morphs into more fulsome body music. It's never less than a warm, elastic take on techno that is stripped back but packed with an inviting and playful charm.

Safety Trance (@cardopusher) is a new alias from Luis Garban aka Cardospusher, the Venezuelan noise-mangler who has spent 20 years twisting together EBM, acid, hardcore, wave, acid and techno. In the past, this moniker has seen him work alongside Rosalia and Planningtorock on tracks from Arca ́s KiCk series for XL Recording, and earlier in the year he dropped his Noches de Terror EP on Boysnoize Records. It found him exploring new possibilities within the world of reggaeton, always with his own textural twist.

And that mission continues in this week's podcast which collides stiff, angular rhythms with caustic industrial, acid, rave and trap. It's a strobe-lit selection of head-thrashing electronic music packed with girt and grime. As Garban notches up the tempo things get ever more wild and noisy so that, eventually, you're left completely consumed by the dystopian fuzz. What a thrill.

London-based pair Jack Rollo and Elaine Tierney aka Time is Away are continually exploring the relationship between time, place and power. They do so in a wide variety of ways from exhibitions for the Arts Council England to site-specific sound works, research projects to their nearly 10-year-strong NTS show. Each one weaves spoken word pieces with atmospheric music into soundscapes that physically and mentally move you.

The pair's exceptional record collection and ability to manipulate your mood are laid bare once more in this week's mix. It's an escapist daydream where gently lilting rhythms melt away into psychedelic dub with intimate vocal whispers. Indian meditations captivate the heart and mind while lo-fi guitar fuzz lulls you into a hypnagogic state. It's a delicate but powerful world of sound that reveals more and has an ever-deeper impact each time you listen.

@maxabysmal moved a long way when he left his Sydney home and settled in Amsterdam, and his music travels just as far. He is as able to lay it down in the Greenhouse as the Selectors stage, but trying to predict what you might hear is useless: he plays across the board from tripped-out percussive sounds to spacey jungle to via a cross-seciton of forward-thinking Latinx electronic sounds.

The dexterity of his DJing is frankly dizzying and this week's mix proves it. Within just 15 minutes he has maneuvered from a heartbreaking lo-fi soul opener to a strobe-lit gabber banger. After that, he slows it down and speeds it up several times. Irregular club rhythms get smoothed out into Spanish trap and there's still room for jungle, bass and reggaeton. It's a wild and worldly ride.

@livwutang has really arrived on the world stage in the last year. The Seattle-raised, NYC-based artist came up through DIY raves and pirate radio and is now a regular at cult clubs and festivals across North America, as well as being booked in for next year's Dekmantel Selectors. Her sound freely moves between dub, Central and West Africa rhythms and a history of Black American music. All this comes out in her widescreen sets, her curation of the Eto Ano label and her hosting of their show on The Lot Radio.

The confidence of her selections and ability to shift through moods from the serene to the deep, the energetic to the melodic is evident in this week's mix. It slowly works through the gears from dubbed-out depths to buoyant club rhythms via tribal techno. There is an ever-present mysticism and spirituality that adds an extra layer of intrigue to the body-popping rhythms and it's that which will keep you coming back for more.

Laani (@alanna-henry) is all about introducing you to music you love but don't yet know it. It’s the Londoner’s exceptional taste in all things jazz and Afro, soul and hip hop which makes that so. She demonstrates it with her regular The FullJoy Experience shows on Worldwide.fm and her work with Strut Records, but this week she heads into a different world of sound.

House, acid and breaks are the order of the day here with cuts from the likes of Lady Blacktronika, Paula Tape, Soichi Terada and K-Lone all making for a lively selection. There is a classical leaning to start with as lush synth soul permeates the good-time grooves. Celebratory piano chords, peak time house and deeper moments all reflect the sound of a DJ able to play loose, free and with an irresistible sense of fun.

@french_ii likes it heavy. His breaks, percussion, drums and bass all hit hard and it's always been that way since he debuted this project in 2019. Teenage experiences at hardcore parties initially set this style in motion and the years since have seen him hone in a distinctly UK-leaning sound. As a DJ, member of the former Tilburg collective BANGANAGANGBANGERS and promoter of his own events, he is all about high-impact club sounds. Right now, the Dutchman releases them on the Intercept label and brings everything from UKG to bass, dubstep to electro.

This week the man born Frank Klick twists and turns through slithering club rhythms that operate above 130 bpm. There is an icy sense of futurism to the atmospheres of tracks by mainstays of this scene like Al Wootoon, Sam Goku, Stenny and Shackleton. A couple of his own collaborations with Ozzy and King of Snake set the early tempo and from there you will have a very tough job of setting still as he works through an array of intriguing face-melters, body poppers and ass-shakers.

@anethamusic's first decade in dance music has been impressive indeed. Much of it is now on her own terms, too - she runs the Mama Told Ya label and agency where she drops her own glorious mix of techno, EBM and trance as well as platforming emerging artists. She is a resident DJ at Amsterdam's epic Awakenings as well as Le Sucre in her native France and Fuse in Brussels. Her "less is more" but always colourful and emotional take on techno is inspired by the fact she is a qualified architect and it is embodied in the title of her recent "Rules Are Meant to Be Broken EP" in collaboration with Ryan James Ford.

Anetha's DJ dexterity is on full show in this week's 90-minute mix as she works through many different shades of high-tempo club music. There are passages of youthful and raved-up sounds, stripped-back warehouse rhythms and firing machine music. There are hints of everything from trance to gabber to EBM helping to add character to each track and it's that which makes this such a compelling listen from a new school star.