New Yorker @acemo is an artist with an intense work rate. In the DJ booth he races through tunes, rhythms and styles with an insatiable sense of energy, and in the studio he is as prolific as they come. He has put out four EPs in the last year that take in jungle updates, battered techno and euphoric bass, and his self-released Existential album in late December came with a more thoughtful and philosophical dimension.

This week's mix is a bumping one that hits the ground running. Impassioned and uplifting house soon gets you locked before you rough ride through dusty breakbeats, twisted acid and percussive work outs. Kinetic juke and footwork styles and more fist pumping, brain frying house are all touched upon throughout this most wide-ranging selection and breathless selection, so strap in!

Born and raised in Amsterdam and with his roots in Japan, Masalo (@masalo-music) is an artist who is firmly at the heart of the city’s music scene. He’s active in numerous ways, though his focus lies solidly on DJing and producing, in which he has been turning heads with his open minded approach that takes in music that brims with vitality. The Brighter Days party he runs with Kamma is famously colourful and friendly, like the man himself, and his choice productions have found their home on the Rush Hour label, the imprint he’s closely connected with.

For this week’s mix he takes us on a two hour journey to a better place with an electrifying selection of organic dance jams, new wave, spiritual house and big hearted disco that will have you in a spin. The mixing is superbly tight given that the tunes jump around so freely from the old to the new, and it all adds up to a huge injection of escapist positivity that we all need in our lives right now.

@markknekelhuis is a world explorer who brings a love of live instrumentation to his dance music. The Knekelhuis label boss is a staunchly DIY operator who is also the voice of Volition Immanent, a live act along side Dekmantel regular Parrish Smith. He makes music that manages to be deeply personal but also immediate and arresting and that same style defines his radio shows on Red Light Radio.

His mix for us is an exploration of deeply hypnotic sounds and dreamy breakbeats to slowly but surely wake you up right at the start of the week. Once you’re in the groove, there is space travelling electro and beautifully delicate melodic techno that continues to sooth your soul as you journey through the cosmos and off to a better place.

@roi_perez is at the beating heart of the queer dance music scene in Europe. His route to the top started with a residency back home in Tel Aviv, but since moving to Berlin 2013 he has gone on to make a wider impact with regular standout sets at fetish club Lab.Oratory and Berghain’s Panorama Bar. His focus is always on buying, playing and selling records rather than making them, so he is an adventurous DJ who is always evolving but is famed for his long, winding, eclectic sets that span multiple sounds and scenes.

Even over the course of just an hour in the mix for us this week, he manages to travel far and wide. It's a party starting selection, for sure, with emotive breakbeats next to pumping percussive rhythms, steamy house and jacking acid. The rhythms are always raw and ragged, meaning Perez does a fine job of keeping you on the tips of your toes from start to finish.

rRoxymore’s music exists in the murky territory between house and techno. It is music you can dance to, but that never seems to be its primary intention. Shifting synth sequences bring rhythm, exotic percussion bring worldly feelings and her rugged and deconstructed drum machines bring inventive grooves. The Berlin based French artist herself calls it “mercy-less house” and has put most of it out on Don’t Be Afraid, including her Face to Phase album later last year, which was an album full of intriguing and exploratory sound scapes.

In the past, rRoxymore has played percussion in a rock band, played hip hop and rare groove and soundtracked art installations, so she brings that widescreen understanding of groove to this week’s mix. It’s a leftfield selection of humid and tropical rhythms that dangle like vines in a jungle before morphing into broken and syncopated beats with a heavy low end. It’s compelling, stripped back rhythm music that seems to takes cues from UK funky, EBM, disco, techno and plenty more besides.

It is fair to say that Mark Fell is one of Rotherham's most acclaimed musical exports. His work is steeped in the industrial overtones that define the region in the North of England that also includes nearby cities like Sheffield and bands like Human League and Cabaret Voltaire. In particular, this sound artist and producer focusses on fusing together fragments of experimental, minimal music that has political overtones and unsettling, out-of-context atmospheres. He's released albums on Raster-Notion and Editions Mego, is one half of SND and performs at only the most avant-garde of clubs and festivals.

This week he serves up some brilliant darkness and carefully deconstructed rhythms that will shake your bones and your brain cells loose. Artists that deal in soot-black synth, electro and post-punk sounds like Human League, Florian Hecker and Depeche Mode all appear, but there are also masterful sidesteps into hip hop, disco, pop from David Guetta, and words from William Burroughs. All these sounds take on hugely different moods and meanings when put together as part of Fell's unique lexicon, and make it a mix full of brilliantly unexpected moments.

France’s Emma DJ - not to be confused with Japan’s DJ Emma - had a hugely prolific 2019 that resulted in no fewer than three artist albums. The Paris-based Fusion Mes Couilles boss deals in abrasive textures and broken techno rhythms that chew up ambient, IDM, breakbeats and acid and spit them out in thrilling new forms. His year started with some debut shows in the USA, he also recently started his own show on France’s LYL Radio, and now keeps us entertained through the global lockdown with this week’s podcast.

It starts with some paranoid, scene-setting ambience, sounds of factory automation and spoken words that are perfectly unsettling for these unprecedented times. When drums eventually appear, they’re slow and purposeful, there’s floating techno, visceral industrial and a flurry of breakbeats that are all run through with a real sense of dark mystery and otherworldliness. This is an intriguing mix that will keep you coming back for more.

Swedish born SPFDJ is a renegade spirit and ruthless DJ. She describes her own style as "trashy" and has said before that she disregards anything that might sound happy. To that end, she brashly bangs together techno, EBM, acid, industrial and trance in provocative and confrontational ways. She does so at her residency at Berlin's Herrensauna and also runs her own Intrepid Skin label, both of which are defined by big, banging kick drums.

And so is this mix. 75 minutes of blistering textures, serrated synths and hammering drums that make for an impenetrable wall of ever evolving sound. As unrelentingly forceful as it is, monotony stays at bay thanks to the quick mixing and variation in mood, from marching and militant to acid and electric. Strap in, hold tight, and prepare for the ride of your life.

Sydney's club scene is thriving right now, and it is in no small part thanks to the likes of Adi Toohey. Her 360 degree approach takes in DJ sets, a long running radio show on FBi Radio, work behind the counter at The Record Store, and her own parties with the Rimbombo crew. All this has set her on an international trajectory that has seen her play as far afield as New York, Berlin and London. Her sound is accessible but high quality, with emotive house at the root of it all.

Her mix for us makes no bones about that - it starts with some smooth and warm vocal grooves before a distinctive 90s flavour takes over. The mixing is tight and efficient, and breakbeats, progressive and big rave chords all colour in the bold, hands in the air grooves to make this a perfectly party starting set that wears its heart on its sleeve.

Nazira is a real powerhouse. She has almost single handedly built up an electronic music scene in her native Almaty in Kazakhstan. She runs her own ZVUK nights in a range of unique settings, was responsible for bringing a one off edition of Unsound to the region in 2017, and after word spread about her skills, she has gone on to represent around Europe while hosting workshops back home that aim to grow local talents. All this is even more impressive given how far removed her hometown is from the rest of the global circuit.

As a DJ, host on Radio Cómeme and resident at Berlin’s Room 4 Resistance, Nazira brings physicality and angular rhythm to her work. For this week’s mix, she kicks off with skeletal bass and huge open spaces of futuristic ambiance before the jittery techno and industrial drum loops take over. Melodies rarely appear, instead the mood is dark, heads down, and focussed. It is the sound of an artist who is assured and uncompromising, which is a perfect reflection of the DJ behind it.