Max Graef is at the centre of his own little musical world that includes being co-foudner of Money $ex Records and part of the Oye Records and Box Aus Holz crews. It’s a world of loose house grooves, jazzy influences and disco flourishes with lo-fi aesthetics that has spawned two essentials albums—on Tartelet and Nine Tune respectively—as well as countless singles. More recently he has delved into techno, though, proving that he is an inquisitive artist who has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He is a wizard on a range of outboard gear as well as having some very real playing chops when it comes to keys, guitars and percussion.

As a DJ his organic style always comes through, which means his mix for us is an impromptu thing that calls on lots of different grooves. Sometimes hurried and minimal, at others spacious and deep, it’s a showcases of all the many influences that Graef distills into his own productions and is a nuanced listen that stands up to home listening. Included along the way are a couple of forthcoming solo tunes, as well as one with long time musical sparring partner Glenn Astro, so have fun picking them out.

It’s people like Mano Le Tough who make DJing into an art form, as you can tell from the mix he has done for us ahead of our festival in São Paolo this weekend. The connection he makes with dance floors are always as deep as can be; with a real sense of melody, emotion and song like structure, he crafts sets that make a lasting impact on those who hear them. This has resulted in him being one of the busiest DJs on the circuit, on a par with deep house heroes Ame and Dixon, who he plays with regularly. As a producer, his smooth and mellifluous sounds land on labels like Permanent Vacation and more recently Pampa, which is a perfect fit for his curious sense of melody.

This week’s mix is an hour of deep house that rumbles through a humid jungle, zones you out with hypnotic vocal tracks and encourages you to day dream amongst distant pads. Even when things turn more towards a techno groove later on, you still remain deeply entrenched in the groove, marching on through to a trippy climax that gently stirs you out of your hypnosis with a real celestial charm.

Courtesy is one of techno’s newest breakthrough stars. The Greenland born, Danish raised DJ, Ectotherm label boss and journalist first turned heads with some key online mixes in 2016 which showed she will reach for whatever works be that rave, electro or breaks. Since then she’s further established herself with her own regular NTS show and sets at key places like De School and Berghain, and in three weeks time she will play our festival in Sao Paolo.

To get in you on the mood for that she’s first turned out a new mix which, as usual from Courtesy, is characterised by fascinating contrasts. It’s high in energy from the off, and races through a number of styles of house and techno that ranges from twisted to dubbed out to ghetto. Getting ever-quicker as it goes, there’s a subtle sense that you’re building towards something throughout the set. It makes it an absorbing, high octane ride that never settles in once place but at the same time feels like one complete story.

As long as Melbourne has had a house music scene, Francis Inferno Orchestra has been at the heart of it. Though now lives in Europe, the Australian’s sound is melody rich and tinged with disco dazzle when in the studio, while as a DJ he has an anything goes approach that turns up plenty of surprises. As well as co-running Superconcious Records, he releases on Let’s Play House and Drumpoet Community and has previously guessed on our Dekmantel Radio Show.

For his mix, he goes sublimely slow and serene to start with. Beautiful ambient pads, twinkling keys and swooning strings encourage you to day dream before gently persuasive drums pick things up. From there, it’s an unpredictable ride full of twists and turns that one minute serves up acid, the next tribal drums, then hands in the air house. Before the end there is a return of ambient and even slow motion funk gets dropped. With spring just round the corner, this is a perfect mix to take us there.

UK artist Gatto Fritto is someone who operates in the shadows, in his own little world. The man born Ben Williams played our Selectors festival in Croatia last year and holds down residencies at Berlin institutions Sameheads and Renate, which prove why he is such a revered DJ. His work as a producer, too, has resulted in some exceptionally cosmic disco on standard bearers like International Feel and Dissident, as well as his own Fritto Morto. It’s twinkling, spine tingling stuff awash with melodies, FX and astral synths that transport you into the cosmos.

A sense of frosty melody and plenty of pixelated synths characterise the nearly two hour selection he has put together for us here. It starts in abrasive and arresting fashion with serrated lines and stark drums before unravelling into sci-fi grooves then Italo, proto-disco and slippery electro. After exploring these diverse yet interconnected sound worlds for the first half, the second half races through an icy and intergalactic brand of techno that leaves you utterly breathless.

It is not the first time that we turn to a Cómeme artist for our next mix. The singular Latin American label was the first to release music by Ana Helder in 2011, and has continued to do so since. The Argentinian artist has a rough riding house sound built on kinked grooves and wonky synths. It’s uplifting and has taken her to DJ sets all round the world. Back home in Rosario she also promotes her own parties and has earned a reputation as someone with a subversive, unpredictable style.

The hour she puts together here is a happy selection of upright tracks that pay no regard for genre or period: there is alternative 80s indie from Bob Chance, dubbed out drum tracks from Mr G and stripped back minimalism from Losoul and A Guy Called Gerald and its all mix up with African percussion and one of Anna’s own slippery and trippy cuts, ‘Sexe’. If Ana wasn’t on your radar before, this mix will certain ensure she stays firmly in your sights in 2018.

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Patrick Russell is one of the more under-the-radar DJs who hail from Detroit. The reason for that is his uncompromising style. He plays what he wants, not what he thinks you want to hear. Finally the world is catching up and the man brought up on the Midwest rave scene is making wider waves. He is a core member of the No Way Back party that reinterpret the city’s rave past for a new audience, and will be one of the many DJs playing Dekmantel Festival in August, so we invited him into our series to show off his skills.

His sixty minute mix is a heady world of creepy and paranoid techno. From the sort of warped, 4am soundtracks that makes best sense in a pitch black club to brain frying and peak time stuff that bashes you round the head, it’s always on the move and always keeping you guessing.

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Another of the many standout DJs to emerge from the ever-fertile Amsterdam scene, Job Sifre is now rightfully starting to get props from outside the city. Helping him on the way is his monthly Red Light Radio show, which shows off his cosmic and electronic take on synth heavy house. He has backed that up with compelling sets at places like De School and Salon Zur Wilde Renate, as well as with a fresh new wave and house EP that was the first release on Interstellar Funk’s new label, Artificial Dance.

Job will play with us at Dekmantel Festival in August, so first offers up a snapshot of his current sound. Over the course of nearly two hours, he takes his time to go from laidback and horizontal to more upright and drum lead. The sounds are often laden with icy synths, the drums are heavyweight and the atmospheres are spooky and sci-fi. His is a truly electronic world devoid of human life and it touches on new wave, macho disco, cosmic house and prickly dub in frosty and freaky ways.

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As is often the way with artists who hail from the chilly climes of northern Europe, Skatebard deals in a cosmic brand of disco. Usually coloured with elements of Detroit house and neo-Italo, his sound has given rise to hugely sought after mini-albums—such as 2002’s recently re-released Skateboarding Was A Crime (In 1989)—as well as plenty of functional yet emotive 12”s. Next to his own Digitalo Enterprises label, he has worked on the likes of Sex Tags Mania and Full Pupp, has produced with DJ Sotofett and is no stranger to a sense of fun when it comes to DJing.

Midway through December last year he played, as he does regularly, at Fettschmelze in Karlsruhe. More than three hours of the set was recorded and is presented here as a fine overview of Skatebard’s broad skills as a selector. From carefree, key-laced disco to cosmic curveballs via sleek and futuristic house, it is a freewheeling mix that manages to glide effortlessly between sounds and scenes.