Felix Dickinson’s story is closely linked with the story of house. He has been playing it (and making it legal to do so via his pre criminal justice act rave orchestration) since day one, has held decade long residencies in Japan and has made it under names ranging from Foolish and Sly to Bastedos. Besides working with labels like Rush Hour and DFA, he also runs his own Cynic Music and has been a key DJ at places like Glastonbury, Garden Festival and Sonar. His style is, generally, to play music from all over the place, but he always manages to mesh them together into some thing fun and coherent.

Over the course of 70 odd minutes here he shows off his far ranging taste and looks back as much as forward. Carefully controlled throughout, the set mixes up floor filling house with breezy grooves, chattery Chicago jack and euphoric piano anthems. It’s party starting but tastefully so and once again has you wondering who needs DJ Harvey when you have Felix Dickinson.

Lee Gamble is one of the most adventurous producers, label bosses and DJs in the electronic world. Over the course of four album projects and many EPs he has explored the ghost of jungle, abrasive ambient and textural techno in thrilling and compelling ways. Formerly releasing on Pan, he now heads up his own UIQ label and with it has curated some of techno’s most exciting new sounds. As well as DJing, he is behind a regular NTS radio show and tours a mesmeric live A/V show that always encourages you to escape and get lots in unfamiliar musical worlds.

The two hour mix he serves up for is the freaky, left of centre post-rave adventure you would expect. It’s disorientating and non linear. Initially it focuses on texture and mood more than groove, then his jungle roots bubble up, and just as you think you know where you are going, Gamble pulls back and descends into bleak cinematic soundtracks. Unpredictable and wilfully contrary, like his own challenging productions it is a masterclass in sonic subversion that reveals more with each new listen.

Elena Colombi likes the weird and wonderful things in music. Her show on NTS proves that, skipping as it does from techno to EBM, post punk to industrial and wave music with an always inquisitive ear. An under-the-radar regular at some choice parties around London for years, she is sure to break out into the wider consciousness in 2017, and we hope that this new podcast from her goes some way to assisting with that, because she is a selector well worth sharing.

Filled with frosted industrial landscapes, muffled drums and plenty of metallic surfaces, Colombi’s mix finds light in darkness and human emotions in abstract sounds. It’s a fully realized sonic world that could be old, could be new, but is never less than wholly absorbing and uniquely odd.

The music Aurora Halal creates is informed by many different disciplines. She is a producer, but also a videographer and visual artist who has worked on films about modular synth godfather Morton Subotnick amongst others. She is also the force behind Brooklyn’s Mutual Dreaming party series as well as the Sustain-Release festival. In just a couple of years she has cooked up an expressive and experimental techno sound—solo and with the likes of Ital—on labels such as Lovers Rock and her own Mutal Dreaming Recordings. Oppressive and foggy, her distorted, imperfect sounds made up of heavy drums and scurrying synths have taken her to plenty of remarkable live gigs all over the world. Now she steps up to our mix series with equal aplomb.

It is still only a couple of years since Moire first emerged, but already he operates in his own distinctive sound world. It is a place his broken house and techno is murky and disorientating, ambiguous and otherworldly. So far it has come on cult labels like Spectral Sound, Ninja Tune and Actress’ Work Discs in the form of some essential EPs and an LP, and now he steps up to our mix series ahead of the arrival of his second full length on Ghostly International.

Over the course of an hour the Londoner lays down some loose and hazy house that gets more and more rugged as the grooves unfold. It’s lo-fi but stirringly emotive stuff that ends in a place of refracted melodies and heavenly vocals that really lift you out of the real world.

As you will already know, we really appreciate proper selectors here at Dekmantel. The next man to step up to our series is a prime example of that: Brooklyn based DJ and visual artist GE-OLOGY has been writing musical stories with real beginnings, middles and ends since he first started collecting wax aged five. After a career in hop hop working with royalty like Jill Scott and Mos Def, a slightly new direction has seen him put out a select few house productions on revered labels like Sound Signature, whilst the records he plays reflect his genuine musical and instrumental playing skills.

Proof of that comes across the two diverse hours he digs deep to serve up for us here. From boogie to disco, jazz funk to smooth soul, this is the sort of golden and heart warming selection that has people demanding IDs and scouring Discogs immediately. Right up there with our friends like Sadar Bahar and MCDE, this is a joyous soundtrack filled with moments you will not forget.

It is fair to say that for every Derrick May and Jeff Mills, the Motor City has produced a whole bunch of talented artists that never quite got the same acclaim. Kelli Hand aka K-HAND is surely one of those. The rather under the radar artist is one of Detroit’s most consistent performers, and has been for the last twenty years. Her music revolves around slick and robust drums and has come on essential labels like Underground Resistance, Warp and Tresor as well as more recently Nina Kraviz’s Trip.

Deep seated as her roots are, K-HAND'S music is not all throwback stuff: this mix she has put together for us mixes up the old and the new, the choppy and the smooth. Underpinned by a darkly seductive energy, it bristles and brims with vocal laced breakbeats and swinging garage, glides through some smooth deep techno and gets loose with some wild style jams that will get you out of your seat.

Aussie Mic Newman is true to his Fantastic Man moniker. The music he releases under it is always inventive and colourful stuff that defies easy categorisation. It draws ideas from tribal, acid and abstract sound worlds and marries them to rugged, compelling house and techno grooves. Let’s Play House, Fine Choice and Permanent Vacation all release it and the man himself also co-runs the Superconscious label with his friend Francis Inferno Orchestra. On top of this he also recently explored new age ambient and downtempo as Mind Lotion, so has never been hotter than he is right now.

His mix for us draws on all this and more: it is a balmy house trip with curious jungle sounds, breezy melodies and retro sounding oddities that speak of an inquisitive musical mind. Quite often managing to sound both soothing and banging at the same time, it is a colourful affair that never stays in one place for too long, and is all the more absorbing because of it.

It’s fair to say that Kai Alce is an underrated artist. Not only does he turn out a consistent stream of tunes on top labels, but he also oversees NDATL Muzik, one of the most fawned over deep house labels out there. He has actually been active since 2002, and his heartfelt brand of house has always embodied elements of New York, Detroit and Chicago, as well as his Atalanta homeland. It sounds unmistakably alive and irresistibly soulful and has come on labels like FXHE, Mahogani Music and Finale Sessions. As a lynchpin of the Atlanta scene, he and his peers are only just starting to get some of the wider recognition they deserve.

The mix he offers us here showcases his impeccable taste and takes in jazzy house styles, loose party jams and vocal groovers that are deliciously deep. Romantic and richly coloured, it’s a set for lovers of laidback grooves and proper musicality. Given the time of year, the whole thing seems to glow like Christmas lights on a festive winter night, so stick it on, warm up some mulled wine and get on down.

It is with great pleasure that we present to you our 100th podcast. Over the course of the series we like to think we have mixed up big names with the stars of tomorrow; have shined a light on lesser known DJs who deserve the limelight and given pride of place to people with their own distinctive sounds. One such artist is Helena Hauff, the DJ turned producer who cut her teeth at the legendary Golden Pudel in Hamburg. Though she is a DJ first and foremost, her recorded material on labels like Werk Discs and Handmade Birds has never been less than arresting thanks to its dystopian blend of electro and techno moods and grooves.

This mix she has done for us is just the same: it is ninety minutes of elastic electro, popping techno and slithering electronics that are shiny and metallic, crisp and futuristic. It will push and pull you in many different directions but is all tied together by an infectious sense of slick robo-funk. Right up there with electro greats like Drexcyia and I-F, Helena Hauff is a suitably singular artist to helm this landmark podcast.