One of our all time favourites delivers a 4,5-hour long live recording for this week’s Dekmantel Podcast: BMG is the man in charge of the Interdimensional Transmissions label and Ectomorph - two dynamic, long-standing Michigan institutions. Brendan M. Gillen is part of the history of Detroit as much as the acclaimed superstars. Through a network of pseudonyms such as Ectomorph, BMG, Flexitone, Existence And Uniqueness Of Solutions and others he wrote pages and pages of history. Gillen will play this year’s Dekmantel Festival By Night as part of the No Way Back showcase, featuring Bryan Kasenic, Carlos Souffront, Erika, and Derek Plaslaiko. The mix was recorded at a The Bunker Limited night at Trans Pecos.

Peter Van Hoesen might be best known for his techno work, but the Belgian’s real resumé is actually much more diverse. Formally trained on organ, bass and guitar, the Time to Express boss has put out albums of abstract sound design, has composed for contemporary dance, has been a sometime promoter, run various labels and works with Yves De Mey as Sendai. He also recently stepped up to mint our own new sub label, Dekmantel UFO. On that EP he showed his ability to distil groove and atmosphere into intense soundscapes filled with fascinating details, and it is the same story with the mix he serves up here.

Over the course of an hour, Van Hoesen sucks you deep down into his hypnotic sound world, where train track grooves and suspensory pads trap you in the moment. As things unfold, rays of melodic light, unsettling analogue sounds and broken drums all make for a more unhinged ride that is both seductive yet visceral. It makes for an intense listen that takes you right to the heart of an otherworldly the dance floor in the dead of night, no matter where you listen to it.

Kosme is a label boss, producer, DJ and promoter who has built his own discerning musical empire in France. That musical empire is one laced with a spaced out spiritualism, with trippy sci-fi melodies and a seductive sense of groove, whether on 12” format via labels like Thema or his own Cosmic AD, at his cult Cosmic Adventure club night at Le Sucre or in the DJ sets he plays. Kosme is without a doubt one act to watch in this years Dekmantel Festival By Night program at Amsterdam's Melkweg.

A real sense of serenity and space also characterises his work, as it does the mix he has put together for us, which is quite different to many recent offerings in our series. Atmospheric and sleepy to start with, it soon gets coloured with playful melodies, beautifully synthetic sounds and warm rubbery drums. It is a charming and romantic affair that is lovably naive and innocent in its breezy grooves and sunny moods.

What stands Marcel Fengler apart, as well as his knack for refined atmosphere, is his widescreen vision: he reaches for records from all across the electronic spectrum and from throughout the ages. His official mix for Berghain proved that, snaking as it did through a number of different moods and grooves, but all with a sense of cohesion that betrays his many years behind the decks. As a producer, too, he has amassed an assured body of work on Ostgut Ton in both LP and EP format that is fantastically functional.

The mix Fengler has put together for us is a high impact hour of firmly rooted rollers embellished with spooky synths and knotted acid, kinked drum lines and insistent claps. Always on a smooth upward trajectory, it is a mix that you can feel transporting you to another realm and one that manages to balance punishing passages with airier moments of trance inducing atmosphere. As such it packs a lot in, but never feels rushed, and leaves you desperate for more.

Many people claim to have eclectic tastes, but few carry through on their promises as ably as Illum Sphere. The Manchester man is as likely to drop a hip hop joint as he is freak you out with some wave or dub, make you move your ass with some boogie or pummel you into submission with some techno. It is the same story at his night, Hoya:Hoya, which has grown into one of his native city’s most acclaimed parties, with unbeatable residents like Jon K, Krystal Klear and Jonny Dub a key part of that. Given his magpie approach to playing records, it’s no wonder the same goes for Illum Sphere’s style when producing. He has put out his wares on 3024, Fat City, Young Turks and Tectonic, and is now a regular Ninja Tune artist with a brand new album one the way later this year. 

The mix, which is the first after his Fabriclive in November 2014, Illum Sphere serves up is typically atypical. Over the course of eighty minutes he takes you up, down and round and round through a hard to categorise world of sound. Atmosphere and texture are as important as beats and tempos, and it is hard to think of anyone as able to cover as much ground, with as much of a sense of cohesion, as this most fascinating musical man.

New York City’s Veronica Vasicka very much discovered an untapped musical mine when searching for music for her radio show more than a decade ago. That mine was full of rare, overlooked and forgotten DIY synth records from the 70s and 80s and inspired her to start her own label, Minimal Wave. Since then it has become an imprint with a very focussed musical and visual identity, has spawned compilations on Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw Records and has made Veronica an in demand DJ all round the world.

At those gigs, she offers up a sleek musical vision that is mirrored here in the mix she had done for our on going series. Starting with a poignant monologue about new music, it then drops into a rugged groove that is industrial and machine made, abstract and futuristic. The ensuing hour touches on the robo-techno of Levon Vincent, terse beats and raved-up electro as well as some colourful and trippy disco. A lot is packed in, but a buffed metal sheen ties the whole thing together and subtly oozes the very essence of Minimal Wave.

As co-founder of the Music From Memory label, UK born but Berlin based Jamie Tiller has encouraged us all to take time out, go slow and get lost in some essential Balearic, neo-classical and minimalist works by legends old and new. As well as working with celebrated Italian composer Gigi Masin, the label has put out the work of ambient super group Gaussian Curve and Joan Biblioni amongst others. The next project for these obscure gem lovers is a timely re-issue of UK band The System and as such Tiller and co are doing fine work as historical treasure hunters.

Jamie —also part of the Red Light Records team— DJs all round Europe and as such has put together a mix for our series that shows where he is at. It proves him to be a lover of colourful and harmonious melody, of beachy guitar licks and sun kissed sounds that bounce along on a buoyant groove. Flashes of 80s sass, pumping euro disco and slick, classic sounding house are all part of the most pleasing puzzle.

Being a long time resident DJ somewhere teaches you the sort of skills that stand you out from the pack. Cologne’s Lena Willikens is one such special selector who has very much made Salon Des Amateurs in Dusseldorf her own. As well as serving up singular sets there, she is also a key part of the Comeme Records crew with the likes of Barnt. For them she hosts a regular radio show, and for them she has released her brooding, industrially bleak techno sounds.

Lena’s influences come from well outside the normal cannon - proto techno, industrial boogie, synthesised disco, outlier house and robot jack all characterise her work, and the set she has served up here. It is one hour of unusual grooves, unsettling atmospheres and metallic textures that are abstract and dehumanised and take you to a raw and visceral place that is hugely intoxicating. Easily one of the best mixes this year so far in our humble opinion!

UK DJ and producer Kowton admits that he is obsessed with sound. For the past five years he has been locked away in Bristol with the likes of Peverelist and Asusu working on perfecting the most hi fidelity, highly functional bass and techno that he can. It has lead him to release on influential labels like Hessle Audio, Livity Sound and Idle Hands, and last month his debut album proved his mission has been worth it: "Utility" features nine tracks of crisp, atmospheric techno that brood with urban menace. Physical, broken and punchy, the beats are designed simply to make you move your body, and they sure do that.

The podcast he has served up for us (which features a number of unreleased and forthcoming tracks on Ilian Tape, Not So Much and Trilogy Tapes) marries that same sense of stripped back functionalism with clean and abstract sound design, heavy bass and high pressure beats. There is a real sense of late night mischief and subtle rave energy to it that makes the whole thing feel hugely coherent from start to finish. Modern, left of centre and rather UK centric, the Kowton sound sure is serious, but it is also hugely seductive.

Working from his hallowed Stockholm bunker with Studio Barnhus label mates Petter Nordqvist and Kornel Kovacs, Swedish art graduate Axel Boman makes music with a rare sense of charm, wit, and humour. In both EP and LP format, he focusses on playful and curious atmospheres, kinked grooves and left of centre sampling. When not making earwormy dance music, in the past he has been found synthesising sound with nuclear physicists as The Radioactive Orchestra and also works on more clubby fair with John Talabot as Talaboman. His sets, too, are just as joyous and off beat, and are as effective for trippy after hour sessions as they are for peak time parties. 


The one hour selection the singular selector cooks up here is something of a curveball, full of unexpected twists and turns that showcase a breadth and depth of his influences whilst sounding perfect for Spring time. It's an effortlessly jaunt through freewheeling melodies, excitable disco groovers and breezy, swinging house all peppered with classics, singalong vocals and feel good gems. Well balanced so as to not be all too sugary, the far ranging mix is another wondrous window into the colourful world of one of house music’s most likeable and easy going characters.