Phonica Records

Matt Cowell has carved out a distinctive space in the UK underground scene as a DJ, curator, label-head and sonic adventurer — a figure equally at home weaving deep, heads-down sets and steering conversations around forward-thinking music. As a key voice behind independent hub Ransom Note, co-founder of the boundary-blurring imprint Viscera Transmissions (home to artists like Niklas Wandt, Thomass Jackson, Shjva and The W.C. remix of Latrec’s Kutica), and resident selector for parties including Optick and Ransom Note events, his reach spans club nights, radio airwaves and DIY spaces across London and beyond. He’s also hosted and contributed to mixes and shows for platforms like Deeprhythms and various radio projects, showcasing his eclectic taste and ability to shape journeys that thrill dancers and listeners alike.

Off The Record hit their 60th with a mix from a true modern day selector. A mix that was sent to us from long time manager of Phonica, the dearly missed late Nick Williams – Muriel De Bros a.k.a Princess P gives us an hour and a half of genre-blurring, deep dug and beautifully blended magnificence. For decades Princess P has been a cornerstone of underground culture out of Switzerland – from cutting her teeth behind the counter at Basel’s seminal Plattfon Records and running her own events, to shaping soundtracks for club nights and stages at Zukunft in Zürich, Elysia in Basel, Kauz, Kapitel Bollwerk and Beyond, including standout sets at the Watching Trees Festival that have opened doors and hearts alike – a journey she herself describes as life-saving in its intensity. Renowned for her deft, expansive selections that move effortlessly between house, techno, IDM and beyond, Muriel’s curatorial voice extends far beyond the booth, most recently through her lovingly assembled Infinite Sonore compilation on her own Princess imprint, a sub-label of Mental Groove, where deep listening and emotional resonance take centre stage. This mix mirrors that same spirit – less concerned with tight club transitions and more with atmosphere, memory and musical moments that don’t always survive a dancefloor, pulled from dusty crates, rediscovered collections and a lifetime of careful listening.

Glasgow’s own Austin Ato has quietly built one of the most compelling trajectories in contemporary house music — a DJ and producer whose colourful, groove-laden records nod to 90s house, deep disco and soulful rhythms while always carrying a distinctly modern pulse. Over the past decade he’s dropped vinyl and digital cuts on revered imprints like Phonica White, Classic Music Company, Me Me Me and Defected — from the piano-rich Song For Mr. Lewis and the groove-driven Heat to his own rework series I Love Your Edits — earning love from tastemakers across the global scene. Behind the decks he’s just as at home firing up Glasgow’s Berkeley Suite as he is packing floors from Edinburgh’s Bongo Club to Berlin’s Wintergarten, deftly blending deep, jazzy house with disco inflections and thoughtful edits that reveal both his crate-digging instincts and dancefloor intuition. For his Phonica mix, Ato cuts away from the constructed-mix template and instead offers a live warm-up set from his own I Love Your Energy night (Dec 27th, 2025) — a recording pulsing with real crowd energy, shimmering between deep, jazzy moments and intricate, drum-machine house workouts. Ato’s aim? To share the same flowing energy he feels when playing to people, giving the Phonica listeners a late-doors vibe that’s groovy, soulful and deeply immersive rather than a peak-hour stomp.

As 2025 closes, Elli arrives to Phonica’s Friends & Family mix off the back of a breakout year, one that saw her music embraced across Europe’s cosmic-disco and downtempo scenes and her live show land on iconic stages like Jæger. In conversation, she describes her world as part cinematic dreamspace, part crate-digger curiosity — a fusion that shines through this seasonal selection. Moving between ambient glow, cosmic synth voyages and warm, groove-led passages, the mix reflects the same tenderness, detail and wanderlust that shape her own productions, including the new projects and secret soundtrack she’s quietly crafting for 2026. It’s Elli at her most intimate: warm, reflective and open-hearted.

Over the past decade, Ploy has quietly but decisively become one of the UK’s most versatile dancefloor thinkers—an artist whose catalogue maps a constant tension between percussive futurism, bass-heavy urgency and a mischievous instinct for left-turns. His most recent release on Faith Beat pushed that ethos further into focus, folding sleazy groove, screw-face swing and oddball funk into something unmistakably his own. The response has been telling: with each shift in style, Ploy only seems to sharpen his identity, earning a reputation for unpredictability that dancers and DJs have grown to trust. As the producer steps into the Phonica mix series, he arrives not as a chameleon but as a fully coherent shape-shifter—restless, playful and firmly in his stride.

Scott Hudson — better known behind the decks as Hudson’s Choice — is one of South-London’s up and coming perceptive vinyl diggers and tastemakers. Based in the UK, he’s built his reputation through a deep love for house, disco, and worldly, soulful electronic sounds — both as a DJ and a record-collector.

In 2024 he delivered his debut EP, Myatts Field, on Delusions of Grandeur, co-produced with label-founder Jimpster — a release that showcased his ability to weave classic sensibilities with contemporary left-field club energy.

This “Friends & Family” mix in the spirit of working at Phonica Records, feels like a carefully curated journey through his musical universe. You can expect flickers of deep house, nods to disco and soul, maybe a touch of dubby wanderlust — a mix that reflects his dual life as both DJ and digger, uniting records from different eras and cultures into one seamless set!

The long standing NTS resident steps up for the latest Off The Record mix.

London-based DJ and NTS regular Babyschön a.k.a Safi Bugel brings her deep, left-of-centre sensibilities to Phonica’s Off The Record series with a mix that bridges the afterglow of summer and the shadows of winter. Known for weaving post-punk, Italo, EBM and oddball house through her radio shows and club sets, Safi has built a reputation for finding warmth in the darker corners of the dancefloor. This mix, recorded at home on a quiet autumn afternoon but inspired by her set at DIY festival Three Wheel Drive back in August, channels that same energy — hazy, melodic and a little nostalgic while still maintaining a solid dance ready beat throughout. We had a quick chat with Safi about her mix and what she has coming up for the rest of the year:

The ever-restless crate digger and globe-trotting selector Romain FX steps into the booth for our 137th edition of the Phonica Mix series, bringing with him the full force of his nomadic, genre-bending ethos.

Born in France but raised across Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA, he’s spent nearly two decades cultivating a sound with no borders—whether through founding Hong Kong’s Fauve Radio and Fauve Records, digging through the city’s back-street record shops or driving sunrise sessions atop the Great Wall of China. For this mix he set out to “create a melting pot of sounds from different corners of the world, stitched together into my own musical sphere,” he tells us, outlining his intent to blend Canto Pop with Korean beats, Ghetto House with IDM, Indian electronic experiments and dreamy rave, all seasoned with a dash of space disco. That he pulls it off – without caring if genre purists wince – is testament to years of diligent vinyl hunting (over 3,000 records and counting) and a restless urge to challenge the dancefloor. It’s not just the track-list that intrigues, but the spirit of connection through contrast. Expect hidden unreleased gems for curious ears, and a journey that reminds you why Romain FX remains one of the most adventurous voices in underground dance music today.

From the shadowy basement grooves of early Detroit-tinged techno to the soulful echoes of deep house and Balearic atmospheres, Jayson Wynters’ Phonica mix is a distilled journey through the sounds that animate his DJ sets. A Birmingham native who cut his teeth releasing records like Latitude, Solitude, and Warheads / Exit Wound, Wynters has built a reputation for pacing, depth, and an ear for both the new and the buried treasures in his vinyl rack. In this mix he begins in more ethereal territory—drawing listeners in with introspective textures—before gradually escalating the energy, taking us into a place where he usually finds himself halfway through one of his live sets, guiding the dancefloor through intensity, emotion, and release.

There’s something quietly magnetic about Duncan Thomas. A London-based producer, live performer and lifelong digger, his sound sits at the crossroads of warm soul, deep groove and harmonic richness. From his early work with TR Trio and Size 8 to recent solo outings on The Check In and his forthcoming label Slam Duncs, Thomas has steadily carved out a space that favours feeling over formula. Whether behind a keyboard or a pair of decks, he approaches music with a jazz musician’s ear and a selector’s instinct — patient, playful, rooted in depth.

His Phonica Friends & Family mix is a love letter to that ethos. Rather than chasing dancefloor peaks, this is a set built on timelessness — music he wants to return to in ten years and still feel connected to. These are deep, soulful cuts that lean into warmth and atmosphere, curated from both dusty crates and digital rabbit holes. True to form, the mix resists trend in favour of tone, inviting you into a space where melody, memory and movement meet. It’s subtle, emotive, and unmistakably Duncan Thomas.