RA Exchange

"There are books about techno and rave, but let's fill in the blanks." The scholar and activist talks about her book Raving, bringing club culture into academia and more.McKenzie Wark, professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the New School, is a scholar and raver who has written extensively about the world of dance music and its surrounding subculture. Most recently, Wark penned Raving, a first-person account of her experiences in the Brooklyn queer and trans rave scene. Wark's writing is a unique blend of memoir and literary criticism, and Raving takes readers straight into the heart of undisclosed locations around New York nightlife. Raving to techno is an art and a technique at which queer and trans bodies might be particularly adept, she writes—but it's also for anyone who lets the beat seduce them.In her conversation with the Brooklyn-based DJ Alyce Currier, AKA Lychee, Wark talks about how the book came to be. She explains how entire chapters of the book wrote themselves out in her head, and how she carefully chose 26 characters—all of which have a letter as a name—to represent the friends and acquaintances of hers from the world of queer nightlife. Her own relationship with raving started when she was still living in Australia. At the time, she says, she hadn't yet transitioned and was experiencing an ambient sense of gender dysphoria that only dancing and nightlife could placate. She didn't actually transition until she was in her late 50s, in 2017. "After I went on hormones, I couldn't write," she says. "But the pressure [to write Raving] was enabling, and I found my voice in this book."Wark and Currier also talk about what it means to bring club culture into academia, working with fellow rave scholar madison moore and how parties can serve the communities they're designed to cater to instead of exacerbating existing social structures that already exist. Listen to the episode in full.

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"I'm curious about everything—this is my power." The Ukrainian DJ and label boss sits down to discuss her approach to curating, self-development, parenthood and more.Nastia calls herself a "true DJ." The Ukrainian artist first laid hands on a pair of decks in 2005 after moving from her small hometown and attending the University of Donetsk. Beginning as a radio host at Kiss FM, where she curated a show called Nechto—now the name of her label—she started actively touring, pursuing a career dedicated to DJing and nothing else.Nastia is proud of having reached great heights as a DJ with no productions under her belt. In this conversation recorded live at Nuits Sonores festival in Lyon, she tells moderator Christine Kakaire about her decision to turn her attention towards the studio at the apex of her career. She also discusses her idiosyncratic style of putting a set together, using each stage appearance as an opportunity to educate the audience about music and create a narrative expressive of her internal world. "I'll never be just a drum & bass DJ, or just a techno DJ," she says. "I'm curious about everything—this is my power."Among Nastia's reflections on music are her considerations of the war in Ukraine, parenthood as a touring DJ, self-development and more. Listen to the episode in full.

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"Vocals go hand in hand with the grime I know." Ahead of his appearance at London's Waterworks Festival, the UK artist discusses the significance of MCs, working with Skrillex and more.Marc Veira, AKA Flowdan, sees MCs as the "hub of all the vibes." Growing up in East London's rich dancehall and reggae scene, he developed a singular view of music that blossomed into a career as a well-known MC and cofounder of the grime collective Roll Deep. Alongside a string of successful EPs and collaborations come on labels like Hyperdub and Tru Thoughts, he recently earned widespread plaudits for his collaboration with Skrillex and Fred Again…. on their anthem, "Rumble," which came out last year.In this RA Exchange with DJ and radio host Tash LC, Veira discusses how he got to this point, starting from his time at home and his mother's passion for sound system culture. "The MC being the hub of all the vibes—I heard that in sound system culture," he says. He believes there still isn't enough credit afforded to vocalists in live performances more generally. "The grime I know, the garage I know, the drum & bass I know—vocals go hand in hand with all of that. And at festivals, massive artists headlining shows have no mention of their vocalists. That's not what the music is."Veira also unpacks his love for working with other people, his mentorship of up-and-coming producers and using Flowdan as the character behind which he hides his natural shyness on stage. To hear more about his creative process and trajectory, listen to the episode in full.

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"I've been lucky to work with some of my favourite artists of all time." The Grammy Award-winning producer discusses working with Jay-Z, throwing dubstep parties and his new album.Many people know James Blake as the singer behind the breakout cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love," which was a hit in the underground and global pop music charts, or the Grammy Award-winning producer who has worked with artists like Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Vince Staples and Bon Iver, among many others.Before all of this, Blake was making records for R&S and Hemlock—two UK mainstays in the dubstep and garage scenes. As a 20-year-old, he was also throwing bass nights on his Goldsmiths University campus called The Bass Society, inviting the likes of Skream & Benga to empty auditoriums. Back then, “we never made any money," he describes in this week's RA Exchange. "But we had so much fun. The feeling of promoting a night and getting Distance to come and play your night, even if there were only 20 people there, just felt like such a massive achievement."His passion for this music never left, and now he's coming full circle with his album Playing Robots Into Heaven, out September 8th. For more on his vision behind this new record, his collage-like production techniques and his take on being a producer versus an artist, listen to the episode in full.

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"These records changed my emotional perspective on music." Recorded live at Dekmantel, the Italian techno artist dissects the records that shaped his approach to DJing and production.There are few artists as widely respected as Donato Dozzy, who is known for his unique approach to building hypnotic, acid-infused atmospheres as a solo artist and as one half of Voices From The Lake. He is also a singular curator at the head of Spazio Disponibile alongside Neel, and a DJ with a reputation for building sophisticated and slowly unwinding sets at festivals like Labyrinth, Terraforma and Horst, as well as in public spaces and museums.In this Exchange live from Dekmantel 2023, Resident Advisor's editor-in-chief, Whitney Wei, asks Dozzy about the songs that shaped his craft in our Playing Favourites flagship series. He takes us back to his childhood, playing the first track that introduced him to electronic music before moving chronologically through his life and the pieces that acted as lynchpins in his creative development. He discusses how he grew up in a musical household, listening to classical orchestrations with his parents before finding Italo disco and the stylings of Giorgio Moroder, Lory D and The Future Sound of London. These albums, he says, influenced how he builds his sets, leaning into slowly unfolding narratives as he moves from one track to another. "When I started releasing albums, I decided that I wanted to create stories," he says. Listen to the episode in full.Tracklist:Franco Battiato - Summer on a Solitary BeachGiorgio Moroder - The ChaseLory D - Abrupt InterruptionThe Future Sound of London - CascadeKruder & Dorfmeister - DJ Kicks 1996Mike Parker - DispatchesDie Woodys - Fitchtl's LiedVerde Prato - Nina SonandoDonato Dozzy - Valentina

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"I've always been fascinated with extreme art." The Fast Forward member discusses the Copenhagen techno sound, eroticism and his proclivity for noise and black metal.Martin Schacke has been leading the charge on developing the psytrance-inspired techno sound that's dominated clubs over the last couple of years. He's also known for making provocative, catchy club tunes like "Kisloty People"—his breakout single from 2019—and Apocalyptic Decadence, an LP that came out on Instruments of Discipline last year (which made Resident Advisor's "The Best Albums of 2022" list). He's joined by a rank of DJs from Copenhagen like Sugar and DJ Tool who are popularizing this fun and fast counterpoint to heads-down dance music, and which Schacke describes as originating from a desire to start a scene distinct from the Berghain sound.Interestingly, Schacke is also an artist of many trades. He's heavily involved with noise, industrial and black metal music, and he discusses how these more experimental forms have inspired his releases for the dance floor. "I've taken a lot of these ways of working with aesthetic opposites and absurdities from noise music, where it's normal to use extreme subject matter and go into dark territory and fun territory," he said. "I think those can really intertwine." In this RA Exchange, he talks about his roots in this scene as well as his proclivity for extreme aesthetics, taking breaks from dance music, the personal costs of choosing a life dedicated to being an artist and more. Listen to the episode in full.

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"Just be obsessed with music. Love it." The beloved London artist gives a masterclass on how to make it as a DJ and build a sustainable career.Alice Moxom—better known by her stage name, Moxie—started out as a radio DJ on Kiss FM and NTS before playing parties and touring full-time. Now she has a label and party series that she curates called On Loop, which has invited artists like Matthew Herbert, Josey Rebelle, Leon Vynehall, K-Hand and Joy Orbison, in venues across Europe and the UK. The key to her success, she says, is that she hasn't rushed anything in her career. "Your sound can evolve and you can change," she says. "If you're thinking about this as a real career, the [opportunities] will always come around." In this episode of Resident Advisor's Exchange—the second in a three-part masterclass series called Future Proof, a collaboration with Rhythm Section—co-host Bradley Zero says that Moxie is "one of the most organized and graceful DJs on the circuit." She reveals how she has steadily built a career from the ground up, detailing how she's developed a synergistic relationship with her booking agent; selectively chosen gigs and mix opportunities; maneuvered stylistically without confusing promoters; and cultivated lasting relationships with a team of people she trusts. Listen to the episode in full.This conversation was recorded live in December, and you can watch video shorts from the talk on YouTube. Watch the Masterclass video playlist via the link below:https://www.youtube.com/@rhythmsectioninternational/streamsRhythm Section’s Future Proof project is supported by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

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"Fandom is the new religion of our capitalist society." The genderqueer pop star discusses economic philosophy, queer aesthetics and the internet ahead of their new album.Avant-pop star Dorian Electra wasn't your average American student. As an 18-year-old, they were interested in exploring philosophy and political radicalisation through music, making their debut in 2010 with the song "I'm In Love With Friedrich Hayek"—a ballad to the economist who influenced Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher’s free-market ideology. Electra was simultaneously working as a stripper, channeling their exploration of gender into an early career series of pop videos that told the history of feminism, drag and vibrators. More than a decade later, the artist has brought these seemingly contradictory facets of their interests into a bizarre and beautiful symbiosis. On this week's RA Exchange, Electra speaks with moderator Gunseli Yalcinkaya about the underpinnings of Fanfare, their third album, which lands on October 6th. One of the album's central conceits is the meaning of fandom and online culture in 2023. "I've been experiencing hyper-online everything," they said. "The past few years have solidified the idea in my head that as we've grown increasingly secular, people still want something to give their life greater meaning, and they've found that in connecting with others online in a way that's largely replaced religion." They also discuss their proclivity for ultra-synthetic, cartoonishly masculine pop; their take on the internet zeitgeist; ADHD; musical performance as an expression of the extremities of human experience and more. Listen to the episode in full.This edition of the RA Exchange was recorded in collaboration with The Qube, London's first members' studio for music and content creators. If you're a music producer, songwriter, artist, photographer or podcaster and would like to apply for a membership, head over to theqube.com.

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"Devotion is the main aim—to try to encourage commitment in people." The fabric resident and Houghton festival founder discusses his love of the crowd, DJing and more.Craig Richards, arguably one of UK dance music's most respected DJs, is normally averse to the spotlight. But the multi-hyphenate artist and fabric resident has played the London institution every Saturday for nearly two decades, DJing alongside fellow household names like Ricardo Villalobos and Nicolas Lutz. Over the years, Richards has profoundly shaped the canon that's defined the space and its programming week in and week out.He’s keenly attuned to other DJs and the flow of a night, and he's not indebted to one particular style or genre. In a Resident Advisor feature from 2019, Ray Philp described his sound as "intergalactic space metal" that goes far beyond techno, house or electro, instead interplaying classics with deep, headsy tunes that he tirelessly seeks out every week.In this interview with RA's European deputy editor Carlos Hawthorn, Richards talks about what makes a good record, and the DJ's role as a bridge between the past and present. He also discusses his endeavours beyond the booth—most notably the idyllic festival he started in 2017, Houghton, which is set in the English countryside—and his passion for painting and cross-disciplinary creativity. Listen to the episode in full.

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"I approached and signed all of the first Warp acts." The Sheffield record producer and label cofounder discusses starting the UK label and the early days of bleep techno.Before Warp became the landmark label it is today, it was a Sheffield record store. Robert Gordon was an employee there in the early '80s, working alongside colleagues Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, with whom he'd start the label in 1989. Listeners familiar with the contemporary UK techno landscape may associate Warp with luminaries like Aphex Twin and other names associated with IDM and bleep techno. It also released a lot of artists who were recording in a Sheffield studio called FON, which is where Robert Gordon found his footing even before starting Warp.In this Exchange—conducted by DJ, producer, CDR founder and Resident Advisor board member Tony Nwachukwu—Gordon talks about FON and laying the groundwork for the Sheffield scene. In 1985, he recalls, it was the first local commercial 24-track studio and attracted luminaries like David Bowie, Yazz and groups tied to post-punk band Cabaret Voltaire. More recently, it's produced work by 808 State, Nightmares On Wax and Sweet Exorcist.Gordon also reflects on FON's early days. It was foundational to the sound of the '00s and formed a tight-knit community around itself that eventually became intrinsic to a bigger musical movement. Although Gordon left Warp in 1991, his A&Ring for the label—along with his own productions and engineering assistance—defined its sound. Listen to their conversation in full.

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