Tripped-out excursions through percussive club music with the Nowadays resident.

Ayesha Chugh, AKA Ayesha, makes club music that activates the body. The Brooklyn-based artist has spent the last few years carving out a distinct lane in modern club music. Her fusion of dubstep, techno and essential '90s rave elements into dynamite club tools that test and support dancers in equal measure. This time though, for her RA Podcast, Chugh purposefully tilts in a "more colorful wonky direction."

Since first turning heads with releases on labels like Fever AM and Kindergarten Records, she’s continued to refine a sound that feels both playful and punishing, marked by writhing basslines, rumbling drums and an innate ability to make bodies move. Her productions capture a kind of kinetic precision—tracks that are slippery yet forceful, balancing psychedelic textures with dubstep-like physicality and club-focused power. As Andrew Ryce wrote of her debut, Rhythm is Memory, her skill is "full of textures that wrap around the otherwise thudding, sub-heavy kick drums." After a serious accident in 2024 stopped her in her tracks, this year marks a full return to global touring with a new vantage point on life and the sound she seeks to push.

RA.983, clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, finds Chugh flexing that club muscle once again. Offering a tour through global club music both old and new, it's based around a set at her home base Nowadays this February. It's a patient but relentless ride: from deep, tunneling psytrance, progressive techno and slippery electro before really turning on the gas at the half mark, moving into slanted UK techno territory.

As she explains in the Q&A, it's a carefully curated selection of tracks that probes "what we perceive as tasteful." It's a mix that speaks to her deep knowledge of dance music’s lineage—and her intuitive ability to push it forward.

@aye5ha

Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/983

"Sound systems are really what move me." The up-and-coming techno artist talks about the physicality of sound and how psychedelics inform his work in the studio.

What makes a good artist? In this RA Exchange, British DJ and producer Andrew Shobeiri, AKA Rene Wise, reflects on being a relatively new name in the scene and considers the success that ultimately comes with time and experience. "There's never a point where you're done," he says.

While Shobeiri is only a few years into his career, the up-and-comer already knows how to draw a crowd. He has finely tuned a highly kinetic and hypnotic techno sound that's brought him legions of fans and bookings on the world's top club and festival lineups. He divulges the ingredients that go into a Rene Wise set, including sound sources from genres beyond the club, like salsa, Iranian radif and the strange orchestration of Steve Reich. He also talks about his experience with psychedelics—which helped lay the groundwork for some of his most formative musical experiences—as well as how sound systems have changed the way he perceives and composes tracks for the dance floor. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

Another Barker masterclass.

Sam Barker asks more from techno. The artist known simply as Barker is one of electronic music's most consistently conscientious and curious producers, challenging listeners to question the norms we accept about our shared culture—whether it's the music that fills the room, the process behind it, or the purpose of the space itself.

British-born yet based in Berlin since 2007, Barker forged a connection to many of the city's leading institutions, including Ostgut Ton, and over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, he carved out one of the more singular paths on the club and label's roster.

Not one for orthodoxy, Barker challenged four-to-the-floor techno framework in favor of melodic experimentation. By decentering or completely stripping away the typical trappings of kick drums and claps, his productions are both light and immersive, buoyant in low-end presence and shimmering in weightless space.

Six years after Utility, his sophomore album Stochastic Drift arrives this month. Shaped by pandemic-driven reinvention, it burrows deeper into harmonic twists and freeform drift. "At some point I became conscious of the process," he wrote of his latest album. "The only thing you can do is embrace the uncertainty and see every change as a potential positive.”

Consider his RA Podcast another sequel. Like his much-beloved 2019 mix for FACT, it's a collage of live recordings and a fitting expression of the artist's own internal spring. RA.982 radiates wide-eyed optimism: percussion cloaked in foggy, swirling pads and trance-like chords, neatly synched in synthetic glimmers.

All in all, it's an hour of music crafted for contemplation, collective euphoria, or heads-down epiphany—or for that matter, any moment, really, its emotive depth seemingly endless.

@voltek

Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/982

The beloved German producer talks about finding inner peace, overstimulation and his new album on Pampa Records.

Mental health is a topic that comes up frequently in the music industry, but it's still not discussed enough among electronic music's top performers. In this RA Exchange, Stefan Kozalla—better known as DJ Koze—opens up about his battle with anxiety, self-doubt and rising expectations that come with being a long-standing, high-profile name. He talks about overstimulation, music as rest and the compromises artists need to make to have relevance and staying power.

Kozalla, a beloved and eccentric German artist who has developed a cult following over the course of his career, has productions on esteemed labels like XL, Kompakt, Cocoon, Warp, Ninja Tune and BPitch, which garner praise as soon as they're released. "Every time DJ Koze comes out of the woodwork to drop a 12-inch—or even just a remix—we usually end up hearing it everywhere for months on end," wrote former RA editor Andrew Ryce.

Kozalla talks to RA contributor (and former editor) Matt Unicomb about his production process and early influences—an uncanny combination of Basic Channel and Public Enemy—as well as his forthcoming album, Music Can Hear Us, coming out on Pampa Records on April 4th. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

Big feelings for big rooms with the Club Heart Broken founder.

Club Heart Broken is perhaps a misnomer. The party and label, founded in Cologne by MALUGI, may take its name from one of life's tougher emotions, but the vibe is all about unfettered, unadulterated joy.

It's a state of mind its founder fully embodies—he's called himself the "happiest man in dance music." (We tried fact-checking this, but watching him perform seems proof enough.)

Club Heart Broken's motto is simple: a party should be fun. A "party for lovers, loners and losers," the crew also made up of ferrari rot, SURF 2 GLORY and fellow maximalist Marlon Hoffstadt, represent the sound of young Berlin in the 2020s, notorious as they are beloved.

Since relocating from Cologne, the party has snapped the German's capital infamously serious techno stereotype with its anything-goes, unpretentious music policy. It's made him and Hoffstadt especially in-demand worldwide—queues used to extend out of the door of Watergate and across Oberbaumbrücke.

Musically, MALUGI is the most eclectic in the crew. His metaphorical record bag carries a lot of label material, from zingy Eurodance to upbeat pumpers, but also plenty of steppy, tuff UK bass music. Releases from Main Phase and Interplanetary Criminal, the likes of dubplate label ec2a, and even the odd Big Ang record pepper his sets, much of which you'll hear here.

MALUGI's RA Podcast is a window into the more house-y side of his sound. From bubbling garage to chunky chords, RA.981 is a testament to MALUGI's belief: the best parties should leave you grinning, not crying.

@malugienergy

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/981.

Neffa-T is a technical wizard, regularly firing up dance floors with his turbo-charged four-deck mixing. At Waterworks 2024, he delivered a blistering hour of grime, techno and more.

@neffa-t

"We wanted to let go of everything we know." The Berghain residents talk about underground values, leaving behind expectations and their collaborative album, LAYER ONE.

Berghain residents and now frequent collaborators Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem have become synonymous with the classic, no frills aesthetic that's come to define the Berlin institution's sound, with one exception: their newest LP, LAYER ONE. The album sees them step away from techno in a listening experience that explores IDM, ambient and experimental electronic music with guest vocal appearances by UK artists Cobey Sey and Flowdan.

In this Exchange, they talk to Chloe Lula about this departure from their typical style, which imagines a post-human world where AI reigns supreme. They also reflect on building generational bridges in the music industry; how their respective ideas of success have changed; underground values and sensibilities; and why the ethos of an earlier era continues to inform their work.

Klock also revisits the decade that's elapsed since his last RA interview, including why he's chosen to return to the studio after years on the road, his unexpected career as a DJ and the key to long-lasting relevance in a scene that doesn't slow down. Listen to the episode in full.

Modern hypnotics from a new techno star.

It's a tale as old as time: techno DJ moves to Berlin to chase a dream. Philippa Pacho is part of the latest wave of talent to tread that familiar path. But don't let that fool you. She's one of the classiest artists around—no TikTok gimmicks here.

Pacho's formative years were spent in her native Stockholm, navigating a vibrant DIY party scene that included warehouse raves and illegal parties. She eventually took up a long-standing residency at beloved local club Under Bron and the experience, as she details in this week's Q&A, sharpened her technical skills, teaching her to handle every type of set—whether opening with patience, supporting a headliner or closing with finesse. She also played with countless touring DJs, from Answer Code Request to Antony Parasole, which ultimately inspired her move to Berlin.

That relocation has firmly paid off. It's a testament to Pacho's talent that you'll find her playing pretty much every big club and festival across Europe, from Berghain and Dekmantel to FOLD and Monument (we were exhausted just looking at her upcoming listings on RA). Other recent highlights include closing out Bassiani's tenth birthday, and back-to-backs with Fadi Mohem and Sandrien.

Pacho's RA Podcast showcases her preference for classy, hypnotic techno, striking a balance between muscle and subtle groove. Her aptitude for what makes dance floors tick is also evident on her two labels—Phorum Records and positivesource (co-run with Blue Hour)—both of which mirror her DJ style, blending intensity with delicate textures. positivesource has released several standout records, including this year's "Psycho" by BLANKA and Phil Berg's "Psyckik" (which you'll hear on this mix).

Spanning 70 minutes, RA.980 is a window into Pacho's thoroughly modern sound (the oldest track is from 2018). And yet it retains a refined, sweeping quality. Give it a spin and you'll soon twig why she's in demand on dance floors worldwide.

@philippapacho

Read the interview and find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/980

An hour and a half of propulsive rave-ready tunes, recorded live from Magnetic Fields 2024. No one fires up a dance floor like Yazzus.

@yazzus-1

@magneticfieldsfestival

On the Saturday night at Magnetic Fields 2024, New Delhi artist Monophonik sent the afterparty crowd into a trance with 90 minutes of spectral live techno.

@monophonikmusic

@magneticfieldsfestival