Dekmantel Podcast Series

American artist Introspekt (@sageintrospekt) has a sound rooted in the darker side of UKG but comes at it from a unique perspective that incorporates elements of US garage and ballroom. The LA-born, NYC-based talent has now made her mark in Europe as a DJ and a producer on labels like Eris Drew and Octo Octa's T4T LUV NRG. Her style blends heavy basslines, diva vocals and well-crafted broken beats into something that harks back to the sounds that once came out of the likes of Paradise Garage and Club Zanzibar, always with a focus on bringing up her own community. She says that the idea behind this week's mix was "to take the listener on a journey through tech-garage sonics and intergalactic dancehall rhythms." Tracks of her own and those from Skream, Holloway, Hatcha, Phuturistix and many more all plot a line through earth-shatteringly heavy rhythms from across the past, present and future of garage, dubstep and bass. It's a mix aimed at both body and head from this formidable talent and is a great taste of what to expect from her when she plays Dekmantel Festival later in the year.

Without people like Cashu (@carol-schutzer), São Paulo’s queer community wouldn't be thriving in the way that it is. The Mamba Negra label collective, party and label co-founder has been working tirelessly to provide safe spaces, creative outlets and raise funds for the LGBTQIA+ community for many years. She closely intertwines politics and dancing at events that reclaim urban spaces and now enjoys an international DJ diary that sees her mixing up breaks, techno, dancehall and electro across Amsterdam, Berlin, and places like our own Dekmantel Selectors. She takes us on a similarly whirlwind tour with this week's mix, including some unreleased gems. It's a full-throttle party selection that fires through several house, club and techno rhythms - some bounce on big bass, some are twisted with raw percussion and some get stripped back to loopy drums and trippy sound designs. These global beats from the likes of DJ Wawa, Nick León, and Lewis Lowe add up to a colourful carnival atmosphere that sounds even better when the sun is shining.

Stella Zekri (@stella-zekri-ouiddir) is based in Berlin but her sound defies the usual expectations of those who dance in the city best known for house and techno. Her sets instead are instead led by soul and emotion and reach far and wide into the worlds of hip hop, house, new beat, trance, jazz, disco and bring rich colours and exultant vibes to the scene. She often likes to play long sets and isn't afraid of twisting and turning through diverse tempos and rhythms along the way, which is something she also does at the Body Language events she founded with Camilla Rae and Caitlin Russell in 2021. They have brought something all new to the queer scene in Berlin, while her monthly Breakfast Show on Refuge Worldwide and her studio work with 80s zouk and boogie band Stella and the Longos are further creative outlets that make Stella a new school star. All of this is reflected in the sixty-minute selection Stella has put together for us this week: it's a celebration of her eclectic collection that is powered by outgoing pianos, emotive vocals and gleeful grooves. There are old school house jams and silky soul-laced depths, happy 90s tracks and plenty of sensuous voices that all prove Stella Zekri's ability to keep the good times flowing is second to none.

There is nothing ordinary about Sepehr (@sepehr-a): he hails from the Bay Area of San Fran, is based in New York City but has Iranian heritage and takes great pleasure in pulling apart everything you think you know about dance music. His maverick approach results in versatile and genre-defiant sounds that collide EBM, drum & bass, techno, electro, acid and plenty more on some of the finest labels out there. He runs his own Shaytoon Records which is focussed on the Middle Eastern underground, and in May lands on our own Dekmanel Records with Genesis Domain, a varied EP full of intriguing sounds. The same could be said of his mix for us this week. It's a deep dive into his eclectic and eccentric musical mind that spans several sounds and scenes. Although united by body-moving rhythms, there is everything from club to techno to broken beat and plenty more besides. Each track is packed with detail and surrealist sounds that will keep your head as busy as your heels.

JakoJako (@jakojako_live) always wanted to make music and her self-confessed hyperactivity ultimately led to her getting the most joy out of playing about with machines and patching up synths. These days the Berghain resident is a celebrated live act and DJ who draws on the considerable knowledge she picked up working at Berlin's legendary synth shop SchneidersLaden, but she has also worked on several high-profile motion sensor dance projects at places like The Royal Albert Hall. Her smart sound designs and unique rhythms have landed on Leisure System, Tresor and Figure and she has a new EP coming on Mute this June. Her mix for us this week features a sneak preview of one of the tracks from that EP as well as mixing up music from Alaric, Siege, Altinbas and many more. It's full of high-speed sounds couched loosely in techno but with moods and textures borrowed from industrial, minimal and even trance as things reach an emotional peak late on. Though she broke through as a live act, this set shows JakoJako can now speak just as freely through the decks.

Answer Code Request (@answercoderequest) has long since mastered the art of mixing up the physical the with cerebral. His broken, industrial-tinged techno drums are powerful enough to have made him a long-time Berghain resident, while his harmonic pads make a lasting impact on your mind. While releasing on the likes of Ostgut Ton, Dolly Deluxe and Monkeytown Records, he has also established his own ACR label and never fails to blur boundaries between sub-genres whenever he steps out with a new sound or set. He pulls no punches on this week's mix which is a broad showcase of his ability to thread together many different strains of techno and beyond into a coherent whole. There's everything from transcendental and linear rollers to dubby bangers, twitchy rave anthems blissed out deep space minimalism via party starting piano house. It's fun and functional in equal measure and is the sound of a DJ very much in full flow.

In very loose terms, James K's (@jamesk_1 music operates at the fringes of the pop world. It is experimental and industrial, packed with hooks and riddled with dreamy textures that show off her mastery of synths. She has released it in album form with Dial and Incenso, dropped EPs on AD 93 and collaborated with the likes of Drew McDowall and Stefan Maie, and always manages to imbue her adventurous arrangements with real-world emotions and anxieties. This year she will join us at Dekmantel Festival but not before serving up this week's podcast. It's the sort of rhythmically thrilling workout that has always stood James apart: jittery drum patterns and kinetic grooves that unfold at 100 miles an hour as a barrage of caustic motifs, hypnagogic melodies and hyper-real colours all bounce about the mix. There is an ever-present sense of tension in the way things are assembled - it's as if they might implode or explode at any minute, and it all sounds fantastically futuristic.

Priori (@priori-ties) has always explored a wide range of techno from dense and introspective to more joyous, often against the backdrop of technological possibilities. He hails from Canada and has been prolific since first emerging with two full-lengths to his name on his own NAFF label. They pair dubby undercurrents with crystalline melodies and contain the sort of unresolved tensions that keep you locked in for the ride. This weekend he plays Dekmantel Naarm 2024 but first has served up this new mi for us. Priori says this is the first dance mix he's done in a long time, adding "It's an hour and a half of fresh rhythms and rave sounds that I recorded while on tour in Australia. It features a few tracks I have been playing a lot lately and some forthcoming bits by myself and some friends." In just over 90 minutes he works through a rollercoaster of deep techno rhythms that are firmly focused on the future and flow as fluidly as water.

Mia Koden (@miakoden) first emerged as half of Sicaria Sound but since breaking out alone has established her own musical identity. It draws on her South Sudanese heritage and music from across the African continent and beyond, not least her current surroundings in South London and the city's rich sound system culture. Often operating around the 140BPM mark, she dropped two head-turning tracks ‘Hot Take' and 'I Did’ early last year then debuted on Ilian Tape with a dark and irresistible EP that traverses multiple bass-heavy genres. Mia does the same with her mix for us this week with, in her words, "bass, percussive, 2step, 140BPM, dubstep, dub, dub techno and breaks" all coming thick and fast at up to 150 beats per minute. It's a breathless 90-minute selection of global body music packed with lively percussion, big on low ends and not afraid to get rhythmically inventive while also dropping in the odd playful vocal from the worlds of grime and r&b. Both technically sound and tastefully assembled, it's a thrilling statement from the vital Koden.

British-Nigerian-born, Berlin-based Richard Akingbehin (@richard-akingbehin) is behind many crucial projects in electronic music, and most of them revolve around his exploration of deep and dubby sounds. Not only is he a co-founder of the excellent Refuge Worldwide radio station, but he also runs the experimental label Kynant Record and has some key residencies when not headlining other cult clubs around the world. His label recently released the first new album from dub techno don Tikiman in almost 20 years and this summer the pair will be playing together again as part of a mini tour. Ahead of joining us at Dekmantel Selectors later this year, Richard recorded this week's mix for us in the Refuge Worldwide studio with the aim of showcasing what he is playing in the clubs at the moment. It takes in his signature blend of dub techno styles with music from the likes of Parallel 9, Tikiman, Dialog and Delano Smith. It's spacious and unhurried but slowly ramps up the pressure to get you on your toes and vibing to his ever-warm, supple and minimal rhythms.