Dekmantel Mix Series Archive 1-500

A vast technical understanding underpins the work of Rotterdam's @albertabalsam. It allows her to deconstruct norms and rebuild music with her own rules as she draws on electro, IDM, heavy techno, broken beats and avant-acid sounds. This has made her a firm favourite at artful events all across Europe where she joins the dots between outlier sounds while never forgetting to get people dancing, whi...

UK dance music has always been defined by its eclecticism. And few artists capture that better than @yazzus-1. Both her sets and her productions are turbocharged tornados that collide rave, breakbeat, techno, jungle and footwork. They are playful and knowingly over-the-top, take in plenty of bootlegged edits and have landed her on labels like Diplo's Mad Decent, Mall Grab's Steel City Dance Discs...

For as long as there has been footwork, there has been Jana Rush (@jaru-1). The Chicago-born pioneer started on the decks aged just 10 and was producing not long after. Since the mid-nineties, she has put out music that endlessly innovates within the juke and footwork framework. Her coiled rhythms and stripped-back drums are the vehicles for emotions that range from anguish to empowerment. Last ye...

American @tonebnimble has been a vital part of the dance music underground since growing up in Chicago in the mid-eighties. He's one of those artists who has always stayed under the radar but is a firm favourite with those who know, from Sadar Bahar to Gilles Peterson. Part of that is because of the faultless labels he runs which shine a light on both lesser known and more modern soul, disco and g...

@orpheuthewizard is one of the many jewels in the Amsterdam scene, as well as being a regular with us here at Dekmantel. He's one of those DJs who was born for the backroom, a place where his curveballs and oddities make for subversive soundtracks that span sounds and scenes from across the decades. For that reason, he is an ever-popular guest on stations like NTS and can either cast you adrift in...

Coco Bryce (@cocobrycebeats) is a veteran of the drum & bass scene, but also one of its most cutting-edge artists. The Breda-born DJ and producer is a master of intricate drum patterns and superbly warm and emotive pads. His silky, soulful sounds some with deft vocals and proper piano riffs that are always on the more minimal end of the spectrum, but still make a lasting impact. Next to his own My...

@monotronique hails from Kharkiv, which is one of the cities affected most by the war in Ukraine. Before the invasion, he had become one of its most definitive DJs thanks to his residency at Zhivot. That was the platform that helped him break out on the European scene with his brand mix of house, techno and bass. Drawing on those genres, his productions pair minimalism with experimentalism and hav...

@flore is adept in many different fields. She was Ableton's first certified female trainer in her native France. She pioneers a leftfield take on bass with her own music and heads up the crucial POLAAR label. Her explosive sense of energy and ever-curious mind draws on the fundamentals of Jamaican sound system culture and embellishes it with the new music she is constantly searching for. Across tw...

Like many of his generation, @lefto Early Bird has gained a global following because of his radio shows. Broadcasting on the likes of Studio Brussel, Kiosk Radio and Worldwide FM from his base in Brussels, he's become a beacon of good taste whether dropping jazz, new beat, house or hip hop. He manages to make seemingly unrelated sounds make sense in the same context and is just as versatile in the...

For the last decade, the tireless work of Tel-Aviv quartet Maor Anava, Zach Bar, Yoav Magriso and Ariel Tagar has been shining a light on magnificently obscure and previously forgotten Middle Eastern sounds. As a DJ crew and label heads of Fortuna Records, their carefully curated reissues focus on the psychedelic end of the spectrum and give their Israeli homeland the exposure it deserves. Their N...

For @eliasmazian, music is a time capsule - a form of transport to somewhere safe and secluded away from every day worries. It is a way for the Dutchman with Moroccan roots to express his deepest emotions and connect the music of his childhood with contemporary sounds from around the world. He showcased this with us at Dekmantel Connects back in 2021 and always in the music he makes. He crafts a m...

Composer, DJ and sound artist @yu_su is Vancouver-based but China-born and she makes music that travels just as far. It is rooted on the dance floor but with influences that span a wide array of emotions, styles and scenes. From jazz to ambient to organic synthesis, wistful texture to her own multi-instrumental skills, she brings a new style of composition to her work. That was best exemplified on...

@kiernan-laveaux is a boundless ball of chaos energy - an adventurous spirit, conducting the binary dissolving forces of our world that are reflected & transmuted through the unbridled passion contained within her DJing. The Cleveland artist's mission is "to channel love and understanding to dancers of open mind and spirit everywhere." Since 2014, her ethos of community building, personal autonomy...

@dee_diggs plays with a sense of rapture that can be soft or heavy, but is always fun. The East Coast selector is Brooklyn-based, and that's where her House of Diggs party offers a place for marginalized groups to express and organize themselves. Next to this, she has a residency at Public Records but no matter where she plays, you can be sure it is always with real respect for the Black roots of...

Peach's DJ bio simply reads: "Ball of energy." And that's exactly what she brings each and every time. The Toronto-born, London-based DJ has made high impact, thrillingly eclectic sets an art form in the last few years having first started to turn heads with her brilliantly broad radio shows on NTS. Her dynamism also carries over into the music she has produced for labels like Midland's Intergrade...

As co-founder of the MNML SSGS blog, Chris SSG was at the heart of dance music's most pressing discussions and cutting edge sounds from 2007 - 2012. Though originally from Melbourne, he has been based between Osaka and Tokyo for some time. It is in that city that he has hosted a number of events while also playing his own ambient, techno and experimental sets further afield around Japan as well as...

Oliver Hafenbauer is a quietly influential artist who, for many years, shaped not only his local Frankfurt scene but also the wider electronic underground through his work with the legendary Robert Johnson club. In 2019 he stepped away from his roles there and has made his own mark. He is an accomplished DJ who takes his expert selection of house, IDM, techno and electro all around Europe, and als...

Over the past decade, Santiago-born, Mexico-based producer @tomasurquieta has harnessed his own brand of noise. His sounds are heavily textured, often distorted, and range from hammering techno bangers to intense flurries of drums and caustic synths. It is protest music that gave rise to his excellent 2018 long player Duenos de Nada and has continued to challenge the system ever since with a mix o...

@biancalexis brings a whole new level to the world of eclectic DJing. Anyone who has regularly tuned into her radio sets for dublab or NTS will know that there is no limit to what she might play. It isn't just the electronic spectrum she traverses with ease, but also soul, synth-pop, folk, post-punk, soft rock and myriad other sounds. She also knows how to hold down a vibe in the club, either at h...

Experimental sound artist KMRU(@kamarujoseph)is a master of quietness. His music is as much about empty space as it is the delicate field recordings that fill it in. The Kenyan artist has been perfecting this balancing act from his base in Berlin, most notably on 2020 full-length Peel. It's a record of slowly unfolding synth beauty and drawn-out drone mindfulness. Soft focus chords bleed and blend...

@shannensp has made big moves in quick time. After teenage years immersed in the sound system culture of nights like SubDub in Leeds, she moved to London and started working with Hyperdub, produced with hosted on NTS, and then took off as a DJ. She has a sound rooted in the black music that exists around the edges of traditional house and techno. Be it kuduro, dancehall, bass, kwaito, hip hop or w...

@tammohesselink has always been enthralled by rhythm. He explores the unknown areas in between the UK's broken beats and hypnotic trans-Atlantic techno. Hailing from a small town, he did things himself to start with and soon turned heads with his respected The Invariants label. After that began to get wider attention for its spacious and supple sounds, he went on to become a regular on Nous'klaer...

@adab arrived at a love of electronic music on the dance floor of queer-run techno party In Training in their native Cleveland. Before long, they went on to established themselves as a DJ who plays electric sets of house, techno and club beats as part of a constant quest to "seek the unifying elements in the world and themselves." The Pittsburgh resident and radio regular is now half of Cleveland...

Vivian Koch (@kochvivian) has real range. For labels like Life And Death, a.r.t.less and AD 93 she has served up everything from IDM to moody breaks, ambient soundscapes to emotive techno. Her most recent album - last year's ominous but hopeful Beyond Contact - was fine proof of that from the Berlin-based artist who started DJing aged just 16. She has since mastered the art of making and playing c...

Tarzsa (@tarzsa_williams) has quickly become a firm favourite amongst lovers of electronic soul. From her hometown of Manchester, she secured a radio residency with NTS and DJ residency with the local Swing Ting crew, both of which have served as platforms for her to showcase her selections. They span hip hop, soul, r&b, jazzy dance styles and can go from laidback sessions to peak time party. Ahea...