Dekmantel Podcast

It might well have been her set at Freerotation in summer 2018 that really got people talking about Gigsta. It was there that the hardcore heads in the crowd were all abuzz with her fresh mix of heavy bass, house funk, off kilter rhythms and kinked synths. Since then she has become more and more visible at key parties round Europe, not only as resident at Berlin's Room 4 Resistance but also throug...

Nene H has been hailed as one of techno's most strikingly singular artists. In the studio she mixes up her passion for folk and religious music as well as bruising club sounds with layers of spirituality, found sound and analogue aesthetics. Despite only first getting involved in the scene in 2015, she is already at home at places like Berlin Atonal, either playing live or laying down a DJ set, an...

Low Jack has been bringing an accessible experimentalism to club music throughout his career. The DJ and live act from France is a firm favourite on the digital arts festival circuit with a dark, tension filled and industrial tinged sound that has landed on L.I.E.S., Les Disques De La Bretagne and Trilogy Tapes and taken him to clubs like Berghain. Next to his techno he has also recently blended d...

Norway's Prins Thomas is a giant of an artist whose influence looms large over the whole of the Scandi-scene. The space-disco king has a sound that draws on electro, krautrock, psychedelia and prog in melodically majestic ways and has given rise to a wealth of fully realised studio albums and classy dance floor singles, mostly on Smalltown Supersound. His latest record, 2019's Ambitions, is one of...

Tutu is someone who people speak about with a real sense of reverence despite the fact she very much remains in the shadows of the scene. The reason? Her electrifying DJ sets, which are brilliantly experimental, brave and adventurous in the way they pay no attention to rules or traditions. The Spaniard born Gemma Planell plays anything from IDM to ambient, to grime, bass and plenty of hard to defi...

Oceanic makes distinctly modern house and techno with attention grabbing synths and lithe sound design. The Dutchman's production is often quirky and curious and finds him bringing plenty of subtly inventive new ideas to his grooves. They have come on the likes of Nous'klaer Audio, while last year he put out a live recording of one of his many sets at Amsterdam's De School. It was an experimental...

Chicago born @Antenes is a Brooklyn based synth obsessive. She builds her own modulars and then sets them to the future to cook up rough edged warehouse tracks that are gritty and bleakly atmospheric, as well as more textured, detailed ambient work. She has done installations at Moogfest as well as playing as far afield as China, Colombia and Japan, and has appeared on LIES, Silent Season, Bunker...

French born but Amsterdam based for almost 20 years, Kléo draws on her work as a visual artist when she's painting colourful musical landscapes in the DJ booth. She also takes the same approach when programming soul, jazz and boogie at Café Belgique. It is a homely space that suits her heartfelt sounds, while her Red Light Radio show has become synonymous with music that is just as sensitive. Afte...

Many people have an NTS show, but few are as closely attached to the London station as much as DEBONAIR. A key part of the team in its initial days, she has not only become a much loved host, but as Programme Director in the station's first year she helped to make the station the vital and vibrant cultural hub that it is. She is an adventurous DJ who rides rough punk basslines, gnarly electro and...

Last month, the Parisian duo of Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvalh aka Acid Arab took us on another absorbing musical tour with their latest album Jdid on Crammed Discs. Typically widescreen in influences, it is a real melting pot of sounds, melodies, percussion, strings and vocals from all across eastern music that bring new character to tried and tested house and techno rhythms. The Acid Arab sound...

Plaid's techno is some of the most thoughtful out there, and the way the British pair deliver it is often just as interesting. Take Ed Handley and Andy Turner's latest album, Polymer, which came with its own interactive web environment and encouraged us to think about the role artificial substances play in our lives. Musically it was a harder-edged mix of broken techno and heavy snares, but still...

One of the many highlights of this year's Lente Kabinet was a radiant set from Barbara Boeing. It brimmed with music from her homeland of Brazil and spanned everything from funk to synth, pop to soul. After many years building up her digital archives, it was only a couple years ago that Boeing decided to start collecting vinyl in order to open up new musical worlds and challenge herself as a DJ. B...

re:ni's secret weapon is the way she plays with rhythm with such ease. Whether banging 130bpm club tracks or nailing down slick UK techno, keeping it deep with 100bpm rollers freaking you out with acid she is a devilishly dexterous DJ. Because of this she has become an NTS regular, firm favourite at places like De School and Dimensions and counts Timedance boss Batu and the Livity Sound crew as fa...

Cleveland bridges many different musical divides. He is a DJ, producer and party promoter from Luxembourg but based in Brussels, and in all those disciplines likes to focus more on mood and texture than specific genres. He has a sound that is thought provoking and complex but never too academic, and has explored the deeper, more synth heavy end of the dance spectrum onlabels like Hivern Discs, WHI...

Aquarian makes and plays music that feels familiar but is hard to pin down. His take on techno, jungle, rave and bass is alien and unique, a blend of the Berlin, London and Detroit sounds we all know and love, but with a little something extra injected into it to give it a mutant sense of funk. The Canadian is now based in Germany and has released on Quiet Time Tapes as well as his own Hanger Mana...

To pick up five Grammy award nominations means you're pretty special, and American composer, electronic pioneer and neo-classical recording artist Suzanne Ciani is just that. In her early days she got pure magic out of the brand new Buchla synth that immediately set her apart and earned her the title of "America's first female synth hero". With a wealth of studio and live albums under her belt and...

Nummer's music is characterised by a passion for obscurity and authenticity. This characterises the records the French pair endlessly dig for, as well as the studio full of custom built and second hand pieces of hardware they collect. When used to make their own music, the results range from ambient soundscapes to jacking dance floor bangers via electro futurism. It comes on their Nummer Music as...

Bulgarian born, Helsinki based Katerina has a unique take on rhythm and favours unusual moods in her music. That made her a perfect artist for the always left of centre Cómeme label, where she debuted late last year with a EP of improvised melody, post-industrial beats and lo-fi samples that swelled with fascinating ideas and emotions. In the club, she is unashamedly influenced by DJ Quik but brin...

London based, B. Traits is one of the most visible women in dance music who continues to champion underground sounds to cross over crowds. From intimate clubs to festivals and soon a guided meditation event in EartH, Dalston she follows an unpredictable path. It’s the same story with the mix she has put together for us this week. It’s a high energy selection which touches on every style of techno...

Australian Lauren Hansom has the sort of expansive and immersive sound that makes her a perfect fit for a range of settings. She’s proven this with radio shows on Red Light Radio, NTS and Worldwide FM, as well as DJ sets everywhere from Lente Kabinet to Gottwood Festival via plenty of key European clubs. As an avid vinyl collector she delves deep into unknown corners of jazz, soft pop, acid, Balea...

Antigone is a key player on the Parisian scene who has helped to bring techno back into focus. He did it with his residency at Concrete, but also his releases on labels like Token, Dement3d and Soma. Whether raw and rugged, melancholic and melodic or more tracery and big room in style, he has an always interesting and complex style that stands him out from the pack. In the DJ booth he is focussed...

Istanbul born Debora Ipekel has been slowly but surely bubbling up on the London scene for a few years. She is an NTS and Worldwide FM host who digs deep during sets at cultured spots like Brilliant Corners, and also runs her Zel Zele Records. Mixing up anything from trippy fusion, Turkish folk and psych, jazz-funk or kraut, she plots worldly wonders and cosmic trips that are richly rewarding. The...

The last few years have seen Volvox rightfully come of age on the international scene. The self-styled “techno disciple” has been shaping and driving the Brooklyn underground ever since moving to NYC from Boston in 2011, but has been hosting events and laying down tough sets for more than a decade. A couple of residencies in that time have seen her push both an acid house sound and a harder techno...

CEM’s unique DJ style has been referred to as “emotive hysteria” and that couldn’t be more apt. He plays in highly intense and energetic ways, lacing together frenzied and frantic techno with a UK edge. A core resident at Berlin’s cult Herrensauna party at Tresor, he draws on his punk upbringing back in Vienna to cook up the sort of electrifying soundtracks that have become vital to the queer comm...

Proud Brooklynite Adam X is one of the most pivotal figures in techno. As a founding father of the US rave scene with his brother Frankie Bones, he played hard and fast in the early years before losing himself in industrial. Having very much driven the revival of interest in that style, he remains at the sharp edge of the scene from his current home in Berlin, where he continues to turn out raw an...