RA Exchange

"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 an...

"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 w...

"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 si...

"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 br...

"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 Herber...

"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 Lov...

"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, DJ...

"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 lab...

"It's through collaboration that I've grown most with my sound." In this collaboration with Rhythm Section, the multi-instrumentalist talks about how he found his style and started his career. Jordan Rakei is a self-made musician. A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer whose work dips into soul, hip-hop and electronic music, he moved to London from New Zealand, giving himself a four-month...

"DJing and lecturing aren't different practices for me. I just fuse them together." The scholar and performer reflects on bringing critical ideas to club spaces and writing about raves.madison moore is a true multi-hyphenate: an artist, scholar, DJ and assistant professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Despite having a hand in so many seemingly disparate endeavors, however, moore...

"What is our shared purpose and motivation for being here?" Our guest editor for June discusses community-building, innovation in music technology and more in this week's Exchange. Cherie Hu thinks about music differently. Trained in classical piano at The Juilliard School in New York, she went on to study math at Harvard while simultaneously launching a freelance journalism career. It was towards...

"Singing is super vulnerable, but it's such a big release." The DJ and producer opens up about her new album and how she brings deeply personal issues to bear. Jayda G's father, William Richard Guy, died shortly before she turned ten. In the months leading up to his death, with the help of Jayda G's older sister, he recorded 11 hours of video tapes documenting his story for his youngest daughter....

"Punk is more an attitude than a style of music. And I think that techno is way more punk than punk." The Spanish DJ discusses the ethos of the underground, vinyl DJing and more on this week's Exchange from AVA Festival. Héctor Oaks relocated from his hometown of Madrid to study at "Berlin University"—the clubs, record stores and underground parties that would shape his career as an artist. After...

"If you feel like you're not progressing, the likelihood is that everyone else you're looking at is going through exactly the same thing." Conducta and Charisse C talk about isolation and mental health in this collaboration with Black Minds Matter UK.Resident Advisor is delighted to welcome back our quarterly collaboration with Black Minds Matter UK, a charity connecting Black individuals and fami...

"The dance floor is a portal and a transmission tool in addition to being a technology of togetherness." The British author’s new book, Dance Your Way Home, offers a sociocultural history of the dance floor. Emma Warren has been documenting grassroots music culture since co-founding Jockey Slut magazine in the mid '90s. From those early years to subsequent stints at THE FACE and Brixton’s youth-ru...

This episode of the RA Exchange originally ran in 2022.Shanti Celeste is one of those artists whose personality matches her DJ style. Her fun-loving nature and breezy demeanour always light up a room, as do her vibrant sets that span sunny house music, slow-burning disco and emotive techno—just revisit her RA podcast for a reminder. Fresh off her Hessle Audio debut, the London-based artist sat dow...

"We were doing parties in Staten Island that were completely packed; Manhattan didn't want anything to do with us." Three New York visionaries discuss the city's '90s heyday.'90s nightlife in New York conjures images of Party Monster, jacking disco house and a rotating cast of mega clubs that saw thousands of revellers pass through their doors each weekend. From Limelight and Sound Factory to Pall...

"You realise you're not just playing music. You give people the power to empower themselves." Cofounders CEM and MCMLXXXV discuss the revered party series and its fledgling label. Berlin queer party Herrensauna—which means "men's sauna" in German—started as a seed of an idea shared between friends Cem Dukkha (AKA CEM) and Nicholas Endlicher (AKA MCMLXXXV). They were teenagers in Vienna at the time...

"You can trace techno's origins to the seminal 1988 album Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit, which featured many producers that are now regarded as techno pioneers." We discuss Detroit techno, Frankfurt's electronic music museum and more in this month's Critics' Roundtable. As we approach the end of May, and with it, Movement Festival in Detroit—one of the longest-running dance music events i...

"It feels like every artist is presenting their work in the same way that a gallery or an art institution would." Seven artists share their thoughts on the genre-bending label and its legacy. Resident Advisor's April cover features Bill Kouligas, the singular curator at the helm of PAN. Now celebrating 15 years, the imprint's releases traverse a dizzying array of mediums and genres. As Whitney Wei...

"This is me dealing with how to be a progressive man in this era." The Sea Cucumber boss discusses his new album on PAN in this live Exchange from Rewire. Malaysian Chinese artist Tzusing is currently splitting his time between Taipei and Shanghai, but he spent a significant amount of time in the US as a young adult and university student. It was only after moving back to China in his early 20s an...

"Going back-to-back makes sense. We live together, we really love the same music." The Berlin-based duo discuss their partnership behind the decks—and in life. Tama Sumo and Lakuti are two of Berlin's best-known house DJs. Partners in life and in music, they've played as solo artists (and together) since the early '90s, and hold residencies at Panorama Bar. Unsurprisingly, they have an unparallele...

"Live improvised hardware connects so directly to the fundamental rawness of electronic music." UK techno lynchpin Surgeon reflects on his connection to machines and making music on the fly. Surgeon, also known as Anthony Child, has been one of techno's most influential and consistently brilliant artists since the mid-'90s. For the last decade, he has spent most of his creative resources on develo...

"Dance music artists are creating in an environment where they can be more outspoken about their queerness, which means that their work becomes extensions of their queerness." RA's critics discuss expressions of gender and sexuality in the underground scene during this month's roundtable. Each month, Resident Advisor reviews a number of standout EPs, albums and singles, but there are some that res...

“I actually believe that humans are made for more than what we're currently doing. We just need to switch on parts of our brains that we're not." Funktion-One creator Tony Andrews reflects on music and spirituality live from AVA London. According to visionary sound system designer Tony Andrews, the creator of Funktion-One, there’s a spiritual current that unites humanity—and good sound is the firs...