Dekmantel Mix Series Archive 1-500

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Dekmantel Podcast 356 - Tristan Arp Oct 26, 2021

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Mexico-city based @tristanarp blurred the lines between the synthetic and the organic on his second full-length, Sculpturegardening. Released on Wisdom Teeth just last week, the Human Pitch label boss approached the album as a gardener might approach a landscape: using his array of machines and modular synths he let the music write itself. It's resulted in an album that bristles with glitches, ambient pads, downtempo drums, digital perc and micro-house details that succeeds in its mission to blend the made with the played. With this week's podcast, Tristan - who is also a member of Asa Tone with Melati Malay and Kaazi - aimed to show off all his sides as a producer, listener and DJ. While his album goes beyond the dance floor, here he mixes those styles with what he would play in a club. "Slippery rhythms, levitating environments and everything between these orbits," as he describes it. There are lots of edits, often many tracks are layered up at once and the whole thing plays out with many an unpredictable twist and turn. It's as adventurous and asymmetrical as you would expect from this always innovative artist.

Dekmantel Podcast 355 - Manni Dee Oct 18, 2021

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@mannidee finds comfort in vibing off a room full of people who are lost in abrasive textures and high octane rhythms. It is that industrial brand of techno which he has perfected over the years, not least on his new Perc Trax LP, A Low Level Love. It is his second full length after 2018's The Residue on Tresor and shows a marked evolution in his sound. While still defined by blistering drum patterns and caustic synths, there is also plenty of melody and introspection in the record. As much as it is a fresh look for him, it's a fresh sound for techno, too. On this week's podcast, the London based artist goes hard and fast. He pays homage to his love of grime with a blistering industrial rework of a Stormzy track which launches us into a world of distorted drums and tortured synths. The ensuing barrage of sound is coloured with everything from trance chords to club rhythms and lashings of acid. It's a full throttle mix that is always on the move, much like Manni Dee himself.

Dekmantel Podcast 354 - Air Max '97 Oct 11, 2021

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@airmax97 concocts rhythms and manipulates synths in weird and wonderful ways. His tracks are brilliantly curious and drip with personality while also making you want to move. He layers up textures and atmospheres like a painter spreads oil on canvas and does so with both eyes firmly on the future. Releasing mostly on his own DECISIONS label as well as the likes of Timedance, the multidisciplinary artist works across a number of creative fields from design and art direction to mixing music. Most recently, he has put out his 'Psyllium / Eat The Rich' release on Timedance featuring two highly detailed, sub-heavy bangers. On this week's podcast, he threads together a diverse array of sounds. There are contemporary grime rhythms, heavy bass cuts and stripped-back techno twisters from the likes of Ikävä Pii, Azu Tiwaline and Ayesha as well as plenty of some unreleased exclusives and a host of his own remixes and originals. It's seriously playful and - like his more recent productions - grows increasingly minimal and skeletal as it unfolds, with devastating results.

Dekmantel Podcast 353 - Dis Fig Oct 04, 2021

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There is nothing safe about @dis_fig. The Berlin-based artist makes confrontational, unconventional music that harnesses the power of chaos. She initially came up on the New York club scene but was always most interested in the weirder end of the spectrum so moved to Berlin. It is there that she has established herself as someone who operates on the fringes of the dance floor. Her debut album PURGE in 2019 was wrought with emotional turmoil thanks to her own unique vocal work, while the electronics were just as twisted and harrowing. Last year she showed another side to her vocal skills on In Blue, a collaborative album of bass-heavy dreamscapes with The Bug. This week's mix is 90 minutes of fulsome body music, contorting rhythms and exaggerated percussion. The boundaries between club, techno, jungle, rap and bass are blurred as Dis Fig plots a route through them all with great control. Even when tempos jump around wildly, there is no break in the flow, and to end such a high octane ride on the sultry mind nineties r&b of Total is a stroke of genius.

Dekmantel Podcast 352 - Mark Seven Sep 27, 2021

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By choice, @mark_seven keeps a low profile. But the truth is, he is one of those low-key but influential characters you really should know. The Stockholm-based Brit is a busy record dealer and online store owner as well as DJ and producer with a penchant for timeless disco and house. He showcases this in his productions, but also via his much-loved Parkway and Parkwest labels which explore both the soulful and more punchy sides of disco and early house. Loosely defined by raw drums, sweet Italo melodies and hints of early garage, this work has made him a firm favourite of everyone from Hunee to Jamie Tiller to Eris Drew. After 30 years in the game, there aren't many aspects of house and disco he hasn't explored. All that feeds into his glorious mix for us, which is in celebration of the 10-year Parkway Records anniversary in mid-October. It is packed with happy, classy tunes and big vocals from across the ages. The crunchy drum textures and tinny melodies, warm basslines and infectious claps all transport you to a utopian dance floor packed with smiling faces and loose limbs. It's a life-affirming selection that will uplift and enrich your soul. https://soundcloud.com/mark_seven https://soundcloud.com/parkway-records

Dekmantel Podcast 351 - Darwin Sep 20, 2021

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Darwin (@darwinspec) juggles many different roles in dance music as well as she juggles her records in the DJ booth. The Canadian-born, Berlin-based artist runs her own REEF parties at Berghain, and has nurtured a wealth of emerging talents on her SPE:C label. She is also the founder of Clean Scene, a climate action collective that wants to explore a more sustainable future for dance music. They recently authored a stark report about the industry's carbon footprint, which you can read through cleanscene.club/report.pdf. Darwin's sound is rooted in various UK styles, from bass to dubstep, garage to breakbeat. That is evident in the 100-minute mix she lays down for us this week. It opens with thoughts about environmentalism and some indigenous jungle recordings before grinding through chunky Afro drum patterns and supersized bass. The pressure builds throughout, the cavernous rhythms grow ever more muscular as the urge to snake your body becomes overwhelming. It's a perfectly balanced, well-controlled mix that showcases the irresistible power of heavyweight bass music.

Dekmantel Podcast 350 - Akua Sep 13, 2021

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Techno has been reclaimed and refined in the last few years. For Ghanaian-American Discwoman associate Akua (@akua_b), that means a deep dedication to bringing forth narratives about the genre's history. It's about original, authentic and rebellious old school values of the sort that Underground Resistance defined so early on. It's about breaking modern expectations with a fresh sense of attitude. Her recontextualisation of techno centres its long lineage for contemporary audiences. All this most often plays out in Akua's blazing sets, most often during the late-night and early morning hours of the clubs around her New York City hometown. They find her transmute 90s nostalgia while connecting the dots between past and present. "Playing fast feels cathartic," she says, "and helps me deal with the nostalgia I have for a time that I never got to experience but remember and connect with so fondly.” This week's mix is a testament to that: it starts with 1994's 'Global Warning' from the late great K-Hand and goes on to cover decades of history at warp speed. There are frenetic layers of percussion and hammering kick drums, bouncing bass lines and arresting rave synths all threaded together into something hugely powerful and muscular. It is only a DJ with Akua's sense of control that can serve up a chaotic collision of sound in such a compelling way. Tracklist K-Hand - Global Warning [Warp, 1994] Voltage 9 - Untitled B1 - Candema [Synewave, 1994] Drax (Thomas P. Heckmann) - Search [Trope Recordings, 1998] Mike Dearborn - Warning [Majesty, 1994] Gene Hunt - Juno 106 [Contaminated Muzik, 1998] NYCO - Plasticity [ESP Collective, 2021] DJ Shufflemaster - 808 Cosmetics [Self-Released, 2018] Mike Dunn - Damn You All [Trax Records, 1994] DJ Powerout - Lift [Synewave, 1995] DJ Slugo - Taris Sleeps Wild [Dance Mania, 1995] DJ Rush - Control Yourself [Djax-Up-Beats, 1999] Fuzz Face (DJ Hyperactive + Woody McBride) - New Ones [Communique, 1996] DJ Slip - Bushwick Birds [Kanzleramt, 2001] DJ Hyperactive - Get In [4 Track Recordings, 2008] Joey Beltram - Caliber [Warp, 1994] Surgeon - THX-1139 (Level) [1996] Creeper - Spoke [Cluster Records, 1997] DJ Jes - True Honesty [Contaminated Muzik, 1998] Tevatron - Molekule [Re-load Records, 1998] Jana Clemen - Momentum [Convex, 2001] Decoder - Populations [Self-Released, 2021] Unknown Force - Internal Drive [430 West, 1995] Bios - Basic Black [Black Nation, 1998] DJ Apollo - Hooligan Stomp [Head In The Clouds, 1996] DJ Genderfluid - Dirty Funker [Wet Trax, 2021] Woody McBride + DJ T-1000 - Test Three [Generator Records, 1995] Fumiya Tanaka - Micro One [Torema, 1995] Max Watts - Ichi 3 [ESP Collective, 2021] DJ Rashad - Acid Bit (Feat. Addison Groove) [Hyperdub, 2013]

Dekmantel Podcast 349 - Peverelist Sep 06, 2021

Show notes

@peverelist is one of those artist’s whose legacy is already assured. His labels Punch Drunk and Livity Sound have been at the cutting edge of their own unique musical niches for more than a decade. Fusing their native Bristol’s history of dub, sound system culture and bass, their output deals in endlessly fascinating genre mutations that continue to push electronic music forward. Peverelist’s own captivating rhythms and precise sound designs have always been at the heart of that, bridging the gap between hypnotic techno and heavy bass. And that’s the path he heads down on this week’s mix. The one hour selection weaves a thread through all the sounds you’d find in his orbit - stripped back beat science and Gqom, UK funky and mesmeric dub techno. Always stripped back but never devoid of character, this is physical yet meditative music that taps into that deep desire we all have inside: to move to the sound of pounding drums.

Dekmantel Podcast 348 - Kareem Ali Sep 01, 2021

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American Kareem Ali (@kmx19) came to dance music late but has very quickly made a big impression. The formally trained trumpeter has a fascination with the cosmos that colours all his music. Over nearly 50 releases he has proven himself adept at making everything from sleek electro to deep house, driving techno to cinematic ambient. The breakout producer also runs his own CosmoFlux label which he hopes will one day become a non-profit that hosts day parties aimed towards young people of colour. In the mix for us this week, he laces together a smooth and seductive set of richly musical house grooves. It is songs that he is playing mostly, with proper chords and gorgeous vocals that always enrich the soul. Ali is a devout man who is averse to dance music's tendency towards hedonism, but his selections here truly uplift. There is a spiritual aspect to what he does that warms the heart and brings joy in a different sort of way.

Dekmantel Podcast 347 - Cinema Royale Aug 23, 2021

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@cinema-royale is a DJ who plays flawlessly, no matter the setting or style of music he reaches for. As a lifelong lover and collector of film soundtracks, he likes to take the weird and make it wonderful; to make out-of-context moments into transcendental delights. As one of Amsterdam's deepest diggers, he can put records together that no one else can and is part of the core Dekmantel family. In February, he put together his Profondo Nero compilation for the label and made connections between soulful disco, breaks, electro-rap, Balearic, boogie and much more in ways that only he could. This week he takes us deep across a superb two-hour mix. Rather than following the traditional arc of a DJ set, Cinema Royale is happy to pump the party with a glossy retro-boogie gem then pull back to dubby disco vibe. His sounds are always bright and big-hearted, the grooves uplifting and feel good. Like any decent movie, this is a fluid but unpredictable mix that will have you coming back for more time and time again.

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