RA Podcast Resident Advisor

"Soundscapes reveal a lot about how people think and behave." The field recordist and musician talks about listening culture, repatriating African sounds and his new album with The Bug.

Today's conversation moves away from the dance floor, focusing instead on the soft, ambient soundscapes of the Berlin-based musician Joseph Kamaru—AKA KMRU—whose work has been featured at festivals like CTM, Mutek, Atonal, Horst Music and Arts, Dekmantel, and Unsound; concert halls like The Barbican; and major galleries and site-specific installations around the world.

Kamaru moved to Europe from Nairobi, where he first became interested in music production, and field recordings specifically. As a graduate student in the sonic arts, he learned that the majority of the discourse around sound art practices is specific to Western Eurocentric or occidental ways of thinking. He's since embarked on a mission to use field recording as a means of repatriating African identities that are often left out of institutional archives and grapple with the legacy of colonialism.

In this RA Exchange, Kamaru reflects on the sociopolitical angle of his work, and his observation that listening, by its very nature, is never neutral. He also talks about how civilisation and technology has changed our collective listening habits; how sound sources beyond the human hearing range make their way into his work with the use of electromagnetic microphones; and his new album, Disconnect, made with the musician Kevin Richard Martin (AKA The Bug). Listen to the episode in full.

Bangers from around the globe. Dar Disku launched with a question: how to channel heritage into dance floor elation? Well, when your name translates to 'home of the disco,' the brief feels pretty self-explanatory.

In the first few years, that meant crafting edits of Khaliji hi-NRG and Bollywood soundtracks to fit contemporary 'crates. They took off as DJs through a run of radio and parties in the UK—where they currently reside—flexing deep finds from across the SWANA region. Their vibrant debut album, out in September on Soundway, furthers the mission.

True to form, their RA Podcast is stuffed with heaters from all over the map: Algeria, India, Chile, Jordan, Australia, Turkey, Libya and Morocco get a look-in, as well as a few staple acts that betray the kind of high-wattage European festivals the duo increasingly frequent. It's not hard to see why—this mix is 90 minutes of sunshine.

@dardisku @soundway-records

Read more at ra.co/podcast/946

"We used to roll up socks in our shoes to give us an extra inch." The childhood friends talk about coming of age in Belfast and their label and event series, CHROMA.

Bicep—the Irish duo Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar—have been winning over the hearts of fans with trance-inflected, melancholic dance music since 2009. In this interview with RA editor Gabriel Szatan, the childhood friends talk about how they got where they are, unpacking their creative process and the abiding musical influence of their hometown, Belfast, a city where emotional trance reigned supreme.

They also discuss their ongoing multidisciplinary project, CHROMA—a record label, event series and evolving live audiovisual show. Ferguson and McBriar say that the idea for CHROMA came from a sense that their DJ sets were becoming too "sugary," so they buckled down with a renewed focus on creating dynamic new productions made specifically for the dance floor and their sets. The result is a string of hard-hitting EPs which you can find online now. Listen to the episode in full.

Wormhole techno from a DJ you need to know. KYRUH is a high-impact specialist forced in the crucible of modern NYC's notable spaces, including WIRE, Dweller and Bossa Nova Civic Club. Their sound is that of a DJ skilled at pressure without requiring shortcuts through obvious terrain, adept at hammering it without defaulting to speed alone.

After years burning a hole through the American underground, 2024 is proving to be a tipping point. KYRUH's appearance on Kelela remix compilation RAVE:N in spring lit the touchpaper for a run of gritty productions and increasingly prominent slots across North America and Europe.

The tracklist for their RA Podcast goes deep, accommodating producers like x3butterfly and Faster Horses alongside veterans Lady Starlight, Femanyst, House of God resident Paul Damage Bailey and underrated Swedish ripper Tobias Von Hoftsen. To those still wondering where to find 'proper techno' in 2024: look no further.

@kyruhx

Read more at ra.co/podcast/945

As a producer and DJ, TSVI is in the form of his life—which you can't always say for an artist a decade in. He's been an enduring presence through several underground cycles for a reason: the man knows how to flow.

TSVI's RA Podcast features a solid number of new and forthcoming cuts from the current vanguard pushing club music forward, amongst them Verraco, Surusinghe, DJ Plead, Doctor Jeep, DJ JM, WOST and Dj Babatr—who just dropped a split 12" with TSVI on TraTraTrax last month.

Alongside the names you might expect, TSVI also leans into a streak of personal history. On RA.944 you'll hear fast, deep and percussive '90s and '00s cuts from Spain, Latin America and his native Italy, with a particular focus on the kind of playful progressive trance minted by the late, great Franchino. It makes for a truly dynamite mix.

@tsvisions @nervoushorizon

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/944

Pure energy from one of electronic music's brightest lights: Sofia Kourtesis. Clamour had built around the Peruvian artist's poignant brand of house music following a string of EPs and 12"s, culminating in last year's Madres—a passionate, vulnerable and excellent album that resonated widely.

Madres packed in rare specificity for a dancefloor record, combining paeans to the power of sound with direct tributes to the neurosurgeon who saved the life of Kourtesis' mother. (Kourtesis even took him clubbing in Berlin as an additional thank you.) The album's earworm melodies and approachable aura helped launch Kourtesis from bubbling to breakthrough on the global stage. In both sound and impact, it mirrors another record: Swim, the 2010 classic made by Kourtesis' friend and mentor, Dan Snaith.

Speaking of @caribouband: RA.943 kicks off with a brand new Sofia Kourtesis & Daphni collaboration, before powering through summer-ready cuts from LUXE, Floating Points, IceMorph, DJ ADHD and an old Oliver Lieb classic. Even as her reputation as a recording artist swells, this power-hour mix is a sharp reminder of Kourtesis' DJing chops, teeing up a victory-lap summer ahead.

@sofia-kourtesis

Read more at ra.co/podcast/943