Dekmantel Podcast Series dekmantel

Londoner Josey Rebelle is 'just' a DJ. She doesn't make records, she plays them, but she plays them like no one else. Her impeccable taste and ability to join the dots between disparate genres in the club, on the radio and with the compilations she puts out has won her countless awards. She is known for drawing on her Caribbean roots as much as she is for the passion she pays with and the authenticity of her selections. Whether old or new, jungle or soul, a Josey Rebelle set is a thing of joy.

And she proves that for us this week with an almost two-hour mix that traverses a dizzying amount of terrain. It's a club-focussed trip that fizzes with apocalyptic energy before taking off into worlds of cosmic techno, twitchy club music and supple jungle. The drama comes as much from the mixing as the tunes but one thing is for sure, there is no real way of knowing whether you're listening to sounds from the past, present or future.

Konduku (@kondukukonduku) is Dutch-born but with a proud Turkish heritage that colours the music he makes. It's impactful techno but with curious time signatures and minimalist percussive that draws on the rhythms of his ancestral homeland. As the son of a musician and Balkan folklore dancer, he was always set to spend his life in music and so far it's been a rich one that has included a standout debut album on Nous’klaer in 2018 and fresh EPs on the cult likes of Delsin, Bitta and Spazio Disponibile.

This week's mix showcases exactly what he is all about with 80 minutes of supple and subversive techno. Liquid tracks from Jeff Mills, Donato Dozzy, Shackleton and plenty of his own all feature in this timeless trip where slick transitions and carefully threaded grooves constantly build mood and atmosphere. From deep and cosmic to dark and dystopian, there is an always underlying tension that keeps both mind and body utterly locked in.

My World My Way was the name of @e-saggila's album back in 2019. It perfectly encapsulates her brazen approach to sound which chews up and spits out everything from noise to breakcore to techno. The Iraq-born, Toronto-based artist has always revelled in the contrast between tempos, shocking rhythms and distorted textures. Part of the thrill of listening to it is the sense it could all collapse at any moment, whether releasing on her label Summer Isle or the likes of Opal Tapes, Hospital Productions, and Northern Electronics.

This week she delivers an hour of pure electronic potency that brings to life her uniquely dystopian visions. Staring in what sounds like a haunted underground metro station, she then transitions into futuristic worlds of pulsating bass, squealing synths, scratchy melodies and hyper-driven percussive patterns that race along into the unknown. It's an abstract selection of sound that is cerebral and cinematic but will also cause utter carnage in a club setting.

Bogota-born, Berlin-based Tania Humeres Correa aka @thc_dj has perfected the art of high-energy sounds that get big room crowds close together. The Rinse FM host has her own party series La Noche with Byron Yeates and sibling DHC, and with the latter plays back-to-back as S-candalo. Acid, potent rave bangers, vocal gems and deeper delights all feature in her sets which always look to combine an unbridled sense of party with plenty of emotional nuance.

This week's mix was recorded just after the start of festival season so is aimed at getting your summer started in style. Staying true to her signature house sounds with plenty of warmth, euphoria and rolling grooves, it's a perfect representation of her ideal dance floor soundtrack. While leaning towards the energy of the main stage and "anthemic vastness," her selections never forget about the all-important elements of intimacy and soul which help the beats make a lasting impression.

Wave Arising (@wavearising) aka @69db aka Sebastian Vaughan has lived through many musical movements from hip hop to acid house, rave to hardcore. He began making his own as a drummer and drums remain at the heart of his weightless techno sounds all these years later. That was exemplified once more by his most recent album which is an exercise in rhythm that works equally on mind, body and soul. He has long been a part of several key techno collectives including Spiral Tribe, SP23, R-Zac and Dharma Techno and seeks to bring movement, trance and spirituality to the weightless sounds he makes and plays as Wave Arising alongside the dancer Kynsie.

This week he has put together a special live mix that has been fully improvised in the studio as opposed to a standard DJ selection. It comes ahead of his performance as 69db at Dekmantel Festival this year and is a perfect example of the intense and ritualistic music he makes: it's a tribal soundscape constructed from supple, elongated and heavy rhythms, spaced-out ambient pads and experimental dub movements that are all doused in psychedelic overtones which consumes all your focus.

Check Wave Arising's new album (The) Rooted Sky here: https://wavearising.bandcamp.com/album/the-rooted-sky

Polygonia's (@polygonia) creative world knows no boundaries. It is a project from Munich-based instrumentalist Lindsey Wang that incorporates production, DJing, illustration, graphic design, and photography. Wang is a core part of the IO collective which works all across the audiovisual spectrum, and also runs her own label QEONE. Pining her down musically is hard as she isn't defined by tempo, but instead blends ambient and techno into soundscapes defined by great sound designs, texture and emotion.

Wang's love of exploring a dizzyingly diverse array of musical codes and colours is evident on this week's mix. The 90-minute showcase is a portal into a hyper-real world - an alien yet organic soundtrack of sub-aquatic synths, bioluminescent melodies and pulsing deep space rhythms. Pads drip and ripple, drums are dubbed out but direct and the mood is always brilliantly curious.