RA Podcast

A lesson in rhythm from a former De School resident. When it comes to minimalist dance music, Ruben Üvez, AKA Konduku, is one of the best in the game right now. With a masterful and ever-shapeshifting understanding of rhythm, the Berlin-based artist crafts sublime dance music with a staunchly leftfield bent. Don't just take our word for it: how many DJs, after all, can claim to have moved De School to a puddle of tears? Musically, Üvez is hard to pin down. He's often billed as a techno artist, but actually you'll find his sound sits outside of the genre's many conventions. With an outsider's curiosity, he leans into diverse moods, tempos and genres, though one throughline is always how he arranges his drums. Whether it be deep, Nobu-core techno such as 2023's Hayal EP or UK beat science á la Peverelist on 2019's Gegek, he leads with rhythm across his DJing and production. The end product is a hypnotic, one-of-a-kind sound that hits the body before the brain has time to catch up. In short, it slaps. As Üvez's RA Podcast demonstrates, he's got a serious knack for crafting and selecting tunes that can deeply captivate a dance floor. Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, RA.967 is an excursion through a timeless sound, packed with long, layered blends, flick-of-the-wrist transitions, locked grooves and spine-tingling atmospherics. In 2020, we called Ruben Üvez one of techno's brightest new talents. This mix sees him ascending to a seat at the top table. @kondukukonduku Read more at ra.co/podcast/967

One of Mexico City's key players in session. Paulina Rodriguez, AKA Paurro, came to club music relatively late in life. It took hold of her for the first time when she was in her twenties, during a chance visit to the legendary London institution, fabric, in 2008. One look at her CV today would confirm that she's definitely made up for the late start. Sixteen years later, Rodriguez has worn nearly every hat in the industry, from radio programming, label management and PR to residencies at Mexico City's finest clubs. Nowadays, she's just as hard to pin down as ever, with a global reach: she currently holds a residency with Munich's Radio8000 and tours extensively across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The House of Paurro, her party series, is much like its globetrotting founder: this year alone it's hosted events at Tresor in Berlin, Making Time in Philadelphia and Public Records in New York City. Oh yeah and don't forget, she's also producing absolute bangers, such as 2022's "Galavision," in the moments in between. At the heart of it all: sharing unabashed joy, wherever that may be. It sounds like a lot, but you get the feeling the sky really is the only limit for Paurro. Rodriguez's journey wasn’t without struggle. She's openly addressed challenges like breaking into the industry as a Mexican artist and facing sexual harassment. Today, she's a champion of community-focused global club culture, embodying optimism and ambition. At the heart of it all: sharing unabashed joy, wherever that may be. Her RA Podcast is no different—it's a joyride through the House of Paurro, weaving together influences spanning a rich fusion of UK, Latin and truly borderless sounds. @paurrro ra.co/podcast/966

The producer best known as Huerco S. accompanies One Day, our record of the year, with two hours of minimal and dub introspections. This summer, Kansas-raised DJ and producer Brian Leeds released One Day under his revived Loidis alias. Enamoured with the restrained, loopy sounds of early '00s dance music, the album’s eight tracks linger in the air, luxuriating in dubbed-out chords, swung beats and sub vibrations. It's our favourite record of 2024 for a reason. It's a sound he's coined, in his typically teasing fashion, "dub mnml emo tech." All winks aside, it’s no wonder One Day became the soothing balm we all needed. In a scene overwhelmed by hard and fast trends, the softer—and Leeds might argue, more sincere—stylings of minimal and dub techno enjoyed a welcome second wind. Not only was One Day one of our favourites of the year (more on that this week), but it also inspired us to break our usual no-repeats rule, inviting Leeds back to the RA Podcast under a different alias after his 2019 turn as Huerco S. "The prevailing trends in dance music are more and more maximalist," Leeds noted. "I missed restraint, subtlety, and sensuality." Clocking in at just under two hours, RA.965 embodies that ethos in spades. @huerco_s Read more at ra.co/podcast/965

The longtime Perlon affiliate goes for big basslines and big grooves. It's 1996, and a young Fumiya Tanaka is shelling out hefty yet minimal percussive techno at Club Rockets in Osaka to an audience enraptured. Released as Mix-Up, the 90-minute recording captures Tanaka sounding rather like Jeff Mills or Surgeon. It's far cry from the sound he's known for today. Fumiya Tanaka's creative arc has seen him move away from these thunderous sounds to warmer shades of house and minimal. Since 2016, he's found a home on the inimitable German minimal label, crafting out a distinctive sound within the labels roster with an affection for tumbling basslines and spooky atmospheres. From 1996 to 2023, Tanaka ran a party series in Tokyo, Osaka and Berlin called "Chaos," which encapsulates the ethos of freedom Tanaka brings to a party. "When you hear music you've never heard before and encounter unknown territory, you will be so happy and totally absorbed," he told us back in 2019. "I want to keep that feeling." RA.964 achieves exactly that. Nearly three decades removed from his burst onto the scene, and after a good few years of asking, Tanaka's RA Podcast captures him in full house mode. Recorded at a Slapfunk party in Manchester, the Perlon maestro keeps the vibe funked-up, chunky and warm, punctuated by the occasional big breakdown and the odd lick of garage rudeness. No tracklist for now—but as Tanaka knows well, half the fun lies in the mystery. @fumiyatanaka_official Read more at ra.co/podcast/964