EX.743 Palms Trax

Enter the wormhole with one of the techno artists we're most excited about in 2025. Born in Osaka and now based in Tokyo, DJ MARIA. joins a decorated lineage of Japan's psychedelic elite, cut from a similarly explorative cloth as Wata Igarashi, Haruka and esoteric icons ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and DJ Nobu. This nerdy sanctum of deep techno is a notoriously hard world to break into: only the very best make the grade. DJ MARIA.'s head-spinning sets emphasise why she's already part of the club firmament at home, and is now in the midst of a global breakthrough. Her trademark is tapestries of acid, trance and techno that strike a perfect balance between vibrancy, impact and restraint. She bit the bug through a teenage discovery of DVDs showing legendary psytrance raves like Solstice and Vision Quest, yet it wasn't until 2014 that she started DJing, balancing gigs with shifts at Tokyo's Face Records and, as of late, motherhood. Today, as well as producing and touring venues such as FOLD and Bassiani, she helps run two boutique forest festivals—Moment and Transcendence—both of which play a big part in upholding Japan's storied techno tradition. DJ MARIA. has reached these heights principally because of her exceptional talent as a DJ, which is on full display on this week's RA Podcast. The two-hour mix is pure manna for psychedelic techno heads, though we're confident the depth of feeling, subtle pacing and seamless stitching will lure in fans from across the electronic spectrum. RA.971 is a total treasure—the latest wow moment from an artist destined to have a career littered with them. @djmaria-jp Read more at ra.co/podcast/971

"Why would you care about anyone else's opinion?" The DJ and dancer talks about work ethic, living authentically and the power of lifting each other up. DJ and dancer Patrick Mason emits high vibrations and high-energy dance music. But that wasn't always the case. Before he was playing the world's biggest techno festivals, he grew up in conservative Bavaria, where he claims that he "suppressed his truest self" as a closeted gay Black man. Born to an American GI father and a German mother, he learned the power of visualisation and hard work in order to launch himself to Berlin and the freedom of expression it represented. It was in the capital that he had his first sexual experiences and climbed the ranks of fashion and modelling, spending weekend stints at Berghain and immersing himself in the new world of techno. Career burnout and the Covid-19 lockdowns set Mason down the path of DJing in 2020, and he's since carved out a niche as a party-starter known for flamboyant selections that accompany his elaborate dance routines behind (and even on top of) the decks. In this interview recorded live at ADE 2024, he speaks with Chloe Lula about the obstacles he's overcome to get to the top, personal trauma and struggles with self-acceptance, body dysmorphia, depression, and gay male culture's sometimes unrealistic physical ideals. He also discusses his ambitions to marry the worlds of fashion and music, and his vision for a more authentic music industry. Listen to the episode in full.

The Dekmantel favourite kicks off 2025 in an exploratory mood. Since her breakout in 2017, Thessa Thorsing has built an enviable CV: a debut release on Nous'klaer Audio, an album on Dekmantel and a residency at former Amsterdam clubbing institution De School. Over these years, she's honed a singular sound, navigating wild variations in tempo and mood that dance along the edges of techno, IDM and drum & bass (we could list many more, but you know the drill). Her creative arc has seen her delve into ever more abstract concepts, such as 2024's ambient-leaning album, Strange Meridians, exploring the interplay between synthetic and natural textures through drumless experimentations. As she explained in her 2018 RA Breaking Through profile, "I just want to hear the weirdness in the music." Thorsing's RA Podcast showcases exactly why she's one of the most consistently adventurous names in dance music. Describing it as "a mix with a narrative," the former landscape architecture student flexes her ability to build sonic environments, beginning in a landscape more akin to a swamp than a club. Across 90 minutes, she moves through numerous layered terrains, exploring everything from Skee Mask's lucid, beatless techno to the piercing acid of Mike Parker. Unfolding with a restless sense of curiosity, RA.970 captures an artist challenging the boundaries of electronic music, ever upward. @upsammy Read more at ra.co/podcast/970

Ring in 2025 with a three-hour flex from a hero of UK club culture. They don't make DJs like Lukas Wigflex anymore. The Nottingham DJ and promoter has a love for UK club culture that borders on the unfathomable—and he does it all with a gusto that is unmistakably, one hundred percent pure Lukas. Wigflex started out as a "Wigflex Wednesdays," a free bar night in Nottingham with two-for-one pizzas to hook punters in. In the 19 years since, it has grown into one of the UK's most established party series, welcoming dance music giants while still championing homegrown talent. Recalling its journey from a modest bar night to powerhouse party, he told Stamp The Wax: "I created a mixtape and called it Wigflex 2000. It all just evolved naturally from that." "Evolved naturally" is, perhaps, too modest. In an increasingly hostile operating environment, it's hard to overstate the achievement of Wigflex's longevity, a testament to his tenacity and distinctive spirit. Who else, let's be honest, could get away with taglining their event, "Survival of the Wrongest." But don't let the tongue-and-cheek persona fool you, mind—he's deadly serious about tunes. His RA Podcast is a window into what Wigflex is all about: electro in all its shades, from the Hauffian to the Drexciyan, alongside wigged-out EBM and a healthy amount of Wigflex classics. Even if you didn't know it was coming from him, you would certainly get the impression it sounds a lot like somebody who adores dance music. What better way to ring in the New Year? @wigflex Read more at ra.co/podcast/969

The RA Exchange wraps up 2024 with an episode dedicated solely to vinyl culture, from dubplate production to record store culture, all-vinyl DJing and running labels that release records. In the first part of this episode, which was recorded live at Wire Festival, panelists and vinyl DJs Mary Yuzovskaya, Clarisa Kimskii and Devoye Folkes discuss the benefits and drawbacks of playing records in the digital era with RA editor Gabriel Szatan. According to the panelists, playing vinyl could be seen as a skill analogous to driving stick shift: while it's not always necessary, it gives new artists a better understanding of a DJ set's underlying machinery. They also talk about how a DJ's identity used to be intertwined with their personal collection of records, and how the digital paradigm shift presents today's DJs with infinite choices. The Exchange's second half takes listeners behind the scenes, investigating the challenges and opportunities inherent in running a business based on vinyl sales. Live from Wall to Wall Festival at RSO, HHV Records, Bandcamp Berlin, Objects Manufacturing and Elevate Record Store speak to the overhead investment, production time and ecological considerations they take into account in their day-to-day operations. They also shed light on the statistics behind the enormous sales of vinyl records in the past few years and the breakdown of which artists are making money from digital versus physical music sales and why. Listen to the episode in full.