EX.759 Rene Wise

A mix beamed in from the future by singeli's young star. If singeli has a new era, DJ Travella is its leading light. At just 23 years old, the Tanzanian producer is pushing the genre into fast, frenetic and unmistakably futuristic territory. And while there aren't too many entries in the RA Podcast's 20-year history where you can say, "this has no parallel whatsoever," RA.984 shatters that assumption in style. Singeli emerged from Dar es Salaam's underground in the early '00s, forged from limited resources and unlimited creativity. Producers looped and sped up taarab instrumentals using basic software like Virtual DJ, creating a sound that was chaotic, witty and lightning fast. With support from local studios like Sisso and Pamoja, singeli took root as the breakneck pulse of Tanzanian youth culture. Travella—real name Hamadi Hassani—came up outside that infrastructure. He began producing music aged ten, self-taught and internet-savvy. By 2022, he was touring Europe with Kampala-based collective Nyege Nyege and gaining global attention for a distinct style he's dubbed "cyber-singeli." Like gabber, hardcore and jungle before it, singeli is unapologetically go hard or go home. It's unique and utterly infectious. After all, what could possibly connect pop provocateur Arca to the late president of Tanzania? Not much—except singeli. Travella's RA Podcast is a white-knuckle ride through this blistering sonic universe. It's wild and joyful yet controlled—a window into one of the most exciting young minds in global club music. @user-643479850 Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/984.

"There's a long chain of people who benefit from artists making records." Nabil Ayers, the US president of Beggars Group, talks about independent artistry and how we fix a broken music economy. The independent music economy is broken. But Nabil Ayers, US President of Beggars Group—the home of independent labels 4AD, Matador Records, Rough Trade Records, XL Recordings and Young—is here to fix in. In this Exchange, he speaks with RA senior editor Nyshka Chandran about the primary issues plaguing the industry. But he also expertly articulates his efforts to address these shortcomings through research and policy initiatives from the top down. How can artists get paid more money in a world where music is a common good? And what is the role of an independent label in 2025 and beyond? Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

Tripped-out excursions through percussive club music with the Nowadays resident. Ayesha Chugh, AKA Ayesha, makes club music that activates the body. The Brooklyn-based artist has spent the last few years carving out a distinct lane in modern club music. Her fusion of dubstep, techno and essential '90s rave elements into dynamite club tools that test and support dancers in equal measure. This time though, for her RA Podcast, Chugh purposefully tilts in a "more colorful wonky direction." Since first turning heads with releases on labels like Fever AM and Kindergarten Records, she’s continued to refine a sound that feels both playful and punishing, marked by writhing basslines, rumbling drums and an innate ability to make bodies move. Her productions capture a kind of kinetic precision—tracks that are slippery yet forceful, balancing psychedelic textures with dubstep-like physicality and club-focused power. As Andrew Ryce wrote of her debut, Rhythm is Memory, her skill is "full of textures that wrap around the otherwise thudding, sub-heavy kick drums." After a serious accident in 2024 stopped her in her tracks, this year marks a full return to global touring with a new vantage point on life and the sound she seeks to push. RA.983, clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, finds Chugh flexing that club muscle once again. Offering a tour through global club music both old and new, it's based around a set at her home base Nowadays this February. It's a patient but relentless ride: from deep, tunneling psytrance, progressive techno and slippery electro before really turning on the gas at the half mark, moving into slanted UK techno territory. As she explains in the Q&A, it's a carefully curated selection of tracks that probes "what we perceive as tasteful." It's a mix that speaks to her deep knowledge of dance music’s lineage—and her intuitive ability to push it forward. @aye5ha Find the interview and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/983

Another Barker masterclass. Sam Barker asks more from techno. The artist known simply as Barker is one of electronic music's most consistently conscientious and curious producers, challenging listeners to question the norms we accept about our shared culture—whether it's the music that fills the room, the process behind it, or the purpose of the space itself. British-born yet based in Berlin since 2007, Barker forged a connection to many of the city's leading institutions, including Ostgut Ton, and over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, he carved out one of the more singular paths on the club and label's roster. Not one for orthodoxy, Barker challenged four-to-the-floor techno framework in favor of melodic experimentation. By decentering or completely stripping away the typical trappings of kick drums and claps, his productions are both light and immersive, buoyant in low-end presence and shimmering in weightless space. Six years after Utility, his sophomore album Stochastic Drift arrives this month. Shaped by pandemic-driven reinvention, it burrows deeper into harmonic twists and freeform drift. "At some point I became conscious of the process," he wrote of his latest album. "The only thing you can do is embrace the uncertainty and see every change as a potential positive.” Consider his RA Podcast another sequel. Like his much-beloved 2019 mix for FACT, it's a collage of live recordings and a fitting expression of the artist's own internal spring. RA.982 radiates wide-eyed optimism: percussion cloaked in foggy, swirling pads and trance-like chords, neatly synched in synthetic glimmers. All in all, it's an hour of music crafted for contemplation, collective euphoria, or heads-down epiphany—or for that matter, any moment, really, its emotive depth seemingly endless. @voltek Find the tracklist and Q&A at ra.co/podcast/982

The beloved German producer talks about finding inner peace, overstimulation and his new album on Pampa Records. Mental health is a topic that comes up frequently in the music industry, but it's still not discussed enough among electronic music's top performers. In this RA Exchange, Stefan Kozalla—better known as DJ Koze—opens up about his battle with anxiety, self-doubt and rising expectations that come with being a long-standing, high-profile name. He talks about overstimulation, music as rest and the compromises artists need to make to have relevance and staying power. Kozalla, a beloved and eccentric German artist who has developed a cult following over the course of his career, has productions on esteemed labels like XL, Kompakt, Cocoon, Warp, Ninja Tune and BPitch, which garner praise as soon as they're released. "Every time DJ Koze comes out of the woodwork to drop a 12-inch—or even just a remix—we usually end up hearing it everywhere for months on end," wrote former RA editor Andrew Ryce. Kozalla talks to RA contributor (and former editor) Matt Unicomb about his production process and early influences—an uncanny combination of Basic Channel and Public Enemy—as well as his forthcoming album, Music Can Hear Us, coming out on Pampa Records on April 4th. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula