RA Exchange

EX.675 Donato Dozzy

"These records changed my emotional perspective on music." Recorded live at Dekmantel, the Italian techno artist dissects the records that shaped his approach to DJing and production.
There are few artists as widely respected as Donato Dozzy, who is known for his unique approach to building hypnotic, acid-infused atmospheres as a solo artist and as one half of Voices From The Lake. He is also a singular curator at the head of Spazio Disponibile alongside Neel, and a DJ with a reputation for building sophisticated and slowly unwinding sets at festivals like Labyrinth, Terraforma and Horst, as well as in public spaces and museums.
In this Exchange live from Dekmantel 2023, Resident Advisor's editor-in-chief, Whitney Wei, asks Dozzy about the songs that shaped his craft in our Playing Favourites flagship series. He takes us back to his childhood, playing the first track that introduced him to electronic music before moving chronologically through his life and the pieces that acted as lynchpins in his creative development. He discusses how he grew up in a musical household, listening to classical orchestrations with his parents before finding Italo disco and the stylings of Giorgio Moroder, Lory D and The Future Sound of London. These albums, he says, influenced how he builds his sets, leaning into slowly unfolding narratives as he moves from one track to another. "When I started releasing albums, I decided that I wanted to create stories," he says. Listen to the episode in full.
Tracklist:
Franco Battiato - Summer on a Solitary Beach
Giorgio Moroder - The Chase
Lory D - Abrupt Interruption
The Future Sound of London - Cascade
Kruder & Dorfmeister - DJ Kicks 1996
Mike Parker - Dispatches
Die Woodys - Fitchtl's Lied
Verde Prato - Nina Sonando
Donato Dozzy - Valentina

EX.674 Schacke

"I've always been fascinated with extreme art." The Fast Forward member discusses the Copenhagen techno sound, eroticism and his proclivity for noise and black metal.
Martin Schacke has been leading the charge on developing the psytrance-inspired techno sound that's dominated clubs over the last couple of years. He's also known for making provocative, catchy club tunes like "Kisloty People"—his breakout single from 2019—and Apocalyptic Decadence, an LP that came out on Instruments of Discipline last year (which made Resident Advisor's "The Best Albums of 2022" list). He's joined by a rank of DJs from Copenhagen like Sugar and DJ Tool who are popularizing this fun and fast counterpoint to heads-down dance music, and which Schacke describes as originating from a desire to start a scene distinct from the Berghain sound.
Interestingly, Schacke is also an artist of many trades. He's heavily involved with noise, industrial and black metal music, and he discusses how these more experimental forms have inspired his releases for the dance floor. "I've taken a lot of these ways of working with aesthetic opposites and absurdities from noise music, where it's normal to use extreme subject matter and go into dark territory and fun territory," he said. "I think those can really intertwine."
In this RA Exchange, he talks about his roots in this scene as well as his proclivity for extreme aesthetics, taking breaks from dance music, the personal costs of choosing a life dedicated to being an artist and more. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.673 Future Proof with Moxie

"Just be obsessed with music. Love it." The beloved London artist gives a masterclass on how to make it as a DJ and build a sustainable career.
Alice Moxom—better known by her stage name, Moxie—started out as a radio DJ on Kiss FM and NTS before playing parties and touring full-time. Now she has a label and party series that she curates called On Loop, which has invited artists like Matthew Herbert, Josey Rebelle, Leon Vynehall, K-Hand and Joy Orbison, in venues across Europe and the UK. The key to her success, she says, is that she hasn't rushed anything in her career. "Your sound can evolve and you can change," she says. "If you're thinking about this as a real career, the [opportunities] will always come around."
In this episode of Resident Advisor's Exchange—the second in a three-part masterclass series called Future Proof, a collaboration with Rhythm Section—co-host Bradley Zero says that Moxie is "one of the most organized and graceful DJs on the circuit." She reveals how she has steadily built a career from the ground up, detailing how she's developed a synergistic relationship with her booking agent; selectively chosen gigs and mix opportunities; maneuvered stylistically without confusing promoters; and cultivated lasting relationships with a team of people she trusts. Listen to the episode in full.
This conversation was recorded live in December, and you can watch video shorts from the talk on YouTube. Watch the Masterclass video playlist via the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/@rhythmsectioninternational/streams
Rhythm Section’s Future Proof project is supported by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

RA EX.672 Dorian Electra

"Fandom is the new religion of our capitalist society." The genderqueer pop star discusses economic philosophy, aesthetics and the internet ahead of their new album.
Avant-pop star Dorian Electra wasn't your average American student. As an 18-year-old, they were interested in exploring philosophy and political radicalisation through music, making their debut in 2010 with the song "I'm In Love With Friedrich Hayek"—a ballad to the economist who influenced Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher’s free-market ideology. Electra was simultaneously working as a stripper, channeling their exploration of gender into an early career series of pop videos that told the history of feminism, drag and vibrators. More than a decade later, the artist has brought these seemingly contradictory facets of their interests into a bizarre and beautiful symbiosis.
On this week's RA Exchange, Electra speaks with moderator Gunseli Yalcinkaya about the underpinnings of Fanfare, their third album, which lands on October 6th. One of the album's central conceits is the meaning of fandom and online culture in 2023. "I've been experiencing hyper-online everything," they said. "The past few years have solidified the idea in my head that as we've grown increasingly secular, people still want something to give their life greater meaning, and they've found that in connecting with others online in a way that's largely replaced religion." They also discuss their proclivity for ultra-synthetic, cartoonishly masculine pop; their take on the internet zeitgeist; ADHD; musical performance as an expression of the extremities of human experience and more. Listen to the episode in full.
This edition of the RA Exchange was recorded in collaboration with The Qube, London's first members' studio for music and content creators. If you're a music producer, songwriter, artist, photographer or podcaster and would like to apply for a membership, head over to theqube.com.

EX.671 Craig Richards

"Devotion is the main aim—to try to encourage commitment in people." The fabric resident and Houghton festival founder discusses his love of the crowd, DJing and more.
Craig Richards, arguably one of UK dance music's most respected DJs, is normally averse to the spotlight. But the multi-hyphenate artist and fabric resident has played the London institution every Saturday for nearly two decades, DJing alongside fellow household names like Ricardo Villalobos and Nicolas Lutz. Over the years, Richards has profoundly shaped the canon that's defined the space and its programming week in and week out.
He’s keenly attuned to other DJs and the flow of a night, and he's not indebted to one particular style or genre. In a Resident Advisor feature from 2019, Ray Philp described his sound as "intergalactic space metal" that goes far beyond techno, house or electro, instead interplaying classics with deep, headsy tunes that he tirelessly seeks out every week.
In this interview with RA's European deputy editor Carlos Hawthorn, Richards talks about what makes a good record, and the DJ's role as a bridge between the past and present. He also discusses his endeavours beyond the booth—most notably the idyllic festival he started in 2017, Houghton, which is set in the English countryside—and his passion for painting and cross-disciplinary creativity. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.670 CDR with Rob Gordon

"I approached and signed all of the first Warp acts." The Sheffield record producer and label cofounder discusses starting the UK label and the early days of bleep techno.
Before Warp became the landmark label it is today, it was a Sheffield record store. Robert Gordon was an employee there in the early '80s, working alongside colleagues Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, with whom he'd start the label in 1989. Listeners familiar with the contemporary UK techno landscape may associate Warp with luminaries like Aphex Twin and other names associated with IDM and bleep techno. It also released a lot of artists who were recording in a Sheffield studio called FON, which is where Robert Gordon found his footing even before starting Warp.
In this Exchange—conducted by DJ, producer, CDR founder and Resident Advisor board member Tony Nwachukwu—Gordon talks about FON and laying the groundwork for the Sheffield scene. In 1985, he recalls, it was the first local commercial 24-track studio and attracted luminaries like David Bowie, Yazz and groups tied to post-punk band Cabaret Voltaire. More recently, it's produced work by 808 State, Nightmares On Wax and Sweet Exorcist.
Gordon also reflects on FON's early days. It was foundational to the sound of the '00s and formed a tight-knit community around itself that eventually became intrinsic to a bigger musical movement. Although Gordon left Warp in 1991, his A&Ring for the label—along with his own productions and engineering assistance—defined its sound. Listen to their conversation in full.

EX.669 Future Proof with Jordan Rakei

"It's through collaboration that I've grown most with my sound." In this collaboration with Rhythm Section, the multi-instrumentalist talks about how he found his style and started his career.
Jordan Rakei is a self-made musician. A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer whose work dips into soul, hip-hop and electronic music, he moved to London from New Zealand, giving himself a four-month "buffer budget" to get his career off the ground. Now, he's released on Ninja Tune and Rhythm Section International, and has collaborated with a number of Grammy- and Oscar-award-nominated artists.
But his journey wasn't easy, as he explains in this masterclass moderated by Roy Mills and Rhythm Section's Bradley Zero. Rakei talks about how to build a career as an independent artist, why he transitioned from working alone to working with a big agency, signing deals with labels, and living close to the edge in an expensive city. It's the first in a three-part series called Future Proof hosted by Rhythm Section International, all of which explore facets of creating and sustaining a career as a musician.
This episode was recorded live in May, and you can watch video shorts from the talk on YouTube. Listen to their conversation in full.
Watch the Masterclass video playlist via the link below:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIpCC9Ep-UEmgJkFN9QmisE_xxW-mgCOV
Rhythm Section’s Future Proof project is supported by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation

EX.668 madison moore

"DJing and lecturing aren't different practices for me. I just fuse them together." The scholar and performer reflects on bringing critical ideas to club spaces and writing about raves.
madison moore is a true multi-hyphenate: an artist, scholar, DJ and assistant professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Despite having a hand in so many seemingly disparate endeavors, however, moore sees their work across academia and music as being intrinsically interconnected, and their mission is to find ways to bring theory and practice into one space.
In this conversation with journalist and former RBMA editor-in-chief Aaron Gonsher, moore reflects on how he was first inspired by figures like Paul D. Miller (AKA DJ Spooky), who brought DJ technologies, parties and theory together. "Knowledge doesn't have to be gate kept behind a JSTOR portal," he says. "It doesn't have to be an institutional access thing. You can bring the knowledge, bring the ideas, bring the fun out."
In a series of performance lectures focused on nightlife, moore teaches about the historical context around dance music and the significance of the club for Black folks, explaining that he sees performance as a critical tool to spread ideas. He explored this fusion of academia and dance music at his recent nightlife residency at The Kitchen in New York—where he curated a series of public programs with DJs, artists, scholars and nightlife performers—and in his book Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric. To hear his reflections on these projects and more, listen to the episode in full.
Photo by Rome God

EX.667 Cherie Hu

"What is our shared purpose and motivation for being here?" Our guest editor for June discusses community-building, innovation in music technology and more in this week's Exchange.
Cherie Hu thinks about music differently. Trained in classical piano at The Juilliard School in New York, she went on to study math at Harvard while simultaneously launching a freelance journalism career. It was towards the end of her time in university that her parallel interests in music, writing and statistics coalesced in one long-term mission: to bridge the innovations happening in music creation and technology.
First a newsletter and now an international membership-based platform, Water & Music was her answer to this unique topical intersection. "Water & Music's goal is to connect like-minded readers and develop a bottom-up culture of curiosity and critique around where music and tech are headed," she wrote earlier this month on RA. "Through media, my own personal goal is not only to document and analyse music-tech innovation as it happens, but also to foster a culture of proactive experimentation. I want to help artists and their teams use the tools at their disposal to expand the boundaries of possibility in both music and culture at large, and kickstart a longer-term dialogue around how music creators and professionals can incorporate tech into their careers in an ethical manner."
Over the last few weeks, Hu has curated thoughtful and practical articles for RA that touch on the ethics and implications of AI, the metaverse and fandom, as well as more far-reaching topics that she explores in depth on the Water & Music website and Discord. In them, she urges everyone in creative ecosystems to think more critically about why trends happen, how we can cultivate sustainable artistic communities and the ways in which we can create more agency and collective ownership over how music is released and consumed. Listen to the episode in full.

EX.666 Jayda G

"Singing is super vulnerable, but it's such a big release." The DJ and producer opens up about her new album and how she brings deeply personal issues to bear.
Jayda G's father, William Richard Guy, died shortly before she turned ten. In the months leading up to his death, with the help of Jayda G's older sister, he recorded 11 hours of video tapes documenting his story for his youngest daughter. Guy, the Canadian DJ and producer's latest album on Ninja Tune, is built around snippets of his recordings, with each track inspired by either a particular chapter of his story or something she's learned about herself as she unpacked her grief. "This album is about him and for me," she wrote on Instagram. "I needed this. It gave me perspective, understanding and depth to myself and my outlook on life and family."
For this episode of the RA Exchange, Jayda G spoke with Berlin-based artist Juba about making the album and the history that inspired it. She also opened up about integrating her own voice into her songs, a process that made her feel vulnerable, but also provided an enormous sense of release. While she doesn't have plans to sing the album live anytime soon, she revealed her other upcoming projects—including a feature-length documentary about her work in environmentalism—and how she balances her busy touring schedule with her parallel interest in science, her marriage and, most critically, her much-needed downtime. Listen to the episode in full.