RA Podcast

The Leisure System co-founder talks psychology, behavioral science and his standout album of the year, Stochastic Drift. Sam Barker's influence on contemporary electronic music culture spans many levels—not only as a producer and DJ pushing against traditional genre boundaries, but also as key figure behind the scenes as head of the label Leisure System. He came into RA HQ to talk about the central thesis in his current work: exploring organic, human timing in a genre that has become increasingly obsessed with mechanized grids. The Berlin-based artist tells us about how he puts this theory into practice in his standout album of the year, Stochastic Drift, and his recent collaborative project with saxophonist Bendik Giske. Beyond the technical, he also reflects on the evolution of the Berlin scene, the surprising arguments for liberation in the streaming economy and the role of art in imagining a utopian future. Listen to the episode in full.

The London-via-Bilbao DJ marks 15 years of Cartulis with two hours of punchy techno and electro, recorded live at FOLD. When you think of London label and party Cartulis, dark, muscular electro and tough tech house spring to mind. But the name is more revealing than it first appears: in founder Unai Trotti's native Bilbao dialect, cartulis translates to "nerd." Like any labour of love, the project is driven by a deep, obsessive dedication, centred around sound, mood and community. Recorded at Cartulis' 15th anniversary party this autumn, RA.1017 captures why Trotti is such a compelling DJ. Playing only vinyl, he has a deft ability to balance functional club pressure with more leftfield selections, and as he outlines in his Q&A below, it comes from a belief in creative limitation, committing to a finite set of records and trusting instinct over abundance. Across the two hours, there are plenty of big, physical tracks built for the dance floor, but also some genuinely strange, confrontational stretches. Around the 15-minute mark, church bells ring out as a gothic female vocal looms overhead—David Lynch, if he needed an electro soundtrack. It's the kind of material you only hear at parties where dancers feel truly at ease, unafraid of the weird. That's Cartulis. @unai-trotti @cartulisday Read more at ra.co/podcast/1036

One of the defining producers of the 21st century steps up for a rare, era-spanning mix. We've been in a reflective mood lately: mulling emergent icons, modern classic and the cyclical nature of trends. All things bend around eventually, but if you lived through the mid-'00s the first time, it felt tricky to envision some specifics of those interim years making a second splash. More fool us. Amongst many other things, dubstep is well and truly back. This resurged appetite for low-end has been a central storyline in 2025. Clear tells were there in the form of Introspekt's Moving The Center and Tracey's "Sex Life," two major highlights of the past 12 months. Alternately, cup your ear to the tremors rumbling across the world and you'd find Mala packing up crowds with gusto. Which makes closing out the year with a mix from the man himself serendipitous. The South Norwood-born sub sensei has held an anchor role in the movement since its earliest days. A little like what Upsetter was to Black Ark, the principles Mala, Coki and Loefah's DMZ laid down have been expanded on by Deep Medi, a label that has cultivated a loyal fandom who watch over the catalogue like a hawk. (Six years of frothy debate and knowing in-jokes between MEDi 99 and MEDi 100 paints a picture of both steep expectations and an affinity for gently ribbing their leader.) But Mala's banner 2025 hasn't relied on the heads alone. The adrenaline of his fissuring basslines and barrel-chested vocals have drawn people into his orbit, and there are rarer qualities at play, too—like pacifism, winked at by the demilitarized name and reinforced on their all-time greatest tune; or contemplation, inked on flyers beseeching the crowd to meditate on bass weight. In that spirit arrives a mix we've asked after for years. Subtitled The Listening Session, it's rare on two counts. Despite his enduring popularity, Mala is a conspicuous absence on most DJ series. (It's not that he doesn't enjoy recording, just gets spooked by the reaction.) A nearly-three hour studio set—spaciously paced and laced with a combination of 2025 highlights, freshly-cut dubplates and some of the biggest anthems in the genre's history—is unheard of. No tracklist for now, on Mala's request. Soon come. RA.1016 is the kind of document that jogs the memory back to when dubstep was a discrete enterprise, something you could only fleetingly access by, say, dialling into Youngsta on Sub FM, ripping 320s of "Circling" off long-forgotten blogs or hugging the back wall of Mass. Which, in service of thinking the evolution of 21st century electronic music, is pretty perfect really. – Gabriel Szatan Find the interview at ra.co/podcast/1035 @maladmz @deep-medi-musik

A statement mix from the Dutch artist also known as A Made Up Sound, 2562 and ex_libris. What makes something sound like Dave Huismans? His music carries a signature you can't quite name, a tension which has defined every chapter of his career. And unlike most producers, he really does operate in phases. A man of many monikers, Huismans resurfaced this year after nearly a decade away with two new aliases, ex_libris and In Transit. His latest ventures, though sonically a world away from the work under his most recognised projects, share the same slipperiness, intricacy and disregard for tidy genre borders. "Naiveté and a lack of prejudice… a really wide-eyed type of open-mindedness," Huismans once told RBMA, recalling his youthful forays into dance music and that ethos is alive and well on RA.1015. Huismans's second RA Mix is as equally thrilling as his first one 15 years ago, traversing a map of influences from Madlib and Gyrofield to Prince and Autechre. There's no shortage of atmosphere (Losoul's "Sunbeams and the Rain" is one particular highlight), but the throughline is groove: soulful, vocal deep house into driving techy depths, walls of glitchy drums and frantic percussion into guitar funk. "I got carried away a bit," Huismans says of RA.1015 below. And that's no bad thing. It sounds like someone enjoying himself again, and perhaps, after letting a few old skins fall away, Huismans is ready to shift shape once more. And if it's anything like the last time, a lot of good music awaits. Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1034 @2562amadeupsound

The Honduran artist talks about the rise of reggaeton, the dark side of beauty standards and her new album, Vanity. In the past decade, reggaeton has taken the world by storm, expanding from beyond its origins in Panama and Puerto Rico to become an undeniable global force. Yet, within this massive cultural explosion, few artists are navigating the sound with the distinct, subversive energy of Isabella Lovestory. Originally from Honduras but shaped by a formative migration to the US and the liminal spaces of the internet, the Montreal-based artist has developed an aesthetic she calls a "plastic fantasy"—a hyper-stylised world of bootleg luxury and cinematic flair. In this Exchange, she talks to Resident Advisor's Chloe Lula about her new album, Vanity, which she calls a response to her obsession with the "dark side of beauty standards." She also discusses her place within the wider reggaeton landscape; her efforts to reclaim and feminise a historically male-dominated genre; the financial erasure of women in the scene; and how her experimental approach challenges the self-seriousness of electronic music. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula