RA Exchange – Details, episodes & analysis

"A system that's equal doesn't benefit the people that have the power." The Rhythm Section International founder talks about creating opportunities for Black artists and entrepreneurs, Caribbean conviviality and his abiding love for Peckham. Bradley Zero, the DJ and founder of the label Rhythm Section International, is known for his commitment to his community. Zero grew up in a rich Caribbean culture in Leeds, where he and his family gathered in friends' living rooms to listen to music and eat home-cooked food. In opening Jumbi—the bar and listening space in London's Southeast neighborhood, Peckham—Zero has attempted to recreate this lively Caribbean conviviality. The venue is filled with his own personal record collection and one turntable. His style (as reflected in his imprint) celebrates house, soul, disco, funk and various shades of music from the afro-Caribbean diaspora. In this RA Exchange, he talks about how the neighborhood has changed in the time he's been based there, how and when his career exploded from local pool hall gigs to an active global touring schedule and why he decided to study for an MBA. October is British Black History Month in the UK, and in this interview, Zero also discusses ways that he hopes to empower the Black British community to start their own businesses and assert power from the top echelons of the music industry. Rhythm Section International has started a touring series of free masterclasses called Future Proof, in which Zero and his team invite guests to teach hard skills on business and label management, how to cultivate a brand and much more. Listen to the episode in full.

"There are so many different takes on reggaeton." The Latine supergroup discusses dembow, Afro-Caribbean music and more in this Playing Favourites live from C2C Festival. This week's RA Exchange revisits one of Resident Advisor's flagship live formats, Playing Favourites, where we bring guests onto the pod to walk through their musical influences and play us some tracks that have been formative in their personal and creative development. This week, we're honouring El Dia de la Raza—which happened on October 12th—an occasion that remembers the colonisation of Latin America and pays tribute to its heritage and cultural diversity. Our guest is Sangre Nueva, a trio made up of the artists DJ Python, Florentino and Kelman Duran. They all come from different backgrounds: Kelman is a Dominican multidisciplinary artist, Florentino is a musician of Colombian heritage signed to XL Recordings and DJ Python is Ecuadorian-Argentinian, releasing prolifically under a number of aliases in the worlds of ambient and club-adjacent music. Together, their style explores pan-Caribbean musical styles, especially dembow, which is experiencing a parallel renaissance in the underground and commercial dance music spheres. In this conversation, they talk to journalist Christine Kakaire from last year's C2C Festival about what it means to approach Latin music from an experimental perspective to bring an amalgamation of Caribbean and Spanish-speaking musical cultures into their work. They also reflect on the stigma that was attached to reggaeton for a long time and the songs that represent its reclamation in the world of contemporary club music culture. Listen to the episode in full.

"We need to give more people a seat at the table." The Australian DJ and producer talks about exclusivity in the music industry, neurodivergence and London's thriving lesbian scene. The London-based Australian artist Teneil Throssell (AKA HAAi) doesn't have a typical DJ story. She moved to London in the early 2010s as part of a now defunct psych rock band, and once it broke up, she thought her stint in the music industry was over. Unsure what to do with herself, she started mixing dance music records at the bar where she was working at the time, Ridley Road Market. The right person happened to "discover" her, offering her a spot supporting Jacques Greene at the London club Phonox. She went on to hold a residency there for two years, and the rest, as they say, is history. Throssell's career blew up almost immediately. For the last eight years that she's been DJing, she's toured internationally on a massive scale, sometimes going to six different countries in one week. She's also released a number of EPs and one LP on Mute Records, remixed Kylie Minogue and started two labels of her own: Coconut Beats and Radical New Theory, which she runs with her partner. Her style is eclectic, but fans of hers will know her for her upbeat, techno- and acid-inflected sound. In this RA Exchange, Throssell dives into some emotional and complex topics, like the criticism she received from RA for her early EP Systems Up, Windows Down; London's lesbian scene; her ADHD diagnosis; and climate activism in the electronic music industry. Listen to the episode in full.

In a very special Exchange from 2010, we caught up with a true legend of music. Here's what we said at the time: Revered composer, producer and bandleader Quincy Jones may not have much to do with dance music in a literal context, but his fingerprints are all over it. The impact that his work has had on countless DJs and producers over the years hardly needs explaining. So when we were offered the chance to chat with Jones around a promotional tour for his brand new line of AKG headphones, we couldn't resist. In a brief conversation, RA Todd L. Burns took the opportunity to ignore the elephants in the room, and focused his sights on a broader view of the man's career, uncovering some interesting insights as to how Jones views his work as painting with sound and how his classical training helped him make conservatory musicians play funk. In this RA Exchange, the American music legend talks some of the parts of his career that simply don't get covered elsewhere.

The smartbar affiliate talks to the Fool's Gold Records founder about climbing the ranks, DJ discourse and how to exist in commercial and underground scenes simultaneously. This week's RA Exchange takes us to Chicago, where two big names—The Blessed Madonna and A-Trak—have a chat ahead of their back-to-back set at underground institution smartbar last month. These are two DJs who have been around the block. The Blessed Madonna (FKA The Black Madonna) is originally from Kentucky, but made her name in Chicago. She started out as an intern at smartbar and working at the local label Dust Trax, later becoming lead A&R and an established DJ in her own right. A-Trak is a Canadian artist who cut his teeth as head honcho of Fool's Gold Records. He's known for having developed the careers of artists like Kid Cudi and Danny Brown, and he also formed Duck Sauce with Armand Van Helden, a project synonymous with the bloghouse era. The two have a long history with Chicago, and they engage in a discussion about how they think the city looks from the outside. As one of the most segregated cities in the US, they say, what the rest of the world sees as one cohesive and unified hub for house music is instead divided by genre and area code. They also debate the complexities of existing in commercial and underground music worlds simultaneously, our collective over-fetishisation of the past, the stupidity of DJ discourse and Europe's tendency to impose its view of America—and American dance music—on the Midwest. Listen to the episode in full.

"Soundscapes reveal a lot about how people think and behave." The field recordist and musician talks about listening culture, repatriating African sounds and his new album with The Bug. Today's conversation moves away from the dance floor, focusing instead on the soft, ambient soundscapes of the Berlin-based musician Joseph Kamaru—AKA KMRU—whose work has been featured at festivals like CTM, Mutek, Atonal, Horst Music and Arts, Dekmantel, and Unsound; concert halls like The Barbican; and major galleries and site-specific installations around the world. Kamaru moved to Europe from Nairobi, where he first became interested in music production, and field recordings specifically. As a graduate student in the sonic arts, he learned that the majority of the discourse around sound art practices is specific to Western Eurocentric or occidental ways of thinking. He's since embarked on a mission to use field recording as a means of repatriating African identities that are often left out of institutional archives and grapple with the legacy of colonialism. In this RA Exchange, Kamaru reflects on the sociopolitical angle of his work, and his observation that listening, by its very nature, is never neutral. He also talks about how civilisation and technology has changed our collective listening habits; how sound sources beyond the human hearing range make their way into his work with the use of electromagnetic microphones; and his new album, Disconnect, made with the musician Kevin Richard Martin (AKA The Bug). Listen to the episode in full.

"Everyone knows I'm a lively character, I like the party." Oliver 'Skream' Jones is attempting to explain his stamina over a near two decade-long career and true to his unpretentious personality, he makes it sound easy. The 36 year-old has been making music since the age of 15 and despite being a busy father, this hour-long, unfiltered conversation at RA's London headquarters confirms that his love for the dance is as strong as ever. Discussing his childhood, the seminal Dubstep Forum and and finding confidence through music, the dubstep legend reveals how his social skills, born from childhood visits to the pub with his father, gave him his first record store job. "My musical taste is all over the place, my range is broad," he says. That includes pop, a style that he likes for its collaboration with underground producers. Skream's endurance in an industry that's synonymous with burnout is remarkable but he simply attributes it to pure instinct. "When something feels right, I do it. I don't see it as change, I see it as a natural feeling." That's why he made the decision years ago to focus on house and techno instead of dubstep, a style that he transformed from dark and slow to ravey. "I play for myself but that's what my fanbase has grown to love." That intuition also applies to his productions. "I've got to a point where I know what I want to hear and make it happen. That comes from doing the same thing for a long time." In the studio, he says he regularly listens to tracks repeatedly "and if it ever gets boring" or doesn't bring "a certain feeling," then he knows it's not ready. To hear about his approach to remixes, his parenting style and what he has in the pipeline, listen to the conversation in full.

Mykaell Riley has worn a number of hats in the music business. Starting off as a vocalist and founding member of Grammy-winning roots reggae band Steel Pulse, he's since dabbled in marketing, consulting, artist management and composing for the big screen. As director of a University of Westminster research project that examines the legacy of Jamaican music in the UK, he currently explores how ska, reggae, dub and lovers rock, among other genres, impacts British pop culture. Speaking to Vanessa Maria as part of Resident Advisor's ongoing partnership with Black Minds Matter, Riley discusses the historical positioning of Black music in the UK through the lens of his own experiences. From working with EMI and Island Records to becoming an educator, he explains how infrastructure and accessibility has changed the playing field for artists. He also pinpoints current injustices around Black British music, noting the need for more Black professionals in behind-the-scenes jobs. "Rave comes out of Black British music and even bands that you might not associate like Massive Attack or Prodigy are a component of the presence of Black British music," he describes. Yet, the cultural and creative value of Black British artistry has mainly benefitted non-Black communities, he warns. "It's the business end that we should be looking at as to why and how that continues to happen." To hear more about Riley's distinguished career and his thoughts on the current state of the industry, listen to the full conversation.

This past August, a panel of artists, creatives and various members of club communities gathered in Berlin to discuss the threats weighing on global nightlife. Part of Jägermeister's #SAVETHENIGHT initiative to rejuvenate the after-dark economy as well as Tresor's 31st anniversary celebrations, the discussion touched on a variety of social, economic and community issues such as gentrification, inclusion and safety that Resident Advisor later unpacked in a digital feature. The latest instalment of Reflections, a new series on the Exchange that explores content on RA's site, goes deeper on some of these topics. Discussing the sustainability of club culture, Bernard Koomson from Berlin-based creative studio DeadHype notes how more collaboration has helped build critical infrastructure while knowledge sharing can help a younger generation learn from their predecessors. Manchester promoter Alice Woods, who co-runs the Meat Free club nights as well as her own event for people with disabilities called All Under One Roof, emphasises the importance of parties as a welcoming arena for all individuals. "People with disabilities are still quite left behind," she describes. "That's a wider societal issue but I think as a nightlife industry as, as a clubbing sector, I think we can be ones to lead the way on that." For more details, listen to the conversation in full. https://save-the-night.com

In a way, every Critics' Roundtable episode feels like a time capsule. Each month, the show documents the tracks and talents on the personal playlists of RA staffers, serving as a snapshot of the musical zeitgeist at the time. On this edition, staff writer Kiana Mickles, software engineer Alex Wanyoike and senior writer Nyshka Chandran outline their most listened to records from the past three months and noteworthy artists in their respective cities. Discussing Kelela's long-awaited return from a long hiatus, the trio note how her new single marks a departure from her earlier club-oriented cuts. Moving onto the production duo of Abdul Raeva, whose heavy-hitting style brought back memories of the '90s UK label Orbital Records, the conversation gets into the ever-evolving palette of rave music. Djoser in Washington, DC, is more percussive techno than pure rave but he's a key US name who's leading the way for innovative club music and his dextrous drum work on his latest EP, Expand, gets a mention here. Shifting gears, the trio go on to describe some of their favourite local acts such as Damo B, a Manchester veteran with an extensive radio career. River Moon in New York also wins praise for breaking the mould of "techno stoicism," a term that describes when artists take themselves far too seriously. For more details on artists to watch and the trio's favourite RA's mixes of the year, listen to the conversation.