RA Exchange

“My mission is to explore the boundaries of psychedelic music.” The revered artist talks about expanding consciousness, breaking boundaries and his new album on Tresor.  There has always been a strain of dance music that has leant psychedelic, from the left field psychoacoustics of pioneers like La Monte Young to the proggy techno taking over today's dance floors. One artist who embodies the spirit of psychedelia is Anthony Child—AKA Surgeon—a revered DJ and producer who has historically been placed in the world of industrial techno, but whose output over the years has consistently flirted with altered states of consciousness and a strong opposition to the mainstream. 
Child is originally from Birmingham, where he and Karl O'Connor, AKA Regis, helped birth a style of powerful, loop-driven techno. Together they've put out music as British Murder Boys and released music on O'Connor's label Downwards Records. But they've had equally successful solo careers, with Child putting out several releases on Tresor and performing live improvised electronics as Surgeon and as part of ambient listening duo The Transcendence Orchestra. In this interview, Child talks about his most recent release on Tresor, the album Shell~Wave, and its innovative use of techniques associated with Jamaican dub. He also discusses the throughline of psychedelia in his work and what it means to surrender oneself to sometimes uncomfortable processes—both creatively and in life—and come out the other side. There are strong links to spirituality and Buddhism in Child's work, many of which are designed to prompt listeners to question and reconsider the boundaries they've set around the reality they live in. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

"Music kept me sane." The hard techno breakout opens up about how life's greatest challenges have made her headstrong. To honour Mental Health Awareness week, the RA Exchange sits down with hard techno DJ Lee Ann Roberts, who opens up about her tough childhood in Durban, South Africa, and how music saved her life. While to some it may appear that Roberts broke through only a few years ago, she's been hard at work for much longer, starting out in South Africa's fashion scene before moving to Los Angeles and finally committing herself to pursuing a career as a DJ and producer. She speaks candidly about her abusive household and the limited opportunities for self-expression and creativity she had as a child. As a result, she's become headstrong; nothing has stopped Roberts from being herself and chasing her dreams, and she talks about how self-care, self-compassion, authenticity and a sense of humour have gotten her through some of the darkest periods of her life. As a member of the contemporary hard techno scene, Roberts also shares her reaction to the recent Resident Advisor feature on the movement and the underpinnings of a trend that has polarised the underground. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

"Everyone tells me I'm terrifying." The powerhouse agent talks about being a woman in a male-dominated world and growing the careers of artists like David Guetta, Marlon Hoffstadt and more. What does it take to become a powerhouse agent in the male-dominated electronic music industry? No one can answer this question better than Maria May, a name that might be familiar to anyone who's had a brush with big-ticket dance music over the past 30 years. May is a longtime agent at CAA, or Creative Artists Agency, one of the largest booking agencies in the world. She was first hired a little over a decade ago to expand its representation of electronic music, back when the company saw that DJs were primed to become the new rockstars. She now looks after major acts like David Guetta, Paul Kalkbrenner, Marlon Hoffstadt and Sara Landry. But she isn't just a fierce businesswoman. She's also a tireless advocate for equity and inclusion in club culture. In this conversation recorded live at the International Music Summit in Ibiza, she talks about the obstacles she's faced over the course of her career as she's actively rebuilt the rooms in which major decisions are made. She was first inspired by her involvement in Britain's illegal rave scene, she recalls, which turned her onto the power of activism and showed her how on-the-ground organising can lead to real-life policy change. She also addresses the negative narrative taking hold of the music industry and the opportunities at hand to make positive, collective change. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

"It was so difficult to become someone." The house hero talks about Chicago's competitive scene, developing a sound and letting go of his ego. Theo Parrish is one of dance music's most influential DJs and producers. Raised in Chicago, he's become synonymous with slow-burning, immersive grooves and sets that mix classics with obscurities. He began DJing in 1986 aged 13, eventually earning a degree in sculpture and moving to Detroit, where he hit his stride as an artist and became a member of the collective Three Chairs alongside Moodymann, Rick Wilhite and Marcellus Pittman. He also started the label Sound Signature, which uses the language of soul, jazz, disco, Chicago house and Detroit techno. A few months ago, Resident Advisor teamed up with London institution fabric to host Parrish for an eight-hour set—his first time playing the club. While he was in town, he also spoke with CDR's Tony Nwachukwu. In the Exchange, Parrish talks about the intensely competitive scene he grew up in. He DJ'd for 13 years before he was ever paid or had his name billed on a lineup. It took years of passion and hard work to break out of his local scene and build the career he's become known for. "At five years, you're dealing with the technical part [of DJing], at ten it's finding your sound and at 15 it's dealing with the ego of it all," he says. "It's not until much later that you actually start to play for and with people." Parrish also reflects on the ongoing dearth of diversity in the dance music industry and posits whether some of the most popular music in the US—such as trap—reinforces counterproductive racial stereotypes. He asks: did house music ultimately survive because it left where it originally came from? Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

"I'm in a place of brutal honesty." The electronic pop auteur talks about her new album, the pressures of performing and falling in love with techno. One of today's most exciting stars is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, better known as FKA twigs. Genre-wise, she's difficult to pin down; some critics call her music ethereal, alien R&B refracted through the lens of dance music. She's now touring her third album, Eusexua which she's described as "that surge of nothingness right before a surge of creativity, or the moment before an orgasm." It's a response to falling in love with techno a couple of years ago, and the songs all hover somewhere around the rave. In this RA Exchange recorded live at AVA London 2025, twigs talks to Nadine Noor, founder of queer arts platform PXSSY PALACE, about the process of putting the LP together, as well as the sometimes painful pressures involved in performing and adopting a public persona. Today, twigs says she's in a place of brutal honesty, and on the edge of 40, "hitting the perfect arc of behind hot and not an idiot anymore." She also discusses starting her dancing practice from an incredibly young age, taking her first steps on what she anticipates will be a long partnership with modular synthesis and the challenge of making original art in an era dominated by trends. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

The vaunted techno producer discusses the connections between visual art and music, balancing a full-time career as a fine artist and how he creates his signature sound. There's a connection between visual art and dance music that's seldom explored on our channels. Mike Parker is well known in the underground techno scene for minimal, hypnotic and beautifully executed sound design that sits somewhere at the edges of club music. But he also received his master's degree in fine art and teaches drawing and painting at Daemon University in Buffalo, New York. Fans of Parker will recognise his visual trademark: monochromatic prints that adorn the covers of the records he puts out on his label, Geophone. In this Exchange, Parker sits down with Chloe Lula to talk about how he balances his art- and music-making practices and how they inform each other. He also opens up about the long process of sticking to his sound and finding an audience rather than catering to the demands and suggestions of labels and distributors. His 2001 breakout album, Dispatches—which he reissued last year—is a meditation on the act of living far away from any listeners or immediate influences, and he discusses the ongoing drawbacks and rewards of balancing the Eurocentric pursuit of DJing with day-to-day work that's so geographically removed. He also opens up about his longtime collaboration with Donato Dozzy, his love of mid-20th-century sci-fi movies and how free-form radio shaped his approach to music and art. Listen to the episode in full.

"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 it. 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

"Sound systems are really what move me." The up-and-coming techno artist talks about the physicality of sound and how psychedelics inform his work in the studio. What makes a good artist? In this RA Exchange, British DJ and producer Andrew Shobeiri, AKA Rene Wise, reflects on being a relatively new name in the scene and considers the success that ultimately comes with time and experience. "There's never a point where you're done," he says. While Shobeiri is only a few years into his career, the up-and-comer already knows how to draw a crowd. He has finely tuned a highly kinetic and hypnotic techno sound that's brought him legions of fans and bookings on the world's top club and festival lineups. He divulges the ingredients that go into a Rene Wise set, including sound sources from genres beyond the club, like salsa, Iranian radif and the strange orchestration of Steve Reich. He also talks about his experience with psychedelics—which helped lay the groundwork for some of his most formative musical experiences—as well as how sound systems have changed the way he perceives and composes tracks for the dance floor. Listen to the episode in full. -Chloe Lula

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

"We wanted to let go of everything we know." The Berghain residents talk about underground values, leaving behind expectations and their collaborative album, LAYER ONE. Berghain residents and now frequent collaborators Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem have become synonymous with the classic, no frills aesthetic that's come to define the Berlin institution's sound, with one exception: their newest LP, LAYER ONE. The album sees them step away from techno in a listening experience that explores IDM, ambient and experimental electronic music with guest vocal appearances by UK artists Cobey Sey and Flowdan. In this Exchange, they talk to Chloe Lula about this departure from their typical style, which imagines a post-human world where AI reigns supreme. They also reflect on building generational bridges in the music industry; how their respective ideas of success have changed; underground values and sensibilities; and why the ethos of an earlier era continues to inform their work. Klock also revisits the decade that's elapsed since his last RA interview, including why he's chosen to return to the studio after years on the road, his unexpected career as a DJ and the key to long-lasting relevance in a scene that doesn't slow down. Listen to the episode in full.