Reclaim Your City 618 | Mike Parker

Breaking in our waves with a special two-hour round of genre-busting floor hoodoo, here comes Luxemburg-via-Germany’s one and only Ogazón. Nimbly walking the tightrope between sensuous house folds and more rugged, up-for-the-jugular techno on a deep, dubby tip, Ogazón treats us to a hi-NRG vinyl workout flush with immersive, cinematic motion and proper low-slung club-oriented extrapolations. The result is a mix that swings the pendulum between sheer blazing functionality and an escapist mindset, sparking off the inextinguible will to go out and rave your night away from the daily hassle, and you can trust Ogazón for she certainly knows how to teleport dancers to a whole cozier, comely dimension in the twinkling of an eye. Merry Xmas to all! 

Hailing from Tokyo, Japanese DJ and producer Haruka has made a name for himself through his finely curated selections and seamless mixing technique, making him a regular of acclaimed clubs around the world, including that of our beloved friends from Tbilisi, Bassiani’s. Haruka’s polymathic sound - a blend of off-kilter techno and bouncy, genre-unbound electronics, attests to the man’s widescreen vision and engaging versatility, never settling for the obvious but looking to find new paths of expression with every set. His RYC offering doesn’t differ and delves into a wealth of rhythms and tropes, pushing back the boundaries of techno as we know it, or better, redefining it entirely. 

Stepping in our podcast series this week, London DJ and Neighbourhood chief operator Tasha graces us with a versatile, shape-shifting helluva mix she holds the secret to. Keeper of a sound amplitude that sees her run the gamut from Latin music-inflected techno to proper industrial, Birmingham-style tempi, through hardcore-friendly outbursts and out-there acid mind trips, Tasha has us bedazzled with every bar, wrong-footing any expectation in the process. And just like a good DJ does, she weaves a totally unique web of sound for us to get caught in, cohesively braiding the kind of electronic journey you can not but want to return to. Hop in for a much addictive rollercoaster ride across Tasha’s vortical headspace. 

Taking the helm of our next podcast iteration, Madrid-based DJ and producer Psyk jumps in with a beast of a two-hour jaunt into frantic techno hyperspace. Having dished out some highly magnetic floor wares for the likes of Tresor, Mote Evolver or Modularz and his own imprint, Non Series, Psyk sure knows how to steer crowds into some sort of super-conscious euphoria. Expert provider of big-room ready dynamics and paranoid narratives, Psyk flings us into orbit with his impeccably laid-down assembly of industrial-minded rhythms and murky, oomph-loaded grooves hatching out of the dark like alien eggs from a drifting Nostromo. 

Hailing from Tokyo, DJ MARIA. has been making waves with her finely engineered mixes and exquisite selections, as much as a few head-turning productions for the likes of Katharsis and Proxima. Close to the original 90s atmospheric techno vibe, her approach shares that taste for spaciousness and sense-awakening uplift, fitting in nicely in the tradition of dub techno whilst opening onto more ambient-oid detours and further leftfield-friendly electronics. Delving in the essence of techno as a tool for emancipation, her mixes traverse a wealth of landscapes and territories, never quite sitting cozy but roaming in search of new forms to embrace, new geometries to integrate. A musical language in constant motion, where expectations wash up against the beauty of revelation. 

 A true legend and pioneering figure of techno, US sound architect and Geophone label owner Mike Parker breaks in on the RYC waves with a very special set full with his idiosyncratically dark, obsessive, inch-perfectly chiselled 4x4 wares. Before Boiler Room and co. were even a thing, a pioneering platform going by the name of Studio R° used to broadcast techno sets by prominent artists from a secret location in Berlin. This iconic, vinyl-only mix is Parker’s Studio R° set from 2013, now fully remastered for your listening pleasure. Building atmospheres unlike any other, brooding and transcending in equal measure, Parker has laid the foundation to an exceptionally rich body of work. Master of the industrial vocab, peeping towards Detroit but with his defining spin on the early days genre, Parker entices us down the path of steely monumentality and laser-precise mind control. Just as typically mazy, his present mix conjures up all traits of quality Parker material: 909-powered propulsion, enslaving acid whorls, Escher-like fractals. Wild, wild ride ahead.

A much talented purveyor of widescreen electronic epics and mind-expanding techno sceneries, Vera Logdanidi has been trading some of the finest dubs out there, including some outstanding pieces of work for Rhythm Büro, Semantica or On Board Music. All in spacious reverbs and atmospheric deconstructionism, her mixes as much as her own productions seek diffuse effect rather than impactful punch, altering mindsets through carefully orchestrated movements rather than flexing muscles. An origami-like unfolding of mesmerising sequences, ushering us amidst lush forests of sound and distinctive emotional apexes, Vera’s mix is a safe, welcoming haven, here to harbour us from the surrounding crass that threatens to devour the last crumbs of peace and solace in our hearts. 

 Coming up next with a solid two hours of shape-shifting electronics and exploratory techno-scaping, Giegling alum ATEQ pulls out the kaleidoscopic vision and minute sound design on this truly hypnotic ride. Known for his elegantly balanced mixes and hauntingly immersive productions, the Pale Product co-founder treats us to a heavenly mind-trip, brimming with eerily opaque floor narratives, non-formulaic rhythms and abstract-leaning grooves from outer space. Hold tight for gravity-defying, sonic stunts and deeply cinematic submersion, here comes ATEQ with a serious slice of otherworldly techno escapism.

Dutch techno pioneer Jeroen Schrijvershof, alias Jeroen Search, needs no introduction. To those who’ve been living under a rock for the past three decades, just google his name and you’ll be drawn into an endless sea of links, vids, bios, event pages, and all kinds of past and present prowesses vouching for the man’s incredible career so we’ll leave it at that. Having graced the grooves of our record label with the magnetic ‘Enigma’ EP back in 2022, the man is now back with a much anticipated podcast - made up of 100% OG Jeroen material - that shall have a tsunami of modular signals, chiselled 909 onslaughts and Ubik-uitous floor narratives break loose to entrancing effect. Better buckle your belt, for when Jeroen Search steps on the gas, you simply don’t want to end up flying through the windshield. So to speak. 

Back to Georgia and Tbilisi this week with the one and only Hamatsuki, resident DJ at the infamous Bassiani. Exponent of a versatile DJing style that runs the gamut from rugged techno wares to propulsive acid, via liquid electro, techno, house and everything in between, Hamatsuki treats us to a wild and effusive two hours of radical obliqueness, steering us constantly into murky waters, where life swarms and the metamorphic magic happens. Stacking crazy frantic wares one after the other in a Fantasia-like symphony of broken grooves, raging uptempo and hair-raising buildups, here comes one of Tbilisi’s key figures with a massive, uncompromising blast-off of a set. Sonic boom inbound.