RA Podcast

The Irish veteran talks about his prolific output, making music beyond the drum & bass canon and his forthcoming album, Tricklemore Sea.

Dominick Martin—AKA Calibre—has spent the last three decades carving out one of the most singular paths in electronic music. Known to many as a cornerstone of drum & bass, the Northern Irish artist's work has always defied easy categorisation. His vast output spans house, techno, ambient and even folk. What unifies it all is a sense of what he calls "inner space," which has cemented him as one of the underground's most respected figures.

In this week's Exchange, Martin speaks about his creative philosophy, his "three-tunes-a-day" workflow and a recent turn towards abstract downtempo with RA's international content writer, Tom Gledhill. The new album, Tricklemore Sea, arrives on his Signature Records imprint on May 1st, marking a move away from the rigid protocols of the DJ booth toward a space that is deeply melancholic, personal and profoundly poetic. Listen to the episode in full.

The lost art of the slow burn, courtesy of the rising London house DJ.

In an attention economy, where hype cycles rise and fall faster than ever, our careers, our lives and our club nights are increasingly structured around instant gratification. But not Isaac Carter. The London artist's approach to DJing is understated and unhurried. You'll still find his RA Mix charged with serious bursts of pleasure (wait for the rattling subs to hit on Alexander Skancke's "You Get a Two" or the soaring pads on Sterac's "Mysterium"), but RA.1033 is a patient exploration of the deeper shades of house, and it's technically perfect—there isn't a single hi-hat out of place for its near two-hour run time.

Technical prowess aside, what's most impressive is his sense of groove. There are shifts in energy, including a distinctly after hours section about halfway in, but this is a session that could go on forever. It's a fautless soundtrack to ease us into a spring of swing.

Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/ 1052

The Dutch phenomenon unpacks the myth of overnight success and the story behind his debut album, Lost, Found & Forgotten.

They say it takes ten years to become an overnight success, and in the case of this week's guest, that math almost checks out. Born in Leiden, Chris Stussy has been sharpening his tools for over a decade, and in the years since the pandemic, the world has caught onto his sleek, relentlessly groovy strain of house music.

It's been a stratospheric rise for Stussy, culminating in sold-out shows of iconic venues like London's Alexandra Palace, where tickets were gone in a matter of minutes. But if you look past the viral TikTok clips and the fandom that follows him from Ibiza to Coachella, you'll find a dedicated student of the craft—someone who spent his formative years absorbing the grit of the Utrecht underground as well as the foundations of Chicago and New York house.

RA editor Gabriel Szatan caught up with Stussy during a rare moment of reflection. His long-awaited debut album, Lost, Found & Forgotten, which officially lands April 3 on his own Up The Stuss imprint, and it stands as his most expansive and personal statement to date. The project is divided into three interconnected chapters: 'Lost' breathes new life into sketches he started earlier in his production career; 'Found' captures contemporary inspirations; and 'Forgotten' nods to the heads and diggers, focusing on deeper cuts that reward patient listening.

Stussy also traces the arc of his early releases to his current status as a torchbearer for a new generation of clubbers, and considers how club culture has changed along the way. Listen to the episode in full.

'90s nostalgia, big beat and bargain-bin house courtesy of the NYC dance-pop duo.

Fcukers don't really care about success. Or at least, that's how it started. "We don't give a shit. We're not going to have a music career. Who cares? We're going to do exactly what we want," Jackson Walker Lewis told Rolling Stone, recalling the duo's early mindset. The origin of their name, lifted from the iconoclastic slogan that defined a generation of anti-fashion kids, is a fitting touch for a duo transforming '90s nostalgia into something distinctly modern.

That irreverence still runs through Lewis and Shanny Wise. Indie kids turned club kids, Fcukers draw from big beat, filter house, dance punk, drum & bass, reggae and dub. Their rise has been swift, catching ears across music and fashion circles alike — including Hedi Slimane, who flew them to Paris to soundtrack a show afterparty.

Behind the attitude is a genuine education in dance music lineage, an instinct that's since drawn the attention of artists like Charli XCX and Tiga. Their RA Mix channels the wide-eyed optimism of an era they clearly hold dear. And with debut album Ö landing this week, success seems to have found them all the same.

Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1051
@fcukers

Electroclash icon Tiga talks about the manosphere, the currency of cool and his first album in 10 years, HOTLIFE.

Canadian producer Tiga—born Tiga Sontag—has navigated the peaks and valleys of electronic music for over three decades. A key architect of the electroclash explosion in the early 2000s, Sontag reigned supreme over the indie sleaze era of the dance floor during the 2010s.

But eventually, that momentum stalled. Sontag, one of the scene's most charismatic figures, found himself contemplating retirement while battling a health crisis that threatened to derail his career entirely. In this rare interview, Sontag talks to RA editor Gabriel Szatan about those lost years.

Rather than retracing his anthemic hits ("You Gonna Want Me," "Sunglasses At Night"), the pair discuss why, after stepping back from the public eye for over a decade, Tiga is entering a new chapter he describes as "all answers, no questions." His upcoming LP, HOTLIFE, unpacks personal demons alongside his takes on everything from Elon Musk and the manosphere to the "pornographic" repetition of the music industry's relentless churn. It's out April 17th via Turbo Recordings and Secret City Records, and features contributions from Boys Noize, Maara and Priori and more. Listen to the episode in full.