With a new album freshly minted on @mistersaturdaynight earlier this month, Mister Sunday and Nowadays co-founder Eamon Harkin draws on his storied 25-year journey as a DJ and NYC dancefloor specialist to soundtrack the end of a particularly chilly New York winter. Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed? A. The mix was made as we were starting to emerge from one of the coldest and hardest winters in memory here in New York. I wanted to channel that vulnerable feeling of early spring as the evenings stretch a little and there’s the occasional hint of warmth emerging from the cold. Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. I’ve featured a lot of artists that have been with me most of my musical life. Producers who I’ve always looked to for inspiration like John Tejada, Donato Dozzy, Mike Huckaby and Bobby Konders. Overall it’s really about collecting a range of songs to fit a certain musical idea and feeling that I’m trying to convey in the mix. Q. Your new album, The Place Where We Live, is described as feeling both physical and introspective and exploring themes such as belonging and transition, tell us more about the themes that inspired the music and how you found the right balance between club ready tension and quieter reflective moments. A. I think for many of us electronic and dance music fans we enjoy the back and forth between club ready music and more introspective home listening. That spectrum of sounds is very much who I am musically and so it was a natural act to reflect this range in the album. At the same time as a long time immigrant in the US who has grappled with certain feelings of alienation from his origins since covid there were those emotions and feelings I wanted to bring to the record. I’ll let the listener determine if the right balance was struck!

Naarm's own Babycino steps up next mixing dubwise rollers and summery house digs. A budding DJ, producer and open-air dance specialist, his Reasons To Be Cheerful parties and Skylab shows blend classy jams with playful flair, meaning 100% good times for the groove inclined! @babycinoofficial Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed? I wanted to try to keep it nice and hypnotic in parts, mostly through the first hour or so. So there’s some dub tinged house, deeper house cuts and then into some kind of psychedelic, percussive funk jams. All roads lead back to House music though, in some form or another. If I can lock in, lose my train of thought and kind of forget where I am for a little bit while listening to a mix or music. That’s the best. Almost like entering another realm. That being said, I do like flourishes of chaos being injected as well, so hopefully there are some well placed disruptions and switch ups. For the listening environment. Perhaps a long car journey, or a long walk/ jog through a changing landscape Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. There are a few favourites in the mix but I have to say that the closing track, the Janeret remix of Flash And The Pan’s Walking in the Rain, is on heavy rotation at the moment. I absolutely love the original, it’s so moody and ethereal while also being raw and kinda edgy. This particular remix reworks it for a dancefloor, while keeping that vibe sooooo well. Q. Your Reasons To Be Cheerful parties have become a much-loved part of the annual party calendar, featuring a smorgasbord of house and disco legends the likes of Jex Opolis, DJ Lloyd and Chee Shimizu to name a few! Tell us about your plans for the party going forward, and what you’ve most enjoyed about the experience thus far? A. Aw, bless! Thank you so much! Going forward, I just want to work on maintaining a consistent quality with the curation and to ensure it’s a free and open space, musically and spiritually. Quite simply, I really want to focus on improving with each event, adding more visual art elements/installations, not to reinvent the wheel but just to add my own personal weirdness to the space. Things I’ve enjoyed so far.. I’d say meeting people and inviting artists who I really respect, whether it’s an OG like Chee or connecting with some of the local peeps that I deeply admire. A specific top experience so far is going b2b with Chee Shimizu at Angel. He really is one of the best! Chee and Weatherall are the guiding stars for me, so it was such an honour to go beat for beat with a master!

Carving out a special place within Taipei's harder-edged sonic landscape, the Mango Season party founder and infinitely groovy DJ Pocari Sweaty has been at the forefront of Taipei's house scene for the past few years, offering Mango Seasoners extended dubs, deep euphoric house and obscure disco journeys from guests like Telephones, Benedek and Mayurashka to name a few. Currently in Australia for the first time, we're lucky enough to have him in the mix with a wonderfully spaced out selection of floated techy groovers and deep house music in its finest form. @pocari_sweaty Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed A. To be honest I didn’t put too much thought into this mix, and didn’t go into it with any plans to release a mix. I just hooked up a recorder and started playing from a loose selection of deep and techy records I’d recently bought, and I liked how it turned out! Thank you guys for digging it too, and for putting it out! Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. I would say I’m especially stoked to share this Terry Francis track Rock Hopper. I bought this record from a discogs seller in Taipei called bigbadjimmy. It turns out he was a DJ in Taipei in the late 90s / early 00s and even opened for Terry Francis in Seoul on his first Asia tour back then. I think it’s really special to have a direct lineage to this record’s original context! Q. Your Mango Season parties have become a regular fixture of the Taipei underground scene over the last few years with a host of deep digging guests covering all kinds of house and disco leaning sounds, tell us about your idea behind the night and what have been some of your favourite memories thus far? A. Taipei is definitely a city that likes heavy music, so I started Mango Season to create the kind of warm and sweet party that I really want to go to. Damn there are really too many good memories, all of the guests have been amazing. Dea’s closing track last August, 多情沒有問題 by 馬玉芬 was really fun, the entirety of Telephones’ set last October was incredible, and last month MLiR and I played b2b all night for the second anniversary of the party. We didn’t plan a thing and played one track each for the whole night. Perfectly in sync, it was awesome.

MDC's @myles-mac back once again with a trip friendly scuba dive through the best bits of 2025. Tracklist: T.E.C. - Hi Set & Low Set // Serenity Now
Puli - C.S.B. // Open Space Milou Moon - Circles (Guy Contact Remix) // ORiGiN Recordings Guy Contact & Solar Suite - Perfect Harmony ft. Sa+ga // Wax’o Paradiso Musicentrydelete - Sub AM // Mood Hut Alex Kassian X Spooky - Orange Coloured Liquid (Part II) // Test Pressing Greville - Electric Push CPU Mix // Mad Habitat Recordings Anthony Naples - Scanners // ANS Recordings
 Retza & DJ Activities Man - Play (Round 1) // All Kinds of Music Pancratio - A Never Ending Story // Love On The Rocks RAMZi - flufi // FATi Records Pool Sharks - Orange Crickets // Pepper Recs Aldonna - Pink Beluga // Semi Delicious Pancratio - Groove Throtter # 2 // Faith Beat DAWS - Feel So (3am Mix) // Correspondant Deetron presents Soulmate - The Visitor // Ilian Tape 
 T.E.C. - 7001 On Plastic // Serenity Now Tornado Wallace - Bitter Suite // Test Pressing Command D - Fever // Self Released
 Other Joe Feat. CTP - Ice in my Veins // Best Effort

Cut from various projects and produced between Berlin and Melbourne over the last fifteen years, LAN label head and hardware specialist Willis Anne digs through his archives to deliver mix made up of 100% unreleased and forthcoming material. @willis-anne Q. Being a mix comprised solely of your own music – a housier than usual deep dive into the unreleased archives of your wide ranging back catalogue, how did you come up with the concept for the mix, and how would you say your sound has evolved over the years? A. My first love is hip-hop and house music, that’s how I started making music. Over time I moved into more abstract and experimental territories, before eventually bringing all those elements together into something more hybrid. I still make house music, but today I’m mostly known for hybrid music, and playing wide-ranging, dynamic sets across genres, which is also what I explore with my alias FOREIGNER. I’ve known Melbourne Deepcast for a long time, even before moving to Australia, so I was honoured to be invited! There are so many strong mixes on the platform, and I wanted to do something special. I thought - why not record a mix made entirely of my own productions! I properly dig into my archives, and as a result it includes unreleased material from different periods, as well as a few upcoming tracks. In that sense, the housier focus makes this mix a bit of a rare snapshot. Q. Looking back, where were you looking to gather inspiration when producing these tracks? I know you were living in Berlin for quite a few years, who or what was inspiring your creative process back then? A. Beyond Berlin’s DJ culture, I was especially inspired by artists performing live in clubs. That period aligned with my hardware-only approach, and I went deeper into that way of working. I was strongly influenced by the left-field hardware house scene at the time, particularly artists from L.I.E.S. Records like Steve Summers and Bookworms. Spending time with them, jamming, and being close to that environment had a big impact on my process. Many labels and artists working in that space emerged and flourished during the 2010s, and that era shaped a good part of the music in this mix. Q. I know you’ve been a driving force behind hardware based electronic music production here in Melbourne over the past couple of years with JAM, your open invitation electronic jam sessions.. Tell us about your idea for these community jam sessions, and what has been the most rewarding part of the whole process? A. JAM takes effort to run, but it’s a very special project. People are genuinely grateful for the space, and it’s rewarding to see how much they enjoy connecting and making music together. The idea is to make access easy and remove intimidation, and that approach really works. What I find most rewarding is seeing beginners gain confidence and have fun. People who don’t know each other come together, start jamming, and create something on the spot. That sense of openness and shared experience is what makes JAM meaningful for me.

Operating on a global frequency with a knack for genre-blurred grooviness, Berlin-based Zeynep delivers a transportive blend of rolling rhythms and cross-pollinated mind-lockers that hit all the right spots. For those that like their grooves deep, percussive, techy and mysterious you've come to the right place. @zeynep Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in? A. First off, I want to thank you for letting me be part of this incredible mix series :‘) what an honor! As a big fan of MDC I wanted to tap into a deeper, more mysterious side of myself while still holding onto the sound that feels like “me”. I tried to let the mix slowly build into that, so you can hear different influences coming through before it settles where it needs to be. As for the ideal listening environment... I like thinking about how it can live in different contexts. That’s why I love when people surprise me with where they play my mixes. Someone once told me they put one on at an orgy which might be the highest compliment I’ve ever received. So yeah, whatever place you’re in (physical or emotional) if it fits, it fits. Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. The opening track export city by project runaway from 2020 really captures the kind of rhythm I’m into right now. It’s built around infectious percussion and a sleek, pulsing groove. It kinda mirrors internal restlessness and the desire to move which is what draws me in I guess. The closing track No Reason by Vertical Blank from 1993 has these darkwave vocals that feel sad and euphoric at the same time. It’s got this “the end is near but you’re not sure if that’s good or bad“ energy which sounds strange but that ambiguity is exactly why it resonates with me.. if that makes sense? Q. I know you’re a big advocate of community focussed DIY parties, what are some events you’ve played over the last year that you’ve felt best embody community spirit, and what do you feel are some of the most important elements required to achieve it? A. Two of my favorite gigs this year were Earth Dog in NYC and noclubs in Amsterdam. Both were proper DIY raves in secret locations, built entirely from scratch with great sound and music by great people who genuinely care. What made each of them so special was how much they embodied real community spirit: everyone contributing, looking out for each other and creating a space that truly feels owned by the people in it. You feel it in how accessible and transparent everything is, in the shared ownership and in the effort to keep things affordable while inviting diverse voices into both the lineup and the organization. Being part of experiences like these makes people feel safe and part of something they get to shape, rather than just attend. And I think that’s a key element. Big up to both crews and anyone out there for keeping that culture alive and staying real and true to themselves!

A seminal, pioneering figure in the 90s and 00s UK tech house scene, a mix from Pure Science is as bucket list as they come. With his first Australia tour over New Years approaching fast, the mysterious tech house luminary reappears from his subterranean science den with a whopping five(!!) hour live set, full of moody unreleased gems and carefully reimagined classics from his genre shaping 30+ year discography. @purescience Q. What an incredible journey this mix is! What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for the mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in? A. Thank you for your kind words, Myles. I was initially asked to do a couple of hours, but thought, I would do at least four, and start with a good hour of unreleased ambient / downtempo tracks that I have made, that I wouldn’t necessarily play out to a dance floor, and build up the tempo. So to answer your question, I guess I was pulling out tracks that were made at a close tempo, and gradually build up to a Deep House / Techno range. There are loads of unreleased bits, which I will be featuring on upcoming albums. I guess the vibe was to keep it deep, and not to bang it out or play too obvious, and to add a couple of surprises in there, as it is for the Melbourne Deepcast after all. Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. I am not playing any records, CDJ’s or harmonicas on this mix.. Lol, Only Ableton Live, Korg ER1 drum machine, Roland System 100 modular (clone), Novation Nova & Evolution uc-33 midi controller. There is one track that I have only played out once when I was in my teens, and it was written in 1989, when I was 15/16 years old. It’s called Circle, and is on the mix at around 3:43:43 mark (The hypnotic track with the organ). Q. I know you’ve made special edits of some of your classic Pure Science records for this mix, tell us about how you like to reimagine your music from 20+ years ago, and how your sound has evolved since creating your most iconic records in the late 90s.. A. I’ve been re-recording, mixing, and mastering some of my classic releases, and preparing them for live, i.e. stripping down the parts to the basic form e.g. Kick, Snare, Hats, Claps, Toms, Congas, Percussion, Bass, Keys, Vox, etc, so I can re-arrange the tracks on the fly or break down to my drum machines / synths / recorded modular jams if I feel I want to improvise to the crowd a bit, or I can just concentrate on the blend of tracks, and the selection like a DJ would, and have complete control of the journey.. Q. We’re all very excited to see you play in Melbourne on NYD! Tell us about your hybrid live / DJ setup, is that something you’ve been refining for a while now? A. I am very excited too, as I have been going through, my old floppy disks going back to 1987, from my old Ensoniq SQ80, as it has just come back from a service, and has had its 10-year internal battery replacement. I have been rediscovering tracks that I had totally forgotten about. Specifically a couple of tracks that I love, one is called Moon from 1992, and the other called Tibet from that same era. Both were made a little faster than what I would play out now, and were over 135BPM, but if you slow them down a bit, they just sound chunkier, and PHATer. x p.s. It’s only hybrid if I DJ too, and I probably won’t have time for that. Live only on this trip. Thank you all for your time, and I hope to see you on the dance floor..

Three hours of deep underground house music from a couple of Naarm's extended blend bosses. @jackhnelson & @billusmoon Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in? A. Sam: would be amiss not to say deepness – hard to really say what that means, though. Music played deep into the party, everyone on molly, the sound system is the one from Labyrinth, and it’s in Yarra Bend. A. Jack: Yeah much the same as Sam, we share a mutual love for deepness albeit in a slightly different way. I hope it will be a bit of an all hours mix for cooking, eating, driving or for the hours after etc. Q. Are there any records in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these songs that resonate with you so much? A. Sam: Many resonate, but the Baby Ford track toward the beginning sums up the whole deepness-being-difficult-to-describe thing, for me at least. David Alvarado does that to me as well – he features a fair bit here. A. Jack: there have been many tunes I would've loved to include - but without much defined planning we got to this mix one afternoon. Bit of a mish mash of different deepish tunes from over the years, moving around home base which is good old house music. Nothing too serious. Q. You’ve both been involved in facilitating a myriad of great underground parties in Melbourne over the last decade from outdoor raves to basement club nights, Jack, tell us about your latest endeavour Reasons and how that fits into the music community focussed party ethos? A. Jack: Reasons came about as a bit of an evolution from just running parties, toward something that connects and platforms the people around me and incorporates music, food and art.. After spending time overseas, I felt a strong pull to bridge those worlds, and to bring some of those ideas we encountered abroad back home. Q. I know you’ve both been working hard on various studio projects both solo and collaboratively, tell us about the latest endeavours, and what sounds are you enjoying exploring whilst working together? A. Sam: Making music together has always come naturally, finishing tracks less so. Plans mostly go out the window once we start, but I feel like we’ve always converged on a distinct feeling without having to explicitly voice. I like exploring all sounds with Neil, but I guess we’ve always tended to steer toward some kind of 90s nostalgia. The final track in the mix is a useful example. A. Jack: We’re both always making music in some form, sometimes with more focus than others, at least for me. We’ve always got a few bits in the works I guess (including the last track in the mix), but as Sam said, finishing things together doesn't always happen... Lately, I’ve been trying to be a bit more deliberate with what I am making. Definitely a few releases to come in the next 6 months, as well as a new non-dance music project.

Welcoming one of our personal favourite's from the big apple! A positive conductor of all things deep and dreamy, NYC's @yibingg is a longtime resident on The Lot Radio with an impeccable ear for contemplative sonics, ever thoughtfully sliced and diced with a big signature smile :) Time to hit recline and let Yibing tranquilify your mind. Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in? A. I’ve always been drawn to uplifting sounds, but I also love deep, percussive music and melancholic minor key melodies, which I think there’s a lot of in this mix. Hopefully a nice journey to drift into and daydream with :) I really wanted this mix to be a sort of homage to the sound of MDC and the AU music community (as I hear it), which I connect with deeply. I find it so playful, psychedelic and beautiful. It definitely took me a while to untangle this, especially knowing it was for one of the most goated series out there… One that’s inspired me time and time again. Personally, my favorite place to test mixes is on my bike. Maybe not the safest spot to zone out, but it’s become part of my post recording ritual. Q. Are there any songs in the mix that you were especially excited to share, and what is it about these tracks that resonate with you so much? A. Atone's "Lost & Found"! I became obsessed with Tonal Ocean's Atone Special after it aired on NTS last year. Atone is, of course, an Australian project from the mind of Andrew Fitzgerald. I've listened to that mix countless times. "Atonement" is really just such a perfect record to me. I played "Lost & Found" last year at a festival that Doc Tom and CZ Wang curated called In The Open. It's still one of my favorite sets I've ever played and a memory I will cherish forever... I felt people really locking in during it and I was surrounded by some of my closest friends too… Music & friendship - truly nothing better than it. Q. Tell us about the evolution of Tranquilamente Radio on The Lot Radio, you play such a wide variety of beautiful music on the show, do you approach each show with a theme of sorts or just let things flow naturally? A. It's wild to think that I've been involved with radio in one shape or another for over a decade at this point... Through so many changes, radio in its different iterations has remained the only constant. When I started the show on The Lot Radio almost five years ago, it was deep during the pandemic and I wanted to foster a space for more laidback, at-home listening music. The inspiration for the title of the show was the Pacific Ocean - thinking about oceans as connectors of all these beautiful ~music waves~ around the world. I have done some themed shows over the years - I do an indie rock special every year, as a nod to my roots and to what I was playing back at KCSB, a college radio station in California where everything started. I also did a Canto-pop special a while back with some music I grew up listening to. More recently, I did a Music From Memory special that I really enjoyed, using the opportunity to really dive deep into everything that's come out from that label. I definitely want to keep doing more of that. I find it exciting that even though the show is pretty eclectic, it’s developed a sound of its own. I definitely have a predilection for weirdo, left-field music and I love that the show can be a platform where me and my guests are encouraged to explore different sounds beyond the club. I think doing the show has also taught me and motivated me over the years to bring that sound into my sets too.

@myles-mac and @djpossums live at @nowadaysnyc Nonstop 3-6am ヽ(^o^)丿

Introspective mind realignment from the deepest depths, Mike Buhl engages the senses with poise and purpose, lifting the spirit while carefully dialling up the pressure over two-plus hours of tension filled hypnotic techno and soaring interplanetary rhythms. @mike-buhl Q. What sounds or feelings did you draw upon when gathering inspiration for this mix, and what listening environments could you imagine it being best enjoyed in? A. My inspiration was driven by the urge to showcase lots of artists who have been on heavy rotation over the years. Somewhat cliche, but it was really important to blend genres and energies that represented every aspect of what I listen to, am inspired by alongside how and when they were experienced. Tracks I’ve loved listening to on my own, while entertaining friends, during lock in record nights and those tracks designed to be shared in public spaces and events. Finding a cohesive path through those different styles, genres and energies was the adventure in this mix. Distilling a sonic mountain of records into something that flowed seamlessly and translated well when listening back in all of those moments felt most authentic. A mix best consumed while moving, sharpening that assignment, at the tail end of a dinner party as the vibe shifts to next gear or while embracing the magic of a lock in with the crew. This has translated into snapshots, across a timeline stitched together from records new and old, capturing a weekend drive, early floors through to closed doors, spilling onto the street, the afterhours and beyond. Almost two and a half hours of ambient ear candy, arm chair burners, peak melters and thought provokers that attempt to relive moments and feelings from our past years listening, curating and creating electronic music. Q. I know you’ve developed a close kinship with some modern pillars of the dub techno scene, mastering and editing .VRIL’s 2025 Edit of his classic tune ‘UV’ and being tasked with closing out his recent Melbourne show. Tell us how that connection came about, and what other studio projects have you got bubbling away that you’re excited to share? A. I first reached out to .Vril ahead of a past tour to Australia. His music resonated with me so much that I wanted to meet him for a coffee. Since then, we’ve hung out a few times, shared music, and bounced some tracks off each other. It was an absolute highlight, when he asked to be a part of reshaping ‘UV’ and he's kindly returned serve with a remix for my follow up EP, 'Modern Explorer II' on local imprint Denude. We’ve had some very early conversations around a collaboration next time he’s out here and I would really like to continue pushing creativity here. In the background, I've been spending a good amount of time in my studio. Focusing on creating for myself and helping others. Improving my abilities as a mix engineer has been a big focus and I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a number projects with artists locally and abroad. Whether that be mixing, providing creative direction, arrangement work or mastering. I really love working with others and often find it more enjoyable than working alone. In saying that, I’m building a volume of new music that needs an outlet and will focus on that over the next few months.