RA Live - Nicolas Lutz - Houghton, 2025

At Houghton 2025, Melina Serser eased the crowd deeper into the afternoon with a slew of tripped-out, chuggy tunes at Outburst. @houghton-festival @melinaserser

Sunrise at Houghton is some serious festival magic—the perfect setting for three hours of Jane Fitz at her best. @houghton-festival @janefitz

An hour of E/Tape and Baby Vulture concocting mesmerising digital soundscapes, recorded live at last year's Houghton Festival. @houghton-festival @etape

The Texan prodigy transmits the sound of sci-fi techno in 2026. What does the future feel like in 2026? In an era dominated by nostalgia and electronic revivalism, even techno—a genre once defined by futurism—has begun to feel stagnant. Enter Gautham Garg, aka Decoder. Raised in Dallas, the 21-year-old offers a refreshed vision of techno for the present moment. While comparisons to techno stargazers like Mills and Richie Hawtin are inevitable, RA.1023 reveals a broader palette. Microtonal flourishes recall Aleksi Perälä’s Colundi era, while the patient structures lean closer to Perlon-style minimalism than early-2000s severity, with nods to Ricardo Villalobos and Margaret Dygas. Built largely from unreleased material, RA.1023 captures Garg’s vision of techno for this decade. There’s weight, but it’s more body than bite: elastic, finely tuned drums and a buoyant hypnotism that persists even in rougher moments. Though often labeled sci-fi, Garg’s sound adds layers to cold futurism—instead, optimism shines through. In his hands, techno’s future still feels bright. Find the Q&A and tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1042 @iamdecoder

The newest XL signing delivers 60 minutes of blistering explorations across the hardcore continuum. Don't expect KAVARI to take anything too seriously. The Glasgow-based artist thrives on contradiction: a pop-adjacent instinct colliding with a love of discomfort, abrasion and noise. After years of releasing independently, 2026 marks a new chapter with PLAGUE MUSIC, her debut on XL, out in February. But her instincts remain the same: push harder, strip things back, make it stranger. It comes as little surprise, then, that she's earned the support of fellow mould-breakers like Aphex Twin, Ethel Cain and Hudson Mohawke. Of her RA Mix she shrugs: "I honestly don't remember making it." That irreverence is audible: disembodied voices mutter club-floor mantras, as she drags grime, drum & bass and dubstep through distortion, friction and collapse. If that all sounds chaotic, well, that's kind of the point. The aim is to unsettle but o nce you find your footing, RA.1022 reveals itself as genuinely thrilling dance music, far removed from convention. Because nobody gets anywhere interesting without ruffling a few feathers. Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/1041 @kavarimusic