For Woody92, preparing a mix is like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. This approach was on full display in his recent contribution to the Patterns of Perception mix series: in a little under an hour and a half, he delivers an exploration of the “intense but delicate” sounds that make up his musical palette, delving into the genres and styles that fascinate him as an artist. The following conversation dives into the Delft-born artist’s deeply personal approach to music exploration. Conducted digitally, the interview coincided with the recent closure of De School, the renowned Amsterdam club where Woody was a resident. Inevitably, our chat also turns to the current moment: to the impact it has had on him as an artist, and the restorative role that music can play during this challenging collective moment of ours. We recommend tuning into his Patterns of Perception 68 as you read the interview below. The world has been pretty topsy turvy recently - how are you going? What have you been up to lately? I am doing good, to be honest. Unfortunately, I had some sad private situations here and there but overall, I am doing fine. It is such a weird time we are living in, but we all need to deal with the “tops and the turvs” I would say. I am optimistic, but things are changing rapidly in the world around us. With DJing being at its lowest point right now I am trying not to sit still. Even though it’s quite a sad and painful situation we are in right now. One of the good things I take from this period is that it is an eye-opener - things need to be changed in how we were used to living and working in this scene. Also, as a person and an artist I need to adapt, I do get to see my friends more often! I'm having a lot more dinners at home than usual and helping my dad (who has a construction company) here and there with some paint jobs which I quite like. Just normal life. I even started spraying graffiti again. My bi-monthly Neon Cleptu show on LYL Radio is still going on and I am doing some mixes for people and platforms which I admire. I am also using this period to reflect on my future as a DJ and artist. There is a lot to come, I can promise you that. You’ve talked a bit about being inspired by many things out of music itself. What would you say are your main influences? I have a background in fashion and art, I studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. They taught me the value of music, art and fashion among other ways of creativity. Also, to look differently at shapes, sounds in different periods of time or the aesthetics of history and religion. Everything that I learned there I use now in my approach of selecting music. Another big inspiration for me is the people around me, the ones I talk to and they share their ideas with me. That helps me create and define my own vision within art and music more specifically. I tend to always go left when everyone else is turning right. Playing music in a certain style or even certain music can get boring quite fast to me, so I try to keep finding new and different ways to present my music. Music is an artistic output of my own being, it reflects my imagination of who I am as a person. But I can also visualise myself into graphics, fashion and art. You grew up in Delft, not far from The Hague in the Netherlands. How has being from this part of the country influenced your musical journey? A lot! Delft had a big gabber community back in the days and also a huge tekno community, which is quite unique for being such a small city right in between The Hague and Rotterdam. A nice thing about living in a small city is that a lot of the influences from other cities did not really cross over to us, because of that I kind of got the opportunity to develop my own style and approach. For me, that is one of the most inspiring things about Delft. Which means that most of the artists from Delft, a small group, are really doing their own thing without looking at other artists from different cities. In general, I think my music taste can be traced back to my hometown and the people living there. But I also was influenced by The Hague with labels as Bunker and the typical “West Coast Sound of Holland”, even Rotterdam which of course has a big history in dance music which also had influences on me and you can still hear that in what I play today. Rotterdam and The Hague are only minutes away from Delft, so it has always been easy to meet people and to collaborate. To then create something that does not have anything to do with the cities we come from. How would you say your sound has evolved since you first started DJing up until now? I think for every DJ, their sound evolves over time from the point where they started DJing up until now. Music is something very personal and you of course develop your music taste over the years. Something that stayed the same and is still there is my fascination for weird rhythms and indefinable and atmospheric sounds, psychedelic or trippy feelings, and tribal sounding music. I think I can say that I know what I like and what I don’t like and even a lot of music that I used to play is still relevant in my sets up to today. Sometimes I even find music that was made in the time I started DJing which I end up playing in the present, that is a nice full-circle motion for me. Tell us a bit about your mix for Patterns of Perception: how did you approach it? Is there a concept behind it? How and where was it recorded? I recorded the mix at my home in Delft, with two CDJ NXS 2000 players and an Allen & Heath Xone:96 mixer. The approach for this mix was something I never did before, although I have a fasciation or interest in all types of music, so this was a good moment to present something different. I collected music myself and some friends sent over music for me to use. The process of making a mix can be a difficult puzzle, which means you need quite a bit of patience sometimes to get to where you want the mix to be when it is finished. Recording a mix is a different puzzle and can be a personal process, but having the right puzzle pieces is essential to molding it all together. This mix is a reflection of the music that fascinates me as an artist. For this one, I selected deeper and glitchy rhythms combining it with some trippy and more experimental sounds. Some parts can be intense but delicate I would say. I also wanted to make a mix that has influences from different genres and atmospheres, but they can still co-exist in one mix. Not only music was an inspiration for this mix, I went through a lot of images I’ve collect true the years of my academy years. And I’ve taken two drawings of American sculptor and printmaker Lee Bontecou “Untitled” series from 2011. Those abstract images reflect exactly what I want to express with this mix. The images are indefinable, and the shapes are reflecting the sounds I want to point out. So I hope it makes things clearer in the overall story. I always want to tell a story with my mixes because I think it is important to tell a story with your music. Every piece needs to be well selected for the particular moment in the mix and that story. I hope people get what I mean. We were extremely sad to hear of the closure of De School, the Amsterdam club where you are a resident. How has the club’s closure been felt there in the Netherlands? I can’t speak for other people, but for me as a visitor who came there quite regularly up to being a resident there the closure of De School is immensely sad and emotional to me. It is a huge loss for Amsterdam as a city, the Netherlands, and even for the rest of the world in my opinion. De School and the community around De School gave you the freedom to play whatever you want, and people respected that. I think that is one of the most valuable things De School has given us and one of the reasons why this place has been so important to me. It is a sad thing to hear that the club got into a huge debt as a result of the pandemic. Also a lot of things happened behind the scenes which eventually led the owner to decide to close De School. I can only say that they (the team) deserve a massive salute for what they achieved as a club and institute. What have been some of your favourite moments from your residency there? Tough question! Hard to choose… I have hundreds of favorite moments to be honest. I have met so many friends there, discovered new music, played so many sick slots in the nights, mornings and afternoons, from weekenders to regular club nights. I played with a lot of artists who I’ve always admired, having a residency there has given me so many moments and gigs that I will never forget. But if I need to choose now, I will pick the closing slot of De Nieuw, the notorious party that starts on the first of January. This year I got the opportunity to close the basement with my close friend Spekki Webu. Getting that slot is already such an honour and to actually close it down with one of my best friends, starting the new year with a lot of happy people who respected the music we played. I mean ... that is something special. Now that moment is even more special because it was the last time I played De School. What role do you think music plays in a difficult collective moment like this? What role does it play for you? At the start of the pandemic, I was digging a lot of music, but after a month or two I realised that this was not a short temporary thing. It became pretty clear to me early on that it would be taking a lot longer than we all expected. It made me struggle a bit and I lost my creativity to do something related to music. After a certain period, I did find myself back again and now I am back to where I left off and found energy and new motivation again. I also tend to have a love and hate relationship with music, as I am always searching for something that does not exist. That can be really frustrating but that’s also just the way I am. The most important thing about music for me though is that it helps me relieve myself from negative thoughts and it helps me focus more. It is a weird and sad period for all of us, for some more than others but in this period a lot of things come and go. Music helps me forget those thoughts, which I am grateful for. How have you been approaching music during this time? Anything, in particular, you’ve been listening to or playing these last months? My approach to music is the same as before the pandemic. The continued search for unknown stuff is here more than before the pandemic, so that is a positive outcome. I also listen more to mixes from my friends and artists I admire. I learn a lot from those mixes too, and it is dope to see and listen to how other people approach their storytelling with music. At the moment I have a very wide searching area in which I am looking for music. Because I have a certain taste it is hard to explain to others exactly what that means. When I search for music, I recognise certain textures or sounds that I like and then I see a certain interaction between different genres of music. I often question myself if I find the concept of a “genre” still a relevant way of categorising music if there are so many similarities in different genres. Some of the things I have been listening to these months were for example the new album of American artist Pontiac Streator on Motion Ward which came out recently. This album is a perfect example of something that you can’t really pinpoint on a specific genre. It is insanely well-produced and just a super dope album if you ask me. The balance of club or non-club music is something I find very interesting to implement. Labels such as Motion Ward or West Mineral Ltd. are perfect examples of that. And I really like their approach as a label and their vision behind the music that they’re releasing. As I mentioned earlier, the interaction of different textures and sounds makes this music without genre and interesting. What else do you have coming up for the rest of the year and into 2021? The most promising thing I’ve been working on is my new label. I would love to share more details, but I can’t at this point. More info is hopefully coming very soon. Besides that, I am working on different projects and connect with people who are good at what they do and do something special in fashion or art and hopefully I can connect all of this in the future. Most of the gigs that I had planned for 2020 are cancelled or moved to next year, but I hope everything will be a bit more back to normal by then. I am optimistic! In the meantime, I will be making radio shows and mixes and still trying to open up spiritual doors that I did not know existed. Main photo credit: Jeroen Dankers Original artworks by Lee Bontecou

Citizen Maze, a.k.a. Adam McCoy, is among the most interesting talents to emerge from Melbourne in recent years. As an artist, much of his work explores the interplay between ambient sounds, acoustic instrumentation and dance music, creating lush, beautiful compositions which also find a natural fit as sophisticated club pieces. This approach was perfectly highlighted in his 2018 release on Analogue Attic, Serenity In The Woods. Produced using a gaming laptop, a motorised Beringher mixer, and Fruity Loops, this EP showcases richly textured, intricate soundscapes, and blended field recordings with organically percussive grooves and live instrumental elements - all drenched in some of the most sublime-sounding pads we’ve had the pure pleasure of hearing. On the horizon for 2020-21 is the release of a second EP on Analogue Attic, plus the launch of Adam's own label, Mirror Tapes, which promises to delve deeper into the intersection of ambient sounds, dance music and experimental sound design. This mix for Patterns of Perception, recorded alone at home on a stormy isolation-period night, also showcases Adam’s masterful attention to texture and soundscape, but in rhythmical terms brings more energy and intensity. Seemingly effortless shifts between tempos and genres flow organically, yet never muddy the distinctive atmosphere – both industrial and dreamy – present throughout the recording. Citizen Maze's Links: SoundCloud Citizen Maze's "Serenity in the Woods" EP on BandCamp Facebook Instagram

On December 1, Patterns of Perception hosts the first extended live set from Wa Wu We, an alias of revered producer Sebastian Mullaert. Below, Mullaert tells us about the concept behind Wa Wu We, which until now has existed only in production form and as a record label. Tell us about this project: what is Wa Wu We? Wa Wu We have evolved into two different ways of expression for me. One being a very deep and meditative expression; a way for me to create a frame to allow people to let dance take place – to flower in a very natural way. The creative process in the studio is the same, I’m allowing a very natural process to take place. The second being a way for me to express myself without caring about the rules of production and mixing, an opportunity for me to be more free in the studio and transcend the frame I’m unconsciously creating for myself. In one perspective the sound of Wa Wu We is very functional and in another absolutely not (as some of the music is very hard to play). How is it different from your other work as Sebastian Mullaert? The line between Wa Wu We and Sebastian Mullaert isn’t totally clear. Both of them are aliases by me and of course flavoured and filtered through my preferences and experiences. But I would say that Wa Wu We goes deeper and more meditative, more repetitive and hypnotic and also (as said above) at times challenge how we are used to mixing dance music today. All these can also at times be applied on what I do as Sebastian Mullaert but with the later I also allow myself to bloom out into more musical and epic expressions, something I also love to do but not as Wa Wu We. You’ve said the concept is ‘music without boundaries’. How so? Does this apply to yourself, in terms of freedom of creative expression, or also to your listeners, who might be free to interpret the project and the music in their own way? Music without boundaries is an amazing thing, but in reality we often have clear boundaries – we have a clear frame or life situation. In this frame or situation we express. I believe “breaking the boundaries” is how we “meet” or “face” this very moment (with its temporary frame) and express what is. You could also describe this as “allowing the dance to take place”. In this very expression, experience is taking place and that experience is beyond and before any boundary as the concept of boundaries itself do not exist here. In this aspect I don’t see any difference between the musician or the listener/dancer. It’s all about letting the experience take place. This is creativity and creation – regardless of the temporary role, action or situation that are coexisting in that moment. Here is a story I wrote for my mother. It’s a metaphor for the realisation of this very moment in a strong and vivid experience – like one can have in dance, music, sessions of meditation or psychedelic journeys – and how these moments and experiences can continue to vibrate in our daily life as a deep connection with everything we “meet”. This is why I believe dancing is so important and it is in this experience there are no boundaries. Here is the poem / story: /// Wa Wu We; The Drum of Life. Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a little house with her mother and father, right next to a deep forest. Like all children, the girl was full of curiosity and full of life. The curiosity opened doors to amazing imaginary worlds in almost everything she met on her journeys through the woods. One day when the girl was playing in the forest she came to a small glade. It was a peaceful summer’s day, sunbeams were shining through the canopy and there were songbirds in full throat all around. In the middle of the glade was a big stone, covered in moss. In the middle of the stone there was a hollow which gave it the shape of a big bowl. The night before, a great storm had swept through the forest and the stone bowl was full of rain water. The girl climbed up the stone and looked down into the water. The surface was completely still and in the water floated a purple star, shining so brightly it almost dazzled the girl. She jumped down from the stone, amazed by what she had seen and also a little bit scared. What was it? Could it harm her? The storm had also torn some old branches from the big trees. She picked up two of these branches and went up to the stone again. As before, the purple star was shining in the bowl. Cautiously, the girl touched the surface with one of the branches, and instantly a beautiful tone rang out. The tone was so alive and resonant that the girl couldn’t say if she had heard it or if the tone was actually part of herself, so deeply did it seem to resonate within her body. The girl touched the surface with the second stick and another, deeper, tone was heard. This tone too seemed to absorbed her, but this time in a slightly different way. She closed her eyes and could sense parts of her body she couldn’t remember ever feeling before. When she opened her eyes, she could see that the star was shining even more brightly than before, creating a hovering light above the surface of the water. The purple light coming from the star was not outside her, she could feel the light shining within her, as if the star and the light were everywhere and everything. Slowly the girl started to play with the sticks on the surface, each strike on the surface creating a new tone and a new wave of light, building up a song of sound and light. The sound was making the girl dance and the light was lifting her from the ground. Floating several meters above the stone, the girl noticed that she was not alone. The glade was full of different kinds of animal, all moving to the song, in unity but each one in a different way. The trees, the flowers, the clouds in the sky, yes everything was pulsating and vibrating together with the rhythm and melody. She was the sound, she was the light and in its vibration she could feel the animals, the trees and everything else. Suddenly she disappeared. She was everything and she fell through eternity. The next day when the girl returned to the glade, the rain water in the hollow was gone and she couldn’t see any star. But still, deep inside, she felt the unity of the dance and when she looked around at the trees, the flowers and the birds in the sky, she could sense that they were all part of this deep knowing. — For as long as I can remember, my mother has been telling stories. Her sharing these stories with me helped me to find ways to open doors to creativity. My mother is still a little girl, wandering through the woods. Now with grey hair and a slower pace to her walk, but still with the same vibrating force of imagination and the same love for the stories that come to her. One of the stories she told me was about a little boy finding a very special drum in the forest, a magical drum filled with the power of dance. The drum helped the boy find his own dance and creativity, and to awaken joy and happiness when sharing it with others. The sort of joy and happiness that give us and the people we meet strength to investigate life; investigate the endless creativity that we all are part of. Let the drum of Wa Wu We be heard, let it be played and let each of us dance the song of life, moment by moment. In the dance we can express what is now and get a direct experience of … this! Where there is no separation; where there is just for us to be. Wa Wu We Links: Facebook - Wa Wu We Facebook - Sebastian Mullaert Soundcloud - Sebastian Mullaert

Woody92’s upbringing in Delft, wedged between the much-larger and musically more iconic cities of Rotterdam and The Hague, gave him glimpses of psychedelic techno, mystical ambient, free tribal tekno, push-forward goa and psy-trance that influenced his musical development, while also allowing him the space to grow and explore on his own musical terms. Now a respected DJ at home and abroad, his ability to capture an audience while remaining true to his experimental dispositions is unparalleled and unwavering. Meanwhile, his visual art and fashion studies at the Art Academy in The Hague have sharpened a visual aesthetic that runs in parallel with his musical development, going some way to explaining the rich visual imagery that his musical work is able to generate. With residencies at Garage Noord and, before it sadly closed its doors earlier this year, De School, Woody92 has left a deep mark on the Dutch underground scene, thanks to his truly unique syntheses of the meditative, tribal, transcendental, and trippy. All of these influences can be heard (and perhaps – if you close your eyes – seen) in his Patterns of Perception 68, with its deep and glitchy rhythms combining with trippy and more experimental sounds to create a deeply intelligent and intricately arranged selection, bridging textured experimental with propulsive techno, breaks and beyond. Woody92's Links: SoundCloud Instagram Facebook Resident Advisor

Hailing from Wales but a resident of Japan for the past 25 years, Steve Good has, in various forms, been involved with music for his entire life. From classical violin through just about every genre imaginable, he finally found himself sucked into the vortex of London’s rave scene in the 90s. After moving to Tokyo in ’95, he started work at a recording studio, producing, mixing, mastering, remixing and programming music for artists, bands, games, and TV commercials, while simultaneously DJing for clubs and parties and producing via his own downtempo project, Puff Dragon. Involved in Labyrinth since its beginnings, Steve takes responsibility for that festival’s legendary sound quality. After moving to the wild northern-Japanese island of Hokkaido in 2012 with his family, he found natural inspiration for what is now recognised as the Labyrinth sound. The epic beauty and remoteness of this icy, rock-covered isle on the north-west corner of the Pacific Ocean became the inspiration for Steve’s musical explorations of the interplay between the human and the natural, creating a huge and lasting effect on both his own musical output and the indelible artistic mark of Labyrinth Festival. This present live set grew out of a phase of sadness and listlessness Steve experienced as the upheavals of 2020 ricocheted across the globe. In the absence of those usually unnoticed markers of the passage of time, anchor points drift and the moorings that ground opportunities for perspective and insight flit and vanish. Yet in this sea of disorientation, the plants continue to grow, rivers flow, waves crash, and the seasons keep on turning. In place of what appeared to be missing arises the possibility of experiencing each moment in its sublime evanescence. Steve Good’s Patterns of Perception 67 is forest music, mountain music, lake music. It holds chaos and beauty within it, transporting the listener to places both on the edge, and at the core, of the fleeting beauty of existence. After witnessing his ethereal, truly moving opening set on day two of last year’s Labyrinth festival, this mix is a uniquely personal one for our collective. We’re delighted to welcome Steve onto our platform to share his inimitable musical vision. Steve Good's Links: Facebook Bandcamp Labyrinth - SoundCloud

For Amsterdam-based Mary Lake, expression and eclecticism are vital. With an international upbringing spanning Algeria, France and the Netherlands, her musical passion finds voice in diversity and exploration, with sounds as far-flung as folk, world music and electronica finding an easy balance within her palette. Beginning life as a DJ within London’s underground scene and on NTS, Mary quickly became a regular on the Dutch circuit upon her return in 2017. In a club setting, her sound is truly compelling, with frenetic techno and electro rhythms blending effortlessly with left-field experimentations. Following appearances at Dekmantel and Lowlands festivals, as well as at many renowned venues at home in the Netherlands and abroad in cities like Berlin and Melbourne, hers is truly a star on the rise. Mary’s Patterns of Perception 70 is in some ways reflective of the challenges that we all face during these difficult times. With nightlife momentarily on hold, a major source of energy and inspiration has been stripped from the scene, and from life in general. For Mary, listening to her favourite music from before the onset of Covid-19 is a difficult experience, with much of it being inextricably linked to her pre-pandemic life. When preparing her mix, this forced her to rethink her taste and find inspiration elsewhere, providing the impetus to both dig deeper and look inwardly to find a deeper connection with her true self. The resulting set is a diverse and energy-infused personal voyage that traverses a vivid spectrum of techno and breakbeat sounds. It perfectly captures Mary’s signature frenetic sound, while also embracing the optimism and simple pleasure of the living in the moment, no matter how difficult that might seem. Mary Lake's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Resident Advisor Instagram Worshipping Discordia - SoundCloud

As a university student in her native Finland, Susanna Nuutinen found the perfect setup to hone her skills. Susanna, also known by her artist name Suski, would regularly visit the basement of the university’s student organisation alone to practice DJing and to familiarise herself with the equipment. “Practicing alone is important for giving yourself the feeling and security that you can do it. I had to learn how to set up the gear with the sound system, to plug in the CDJs and mixers. I went there alone and practiced often. This was maybe the highlight of my studies,” she says. Those solitary sessions spent learning her craft paid off: Suski is now a fixture of Helsinki’s vibrant electronic scene and a regular at some of the city’s best known venues including Post Bar, Kaiku and Ääniwalli. Following on from her recent Patterns of Perception 65, we spoke about her path to DJing, getting over the nerves and the dynamics of her beloved Helsinki scene. Let’s start at the beginning: how long have you been djing? I’ve been DJing since 2012. Actually New Years was my first DJ gig. I had been travelling and had this realisation that everything in life is possible, so when a friend invited me, I thought I could return to play at that party. That kind of kickstarted the whole thing. I played in the lobby so it was a pretty easy going gig but I was still nervous as hell. Do you remember what inspired you to start? What keeps you going? Before I started, I was kind of nervous about whether I would have everything to give in terms of playing music. But the more I started to dig into it, or to dig into detail, I realised there was way too much music to explore to be nervous about that. It’s exciting and gives me joy and love until today and hopefully much more in the future. For me, it’s the combination of being in the moment and really mastering it. It’s like a symphony orchestra. And it’s the interactive element with the dancers, audience, staff. I still have these moments where I look nervously to the audience to check how they’re feeling, and then you see the smiles of the crowd and you’re smiling. It’s this transforming of energy and feeling. For me playing is at times the thing that I receive the most energy out of but you also give a lot of energy. You can feel so energised for a long time after a really good gig. Do you still get nervous when you play? I’m not so nervous about the technical side anymore, or I don’t have to be, but it has taken a lot of practice and hard work to get to that point. I think the only thing that has helped me to get to that point is that I have done a lot of gigs. It’s a whole different thing to jam or practice at home, compared to playing at the club, or even an underground location where the technical side is not necessarily top-notch. At the start when I would make even just one minor mistake in a gig, I just wanted to go low behind the table. I was so nervous and so worried. I felt like that one mistake, or few mistakes, ruined my gig. It was nerve-wracking but I have overcome that. Many of my heroes and artists who play almost every weekend, I hear them also making mistakes. You realise that it’s just beautiful and that’s just part of the thing. Especially if you play vinyl, which is a much more vivid thing to play than MP3s. It must have felt pretty amazing to realise you’d gotten past that nervousness and self-consciousness. Nervousness can still be there but I don’t have to be so worried anymore. That feels great and it gives me a lot of balance and room to explore, to give myself room to play. To dance more. To have fun! When you have a lot of fun, you notice that transfers to the audience too. How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard you play before? It’s versatile. If I have three gigs in one week, I love to explore different kinds of music for each gig so that they don’t sound the same. Of course it’s about the time and place, in terms of the type of music that will be played. For example, a sunny terrace gig affects the music selection very much compared to a club environment at peak time. I’m not that big a fan of dropping genres, though I sometimes have this crisis about whether I should be more focused on one sound and make that kind of my trademark. But I cannot do that; I love to explore different genres within one gig even. The baseline of my sound would be house, techno and minimal, but still I don’t want to be defined by those. Music is constant exploration and it always depends where that journey will go. Are there other common elements to your sound or something in particular you look for in the music you select? There is almost always this dub influence – almost like a cat prowling. And I love these kinds of dreamy landscapes. Those would be my things that always come around in the music that I like. It’s this deepness and this weirdness. I love to make mixes that include this sense of inner trip. Still, they can be danceable, but there’s this weird twist. Tell us a bit about the mix for Patterns of Perception. How was it recorded? It was recorded in July in Post Bar in Helsinki. They were really kind to let me record my mixes there. I had certain songs that I knew I would love to include in the mix so I started to collect them in a folder. It grew to be a very versatile selection. I was kind of worried that it would be even too versatile. But I still think that the feel of each song – no matter what genre – they still go together and form a whole. At least I hope so. I like every song a lot and they all mean a lot to me. I also really wanted to include Finnish music. It’s always one factor, that it’s important for me to include local music and support local artists. For this mix, I included some promos that I have received from friends. I’d like to highlight tracks from Sansibar, who is really about to break globally. And there is also a forthcoming track from CRC called Downstairs. How would you describe the scene in Helsinki at the moment? It’s a really rich scene compared to the size of the city. The quality here is amazing, in terms of the venues and the people. What do you think is the reason for that? Why do you think it’s so rich despite its size? Maybe it’s this kind of Finn mentality of doing things with care and professionalism, no matter what you do. That transforms into beautiful clubs, or underground venues and parties. It’s also about this family vibe of the people that belong to this. The scene has grown a lot during the last five or so years. Before there used to be a couple of big underground organisations, for example, but nowadays you have several small ones, which gives a lot of diversity and richness to the scene. How have these last few months been for you? As an artist, of course, I was quite sad to see many gigs getting cancelled, when you weren’t sure of how the summer would go. Usually, summer is the busiest time, you can have three or four gigs in one week. Of course for businesses and the unemployment rate in general the situation has been bad, and will continue to be bad. I know many artists who have been struggling, especially freelancers. So it has felt weird but on the flip side, it also felt easy going. I think this situation has done good for everyone – for artists and people in general – to just kind of stop. Of course, it depends if corona has hit in your family or if someone you know has suffered from this. But I would still say in general that this break and this reset - that you kind of have to stop and to think what you have to do, and how you are doing things – can be positive. For example, with the environment. I think maybe the good thing with coronavirus has been reducing travelling, especially air travelling. Which is a potential long term impact for the electronic scene in Helsinki and everywhere. That’s what’s happening in Finland at the moment – you see local artists booked for venues. It’s understandable and I think it’s good. Last week, they removed almost all the restrictions from the restaurants and clubs here, so they can open until 5 o’clock. But I would say at least for now, for the rest of the summer, the lineups will be mostly local. How did it feel for you to start playing again recently? Of course everyone – the promoters and the clubs and everyone – is looking carefully at the situation and has a careful eye on how things go. Two weeks back I played with IDA, a Finn living in Glasgow but based in Helsinki at the moment. We were both very excited to play again. First I had a gig at Kaiku but the Post Bar gig after that was really amazing. Usually, when you enter the club it’s empty at 9.30 or 9.45. You set up and start to play music and people will come eventually but, at that time at Post Bar, it was already full of people. The dance floor lit up really quickly, in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes. That rarely happens in Finland – people are slower to fire up with the dancing. I hope that side of things will stay. As well as DJing, you are also a co-founder and booker for Electronic Market, a booking agency & collective for underrepresented artists in the Helsinki scene. How did this group come about? It started off by us realising that we all had an urge to have this community around us. We are each quite strong artists or DJs in our own right, but we all felt like we were in need of a sense of trust, of community. We wanted to share our experiences and form this kind of group. We all felt like we were loners in this very much male-oriented industry. I think in Finland there has been tremendous work done to balance the lineups with female and queer artists. We all feel like we haven’t been left out in any way and that we have been supported in a very nice way. But we sat down, we made dinner together, we prepared some delicious pad thai! And we came across this idea of having a community and network to help and support each other. That’s where it began. We thought some of the group might just want to be artists on the roster but then everybody went straight into action mode, in terms of being part of the whole thing and giving it synergy. You describe Electronic Market as a “community of friends and like-minded individuals” What are your goals as a collective, if you define yourselves this way? We are a booking agency and collective – those are the main terms we’ve used so far. We want to support female and queer artists. We haven’t had many chances to book yet for our parties but when we do … of course it goes music first, but we also want to support artists who have the same values as we do. What need or purpose does it fulfill for you personally? I feel like if you do not have a group, like you do not belong, it’s really lonely compared to how it was before DJing. If I have weekend gigs, I don’t go anywhere to see friends and do a pre-party. I’m home alone preparing for the set. Then I go to the gig and I’m there for the whole night. You see your friends there but it’s a very different thing. You do not have this network around you. That’s what Electronic Market is about. The booking agency part must be difficult to execute fully at the moment, but another component of your group is supporting creative collaboration and experimentation for each other. What other plans do you have as a collective? One project we were meant to start was for this WTSUP! conference for female entrepreneurs in Lebanon. We had the idea of doing a collective sound art piece that would be interactive. The basic idea behind it would be that most of us within Electronic Market haven’t had much experience with music production. We feel that underrepresented artists haven’t been much invited to make music and produce. It’s not so common for underrepresented artists and females to get access to this invitation. This piece would have been about bringing this topic up, bringing our own experiences around this topic, and also addressing these points and having panel discussions with different artists and people on this topic. Due to the political situation in Lebanon they have maybe cancelled or postponed the event, so we haven’t gone forward with that. But that's one of our long-term goals, that we would support music production within the group. It sounds like supporting other underrepresented and female artists to make a start with DJing or producing has become an important topic for you? Yes, I have been a mentor in a DJ course a couple of times now. The last time I taught with Linda (Lazarov, also part of Electronic Market) actually, we talked about our experiences as a DJ, and then we went hands-on with the players. A lot of the attendees were female or underrepresented artists, so we were really happy about that. And some of those artists are also now DJing, which is amazing to see. Once you start to have that fire for DJing, you will find your way. But if you have this invitation to come and try it out, it’s much easier. In the end, having this supportive environment is so important. Within my group of friends and network, I don’t think anybody thinks it’s a bad thing if they see you have a lot of gigs. You get comments, wow you have a lot of gigs! But it’s more of a positive thing. The scene is really supportive here, also due to its size. I’ve felt appreciated and supported throughout my DJing career, which goes to the heart of the Finnish community and its supportiveness. Lastly, which other Finnish artists should we keep an eye on? There are so many! Hard to mention only a few but for example Pekko has an amazing live set. Jokki and Jimi are both one of my b2b favourites that master especially the deep minimal. I’m maybe biased to say but each Electronic Market artist has earned their places in line ups, for example Linda Lazarov takes you talentedly & trippily wherever. Trevor Deep Jr. are super talented guys both in production and dj’ing. Newhouse is the encyclopedia for house music etc. This summer has been the rise of underground open airs around the city, so even more new up’n’coming talents will spring up from there. Catch Suski at Hello Stranger on August 8, Ääniwalli on August 9 and Siltanen on August 25.

You might already be familiar with Resom’s story: originally from the German state of Thuringia, she started out throwing parties in abandoned spaces in Leipzig, the city that was central to her musical education. Since moving to Berlin, she’s found a home as a resident DJ at ://about blank. Along the way, she’s become a prominent voice in the electronic music scene, both musically and politically, believing the politics is as important to expression and communication as the music itself. Her Patterns of Perception 62 is part of a sound triptych of three connected mixes, a series that both explores and reflects her feelings about this difficult collective moment of ours. Unlike the diverse and eclectic party sets for which she has become known, here she takes it down a gear and delivers an ambient mix embedded in nature - offering up the perfect soundtrack for a walk in the woods, a long meditative run, or just quiet home reflection as we adjust to the new world order. Resom's Links: SoundCloud Facebook MixCloud

Samuel van Dijk a.k.a. VC-118A’s achingly beautiful melancholic moods and roomy, absorbing grooves have distinguished him as one of the Netherlands’ most compelling talents. With releases on Delsin Records, Frustrated Funk, Tabernacle Records, Astral Industries and Silent Season, van Dijk’s productions play with contrasting textures and moods to construct distinctive soundscapes fusing elements of electro, techno, dub, and ambient. His thrilling, immersive performances at Tresor and Griessmuehle (Berlin), Fuse (Brussels), Concrete (Paris) and Trouw (Amsterdam), as well as festivals such as Parallel Festival under his numerous aliases (VC-118A, Mohlao, Multicast Dynamics) have further cemented his status as a master craftsman, his unique sound eluding classification. Van Dijk’s Patterns of Perception 63 sees him strip the VC-118A sound back to the essentials, blending contrasting elements in a science-fiction inspired exploration of distant, abstract worlds, decompression, and escape. This stark, intricately-realised and captivating ambient-focused selection takes the listener to distant, eerily familiar and hauntingly beautiful places. VC-118A's Links: Bandcamp SoundCloud Instagram Facebook chaindata.nl

Born in Ploiesti, Romania, on the cusp of the Romanian Revolution, Andu Simion’s artistic vision, which encompasses both music and photography, is shaped by the grey blocks of his childhood neighbourhood, industrialisation, and the remnants of a communist era that was receding just as he was arriving in the world. Influenced by the Romanian minimal movement, he has crafted his own distinctive talent for crafting deep, acid-infused journeys. With releases on Atipic, Insound Recordings, Particular, Palinoia, Stela Music and Polen, Simion is also one third of Lisiere Collectif, which he founded with Bogdan Ardeleanu and Dan Gheorghe. His Patterns of Perception 64 emerges from the aftermath of the sudden loss of his father some weeks ago. The intensity and energy of this set is marked by turmoil and introspection, with higher BPMs and more aggressive mixes reflective of the grief he has been facing. Simion has had this selection of music on repeat since his father’s passing, using its energy to carry him forwards and out into the sunlight again. Andu Simion's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Instagram andusimion.com Lisiere Collectif on SoundCloud Photo in artwork from andusimion.com

Laura BCR picked up her first pair of turntables as a teenager in the south of France. Yet despite collecting music assiduously since childhood, it was only in around 2013 that she began to treat the outside world to her immense skills as a DJ and selector. Having worked as a booking agent, record store owner (Bass Cadet Records, Berlin) and since 2015 head of On Board Music, her deep and lifelong immersion in music manifests in the supreme depth and breadth of her musical selections, which show influences of jazz, ambient, rock, folk, and of course techno. After several years on the move, Laura has now found herself in Berlin once again - the ideal place from which her skills and sophistication as a DJ can emanate. We’re very happy to welcome Laura back onto Patterns of Perception. Her transfixing, groove-laden set at our Two Year birthday party in 2018 remains embedded in our memories, and we’re glad to be able to share another side of her distinctive sound. Drawing on a recent collaboration with Buenos Aires-based video artist Santiago Rojo for NYC-based Public Records TV, entitled Light & Sea, the works that comprise this Patterns of Perception 66 are delicately woven into a contemplative, meditative body of work that explores the concept of travel - a pertinent theme for the restricted, static world we currently find ourselves in. Read our interview with Laura from 2018: www.patternsofperception.com/post/a-cha…-laura-bcr Laura BCR's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Resident Advisor On Board Music - SoundCloud On Board Music - Bandcamp publicrecords.tv/

Growing up in the countryside of the Netherlands, Matthijs Verschuure found himself surrounded by endless polder horizons, green fields and the sea. It didn’t take long however for Mattheis to find his residence in the industrial harbour town of Rotterdam, where he further developed his synthesizer explorations and crafted his propulsive, hypnotic sound. The Nous'klaer Audio mainstay signed his first release “Isms” with the label in early 2013, followed by a handful of EP’s, remixes and two studio-albums; “Kindred Phenomena” (2016) and “Thin Sections” (2018). His most recent works include collaborations with French label Ahrpe Records founder Amandra, plus a solo EP “A Falcon’s Eyrie” (2020). Mattheis' Patterns of Perception 61 expands on his modus operandi in the studio, featuring rolling waves of insistent rhythms drenched in a deep ambience of atmospheric sounds, with a focus on subtle changes serving the greater whole of the recording. Mattheis' Links: SoundCloud Facebook Resident Advisor Instagram