Urban Cosmonaut Radio

Time keeps flowing like a river - year after year the Urban Cosmonaut journey goes on - and we are thrilled by the sound adventures which await us on the path. We keep travelling on the beat, and today's trip brings us to the Anatolian plateau to enjoy the Turkish delight which Erhan Yilmaz (https://soundcloud.com/erhanyilmazedits) prepared for us. Erhan was born on the shores of the Black Sea, he has been playing music for about a decade already, he performed in radioshows and music venues alongside many instrumentalists. His sound experiments and melodic excursions helped Erhan to develop the fascinating style he displays in his mix. His sound is diverse and heterogeneous, sliding smoothly between house tracks and disco-folk rhythms produced with a rich selection of ethnic motifs from Turkey and Middle-East. It is a vibrant sound made of histories and memories, a sound which recalls the beautiful moments spent with the beloved ones. This is what inspired the artist while recording the mix. We are happy to w

It was a sparkling Saturday night at Fusion Festival, all dancers were out of their shelters after the burning sun had set, the energy was raising high when Buddy aka Kusht (https://soundcloud.com/kusht-music) stepped on stage and began his show. Kusht is a Norway-based Scottishman born under the sign of Aquarius, who has been playing in bands for about sixteen years and started his electronic productions seven years ago. His first steps into this new dimension were not really firm, he says. His loud, rock background was clear, but he couldn’t really identify his electronic sound until he visited Fusion Festival for the first time, four years ago. In that very inspiring chaos he found his path, he finally knew how his productions were about to sound, and here we have a great taste of that. The set that we are about to bring to your ears was recorded live at the Dub Station. It comprises exclusively his original material, some of it was released on his latest vinyl ‘Together’(@ynfnd), and some is still unrelea

After being absent for many months, we would like to revive our podcast series by introducing you to one of the finest artists we could ever present - Danaga! (https://soundcloud.com/danaga) This superb producer was born and raised in one of the wildest and mysterious areas of the old continent: the region of Transylvania, in Romania, where he grew up in the analog era, studying the classic guitar and the piano and collecting music on cassettes. The secrecy and mystique of that land is well represented in Danaga’s productions, which are beautifully displayed in the live recording. For this Mix he used Elektron Analog Keys, Hohner Pianet T, Memory Man Analog Delay, a cheap romanian Stratocaster Guitar, Kaoss Pad, PVC homemade flutes and various percussion instruments. It comes as a sort of music diary telling of the ‘transformative experience’ he went through while experimenting with those Instruments in the last years. Unlike other mixes of our series, this is not a musical journey, but rather a flow which i

Nostalgic for the good ole Latin-American downtempo? Then this mixtape is just what you need with @lagartijeando delivering an ode to the Andean sound directly to your soul! Despite the international acclaim this great Argentinian producer has received over the last couple of years, he chose to stay in the small village where he was born and raised. His productions, featuring local instruments and motifs, manifest his admirable attachment to his origins and the traditional music of his homeland. His first approach to music, at the age of 14, was accidental because “nobody wanted to play bass guitar in town” so he learned it and started to play with his friends. It is astonishing how this almost random first step awakened his dormant talent for music which turned a boy into a brilliant electronic producer and music professor. The set that Lagartijeando prepared for UCR features many of his latest productions including seven unreleased tracks. Gentle instrumental sounds of flutes and drums, organic samples and

As music lovers, we all asked ourselves at least once what music is about. What is its function? How did it become such an important component of our lives? Maguera (https://soundcloud.com/maguera) questioned himself about it too, and he concluded that for him it is all about communication and profound emotions. This talented Italo-Danish composer, musician, and electronic producer believes that music is the strongest medium available to reach people, and he employed it to send out a call to self-reflection to our listeners and to himself. In fact, he told us of his thoughts about the decreasing ability of the people to feel empathy and how this is affecting our essence. This is the main theme of the splendid mix he recorded for UCR. His concern towards the rising narcissism and egomania, as well as his hope for an imminent change of direction, drove the artist in the recording of the mix. It’s possibly the duel between these controversial strong emotions that makes this mix so beautifully heterogeneous, with

The sun shines again in the Berlin sky and warms up our hearts, colors become vivid and the rhythms more vibrant. It is the right time to welcome Lui Mafuta (https://soundcloud.com/luimafuta) to our podcast series and to spread his seductive and enveloping sound into the warm breeze. Lui’s passion for music began in his adolescence when he started playing jazz drums alongside his father. He was greatly influenced by hip hop beats which formed the bedrock of his sound and early productions. However, the discovery of the so called ‘downtempo’ brought a remarkable change in his career as producer and introduced Lui to electronic music. The ease of the rhythms and the openness of the people crowding the scene helped him find a new form of expression, and shaped him to the brilliant producer that we know. Lui finds his inspiration in the energy of the crowd, and it´s his mission to return that energy in form of fresh sound. Lui finds enjoyment and motivation in the freedom that music production itself entails.

It’s celebration time at UCR! We beat the drum for the 50th episode of our beloved podcast series and rejoice in this festive occasion with a very special artist and human being, the one who made UCR a reality, our own @burntale ❤️ Her energy goes beyond the imaginable for a human being: she is constantly busy nurturing her many interests, keen to pursue her dreams and ready to enjoy life at its best. A few years ago, this powerful and motivated artist began her journey into sound encouraged by her friends and supported by another one of our UCR homies, the wizard of slowtempo, So’ham. The exquisite mix that we are delighted to share with our listeners comes straight from the tropics. It was driven by the memories of her journeys and by the energy of the crowd who were dancing on her vibes. The set is a kaleidoscope of cultures and people from all corners of the beautiful planet that we inhabit. It’s her personal reminder to never stop wondering about the world surrounding us and to continue to dare and to ex

The calendar year is getting to an end and many tend to look back at the joys and successes, but also at the false steps. No better time than this to present a cosmonautic experience offered to us by the one and only Pacaya. His beautiful creations as painter, illustrator, and graphic designer have been delighting us for long time, and now we have the rare opportunity to appreciate his aesthetic also through sound. This beloved friend of ours embodies the concept of the multisensorial artist displaying here an exquisite selection of world music. The sound is the fourth dimension of his visual art. Pacaya explained that each of his artistic creations can be experienced in a deeper way when accompanied by the sound which nourished his mind, and which drove his hand during the making. The sound, somehow, makes the colours more vivid and complement the creation with further details. The inclusion of the sound wide opens the door which the visual art unlocks. That’s the doors to the intimate and emotional world of

If you live in a big city which somehow limits your contact with the natural world, Beatfarmer’s mix, prepared for UCR, will surely rescue your spirit and reconnect it with the elements. If such a connection is still strong inside of you, these vibes will raise you up further and make your body sway in a mystical dance. Beatfarmer’s sounds come from the woods of a secret island where this countryman settled with his family and made his home. There, the forces of nature and the spirits inhabiting those magical woods inspire his productions. While he mostly focuses on making the energy flow within and between people when he performs, Beatfarmer took the chance to enlarge the horizons of his soundscape when he produced this podcast. This masterfully blended live recorded mix comprises of his own exclusive productions, original tracks and remixes which is reminiscent of his tour through Germany last summer. His inspiration comes from the energy of the festival crowd which Beatfarmer describes as “playful, trancy,

Comprised of violins, violas, cellos and double basses, the strings form an emotionally powerful section of a symphony orchestra. Those instruments are Andi Otto’s specialties and passions; characterizing his early formation. After studying cello as a teenager, Andi stepped into the endless dimension of electronic music production and debuted his first releases as Springintgut. Once he had explored the possibilities offered by electronic devices, Andi's love for concert moved him to embrace his cello, and to develop an innovative system of sensors to mount on it. This prototypical instrument, which he re-named “Fello”, has become Andi’s companion in live performances and studio productions. Given his passion for strings, they are the main theme of the mix that the scientist-musician prepared for UCR. Moved by his insatiable curiosity, Andi has undertaken an exploration of the use of strings across modern music and decided to bring our listeners along the mesmerizing sound journey. The voyage begins with the n

Somebody would trivially call this music “neofolk”, but that’s not the case of Jin Yerei, who instead prefers to call it “neurofolk”. This is the name which he likes to use to describe the nature of his sound. A mental combination of spacy effects and traditional motifs from his homeland Argentina bouncing on a pleasant lilting beat. This humble musician gifted of uncommon sensibility and skill is not accustomed to release podcasts or mixes, being instead focused on music composition and production. Nevertheless, here he comes with this jewel that he decided to offer to UCR. The artist produced this live set mixing exclusively his own productions, including some unreleased material. This is meant to be a time travel towards a dystopian future dominated by machines. Humans, living like outcasts of that society, would use their ancient music and chants to remind themselves of the good old times, when humans still had control over machines. Such dramatic scenario, so easy to figure and too often recognizable in

After discovering the world of electronic music in 2000, today’s featured artist Muno has since experimented with classical, minimal house, and dance, before discovering his definitive ‘intercultural dark’ sound. Formerly performing under the alias Gurtz during his electronic dance phase, Muno also performs as part of the trio Kermesse. In recent years, while travelling Europe, a new musical dimension opened for Muno who decided he wanted his music to bring fresh vibes for both his listeners and himself. “I returned home from a two month trip in Europe, I had heard a lot of artists playing very similar music. I understood that I needed something different after this trip” he said, “a new challenge.” So for today’s podcast he offers us a blend of his remastered classic tracks, as well as a few unreleased ones. The result is a calm and relaxing, but also very playful mix, which evokes feelings of cool waters, dripping out through the speakers, with each new beat a colourful drop tapping against the water’s surf

Perfectly in tune with the summer season upon us, Islandman presents a refreshing sound from the shores of the Black Sea with this splendid sunny mix. Originally from Turkey, this brilliant producer started out at a young age and made his way in music by playing a traditional long-necked lute known as a saz. It’s thanks to this early relationship with music that Islandman developed the technique and feeling needed to handle farfetched rhythms, sounds, and chants, inspired by the flowering cultures of the Mediterranean basin and beyond to blend them with mastery in his tracks and mixes. This eclecticism and understanding of music has helped him put together a wide range of melodies and musical styles which ranges from enchanting edits of traditional Bulgarian sounds to smooth Balearic disco. His mix is exciting and mesmerising, catching the mind in a gentle twine of melodies and rhythms. His perfect balance of percussions and electronic beats shakes and ripples throughout the track, and lifts you with ecstatic

When you take off for a musical journey, the launch pad is known, but you can rarely forecast the landing strip and the journey in between. As Cosmonauts, that uncertainty is what we enjoy most: the wonder experienced along the trip, the polychromatic soundscapes revealed after a transition and the playful bounce between colourful beats along a track. In this episode of our podcast series, we bring you Da Iguana, a true sound explorer. This eclectic multi-instrumentalist started wandering the vastness of sound as a guitarist and bassplayer in his childhood and built his talent thanks to an astonishing variety of musical projects. In his mix prepared for UCR, he gifts us many of his latest unreleased tracks which are beautifully blended with past productions. Despite the multicultural flavor and prismatic style of the tracks in this mix, most of them resulted from an inspiring journey he had with his muse through Central America and the Caribbean, much like the voyages green iguanas take across those same land

For this episode, we are delighted to present you an original mix created for us by that extraordinary producer known as El Búho. His ability to blend natural tones and traditional South American motifs with electronic beat grew along the past 9 years and is now renowned. The resulting music creates magical soundscapes, it feels like having a night walk in a forest, the air is filled with the buzz of the creatures swarming around, fireflies sparkle in the dark. Although El Búho’s acoustics are painted in vivid colours, this mix is inspired by Winter. It all begun on a cloudy day in one of those “hobbit-esque” villages in Northern England. You can imagine him sitting by the window, watching the clouds being pushed on by the wind, while the fire burns slow in the stove. There, the artist found inspiration and recorded many of the impressions that we can now listen to on this beautiful mix. The rain tapping on the ground, jackdaws cawing, crunchy leaves being caressed by the wind… Those organic sounds, so famili

Today in our podcast series we welcome Ali Kuru and present you the heap of wonder that he prepared for us! The renowned Turkish DJ and producer delights us with a characteristic mixture of slow textured deep beats, oriental sounds, ethnic percussions and jazzy motifs. The mix that Ali prepared for UCR abounds with his original tracks and edits, cosmic disco gems that carry the listeners through lands and cultures to soar their morale and to make their bodies vibrate on the captivating beat. These are powerful charming vibes that give off passion, and unveil Ali’s eclectic music taste. Despite the relentless growth in popularity throughout the years and many performances at acclaimed clubs all over Europe, Ali favors living in the nature on the shores of the Aegean Sea over the busy and noisy city life. Is it maybe this simplicity and clearness permitting the artist to listen to his feelings and emotions, and to unleash them through an admirable richness of sounds? We don’t know, but we know Ali’s rhapsodic t

After a little break, we are now delighted to welcome ALUNA to our podcast series. ALUNA depicts the joined talents and complementary creations of Maywa and Steffen Kirchhoff, world travellers and soul explorers. Their music project aspires to the creation and spreading of ritualistic music, leading the listeners to reconnect with the Earth, to harmonize with Nature, and with its endless wonders. It’s healing music, it’s music to dance, it’s music to love. Their vision is embodied by their selection of sounds, idyllic melodies, and fascinating vocals, all permeated of Latin American flavours. In fact, their music project finds its origin in the Columbian forests where these beautiful souls first met, as soloist artists. The word ALUNA also descends from the natives of that land. Among the Kogi people, it stands for the “invisible spirit realm”, the source and intelligence of life. After that magic encounter, the two artists gathered again in April 2017 on the shores of the Baltic sea, where their first mel

Welcome back Cosmonaut! For this month’s radio show we’re excited to present you with São Paolo’s mystic master of drops: EXZ. As a person rather quiet, his sound speaks volumes of a wild and beautiful mind. His profound and psychedelic productions have their origin about ten years ago, when Alexandre first started to grapple with the piano and different synthesizers. From there he developed his very distinct style, fusing energetically pumping basslines with emotional and touching melodies by creating moving drum patterns that transport Ale’s unique groove onto the dancefloor. Instead of composing one rigid live set at a time and touring with it, EXZ likes to stay flexible and so he comes up with a new selection, new narratives and new transitions tailored to occasions, places, or feelings he tries to express. In contrast to the darker mixes Ale plays in his hometown São Paolo, he wanted to share a lighter and happier themed selection with us, perfect for the rising temperatures and longer days. So op

Our next urban cosmic-cast was mixed by an artist who needs no introduction. Mimi Love has played herself into the hearts of countless people all over the globe with her signature sound and unforgettable gigs. Her sets are diverse and distinct, and have been known to move people’s hearts and feet in equal measure wherever she plays. Although she can often be found discovering unknown territories, Berlin is the place where she loves to take off and land. As a member of the infamous Bachstelzen crew and resident DJ at Katerblau, she is deeply rooted in the German capital, where she has been playing many different roles in “this theatre called underground” for the past 10 years. Her heartwarming style encompasses both slow and fast vibes, spanning a mixture of electronica-ethno, soft rock - downtempo hiphop all the way to what she calls pop-techno. This podcast is peek into her colourful collection, a mix that showcases the different kinds of music she has collected over the past months. It shows us a side of

We are delighted to present the live premiere of Russian producers Geju, who composed a 100-minute live set that will send you free-falling through the Cosmic universe. George Topuridze and Denis Kurchenko are a creative duo based in Moscow. When they aren’t hosting the Levelvda events in their hometown, the pair can be found pushing their creative forces as art directors of several projects such as Pinch, Ugolek, Severyane and Sempre. Their music has mesmerised us from the start: 4/4 beats and free floating melodies, monotony vs. polyphony, synthesized textures and ethnic motifs all beautifully intertwined with vocals. We are taken on an emotional journey through delight and darkness, through space and time of what must be a dream or ritual. It seduces you, enchants you, and sets you free - in a whirl of smoke and spices. Find Geju on: https://soundcloud.com/g-e-j-u https://facebook.com/GEJUOFFICIAL