RW024

Hey there,

We are approaching the end of the year, and also the end of the giveaway.

On December 18th, 2025, I will announce in the upcoming newsletter RW026 who will actually win the Mystery Box, just one day after the 2nd anniversary of the launch of Recycling Wax.

The goal remains the same: to share music, to honor producers, and to broaden your horizons as I see fit.

Newsletters RW027 and RW028 fall on holidays, which means they will be rather short. But for now, everything continues as usual, starting with:

1. Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.

2. Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.

3. Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.

4. What’s in my Bag? - A peek into recent gig selections, new digs, and timeless records.

5. Community Pick of the Week by Unknown - One favorite from the community.

1. Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.

2. Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.

3. Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.

Let’s talk about DJing. Let’s talk about connections. Let’s talk about similarities. Let’s talk about differences. And with that, let’s talk about B2B sets.

Since COVID, there has been more and more DJs, interest in DJing has simply risen, and I think that interest is now slowly tapering off again. I suspect that interest in any hobby is generally negatively correlated with price and difficulty: the lower the cost and the easier the skill, the higher the interest. And if the hobby can also be filled with a lot of free time, like during lockdown, then even more so.
I saw the same correlation in photography: as DSLR cameras became cheaper, demand grew. But maybe I’m wrong.

What I’m getting at is this: because there are more DJs than ever, and at the same time, spaces are not increasing; in fact, unfortunately, fewer DJs actually get the chance to play out. That’s where B2B sets can be a good compromise.

I have mixed feelings about B2Bs: I like them, but not with everyone. I’m honestly having difficulty with this topic. In my everyday life, I’m extremely structured; I do one task after another. But with things I feel 100% confident about, like DJing, I become completely chaotic.
DJing gives me the chance to break out of my daily routine, to try, in a controlled way, to be less controlled. Somehow, that gives me the kick I need.

But there are also DJs who need security during their set, who aren’t necessarily open to spontaneous effects or experimenting. And I fully understand that. For me, what matters most in a B2B is that the other person feels safe enough to go with the flow. If I get a message like “let’s sit down and plan what music we’ll play,” I get super demotivated, not because of the person’s intention, but because it takes away that artistic freedom and the chaos that lets me escape my routine.

Do you get what I mean? I don’t want this text to sound mean, weird, or elitist; I’m just writing freely here.

An example: a promoter in Berlin, who had booked me in the past, asked if I wanted to play B2B with KVLR. We didn’t know each other; I didn’t even know his first or last name, only his Instagram account. I hadn’t really looked into Louis (greetings at this point). But we said: Let’s do it.
We spoke for the first time at the actual gig, and I had a feeling it would work well. And honestly, it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. We didn’t talk at all during the set, didn’t check what the other was doing, we just played. And it worked unbelievably well. The club was already full for our warm-up, and even we didn’t know what we were creating. Sometimes I just pushed the fader up while Louis was busy and threw in a quick vocal snippet, or mixed in a track without even using headphones. Sometimes we played four tracks at the same time. Everything fit from beginning to end.

Same with Stranger. Mitchel, I don’t know how you experienced our B2B @ Junkyard. I don’t think we ever talked about it, but it also just clicked immediately. No preparation, no planning, no rehearsing. And that’s the magic I need. Everything else restricts me.

Even with Justin, we’ve known each other for a long time, and whenever we meet and play together, it’s like we’ve never done anything else. As if we were playing every weekend. It’s simply magical. And I think this magic can only happen when you play freely, without pressure. You just trust your B2B partner, and I think that’s incredibly important.

What about you? Do you have a B2B rule? Do you go with intuition? Or do you only do it with close friends? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

4. What’s in my Bag? - A peek into recent gig selections, new digs, and timeless records.

This weekend I actually had some time off, but I was also feeling a bit under the weather. I had planned to join Kathi at her gig in Hannover at the new Weidendamm, but unfortunately, I didn’t feel 100% myself. So I stayed home and played a lot of games instead. I’ve got a new console now that lets me play Nintendo 64 games in 4K. But last Thursday, I played the second edition of Recycling Wax Radio at Mono in Dortmund. If you missed it, click here. It’s a listening café with an extremely good sound system and amazing coffee. And that’s why I want to show you some of the tracks I played there:

5. Community Pick of the Week by Unknown - One favorite from the community.

Stefano Noto - Inside Out: I received an email from “X” with the subject line “fave.” The message couldn’t have been more minimalistic: artist, title, and a link to the EP. At the end, it simply said “Shared from the Discogs App.” It’s just insanely cool when I get exactly this kind of message. No fuss, no long text, just an “I don’t give a fck” type of message, hahaha. Of course, I love it when I get lots of input from you, because the more input you send me, the less writing I have to do. Not that I find this newsletter annoying, but sometimes it’s nice when I get texts from you about songs that I can more or less copy directly into the newsletter, including what moved you and what you were thinking while listening. But somehow, even a super short message like this one is refreshing. Now let’s talk about the record: an absolutely fantastic release from the early ’80s, back when house was still in its beginning stages. Sure, house has existed since around 1977, but 1983 is still just six years later, not much compared to the nearly 50 years of material we have today.
A dreamy record with beautiful vocals and very clean drums. Lovely, this track is really sweetening my day!

Thanks, dear unknown “X”, for sending it in. Keep it up, I always, always, always appreciate your picks.

DISCOGS 

And here we are again at the end. No TOP 5 this time, did you notice? No? Then all is good. Did you miss it? Then I can tell you: it will be back! :-)

And don’t forget: keep sending me your favorite track or record. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the one curating the next pick in the Community section.

Simply reply to this email or comment here with a link to your favorite E.P.

Catch you next week! Be ready to drop the needle on my next picks.

Keep it spinning,
Robin Tasi @ Recycling Wax

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