RW046

Recycling Wax is sweating.

Robin Tasi
May 28, 2026

Hey there,

It’s Whit Monday and today is a public holiday here. The weekend for me was party, party, party, so I was really happy to take it easy today, go out for some good food, and now sit down to write. But more on that later. Let’s start today as follows:

Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.
Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.
Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.

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

#1 Greg Gow & Brian Kage - D Send To Ascend EP: Damn, I love Greg Gow’s sound from the 2000s. Somehow, the Canadian, more specifically the man from Toronto, already caught me back then with his dubby and chord-heavy sounds. Even nicer to know that the “techno” chapter is far from over. Together with Detroit’s Brian Kage, we’re dealing with a record containing four absolute bangers. While the A1 comes directly in your face with really good stabs and remains melodic, the A2 feels like a liver punch and goes beautifully deep. On the B-side, things become more cozy. Really beautiful record with great accents. By the way, the B2 is also stab-heavy, but because of the bassline, the track gets that groove, which makes the tune a little softer. A classic track for the second hour of a warm-up set. Rock solid record with four wonderful tracks, therefore a clear recommendation to buy.

#2 Bright Raven - Corktown EP: Here, I’m absolutely clueless, people. But while I’m reading with half an eye during writing: “mysterious Detroit producer”. Alright then, forgive me. Because I have no idea who Bright Raven is. What I can say is that this is the second record. So I went into this 4-track EP completely without expectations and without any background knowledge. “Outstanding Detroit techno tracks”, they said. Is that true? Let’s see. But when I put on the A1, apparently a track without a kick drum, it was already obvious through the synthesizer alone: quality definitely mattered here. And once you click on the A2, it becomes very clear: that wasn’t just a “thesis”, it’s actually true that this is a wonderful record. Honestly, I don’t really like the B1; the drums sound a little off. But I think that’s intentional, my autistic brain just can’t deal with that shift haha. “Return To Life” then brought me back into the record, though. Wonderful pad, perfectly fitting with the bleepy synth. Damn, what a beautiful record. Love it! MUST-HAVE!

BANDCAMP
DECKS
DEEJAY

BANDCAMP
DECKS
HHV

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

#1 Richard Turner - Utility Plastics Vol. 9: I honestly have to admit that Richard Turner appeared way too rarely in this newsletter. Maybe 1-2 times you could read about his music here, but with Utility Plastics, Richard managed to create a label in 1999 that came along minimal, yet extremely powerful, uncompromising, and very focused. In my opinion, Volume 9 is the best release in the series. Two records, eight tracks in total, and two locked grooves. One track better than the next. My absolute favorite: D2. This tune rips my shoes off every single time. Fun fact: I’ve never played it in a club. Fun fact? More like a sad fact, to be honest. This bassline, together with the kick, sounds like constant double hits are happening. But the combination with the synthesizers, perfectly tuned to each other and communicating beautifully together, the drums, and this certain coldness within the track make it an absolute floor banger. I think I’ll play this one in Gdansk this weekend when Kathi and I play B2B for four hours there. I’m already looking forward to it, and I’ll tell you next week how the track was received.

#2 Richard Turner - Utility Plastics Vol. 2: Man, this record opens my pants just as much as the other releases from this label. Here, my absolute favorite is the B2. I’m just realizing why I described the label with a certain “minimalism” in the previous text. And what I especially love about the productions: the drums are incredibly “sharp-edged”. Meaning: no polished smooth drums, instead they hiss, crunch, scream, and bang. I absolutely love that. With the B2, I imagine riding a horse. These closed hi-hats have exactly the rhythm of horseback riding. Or don’t they? I’ve never ridden a horse before. Great record, definitely a recommendation, and for 5€, absolutely a bargain too!

DISCOGS

#3 Richard Turner - Utility Plastics Vol. 11: Uncompromising, loopy, simply amazing. There’s not much more I can say. Available for 7€ from Holland, Spain, Belgium, and three times in Germany via Discogs. I honestly think this is by far the cheapest and best record you can buy right now. Three weapons on one record that destroy the floor. Doesn’t matter on which continent, in which country, or on which planet.

#4 Richard Turner - Utility Plastics Vol. 13: This was the very first Utility Plastics record I ever bought. Well, actually, I took it from a stack of records at the Record Loft pop-up store in Berlin because I helped out there. I still remember having to go back to Dortmund for one day, then immediately returning from Dortmund to Berlin to continue being part of this three-day pop-up store. I don’t even remember anymore where exactly it was. Great memory. The same goes for this record. The A1 used to be my intro for a long time. I manually reversed the first 20 seconds and then played it forward. Always worked perfectly!

DISCOGS

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

Somehow, I have the feeling that there was a story I wanted to tell connected to the Sven Väth event, but I reread the last newsletter edition and simply can’t remember anymore. Too bad, but as we say in Germany: “If you forgot it, then it probably wasn’t important enough.” Alright then. I was still sick during the week. Somehow, something is just going around right now, and I had to take it easy. Luckily, I felt fit again towards the weekend, and it was time for 2 Years Fi in Cologne.

What a club. I’m telling you. You’ve probably heard of Open Ground in Wuppertal already. A club about 50 minutes away from me by train. But only very few people have heard of Fi. Honestly, for me it’s one of the best clubs I’ve ever been to. A multimillion-euro project. A club that was built exactly for this purpose. Two floors, one downstairs, one upstairs. Massive Lambda Labs systems downstairs with a capacity for 12,000 people, but designed for 800 guests. Great acoustics and slightly brutalist. I was fascinated by this place from the very beginning. Behind the DJ, there’s a five-meter-high bass wall. But I can and always could play records there in such a relaxed way. No feedback, nothing. It’s honestly a dream come true for me to be able to play there. And exactly this club turned two years old.

First, Kathi played upstairs on Friday. That was really beautiful, nice house and more relaxed techno while the sun was shining inside. At Fi, you can walk outside all the way up to the top of the building via stairs. And the floor exit to the outside area is directly on the sunny side. Two employees stood exactly at the exit, and the sun hit them in golden light. It looked painted. Additionally, Fi has a lot of artistic installations outside. There’s always something new to discover. I love everything about this place. Kathi played the closing together with Elisen, a local artist from Cologne. I danced until the end, and then we enjoyed the sun.

The next day, I got to play B2B with Måtyrer. We had never done that before, even though we’ve known each other for around seven years already. That was just as much fun, and the place was nicely filled. Usually, I don’t notice much of that because I’m so deep in the tunnel and wearing headphones. Do you know that feeling? I’m so deep into DJing that I simply don’t notice what’s happening around me. In the dark, I don’t see anything anyway except the glow of my cigarette and the beer glass, hahaha. Damn, afterwards we were really exhausted and took the RE1 home at 2:49 AM after the gig. That was absolute hell. Trains are running from Cologne to Hamm, going through the entire Ruhr area, including Dortmund. And at night, it basically turns into a drinking train. We thought we could just take this train because surely nothing would be happening at night, and the next ICE only came at 4 AM instead of before 3 AM. Yeah right. The train was full, random people blasting loud music and singing along. It was simply disgusting. It smelled awful, the toilets were unusable and destroyed, and currently, the atmosphere often feels like everybody only cares about themselves. Horrible, honestly. Definitely the last time for us. We already swore that during the train ride! In my early 20s, I always thought “you’ll never become one of those people who think they’re too good for things”, but honestly, at 34 years old, enough is enough. You really do have to take care of yourself, and the need for comfort and peace is completely okay.

Why did we leave so early? Because I still had to play the opening at 11:00 AM at PollerWiesen Festival in Dortmund. The booker wanted a house opening, and together with DJ Palga, a local DJ from Cologne, I played a face-to-face set. A funny concept because you basically have to give up your entire control. Whenever I mixed in a track, the person opposite me had to mix out the currently playing track. When you’ve spent 15 years being used to the work beginning with pushing up the fader, it’s strange when the whole thing suddenly works the opposite way around. Let me explain the concept. Face-to-face means standing opposite each other. You have your own DJ setup, and the person opposite you has theirs. One channel on our mixer was taped off and permanently turned up. That had to be like this, so whatever the opposite person did always ran through exactly that channel. Then I could mix music onto it. You basically had to communicate through the mixer, for example, when one person removes the bass and when I add the bass. I honestly can’t fully explain it anymore. It definitely took half an hour to get into it, but after one and a half hours, the next duo was already waiting. Ah, yes, this DJ assembly line treatment. But that’s another topic I’ll probably open up sometime soon.

I’m tired and completely done from the weekend, so I’ll stop writing now! Have a good start to the week!! :-)

You know me: during holidays, I keep the newsletter a little shorter. Today is a similar case. But I already want to prepare you for something. We’re currently at RW046. I really want to keep pushing and continue writing until RW050. After that, I need a break from writing for a while. Please don’t get me wrong: writing is ultra fun. But I currently need to apply for a new position because the contract of my 9-to-5 job is ending. Therefore, finding a new job has top priority. So that means writing applications instead of newsletters. Nevertheless, I’ll push through until 050. So, see you next week! :-)

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

Reply

or to participate.