Podcast
Ransom Note
Hosted by Ransom Note · EN
Ransom Note is an online music, arts and culture magazine. We provide a home for readers and writers with boundless enthusiasm, esoteric knowledge, fierce opinions and impeccable taste.
With our core team immersed in all aspects of dance music, we publish news, articles, and interviews covering the greatest in innovative, underground culture from across the globe. We offer regular, exclusive music and mixtapes from our favourite artists, and publish features shining a light on everything from the freshest new artists to the untold tales from rave history.
Alongside this we offer musings on film, books, life, and art, generating some context and controversy as an antidote to the reheated PR that clogs up the internet. Our office is fuelled by Tunnock’s Bars, cat memes, hangovers and a ridiculous, never ending love for our culture.
We're always interested in getting new writers on board – feel free to get in touch if you’ve got a story to tell.
With love until the grave.
46episodes
Episodes
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PREMIERE: SDF - Policeman [Vitamins]
1w ago00:07:34Tap to summarizeSDF returns after two years away with a low-slung stomper, mixed and retweaked by Toby Tobias… In a corner of Wales, where the sea meets the road, there’s a Policeman who’s bent over a rather small load. Adam, Oliver, Lucy, SDF by their name, caught him twice over on some CCTV frame. Toby Tobias came round with his knobs and his skill, Retweaked and resparkled, and steadied the till, while Crooked Man Barratt, all Parrot and jazz, sent the same crooked cop for a sun-kissed jazz razz. There’s a Single Edit too, for those short on time, and a Jazz Police calling somewhere down the line, the sickness at the top, so the old saying goes, runs all the way down to the Policeman’s toes. So spin either version, the club one or the dream. On VITS009, nothing’s quite what it seems. A tale of corruption, small-scale, none too grand, dedicated with love to the memory of a friend. We’re premiering SDF’s low slung stomper “Policeman,” reworked by London producer Toby Tobias (Alphonse). SDF’s first new material in two years, with Adam Parkinson (Dane Law), Oliver Marchant (RKB Vitesse) and Lucy Whalley telling a two-part small-town crime story about police corruption in North Wales, this time with Tobias on mix and extra production duties, The track stays on the darker road: machinery and mantras riding towards trouble suspended somewhere between a club track and a dubby dream. Crooked Man (aka All Seeing I and Sweet Exorcist) also on remix duties. The release is dedicated to the memory of JD Twitch. Out Friday, July 17, 2026. Buy here: https://vitamin-concept.bandcamp.com/album/policeman-crooked-man-remix
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1-800 GIRLS: The 'Line Out' Mix
3w ago02:00:36Tap to summarize1-800 GIRLS has quickly paved a way for a brand of new school House music which has been heavily adopted and loved by a new generation of dancers who have found solace in high energy moments and deep grooves. Over the years, as a producer, the consistency has always been there. Whether it's from early self releases through to fresher material which has found a home on the likes of Lost Palms, Shall Not Fade and All My Thoughts. As a DJ, the 1-800 GIRLS sound is fun and fluid - evolving through moments of euphoric energy which can then be tamed and paired back with deeper, emotive sounds which perhaps reflect his early inspirations when leaning into electronic music. Things have moved fast for the 1-800 GIRLS project. This mix was recorded at Phonox, straight from the booth at a recent night curated by 1TBSP.
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Decius Trax - The Ransom Note Mix
4w ago01:49:39Tap to summarizeWe have your nightclub. We have your DJ box. We have thirty-six tracks, and most of them have no names because names are for records that want to be found. This is Decius Trax – the loose, sweaty, pressure-relief side of a band that otherwise runs on pure discipline. The album project blends Lias’s voice into something unique; this is the other thing, the vehicle, the late-night chop shop where old cassettes get squeezed through the Decius filter until they come out the other side as someone else’s record wearing a new coat. Live jams, minimal tinkering, heads banging on the assumption that yours will too. Most of what’s here you’ve never heard, because most of it was never meant to leave the DJ box. Untitled. Unreleased. Numbered like ransom demands instead of songs, because the numbering is the point – roman numerals climbing toward a second vinyl mini-album, a whole Pantone chart still to get through, no plan to stop until it tips into ridiculousness. Don’t remix it with AI. Don’t expect liner notes on the next one either. Just make them, play them. Track list and read the room – it’ll come with you eventually. It always does. FULL INTERVIEW HERE: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/decius-trax-the-ransom-note-mix/
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Zillas On Acid: The Ransom Note Mix
Jun 2601:00:13Tap to summarizePsychedelia is at the core of Zillas on Acid's musical manoeuvres. The Philadelphian duo, made up of Thomas Roland and James Weissinger, have been DJing together for almost two decades, and you can tell. There's an intuitiveness to their sets; one that comes from an extended period spent building and evolving together. Their strung out, trippy sound takes cues from post-punk and acid house approached through that psychedelic lens they've become known for. It's no surprise then that they've been closely affiliated with Making Time, the Philadelphia institution helmed by Dave P, that treads similar transcendental terrain. Over the years they've notched up releases for some of our favourite labels, including Optimo Music, Live at Robert Johnson, Les Disques de la Mort and Running Back, and now they're bringing this music to life with their live band, adding vocalist Ari Ratner and bassist Matt O’Hare into the mix. Their latest offering, Rolling The Marble Wheel, comes via our sister label Human Endeavour and is Zillas at their best (not even biased...). Following the release, we asked them to contribute to our Ransom Note mix series. Dive into the Zillas world, it's a trip...
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PREMIERE: Olsvangèr - In Orbit [Tofistock]
Jun 1700:04:48Tap to summarizeThe clockwork planet was a man-made world the size of a small moon. There were oceans, forests, cities, and even weather systems created by climate-control satellites. It was constantly in orbit. Its energy came from an array of fusion reactors positioned around the habitat's central axis. Massive superconducting rings distributed power to every district, while millions of solar satellites collected energy from the nearby star and beamed it back using microwave transmitters. The habitat's atmosphere, temperature, and water cycle were all controlled by artificial intelligence system. It all worked seamlessly. Except until today, when the oceans stopped moving. Olsvangèr draws for the bass weight on a new EP which features a heady assortment of rave driven breaks, crunchy house and rugged sounds for Tofistock.
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Dave Harvey – ‘The Line Out Mix’ Love International Live @ Rainbow Disco Club
Jun 1702:29:34Tap to summarizeLong before The Ransom Note had a name. Long before Team Love had a manifesto. Dave was always there. Usually near the speakers. Two festivals, one philosophy. When Love International made its pilgrimage to Rainbow Disco Club, it wasn’t simply a case of a Croatian institution touching down in Asia – it was two kindred spirits recognising themselves in each other. Born in Tokyo in 2010, Rainbow Disco Club has always operated under a single guiding concept: “Beyond Space and Time” – a commitment to authentic underground music that transcends genre, geography and trend. Alongside these club nights in Tokyo the annual event as you’ll likely know, takes place in the Japanese countryside of Shizuoka’s Izu Peninsula/ Love International, meanwhile, as many of you will also likely know, draws a loyal family of returning artists, crews and ravers to the shores of Tisno each summer for what amounts to a celebration of sun, music and community. Different latitudes, identical heartbeats. And yes – before you ask – we did make him answer questions about rainbows… WhatsApp Image 2026-06-10 at 21.00.26 (12) We’ve known Dave Harvey a long time. Long enough that neither of us is entirely sure when it started – somewhere in the blur of the 90s, in rooms that probably no longer exist, with people we’re still lucky enough to call friends. Long before The Ransom Note had a name. Long before Team Love had a manifesto. Back when it was just about getting to the right room on the right night and staying as long as humanly possible. Dave was always there. Usually near the speakers. Watching what he’s built since then – and more importantly, how he’s built it, with the same unguarded enthusiasm he had at the very beginning – has been one of the genuine pleasures of growing up in and around this ‘scene’ together. Because the thread has always been consistent. Whether as a DJ, programmer, promoter, or raver, there are few dancefloors he hasn’t graced, and fewer still where he hasn’t left some kind of mark. Since cutting his teeth in those 90s rooms, he’s built an inimitable sound that moves freely between house, techno, breaks and electro, EBM, wonky chuggers and disco-infused oddities – often all within the same set. Here he is, doing exactly that. Captured live at Rainbow Disco Club, in case you needed any further evidence. The rest, we’ll let the colours speak for themselves. @loveintfestival @rainbowdiscoclub @futureboogie
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Samson A.K: The Ransom Note Mix
Jun 1201:04:24Tap to summarizeSamson A.K. has been a heady presence amidst the underground for a long time now having cut his teeth in various guises. However, more recently he has begun boldly making music under his own name, cementing himself with a new position having released material on the likes of Berceuse Heroique, MAL Recordings and via his own newly launched imprint Ideal State. From a musical perspective Sam tends to be drawn to the darker, more abstract fringes of electronic music. There's a lot of noise involved and at times things get tough. This mix reflects that ethos, powering its way through a heady assortment of jackin' house, techno, bass and the spaces which sit in between. Its rough as f**k. Just how we like it.
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Seeds Mix #11 - Patricia Wolf's Wander in the Garden
Jun 901:02:04Tap to summarizePatricia Wolf makes music from the inside of an ecosystem. Her recent release on Music To Watch Seeds Grow By; Yarrow (the 9th edition in the series) emerged from weeks spent at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, working alongside ecologists studying plants, pollinators, and the slow pressures of a changing climate. Patricia Wolf Mock Up The album maps a Yarrow’s life from root to seed: the conditions needed to grow, the quiet underground, the moment a flower opens to something that might carry it further. Field recordings from those Colorado summers are woven through the compositions, leaving room, as Wolf puts it, for the natural sounds to come through – her way of sharing an emotional inner life when thinking about these environments. For this mix, Wolf turned her attention to morning. Imagining this year’s Watching Trees festival crowd coming down from a long night of dancing – we talked her through in the afterglow of this year’s edition. Wolf built A Wander in the Garden for that specific threshold hour – somewhere between nine and ten, when birdsong starts to reassert itself and the body wants something slow, expansive, and unhurried. The anchor track arrived first: the Cosmic Tones Research Trio’s Photosynthesis, from which everything else grew. What follows is a walk through an imaginary garden with several climates – shade beneath a linden tree, open meadow thick with yarrow and field poppy, a pine grove smelling of warm sap, an orchard of cherries and mulberries just beginning to ripen. If she had to name the plant that holds this hour best, Wolf chooses lavender: something with a direct line to the nervous system, a quiet insistence on calm. FULL INTERVIEW HERE: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/seeds-mix-11-patricia-wolfs-wander-in-the-garden/
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WIGS: The 'Shine A Light On' Mix
Jun 501:02:00Tap to summarizeWigs is part of a new school of dj's pushing faster tempo's and frequencies. Releasing records and playing at some of the most interesting new parties on the circuit he has begun to make a name for himself for his euphoric, energetic sets which blur the lines between house, trance, tribal and beyond. His latest release comes on Kasra V's label, a record which makes sense in context with Kasra also holding a penchant for the progressive era of 2000's house music which helped push and inspire his own sound. There's no punches held here. This is a fast and fiery assortment straight from the off - a promising entry to the series from a DJ popping up in all the right places.
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Manami: The Ransom Note Mix
May 2801:23:30Tap to summarizeManami is firing on all cylinders. If you’ve spent any time on a UK dancefloor over the last decade, you’ve likely crossed paths with her. Born in Japan and raised on Bristol’s foundational dub, house and bass scenes, she’s built a fierce reputation for holding down a room with unmatched energy and a distinct sense of community. From early days raving at Livity Sound, Futureboogie, Timedance and Deep Medi to co-founding Bristol's Better Days parties, her musical DNA has always balanced the deep and the progressive. Now, she’s channelling that background into a distinct sonic realignment. Her latest productions and fresh live set lean heavily into sub-heavy 140, breakbeat, jungle and footwork, all tied together with those familiar progressive sensibilities. Beyond the booth, Manami is mentoring FLINTA talent with Saffron and connecting East and South East Asian creatives through the East & Most initiative. With appearances spanning from Berlin’s Atonal to unforgettable sets at UNFOLD, DGTL, Junction 2 and Boiler Room, she remains one of the UK's most reliable, anything-goes selectors. We locked her in for a mix. Check it out now.
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