Radio Slave is the articulate producer Matt Edwards, a former Londoner relocated to the epicentre of European cool, Berlin. You may have experienced his gracefully hypnotic set and seen him work his magic behind the decks of the world most renowned dance floors at Space (Ibiza), Berghain (Berlin) or Fabric (London). He is well known for his deep house productions that have a distinct 90s flavour with delicate and unobvious references early house sounds.

It was this love of early house that attracted him to mix the next in the Strictly Rhythms series. The legendary New York label gave him full access to their deepest vaults and he dived right in. The result is Radio Slaves own interpretation of the imprints finest and undiscovered moments. So much in fact that he paid homage to New York with a ‘Downtown’ and ‘Uptown’ mix, reflecting the diverse tastes of the city. Find out here what he has to say to the world about his music...

Something I want to start off with is how would you describe your own sound? DJs can never tell me this...

With the Radio Slave sound it’s purely sound system music. It’s a mixture modern electronic sound mixed with influence from the past. The canvas sound, trying to recreate the mixing and nights I’ve had in the past.

When you make a Radio Slave production or edit, where do you picture it being played?

Because I’ve been playing in Space Ibiza so much, I’ll go home and wonder how a track would work in that environment. It all depends. For DJing and travelling, you experience different things socially and nationally and that has an effect on what you make in the studio.



At the moment there’s a big 90’s house revival. Are you aware of this and is it something you’d put into your music?

I love these retro house sounds, and it’s almost become its own genre. I’m trying to steer away from it. So it’s a pleasure to do the Strictly album, where the material was so amazing, I didn’t want to touch it! When it came to remixing the tracks, I said I’d much rather re-edit them and leave them as they are. I’m split because I like a lot of the loop based retro stuff that’s coming through and I also love a lot of the modern electronic stuff that’s being made. Dance music has always been about pushing things forward and that’s why I’ve got a love/hate relationship with that sound, it’s never going to be as good as what was made in the 70’s.

You’re now based in Berlin, but it was London is where you cut your teeth and you experienced it and had your early inspiration…

Yeah we used to go to the Milk Bar every week and that’s where I met Pete Tong and Dave Dorell. Then I was resident at Open All Hours from 94 – 98. When the Ministry of Sound opened, we went there every Friday night to hear Larry Levan play, and that was very significant for me in a way that I then appreciated music. It was about those days of playing records for a long time and I heard a lot of those Strictly records as well.

Has it helped you formulate your sound now?

Yeah I was extremely lucky and privileged to experience that period of club life where there weren’t so many genres. You could go to a rave and hear techno and house. Now everything splinters into sub-genres, whereas Ministry of Sound had an amazing system!

Now when Strictly came to you and said they would like you to do a compilation, how did that feel?

Amazing. I’ve known Aaron (Ross) for years, I was very flattered and it’s a label I’ve followed for years. There is such an incredible catalogue so I jumped at the chance and that’s why it took so long. I just went to town and did all these edits.

Radio Slave

What did you actually do with the edits? Why did you think it was necessary to do these edits?

A lot of these tracks are short in comparison to the ones I do. Some of them I was extending the intro and outro and some of them might sound cheesy to other people, that may sound dated. I just wanted to put my touch on some of the songs and I went through each track to see how they worked. It’s better to think about, listen to the tracks, work out the length, and see how they work. There’s the material I’ve loved for years, but there are also tracks which are pivotal, you have the hairs on the back of your neck standing up! So the records I chose for this mix are the ones I’d still play when I’m out. It wasn’t a case of just doing a Strictly compilation.

What are the flavours of the two CDs?

Well it’s divided into two parts. The Downtown mix is stripped down, slower, like an after party mix. It has a mellower vibe. The Uptown mix has a much more pumping sound from the mid 90s.

From the edits, which ones do you think stand out?

I’m really happy with the Black Magic ‘Freedom’. I took Frankie Knuckle’s dub and I took about a minute of the track and swapped the whole thing around. The other things is his version is so amazing that all the other versions were kind of forgotten about. The remixes never live up to the original whereas this one lives up to the original.

Now, Berlin. What’s the attraction? Is Berghain the be all and end all of clubbing at the moment?

I recommend any one thinking of moving there, don’t move there! Na! I just think that it’s one of the best cities in the world. It’s one the last pure places of real bohemia on the inner city. It’s an incredibly free city, people are relaxed, and it’s cheap. Regarding the music, things are going on all the time. There is no rush, unlike England where everything like drinking is run by time. You don’t have that in Berlin, you forget about time there.

Now, who are the guys around you in Berlin who we should be paying attention to?

I’ve got a lot of DJ friends here. There are loads of things going on! A friend of mine, DJ Boris, he plays at the Panorambar. He runs a night called Cocktail De More which is kind of in competition with Ordinary Disco. They do a party once a month, there are so many people who try new things here.

Does this Strictly album reflect what you sound like when you play live? 

Tracks like Hardhead 'Demon Dreams'. This is a massive record in Panorama Bar, anyone can play that.  The Mole People, a huge record in Berlin. A lot of the records on this mix you can still being heard being played out in underground clubs where vinyl culture is still the way to play. They’re not into laptops.

What do you play on when you’re DJing?

I play vinyl and CD. I work with Pioneer and I like the products they make. So when I’m in Berlin, I use my vinyls, which is part of the retro thing here.

Is there anything you want to tell me about? Any new productions?

We’ve got loads of new stuff coming out on Rekids. We are starting a new label called Pyramids of Mars. My album, the Machine album will drop in October. Pyramids Of Mars is going to be an art based label, we are doing a gallery tour with this release.

How about Rekids? Any new artists? Or is it more for your own releases?

No, it’s never been a vehicle just for Radio Slave or myself. James Masters and I would love to sign more new music. We are working with Nina Kraviz and she has her debut release coming out on Rekids We also work with Mr G, he’s got his album out now and it’s doing really well. People are fascinated by him right now.

Interview by Toni Tambourine

Radio Slave presents Strictly Rhythms Vol.5 is out 5th October - click to listen & pre-order