Recognise 105: hellotones “El hijo de PueblaYork” 🇲🇽🗽
Tony Dominguez lives and breathes cumbia. The traditional folk-slash-dance music has evolved across Latin America and beyond over the past century to become an endlessly varied and deeply expressive cultural touchstone, connecting communities and histories with its distinctive rhythm and irresistible sense of groove.
In his DJ sets, whether it’s for The Lot Radio or NTS, at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, or over the Hudson River, Dominguez — AKA hellotones “El hijo de PueblaYork” — uses this rich history as a springboard. In conversation, he returns, again and again, to the sheer breadth of the genre, touching on on cumbia editada, cumbia colombiana, cumbia sonidera, cumbia wepa, cumbia rebajada, cumbia 420, cumbiatón, cumbia villera, “the older sounds my parents would listen to”, and so many more styles besides.
Alongside a mix demonstrating his singular style, the New York-based Mexican-American DJ speaks to Michael McKinney about the influence of hip-hop and mixtape culture on his approach, representing his community, and taking cumbia into brand new contexts.
Listen to the mix and read the full interview now on djmag.com 🔗
hellotones “El hijo de PueblaYork” plays Elsewhere in New York on 2nd May, before heading to Europe with @susonidos for a tour touching down in Brussels, London, Madrid and Paris.
✍️ @mmckwrites
📸 @roybaizan
Ahead of her upcoming EP, Eliana Glass (@ladyliana ) spoke with Michael McKinney (@mmckwrites ) about the “gem-like” qualities afforded via vintage recording material, the importance of having an audience, her relationship to improvisation and “vocal jazz,” ghosts and disembodied voices, and much more.
Out now on powmag.net
🔗: /p/eliana-glass-interview-e-at-home
#POWMagazine
The Sound Of: Ghostly International, mixed by Michna 👻
Pinning down the sound of Ghostly International’s is an almost impossible task, with a sprawling catalogue spanning blissed-out ambient and lo-fi folk, through experimental hip-hop and post-punk, to heads-down house, techno and all manner of spaces in-between and beyond. But, as founder Sam Valenti IV explains, it all just comes down to its no-rules approach, and an openness to change.
It’s an ethos that’s rooted in his formative experiences in ’90s Detroit, and one that’s endured to make Ghostly one of the 21st century’s most trusted imprints. Here, alongside a mix recorded by label affiliate Michna, Valenti shares its story.
✍️ @mmckwrites
Slam on the CDJ: The Best DJ Sets of January 2026
From breakbeat barnstormers to eleven-odd hours of sun-blasted disco and psychedelic downtempo music and everything in between.
BY MICHAEL MCKINNEY @mmckwrites
Full Slam on the CDJ Available On Our Website
🔗:/2026/02/19/slam-on-the-cdj-the-best-dj-sets-of-january-2026/
#POW
Songs That Carry a Handaxe: An Interview With Sopa Boba
We speak with experimental group Sopa Boba about architecting the blood-soaked world of their debut album, ‘That Moment.’
BY MICHAEL MCKINNEY @mmckwrites
Full Interview Available On Our Website
🔗: /2026/02/18/sopa-boba-interview-that-moment/
#POWMagazine
Recognise 098: Nono Gigsta, live from Dripping 2025 🐊
Last summer, the Marseilles-via-Berlin DJ and climate campaigner Nono Gigsta crossed the Atlantic on a largely wind-powered cargo ship. Bound for North America, where she was scheduled to play for the first time at events like New Jersey’s Dripping, the boat was struck by a hurricane, a perilous ordeal the captain would later describe as “monstrously beautiful”.
At Dripping, Nono Gigsta harnessed the energy of that storm to weave a genre-warping mix of techno, breaks, dubstep and all-manner of leftfield dance music idioms in-between, interlaced with recitations of the life-affirming Mary Oliver poem that kept her afloat while on that journey.
For her contribution to DJ Mag’s Recognise mix series, Nono Gigsta now shares a recording of that set, and speaks to Michael McKinney about her experience on board the Artemis, her history with music, meditation and transcendence on the dancefloor, and approaching DJing with the energy of a jazz drummer.
Listen to the mix and read the interview now on djmag.com 🔗
✍️ @mmckwrites
📸 @jojo.sselkie
🎨 @rossdavies.uk
Slam on the CDJ: The Best DJ Sets of 2025
From zero-gravity ambient music to miles-deep genre explorations, Michael McKinney pulls from all corners of the globe and the Internet to deliver the best DJ sets of 2025.
BY MICHAEL MCKINNEY @mmckwrites
📝Full List Available On Our Website
🔗: /2026/01/29/slam-on-the-cdj-the-best-dj-sets-of-2025/
#POWMagazine
Recognise 097: JIALING 🔊
JIALING’s been on an unstoppable upward trajectory of late. In the past year alone, the Baltimore-born, Brooklyn-based DJ and producer has released on labels like Clasico Records, Sorry Records and her own WOE imprint with Kade Young, and played at notable clubs the world over, from New York and Berlin to London, Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro.
With a 90-minute mix of breaks, bass and blazing East Coast club music for the Recognise series, she demonstrates the fire-starting energy that’s set her on this course, and which shows no sign of slowing down.
In conversation with Michael McKinney, she talks about her background in classical cello, exploring her heritage through production, and championing the next-gen sound of her hometown.
Listen to the mix and read the interview now on djmag.com 🔗
✍️ @mmckwrites
📸 @malikesidibe
Live Photos: Someoneyes
“Too Human to be Truly Ambient”: An Interview with Kara-Lis Coverdale @k__lc
We reach into the void with composer Kara-Lis Coverdale to break down the emotional and physical process behind her sprawling records.
BY MICHAEL MCKINNEY @mmckwrites
📝Check Out The Full Interview Over On Our Website
🔗: /2026/01/12/kara-lis-coverdale-interview-grafts-from-where-you-came-a-series-of-actions-in-a-sphere-of-forever-changes-in-air/
#POWMagazine
𝐃𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮
Marcelle van Hoof is seated in her Netherlands home, surrounded by some 20,000 slabs of vinyl. As ever, she’s throwing gauntlets. “To be honest, I don’t find the majority of DJs to be very interesting,” she says over a transatlantic Zoom call. “I really love a good techno track, but I think: why is there not some shouting over it, or the sound of breaking glass on top of it? The attitude of the DJ as an entertainer — ‘Let’s dance’ — doesn’t interest me that much.”
Van Hoof, who regularly performs across the globe as DJ Marcelle, has spent the past handful of decades chasing her own dragons, building a career on top of a mountain of records and sticking to a reliable M.O. Behind the boards, she is equally prone to wry humor as she is to thumbed noses or hard left turns; her music is one of joyful noise. She’s used to slamming dancefloors, sure, but her work is rarely straightforward for long.
Beyond her work in the DJ booth, Marcelle puts out her own music at an impressive clip, weaving together all manner of who-knows-whats in a discography that splits the difference between sound collagery and dance music. “I can’t describe my own style, but I think I’ve very much got a style of my own.
This brings us to “Sorry, No Silence,” a sludged-up fever-dream of a track that acts as the centerpiece of her latest LP, Sorry, No Service. The single’s cover art, which features Marcelle in her home carrying a sign that translates to “AMSTERDAM AGAINST GENOCIDE,” is about as subtle as the track’s repeated evocation of “ethnic cleansing,” ripped from photographer Nan Goldin’s speech at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie.
Read the full interview at untitled909.substack.com
Death, Diners & Daughters: An Interview With Jennifer Walton
Genre polymath Jennifer Walton speaks with POW about her latest album, ‘Daughters,’ and the mess of putting grief into song.
BY MICHAEL MCKINNEY @mmckwrites
📝 Check Out The Full Interview Over On Our Website
🔗: /2025/11/21/jennifer-walton-interview-daughters/
#POWMagazine
Recognise 095: Vladimir Ivkovic
Belgrade-born, Düsseldorf-based DJ Vladimir Ivkovic has pulled off an impressive trick. He has built an enviable career, although he’d dispute the usage of that word, on the back of leftfield dance music selections and pitched-down records, pushing clubs the world over into parts unknown with countless slabs of vinyl: spine-tingling IDM, house, and techno, sure, but also piles of coldwave Z-sides, zero-gravity ambient music, and industrial tracks that sound like they’ve been left out in the rain.
His style is defined less by sound than it is by approach; when he’s behind the boards, Ivkovic blends low-BPM material with patience, care, and a trademark mix of austerity and mischief, aiming always to push his audiences ever so slightly out of their comfort zone.
Alongside a 90-minute mix of dust-covered industrial techno, acid-dipped synth workouts, warped rhythms and more for the Recognise series, Ivkovic speaks to Michael McKinney about his devotion to vinyl, his slow and psychedelic mixing techniques, the fabled Salon des Amateurs venue, and a formative summer playing music in his hometown.
Read the interview and listen to the mix now on djmag.com 🔗
✍️ @mmckwrites
📸 @robbklassen | @cristianogrim | @kramerdoingbits | @ryanlowry
