Phonica Mix Series 144: Papa Nugs

Few DJs are riding the line between heads-down oddball groove science and hands-in-the-air serotonin release quite like Papa Nugs. Whether he’s shelling down rooms like Phonox, Corsica Studios, the Glastonbury Festival fields at Silver Hayes and Shangri-La, or spinning at the iconic red-box BRET Bar in Amsterdam, the London selector has built a reputation on blends that feel simultaneously loose, euphoric and meticulously dialled-in. As co-founder of Suckerpunch, his output has become synonymous with a particularly UK strain of playful club pressure: plinky-plonky tech house, sleazy breakbeat mutations, trance-laced curveballs and the kind of late-session heaters that sound best when the afters should’ve ended three hours ago. His contribution to the Phonica mix series captures that energy in full — moving from wiggy, weird tackle into full emotional depletion territory, stitched together with unreleased cuts, razor-sharp digging instincts and the same restless dancefloor sensibility that’s made him one of the most exciting names currently orbiting the UK underground.