RA.1016 Mala

One of the defining producers of the 21st century steps up for a rare, era-spanning mix. We've been in a reflective mood lately. All things bend around eventually, but if you lived through the mid-'00s the first time, it felt tricky to envision some specifics of those interim years making a second splash. More fool us. Amongst many other things, dubstep is well and truly back. This appetite for low-end has been a central storyline lately. Tells were there in the form of 2025 highlights like Introspekt's Moving The Center and Tracey's "Sex Life." Alternately, cup your ear to the tremors rumbling across the world and you'd find Mala packing up crowds with gusto. Which makes closing out the year with a mix from the man himself serendipitous. The South Norwood-born sub sensei has held an anchor role in the movement since its earliest days. A little like what Upsetter was to Black Ark, the principles Mala, Coki and Loefah's DMZ laid down have been expanded on by Deep Medi, whose loyal fandom watch over the catalogue like a hawk. (Six years of frothy debate and knowing in-jokes between MEDi 99 and MEDi 100 paints a picture of both steep expectations and a warmth for ribbing their leader.) But Mala's banner 2025 hasn't relied on the heads alone. Those fissuring basslines and barrel-chested vocals draw people into his orbit, and that's without mentioning qualities like pacifism, reinforced on DMZ's greatest tune; or contemplation, inked on flyers beseeching the crowd to meditate on bass weight. In that spirit arrives a mix we've asked after for years. Subtitled The Listening Session, it's rare on two counts. Despite his enduring popularity, Mala is a conspicuous absence on most DJ series. It's not that he doesn't enjoy recording, we're told: he just gets spooked by the reaction. A three hour studio set—spaciously paced and laced with freshly-cut dubplates and some of the biggest anthems in the genre's history—is unheard of. No tracklist for now, though, on Mala's request. RA.1016 is the kind of document that jogs the memory back to when dubstep was a discrete enterprise, something you could only fleetingly access by, say, dialling into Youngsta on Sub FM, ripping 320s of "Circling" off long-forgotten blogs or hugging the back wall of Mass. Which, in service of thinking the evolution of 21st century electronic music, is pretty perfect really. – Gabriel Szatan Find the interview at ra.co/podcast/1035 @maladmz @deep-medi-musik