This week, Ryan and I had a conversation with State Secret, who joined us from Aix-en-Provence (France). We initially met Andrew here in the DC area, where he is a member of The Kindred Effect, one of DC's most active collectives.

State Secret talked with us about his year in France, the appetite for house music in Aix-en-Provence, the cultural differences (and similarities) in the house music scene, and what he's got in store for himself next. Enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/statesecretmusic/

This week, Ryan and I sat down to reflect on the first 10 episodes of the Open Decks Podcast and to look ahead to what's next in the series. Ryan also shares his experience as a festival-goer at Project Glow this year in DC. We also recapped the latest District Apple event in Brooklyn. Enjoy.

Ryan SoHo https://www.instagram.com/ryan_soho_/

Tommy Junior https://www.instagram.com/tommyjunior_ofc/

Tommy's Latest SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tommyjunior_ofc/wednesday-night-at-the-house-e2

District Apple: https://www.instagram.com/wethedistrictapple/

This week, Ryan and I talked to NANGOBI, a new DJ who picked up a controller while working in Uganda. In the past year, she's elevated her skills and performed throught the country. She's also an event curator with Femme Frequencies, a collective formed to 'foster visibility & growth for female techno djz & producers.'

NANGOBI https://www.instagram.com/jordan_beeks/

FEMME FREQUENCIES https://www.instagram.com/femme.frequencies/

RPG COLLECTIVE https://www.instagram.com/therpgcollective/

TOMMY JUNIOR https://www.instagram.com/tommyjunior_ofc/

RYAN SOHO https://www.instagram.com/ryan_soho_/

Joverine joined Ryan and me this Memorial Day weekend, by way of Waveroom. Joe and I founded District Apple earlier this year as an event series to provide opportunties for DC-area DJs to showcase their talents outside of the DC-area, starting with New York City.

Joe has been a fixture in the DC house music scene as a supporter for many years - and recently began his own journey as a DJ, performing at venues such as Never Looked Better and Vagabond in DC, Keybar and Eris Evolution in NYC.

Joverine

IG: https://www.instagram.com/djjoverine/

District Apple

IG: https://www.instagram.com/wethedistrictapple/

RedSauceRadio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkLRIDnPMHI

RPG Collective:

https://www.instagram.com/therpgcollective/

This week, Ryan and I talked with Casa Nova (Diego), who can regularly be found on the lineup at Flash, the standard bearer for house music in Washington, DC. We discussed everything from his psy trance project to his approach to five-hour sets; from authenticity to technology. We recorded this at Music Box Karaoke in Falls Church, VA, and we were joined by special guest ByYourDeep (Max) in the studio.

Casa Nova:

https://www.instagram.com/dfrnte/

https://www.instagram.com/casa.nova.ofc/

https://www.instagram.com/merkabatrance/

Ryan SoHo:

https://www.instagram.com/ryan_soho_/

Performing at Jumpin Jax in Port Tobacco, MD July 4, 2o25

Tommy Junior:

https://www.instagram.com/tommyjunior_ofc/

Performing w/RPG Collective in Brooklyn, NY May 31

ByYourDeep:

https://www.instagram.com/byyourdeep/

MusicBox Karaoke:

https://www.instagram.com/musicboxdmv/

Our series continues with Merlinberlin, who joined us at Emissary-DC (Georgetown) for a conversation about her plans for 2025 - focusing on producing new music and building communities for performers and artists. We covered a lot of ground in our time together - from re-defining genres to creating spaces for djs to strengthening and expanding communities. Enjoyed this one - hope you will as well!

Merlinberlin

Bandcamp: https://merlinberlin.bandcamp.com/community

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/merlin_berlin

IG: https://www.instagram.com/merlinberlinmusic/

RPG Collective

IG: https://www.instagram.com/therpgcollective/

Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/therpgcollective/

(...and, in the background, we had sounds from our good friend, AJAMU)

AJAMU

IG: https://www.instagram.com/groovesforthesoul/

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ajamumusic

This week, Ryan and I talked with Sean Blvd and Cas, two of our favorites here in the DC area. We discussed everything from preparing for festival set to balancing work-life-music, from crate organization to finding happiness in your musical journey. We recorded this at Music Box Karaoke in Falls Church, VA, and we were joined by special guest Elusive Water in the studio.

Sean Blvd IG: @sean.blvd

Sean Blvd SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/seanblvddj

Cas IG: @casmusicus

Cas Traxsource: https://www.traxsource.com/artist/153718/cas

RPG Mixcloud w/Sean Blvd B2B Cas: https://www.mixcloud.com/therpgcollective/

MusicBox Karaoke IG: @musicboxdmv

Elusive Water IG: @elusivewater

D3EP Radio IG: @d3epradio

This week, we sat down with Shep, founder of Coffee Club Social, out of Baltimore.

We talked about the unique experiences he and his team provide, how coffee cocktails can (and should) be more than just espresso martinis, the up-and-coming DJs he's bringing to his events, and his own journey as a new DJ.

This episode was recored at the Eaton Hotel, ahead of the Cafe Disco Recs (of which Shep is a co-founder along with Reid Jaxson). That show can be found on mixcloud, linked below.

https://www.mixcloud.com/eatonradio/coffee-club-social-dc-takeover-20250422-214051/

Coffee Club Social IG: https://www.instagram.com/coffeeclubsocial/

Reid Jaxson IG: https://www.instagram.com/thereidjaxson/

Cafe Disco Recs IG: https://www.instagram.com/cafediscorecs/

RPG Collective IG: https://www.instagram.com/therpgcollective/