RA Exchange

The Drain Gang cofounder talks about mysticism, Gen Z and his new album, Sulfur Surfer.

Bladee's work as a founding member of the Swedish collective Drain Gang has shaped a new generation of underground music. The group's sound, which is rooted in cloud rap and Auto-Tune experimentation, and pulls from trance, noise, metal, goth and grunge, has earned them an enormous following of fans—AKA "drainers"—overwhelmingly under 30.

Bladee has long been one of Drain Gang's most prominent voices, building a prolific solo career alongside the collective's output. His work engages with mysticism through vulnerable, diaristic lyrics about his state of mind. On his new album, Sulfur Surfer, he presents an autobiographical figure caught between "letting go and holding on"—a continuation of his longstanding interest in spirituality and the occult. He draws on the story of St. George, the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint and the occultism of British group Current 93, whose frontman David Tibet makes a guest appearance.

In this RA Exchange, Bladee talks about making honest music, the role Drain Gang has played in pushing him to find his voice, his ambivalence about fame and his collaboration with Skrillex. Sulfur Surfer is out now on Trash Island. Listen to the episode in full.
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The queer icon and punk provocateur talks bodily autonomy, embracing ageing and her new album, No Lube So Rude.

Merrill Nisker—known to most of the world as Peaches—has spent 25 years making music that refuses to behave. Since her 2000 breakthrough, The Teaches of Peaches, she's built a body of work at the intersection of performance art, punk provocation and dance music, becoming an international queer icon and a touchstone for anyone told their body or identity doesn't fit.

Peaches' new album, No Lube So Rude, is out now on the Washington-based label Kill Rock Stars, also home to the likes of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney. The title is a meditation on the friction and hostility that define this moment, and a frank reckoning with menopause, bodily autonomy and the systemic erasure of women who refuse to disappear quietly into middle age.

In this RA Exchange, Peaches, now 59, talks about making the record after a decade of silence and what it means to keep making confrontational art. Listen to the episode in full.
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The Dutch photographer and art director on his longtime collaboration with Depeche Mode, moving into feature films and 50 years of documenting music culture.

In 1979, the 24-year-old Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn talked his way into a Joy Division shoot in a London Underground tunnel by citing a magazine assignment he didn't have. The band posed with their backs to the camera, and subsequently, no magazine accepted the photo. Within a year, Ian Curtis was dead, and the picture became one of the defining images of post-punk.

Corbijn has since become one of the world's best known music photographers, capturing artists like Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Bowie, Captain Beefheart and nearly every major name to enter the pop realm. In this RA Exchange, he reflected on a life spent documenting music culture and his new retrospective at Fotografiska, Corbijn, Anton, which spans five decades of his work.

He also spoke in depth about his longtime relationship with Depeche Mode. As the band's creative director, he has worked on all of their music videos, stage design, album covers and more for over 40 years. Corbijn's retrospective will be on display until September 20th, 2026, and his new feature length film, Switzerland, will land in theatres this year. Listen to the episode in full.
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The jungle DJ and trumpeter talks about late-career popularity, jazz in Japan and what it means to build a life in music.

You probably know Takuya Nakamura first and foremost as a viral sensation. The Tokyo-born, New York-based trumpeter has achieved minor internet fame in recent years for playing live trumpet over jungle records on The Lot Radio. But Nakamura was composing and performing for more than 30 years before becoming one of the most talked-about acts of the contemporary Jungle revival.

In this RA Exchange, Nakamura dives into his musical journey: growing up in Tokyo, the Japanese jazz scene, and studying at the New England Conservatory of Music under the great composer and theorist George Russell. He also reflects on how jungle has evolved, why he loves performing in the UK, and how a new generation is breathing life into jazz. Listen to the episode in full.
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The pioneering artist talks philosophy, Berghain and touring on the eve of her 80th birthday.

Suzanne Ciani is a synth music legend. After establishing herself as one of the first virtuosos of Don Buchla's modular system in the 1960s, she went on to earn five Grammy nominations, score a Hollywood film and found her own sound design company—creating iconic commercial soundtracks for Coca-Cola, AT&T and Atari.

In this RA Exchange recorded live at IMS Ibiza, Ciani traces her remarkable path to success. She breaks down the working philosophy that got her there: from walking away from opportunities that didn't align with her vision, to carving out her own lane in a male-dominated industry that refused to make room for her.

Now, just weeks away from turning 80, she discusses life on the road, collaborating with a new generation of electronic musicians and her first impressions of Berghain. Listen to the episode in full.
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