I sat down with Parisian‑born, Brussels‑based producer UFO95 to trace the line between brutalist architecture, Detroit machine soul, and live techno. From early days in punk bands and birthdays above his parents’ club to a Tresor residency and a nerve‑tight Berghain performance, he unpacks how structure, space, and human error can turn a set into something physical.

We dive into the design choices behind the new UFO95 album A Brutalist Dystopian Society Part 2: concrete‑solid kicks, saturated drones, and spacious pads that carry the grey, functional, futuristic mood of brutalism without ornament. He explains why half his shows remain improvised, how shrinking his hardware rig sharpened the energy, and what different cities teach him about pacing a room. Expect thoughtful nods to Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Surgeon, and Regis, reframed through a personal lens that swaps copycat nostalgia for living lineage.

We also explore the craft behind the scenes: producing with the live arc in mind, writing twenty‑minute passages that breathe without a kick, and treating the club as a place to express, not excess. UFO95 talks candidly about resisting trends, favouring slow, minimal, and mental tracks while much of techno chases extremes, and why keeping protest and experimentation at the heart of the genre still matters.

If you enjoy Lost and Sound and want to help keep it thriving, the best way to support the podcast is simple: subscribe, leave a rating, and write a quick review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps new listeners discover the show — on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

UFO95 on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ufo95live/?hl=en

UFO95 on Bandcamp:

https://ufo95.bandcamp.com/

Huge thanks to Audio-Technica – makers of beautifully engineered audio gear and sponsors of Lost and Sound. Check them out here: Audio-Technica

My book Coming To Berlin is a journey through the city’s creative underground, and is available via Velocity Press

Follow Lost and Sound on Substack

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.

I sat down with Nathan Fake, one of the UK’s most distinctive electronic music producers, to chart his journey from rural Norfolk to the forefront of techno, IDM and experimental electronic music — and to unpack Evaporator, his seventh studio album. The record marks a clear pivot away from drum-heavy habits toward mood, melody and atmosphere, growing out of an intentional “ambient-only” brief.

We dig into the nuts and bolts of music production: why Nathan still sketches ideas in old versions of Cubase, how cassette saturation, cheap gear and sonic imperfections add human friction, and where modern plugins genuinely earn their place. He talks about contrast as a compositional tool — lush pads against tough drums — and traces a lineage from Border Community’s trance-tinged techno through to echoes of Warp-era electronic atmospherics.

There’s also a candid look at playing legacy tracks live, reshaping classics like “The Sky Was Pink” and “Outhouse” through improvisation, memory and feel, rather than carbon-copy recreations.

Beyond sound design, the conversation opens out into bigger questions about electronic music today. Do long-form tracks still survive in a scroll- and swipe-first ecosystem? Nathan answers by doubling down, placing a nine-minute centrepiece at the heart of the new album. We reflect on working with small independent labels versus larger music organisations, and he shares pragmatic advice for staying singular: ignore trends, set your own constraints, and let the idea dictate the tool. We also probe the monoculture of online tutorials and ubiquitous DAWs.

If you enjoy Lost and Sound and want to help keep it thriving, the best way to support the podcast is simple: subscribe, leave a rating, and write a quick review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps new listeners discover the show — on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Nathan Fake on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nathanpaulfake/?hl=en

Nathan Fake on Bandcamp:

https://nathanfake.bandcamp.com/

Huge thanks to Audio-Technica – makers of beautifully engineered audio gear and sponsors of Lost and Sound. Check them out here: Audio-Technica

My book Coming To Berlin is a journey through the city’s creative underground, and is available via Velocity Press

Follow Lost and Sound on Substack

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.

Nikki Nair gets serious about fun — the formerly Tennessee, formerly Atlanta, currently LA-based DJ and producer talks about how a punk sense of purpose, Detroit and Chicago foundations, and a love of “broken” sound converge into sets and tracks that surprise without losing the groove. Nikki gets into how a recent UK residency sharpened his instincts, the studio sessions that kept his mood afloat, and the tiny cultural artefacts (hello, Percy Pigs) that colour the journey as much as any plugin.

From a life-changing afternoon at Submerge with Underground Resistance legend Mike Banks to late nights in Knoxville and formative trips to Atlanta, Nikki maps the lineage that informs his playful, left-turn club and electronic music. We get into the tension between function and originality, how drumming shaped his breakbeat brain, why he chases flow states that make him literally laugh at the DAW, and how he decides when to risk losing a slice of the crowd in order to move the culture an inch forward.

There’s a wider lens, too. Nikki is candid about the modern reality of nightlife — selling tickets and telling a human story — while keeping the focus on service, community, and sincerity.

OK, housekeeping: I've re-activated the show's Substack newsletter. Give it a follow for extra bits about the guests, thoughts on music culture and creativity and whatever else. Nothing is behind a paywall yet, so it's a great time to get on board.

If you enjoy Lost and Sound and want to help keep it thriving, the best way to support is simple: subscribe, leave a rating, and write a quick review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps others find the show. You can do that here on Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen.

Nikki Nair on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nikki__nair/?hl=en

Nikki Nair on Bandcamp:

https://nikkinair.bandcamp.com/

Huge thanks to Audio-Technica – makers of beautifully engineered audio gear and sponsors of Lost and Sound. Check them out here: Audio-Technica

My book Coming To Berlin is a journey through the city’s creative underground, and is available via Velocity Press.

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.