Sat.15.08.26

Sadar Bahar didn’t become a DJ he grew into one. Raised in Chicago when the city was still a living laboratory for house, disco and late-night radio experimentation, he absorbed music as culture before it was industry. Long before international flights and global bookings, there were radio tapes, record stores, basement parties, and an obsession with understanding why certain grooves hit deeper than others. ​His education didn’t come from charts. It came from dance floors. From the raw energy of early Chicago, from DJs who played with fearless abandon, from a time when the booth wasn’t a stage but a command center. Figures like Ron Hardy weren’t references to name-drop, they were part of the atmosphere that shaped his ear. That foundation built a simple but uncompromising philosophy: music must move the body before it feeds the ego. A relentless digger and lifelong vinyl collector, Sadar treats record hunting as daily practice. He doesn’t chase rarity for status; he searches for tension, soul, rhythm, and emotional weight. His sets glide through obscure disco, early house, leftfield soul and raw electronics without ever sounding nostalgic. His long-running party Soul In The Hole reflects that same ethos: a space where music is physical, communal and uncompromised. The dance floor comes first. Technology has evolved. Club culture has shifted. His core hasn’t. Playing vinyl isn’t a retro gesture it’s the format that mirrors his approach: tactile, imperfect, alive. For Sadar, the DJ isn’t a performer chasing attention, but a conduit controlling energy in real time.

Theo Parrish is a Washington D.C.-born, Chicago-raised DJ, producer, selector, arranger, keyboard clunker, machine beater, writer, sculptor, car lover, visual artist, lecturer, and father that loves creativity. Detroit’s creative community has recognized his input since 1995, the era of Buy Rite Records, Saint Andrew’s Hall, the Rhythm Kitchen, and Alvin’s. He started Sound Signature Recordings, which has manufactured vinyl records independently from 1997 to this day — exclusively using the legendary Archer Record Pressing Co. on Davison Avenue. He continues to engage, challenge, and redefine the limits of what we call Black dance music, serving as an example of creative independence. Parrish holds a BFA in sound sculpture from Kansas City Art Institute.

Joe Cotch is a music curator, researcher, A&R, DJ and producer. Starting his journey as club promoter and DJ in Granada, Spain in his late teens, Joe moved back to his birthplace of London, ultimately playing a key role at Peckham-based record shop / night club / community hub Rye Wax. Alongside that, he co-founded and A&R’d the Cotch International record label and event series, which has been a key part of London nightlife for over 10 years, showcasing and platforming emerging talent from all corners of the globe. A dedicated digger and student of global soundsystem culture, his polyrhythm-heavy sets stretch across all BPMs, joining the dots between interconnected global subcultures, united by a sense of urgency and visceral club beats, and served up through a distinctly LDN 'pirate radio' lens. This outlook is displayed on his monthly NTS Radio show 'Platos Combinados', which has included guests as varied as Nick Leon, DJ Lag and Simo Cell, to Moonchild Sanelly, Novelist and Rennan Da Penha. Alongside this, he has continued his A&R work, co-curating the 'Amapiano Now' compilation for NTS Records, and curating South African artists for the recent 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Soundtrack', amongst many other projects.

JASSS is a Spanish sound artist, producer, and DJ with releases on labels such as AD-93, Ostgut Ton, and Never Sleep, aside from a residency in Herrensauna. Her retrofuturist style foregrounds bass and percussion, approaching but denying a techno orientation by embracing atmospheres of industrial pop, nu-metal distortion, and fuzzed-out R&B. Her sound is always rooted in full-flavour, high-impact stuff that is brilliantly compelling and strobe lit throughout, whether stepping at half time or falling over itself in a race to the end.

Joe Cotch is a music curator, researcher, A&R, DJ and producer. Starting his journey as club promoter and DJ in Granada, Spain in his late teens, Joe moved back to his birthplace of London, ultimately playing a key role at Peckham-based record shop / night club / community hub Rye Wax. Alongside that, he co-founded and A&R’d the Cotch International record label and event series, which has been a key part of London nightlife for over 10 years, showcasing and platforming emerging talent from all corners of the globe. A dedicated digger and student of global soundsystem culture, his polyrhythm-heavy sets stretch across all BPMs, joining the dots between interconnected global subcultures, united by a sense of urgency and visceral club beats, and served up through a distinctly LDN 'pirate radio' lens. This outlook is displayed on his monthly NTS Radio show 'Platos Combinados', which has included guests as varied as Nick Leon, DJ Lag and Simo Cell, to Moonchild Sanelly, Novelist and Rennan Da Penha. Alongside this, he has continued his A&R work, co-curating the 'Amapiano Now' compilation for NTS Records, and curating South African artists for the recent 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Soundtrack', amongst many other projects. JASSS is a Spanish sound artist, producer, and DJ with releases on labels such as AD-93, Ostgut Ton, and Never Sleep, aside from a residency in Herrensauna. Her retrofuturist style foregrounds bass and percussion, approaching but denying a techno orientation by embracing atmospheres of industrial pop, nu-metal distortion, and fuzzed-out R&B. Her sound is always rooted in full-flavour, high-impact stuff that is brilliantly compelling and strobe lit throughout, whether stepping at half time or falling over itself in a race to the end.