Ö1 Zeit-Ton: Mo 12.10.2026
DJ Emiddio Vasquez explores the complex relationship between club culture and militarism in Cyprus. Unfolding in Ayia Napa (once lauded as the epicenter of UK garage) from the late 1990s to the present, Vasquez’s layered sound world draws on localized sources: ELF (extremely low frequency) radio recordings near British military bases, field recordings from Ayia Napa’s alleys, and bat calls used as metaphors for radio transmissions. These intermingle with studio takes of fictional drum breaks performed by local drummer Stelios Antoniou, commissioned radio announcements recalling Kiss FM, the production of which the artist outsources through online freelance platforms, and samples from UK garage label Nice N’ Ripe. Working towards a psychogeography of a geopolitically fraught locality, the piece takes the »resonant circuit« as a point of departure – the phenomenon that enables tuning into radio frequencies – while foregrounding the inevitability of »unwanted« noise and interference in transmission.
“21s” was commissioned as part of the CTM Radio Lab, a collaboration between Deutschlandfunk Kultur, the CTM Festival, and ORF.