“Spirit returns for the 10th time on August 1st and I’m stoked to celebrate this special occasion.

For the past year, I’ve been speaking with Charlotte and Rowan almost daily, trading ideas and stories as we work together on some of these shows. For me, that’s very cool. I’ve missed collaborating, and to say I’ve learned something from both of them would be an understatement—the Big Link Up, Libra Bakesterlina.

This also marks a departure towards a slightly different approach to curation, and in that spirit, we are opening this dance from 9 PM. Make no mistake, the Cocoa Tea will be hot from the get-go, but sometimes you just need a little more time to do the damn thing.

I really like this connection because it brings together artists who work with rhythm in different but deeply complementary capacities: through research and curation, emotional and ritual expression, cross-genre experimentation, and community building. Their work moves through time, space, and forms—dub techno, breakbeat, bouyon, ambient—but shares a clear impulse: to freak inherited structures and open up new channels, from the ’90s ’til today.

From Rozaly’s archiving and reframing of Caribbean rhythms on Road Fever, to Viiaan’s ritual-infused electronics on Marakame, to Akingbehin and Tikiman’s deep-rooted exploration of dub through Tikiman Vol. 1—not to mention that unmistakable voice from Rhythm & Sound—each artist offers something personal. A space for reflection, resistance, and connection across global dancefloors.