Mantis Radio 100. Marking the milestone we threw an event in our hometown of London, broadcast live worldwide. Along for the ride inviting former guests of the show – The Inventors of Aircraft (ep 24), Paul Blackford (ep 28), and Stormfield (ep 1) – with friends of the show Laica and Ursa. Topping the lineup, a rare performance from unsung UK electro lords Kronos Device.

First up and setting the tone with music from Kangding Ray, Surgeon, Goth Trad, Raime, RRose, and Jon Hopkins it’s Laica. Next up a live set from The Inventors of Aircraft – the lush ambient project of Londoner Phil Tomsett. TIOA featured on the 24th episode of Mantis Radio and Phil’s music has remained a favourite since. Shifting gears from beatless drone to ramp it up with an electro bass live set from one of the best at it – Paul Blackford.

Up next, the person behind Mantis Radio, it’s host and producer DVNT. With a mix of electro, techno, and bass, from the likes of David Meiser, Anodyne, Voidloss, Dettmann, and AFX, they maintained the vibe ahead of our special guests – Kronos Device. Speaking of which, the UK electro duo of Dexorcist and Bass Junkie threw down a set that exceeded our expectations. Slamming from the off.

Following on from our headline guests, Combat Recordings’ Stormfield stepped up with a trademark dark tech electronics selection with music from Ontal, Cursor Miner, Oscar Mulero, and Scanone. Stormfield was our first guest back in 2007, and it’s an honour to have him guest again, 99 shows later.

Closing out our extended live event, friend of the show, Ursa, who brings the tempos back up once again with a drum & bass selection featuring the sounds of Dub Phyzix, Martsman, dBridge, ASC, Sam KDC, and Aphex Twin.

Scroll down for tracklists and a rundown of what went down on the night.

Laica (listen / download)

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RRose – A With All Faces Bleached Out [Sandwell District]
RRose – Worn Scarred [Sandwell District]
Svalastog – Pine Solution [Rune Grammofon]
Deepchord Presents Echospace – Symbolism In Transition [Modern Love]
Surgeon – Bad Hands (Roly Vex’d remix) [Dynamic Tension Records]
Kangding Ray – Pruitt Igoe (Ben Frost Demolition) [Raster-Noton]
Pinch – Blow Out The Candle [Tectonic]
Hyetal – Dime Piece [Black Acre]
Goth Trad – Anti Grid [Deep Medi Musik]
Sei A – Starjar [Turbo]
TVO – Dwyer [Stuffrecords]
Robert Lippock – Whitesuperstructure [Raster-Noton]
Solar Bears – Twin Stars [Planet Mu]
Leila – Not Havin’ That [Warp Records]
Floating Points – Danger [Eglo Records]
Sense – 40dae [ Detroit Underground]
Robert Logan – Budapest [Slowfoot Records]
Jon Hopkins – Vessel [Double Six]
Raime – This Foundry (Regis Version) [Blackest Ever Black]

The Inventors of Aircraft (listen / download)

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Untitled Intro
We Have Arrived
Calling Out My Goodnights
The Tower
Black Mountain Choir

Paul Blackford (listen / download)

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Fugitive
Terrorists
Bionic Commando
Force Field
Return of the Bionic Bassline
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
Night Drive Through Addlestones
ED-209
Bass by Dope Demand
The Fly
Ghetto Blaster
Mode 2
Voyager 2

DVNT (listen / download)

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Under Konstruktion – Square [Noctambular]
MOTOR – Man Made Machine (Black Asteroid remix) [CLR]
Djedjotronic – Walk With Me [BNR Trax]
Marcel Dettmann – Landscape (Answer Code Request remix) [Music Man]
Anodyne – Mr Nightmare [Acroplane]
David Meiser – Waves of Pressure (mental remake) [unreleased]
Voidloss – Diaphanous Fever of Dreams [Singularity]
AFX – Phloam [R & S Records]
Dipole – Electron Cloud [Sonic Groove]
Mike Ash – Cylonic Beats [unreleased]
KingThing – Miraculeux [Furioso]
lapse – a better place [unreleased]
Secure Unit – Warfare [Lucky Break Recordings]

Kronos Device (listen / download)

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Stormfield (listen / download)

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Ontal – Chaos Theory [unreleased]
Vaetxh – Clipper (Subjex Origamix) [Kind Deluxe]
Fausten – Evisceration [Combat Recordings]
Fausten – Stolz auf Stehpinkeln [Combat Recordings]
Ontal – Centrifugal Force [Darkfloor Sound]
Scanone – Gangsta Riddim (Roel Funcken remix) [Outside Recordings]
Anodyne – Empire of Light (Subjex remix) [Combat Recordings]
Dadub – Perseverance [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
Oscar Mulero – 7 Kinds of Sin [Token]
Cursor Miner – Undecidable [Combat Recordings]

Ursa (listen / download)

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Dub Phyzix & Skeptical ft Strategy – Marka [Exit Records]
Martsman – Klikoucha [Offshore]
Dub-One – Volcon [Xtinction Agenda]
ASC – Make Me Feel [Auxiliary]
dBridge, Instra:mental & Skream – Acacia Avenue [Autonomic]
dBridge – So Lonely (Consequence remix) [Exit]
dBridge & Instra:mental – Detroid [Autonomic]
Rick James – Horrorface [Ruff Revival]
Sam KDC – Betrayal [Channel 82]
Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy (Pappy mix) [Warp Records]

100 Episodes!!!

Headlining, if you will, our main guests of the evening were Kronos Device who delivered an hour of their finest work; loud and direct from their vinyl back catalogue. Their set stormed the venue and was a rare chance to see Kronos Device in action.

Showing support we drafted in four previously showcased guests who have graced our show over the five years and counting of broadcast. Due to health issues Blackmass Plastics was unfortunately unable to perform.

The vibe in the venue from when we opened until we closed was electric, such a positive vibe was felt in that room; if you made the effort of coming down to the venue, thank you. It was both a special and testing time for me with this. Special as the sets were each unique and quite awesome, and testing as we attempted to broadcast the evening not only on regular Mantis Radio home futuremusic FM, but also to stream it via the video streaming service those folk over at Livestream provide. On paper, not an overly stressful thing you might think.

After we had plugged everything in and went ‘live’ we kept losing our internet connection which is why the video recordings from the night are so sparse, net connection dies, the video streaming reset and didn’t allow us to save what it had broadcast up to that point. You live and learn.

A big thank you to those of you who stuck with us online with all the sound issues and dropouts and camera resets. However, streaming via futuremusic FM we got a pretty decent recording of the evening with just the one noticeable break in transmission during my own set. Conversely though if you were in the venue things would have felt pretty smooth and consistent, other than the odd frantic rewiring as we changed over guests.

As it happens we might be doing another evening in the next few months, but it’s too early to say just yet. As folk often say, watch this space.

A massive thank you to Phil, Paul, Phil, Si, Derek, Ian, Stacey, our support DJs UrsaMal and Laica who both delivered great sets and some much needed logistics support during the event and Jamie and James at the venue.

I know you’ve been waiting for these archives and here they are. Enjoy, and thank you for listening and supporting the show over the years, here’s to the next 100.

Muchlove.