In Session: Spencer Parker

For over a decade, Spencer Parker has been at the very top of his game.

He's the go-to guy for razor-sharp house and techno that's aimed squarely at the floor. And always with a good dose of fun and swagger that a lot of the harder stuff is usually missing, too.

Residing in Berlin, you'd expect Parker to be bringing his hard-hitting sound to Berghain and you'd be right. He's a regular at the hallowed venue and whether he's upstairs in Panorama Bar dropping glitzy disco and rugged house or downstairs shaking the walls as Brotherhood, his primarily techno alias, you can always expect a high energy set.

We've played his Boiler Room Berlin set from 2014 countless times because it's just so fucking joyous. Parker wears a beaming grin from ear-to-ear for the majority of the session as he plays a wildly eclectic mix of house, techno, electro and disco. He dances so much within the first 20 minutes that he breaks his headphones, but of course he soldiers on and delivers a blinder. That's pretty much the norm for an hour with him.

His discography is a sight to behold, as well. He started out life on C2 Records back in 2005 with the 'Open Your Eyes' EP but it's on Radio Slave's Rekids label where he's most prominent. As a regular contributor to the imprint's output alongside the likes of Nina Kraviz and Mr G, some of Parker's best tracks have dropped there.

For us, his most notable releases of late have been his 'No More Silly Club Songs' EPs. The first volume featured four tracks of obscenely good dancefloor cuts with tongue left firmly in cheek. They may have been silly but fucking hell they hit hard. In particular, 'Silly Club Song No 3' was a techno behemoth that featured happy-go-lucky chords and fierce amen breaks. This year he headed back to Rekids with Vol 2 of the series and we had the pleasure of premiering 'No.6'.

Now this one doesn't mess around, much like Parker. The monstrous low-end comes stomping in like an angry giant before killer rave samples and more wonky breaks add to the chaos.

We knew it was a big boy but once we heard Marcel Dettmann roll out it a few days after we put it online, we realised its full potential. Everyone at Oval Space in London that night cheered and flailed with glee and Parker once again cemented his status as a man who knows what's going to bring a party to its knees.

It's not only Rekids that he's impressed on though, as his own label Work Them has become a staple of the underground house and techno community. Unsurprisingly, Radio Slave has released on his pal's imprint, dropping a slew of rough and raucous tracks (most significantly 'Werk' and 'Repeat Myself').

Parker's skills as a selector are matched by his A&R capabilities as EPs by Young Male, Dana Ruh and, most recently, from Caiazzo, (we premiered the Behzad & Amarou remix) have all hit the sweet spot.

We're thrilled to have Spencer record his first In Session mix for us and it perfectly encapsulates everything that the DJ is about. There's no tracklist for this one so you're going to just have to do some digging.

Funster is Mixmag's Digital Music Editor, follow him on Twitter