Delayed with... Mattikk
Some labels age like magazines from another era, frozen inside a specific moment and scene. Others evolve more like libraries, expanding slowly while preserving a clear editorial voice through years of changing trends and technologies. Delsin Records has taken the second path. In an ecosystem flooded daily with new music, it remains one of the rare imprints whose catalog still carries genuine weight. It has become a reference point for producers, DJs, and listeners who care about detail, patience, and records that age well rather than peak quickly.
At the center of today’s story is Mattikk, one of the core members of Delsin team. A figure whose influence has always felt inversely proportional to his visibility. Throughout his career, he stayed focused on curation, building a catalog that quietly shaped how techno, electro, ambient, and broken rhythms evolved over the last decade. His DJing reflects the same mentality. There is no need for exaggerated gestures or constant peaks. The craft sits elsewhere: in sequencing, pressure control, and knowing exactly how much energy a room can absorb before asking for more.
That philosophy becomes even clearer through Mantis, his own Delsin offshoot devoted to murkier rhythmic terrain. Around here, that zone has become a permanent obsession. Low-slung tempos, halftime structures, techno refracted through dub physics and drum & bass architecture. Music that moves with the flexibility of seaweed caught in underwater currents rather than the rigid mechanics of peak-time functionality. It asks dancers to lean into groove differently.
Which brings us to this mix. A few weeks ago, Mattikk played an opening set at Garage Noord ahead of Refracted, and what he delivered is exactly what you would hope for from someone with his experience and instincts. Three hours with groove as the through-line. The journey moves from downtempo techno into halftime territory and back with such ease. This is Mantis’ catalog brought to life: deep, adventurous, and unpredictable in all the right places. Warm-up sets are rarely straightforward upward climbs, and Mattikk understands that better than most. The crowd filters in, drinks get ordered, the room slowly wakes up, and he reads all of it, steering the energy with the patience and precision of someone who trusts the process completely. Organic percussion, rich low-end pressure, and layered atmospheres carry the entire recording forward.
There are also small clues pointing toward the future. If your ears are sharp, you may catch fragments from Forest Drive West’s forthcoming album on Mantis, a record we have been eagerly awaiting for quite some time. Fittingly, Mattikk returns to Garage Noord this weekend, May 16, for a Mantis night alongside Lynne, DB1, and Forest Drive West himself. For anyone within reach of Amsterdam, this one requires very little persuasion.