Back when Resident Advisor launched our Podcast series in 2006—with a mix from Troy Pierce that still holds up today—it was a leap into the unknown. The idea was simple and appealing: what if you could listen to your favourite DJs from around the world, at home, on the internet? For free?

16 years and over 800 mixes later, we feel comfortable saying that the RA Podcast is one of the premier mix series in the world. Some RA Podcasts are milestones in a DJ's career, while others have become, for many, those special mixes you cherish, playing them on repeat until you know them inside-out like a beloved album.

Today we're launching a new partnership with Apple Music that will help give these mixes the prominent platform they deserve, as well as a fairer outcome: streaming royalties paid to both the DJs and the artists and producers featured in the tracklist. We'll be uploading new selections from the RA Podcast archive to Apple Music each month. To celebrate the occasion, we've asked former contributors Amelie Lens, The Blessed Madonna and Tzusing, as well as RA staff, to wax nostalgic about their favourite entries in the series.

The Blessed Madonna, RA.600

My favourite recent mix is Eli Escobar. Why? Well, number one, I would say that Eli is the most underrated DJ on the planet. He's so far ahead of the curve and is one of those people who's just so deeply true to who he is. Watching him sell out massive shows in New York has been thrilling. And at the same time, I really admire the way that he defies genre. There's this great Hieroglyphic Being moment in this one, and there's also Fred P stuff, and there's Prince. Sometimes when I'm DJing, I'll ask myself, 'Oh, God, what am I supposed to be doing here?' I'll think about another DJ, and Eli is one of those—Eli, Derrick Carter, a few people like that—Rahaan—people who I would think of as defiant.

Amelie Lens, RA.629

RA Podcasts had a huge impact on my musical journey. I have listened to many of the Podcasts since around 2007, playing them on repeat, over and over. Being part of this legendary series is an honour for me, and the mix I did will always have a special place in my heart. It's hard to pick a favourite, but the one I listened to the most is RA.211 by Nicolás Jaar from 2010. What a masterpiece!

Tzusing, RA.741

My favourite RA Podcast is RA.627 Traxx. It's really impressive the way Melvin is able to take a wide range of records and have them sound so cohesive and uniquely him. His jakbeat sound is something that resonates with me and is a big source of inspiration. It's hard to come away from one of his sessions and not feel a bit of imposter syndrome. He's in a league of his own.

Andrew Ryce, Music Editor

Some mixes feel as important as—and as considered—as albums, and ASC's RA Podcast was one of them. It's arguably the definitive snapshot of the Autonomic sound, an offshoot of drum & bass invented by dBridge and Instra:mental circa 2008-2010 that combined the vibe of second-wave Detroit techno with sleek, futuristic drum & bass. Ironically, the style started as a podcast series itself, but nothing has ever quite captured the cold majesty as ASC's 2010 session, where tracks seem to float in mid-air and melt into each other. Drum & bass has hardly ever sounded this spacey, lightweight or haunting, and even better, it was the first many of us heard Croms' immortal "Invisible Cities." And I'm not the only one who thinks it's the best RA Podcast of all time—check out the SoundCloud comments.

Whitney Wei, Editor-in-Chief

Dance floor aficionados often wax poetic about collective joy, and no other mix encapsulates this emotion more than Ciel's RA.832. As buoyant and scintillating as a flute of champagne, the listen goes down easy, though that's not to say it's simple in the slightest. There's effort in the effortless. The Xi'an-born, Toronto-based DJ foregrounds her love of '90s house while flashing her expert flair for genre-agnosticism—which involves a dub edit of "Come On Boy" by The Supremes and a bit of UK-inflected footwork and breaks thrown in for good measure. But the golden touch is at the mix's conclusion. Like the denouement of a gripping novel, Ciel chooses DJ Healer's "Protectionspell," a reminder to listeners that "everything is everything," and that music is ultimately another conduit for a peculiar and universal intelligence.

Kiana Mickles, Staff Writer

Some DJs simply blend one track into the next. Others, like Low Jack, treat mixing as an extension of their production practice. His blistering RA podcast seamlessly joins percussive club, horror show grime, mutant dub and more otherworldly excursions into a shadowy, immersive experience. There is no subtlety here. The hour kicks off with an aggressive opener, Soda Plains' searing "Glacier," and doesn't let up once from there. Not only is the mix a brilliant showcase of his idiosyncratic style of dark club music, it's also a testament to experimental music's potential to be unexpectedly functional. Once Low Jack finally lands the spaceship, the DJ might have induced a mosh pit or two inside it.

Chloe Lula, Managing Editor

Bobby Krlic's 2013 mix as The Haxan Cloak is still a standout almost a decade later, fusing pastoral ambience with Sunn O)))-style dissociative drones. The collection of original edits—arranged as a series of sonic vignettes—accompanied the producer's second full-length release, Excavation. The album became a blueprint for his later work scoring films like the harrowing Swedish horror movie Midsommar. It marked the beginning of his close association with mid-'00s experimental music giants like Demdike Stare, Shackleton and Raime as well. Grafted from shuddering classical strings and soul-summoning metal guitar riffs, this 37-minute mix is an archetype of club-adjacent electroacoustic sound design.

Nyshka Chandran, Senior Staff Writer

A long-running Panorama Bar resident and veteran of Berlin's club scene, Steffi serves up a classy set that feels as relevant as it did back in 2008. Spanning house, acid and oddball techno, her session favours deep, moody rhythms with character. Whether it's the saucy drum work on STL's "Something Is Raw" (also featured Craig Richard's excellent Get Lost VII mix) or spacey synths on Pépé Bradock's "Deep Burnt," most cuts on here feel multi-dimensional and full of personality. Steffi's focus on spacious and weightless grooves radiate a sense of crystalline clarity, always bringing me to a loose and light state upon every listen. It's a timeless mix that works from day to night, decade to decade and generation to generation.

Katie Thomas, Events Writer

When Joy O's RA Podcast dropped in October 2012, I'd recently arrived back in Manchester for my final year of university. I was back in our freezing house in Fallowfield, recovering from a season in Ibiza. I probably first listened to this mix alone at my desk, but it quickly became a staple for listening before we went out. With its R&B-indebted vocal hooks, UK garage inflexions and thumping basslines, RA.331 encapsulated the vibe that my friends and I were shooting for whenever we went to the club that year—a vibe most defined by two records on the tracklist, which would go on to be played out on pretty much every dance floor I found myself on for months, until they finally got released in 2013. They were Joy O's own "Big Room Tech House DJ Tool - TIP!" (or "BRTHDTT") and Four Tet's "The Track I've Been Playing That People Keep Asking About and That Joy Used in His RA Mix and Daphni Played on Boiler Room." Even now, a decade later, I'll still hear a lone, snappy drum clap as a DJ is mixing one tune into the next and convince myself that "BRTHDTT" is incoming. Turns out I'm rarely hearing it right, so DJs, if you read this, please start playing "BRTHDTT" again.

Zoey Shopmaker, New York Staff Writer

Madam X's RA Podcast has been on repeat for me all summer. From the opening ambient intro with splices of an Eartha Kitt interview to the bookending vocals and wonky synth plucks and everything in between, it scratches a bassy itch, unlike most other mixes I've heard this year. You can just tell the attention and care she put into it. Two-and-a-half hours of tracks spanning the UK bass continuum from one of the best in the game. What's not to love?

Stream the RA Podcast archive via Apple Music, or here on RA.