Austria-based DJ-producer Jorkes hasn’t been making or playing out music for long but already they’re making quite a splash. La Porc De La Discoteque, a fusion of disco sounds with house and electro, landed on Freeride Millenium, the label they run with their partner, Daniel Rajcsanyi (a.k.a ParisBöhm), in 2016, and in the years since they’ve launched a popular monthly radio show on Radio 80000 and a DJ residency at Stuttgart’s Romantica. Outside of this, Jorkes has put out EPs on Frankfurt imprint Live at Robert Johnson and Munich’s Permanent Vacation, and there’s more coming soon. (A new single on Aus Music, “Free From Desire,” will also land at the end of the month.)

Jorkes also runs the all-gender sauna parties in Vienna, hoping to provide a place for marginalized communities to come together in a safe space, and this is something they also try to do with their music. However and wherever it’s played, Jorkes music is feel-good and free-wheeling, laced with enthusiasm and positivity, and his XLR8R podcast is no different. Across its 80-minute run-time, you’ll hear some of his favorite tracks of the present moment—an energetic but tender selection of house and disco with soaring, bittersweet melodies and plenty of groove.

01. What have you been up to recently?
I’ve had a very cozy and relaxed summer so far. Just hanging out with family and friends, with my partner Daniel and our dog, Victor. Visiting family, riding the ferris wheel and some rollercoasters.

I’ve been reading a lot of Foucault again lately and I’ve also started writing a diary again, which gives me stronger and more intense dreams. I also took mushrooms and LSD a lot this summer, which I sense has made me a more sensitive and also more psychotic human being. Also, I’m making and consuming music. A very nice and joyful ride!

02. What have you been listening to?
Just right now, while I am writing this, the Bee Gees “Love You Inside Out” and Michael Jackson’s Music And Me. Also there was the anniversary edition of Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope circulating. I think it is one of her most personal albums. Kind of her coming out in some way. Although she not has literally came out, the album transports this coming out feeling for me. I love her.

I was in my favorite gay sauna lately called Apollo City Sauna in Vienna and there was this song playing, called “Wunderwelt” by Austrian composer Klaus Prünster. It was a very intense moment that underlined the surreality this microcosmos inside the sauna had. And then my hubby started listening a lot of Wagner lately and “Lohengrin” kind of became an evergreen on our turntables.

Also “Lazy Boy” by Jona Rain touched me. Love him.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
At home in the morning soaked full of sun.

04. What setup did you use?
Two Pioneer XDJ-700s, an Allen & Heath XOne 23:C, Sennheiser HD-25 headphones, and my laptop.

05. How did you go about choosing the tracks that you’ve included?
They are songs that I really enjoy dancing to. They make me move, they make me happy. I hope the mix does the same to you too.

06. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out live?
It is pretty similar. Although I tend to be more versatile while playing.

07. What’s next on your horizon?
I am preparing for a busy fall and winter. In September AUS Music will release my song “Free From Desire.” Then there will be follow up EPs coming on Permanent Vacation and on Live At Robert Johnson.

We continue with our monthly Freeride Millenium label night at Romantica in Stuttgart. And we also have our monthly show at Radio 80000 with ParisBöhm. And we will have some amazing artists coming up on Freeride Millenium and also a new Queer Base charity compilation.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Inka King “I Feel Love” (103.5 Mix) (Nervous Records)
02. Deep Dish & DC Deepressed “Come Back” (FD Underground Mix) (UMD)
03. Abdul Raeva “Navigator 3000” (Permanent Vacation)
04. CYRK “Woof” (Polari)
05. Rosa Red “Tear My Heart” (Permanent Vacation)
08. Alan Fitzpatrick “On My Mind” (White Label)
09. Redshape “Release Me” (Running Back)
10. Dart “Only The Strong” (X-Coast Da Vibe Mix) (DART)
11. Whitney Houston “Step By Step” (Junior Vasquez Deep Dub) (Arista)
12. Jorkes “Free From Desire” (AUS Music)
13. The Knife “Pass This On” (Dahlbäck & Dahlbäck Mix) (Rabid)
14. Raphael Schön “I Feel The Power” (Freeride Millenium)
15. Club Winston “Summer” (Self-Released)
16. Amber “Sexual” (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Mix) (Substance Records)
17. Junior Vasquez “Get Your Hands Off My Man” (Nush Chocolate Factory Mix) (Positiva)