RA.1064 Carlita

Sun-soaked house from the Circoloco favourite.

Want to know what life is like when the sun is always shining? Carlita might be able to tell you. The Istanbul-born DJ follows the summer around the world, and her calendar reads like a festival bucket list: Coachella, Sónar, Tomorrowland and, most often, Circoloco at DC-10. It's also a neat encapsulation of her DJing. One of the biggest names in big-room house, Carlita has a sound that's warm and melodic, often pairing house classics with pop hooks and the odd swell of strings.

It's a long way from where she started. Classically trained on the cello from the age of eight, Carlita only found dance music while studying in Boston, where a Turkish club owner taught her to mix and handed her a residency at Bijou. Since then she's become one of the scene's great crossover acts, mentored by DJ Tennis, blurring music, fashion and art at her Senza Fine parties, and making her pop ambitions plain across two albums for Ninja Tune: 2024's Sentimental and Telepathy, out today, with guests including Justine Skye and SOFI TUKKER.

Her RA Mix is a slower burn than her festival sets. Built track by track in Ableton, it's an intimate, detail-obsessed journey that moves from Omar S and a Todd Terry Freeze Mix to newer house from D Stone and Jasper James, with 'Pablo' and 'Rising Up' from the new album along the way. It's made for the couch, the car or an early morning party—wherever the sun happens to be.

Find the Q&A at ra.co/podcast/1083

@carla-frayman