Over the past decade-plus, Teki Latex has consistently done more than almost anyone else, building a venerable solo career, seemingly expanding into new formats, platforms and arenas on a near-weekly basis, and imprinting his uniquely open curatorial lens on a huge assortment of projects. Nowadays, you’ll find Teki, born Julien Pradeyrol, at the helm of the insistently current Sound Pellegrino label (run in tandem with longtime creative partners Orgasmic and Emile Shahidi), hosting and curating the “2-hour long weekly DJ television program” Overdrive Infinity, and touring the globe, playing everything from A Club Called Rhonda here in Los Angeles to FWD in London and Cakeshop in Seoul. Inspired by contemporary ballroom legends like MikeQ and Vjuan Allue, Teki is also a member of Paris’ House of Ninja and has become active in the city’s ballroom culture, playing regularly at and supporting balls across the city and even putting on a vogue-focused Boiler Room earlier this year. In short, if you haven’t caught at least a few of Teki’s movements over the past few years you’re not looking in the right places and are almost certainly missing out. After all, the borders between Teki’s many projects are flimsy at best it’s no surprise when an artist contributes a song to a SND.PE compilation, appears on Overdrive Infinity and plays b2b with Teki himself at a world famous London club as Loom has done over the past few months.

For our 100th Astral Plane mix, we wanted to bring in an artist with longevity, sprawling creativity and an unabashed community spirit and I think we’d be hard pressed to find anyone better for that roll than Teki Latex. We spoke with Pradeyrol about his roll as a polyglot and how that effects his bookings and professional perception, his roll with TTC and Eurocrunk’s continuous influence on contemporary crossover forms, and the next wave of French artists and parties he’s in constant dialogue with. His mix is a rambling three deck affair that runs through eras and genres with a reckless flair that only a DJ as skilled as Teki can maintain. 2014’s Deconstructed Trance Reconstructed mix is still one of our favorite mixes of all time and Teki’s work on Astral Plane Mix 100 only expands that affection we feel for the Parisian legend, effortlessly walking the line between the most affective, self-serious modes of club music and its most gregarious, silly fringe. Few artists work as hard as Pradeyrol and even fewer seem to have anywhere near as much fun as he does while doing it. Hit the jump below for our extensive (and wonderful) talk with Teki and a track list (you’ll need it) and the bottom of the article. Enjoy.

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