East Pacific Trade announces December EPT Radio curators

Launched in 2019 by Jai Baek in Seoul, East Pacific Trade was built on the belief that design should fit real life, and focuses on making footwear that is comfortable, culturally relevant, well-constructed and built to last. Having already attracted a global community of creatives, the brand’s latest venture, EPT Radio, underscores its growing network and celebrates the people shaping their local music scenes.

We spoke to this month’s upcoming guest DJs about what to expect from their mixes. Listen to Paurro’s live now, and look out for the others to drop every Monday throughout this month.

“This made me dig more than ever, but also brought me back to the music that first grounded me, falling in love again with the tracks I used to play and my earlier productions,” Paurro, the Mexico City-based DJ, producer and manager of the influential label Cómeme, says. “House music is the base of who I am as an artist, and that’s the spirit of this mix.”

Based in Istanbul, Zozo (Nigar Zeynep) is a longstanding figure in Turkey’s electronic scene. “East Pacific Trade hit me up about a new series spotlighting selectors worldwide and asked me to pull together a one-hour playlist of tracks that move me – physically and emotionally. So I started stirring the pot with this idea,” she says. “I compiled a mixtape with some classics, deep cuts, and everything in between, straight from my corner. It’s an easy, steady journey that drifts between different moods while still holding together.”

“Listening back to the mix, I found out that a lot of female vocals were included unintentionally. But maybe that’s the magic!” she adds. “Women’s voices and glorious breakdowns kick the door open, and from there, it’s a hazy glide through psych oddities, cold-wave moods, Italo sweat and leftfield disco grime. The textures are grainy, analogue, and unforced – sometimes smoky, sometimes sun-faded, but always natural. I think the mix is deliciously unstable, and that’s exactly the point. It carries a beautiful, feral energy that keeps you alive. [It’s for] after-hours kitchens, bar corners with dim lights, hotel rooms with the windows open, home alone dancings and anyone who likes their grooves slightly crooked but deeply emotional.”

“The mix moves through the emo-ish, downtempo, chuggy, slightly oddball sounds I gravitate toward when I’m not DJing,” says Sinéad, a San Francisco-raised, Berlin-based artist whose music taste ranges from early-2000s West Coast techno to late-90s UK rhythmic patterns. “It’s full of emotion, softness, reflection, and even a little grit – textures that feel warm, hazy, and inward-facing. I imagine people listening to it on headphones, on a train, at home alone… or any moment when your mind needs to wander a bit.”

Montréal-based Yaya La Bae is a DJ, producer, singer and multidisciplinary creative crafting UKG, drum ’n’ bass, lo-fi textures and left-field club influences into emotional, atmospheric soundscapes. “This is Exotica. A mix that moves across contrasts – low-end pressure, high-tempo energy, lo-fi textures, she says. “Nothing stays in one place too long. I blend hard electro, classic house, and personal edits that reframe the familiar. It’s about tension and release. Structure and collapse. Memory and motion. This set isn’t polished, it’s alive.”

Completing the series is Nina Yamada, the force behind Jazzy Sport London – the UK extension of Japan’s influential independent label, created to build a bridge between local music communities in Japan and the UK. She maintains radio residencies on Balamii and Tsubaki FM, championing cross-continental sounds. Raised on her father’s vast vinyl collection, she’s developed a sound that is rooted in deep house, but moves through Afrobeat, jazz, Latin, reggae and beyond.

“This mix is a collection of songs that have inspired me over the years and stayed with me – songs with a melancholic vibe that I simply cannot forget,” she says of her mix. “While putting it together, I realised that every song I love carries a laid-back groove. It begins with a heavier downbeat vibe with hip-hop and neo soul influences, and later moves into dub territory.”

“It’s a soundtrack for when you’re walking alone at night, driving down the motorway, or experiencing a beautiful sunset,” she continues. “Moments when your feelings stir just a bit more than usual. I hope this mix can enhance the experience and emotions in those in-between, quiet and calm moments.”