⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 286: schierke (rituals takeover) ⋆˚࿔

“it’s an iteration of my 2026 livesets until now. somebody said it’d be very meaningful for them if i published it as-it-was one night, and it took some serious convincing work for me to actually publish it, because i am and will likely always be very critical of my work. if it were just up to me i’d have done a plain old dj set because it’s less intimidating... so releasing it as-is is a good challenge for me. anyway, it’s a display of schierke and intuition demos, some of which have already been released, some of which will never be finished, some of which will take on a completely new shape the day they come out, and that’s fine.”

we’re continuing our rituals takeover today - a series where we have been spotlighting some of the artists who have contributed to the latest air texture compilation, rituals, curated by dina. released earlier this summer, the compilation showcases the global trance community with contributions from artists based in india, finland, poland, australia, sweden, iraq/canada, switzerland, france, denmark, japan, norway, austria and spain. nodding both to old-school and contemporary sounds with a focus on the new generation of artists that bridge together the psychedelic tropes that the genre has to offer, it’s a brilliant release that perfectly encapsulates a moment in time where the global trance community feels so intertwined and are pushing the sound forward in an exciting new direction whilst the music on there is timeless.

for the final mix in the series we have a magnetic live set from madrid-based artist schierke.

drawing from old school trance, psy and breakbeat influences, schierke also produces under the aeryeen and intuition aliases - the latter being a collaborative project with immateriae. a creative process that is deeply informed by emotions, rituals and meditations, schierke nods to a ute.recs showcase and a polar intertia live set as two formative musical experiences that have helped lead her onto the path she is on today. previously releasing on labels such as techlab.bp, sextosentido, musa and human club among others, schierke now lands on the rituals compilation with a deeply personal contribution that sees her step away from the classic-sounding trance that she’s used to making and instead using this track as a lesson, one that “teaches me how to incorporate a whole new world of ritualistic hypnosis, alien-ish psychedelia, all enveloped by the beauty of what it means to feel and to be human”, schierke explains in our interview.

we’re really excited to be sharing this incredible live set with you <3 get to know more about schierke below! xo

hellooo! i’m okay! honestly quite a lot, i’ve just moved across the country, i’m adapting to a new job, a new routine, a new everything, which is obviously reflected in the music i listen to and the music i make. i’ve learned a lot about myself in the past year and i’m slowly getting to make peace again. musically speaking, i am working on four remixes and three eps, plus some intuition in the middle, all of which should (hopefully) come out before the year ends, but who knows. at this point i don’t want to make promises, haha.

i can’t say that i come from a musical family. but one of my very first memories as a child is hearing played-a-live (the bongo song) by safri duo and i remember feeling mesmerized by it all summer. i also used to listen to a lot of classic-era pop/edm in the early 2010s (black eyed peas, avicii, alesso, swedish house mafia...), which made me want to start dj-ing, and by accident i downloaded a music production program instead. i had no damn clue there was a difference. but it was very fun and i started spending all my free time (and seriously disregarding school) on it and, well, 15 years later i haven’t really stopped. eventually i landed on 90s trance and that’s when i really found myself.

this one is difficult to respond because i used to mostly listen to single / random songs and i didn’t really properly get into specific artists until i was a teenager, but i can tell you some albums which shaped my vision and that i still listen to today: chvrches’ the bones of what you believe (2013), turnover’s peripheral vision (2015), grimes’ art angels (2015), brockhampton’s saturation i/ii/iii (2017).

not really growing up, but already as an adult there are two cannon events. first is ute.rec label night at den anden side in march 2023. i still get goosebumps and a little tear-eyed remembering ida engelhardt closing her set with clear blue water (ferry corsten remix) by above & beyond. second is polar inertia live at razzmatazz in may 2025. that experience really was life changing. i was in a very sad period of my life, emotionally speaking, and i felt extremely overwhelmed by the storm. there was no way i could ever fight it. i could only let myself be washed away and cleansed and reborn. if you know, you know.

i probably wouldn’t call myself an artist. i am a regular person with a ton of struggles and a master procrastinator, and that’s probably when art becomes meaningful. it keeps continuously challenging me, day after day, year after year. it doesn’t allow me to ever get comfortable, it has me forever searching for the light and the dark and the source. it helps me learn as a human being and grow as a soul. it gives a meaning to the world, it makes everything make sense.

feelings. the reflections come from myself, from other people, from stories and books and videogames and the world out there. sometimes it’s pure imagination. it is difficult to get me out of my own mind sometimes, which i consider detrimental for a lot of stuff, but it also gives me gifts every now and then. so... yeah, i mostly look inward, which if i do successfully, ends looping back out to the outside world.

it’s influenced me with stress... just kidding. but i’m used to living in smaller, rural towns and i tend to find cities rather overwhelming, but i’m really taking a liking to it. in the end it’s all phases, i don’t know where i will end up or if i will ever move at all, and i’m fine with that uncertainty. that’s what it has taught me.

the story is that it hurt a lot to make. it is a farewell track, really, and by being a farewell track it is also a welcome one. it’s one of these that i iterated over and over and over to get just right, and its mission has been to help me shape my future, and as always, to heal myself. i was making more classic-sounding trance before, and i wanted this one to teach me how to incorporate a whole new world of ritualistic hypnosis, alien-ish psychedelia, all enveloped by the beauty of what it means to feel and to be human.

i am really not as good at digging as i used to be, probably because i don’t play as many dj sets nowadays, so i rarely discover much new music. speaking of trance, i’m really connecting with what komet99, awhm and sioc are pushing right now. in terms of psytrance, i really enjoy and respect krapul’s unique atmospheric take and also sequoya, who makes this sort of very clubby, kinda loopy nightpsy. and besides dance music, eden’s ddaarrkk has been on repeat.

it’s an iteration of my 2026 livesets until now. somebody said it’d be very meaningful for them if i published it as-it-was one night, and it took some serious convincing work for me to actually publish it, because i am and will likely always be very critical of my work. if it were just up to me i’d have done a plain old dj set because it’s less intimidating... so releasing it as-is is a good challenge for me. anyway, it’s a display of schierke and intuition demos, some of which have already been released, some of which will never be finished, some of which will take on a completely new shape the day they come out, and that’s fine.

honestly there’s not much of a difference. i used to really prepare all my playlists, but not anymore. in fact, last time i played a dj set i went in with no actual clue of what was on my pen drive, or even if my pen drive really worked on cdjs... lol. i simply trusted past-me, and it was the best time ever. the stories tend to come naturally and structure on their own as i will always try to display whatever it is that i’m feeling in that moment.

it was in may, for a small intimate gathering in rural france. it was really beautiful, but i miss dancefloors. i have issues wanting to go out because i don’t connect with much of the programming almost anywhere in spain... if i wasn’t such a homebody, i’d make the parties myself, and that will eventually end up happening... one day.

i tend to get obsessed with synthesizers, and when i do i try making every single thing that i can with a single one. right now that obsession is zebra 3. the interface is... something, for 2026, but the engine itself is out of this world. it’s so damn versatile, it can do realistic, cinematic instruments, it can sound like any classic moog or roland or like the most obscure eurorack module you can find, and the filters are marvelous.

well... i’ve got a lot of work to finish, but i am confident in myself and the shape that it’s taking, even if it’s slow. i am working on getting back my attention span and working on music more consistently. i think the hardest thing is minimizing influences, not letting social media and pressure and trends stress myself as much. getting my own trust back. it’s a work in progress, and it might forever be a work in progress because apparently that’s the challenge of the century, but i’ve got hope. so really long story short, i’m working on bringing trance back, both in terms of state and sound.