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Collage of various images from panels and parties at ADE 2023

Amsterdam Dance Event returned earlier this month, with the world’s biggest electronic music conference delivering its usual, unrelenting whirlwind of parties, panels and so much more. Here’s a handful of highlights from DJ Mag’s week at ADE 2023

DJ Mag’s involvement with the ADE Lab — the conference’s four-day tech-focused programme that takes place in and around the Flemish Cultural Center de Brakke...

Fafi Abdel Nour sitting in a white sweater and white trousers with one arm resting on a wooden block and one hand resting on his forehead

Syria-born, Groningen-raised Fafi Abdel Nour channels the melody, warmth and drama of '90s house music into his radiant Fresh Kicks mix, and chats to Olivia Stock about family, embracing his queerness through dance music, and nurturing safe spaces for young ravers

“Sometimes I feel like I’m an archeologist on Discogs trying to find the bones of a dinosaur,” laughs Fafi Abdel Nour, the Amsterdam-based artist whose...

Photo of Dana Lu in front of a blue shipping container and wearing wide frame clear glasses

Get acquainted with Dana Lu, the Dominican-American DJ and producer blending house, Jersey club, dembow and more with a party-starting energy

Musically speaking, Dana Lu can be a bit hard to pinpoint. Listen to her 2019 Boiler Room set — it’s a galloping Jersey club affair...

Selections: Tarzsa

In this series, Selections, we invite DJs, producers and label heads to dig into their digital crates and share the contents of their collections. This week, Tarzsa spotlights rolling house jams, sun-kissed club anthems, irresistible funk, jazz and more

“Music has always been very conversational for me,” Tarzsa told DJ Mag last year. The Manchester DJ and broadcaster’s flair for communicating uplifting vibes onto...

Fatboy Slim’s ‘You've Come a Long Way, Baby’ at 25: Norman Cook's rock & roll opus

A masterclass in sampling, Fatboy Slim's second album remains the best example of Norman Cook’s unmistakable sound: a tightly-knit yet light-wearing blend of rock & roll instrumentation and energy with the hedonistic spirit of late ‘90s British dance music. It went to No.1 in the charts, made a star of its creator, and is ubiquitous to this day. 25 years since its release, Ben Cardew explores its legacy

When Fatboy Slim’s ‘Rockafeller Skank’ was released June 1998, it whirled like a waltzer of twangy guitars and thrashing drum breaks. With its instantly hit-making...

Photo of Blanco wearing a pink shirt and touching his face in front of a red background

Recently following up his 2021 Best Of British-nominated ‘City Of God’ mixtape with ‘ReBourne’, South London MC Blanco has further distilled his artistic vision in an effort to remain true to himself. He speaks to Rob Kazandjian about how anime, Brazilian culture and loss have influenced him, the early years of his Harlem Spartans crew, and finding a path to a better place

“Wow... that’s a mad question that you’re asking me right now,” says Blanco, a founding member of pioneering drill collective Harlem Spartans, whose solo work...

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Carla Frayman’s sonic output is a delight to the senses, elevated as much by the musical upbringing she experienced in Turkey as the electronic education she sought out on her own after heading overseas. DJ Mag caught up with the producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist to learn more about her nostalgia-kissed discography, her Senza Fine parties, and her forthcoming debut album

When a child has their heart set on something, they won’t take no for an answer. We can all recall a time when an expensive...

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As two long-running bastions of Ibiza, it’s fair to assume that Defected’s Fridays residency at San Antonio’s Eden are a match made in house music heaven. Just to be sure, though, DJ Mag’s Olivia Stock heads to the Ibiza superclub for 2023’s season closing party — a glorious celebration of their motto — "house music all-life long" — and 20 years of the legendary label on the island

“I’m gonna need a minute to cool off,” a young raver mouths to his mate, before shuffling off the dancefloor to stir up the air...

Arc dancefloor under red lights

Chicago’s ARC Music Festival brings international acts from throughout the various evolutions of house music to the city that gave the genre its name, booking them side by side with rising and veteran local talent. Ben Hindle heads to the Windy City to see how the music and culture survives and thrives, and samples the best DJs, venues, sound systems and sandwiches Chicago has to offer

At 206 South Jefferson Street, a quiet road just outside Downtown Chicago’s main hub, stands an unassuming three storey building with a pretty green and...

Photo of an orange door with ‘Workspace, Music Studios, Creative Space’ enscripted on the glass

The Orbit Grassroot Support Programme is a new venture by London’s The Halley, in partnership with DJ Mag, that provides space for music communities focused on championing underrepresented groups and tackling important issues. With an ongoing monthly schedule of workshops and talks, a new funding scheme, and having just hosted a special one-off Orbit Live event, Aneesa Ahmed learns more about its goal of creating a fairer, more accessible, dance music industry

Despite life returning to ‘normal’ in a post-Covid world, much of the music industry is still physically dispersed and reliant on the internet. Orbit wants...

The Pointless Geometry logo, depicting a multi-coloured cube above the label's name on a grey background with a cracked black line texture

Poland’s Pointless Geometry challenges the sonic and economic norms of both the music industry and its home country’s ruling power. Alongside a mix of tracks from its catalogue, label heads Copy Corpo and FOQL explain how they put community building, an egalitarian approach, and uplifting local artists at the forefront of everything they do

Pointless Geometry is a Warsaw-born label which is now based in the post-industrial Łódź, a city that’s currently being aggressively redeveloped. A couple of weeks...

Photo of AMÉMÉ sitting with his hands held together in a prayer-like manner, wearing dark shades and an orange and off-white patterned vest and black t-shirt

Afro house is one of dance music’s hottest offerings, and West African artists like Benin-born AMÉMÉ are helping to proliferate the global movement. Megan Venzin links up with him on Ibiza to learn more about his life and what’s coming next for his One Tribe music and events platform

It’s after dark in Ibiza, and AMÉMÉ’s still flying high — literally. We should be sitting down for dinner right about now, but plans change...

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A flagbearer for the Dutch house scene, Chris Stussy ascended to the next level this year with his hit, ‘All Night Long’. A tirelessly creative DJ, producer and curator, this month he speaks to Anna Wall about his history in music, his time spent as a footballer, his global fanbase, and more

It’s a sunny afternoon in Amsterdam, with brilliant blue skies and nothing but a few sparse clouds in sight. Pelotons of cyclists ride calmly and...

A selection of 12 press shots of artists featured in DJ Mag’s October emerging artists feature

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From thumping house and wobbly dubstep to shimmering techno, leftfield grime and beyond, here’s October 2023’s list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of

MJK has been storming ahead with his refreshing blend of dubstep, grime and speedier techno — a sound he describes as “treading the line” between...

Selections: DJ Lynce

In this series, Selections, we invite DJs, producers and label heads to dig into their digital crates and share the contents of their collections. This week, ahead of his appearance at Semibreve festival this month, Porto’s DJ Lynce spotlights his favourite jungle records

Semibreve returns to the Portuguese city of Braga this month. Taking place 26th - 29th October, the 13th edition of the festival – one which...

A crowd photo taken from above at Thunderdome

Dutch gabber erupted from localised scenes in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, evolving into one of Holland's most significant youth movements of the ’90s. But its mass popularity was also its downfall, and by the millennium the scene had collapsed. Here, Holly Dicker looks back at 30 years of gabber, finding that artists outside of its home country have recently helped foster a wider interest in the sound, as well as speaking to those pushing a more diverse and enriched new-meets-old gabber scene in Holland

It's 3PM on 1st July in South Holland. Under a thunderous sky at Crabbe Park in Vlaardingen, a short metro ride from Rotterdam city centre...

Photo of Kikelomo posing against a black background. She's wearing a brown-gold dress

Kikelomo brings people together, whether she’s co-running the Accra-based Oroko Radio station, DJing to club crowds or working on documentaries. Alongside her genre-hopping Recognise mix, she speaks to Sarah Kearns about fostering community, her love of radio, and her eclectic musical taste 

“Everyone asks me, ‘What kind of music do you play?’” says DJ, presenter, producer and radio station co-founder Kikelomo. “If you can dance to it...

Ohmydais

East London’s ohmydais records a mix of “cool, fast, sexy breaks and high energy bangers” for the Fresh Kicks series, and speaks to Olivia Stock about cutting her teeth in the Nottingham scene, finding her sound, uplifting friends, and her brand new collective party series

It’s noon at Waterworks 2023 and Team Woibey (‘vibey’ with a ‘w’, before you ask) are shelling percussive club bangers on the Pressure stage. Aided...

The cover art for Herbie Hancock's 'Future Shock' on a navy background

Forty years ago, in August 1983, jazz keyboard legend Herbie Hancock released 'Future Shock', a genre-defying album that introduced audiences around the world to vinyl scratching, hip-hop beats and sampling. It ushered in a new era of production techniques and studio exploration, and laid a blueprint for the following decade's hip-hop explosion. Here, Marke Bieschke explores the record's incredible legacy

Forty years ago, in August 1983, jazz keyboard legend Herbie Hancock decided to step into the future, taking the music industry — and, incidentally, global...

Photo of Damian Lazarus wearing all black and heavy silver jewellery while looking directly into the camera

Damian Lazarus celebrates 20 years of his pioneering record label, Crosstown Rebels, in 2023, the vehicle which has helped him travel to the upper echelons of the international DJ pyramid and score a high-profile Ibiza residency, taking over the Club Room of Hï Ibiza every Saturday night this summer. DJ Mag talks to Damian about wizardry, his weekly Hï Ibiza night, the history of his Crosstown label, and DJing in the great outdoors

From the start of the Ibiza season to the end, Damian Lazarus has been helming the Club Room at Hï Ibiza every Saturday night, complementing...