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Three decades of Trade: celebrating 30 years of boundary breaking LGBTQ+ raving

The fierce LGBTQ+ party Trade was the UK’s first legal after-hours club event, opening at 3am and closing at 9am. It laid the groundwork for a new on-and-on party culture, while its sexual and gender diversity was a forerunner for today’s queer club scene. As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, and prepares for its 24-hour birthday party at Egg London, Joe Roberts speaks to some of its regular DJs, designers and founder Laurence Malice about Trade's boundary-breaking legacy

It’s Sunday afternoon, 16th March 2008, and the dancefloor of Turnmills is packed with dancers in varying states of undress. Watching over them, grinning maniacally...

Sea change: exploring the Balearic-inspired beats of Poland’s Baltic coast

A new wave of Polish electronic artists are drawing from the country’s musical past and the atmosphere of its Baltic coast to create a fresh take on Ibiza’s Balearic beat. Ben Murphy speaks to artists, promoters, DJs and labels about this unique scene's development

“It’s all in the sea, innit? One of my friends was saying, back in the ’90s, ‘If the going gets tough, well, you can always...

Italo disco’s eternal evolution

Italo disco is everywhere again. But what does Italo even mean today, and is it at risk of being diluted into a catch-all term for anything with an '80s disco sparkle? Joe Roberts dives into the genre's history, and chats to some of its new devotees and longstanding champions about its ever-evolving sound

It now sounds like a DJ mix of the most widely-known Italo disco classics, but when it was released in 1999, I-F’s ‘Mixed Up In...

From bass heavy club sounds, forward-thinking electronic music from West Africa and hip-hop flavoured house, through cosmic jungle and battle-grade grime, here are the essential acts...

FOR FANS OF: MALA, KODE9, L U C YAfter meeting at the back of a lecture hall at university, surrounded by classmates whose music taste...

Photo of CARISTA posing wearing a beige jumper, leather arm cuffs, and black tights

Utrecht's CARISTA is on a quest to bring club crowds together with her irresistible, energising DJ sets. Ria Hylton meets her to find out how her United Identities label is elevating new talent in the Netherlands, and how she’s branching into new areas of music.

No story of CARISTA would be complete without a recap of that 2018 Boiler Room X Dekmantel set, the one where she transformed a crowd...

Close up shot of Wreckno with fishnet gloves and colourful butterflies in their hair

Brandon Wisniski has refused to let anyone stifle their “batshit crazy dream” of becoming a pop culture icon. Now, as Megan Venzin discovers, the queer rapper and producer known as Wreckno is breaking boundaries and fostering inclusive spaces so others like them can reach the stars

What can’t Barbie do? Since hitting shelves in 1959, the polymer-based, pop culture icon has donned the uniforms of a pilot, astronaut, presidential candidate, and...

Neurodiversity in dance music lead feature image

Neurodiversity refers to a wide range of neurological conditions including ADHD, autism, dyslexia and Tourette syndrome. After being diagnosed with ADHD and suspected autism earlier this year, DJ Mag writer Harold Heath began to wonder: is there a particularly high number of neurodivergent people in the scene? Here, he embarks on a personal journey to try and understand the relationship between neurodiversity and dance music, and its wider relevance within the scene

I’m Harold Heath: music writer, former small-time DJ/producer, and life-long club culture fanatic. Earlier this year I was diagnosed with ADHD and suspected autism. Why...

Knucks is leading UK rap's new wave

A rapper, producer and head of the No Days Off brand, Knucks smashed into the UK album charts this year with his ‘Alpha Place’ project, presenting his ‘chill drill’ sound in all its evolved glory. His triumphant homecoming show at KOKO in Camden saw collaborators like Stormzy, SL, Youngs Teflon and Ragz Originale join him on stage. Here, Yemi Abiade meets the Londoner to learn how there are now no limitations on his future

It’s late May in North London. The sun is setting with a burning intensity that only a summer’s evening in this concrete jungle can provide...

A press shot of Flume in a striped jumper, holding a bunch of white flowers against an orange backdrop

Caught between the demands of being an internationally-renowned performer and his desire for a quiet life, Australian producer Flume found balance upon returning to his homeland. Amongst nature, and with a restored sense of wellbeing, he completed his most ambitious album to date, 'Palaces'. Megan Venzin learns its story

Flume fills arenas, smashes stage props with sledgehammers, and builds booming soundscapes with the high-tech gear that fills his ever-expanding studio. Harley Edward Streten, on...

Overmono's Ed and Tom photographed by Rollo Jackson 2

After years in the UK underground as solo artists, brothers Tom and Ed Russell, formerly known as Truss and Tessela, have made huge strides as a duo in recent years as Overmono. Lauren Martin learns how they’ve built a sound and A/V live show that taps into UK dance music legacies, all while staying true to themselves

When Tom and Ed Russell moved into their studio in 2018, they felt the weight of UK dance music history. Housed in the deep south-eastern...

Inside the UK Afro house renaissance

The Afro house sound is an ever-growing presence in UK dance music, with new labels, club-nights and a dedicated radio station springing up. Alongside a mix from Mr Silk, Ria Hylton explores the sound’s history, and speaks to some of the scene’s key players about forging strong connections with their growing audiences, and their aim to nurture a unique UK Afro house identity

Afro house is steeped in the percussive materials of South Africa’s townships. For decades, its polyrhythms played out on traditional African instruments — bongos, congas...

Vintage Culture press shot in a yellow jacket

Vintage Culture has come a long way from a small town in Brazil to playing stadiums, topping dance charts and partying with football royalty. After suffering near-burnout from constant touring, he’s recharged and full of vitality, with a deeper sound he loves with all his heart, hundreds of tunes ready to go, Ibiza and Las Vegas residencies scheduled, and a set lined up at DJ Mag's Miami Pool Party

Lukas Ruiz grew up in Mundo Novo, a tiny municipality with under 20,000 inhabitants, right on Brazil’s border with Paraguay. His mum had always told...

Lauren Flax: intention is everything

After years of devotion to New York's club scene, Detroit-born Lauren Flax is more passionate than ever, with acid techno tracks to be perfected, causes to be fought, and lives to be saved through her harm reduction initiative. This month, she shares her journey with Bruce Tantum

It’s a Friday night at Brooklyn’s Public Records, and Lauren Flax is in her element. The dancefloor is packed, the room is dark, the fog...

Jamz Supernova is spearheading the next generation of radio DJs with her residencies on BBC Radio 1Xtra and Selector Radio. While equally at home behind...

It’s an uncomfortable fact of the situation that some people have had a good pandemic. The rhythm of our daily lives has been disturbed, maybe...

Windrush ship

Some of the most important DJs in the development of the UK scene are children of the Windrush generation. DJ Mag's editor-in-chief, Carl Loben, speaks to Black and mixed-race foundation DJs about their parents, racism, culture, and being pioneers in our beloved scene

This feature was originally published in 2018, at the height of the Windrush scandal, and on the 70th anniversary of the Windrush ship's arrival in...