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...
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Results for: BRIT Awards 2020
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
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
Dutch duo ANOTR have amassed a huge audience with their emotional house music and incredible club events centred around art and human connection. Ahead of their appearance in Miami at the DJ Mag pool party, they tell Amy Fielding how risk-taking, open-mindedness and collaboration are at the heart of everything they do
The main room sound of Porter Robinson
Only 20-years-old and already a dance music star, with Top 10 chart hits in the UK, a residency in Las Vegas and US wide tours under his belt, Porter Robinson is the new face of the hugely popular big room electro house sound. But as it turns out, he spurns fame, cringes at the acronym EDM, and draws inspiration from musique concrete to Daft Punk. DJ Mag has a pint with him in a grimy North London boozer to learn more...
Inspired by the Midwest American raves that first got her hooked on dance music, Chicago’s Eris Drew wants to bring a psychedelic communal energy and...
Claire Francis travels to Stihia festival to find an event that serves as a vital platform for emerging DJs from within Uzbekistan, as well as supporting local sustainable development
The raucous rhythms of Jersey club have been everywhere lately, and UNIIQU3, aka the Jersey Club Queen, is one of the main reasons why. Bruce...
She’s the Paris-based New Yorker who’s overcome the struggle of addiction and dance music industry tokenism to forge her own path. Louisa Pillott, aka LOUISAHHH...
"Oh, I’ve done a lot of very different stuff,” LOUISAHHH!!! grins at DJ Mag across a backstage corridor. “I’m a certified cycling instructor, for example,”...
The Paris-based, NYC-born DJ/producer fronts this month's issue...
"Oh, I’ve done a lot of very different stuff,” LOUISAHHH!!! grins at DJ Mag across a backstage corridor. “I’m a certified cycling instructor, for example,”...
For DJs with a packed touring schedule, gigging at one iconic club after another, finding the time to sit down in the studio can be nearly impossible. But when Kerri Chandler wanted to work on a long-delayed album, he hit on a solution: he’d transform those clubs into temporary studios, creating tracks attuned to each space. The result is ‘Spaces And Places’, and it’s some of his best work yet
Aluna Francis’s life has been one of discovery — of uncovering truths about herself, about society, and about the fundamental ways in which the dance music industry fails people. The Wales-born, LA-based music maker, formerly of AlunaGeorge and now working as a solo artist, tells Bruce Tantum how she’s putting the knowledge she’s gained into practice via the new Noir Fever festival
Kode9’s Hyperdub has been a critical force in shaping a more diverse electronic scene, both sonically and socially. Having weathered the loss of Chicago footworker...
Sound systems have driven the development of music in the UK, powered by hard work, passion and innovation. But preserving UK sound system culture, its knowledge and history, while also pushing it forward, is no easy task today. Ria Hylton traces its path through ska and reggae at blues dances in West Indian households, to soul, boogie, hip-hop and house in ’80s warehouses and at the Notting Hill Carnival, to nationwide tours and global popularity, and finds out how initiatives like the Sound System Futures Programme are seeking to secure its future
1st May 1994 was the first big London protest against the looming Criminal Justice Bill, the piece of legislation that first proscribed a genre of music — rave music, “wholly or predominantly categorised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats” — in law. Despite widespread demonstrations at what was seen as draconian power-grabs by the UK authorities, the Bill became law later in 1994. Here, Harold Heath looks back at the reaction from the dance music community at the time, and the Act’s lasting impact on the rave scene today
The worlds of computer gaming and electronic music are merging like never before, with virtual raves, AI-generated musicians and concerts inside massive multiplayers like Fortnite...