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Results for: DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2019

The Sound Of: Touching Bass

Encompassing parties, a record label and a beloved radio show, Errol and Alex Rita’s Touching Bass has created an open space to celebrate Black music in all its forms, from jazz to jungle and beyond. Alongside a woozy mix exploring the DNA of Touching Bass’ past, present and future by Sammseed, Ria Hylton documents the movement’s ethos and story so far 

“Touching Bass is a musical movement,” Errol Anderson tells DJ Mag. “And when I say movement, I’m thinking of forward movement — energy.” Alex Rita...

Working for free is rife among producers and engineers, with 77% having worked for free in the last 12 months alone. But is it just...

Last year, the Music Producer’s Guild (MPG) released a report that revealed that, in the past three years, 71% of sound engineers and music producers...

Photo of DESIREE wearing a purple hat and eye-makeup on an emerald background

Soaring ascents, the kind that can take an artist from obscurity to stardom in what seems to be the blink of an eye, don’t occur often, in dance music or elsewhere – those who are lucky enough to have that experience often disappear just as quickly. But there’s little chance of a quick fade for South Africa’s Palesa Desiree Shilabje, the DJ and producer known to the world as DESIREE, who in just a few short years has proved to be one of the international festival circuit’s most exciting new stars. Here, Bruce Tantum hears her story, and about how her evolution through music has been as organic as they come

“I’m finally home.” Those three words are among the first that the South African DJ and producer Palesa Desiree Shilabje utters when DJ Mag catches...

London underground sign that reads ‘what is the future of London clubbing?’

Over the past few years, against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis and austerity, an energised crop of community-focused collectives, promoters, and venues have emerged in the UK capital. Against some tough odds, they are fighting to keep the city’s electronic music scene not only alive, but thriving. Here, Georgia Mulraine looks at how promoters and partygoers are adapting to this new landscape, adjusting their expectations of what going out looks like and, ultimately, asks: what is the future of London clubbing?

It’s an early August afternoon in Tottenham, North London. Nestled on an unassuming industrial estate on Markfield Road, beautiful floor-to-ceiling record shelving is being assembled...

Avian accomplices Armand Van Helden and A-Trak are Duck Sauce — the fun-loving duo behind house mega-hit ‘Barbra Streisand’, as well as countless underground club smashes...

It’s hot in Miami as the Duck Tours vehicle leaves its Lincoln Road ‘duck stop’ with a smattering of tourists onboard. “For your safety, please...

Photo of François K on a white background

After nearly five decades in music, nobody could blame François Kevorkian for taking it easy. But that’s not in the France-born, NYC-based polymath’s DNA. Shortly after celebrating his 70th birthday, Bruce Tantum hears his story, and learns about the curiosity and drive that keeps him going

As soon as he sits down for a long conversation with DJ Mag, François Kevorkian, the NYC-based dance-music polymath universally known as François K, brings...

With an IRL event impossible this year, the team behind Belgian mega-festival Tomorrowland created a revolutionary interactive virtual world in under three months. Here’s how...

Tomorrowland has never been one for subtleties. As the Belgian festival scaled up from more humble beginnings in 2005, the Boom location became an array...

One of dance music’s most recognisable characters is growing up. We talk to Seth about the repetitive party lifestyle, being a catalyst for change, and...

Seth Troxler’s reputation is such that he’s on first-name basis with the whole of electronic music. He’s put himself out there — often literally —...

AVA Festival shot from above

Last month, 16,000 ravers attended Belfast's AVA Festival at its new home on the Titanic Slipways. DJ Mag traveled to AVA to discover how the event is creating a sense of unity, community and a second wave of rave in the city

In 2015, Belfast’s first AVA Festival and conference found its home beneath the towering yellow Harland & Wolff cranes — affectionately named Samson and Goliath...

Photo of T.williams posing in a white t-shirt and blue baseball cap

Over the past two decades, West London DJ and producer T.Williams has worn many hats, from his roots in grime and jungle through to spells in garage and soulful melodic house. His recently released debut album, ‘Raves Of Future Past’, finds him freed from all limitations, and pays tribute to this wide-ranging career. Here, Ben Murphy speaks to him about writing songs versus bangers, the freedom of expression of the early 2000s era, and how he made his classic track ‘Heartbeat’ with Terri Walker

“That cross-section between a banger instrumental and a nicely crafted song was always something that I really enjoyed,” says T.Williams, reflecting on the kind of...

Progressive house champion Cristoph shows us round his Newcastle haunts, and tells us how his friends and family, and the patronage of Eric Prydz, have...

Cristoph is leaning on a railing overlooking Tynemouth Bay as the sun beats down. He often comes here to walk. At 25C and rising, though...

Techno would not exist as it does today without Kevin Saunderson. Some of the Detroit techno architect’s most revolutionary work has been released under the...

Techno is the language of machines speaking to each other, the vocabulary of shiny circuitry, the sound of the future in the here-and-now. But when...

Roland’s 909 drum machine is responsible for the rhythm of house and techno, and countless classics of dance and pop. Exactly 35 years after its...

If there’s one instrument that faithfully captures the true spirit and essence of electronic music, it’s the Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer: a machine that has...

Photo of RIOT CODE wearing a blank tank top in a dark room, with a large beam of light shining around him from the back

Over the past three years, the name RIOT CODE has become synonymous with a strain of hard, fast techno, landing on labels like Noise Manifesto, HOMAGE and NineTimesNine and hammered out at parties like Teletech. Formerly a duo, the Derry-based project is now an individual venture for Oliver Grant, who’s ready to lift the trademark mask and take things to the next level. Alongside a storming Recognise mix that capture’s RIOT CODE’s past, present and future sounds, he speaks to Olivia Stock about going solo, navigating the techno scene as a trans artist, and what the future holds

It’s New Year’s Eve 2023 in Belfast’s Bone Yard, and Oliver Grant is overthinking. After spending the previous two weeks restlessly rifling through his collection...

Known as the “queen of the Palestinian techno scene”, Sama' Abdulhadi was becoming internationally recognised as a powerful force in dance music until a gig...

When Sama' Abdulhadi was 13, the Israel Defense Forces came to her apartment block in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, and took over the building...