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Results for: Essential Selection

Keith McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes

Keith McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes, aka Optimo (Espacio), have helped define Glasgow’s musical landscape for over two decades with their eclectic and dynamic dancefloor selections. As 2022 marks Optimo’s milestone 25th anniversary, a tour of their home city reveals the ethos behind their inimitable sound

A love of dancing runs deep in Glasgow. And no one better embodies the city’s enduring passion for getting together on the dancefloor than Keith...

Vintage '90s images taken from old free party events

In the summer of 1989, DiY collective — one of the first house sound systems in the UK — emerged onto the rave scene. In this excerpt taken from founding member Harry Harrison's book, Dreaming in Yellow, he discusses DiY's role within that movement, and the importance of free parties during the '90s rave scene

Much has been written and debated over the years about just why the concept of a ‘free’ party was so important. Much more than simply...

 A guide to dance music's pre-rave past...

We've drafted in Greg Wilson, the former electro-funk pioneer, nowadays a leading figure in the global disco/re-edits movement and respected commentator on dance music and...

A guide to dance music's pre-rave past...

We've drafted in Greg Wilson, the former electro-funk pioneer, nowadays a leading figure in the global disco/re-edits movement and respected commentator on dance music and...

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...

Oakland-based producer and DJ Russell E.L. Butler delivers 60 minutes of exhilarating techno and radiant rhythms as part of our podcast series. We catch up...


Russell E.L. Butler’s artistic process is built on community. Based in Oakland since 2009, the Bermudian producer, DJ and live musician has become an increasingly...

Producing under the alias Renegade, Ray Keith delivered an instant classic in 1994's ‘Terrorist’, one of the most recognisable jungle tunes of all time. Its thumping chopped...

“It's so far ahead of its time that you can play that in the dance now and people still go crazy," says junglist, innovator, DJ...

For the last two decades, DJ, producer and showman David Guetta has been one of the biggest names in dance music. Whether you’re an EDM...

“Ham, Iberico ham. I can’t get enough of it and I could eat it forever, it’s my favourite food,” David Guetta announces before flashing a...

On Cue is our flagship mix series, celebrating the pivotal DJs and producers whose influence has shaped the world of electronic music, both in their...

From the unfolding climate crisis to the way technology governs our lives, you’d be forgiven for thinking the future looks bleak. Yet the experimental electronic...

DJ Mag USA speaks with Matrixxman about his debut album ‘Homesick’...

On a brisk spring San Franciscan afternoon, clouds move lazily across the sky with sunshine piercing through as notable techno talent Matrixxman, real name Charles...

Nicolette 'Let No-One...' album cover

On 1996's ‘Let No-One Live Rent Free In Your Head’, Scottish singer, songwriter and producer Nicolette worked alongside 4Hero’s Dego, Plaid, Alec Empire and Felix to create an album that mixed jungle, trip-hop, industrial techno and avant-pop into a singular work full of sharp, incisive lyricism. Ben Cardew explores the legacy of the album, and its vision for the future of electronic music

In the modern world, it seems sadly inevitable that any female singer who experiments with dance beats will, at some point, be compared to Björk...

Soundsystem artwork 1

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 

It’s the Thursday before Notting Hill Carnival and Linett Kamala, board director of Europe’s biggest street party, is weaving through the streets of Kilburn. Her...

Influenced by hip-hop and halftime drum & bass, Ivy Lab and their label 20/20 LDN have a new vision for future beats. With their debut...

"I didn't really want to do it. Why on earth would I want to hook up with two kids?" laughs Gove Kidao. One half of...

Berlin-based DJ, producer, and label boss Bloody Mary started her wax-led imprint long before the vinyl revival, and 10 years later it’s still going strong...

“Back in time when I was a teenager, the rave spirit was everywhere,” reminisces Bloody Mary. We’re talking about the mid ’90s in the south...

Ben Cardew looks back at how Louie Vega and Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez’s rapturous 1997 homage to their musical roots

Two decades before Daft Punk rolled back the technological years on ‘Random Access Memories’, another iconic house duo went back to their roots. Kenny “Dope”...