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When the South Bronx dance-punk outfit ESG released their Martin Hannett-produced debut EP in 1981, they had no idea how pivotal their stripped-back, funk-fueled sound would be on the evolution of hip-hop and house music: ‘UFO’ has been sampled over 500 times; ‘Moody’ was a staple in Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage sets. Four decades later, ahead of their set at Melting Pot & Optimo’s Queen’s Park Spring Weekender, Daniel Dylan Wray tells their story

One day in 1979, a young Renee Scroggins imagined what it would be like if a UFO landed in the housing projects of the South...

A copy of Ears To The Ground on a light blue background

In this excerpt from Ears To The Ground: Adventures in Field Recording and Electronic Music, author and DJ Mag contributing editor Ben Murphy explores the use of found sounds in dance music as a means of examining and expressing cultural heritage in our surroundings

At its most cutting edge, dance music is a laboratory of sonic experimentation. Field recordings, foley and samples from the real world have long been...

12 emerging artists you need to hear: November 2022

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From crystalline house and propulsive techno to experimental ambient and club-tuned pop here's November 2022's list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of

House music as shimmering and crystalline as a diamond, but suffused with endless warmth? That’s the domain of London DJ and producer Flaurese. His 2020...

How is the cost-of-living crisis hitting UK nightlife?

Post-pandemic, as UK clubs have attempted to regroup, they’ve been impacted by soaring energy bills, rising costs and hesitant ticket buyers. Jack Ramage talks to club owners and promoters about how they’re weathering the storm, and asks what can be done to ameliorate the situation?

“It’s terrifying... I wake up every day and hope that we find a way to keep going,” Kate Hodgkinson, co-founder of Cobalt Studios, an independent...

12 emerging artists you need to hear: October 2022

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From soulful house and hammering techno to electropop, bass and beyond, here's October 2022's list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of

The sound palette of London-based producer Tom Jarmey transcends several genres. Jungle, ambient, techno and cinematic soundscapes snake through his releases on Holding Hands, Dansu...

12 emerging artists you need to hear this September

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From bass-heavy techno and understated deep house to transportive ambient music and drum & bass here's September 2022's list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of

DJ N.E.GIRL (Esther Wanyama) is not just a lethal weapon behind the decks, but a community-builder behind the scenes. Represented in sets for Keep Hush...

Danger Mouse & Black Thought: cheating the system

Although it features guests like A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels and Raekwon, the best moments on Danger Mouse and The Roots legend Black Thought's new LP are in its filmic rhymes, woozy psychedelic loops, soul snippets and jazz and blues rhythms. Here, Ben Murphy speaks to them about their long-awaited collaboration

Hip-hop is ingrained in the work of American musician and producer Danger Mouse. Though he’s made records with Beck, Karen O, Gorillaz, Michael Kiwanuka, Adele...

12 emerging artists you need to hear this August

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From jungle and Afro house to experimental dub and techno here's August 2022's list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of

With his face hidden to keep the focus firmly on the music, South London’s Anti Traxx channels his Jamaican heritage — “growing up around soundsystems...

Richie Blacker

​​DJ Mag heads to Belfast to take a tour around the hometown of rising DJ/producer Richie Blacker, whose music has appeared on labels like Skream's Of Unsound Mind and Anjunadeep

White Dragon Tattoo sits on Botanic Avenue in south Belfast, home to the renowned tattoo artist Chris Crooks, and where Richie Blacker has a studio...

How X-Press 2’s ‘Lazy’

Released in 2002, a dream collaboration between UK house heroes X-Press 2 and Talking Heads' David Byrne, ‘Lazy’ lit up clubs and the pop charts alike. Here, Dave Jenkins talks to the group’s Ashley Beedle, Rocky and Diesel about how the track transcended generations and genres to become a timeless hit

“Who even writes a bloody dance tune called ‘Lazy’?” laughs Ashley Beedle. Fellow X-Press 2 founders Rocky and Diesel chime in with the chuckles, as...

Balearic trance

Ibiza played a central role in spreading a new take on trance around the turn of the millennium — a more soothing vein of the sound that captures the mood of a Mediterranean sunset. As clubs in Ibiza are opening again for the first time since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, DJ Mag dives into the roots of a genre that was inspired and shaped by the island’s unique appeal: Balearic trance

Long before turning into a global clubbing destination, Ibiza appealed to crowds looking for spiritual growth — with those from the hippie movement settling in...

DiY sound system

Throughout the ’90s, the DiY Sound System put on countless free events, ran a recording studio and two record labels, and took their hedonistic parties around the world. Here, Harold Heath speaks to co-founder Harry Harrison about his new book, Dreaming in Yellow: The Story of the DiY Sound System, and the collective's trailblazing legacy in the free party movement

The origins of DiY Sound System date back to a mid-‘80s England that was a very different place to how it is in 2022. In...

Paradox: the numbers game

Three decades and nearly 200 records into his  career, jungle maverick Paradox is still breaking new ground, and earning new fans in the process. Ben Hindle speaks to him about using an old Amiga computer for his productions, keeping the funk in his breakbeat samples, and his dedication to performing live

“At the moment, I’m just trying to think of ways to bankrupt my distributor,” says Dev Pandya, his face plastered with a schoolboy grin. While...

With a string of powerful releases, including the recent ‘Panther In Mode’, Alewya creates a musical universe that merges the spiritual and the physical. DJ...

In early summer of 2020, in the deepest depths of the pandemic, a reminder of the life we were missing came in the form of...

Conversations around automation and DJing are tried-and-tested comment triggers — the ubiquity of the tedious ‘press play’ criticisms and ‘sync button’ debate attest to that. But...

In part two of this series, we explored the impact of AI in the studio, with assisted mixing tools from iZotope, right up to full-on...