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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

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 

The secret to John Summit's success lies in his work-hard, play-hard mentality, which has led to the former Certified Public Accountant to become one of the most in-demand DJs around. Ahead of his set at DJ Mag's Miami Pool Party this month, Megan Venzin hears his story so far

Lifting the vocals from Jah Screechy’s reggae standard 'Walk & Skank’, SL2’s‘On A Ragga Tip’ surfed the hardcore rave wave at the turn of the 1990s before crossing over to bring breakbeats and bass into the pop charts. The track has transcended genres and styles to stand alone as an enduring dance classic. Joe Roberts calls up Slipmatt, aka Matt Nelson — the ’S’ in SL2 — to learn its story

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

When Mason first released ‘Exceeder’ in 2005 it was a B-side. But its fuzzy bassline and gated trancey notes garnered a legion of fans, and it became a key building block in the pre-EDM electro-house scene. 17 years later, he shares its story

With the release of its first edition – 'For The Mind, Body and Soul' – via Telstar Records in early 1999, the ‘Euphoria’ mix compilation series quickly became one of the most popular and prolific of its kind, launching the big-room oriented trance, progressive and hard house sounds of clubland into the CD drives of thousands. 25 years later, Harold Heath looks back on its legacy, and on how its balance of clever commercial marketing and authentic live energy enshrined ‘Euphoria’ in UK dance music history