Skip to main content

Search


Results for: Ones To Watch

Inside the UK Afro house renaissance

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

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...

ADE header

Amsterdam Dance Event returned for its annual industry takeover earlier this month, showcasing more than 1,000 events at over 200 venues. With ADE back in full force post-pandemic, DJ Mag's Amy Fielding, Ben Hindle, Carl Loben, Ria Hylton and Rob Mccallum head out to the Dutch capital to sample the plethora of panels, parties and workshops on offer

While ADE did go ahead in a scaled-down fashion at the end of 2021, it’s widely agreed by delegates at this year’s event that 2022...

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...

Windrush ship

Some of the most important DJs in the development of the UK scene are children of the Windrush generation. DJ Mag's editor-in-chief, Carl Loben, speaks to Black and mixed-race foundation DJs about their parents, racism, culture, and being pioneers in our beloved scene

This feature was originally published in 2018, at the height of the Windrush scandal, and on the 70th anniversary of the Windrush ship's arrival in...

Sudan Archives in a pink fluffy bra top with pink ponytails, by ALLY GREEN & EDWIG HENSON

A violinist, beat maker and vocalist with a talent for humorous yet heartfelt lyricism, Sudan Archives new album ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’ is out now on Stones Throw. She speaks to Christine Ochefu about her open-book writing style and her determination to follow her own path

Brittany Parks, the artist known as Sudan Archives, is particularly straight-talking. Donning a purple trapper hat and grin revealing a mouth full of silver braces...

TSHA surrounded by flowers, shot by Nicole Ngai

London-based DJ, producer and live artist TSHA has risen rapidly in the scene, and is receiving her flowers with grace. But it hasn't always been easy.  As she prepares to release her stunning debut LP, 'Capricorn Sun', on Ninja Tune, she speaks to Amy Fielding about overcoming online trolls, astrology, the art of DJing and more

Across one bitterly cold weekend in February 2017, Ninja Tune’s revered live act Simon Green, AKA Bonobo, descended on South London for two sold-out performances...

Photo of Louie Vega wearing a black shirt and hat with a white blazer

After four-plus decades of DJing and with a incredible list of releases — much of it produced with longtime partner Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez as Masters At Work — the pioneering Louie Vega would seem to have little to prove. Yet he’s working harder than ever, with the same energy he had as a young kid coming up in the Bronx. In the run-up to his date at DJ Mag’s Miami Pool Party 2024 at the Sagamore Hotel on March 20th, Vega took some time out of his hectic schedule to talk about how he got to where he is today

Sitting in his Manhattan studio on a weekend evening, wide-brimmed hat on his head and, behind him, shelves crammed with thousands of records — most...

Italo disco’s eternal evolution

Italo disco is everywhere again. But what does Italo even mean today, and is it at risk of being diluted into a catch-all term for anything with an '80s disco sparkle? Joe Roberts dives into the genre's history, and chats to some of its new devotees and longstanding champions about its ever-evolving sound

It now sounds like a DJ mix of the most widely-known Italo disco classics, but when it was released in 1999, I-F’s ‘Mixed Up In...

BRAYLEN DION & EMILY WANG

Detroit-born, Atlanta-based Ash Lauryn is a digger in the truest sense, repping a soulful, classic house sound in her sets and helping preserve and bring back to the fore the Black roots of electronic music through her Underground & Black project. She speaks to Ria Hylton about discovering her passion and making the most of opportunities

On 1st July, Ash Lauryn performed an all-night-long set at East London’s NT’s Loft. Her mix, dripping in the soulful, cavernous grooves of an old-skool...

Press shot of John Summit against green leaves

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

It’s 6:25am and John Summit is still spinning fire. He’s in peak form as he delivers a dark and drilling after-hours set on the sports...

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...

The Sound Of: Freeride Millenium

With a range of sounds encompassing slo-mo house, gothic EBM, Italo disco and more, and an equally unrestrained art direction, Freeride Millenium is a no-holds-barred expression of love between its founders Jorkes and Daniel Rajcsanyi, aka ParisBöhm, and the queer community they aim to uplift. Alongside a mix of tracks from its catalogue, they share the label’s story

“The easy thing about working together is that we are partners” says Jorkes, co-founder of Austrian-based Freeride Millenium, on the label’s central relationship between him...

The cosmic electro of Cygnus 

The prolific Dallas, Texas electro producer builds a futurist cosmology that straddles sci-fi obsession and quiet storm roots, with unexpected brightness. Marke Bieschke catches up with the artist about his process, and his stunning recent LP 'LASER Mode'   

In Haruki Murakami's classic 1994 magic realist novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, lowly functionary Toru Okada sets off in search of his missing cat, journeying...

After a devastating accident, musician Dax Pierson spent years rehabilitating himself, and working towards a hyper-personal sound. With his latest album, ‘Nerve Bumps (A Queer...

Deep in the manzanita-studded woodlands of Northern California, there’s a scenic resort where gold miners once bathed in restorative mineral springs, and queer hippies sought...

Photo of CARISTA posing wearing a beige jumper, leather arm cuffs, and black tights

Utrecht's CARISTA is on a quest to bring club crowds together with her irresistible, energising DJ sets. Ria Hylton meets her to find out how her United Identities label is elevating new talent in the Netherlands, and how she’s branching into new areas of music.

No story of CARISTA would be complete without a recap of that 2018 Boiler Room X Dekmantel set, the one where she transformed a crowd...