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Every era of British dance music has its myths and over-simplified narratives — hell, even little known local scenes have urban legends. Below, Matt Anniss...

We need to think about how we document dance music culture. It may seem odd saying this when there are so many magazines, podcasts, and...

Is wealth and privilege damaging British dance music, and if so, what should we do about it?

WORDS: Matt AnnissPICS: Nicola Nodland & Jillian Edelstein

Since acid house swept the UK 30 years ago and united a generation, British dance has proudly proclaimed its egalitarian credentials. Many believe that the loved up, misty-eyed utopianism...

During the early part of the pandemic, DJ and producer ZHU went on a road trip with his bandmates, recording his new album in remote...

Steven Zhu can’t sit still for long. It’s a characteristic that has always served the artist, better known simply as ZHU, quite well. Since he...

Dance music's renaissance man graces the cover of DJ Mag USA...

From new ventures in live performance to reunions with Digweed, fresh collaborations to the birth of a baby, the godfather of progressive is busy building...

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...

Three decades of Trade: celebrating 30 years of boundary breaking LGBTQ+ raving

The fierce LGBTQ+ party Trade was the UK’s first legal after-hours club event, opening at 3am and closing at 9am. It laid the groundwork for a new on-and-on party culture, while its sexual and gender diversity was a forerunner for today’s queer club scene. As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, and prepares for its 24-hour birthday party at Egg London, Joe Roberts speaks to some of its regular DJs, designers and founder Laurence Malice about Trade's boundary-breaking legacy

It’s Sunday afternoon, 16th March 2008, and the dancefloor of Turnmills is packed with dancers in varying states of undress. Watching over them, grinning maniacally...

The summer of 2021 has seen a perfect storm of drug-related risks hit the UK dance scene: from an abundance of first-time ravers who turned...

Ever since the birth of acid house in the late ‘80s, UK dance music has been defined, legislated against and demonised on the basis of...

With his house-focused project Jack Back, David Guetta has returned to the sound that first got him fired up about dance music. In his DJ Mag...

On October 19th last year, David Guetta went out onto the main stage at Amsterdam Music Festival (AMF) in the Johan Cruijf f ArenA, where...

Reinier Zonneveld: live and direct

Before headlining international festivals with his immense live techno sets, Reinier Zonneveld cut his teeth on the Dutch underground rave circuit. Megan Venzin catches up with the artist to learn about his approach to performance, and why his fans can always expect the unexpected

It’s been a while since Reinier Zonneveld had to outsmart the cops. Nowadays, when the Dutch producer arrives at an event, it’s because he’s guaranteed...

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...

Todd Edwards is a house and garage veteran whose signature productions have lit up dancefloors for decades, and whose collaborations with Daft Punk sit in...

Every genre has a resident ‘“nice guy”, but it’s doubtful that they come nicer than Todd Edwards.Todd has been an effervescent presence in dance music...

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The raucous rhythms of Jersey club have been everywhere lately, and UNIIQU3, aka the Jersey Club Queen, is one of the main reasons why. Bruce...

The voice on the other end of the phone is murmuring gentle orders: “Black, please. Middle strip rainbow. Yeah, like that.” A few seconds pass...

In the UK and elsewhere, there’s now a pathway towards a staggered reopening of clubs and festivals. But how have venues coped in the past...

When UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the government’s “roadmap” out of lockdown on the 22nd February — a series of dates over which COVID-19...

Close up shot of Wreckno with fishnet gloves and colourful butterflies in their hair

Brandon Wisniski has refused to let anyone stifle their “batshit crazy dream” of becoming a pop culture icon. Now, as Megan Venzin discovers, the queer rapper and producer known as Wreckno is breaking boundaries and fostering inclusive spaces so others like them can reach the stars

What can’t Barbie do? Since hitting shelves in 1959, the polymer-based, pop culture icon has donned the uniforms of a pilot, astronaut, presidential candidate, and...