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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

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

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

On his upcoming 25-track opus ‘Ancestorz’ — which he describes as his life's work — long-serving jungle soldier Congo Natty unites many voices from across the diaspora, joining dots through the history of Black music and celebrating the new jungle generation. In a series of in-depth interviews for DJ Mag, he talks to Dave Jenkins about love, revolution, unity, and reclaiming his place in the history books

After the tragic events of Astroworld Festival last year, Will Pritchard examines the science, politics and history of crowd crushes at mass gatherings, and asks experts how organisers can make future large music events safer