ARTISTS

"The Anna Wintour of Music" - Benji B started his climb to success earlier than most of his peers in the industry. His first step was landing a job with legendary radio DJ Gilles Peterson on Kiss FM at just 16. From there it wasn’t long until he had his own show on BBC Radio 1Xtra. Today Benji holds down a weekly slot on Radio 1 using the platform to introduce listeners to underground electronic music from around the world.

When Simon Green first burst onto the scene in 2000 with the ‘Animal Magic’ LP it was a time when words like ‘downtempo’ were frequently thrown about by music journalists and experimental turntablism and crate-dug samples were all the rage among producers. While Bonobo’s immediately recognizable sound has always been indebted to these traditions it has also matured over time into favouring the organic unpredictability of live instrumentation over the post-modern collage of sampling.

Richie Hawtin is a genuine original. His critical acclaim spans the creative realm of the fine art community to the technological vanguard. Meanwhile, as a performing artist, he is constantly pushing conceptual frontiers, moving things forward, welcoming as many as he can to ideas and experiences that would have seemed pure science fiction when he began his career.

Imaginative creatively adventurous and just plain ridiculously talented Montreal’s Jacques Greene deals in heartbreakingly great R&B-infused house anthems like ‘After Life After Party’ masterful albums on labels like LuckyMe and Nightslugs and memorable performances at dance music hotspots like Fabric and Panorama Bar.

On stage de Witte charms techno heads with her natural ease, composure and expertise. Making it almost look easy to play the biggest stages in the world. Her own studio productions have proven to be intense, addictive and downright impressive, captivating sounding labels like Novamute and Mary Go Wild. The future looks bright for Charlotte de Witte.

Marcel Dettmann AKA the king of Berghain states that techno for him is a ‘grundgefühl’ - which can be roughly translated to ‘a fundamental feeling.’ In light of the fact that he produces DJs and promotes only the most exquisite and progressive forms of electronic music on the planet this makes quite a lot of sense. We suspect that this fundamental feeling plays a significant part in the knowing effortlessness with which he carries his trade.

Here’s a little history lesson for those under the age of 20: During the 2000s, Ed Banger Records, helmed by the diligent and aptly named Busy P, were lighting up dance floors across the world with their neon-tinted, funk-filled, distorted take on the proud, French, electronic music tradition through acts like Justice, Mr. Oizo and DJ Mehdi.

Chris Manak for those not in the know is the guy who started the legendary Stones Throw label back in the early 90s with his late buddy Charizma. Now enjoying worldwide success and unanimous critical reverence and musical home to artists like J Dilla Dam-Funk and Madlib are in a uniquely favorable position on the label indie market due to PB Wolf’s uncompromising artistic integrity.

Effortlessly bridging the worlds of RnB soul and electronic music the musician DJ remixer and Canadian beatsmith known as Kaytranada is many things but chief among them an extremely talented producer with what already looks set to be an exceptional career ahead of him.

There’s isn’t really much Trevor Jackson hasn’t done. A respected remixer selector and graphic designer the London-based creative and former boss of the legendary Output label is constantly finding new remarkable ways of expressing his arresting artistic vision. Whether it’s exhibitions that romanticize physical music mediums in poignant new ways or record sleeves that effortlessly articulate the spirit of rock ‘n roll Trevor is forever one step ahead of the game.

Brodinski thumped onto the international scene at the end of his teenage years in 2007. His first release Bad Runner shot him straight onto the crest of the electro-house wave on a level with contemporaries Busy P 2manydjs Tiga and Erol Alkan.

AIAIAI collaborator Young Guru is a Grammy-award winning sound engineer who has worked with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Drake among others. Guru is also a thoughtful educator who rarely wastes an opportunity to drop knowledge on engineering, hip hop and the general state of music at the world’s finest academic institutions.

Marie Davidson was raised in Montreal and adopted music early in her life, beginning with learning to play violin for school orchestras, then moving on to playing guitar in the local band circuit as a teenager. Eventually she added synthesizers and sequencers to her live and production setup, giving us the version of the artist we see live today, blurring the lines between techno, Italo disco, synth pop, new wave and more.

Leeds-born, London-based DJ, radio host, club night and label founder Bradley Zero has, since the early 2010s, gradually secured himself as a solid authority in the UK club scene. A founding member of global music broadcasting phenomenon Boiler Room, Zero began focusing more specifically on pursuing his own projects, London club night Rhythm Section and its associated record label Rhythm Section International. By the end of 2014, RS INTL was nominated for ‘label of the year’ at GIlles Peterson’s worldwide awards.

Korean-American producer, vocalist and DJ Kathy Lee, professionally known as Yaeji, has gone from hanging around on the Brooklyn party circuit to festival stage and magazine cover star in just two short years. From her 2016 breakout–a playful cover of Mall Grab’s Guap on Nick Sylvester’s Godmode label, to her performance at Coachella’s packed out Yuma Tent this year, Lee’s skyrocket to global success has been particularly gratifying to watch, when it’s someone who seems to be so unapologetically herself.

Novelist’s skills as an MC and producer have in recent years earned him a reputation as the ‘new face of grime’. This is unsurprising, given his significant airplay on pirate radio stations, the later attention from BBC 1Xtra and Rinse, his MOBO nomination for Best Grime Act in 2014, and his work with the influential imprint Oil Gang and collaboration with grime legend Skepta.

Skream made a name for himself on the UK dubstep scene before it even existed. Oliver Jones started experimenting with Fruity Loops in his mid-teens, and spent the rest of his time hanging around and working in record shops. This obsessive music activity in his youth resulted in Jones having his first release out by the time he was 17 (The Judgement, in collaboration with Benga, 2003). His 2005 single Midnight Request Line became an influential crossover hit within dubstep and electronic music as a whole, meaning he was ready to release his debut album Skream!, the following year.

Currently on a seemingly unstoppable ascent, Holly Herndon, the queen of collaborative new media expressions is heading into A-list indie-territory despite (or maybe because of?) a challenging level of artistic ambition that poses poignant questions about contemporary media culture and the nature of human existence in the 21st century.