Among techno’s rising architects, Italy’s SCARLETT has a sound that is violent, vulnerable, cinematic, and always pushing into something narratively charged. With over a decade of experience as a DJ and producer, she has transitioned from bass-heavy roots into a dark and emotionally complex techno identity. She brings this singular energy to Bucharest on June 6 for an anticipated performance at Control Club.
AMIT, the UK-based composer and producer Amit Kamboj, was one of the first artists to consistently employ a "half-step" style in drum & bass, operating at a distinctive 174 bpm. Growing up amid traditional Indian music and dub reggae, AMIT's productions frequently feature modal scales, tabla-like percussion, and dhol rhythms. On May 30, ctrl x Odyssey Sessions will welcome AMIT to Bucharest.
The Swedish operator Seba has crafted breakbeat elegies with cinematic scope, heavy with mood, and light on ego for three decades. Whether you know him from his Bukem-era rollers, drumfunk excursions with Paradox, or the crystalline liquid pressure of his later sets, Sebastian Ahrenberg’s fingerprints are all over the atmospheric wing of drum & bass. His spacious, human, and endlessly emotive sound is built for the headspace and the system alike. On May 30, that system will be at Control Club as Odyssey welcomes Seba to Bucharest.
Dance Therapy, the second LP from Norwegian polymath Nora Schjelderup aka Ora the Molecule, eschews the detached spectacle of contemporary electronica for an affective and narratively integrated structure, a psycho-cosmic libretto for disco existentialism. It pirouettes between synthetic and sincere, bridging private melancholia with the dancefloor’s ritualistic hedonism. In its best moments, it recalls the fluency of early Goldfrapp and the dramaturgy of Annie Lennox. But Schjelderup’s vector is part kitsch, part catharsis, wholly other, and distinctly her own. On May 30, she brings this distinctive sound-world to Control Club, as part of the 9th Dokstation Music Documentary Film Festival.
On May 28, Anna B Savage will perform for the first time in Romania as part of the 9th DokStation Music Documentary Film Festival at Control Club.
Uncovered, the second full-length release from Al-Qasar, is a retro-futurist reverie steeped in Arab folk and laced with the circuitry of Western psychedelic rock. A record that binds together four radically reimagined covers and three originals into an ecstatic tapestry where languages tangle, instruments cross-pollinate, and temporalities collapse. Rest assured, it’s also a banger. Not coincidentally, Al-Qasar will be performing in Bucharest at Contrul Club as part of the DokStation Music Documentary Film Festival on Thursday, May 29.
Formed by brothers Liam and Luke May (Trashmouth Records, Medicine 8), alongside Quinn Whalley (Paranoid London, Warmduscher) and Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family), DECIUS is a composite organism stitched from the UK underground’s sleaziest corners—equal parts queer ritual, acid invocation, and punk theatre. On May 24, DECIUS ignites Control Club's spirits with a live set, headlining a Tryouts London label showcase that takes over the entire venue, promising a night of maximal sleaze.
For Danny McLewin, the myth of the 21st-century crate digger is methodology. McLewin excavates, curates, and reanimates forgotten or orphaned sounds, mapping a cartography of music at the intersection of alchemy, collection, and cultural savantism. As one half of the psychedelic-disco duo Psychemagik, and as a solo selector with an uncanny feel for rare groove psychedelia, McLewin has helped reshape the aesthetic parameters of the balearic revival, the cosmic reissue circuit, and the vinyl-based DJ mix. On May 24, McLewin will join the Tryouts London festivities at Control Club, a night that also includes a sleazy live set from DECIUS and a packed venue label takeover.
A Texan-born artist, Alex Wilcox first fell in love with music through '90s rock, but his initiation into techno came during a visit to Berlin. On Friday, May 23, Alex Wilcox will headline the return of Sqweez! at Control Club.
One of Paris's most disruptive electronic artists, François X, has spent over a decade crafting a sound that draws from Black American dance music and the European avant-garde. On May 16, he will bring his uncompromising techno vision to Control Club, promising a night of high-velocity and cinematic intensity.
Tropical Breakdown wears its tuxedo with a knife under the cummerbund. Pierre Omer's Swing Revue play swing the way it stumbles through a fever dream after too many drinks. If swing once meant parties in sepia-toned ballrooms, Tropical Breakdown, the group's second album after 2016's Swing Cremona, plays it as if whispered from under a bar stool. It's dance music for end times. Or, for no times at all. Just make sure, when that day comes, you're with the Swing Revue in a rum-soaked tango club, roadside circus, backroom jazz den, or imaginary speakeasy. On March 16, that venue will be Control Club as Pierre Omer's Swing Revue bring their genre-twisting swing to Bucharest.
O.B.F. (Original Bass Foundation) emerged in 2002 on Geneva’s outskirts as a forward-thinking dub and reggae sound system. Founded by producer and selector Rico, alongside operators G and Stef, the collective quickly earned a reputation for its distinctive and versatile style. They promote forward-thinking dub music heavily influenced by Jamaican reggae, 90s UK dub, and contemporary urban sounds. On May 10 2025, Black Rhino Radio will celebrate its 4th anniversary with O.B.F and Spanish MC Sr. Willson holding things down.
For Aguayo, sound is a social language that cuts through noise and isolation and summons a sense of togetherness. This fall, Bucharest will again fall under this spell when, on Friday, May 9, Aguayo returns to Control Club with a new live set, sharing the bill with Mexico’s Iñigo Vontier.
Iñigo Vontier offers something stranger and more vital to modern electronic music's dim, tranced-out underworlds. The Guadalajara-born producer and DJ has spent over a decade quietly carving out a space marked by haunted vivacity—ritualistic and irreverent, laced with psychedelic mischief. His sound defies borders and genre orthodoxy, balancing regional specificity with cosmopolitan reach. The reach comes to Control Club on Friday, May 9, as Iñigo Vontier joins a bill that also sees a live set from Matias Aguayo
Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There For Me is the fourth album from Porridge Radio, arriving with the quiet weight of experience. What began in 2015 as Dana Margolin's lo-fi open-mic project in Brighton has since evolved into something more volatile, sculpted, and carrying the tremor of the band's early urgency.
Things We Have in Common, Efterklang's seventh album, refines the band's ongoing engagement with human connection.
Born in Lima. Forged in Miami. Tempered in Paris, Mario Liberti's music bears the fingerprints of cities that never sleep but dream in shared rhythm. Like a seasoned digger sifting through dusty backroom bins, Liberti's basslines slide between continents, drum loops soak in archival memory, and synths flutter like passport stamps
Whether in the club cavern or the vast world of online streams, Tim Reaper often appears studious behind the decks, but his unassuming presence belies nothing less than a revolution in jungle's new epoch.
Born in Philadelphia, shaped by Los Angeles, and now immersed in Brooklyn, DJ Swisha is known for his high-octane, cross-genre approach to club music. His fast-paced sets and productions span footwork, house, jungle, Jersey/Baltimore club, ghetto house and more. Over the past decade, he has built a reputation for polyrhythmic, nostalgic, dancefloor-ready tracks that never compromise on a hard-hitting beat. On April 11, the beat hits Bucharest as aim+wall presents DJ Swisha at Control Club.
Born Sancha Ndeko, a South Sudanese-British DJ and producer, the Mia Koden story spans continents and cultures. In youth, she was steeped in her parents’ pan-African record collection and later made frequent soundsystem pilgrimages to hear roots reggae, jungle and dubstep in their natural UK habitats. A culture Koden honours every time she performs, imbuing her sets with lively African percussion, chest-rattling bass, and inventive blends that reflect her heritage and London environs. On April 11, Mia Koden brings these influences to her set at Control Club for the latest edition of aim+wall presents.
The experience of an SPFDJ (Lina Jonsson) set is to be drawn into ecstatic, insurgent release. Her sound is an accelerated cocktail of acid techno, EBM, hardcore, trance, and occasionally breakbeat, which doesn't aim to please.
Rider Shafique is a lyricist and MC who bridges poetry, spoken word, social consciousness, dancehall, dubstep, and drum and bass. At the 18th instalment of Black Rhino Residency, the lyrical legend will bring his vocal prowess to Control Club.
Fireground landed on the scene like an inevitability. Since 2021, the Naples-born duo of Angela and Daniele have threaded themselves into electronic music's DNA with intuitive and deliberate sound. It is an unorthodox blend of techno propulsion and house warmth that doesn’t posture. It pulses. On April 5, they’ll bring that pulse to Control Club, teaming up with the Zenker Brothers [ARTIST PROFILE] and local shapeshifter Dyl for a night under the Ilian Tape banner, a family Fireground have made distinctly their own.
In the mythology of techno, there is a rare breed of artists who build worlds quietly, stone by stone, beat by beat, while others rush to colonize them. Dario and Marco Zenker are two such figures. The Munich-based siblings have created a fluid, dub-drenched sonic language and an ecosystem broken in all the right places. This April 5, Bucharest will have a rare chance to experience the brothers take over the decks at Control Club. For anyone with a stake in rhythm, tension, and transportive dance music, this isn't an event to miss.
Few navigate the space between voice and production with the finesse of SP:MC. For over two decades, Stewart Procter has built a reputation as a vocal artist who redefined what an MC could be and a producer whose beats expose dance music's most elemental forms. His influence is everywhere, whether hosting drum & bass sessions, laying down textured dubstep productions, or curating UK garage hybrids.
She Past Away, the Turkish duo of Volkan Caner and Doruk Öztürkcan, have long been masters of atmosphere. Their hybrid of post-punk and darkwave drips with the same cinematics that fueled the genre’s progenitors. But their 2019 album, Disko Anksiyete, is no mere throwback. Its anxious energy mirrors the world it inhabits.
A producer and DJ from Nice with deep Congolese roots, TellaX has spent nearly a decade crafting a sound that fuses hip-hop battle culture with electronic music. His beats command movement, reverberating through break battles, underground clubs, and sound systems from France to Switzerland to the U.S.
Some albums sound like they've been chewed up and spat out. The latest from DITZ, Never Exhale, is one of them. It carries the duality between the road's grime and performance adrenaline into an album full of tension, ready to rupture.
Things We Have in Common, Efterklang's seventh album, refines the band's ongoing engagement with human connection. With it, the Danish trio of Casper Clausen, Mads Brauer, and Rasmus Stolberg prioritize clarity and atmosphere over intricate ornamentation.
Few bands have endured the ages like Clan of Xymox. Led by the ever-enigmatic Ronny Moorings since the early 80s, the Dutch band has survived four decades of shifting cultural epochs, from the post-punk genesis of the '80s to the digital gothic renaissance of the 21st century. Their latest effort, Exodus, is an elegy for a world fraying at its seams, reflecting solitude and disillusionment.
Leon Smart, known in the clubs and across the airwaves as Scratchclart or Scratcha DVA, began his musical journey in the underground scene of East London in the late 1990s. From pirate radio transmissions of jungle, drum and bass, and grime, Scratchclart has emerged as an essential voice and curator within a rapidly evolving musical landscape.
As the intersection of sound, performance, and identity continues to shape the modern club culture, SARABAMBA emerges as an assertion of fluidity, collectivity, and reinvention. Rooted in anonymity and rejecting conventional notions of individual stardom, the Florentine duo of SARA and BAMBA, in collaboration with producer Abo Abo, have created a creative identity that thrives at the intersection of queer expression, techno-eclecticism, and avant-garde aesthetics.
Exploding out of Durban, South Africa's township scene, Omagoqa—a lethal trio featuring Andile Mazibuko (Ma_A), Franco Makhathini (KB), and Njabulo Sibiya (Chase)—has quickly risen to global acclaim, driven by a commitment to indigenous authenticity as game-changers in gqom. Gqom, the street-born sound known for its stripped-down beats, Zulu drums, and chest-thumping basslines, defines Omagoqa's DNA, as it delivers a raw energy reflective of kasi life.
James Boyle, better known as Breakage, is a producer’s producer. He is the kind of artist revered for his ability to reinvent sound in a way that feels effortless. From the cavernous depths of dub and bass to the heavyweight low-end of dubstep and even the edges of electronic pop, his music exists in the tension between subtlety and brute force.
There is something primal about the techno of Rene Wise. It seems to operate on a subconscious level, burrowing into the body’s kinetic impulses while maintaining an austere sense of refinement. Few of his generation have held such an acute grasp of rhythm’s ability to anchor and liberate. Even fewer do so with such restraint. Wise’s techno is stripped-back, groove-focused, and hypnotic, fueled by an intrinsic understanding of polyrhythm and sonic heft.
Rob Ellis, better known as Pinch, is one of the forces that shaped the DNA of dubstep. Armed with an ear toward the seismic weight of bass, he’s spent two decades carving out spaces where dub, techno, grime, and experimental club music collide.
It starts with a deep, unsettling frequency. It's not quite a melody, but it's not quite noise. Then, a skittering beat that won’t settle, just a little too fast. Suddenly, you realize this is the world of Kode9.
Sherard Ingram, better known as DJ Stingray 313, has spent over three decades refining electro into a force resistant to dilution. A Detroit native, he has taken electro's fast, uncompromising, machine-driven blueprint and accelerated it into a future where precision is non-negotiable. Whether in the studio, behind the decks, or through his label, he is a key architect of electro’s enduring militancy.
Almost three decades in, Coco Bryce has played a vital role in developing jungle and breakbeat hardcore. As a DJ, producer, and label owner, his discography spans numerous imprints and a sonic signature that has become instantly recognizable.
Daria Kolosova's skyrocketing international reputation is all about keeping audiences on their toes. In blending pounding techno, hardcore, breakbeat, jungle, and electro, she consistently delivers electrifying mixes built on instinct and precision.
For all its whimsy, Rex the Dog (the artist project of Jake Williams) has been shape-shifting and outmaneuvering the algorithms of dance music history. Somewhere between retro-futurist club alchemy and an electronic fever dream of ‘80s synth-pop and Kompakt minimalism, it barks, glitches, and wags its tail at the homogenization of modern electronic music.
Mount Kimbie has been dismantling genre walls with precision and curiosity for over fifteen years. What started as a production duo—Dominic Maker and Kai Campos—tinkering with dubstep mutations in South London has since evolved into a fluid, four-person entity, now including longtime collaborators Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell.
MOSES’ sophomore album, I Still Believe! Do You? (2022) doesn’t ask the question as much as it issues a challenge. The London-based outfit, helmed by the irrepressible Victor Moses, 2020 debut, Almost Everything Is Bullshit, was a tangle of sweat-drenched guitars.
Born and raised in South London, Mala has been an ambassador of UK Bass since the turn of the century. Stirring dubstep’s musical melting pot with its most primal ingredients before it even had a name, Mala was a founding member of DMZ, the crew behind some of the most prized 12s the movement has ever known.
With Songs of Homecoming, The Beauty of Gemina crafts an evocative return to the band's electronic roots while charting a meditation on belonging and transformation. Four years after Skeleton Dreams, this ninth studio album emerges quietly, enveloping listeners in an intricate world of shadow and light.
Hidden beneath Tbilisi's colossal Dinamo Arena lies Bassiani. Since opening in 2014 by co-founders Zviad Gelbakhiani, Tato Getia, and Naja Orashvili, it has become an internationally recognized nightclub, a political battleground, a fortress of resistance, and a symbol of Georgia's struggle between its authoritarian past and a future defined by progress.
Bristol quartet Heavy Lungs' All Gas No Brakes is the sound of a band shoving their way to the front of the UK post-punk pile with busted knuckles. It is a searing debut that drags you by the collar and spits in your face, daring you to keep up through tracks that are at once grimy and loud, unpredictable and strangely hilarious.
DJ Spinn, born Morris Harper in Chicago, Illinois, is a master architect of footwork—one of the most rhythmically complex and physically demanding dance styles to ever emerge from the windy city. As a DJ, producer, and co-founder of Teklife, Spinn has pushed it beyond its battle-circle origins into the global underground. More than two decades in, he’s still at the cutting edge, ensuring that the genre’s pulse resonates around the world.
Traxman is both an originator and a curator. He is also a producer whose hands are deep in the soil of Chicago while his mind remains locked on the sound of tomorrow. A foundational figure in the ghetto house, juke, and footwork genres, he has spent the last three decades shaping the sound of a city that thrives on reinvention by bridging Afro-diasporic rhythms, sample-based beats, and the kineticism of urban culture.
In a dimly lit club somewhere in Berlin, a masked figure begins to strum a bağlama. The delicate strings give way to a surge of acid-laden modular synth, and the room explodes into motion. This is Istanbul Ghetto Club (IGC)—an enigmatic collective that has redefined what it means to fuse tradition and modernity, East and West, the underground and the zeitgeist.
In the quiet hum of Vancouver, Canada, ACTORS are redefining modern post-punk by marrying its brood with the shimmer of new wave and the precision of electronic production.
Craig De Sean Adams, better known as DJ Assault, is a godfather of ghettotech and booty house. If the words Ass-N-Titties don’t ring a bell, you’ve likely never been on a dance floor. For decades, DJ Assault has defined the high-octane genre with a blend of blistering tempos, pounding basslines, and hilariously raw lyrics into a formula designed to move bodies, no questions asked.
The electronic music journey of Mor Elian is driven by the three pillars of evolution, community, and innovation. Tel Aviv-born Elian's early years were spent sifting through crates of krautrock, jazz, prog rock, and early electronic sounds in the city's legendary record shop, The Third Ear.
Born Simon Aussel in Nantes, France, Simo Cell is a dynamic musical force who reshapes sound contours. Blending the grit of UK bass with a rich palette of influences—Parisian house, even classical—his emergence as a globally recognized producer and DJ is a story of constant reinvention.
Known affectionately as ZaaZaa, Rosie Cain and Nadia Anderson are the duo behind Kiara Scuro, the London-based project that’s equal parts meticulous craftsmanship and spontaneous chaos. Drawing from the chiaroscuro technique of balancing light and shadow, their name isn’t just a nod to Renaissance art—it’s a manifesto.
With Connla's Well, Manchester quartet Maruja constructs an EP that traverses myth, modernity, and the innermost recesses of the human psyche. It is as though the band has distilled the chaotic energies of our era and imbued them with mythic resonance into visceral and cerebral music.
The third full-length album, Another Heaven, from Luca Venezia—better known as Curses—draws from the gothic romanticism of his debut Romantic Fiction (Dischi Autunno, 2018) and the gritty EBM of Next Wave Acid Punk (Dischi Autunno, 2021), threading familiar elements of post-punk, darkwave, and early EBM into something richer, cohesive, and emotionally profound.
Peter Livingston, better known as Loefah, grew up in the shadow of pirate radio towers and basement clubs in his native Croydon. There, the thrum of the UK garage, the chaos of the jungle, and the grit of grime converged into something uniquely British.
DEADLETTER’s Hysterical Strength captures the dissonance of cherry trees in full bloom against a grey, brutalist skyline. It is an album that bruises and blossoms in equal measure. The Yorkshire sextet, led by Zac Lawrence, wields music that tears through the contradictions of modern life with pointed guitars, motorik rhythms, and dusky saxophone.
Mother’s Cake revels between precision and abandon. With Ultrabliss, the Austrian quartet strides into territory that feels untamed. If their previous works hinted at rebellion, Ultrabliss is the revolution fully realized.
Zak Khutoretsky, known as DVS1, is a cultural advocate whose career epitomizes the ethos of the underground—marathon DJ sets, an unrivaled vinyl collection, and a fierce commitment to the purity of techno culture. Through a variety of activities, the last two decades have seen him establish himself as one of electronic music's most important people.
Even with Berlin’s scene, where the boldest and wildest survive, few artists have carved a presence as compelling as Sibel Koçer—aka JakoJako. Through technical skill and an intuitive touch, JakoJako has reshaped how people experience modular synthesis.
Marie Pravda treats her music as more than just dancefloor fodder. Czech-born and fiercely dedicated, Pravda’s (aka "truth" in Czech) psychedlia-laden techno sets that drift beyond conventional club experiences.
Known for their live intensity and aurel alchemy, London-based Japanese psych-rock group Bo Ningen’s The Holy Mountain Live Score provides a striking, layered reinterpretation of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. The 23-track album is a sonic commentary on Jodorowsky's magnum opus that mirrors its relentless deconstruction of identity and spirituality, transforming its iconic visual intensity into equally visceral soundscapes.
Over more than a decade, VIL has shaped Portugal’s electronic identity from the dark, bass-heavy roots of dubstep to the precision of techno. On Friday, November 22nd Control Club will team up with Supersanity to welcome VIL to Bucharest.
Conor O’Brien’s latest album as Villagers, That Golden Time, feels like a soft sunrise. Where his previous full-length, Fever Dreams, was all bold colors and kaleidoscopic sonorities, his sixth pulls things back. O’Brien uses his love for the lush sparingly, each note and lyric placed with care.
Roman Flügel has spent over three decades carving his space in electronic music by following his instincts. A celebrated DJ, producer, and co-founder of multiple influential record labels, Flügel has earned a reputation for reshaping electronic music from the inside out. His sound is as versatile as it is distinctive, evolving with—and sometimes ahead of—the genres he moves through.
The ninth album from The KVB, Tremors, is a gem of “dystopian pop,” an artfully constructed landscape of looming dread and bleak allure. The album brings Southampton's Nicholas Wood and Kat Day’s project to new depths, charging its coldwave and post-punk foundations with the anxieties of the present moment—societal decay, collective unease, and the ever-relentless march of time.
Legowelt is only one of the many identities Wolfers has donned over the years. Under 20+ aliases like Smackos, Gladio, Nacho Patrol, Polarius, and Franz Falckenhaus, he’s inhabited a range of musical personas. By constantly shifting his artistic identity, Wolfers has crafted an eclectic and extensive discography—a treasure trove for those seeking something familiar and refreshingly strange.
La Fleur, known offstage as Sanna Engdahl, is a Swedish DJ and producer whose style merges technical mastery with raw emotional pull. It is a style that has brought her around the world, and on November 9, she comes to Room 1 of Control.
The early records of The Telescopes were driven by an interest in noise rock, psychedelia, and shoegaze, particularly seen in Taste (1989). Following a hiatus, Lawrie returned with Third Wave (2002), an album that marked a shift into ambient and noise territory. This genre-blending approach has only deepened on Hidden Fields (2015) and Stone Tape (2017). Halo Moon feels like a culmination of this evolution.
E.Lina's story starts in Kharkiv, Ukraine, where hip-hop was her first love. She spent her teenage years immersed in freestyle dance battles, beat-making sessions, and rapping. But sometimes, life has plans that you can't see coming. On Friday, November 1, those unexpected twists will lead E.Lina, now one of the most compelling new voices in Europe’s electronic scene, to the booth at Bucharest’s Control Club, as part of ctrl x Personnal series.
From his earliest demos to his current standing as a techno icon, Ali Wells—better known as Perc—has followed a path defined by grit, authenticity, and a constant desire to push boundaries. Hear for yourself as Perc arrives in Bucharest at Control on Saturday, November 2.
You can feel something unmistakably rebellious in how a DJ Nobu set unfolds—sometimes slowly, like a rolling thunderhead, and other times with a punch of industrial noise that rattles your core. But to understand Nobu, you have to go back, not to Tokyo’s sleek nightclub scene, but to Chiba, a coastal Japanese city known more for its many fish markets than for underground culture.
Jakuzi’s Hata Payı descends into the muddy waters of human vulnerability. Released in 2019, the album’s title translates to “a part of the mistake,” suggesting imperfection is both embraced and scrutinized. Jakuzi doesn’t pretend to offer solutions. Instead, Hata Payı sinks into the uncomfortable reality of the mistakes that shape us, the regrets that bind us, and the distance that forms when relationships deteriorate.
¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U is far from your average DJ. In fact, calling him a DJ at all feels like a gross understatement. Born out of the underground clubs of Osaka and now performing at some of the biggest festivals around the globe, his work is a visceral dismantling of genre boundaries that leaves audiences disoriented, exhilarated, and asking what the hell just happened.
J. Bernardt, aka Jinte Deprez, steps away from his role as frontman of Belgian Indies' Balthazar and dives into the labyrinth of personal loss with the confessional, Contigo. The name means "with you" in Spanish and is the compass that guides through the tumultuous seas of a breakup.
From the buzzing rhythms of Istanbul, LALALAR has been reshaping the boundaries of Turkish sound for nearly a decade. Formed in 2015, the trio initially entered the music world with a dreamy, reflective, and distinctly indie-pop sound. But what began as a subtle, ethereal act has since evolved into one of Türkiye’s most electrifyingly diverse forces.
KOKOKO!’s sophomore album, BUTU, is a wild journey through the streets of Kinshasa, DRC. As the follow-up to their 2019 debut, Fongola, BUTU merges upcycled instruments with cutting-edge techno and synthwave, making it one of the most innovativew releases of the year.
Miley Serious, a Paris and New York-based DJ, merges punk’s spirited energy with the rhythmic complexity of electronic sounds. Raised in Toulouse, Miley first forayed into music in the hardcore punk scene, playing bass in a band before transitioning into DJing.
A Canadian-born artist now based in Berlin, Mathew Jonson is a study in balancing precision with unpredictability. He represents a space where the inherent chaos of improvisation meets the disciplined structure of house and techno, built via a mastery of analog hardware.
Since her move to Berlin in 2012, Dr. Rubinstein is one of the most recognizable personalities in the global electronic music scene. Without the conventional support of a label or self-promotion, her rise is wholly due to the subversive energy she brings while behind the decks.
In O Monolith, Squid transcends the avant-garde claustrophobia of their critically acclaimed debut, 2021’s Bright Green Field, with the 2023-released sophomore album offering something more contemplative and unpredictable.
The eleventh studio album from The Underground Youth, Nostalgia’s Glass, invites listeners to peer through the prism of nostalgia, where the past scintillates with deceptive allure.
Transitioning from DJing to production, Sims began releasing music that mimicked his sets’ raw energy. Tracks such as Manipulated and Way Back Then combined thick basslines with intricate rhythms. His productions quickly garnered attention and resulted in a discography as extensive as anyone’s in electronic music.
Loxy emerged in the early 1990s through his involvement with London’s pirate radio stations like Eruption FM and Underground FM. He quickly became a mainstay at pivotal London raves such as Desire and Thunder & Joy, where he was celebrated for his sets that featured darker, heavier dubplates.
Zebra Katz, the genre-defying alter ego of Ojay Morgan, has carved a path in the music industry with his audacious style and provocative sound. Despite his growing success, Zebra Katz remains committed to his independent roots. Operating under his own label, ZFK Records, he maintains complete creative control over his work. This work, marked by its doomed future and left-of-center nature, continues pushing the boundaries of what art and music can be.
Strolling through the twilight of an abandoned mega city, where the air vibrates with the hushed, anticipatory white noise of liminal space, you may find yourself contemplating the ebb and flow of life and death. In this moment, Holy Waters emerges as a singular soundtrack.
The artistic narrative of Julia Govor, a revered figure within the global underground techno scene, is one of relentless ambition. Born in Abkhazia, Georgia’s tumultuous yet culturally rich backdrop, Govor’s initial foray into music was shaped by a stint singing in a band.
Dombrance, born Bertrand Lacombe, has built a formidable bridge between electronic music and the pulsating dynamics of political history. His sound—a confluence of synth-pop, electro-funk, and disco—does more than make people move; it makes them think, reflect, and occasionally, revolt. I
There is a sense of shifting landscapes in The Great Calm, the latest album from the post-punk outfit Whispering Sons. Since their inception, the Belgian quintet have crafted a mélange of darkness and distance that echoes through the abandoned hallways of post-punk’s vast castle. Yet, in this, their third full-length, a discernible pivot suggests a band grappling with their past while courting the uncertain future.
Alex Stephens, also known as Strawberry Guy, initially made his mark as a keyboardist in a band . However, he soon felt the need to explore his own musical path, leading him to embark on a solo career in Liverpool. His 2019 debut EP, Taking My Time to Be, featuring the viral hit Mrs Magic, amassed a staggering 350 million Spotify streams, largely thanks to its immense popularity on TikTok.
New York City based artist Thomas Simon does a lot of film work, so it’s no surprise that his shows have an enveloping, cinematic quality…Simon pulls you in with a swirling vortex of a million guitar, keyboard and percussion textures.
Σtella‘s Up and Away, her debut with the esteemed Seattle imprint Sub Pop Records (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Sleater-Kinney), marks a turn in her artistic trajectory, deepening her engagement with her Greek roots while expanding her palette with broader, more eclectic musical influences, including threads of mid-century Americana and candid lyrical introspection.
Marking their 40th anniversary, Britain’s pioneering festival band Ozric Tentacles returned in 2023 with Lotus Unfolding, a full-throttled encapsulation of their decades-long interstellar journey through space rock. This album isn’t just a career milestone—it is a highlight of their discography, which has evolved from the cassette-only release of Erpsongsin 1985 through the heights of Strangeitudeand Jurassic Shift and continues from the revitalized energy of 2020’s Space for the Earth.
In the ever-so-monochrome palette of contemporary music, where echoes often drown originality, Lucy Kruger & The Losy Boys’ 2023 album, Heaving, is able to cast shadows and illumination in equal measure. This audacious departure from the band’s acclaimed, albeit more traditional, pen-and-paper songwriting style of its Tapes trilogy, unravels as introspection under the influence of existential dread under a gothic, moonlit sky.
Derealised from Jadu Heart unfurls like a lucid dream, tailored for the contemplative soul navigating the early 2020s’ emotional labyrinth. This album is a Nordstar for the introspective wanderer, a soul-stirring third act from the London-based dream pop/shoegaze duo Diva-Sachy Jeffrey and Alex Headford, a duo known for their mask-donning enigmatic presence and genre-blending soundscapes.
With their third studio album, Bobbie, Amsterdam-based indie rock band Pip Blom embarks on a synth-pop odyssey, diverging from the guitar-driven roots of previous offerings—the fuzzy riffs of Welcome Break (2021) and the easy charm of Boat(2019). Distinguished by their jangly pop hooks and earnest lyrical delivery, the quartet has steadily risen through the ranks of the indie scene, with Bobbie signifying an adventurous leap into electronic pop yet still underscored by an inherent indie rock ethos.
Ada Oda, a fixture within the Brussels music scene, embodies the synthesis of raw post-punk energy and the melodious essence characteristic of Italian variety music. This eclectic band, initiated in 2020 by César Laloux—a figure known for his tenure with The Tellers, BRNS, and Italian Boyfriend—has crafted a refreshingly novel and deeply nostalgic sound.
Comprising Valentin Pedler, Dorris Biayenda, and Léo Kapes, France’s Meule brings a unique configuration to the stage: a phalanx of modular synths, dual drum kits harmonizing around a singular kick-drum, and a guitar that acts as a conduit for their sprawling sonic landscapes.
Emerging onto the Bucharest music scene in 2021, the trio PLANT, sometimes stylized as plantplantplant, has quickly made a mark within the local underground community. Emerging onto the Bucharest music scene in 2021, the trio PLANT, sometimes stylized as plantplantplant, has quickly made a mark within the local underground community.
In the heart of Greece’s musical renaissance, amidst the shadowy lanes of Athens, emerges Sugar for the Pill—a band that masterfully intertwines the raw essence of post-punk with the ethereal layers of shoegaze. Formed in March 2020, the ensemble quickly established itself with a sound that reverberates with the overdriven angst of guitars and the delicate, almost celestial cadence of vocals, presenting a modern homage to the iconic sounds of the ’90s.
Emerging from the ambient shadows into the bright lights of the alternative pop-rock stage, Kadjavsi, the brainchild of Nikita Dembinski, has swiftly evolved from a solo endeavor into a dynamic ensemble that is stirring the Bucharest music scene. Since its inception in 2017, Kadjavsi has been a melting pot of eclectic sounds, seamlessly blending ambient, electronic, and jazz influences under the banner of modern pop, with a distinct nod to the emotional intricacies of love, deceit, and youthful turbulence.
Tasha Safari, originally from Ganja, Azerbaijan, has built a career as a techno DJ and producer in Berlin, drawing on her background in a culture that blends Eastern and Western musical influences. From the traditional melodies of Azerbaijani folk music to the experimental edges of psychedelic rock and post-punk, her broad base of influences led to a style incorporating various techno subgenres.
Few electronic music artists blend scientific inquiry’s rigor with sound’s expressive capacity quite like REKA. Characterized by an exploration stretching from techno’s dystopian depths to its most illuminating peaks, REKA’s journey represents intellectual curiosity, auditory artistry, and a conscious awareness of what is important outside the industry.
A polymath hailing from the eclectic streets of Groningen, The Netherlands, Ioana Iorgu is a self-taught guitar, bass, and drums maestro. Her musical journey, originating from the stages of Malaysia, has traversed a space from school band performances to the architecture of her distinctive current soundscapes —immersive experiences that envelop listeners in an atmosphere where dissonance meets lyricism.
Stockholm’s Axel Boman pirouettes on the edges of the musical multiverse with an eclectic flair that’s deliberately off-kilter. Whether through his enigmatic DJ sets, vibrant productions, or the avant-garde label he co-pilots with Kornél Kóvacs and Petter Nordkvist, Boman has painted his career with broad strokes, dabbling in the soulful echos of Americana and threading through the pulsating thump of European House.
Arnaud Rebotini embodies the versatility and depth that have come to define the vast spectrum of French electronic music. His transition to electronic music was marked by the release of Organique(Artefact, 2000) under the alias Zend Avesta. This groundbreaking album melded everything from pop to jazz, using an eclectic mix of analog synthesizers, wind instruments, strings, and electric guitar, showcasing Rebotini’s early passion for synthesizer-based music.
Timo Maas has more than earned his title as a dance music legend. But he’d rather you forget that and connect with who he is right here, right now. And that’s someone who never repeats the same trick, someone never happy to rest on his reputation or copy his early career success. He is really only happy when he’s breaking his own rules, subverting expectations and exploring new musical ground.
