Breakwave has built a reputation based on her effervescent genre-spanning sets that ooze inventive style. 

A self-described perfectionist, Breakwave understands the concept of reading the crowd to produce an atmospheric experience that will excite your ears and make your feet fuzz, she doesn’t shy away from experimenting with sound and demonstrates the ability to awe the crowd with her approach to blending styles effortlessly. Her club sets are a unique amalgamation of bleepy Techno, Dub, playful DnB, thumping low end, trippy Sound Design, echoic space and pulsating offbeat rhythms, orbiting within the freshest of sub-genres. 

An artist known in the UK for her boundary-pushing “Best of British” party ‘Meine Nacht’, held in unique unseen spaces in her hometown of Liverpool. 

The party soon gained a lot of noise, adding to the fact that it was the first event to live-stream in Liverpool and took place in the wackiest of spaces including an Old Police Station, Supermarket, Bakery, Canteen, Packing Factory, Art Galleries and Industrial Spaces. It wasn’t long before Mixmag named it as one of their “top five events worldwide”. 

Breakwave developed a further taste of success after launching vinyl-only imprint ‘Deep Sea Frequency’ alongside Or:la and as her reputation grew, opportunities arose to curate music events solely with Resident Advisor and Red Bull Music via her Meine Nacht imprint. Most recently, Breakwave was invited to curate a 360 degrees audio-visual installation at Tate Gallery for the Meine Nacht Record Label launch. As an “avant-garde” label, its reverse-engineered sounds serve far from the norm. With unconventional rhythms, chaotic pirouettes of dynamic sound design and glitching tension, its been described as having a likeness to the sounds of Autechre, Aphex Twin and Objekt, all rolled into one – “echoing club music as abstract modern art”.

Going forward, Breakwave plans to release music that takes inspiration from the world in which she has created with her party and record label. With a diverse background as a DJ/Producer, Artist, Label Owner, Club Programmer, Artist Manager plus Residencies for revered platforms and clubs such as NTS Radio, 24 Kitchen Street and BBC Radio 6. It’s fair to say that Breakwave is well on her way to become one of the most in-demand emerging DJ’s.

Since donning the Cinnaman alias nearly two decades ago, Yuri Boselie has become one of the most respected figures on Amsterdam’s bustling underground electronic music scene.

Few in the Netherlands – or elsewhere, for that matter – can boast a CV quite as jam-packed as Boselie’s. There have been long-running stints as a resident DJ at three of Amsterdam’s most lauded clubbing institutions, Trouw, Club 11 and, currently, De School. Then there’s the A&R work for Rush Hour and Kindred Spirits offshoot Nod Navigators, Boselie’s curation of the critically acclaimed Beat Dimensions series of compilations, and an association with Dekmantel that has included sets at all of their festivals to date and the imminent arrival of a 10th anniversary mix.

Boselie’s life in music has been built on constant evolution as a listener, DJ and producer. Fired by a veracious appetite for discovering and championing music, his DJ sets and online radio shows – first for Viral Radio and now Red Light Radio, a station he has been with from the very start – draw on a dizzyingly wide range of music, from hip-hop, house and modern soul, to techno and garage. He was famously one of the co-founders and resident DJs at Colors, a long-running club night that brought bass music to Amsterdam, but it would be wrong to paint Boselie as a stylistic purist: if a record is great and the time is right, he’ll drop it.

With such a storied and action-packed career behind him, it’s unsurprising that Boselie’s DJ style continues to evolve with every passing year. Where he would once have quickly cut and jumped between tracks in a hip-hop style, the Amsterdam scene stalwart now opts to give records more time and space. Throughout his career, he has been known to take risks with his track selections, while playing with energy and creating a vibe are always at the forefront of his thoughts. His DJ style will continue to evolve, but Cinnaman will always deliver the goods.

Since the release of his superb debut EP, ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’, on Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle back in January 2017, Dazion – AKA producer, DJ, live performer and visual artist Cris Kuhlen – has been a man in demand.

The fabulous response to that record, which perfectly showcased his love of “goofy” drum machine percussion, kaleidoscopic analogue synthesizers, battered guitar effects pedals, lilting melodies and humid special effects, has seen attention fall on a producer whose exotic and far-sighted musical vision is deliciously difficult to pigeonhole.

Kuhlen likes to work predominantly with unloved and little known electronic hardware. These hulking beasts form a key part of his computer-free live shows, in which he performs semi-improvised jams full of heavy percussion hits and spooky synthesizer noises.

The Red Light Radio regular has recently been putting the finishing touches to a swathe of new tracks in his distinctive, Balearic-influenced retro-futurist style, some of which will see the light of day via EPs on Music From Memory, Second Circle and Young Marco’s Safe Trip label in late 2017 and early 2018.

2019 saw Kuhlen follow up on his previous release on Second Circle with another credible release further establishing himself as one the scenes most distinguished producers. Titled ‘A Bridge Between Lovers’ the five track EP is an unwavering expression of Kuhlen’s musical direction and skills as a multi-instrumentalist.

Recorded in his home studio in Den Haag, ‘A Bridge between lovers” is fluid in the familiar Dazion sound; utilising electronic and organic sounds twisting and turning them unexpectedly in his own distinctive way. As with its predecessor, the tracks on ‘A Bridge Between Lovers’ are heavily rhythmically fuelled and rich in melody.

As we look forward to 2020, we can look forward to some more dance floor ready cuts coming on Young Marco’s Safe Trip imprint. Watch this space.

“What the editor needs to include in my biography? That I’m a smart, sympathetic, sport loving guy with lots of humor, of course.”

Deniro is the moniker of Reynier Hooft van Huijsduijnen, one of the most promising new techno talents rising from The Netherlands. His precise and sparing use of melody and rhythm in beautiful fashion, and importantly not at the expense of its inherent, is deeply rooted in timeless Detroit soul music. His craftsmanship has gained attention by the likes of Hunee, ROD, Steve Rachmad and Nina Kraviz to name but a few. The latter released his track ‘Organezized’ on her imprint трип (Trip) in 2015.

Deniro is also heavily involved in Tape Records, a small but acclaimed electronic music label from Amsterdam that is distributed by Clone. Besides being a releasing artist on the label, he’s one of the participants and executives that helm the imprint. Deniro has been working his vintage gear for over ten years in severe isolation and the pay off is to be heard in his solid yet emotional tracks. In 2012 he inaugurated Tape Records with his debut the Grey EP, followed by Avatism (Tape, 2014), The Penal Colony (Tape, 2015), Swing (Dekmantel, 2015) Painting (Tape, 2016) and Kairuku (Oblique, 2016) and the 12″ double that saw first daylight in Nina Kraviz’ трип (Trip) label. The Detroit leaning Bhote Kukur EP came soon after in 2018 (Tape)

2019 was another productive year for Deniro establishing himself as one of The Netherlands’ most prominent techno talents, delivering a four-track driving techno EP on Amsterdam’s Tape Records imprint followed by the Floating City release on Clone Store’s, Store Only Series. 

As a kid, music could give me the feeling of going into a time capsule where nothing else mattered” says Elias Mazian, and that is something he tries to convey in every DJ set he now plays. The Dutchman has a Moroccan background but grew up in the Netherlands and is now a firm fixture on the capital’s club circuit.

Elias openly admits to being passionate, emotional and sensitive, and it shows in his DJ sets which take inspiration for the music around which he grew up – Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder – as well as from more contemporary flames like Omar-S, Zip and Beautiful Swimmers. To date he has played venerated night spots like Concrete, Sub Club, Le Sucre, Institut Fur Zukunft, Nitsa, Objekt Klein A and many others.

“When I make music and I play out, I have to open up my heart and be able to spread the same love that I get when I’m on the dancefloor,” he admits. “That warm feeling that hits my soul is the thing I aim for when producing my tracks or when I play in the club. Music is a highly emotive way of expressing myself, and when people recognize that I’m the happiest person on the planet.

Having worked in music for nearly a decade, London-born producer, writer and DJ, Flora Yin-Wong’s in-depth and varied experiences have led her to follow instinct rather than intellect whilst weaving her way through various sound-related mediums.Her debut releases were via the Berlin based experimental label PAN (including a track on RA album of the decade compilation “Mono No Aware”) along with New York’s PTP (Purple Tape Pedigree).

Experimenting with various digital software and lo-fi recording processes, her work as a producer connects without creative compromise. Flora densely layers original samples that often pay diasporic homage to her Chinese and Malaysian heritage and religious references – early instruments like yangqin, gamelan reongs, and tsurigane bells and works these sensitively with granular synthesis and electronic production methods.

Equally her words find a balance between the oblique and the accessible – previously as an editor at London’s DAZED Magazine, AnOther Mag, Vice, Monocle, Resident Advisor, and most recently the Swiss-based Zweikommasieben.

Flora’s duality has also ensured she’s retained a firm presence in the club atmosphere as both a DJ and performer. A London native exposed to UK garage, bass/funky and IDM, to post punk from an early age, she found an affinity for all things dance throughout techno and house. Naturally she has DJed extensively: at Berghain, MUTEK, 3HD and Hyperreality festivals, across Europe, East Asia and Australia. She has also been a guest on NTS Radio, Rinse FM, Know Wave, Boiler Room and Berlin Community Radio.

Her widely praised live act has seen her perform at New York’s iconic ISSUE Project Room, Somerset House, Volksbühne Theatre Berlin, King’s Place and Cafe OTO where she has been invited as guest curator for the last two years.

Besides contributions for labels Circadian Rhythms and Objects Ltd she has remixed J Colleran, Scintii, Mun Sing (Giant Swan), Celyn June, on Because, Angoisse and Danse Noire.Commissioned on a sound piece for Somerset House Studios for their Gallery 31 exhibition space, Flora has travelled to Buenos Aires, Peru, and Montreal with the British Council – formed around years of personal, collected field recordings in collaboration with visual artist Go Watanabe. She retains a place as resident among the highly regarded Amplify collective.For Loop 2019, Ableton Live enlisted Flora as a contributor to create a founding sample which was then made into 800 tracks within 24 hours worldwide.She continues to practise in London with a commitment to both experimentation and engagement across DJ, production, live performance and editorial work.

Under the Interstellar Funk alias, DJ/producer Olf van Elden is fast becoming a staple feature of club and festival line-ups worldwide. His rise has not been dizzyingly rapid, but rather built on a decade spent honing his craft in the record shops, studios and dancefloors of Amsterdam.

Van Elden’s ascent in underground electronic music culture has not come as a surprise to those within Amsterdam’s club scene. He was wowing home crowds long before he bagged a sought-after residency at now-departed venue Trouw, and more recently at it’s widely beloved successor De School.

What marks out Interstellar Funk productions and DJ sets is van Elden’s love of the imperfections and eccentricities associated with left-of-centre analogue machine music. You’ll hear them within the new wave, electro, techno, jack-tracks, heavy electronics and everything in between that populate his DJ sets, as well as the solo records he’s released on Dekmantel, Berceuse Heroique and Rush Hour, the label, store and distribution company he’s been associated with since 2013.

Van Elden continually sets out to combine the unlikely, which can also be heard in his Private Eyes single for Young Marco’s SafeTrip label, and through the lo-fi murkiness of his Faster Action project on L.I.E.S. Finally, there’s his own Artificial Dance label, an outlet for new and old electronic music that fits into the DJ/producer’s intoxicating, otherworldly aesthetic.

Known for his enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky approach to DJing, Job Sifre has earned a reputation for making parties move to music that borders on the serious and challenging.

He’s already built up a cult following worldwide thanks to hosting a fortnightly show on Red Light Radio. Titled Antikunst, it offers a dystopian trawl through the worlds of new wave, electro, skewed synth-pop, EBM, industrial, experimental electronica and woozy downtempo techno.

Sifre made his production debut on Interstellar Funk’s Artificial Dance label in the autumn of 2017 with an impressive EP entitled Worries. It’s nothing less than a six-track distillation of Sifre’s many and varied influences, re-shaped and re-packaged in his own distinctive style. We can expect to hear more dark and otherworldly material from Sifre’s studio in the years to come.

Konduku (real name Ruben Üvez) may have been born and raised in the Netherlands, but a small part of his heart will always be in Kıran, a picturesque hill in Avanos in the Cappadocia in Turkey. It is there that you’ll find his ancestral family home and, more poignantly, the grave of his father, who helped spark the 27 year-old DJ/producer’s love of music. Konduku’s love of Kıran is so strong, in fact, that he named his debut album after it.

That album, released by acclaimed Dutch label Nous’klaer in the spring of 2018, not only announced Üvez as a major musical talent, but also delivered a percussive and atmospheric distillation of the newcomer’s artistic influences. There’s the love of Turkish percussion, jazz time signatures and polyrhythms inherited from his Ankara-born musician father, his mother’s time spent as a Balkan folklore dancer, and the picturesque natural beauty of Kıran itself, captured not only in the album’s drifting chords and gentle melodies, but also the hundreds of images that Üvez has taken as part of days spent indulging his passion for photography (he completed a Masters degree in the art form). Like many artists, the producer tries to find beauty in any situation and accept the World as it is.

The album’s clear dancefloor credentials and rhythmic pulse can be traced back to his roots as a teenage bedroom DJ. Then, as now, he was inspired not by what was going on around him in Groningen and other Dutch cities, but the sub-bass-heavy, rhythmic swing of British electronic music. Üvez prioritizes groove in both his Konduku productions and DJ sets, currently drawing inspiration from a wide variety of contemporary artists and imprints, including maverick, Bristol-based post-techno labels such as Timedance and Livity Sound.

The exploration of rhythm and groove is arguably the distinctive feature of Üvez’s current DJ sets. His style is percussive and high energy, offering a blend of “quick mixes” – long the dominant DJ style in British bass music – and long, drawn-out and layered blends that ratchet up the hypnotism and create alluring new hybrids. Alongside his British influences, you’ll also hear intoxicating dub techno, mid-2000s Italian techno, locked-in Eastern European minimalism and classic, turn-of-the-century tech-house, when the expression of Detroit’s futurist influence was at its height. This musical mixture, coupled with Konduku’s obsession with drums, combines to create sets that not only inspire dancers but also live long in the memory.

Much time has passed since Kris Baha swapped the parched red earth and searing midday sun of the Australian outback for the brutalist buildings, communist-era apartment blocks and slate-grey skies of East Berlin. Now firmly embedded in his adopted city, Baha has become known for a trademark DJ and production style inspired by sun-baked hallucinatory visions and the clandestine, concrete-clad industrial hum of the metropolis after dark.

Where once he was resident behind the decks at Power Station, a weekly EBM and industrial night in Melbourne, Baha is now a regular fixture at celebrated Berlin institutions CockTail D’Amore and Sameheads. There, and during guest spots elsewhere across the World, he dives deep into the void, returning to deliver extended sets of obscure, otherworldly machine music driven by emotion and mood, be it energy, joy, lust or sadness. The same rules apply to his hardware-driven, performance-based live shows, which were initially inspired by his love for the pioneering gigs of the first industrial era.

When not channeling the musical spirits to inspire dancers, Baha can be found lurking in the shadows of his secretive studio space. There, he performs mixing, mastering and remix duties for the likes of Die Wilde Jagd, Novo Line, The TWINS, Khidija, Eva Geist, Boys Noize, Bell Towers, Joakim and Red Axes. There has also been a noted collaboration with fellow Aussie outcast Dreems as Die Orangen, with the two joining forces for a series of thrillingly wayward “krautback” releases on Multi-Culti.

Yet it’s his own skewed, mutant dancefloor productions for which Baha is undoubtedly best known. Inhibiting their own sound space between industrial, EBM, minimal wave, early ‘90s IDM and krautrock, Baha’s releases have so far featured on such record labels as Bahnsteig 23, Pinkman, CockTail D’Amore Music, She Lost Kontrol and Power Station, the imprint he initiated back in 2015. We can expect more in the months and years ahead, including a debut album that distills his distinctive musical vision into palatable, marketable chunks. That is assuming, of course, that Baha would ever want to sugar coat his delightfully druggy, dystopian and energetic artistic ethos.

Whether he is busy blurring the lines of dance music as we know it via his genre-busting label Knekelhuis, hosting radio shows at Red Light Radio and Intergalactic FM, or fronting hybrid analogue-punk act Volition Immanent alongside longtime partner-in-crime Parrish Smith, Mark Knekelhuis is a man much rather attracted by the weird and the unknown than the stale comfort offered by formulaic recipes and self-imposed censorship.

Actually, if there’s one thing to make Mark tick as a musician and label curator, this has to be the unlimited firepower of dance music as a transgressive but unifying means of expression. Obviously a key component of Knekelhuis’ ever elusive nature and steady success as a much versatile yet easily identifiable imprint, this shape shifting / hyper-dynamic approach is also at the very heart of Mark’s wide-scope vision as a DJ and artist.

Through intricately knit constructions that span the vastest musical spectrum – ranging from quirky techno to synth-pop, through electronics, wave and ambient, Mark engages his audience into an equally intimate and physical conversation in music, interrogating without answering, opening up without ever confining his sets within dogmatic aesthetic borders.

When it comes to commitment to underground electronic music, you’ll struggle to find anyone more dedicated than Marsman. Since moving to Rotterdam in 2011, the DJ, radio host, record label and store owner has become one of the hardest working figures in the city’s long-established underground electronic music scene.

It was 2015 when Marsman decided to quit his day job and devote his life to music, establishing the Pinkman and Charlois labels to champion artists – both new and established – whose music moved him emotionally. From the start, he wanted both labels to operate without boundaries, instead focusing on quality electronic music – most aimed squarely at dancefloors, of course – from the margins.

Since then, both labels have won praise from DJs and home listeners alike, with journalists and commentators singling Marsman out as a central figure in Rotterdam’s revitalized scene. His passion for creating long-term friendships with the artists and producers on the labels has also won praise, while also shaping a distinctive Pinkman identity that sidesteps conventional genre tags. It’s a very personal project, but one that features significant contributions from a growing family of artists who buy into the main man’s far-sighted approach. This ethos is also at the heart of Marsman’s Pinkman record store, which opened in Rotterdam in April 2018.

Marsman began his DJing journey a decade ago, quickly earning a reputation as a top-notch radio host, podcaster and mix-maker whose fluid and eclectic sets became essential listening for underground electronic music enthusiasts around the World. His DJ career has flourished since moving to Rotterdam, helped by an evolving DJ style that matches the open-minded, impossible-to-pigeonhole vibe of his labels and the similarly inclined Operator Radio (an online station he co-founded in 2017). Second-guessing where Marsman’s sets will go next is near impossible, though entertainment and good memories are almost guaranteed.

So far Marsman has DJ’d across Europe, toured the U.S.A, Mexico and Colombia, and cites a first stint behind the decks at legendary Berlin institution Panoramabar as one of his most special DJing experiences. In the months and years ahead, he plans to share his electronic music vision – that fluid, futurist Pinkman sound – with more dancers around the World.

Rotterdam has long been home to one of the world’s most vibrant and unique underground electronic music scenes. It’s here, amongst clubs, bars and record shops that have nurtured the talents of a myriad of lauded DJs, producers and record labels, that Nous’klaer Audio founder Sjoerd Oberman cut his teeth.

Now dividing his time between a myriad of musical projects and a growing list of DJ bookings, Oberman’s rise to prominence has been shaped by a desire to foster the same feelings in others that he felt when raving with friends at teenage house parties, impromptu adolescent beach bashes in the sun-rich Zeeland province, and as a dedicated dancer in Rotterdam’s hottest and sweatiest clubs.

Given this passion for sharing music for others and creating life-long dancefloor memories, it was perhaps inevitable that he would devote his life to underground electronic music. Oberman’s musical passions have widened considerably since he fell in love with hardcore punk and abstract electronica as a teenager – years spent dancing the night away have forged a deep-rooted love of groove and rhythm – but his core inspiration remains the same.

He began buying records over a decade ago aged 20, learning to mix on a pair of turntables gifted by his brother. Sets at house parties, illicit raves and a variety of underground clubs followed, before he bagged at job at one of Rotterdam’s leading electronic institutions, Clone. Many years on, he remains a key member of the Clone family.

Oberman’s role at Clone only strengthened his desire to release music that may otherwise have fallen through the cracks. Five years ago he launched the Nous’klaer label in order to nurture, develop and showcase the talent of friends and contemporaries from the Netherlands’ vibrant West Coast scene.

Oberman’s rise as a DJ has mirrored that of the label, which has won support from such heavy hitters as John Talabot, Ben UFO and Marcel Dettmann. Oberman holds a DJ residency at his favourite Rotterdam venue, the colourful and internationally renowned BAR club, and has hosted numerous sold-out Nous’klaer label showcases across the Netherlands in recent years. In the months and years ahead, expect to see these showcases appear in different cities across Europe and far beyond.

Oberman’s career as a DJ has not only been built on an all-encompassing passion for underground electronic music, but also a signature mixing style that puts mood and melody front and centre. Listen to one of his club sets, radio shows or mixes, and you’ll hear a DJ constantly searching for perfection through a fluid flow between different genres, grooves and rhythms.

Few DJs truly have a unique vision: a distinctive approach that draws on a myriad of interconnected styles to create a unified, otherworldly sound of its’ own. Olivia is one such DJ.

Initially best known for being one of the key resident DJs at the acclaimed annual Unsound festival that takes place in her home city, Krakow, Olivia has developed a trademark style that couples razor-sharp technical skills with an eclectic but interconnected approach to the raw, weighty and mind-altering music she mixes. Depending on the venue, event and vibe, Olivia might race through angular acid, loose-limbed electro, futuristic Motor City techno, concrete-clad industrial music, surging EBM, twisted Italo, glacial cold wave and metallic new wave.

This forward-thinking blend of 1980s-inspired styles and experimental dancefloor workouts has proved popular with peers and punters alike, leading to sets at such leading clubs and festivals as Berghain, De School, Tresor, Golden Pudel, Dekmantel and Nachtdigital. Olivia has also showcased her trademark style via acclaimed mixes for CRACK, The Ransom Note, Dekmantel, Cxema, Digital Tsunami and Inverted Audio, appearances on Boiler Room, and a regular radio show on fast-rising station Noods.

The Polish DJ/producer’s achievements are impressive, but no less than she deserves for her hard work and dedication to the underground over the last 16 years. She first rose to prominence as one of the most active DJs on Krakow’s electronic music underground, featuring in a number of collectives and appearing in clubs all over Poland before becoming a leading member of her home city’s We Are Radar party collective. Olivia remains an active member of the Radar collective, which includes a mixture of artists, DJs, events organisers and live performers. She has extensive experience in booking and events too, where the depth of her musical knowledge once more comes to the fore.

Today, Olivia has her hands in many projects, collectives and live performance projects. These include Morskie Oko (a hybrid live/DJ project with Chino and Steffan Bennemann), Radiation 30376 (a live show with Chino that debuted at Unsound 2019) and Chrono Bross, a collaborative initiative with Kinzo Chrome. She also recently joined the Oramics collective, a Polish initiative supporting the visibility of women and non-binary artists.

Although she has her hands full as a DJ and live performer, Olivia has devoted increasing amounts of time to music production over the last few years. She released her debut cassette, Skawa – a perfect distillation of her inspirations and influences in five forthright tracks – via K-Hole Trax in 2018, while her music has also featured on compilations from Pointless Geometry and the Wire Magazine. She says that new music is on the way; if her DJ sets and previous productions are anything to go by, it will be edgy, uncompromising, unexpected and undeniably unique.

Titia is one of the countless music-mad obsessives who make the underground tick: a talented, passionate individual who thinks that making parties move and introducing dancers to thrilling, unheralded music is the greatest reward of all.

A dance music obsessive from an early age, the Amsterdam-based DJ, selector and musical creator has spent the last decade juggling her obsession with finding and championing new and little-known music with a variety of day jobs within the music industry, most notably via shifts behind the counter at Clone Records in Rotterdam. In fact, Titia is such a valued member of the Clone crew that she took part in their infamous all-day “takeover” of London station Rinse FM in May 2018.

Yet it is for her work as a club DJ that Titia is rightly most celebrated. She first cut her teeth behind the decks of venues in her home city of Eindhoven during her time at the Design Academy, but it was when she moved to Amsterdam that her reputation began to rise. She first made an impact playing in the basement of Trouw during the legendary venue’s last days, before becoming resident DJ at Amsterdam’s celebrated “old school” LGBTQI party, Is Burning. When the event launches its’ long-promised record label, Titia will naturally play a key role.

Her DJ style is distinctive and timeless, matching razor-sharp technical skills with an eclectic, open-minded approach to dance music that prioritizes booming basslines and heavy drum machine beats. As long the music swings, has a dash of funk and boasts uplifting percussion patterns, Titia will play it, be it Motor City machine funk, Yorkshire Bleep, early progressive house, 21st century techno, vintage hardcore or bustling, acid-fired breakbeat. Don’t expect to hear the same records from gig to gig, though: above all else Titia likes to surprise, and she’s never happier than when showcasing her most recent musical finds.

Given this approach – not to mention her desire to make those around her feel the music in the same way she does – it’s hardly surprising that Titia has enjoyed some suitably high profile engagements in recent years. She’s already made dancers move at such clubs and festivals as Panoramabar, De School, Lowlands, Tresor, DGTL, Dekmantel Selectors, ZeeZout, Evasion and Blitz, with more to come in 2020 and beyond.

Tom Trago has long been one of the leading lights of the Dutch electronic music underground; a globe trotting DJ, producer, live performer and label owner who enjoys nothing more than championing both overlooked gems and fresh sounds from his own country. He once claimed that he felt a physical need to make music every day, and it’s hard to think of anyone whose immersion in music is quite as complete.

For Trago, there is no “typical day”, but an average one would include a combination of studio sessions – either solo, or with friends and like-minded musicians from the Netherlands or beyond – DJ gigs and live shows.

Although now widely considered to be among the top tier of European DJs, capable of working big rooms, intimate spaces and wild festival crowds, Trago’s rise was built on years honing his craft.

As a DJ, he first earned his stripes barely eking a living playing in Amsterdam’s coffee shops as an enthusiastic teenager. While waiting for the evening to roll around, he would pour his heart and soul into making music, first blending elements of experimental hip-hop, jazz, Latin, Afrobeat, disco, boogie, and soul-flecked broken beat, before slowly developing a distinctively colourful, emotion-rich, synthesizer-fired style of music that also draws influence from house and techno.

Trago’s first big break came in 2006, when hometown label Rush Hour released his debut single, “Live With The BBQ”. In the years since, Tom has continued to turn out much-played, club-ready cuts, including such timeless jams as “Use Me Again (And Again)”, “Hidden Heart of Gold” and his 2015 hook-up with Seth Troxler as T&T Music Factory, “De Natte Cell.”

It’s on his acclaimed albums, though, that Tom showcases the full breadth and depth of his unique musical vision. This was first evident on 2009 debut full-length Voyage Direct (his record label of the same name followed in 2010), with the two sets that followed – Iris (2011) and The Light Fantastic (2013) – showing further signs of open-minded musical development, along with a penchant for collaboration with like-minded musicians, vocalists and producers. In the spring of 2018, Tom will release his fourth studio album, Bergen, on Dekmantel, before heading out on tour with a brand new live show.

As time moves on, Tom will continue to pour his heart and soul into music, whether DJing, performing live or making new tracks. If you bump into him in the corner of some dark, sweaty club, you’re likely to find him excitedly talking about ideas for new projects or waxing lyrical about hitherto unknown producers he’s discovered.

His immersion in music may be total, but Tom Trago’s musical journey is far from complete. In fact, it’s only just begun…

As electricity blossoms and leafs glisten, upsammy creates interpretative space, cleverly paradoxical in its concurrent comfort and desolation. 

With a keen ear for crystalline melody and intricate rhythm, her music takes cues from electro and IDM, breathing a certain perpetuity and spatiality, sliding across tempo scales, while retaining an organic touch as a gentle hum of nature digitised. 

Guided by an adventurous and narrative approach, this vividness is present in her DJ sets as well. Through these impressions she consolidated a firm position in the contemporary leftfield music world, which includes a residency at De School and invitations to pinnacle venues such as Panorama Bar and Robert Johnson.

Having studied Image and Media Technology at the Utrecht University of the Arts, Thessa Torsing (real name) is intrigued by texture, shade and reflection–shaping a singular aesthetic that blurs the industrial-ecological divide. As a multidisciplinary artist she researches these interactions through photography and video, explorations which simultaneously influence her music production process. 

Since 2017 Torsing has released a string of critically acclaimed singles and EPs on labels Nous’klaer Audio (Another World, 2017; Paerels, 2018), AD93 (Blue03, 2018) and Die Orakel (Words R Inert, 2018; Branches On Ice, 2019). Her gift for full-length composition is showcased through her albums on home ground Nous’klaer Audio (Wild Chamber, 2019) and Dekmantel (Zoom, 2020).

Torsing lives and works in Amsterdam.