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Jennifer Lara was a prominent artist on Coxsone Dodd’s legendary Studio One label. She featured as a backing singer on recordings for the likes of Delroy Wilson, Freddie McGregor, Dennis Brown and Sugar Minott, before recording her own album in 1974, Studio One Presents Jennifer Lara. Her acclaimed, 1985 follow-up album, Week-End Loving, pushed her sound from roots reggae towards boogie and funk, including hits like “Big Surprise.” Lara crossed over into electronic music in 2003 when visionary duo Rhythm & Sound teamed up with her for “Queen In My Empire,” one of the standout cuts on their seminal compilation w/ The Artists, opening with the unforgettable proclamation “I’m the queen, I sit on my own throne.” Her laidback tones have produced many dub and lovers rock anthems, like her cover of Evelyn King’s “I’m In Love.” Since Lara’s death in 2005, her music has been included on many compilations, spreading her good vibes jams far afield.

Richard Akingbehin

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Scottish-born singer Nicolette became an electronic music icon in the ’90s. Her distinct voice appeared on some of the decade’s most definitive tracks, and she maintained a consistent presence thanks to her high work rate. In 1992, Nicolette dropped her debut album, Now Is Early, produced by pioneering London duo Shut Up And Dance. Soon after she worked with Massive Attack, signed to Talkin’ Loud, and recorded with Plaid, Alec Empire and 4Hero, among others. In 1996 she dropped her second LP, Let No-one Live Rent Free In Your Head, with Talkin’ Loud, another critical and commercial success. Every step of the way Nicolette has maintained a fiercely independent approach to her work, channeling her idiosyncratic take on vocal performance into every recording. She later left Talkin’ Loud to set up her own label Early Records, refusing to bend to any outside influence on her creative freedom. Nicolette’s legacy centres on bold, unapologetic determination, free thinking and a body of work that demonstrates electronic music’s power to inspire social and cultural change. From “No Government” to “Ordinary People,” her recordings embody what it is to be human, radiating with the frequencies of unity, love and truth.

Marcus Barnes

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Wayne Goodlitt’s riddims and “Roska, Roska” tag are easily some of the most recognisable trademarks of the last decade. The South London-based producer/DJ is a key reason for the rise of UK Funky’s heady mixture of garage, grime, soca, broken beat, dancehall and percussive, soulful house in the mid-2000s. Regularly powered by carnival-ready percussion and unfussy basslines, his releases for his own Roska, Kicks & Snares label (launched in 2007) and beyond (Numbers, Tectonic, Hotflush, Fools Gold) have cemented his position as a vital part of UK music history, nourishing a whole new generation of producers both within and beyond his UK Funky and garage roots. In more recent years, he has leaned more into his (Uncle) Bakongo alias, unveiling a flow of darker, streamlined tunes for the likes of Livity Sound and its Dnuos Ytivil sister label. Sill just as club, bass-bin ready and aimed at the hips and neck.

Errol Anderson

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Having released some of the most forward-thinking, electronic-driven soul music of the past two decades, Steve Spacek remains a quietly respected figure.
The South London native has relentlessly ping-ponged around the UK hardcore continuum under numerous aliases and collaborations (Steve&I, Africa Hitech with Mark Pritchard, Beat Spacek, SPA and Black Pocket for a start). Each venture finds intriguing connections between styles, consistently bass bin-friendly and more often than not, blessed with his distinct, nectarine vocals. At his speediest, there’s the footwork-meets-juke of “If U Wan 2 Find Me” and various drum & bass workouts with Commix, Calibre and his brother, dBridge. He’s burrowed himself a special space within futuristic, elastic soul at the other end of the BPM spectrum. Yet there’s so much in between: dub and robo-dancehall, Latin grooves, twisted bruk and, of course, “Eve.:.
Ever the technologist, he’s also mastered the art of mobile phone production over the past few years, wielding his index finger like a stylus and making full projects armed with apps alone. For a start, check out 2015’s iOS MIXTAPE (Ninja Tune), which featured 60mins of 100% exclusive unreleased beats produced entirely using iPhone- and iPad-based synths, effects and DAWs.

Errol Anderson

BANDCAMP · APPLE MUSIC

Warren Harris, AKA Hanna, has been responsible for some of the most emotionally-charged blends of electronic music over the past 20 years. Often found floating somewhere between deep house, jazz, hip-hop, broken beat, garage and drum & bass, the prolific multi-instrumentalist has a special gift for breathing life into his hardware. Tracks groove so loosely on the leash, airy and unquantized yet bound together by those unmistakable Hanna-rich, reflective pads.Somehow, a lot of Harris’ discography has bobbed beneath the eyeline of the mainstream. Disciples will already be aware of essential, timeless releases on labels such as Track Mode, Metamorphic, Sublime, Paper, Panhandle, Afterhours, Deep Departures, Apron Records and Sound Signature. As a starting point, 2002’s Contemplating Jazz (Track Mode) gave us the proto-garage of “Basquiat,” “Always” and “Quiet Place.” His Key Of Soul project alongside Dan Curtin — another soulful ninja —oozes techno-broken beat goodness. Plus, both Bless and his contributions to Theo Parrish’s The Rotating Assembly are magnetic. There’s so much more gold though. Although a rare sight (Harris is now plying his trade as a tennis teacher), the Hanna live experience is time machine-worthy. Imagine Harris cueing tracks from samplers, sprinkling live bass and lead synths to what must be angelic levels.

Errol Anderson

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Whodat—not DJ Whodat or Who Dat, just Whodat—has had a lifelong dedication to music. There’s a picture of her in her walker as a toddler clutching a 7-inch, a smile beaming off her face. Way before last year’s mix for RA, she was blessing audiences across the world with her deep crates. A former record store owner, she grew up looking through her mom’s (known as Mama Whodat) collection in Detroit. In the early 2000s, she made her way to Rick Wilhite’s now-closed but never forgotten record store, Vibes. It was there she found her people and was encouraged to start mixing. Alongside her talents as a selector, she’s released on labels like Lakuti’s Uzuri and the Belgian Meakusma. While a myriad of health issues have disrupted her career, she’s always found her way back.

Crystal Mioner

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Sometimes known as “the man with the midas touch,” multi-award-winning Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe, Lawd Porry, or simply DJ Maphorisa, has been a coveted producer for the last decade. Whatever you decide to call him, his influence on South Africa’s dance music scene remains unprecedented. Coming up with the Kalawajazmee Crew, he established the label Blaqboy Music, which currently houses some of the biggest amapiano producers to date. Responsible for an array of styles, his work on stream-queen Shekhinah’s “Suited,” and Drake & Wizkid’s “One Dance” has earned him numerous accolades. One half of the trailblazing Scorpion Kings alongside Kabza De Small, when Dj Maphorisa speaks, everyone listens. With nimble productions and undeniable hooks, Maphorisa has managed to dominate in most of his home country of South Africa’s prominent dance music genres, leaving audiences ever anticipating what he’ll do next.

Shiba Melissa Mazaza

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Bermuda-born Russell E.L. Butler is a bright star making a name for themselves while challenging the heteronormative narrative of Black life. A young master of the modular synth with a background in classical violin, their tracks are filled with an emotional context not found in a lot of music today. After relocating to Oakland in 2009, they immersed themselves in the Bay Area’s queer DIY scene. Initially releasing with a more industrial sound under the moniker Black Jeans, they switched to using their birth name and exploring the more dance-oriented side of electronic music. As both a DJ and live musician, Butler was quickly recognized as a new talent with close associations with collectives like Club Chai. In 2019 Butler relocated to NYC, where they have absorbed the environment and reflected it through their work. With releases on Mister Saturday Night, Opal Tapes, Spectral Sound and Sublimate, their songs have become essential parts of many respected DJs’ sets.

Tajh Morris

DISCOGS · APPLE MUSIC

London-based music-maker, Chris Mack (AKA Christopher McFarlane) has seen the wheel of the UK hardcore continuum turn numerous times over the course of his 30+ year career, and his output has been just as evolutionary. From convulsive hardcore as Bad Girl/C.M.C, jungle explorations as The Underworld and Potential Bad Boy, his late ’90s movements as Chris Mac, or, more recently, his recording for DJ Hype’s Ganja Records and his own sublabel of Ganja entitled Jekyll & Hyde.
Perhaps his influence on the two-step garage sound is the most telling. By 2000, garage seemed to have no sonic stories left to tell, having completed its street-to-academy progression by achieving pop crossover (Artful Dodger, Craig David). With at least a decade’s worth of music-making behind him, Chris Mac (alongside others like Steve Gurley) was well-equipped to develop speed garage’s slinkier, twist n flex sibling. Riddims like “Say Yes” on Confetti Dubs No.5 are stone-cold classics, and his two-step remix of Mario Cee’s “Negativiti” at the turn of the century is one of the finest sweeps of his wand, but there’s magic spanning way back to UK hardcore’s heyday and the dawn of jungle.

Errol Anderson

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Originally from Wichita, Kansas, the New York-based PTP member has been at the forefront of Brooklyn’s noise scene since 2015. Heavily influenced by industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, their work forges power electronics, punk and industrial music, all ferociously packaged in the 40+ records they now have under their belt. While unequivocally rooted in noise, their music is also a protest to the often rigid, white male-centric associations of the genre. Their self-proclaimed discography of “nihilist queer revolt musik” is known for its searing, confrontational nature, but underlying the grit, there is also an emotional intimacy. This contradiction, seen in one of their more recent releases, Another Country, is one of the attributes that sets them apart from many of their peers in the DIY live scene. In fact, their live performances, where active interaction between audience and artist is considered sacred, share more in common with what the punk scene terms “aggressive camaraderie.”

Kiana Mickles

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Jocelyn Abell is one of a handful of artists who are keeping dub techno fresh. Recording under his own name and a number of collaborative aliases like J&L, ESHU and Dilated Pupils, the Dutch artist has proved to be a consistent source of high-quality dance music, harnessing the power of a slowly-evolving loop and the laidback headspace that comes with it. Much like the patient progression of his tracks and sets, Jocelyn doesn’t rush. His first solo record came in 2019, but he had been releasing collaborations eight years earlier.

ESHU Records, the label Abell runs from Nijmegen with three others, is an equally reliable outpost for crisp, dubby techno. Jocelyn isn’t the kind of artist you’d expect to surprise you with a new release out the left-field, but one whose records you can blindly buy and be sure the warm, hypnotic and satisfying grooves will do the business.

Richard Akingbehin

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There’s just something about Atlanta that presents a true commitment to America’s promised melting pot. In Leonce, you have a living embodiment of that expansive culture—a little of this, a touch of that, combined to create a sound uniquely his own. A native of New Orleans, he relocated to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina in 2007, where he found influence from southern rap and later, vogue beats under the tutelage of Divoli S’vere. In 2019, he launched the label Morph Tracks with the tongue-in-cheek Penetration Testing EP. Whether transforming Summer Walker’s downtempo “White Tee” into a percussive laden dance track with collaborator Neana or the GQOM influenced “Vester”, his production style encapsulates current moments with studied technique. Alongside JSPORTS, he hosts the party Dirty South Rave (FKA MORPH), which centers Black queer performers and musicians. His latest release, Multiplexing, a DJ tool made in collaboration with Sophie Douala, is available now on FWD Transmissions.

Crystal Mioner

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Jennifer Witcher, AKA DJ Minx, is a Detroit luminary. The motor city’s “First Lady of Wax” has been a mainstay in the house circuit for over three decades, faithful to the Detroit sound and a leading light among rising female artists. Minx offers pure groove with lashings of bass. Her sets build and simmer, with momentary flashes of heat: beats swing, snares snap, and riffs funk, filling the space with all kinds of old-skool charm. You hear this on Witcher’s own releases too. Minimal house classic “Walk in the Park,” which took all of 45 minutes to produce, had dancefloors heaving in the early ’00s, turning the likes of Richie Hawtin and Josh Wink onto the Minx sound. Witcher founded the Women On Wax DJ collective in 1996 and launched a label of the same name some five years later, helping to kick start the careers of numerous female artists. She finally committed to the label full-time in 2019, a year after receiving the Spirit of Detroit Award, and electronic music is all the richer for it. Long live Detroit’s first queen.

Riri Hylton

SOUNDCLOUD · SPOTIFY

Few have pushed Afro House in the UK like Kitty Amor. The DJ was promoting the sound as early as the late ’00s when a chance billing alongside Sef Kombo sparked a key partnership. On her return to London, Kombo enlisted Amor as a resident DJ at his underground TilTwo parties. She soon established her own Afro House hub with Motherland, a bi-monthly event in east London’s Hackney, and recruited Kombo to the team after taking the reins in 2016. Together with D-Malice, the trio rebranded Motherland and launched Sessions, a night dedicated to Afro House producers and DJs worldwide. As a DJ, Amor fashions deep tonal journeys, consciously weaving the works of burgeoning Afro House artists into every set. She has toured South Africa, played a Black Coffee “Deep In The City” edition, and was the first Afro House DJ to take the stage at London’s Printworks. The past decade shows that she has more than earned her stripes. When they write the history of Afro House, look for Kitty Amor in the UK section. If she’s not there, it hasn’t been written.

Riri Hylton