Spotlight: Five artists to check out in March 2025

Every month in our Spotlight series, we profile five emerging artists from across the globe. Up this month is Paris' Bamao Yendé, Kuala Lumpur's bb.bulan, London's Darkstepper, Berlin's Istanbul Ghetto Club, and Brussels' Susobrino.

Rising up out of Paris-bordering town Cergy, Bamao Yendé brings a particular type of energy to the dancefloor with his extroverted, high-energy club fusions, with baile funk, kwaito, R&B among the styles blended in an effortless concoction of sounds. As the founder of Boukan Records, a label launched in 2018 home to releases from Amor Satyr, Tatyana Jane, and many more, Bamao Yendé has his ear close to the ground when it comes to experimental, future-thinking dance music and the artists at the vanguard. “I would say that I’m most inspired by my daily life, my environment, the people with whom I share my life, of all the diversity that surrounds me,” he explains. “I feed on all of this, and try to transcribe it musically through my prism.”

Following a recent release on Club Djembe and a two-track EP on his Boukan label earlier this year, ‘Internazionalé’, Bamao’s sound is self-described as “sexy club music”, pulling from his current obsessions: “Japanese anime and a lot of coupé-décalé / logobi” – an Ivorian dance music genre. Next up, Bamao is preparing a “small summer project” released on his imprint, with another release readied up via infinitefx. “With my label, we’re preparing to celebrate the 7th anniversary, so there are a lot of things that will happen – including a compilation and a series of evenings to celebrate.”

Recommended work: Bamao Yendé 'Polizia Romantico'

"I would say 'Polizia Romantico' best represents me right now, it's the project where I began to accept my vulnerability a little, I revealed myself a little more. I started singing, and these songs were really composed in direct connection with my heart and my emotions. This is the first project where I allow myself to show this side of my music where I get a little more naked, and where the music is not intended to make people dance or for the club, but more for moments of contemplation, introspection or relaxation."

Taking her name from the Malay word for ‘moon’, Kuala Lumpur-based DJ bb.bulan is fascinated with the relationship between our listening habits and astronomy, and how our sonic identity is shaped by the moon’s phases. “It’s why I started making these moon mixes, they’re time capsules of tracks that I resonated with during those periods,” she explains. Documenting these mixes, along with a “consolidation of thoughts and art” on her blog, where she also logs so-called ‘bulan lore’ drawn from “mundane (sometimes esoteric) topics from past conversations with friends and the natural landscape”, bb.bulan has built a world around her musical output.

Sonically, bb.bulan is inspired by artists like Minor Science and festivals like New York’s Sustain-Release, with a sound deepening into the world of leftfield techno and IDM. She’s found herself on line-ups with artists including re:ni, Shubostar, and RONI over the past few years, now gearing up to launch her own event, Auracccle, in Sapporo, Japan, alongside Mai Kimura. “The first edition will be on March 19, exploring the balance between free will and fate,” she says. “Although this topic may juxtapose the hedonistic undertones of parties, I often reflect on how chance encounters at ephemeral events can lead to lasting friendships we never could have anticipated.”

Recommended work: bulan 004 - auracccle moon

"This is my latest mix, bulan 004, which is probably the most current representation of myself as an artist. I tend to archive my memories through these mixes."

Growing up listening to Annie Mac’s Radio 1 Mashup and Jenny Francis’ Slowdown Zone hosted on Choice FM, London’s Darkstepper owes the onset of her musical obsession to the “women who shaped radio during the ‘00s”, introducing her to the sounds that she plays today – from R&B to soul, UK club to power-packed edits. “Now, as cliché as it sounds, I find the most inspiration from my peers and friends,” she says. “The DJs I’ve met on my journey all bring something unique, and that keeps me on my toes and wanting to evolve”. Today a staple part of London’s queer underground scene, Darkstepper has held down a lengthy residency at Pxssy Palace where she’s known to crack out her trademark slow jams closing sets.

“This year is all about nurturing the two electronic club nights I co-launched in 2024 and building a real community around them,” she explains. WRAP, a collective and club night founded alongside Chinese Daughter and H3L3NA, gives artists a platform to showcase their sound, while Headtops – a collective set up by Darkstepper, Shadobeni, Rae Dee, Zest, and The BlaackHippy – is a space for Black artists to “create our own spaces and perform shows where we can play the sounds we weren’t always getting booked for”. She continues: “It’s become an amazing platform for us to explore more experimental club sounds and carve out space for the music we love.”

Recommended work: In the Musenverse with Darkstepper - Electric Lovers Edition

"I’ve chosen this mix because it perfectly captures the intersection of my sound, where soulful meets electronic. R&B has always been my foundation, but I love exploring how it translates across different club sounds. I think this mix is a great example of how I like to bridge those worlds, keeping things emotional, groove-driven, and always rooted in feeling."

Turkey-born, Berlin-based anonymous crew Istanbul Ghetto Club are adding humour to their unusual brand of modular dance music. Nonsensical statements and comedic social media posts slathered in lighthearted quips make them all the more fascinating – a multidisciplinary project comprising three masked members, working across music, art, and film. Together, they fuse traditional Arabic folk music with Anatolian and modular instruments to create a psychedelic sound rooted in the culture they grew up surrounded by.

“After years on the road, we felt it was time to look back and to remember the source of the water we drink,” they say. “Before making a statement to the world, we had unfinished business to settle. The love, the conflict, and everything in between with Neukölln, our neighborhood in Berlin. So we made a short film. Not just a document, but a layer of madness on top of it – a raw, unfiltered take on long-standing tensions infused with our music and improvisation, shaped by the wild energy of the streets. It’s also a love letter to our upstairs neighbor, Mr. Janovich. When it’s done, we’ll slip a ticket into his mailbox and hope he gets well soon.”

Recommended work: Istanbul Ghetto Club 'Where The Streets Have No Cats'

"This is a quick trailer of the film, where the streets that shaped us meet unfiltered reality. This is it. A world where chaos reigns, survival is instinct, and the energy of the streets takes over. Life here is so relentless, it only starts making sense when you stop trying to define it."

Bolivian-Belgian multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and producer Susobrino draws inspiration from “every inch of Latin America”. Now based in Brussels, he brings his percussive, Latin club sensibilities to shows across Europe, using a palette of electronic and acoustic instruments – including live pads, electric drums, and ukelele, all topped with his own luscious vocals. “I have a feeling of nostalgia that drives me to a never-ending exploration of the culture, because there’s so much to learn and it always reinvents itself,” he says.

Since the release of his 2018 debut EP ‘Mapajo’, which was built entirely from field recordings taken on a trip to his home in Bolivia, Susobrino has put out stacks of releases, including his recent four-part album, ‘SU’, ‘SO’, ‘BRI’, ‘NO’, exploring cumbia, dembow, and contemporary Latin club music. This year, Susobrino heads out on a US tour: “It’s all in combination with studio sessions, and just creating new music along the way," he says. "I will also be playing big festivals in Europe during the summer, too."

Recommended work: Susobrino 'SU' 'SO' 'BRI' 'NO'

"My latest release on Noannaos, 'SU' 'SO' 'BRI' 'NO', is a self-titled album with 10 collaborations across Latin America, released in four parts and four 7” vinyl. Each part contains three songs that describe Susobrino as an artist, Romantic Boleros, Cumbias, Club Music from LATAM and film music, all created during my 2023 tour in Latin America. Collaborations include Lander Gyselinck, DJ Fucci, Entrañas, La Gallo 3:20, Lisandro Skar, Jatun Mama, Dyce, Ngenko, Silvio Astier and Bejuco."

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter