The Top 25 Producers Who Defined The Year 2024

Where would dance music be without its producers? In the doldrums that’s where, with DJs doomed to the life of a classic rock radio host playing out the same old songs. Producers are the lifeblood of the scene, tirelessly tinkering in the studio to create the supernatural sounds that move us in body and spirit. With dance music representing a culture that especially thrives on experimentation and evolution, producers are the force that keeps everything moving. So without further ado, after saluting our top DJs and breakthrough DJs, it’s time to give flowers to our top 25 producers who defined the year (in alphabetical order).

With the full physical release of Shanghai-based experimentalist 33EMYBW’s fourth studio album ‘Holes of Sinian’ coming in January, following its digital release at the tail end of 2023, the SVBKVLT associate laid down one of the most forward-thinking LPs of recent years. With complex percussive syncopations underscoring oddball chants and scatty chimes, the record incorporates elements of electro, techno, ambient, bleep, tribal, acid, IDM and bass music to create a fusion that’s impossible to pin down into a single box. 33 has traditionally drawn influences from the riches our planet has to offer, with her 2019 LP ‘Arthropods’ taking inspiration from insects. This time, ‘Holes of Sinian’ calls upon the Ediacaran Period – an era 600 million years ago that geologists believe saw the first evolution of multicellular animals. The music ranges from the mysterious twangs of ‘Holes of Time’ to the industrial call-to-arms of Batu collaboration ‘Predator Chorus’, all tied together by a creativity that has previously seen Aphex Twin ask her to share a bill with him. It’s the highest of endorsements, and it’s easy to see why.

We say this not lightly but with the kind of heaviness that, if actualised, would crash through the floor of our office straight through the centre of the earth and straight out the other side into space… A. G. Cook has soundtracked 2024. It would have been difficult to predict the unmitigated saturation of Cook’s productions throughout our listening habits back in January, when he announced the end of new releases from his seminal imprint PC Music, but as February rolled around and the first single from his third studio album ‘Britpop’ emerged — a tantalisingly ebullient banger that combines shiny elements of hyperpop with hypnotic bass, and a catchy vocals courtesy of BFF Charli xcx (it’s coming, stay with us), it was clear that A. G. was working towards a defining moment. And the full album was just that: a clever look at UK influence on US subculture by way of classic, PC Music soundscapes on Disc 1, with Disc 2 veering toward the experimental, with nods to rock via guitar strings, woozy synths and even an emotionally gut-punching tribute to SOPHIE on ‘Without’. For fans of Cook, of PC Music, it was an exciting moment; an expert at the top of his game, pushing out against the edges of his self-built sonic macrocosm.

Then things all got a bit ‘Brat’, didn’t they? While Charli xcx’s era-defining dance-pop record isn’t the only project A. G. appeared on beyond his solo work this year - once again assisting Caroline Polachek on the soundtrack of Netflix show I Saw, alongside singles for Brooke Candy, Fuji Kaze, F5ve and horsegiirL - his work on ‘Brat’ has ensured that the A. G. Cook sound has been within earshot just about everywhere that has an internet connection in 2024. He co-wrote and produced the majority of the album’s initial 15 tracks, its expanded and remix additions, including ‘So I’ and lead single ‘Von Dutch’. While Charli xcx often admits that she aims to provide commentary on pop stardom and celebrity, it feels as if Cook uses his skills as a producer to do just that — you can hear it within the now-all-familiar drippings of hyperpop, electropop and revived, rough-edged electroclash — and while ‘Britpop’ combined Cook’s clean-edged and trippy take on pop music, ‘Brat’ saw him explore maximalism and excess, pushing basslines to the breaking point: intense, overwhelming, a runaway train. While it would be difficult to wholly claim that ‘Brat’’s popularity is a result of Cook’s productions, it’s unlikely that it could have existed without them. After all, during ‘Brat’ summer, we all wanted to dance to A.G.

Anetha really powered up her artistry with the release of her debut album, standing apart from the techno crowd she came up in with experimental forays in sounds such as drum ‘n’ bass, hyperpop, trance and hard house. 10 years in the making, ‘Motherearth’ acts as a reflection of the Mama told ya honcho’s journey in music so far — brimming with fists-in-the-sky synth lines dancing over dense kicks and hardcore-esque bounce bubbling against playful hats. The record is an encapsulation of multitudes; atmospheric yet frenetic, gloomy yet tongue-in-cheek. All guns blazing from the gate, before allowing moments of pared-back melody at the breakdowns. The French producer has showcased her knack for seeking out the most idiosyncratic dance music via her imprint and her DJ sets, and her own highly-anticipated debut is chock full of it.

A runaway force is currently shaking up the Berlin underground in the shape of an unconventional experimental duo – made up of vocalist Victoria Vassiliki Daldas and producer Theo Zeitner – better known as Brutalismus 3000. Coming off the back of their debut album in 2023, which received widespread acclaim and climbed its way up to Number 11 in the Official German Charts despite its radical approach to dance music that is, quite often, less primed to chart than your classic pop track, B3K carried their hot streak into 2024. Trickling new releases onto streaming platforms from the start of the year, the pair ramped up the same experimental style that gained notoriety in 2021 with a Boiler Room set now viewed by a solid 7.5 million people, taking a unique hyperactive approach to techno and hardstyle. Elements of punk and gabber came together on their July-released, six-track EP ‘Goodbye Salò’, followed up with a string of collaborative singles toward the end of the year – the first with German hip hop producer Bazzazian, and the second a release with legendary British duo Underworld. In a seamless unification of punk and dance music, B3K’s style always nods to the genre that influenced some of electronic music’s earliest innovators, weaving in some political commentary, feminist lyricism, and multilingual vocals to a one-of-a-kind effect.

An ambience of evil has felt ever-present in the world this year, so it makes sense that the eerie sound of funk mineiro has wormed its way into our collective psyche. The fraught, sinister evolution of Brazilian baile funk was born in Belo Horizonte, with DJ Anderson do Paraíso as one of its foremost pioneers. He’s been operating since 2012 in the relative shadows of the city’s music scene, which pales in comparison in attention terms to the likes of Rio or São Paulo. Though it was put squarely on the map of international cultural consciousness this year with ‘Queridão’, DJ Anderson do Paraíso’s 17-track showcase of the sound on Nyege Nyege Tapes, merging bone-rattling subs, spooky atmospherics and devilish lyrics, which is one of 2024’s standout releases. “The power of funk amazes me everyday!” said the Brazilian artist last month, upon making his international touring debut with dates across Europe. We feel the same whenever listening to his music. A follow-up EP release in July, ‘Paraiso Sombrio’, similarly toed the line between disturbing and captivating in a way that gets under your skin and doesn’t leave. As the world keeps moving in the same direction, there’s no more appropriate soundtrack.

Lisbon-based DJ Nigga Fox, real name Rogério Brandão, has been firing on all cylinders since his emergence over a decade ago, dealing in propulsive kuduro and batida as a core member of the esteemed Príncipe crew. This year though, he took our breath away with a change of pace. The six-track album he released in March, ‘Chá Preto’, sounds like nothing else we’ve heard. Lead single ‘Má Rotina’ announced the tone, unusually long at more than seven minutes, it opens with introspective pads, taking nearly 30 seconds for a percussive element to be introduced. When it comes it’s hand-hit and slightly stuttering, contributing to an offbeat but hypnotic atmosphere, like you’re being ushered into a ceremony that hasn’t quite been explained. Music that stops you in your tracks is a rare gift and the rest of the album hits on this theme of esoteric allure. Elements of the pacey club style he’s associated with are audible but shape-shifted, reaching through the tracks like the hands of ghostly spectres, stretching for a jump scare that never lands. “Music has no rules,” said the ever revolutionary DJ Nigga Fox upon sharing a Sharp FM mix in February. As dance music apparently speeds up, of course he’s forging his own path.

Over the years, EVA808 has shed her reputation as a dubstep producer and made waves as one of the most interesting experimental artists to come out of Europe. As she takes on a shift in style this year, preferring not to be pigeonholed into the bass scene she first broke out in, the Iceland-born, Sweden-based producer has certified her new sound across recent releases. While her 2023 album ‘ÖÐRUVÍSI’ was an introspective look at life growing up as a trans woman, her 2024 projects have followed that imitation of life. On her August-released EP via dBridge’s Exit Records, ‘Let’s Be Havin U’, EVA808 noted her source of inspiration: seeing people “too out of it to dance” at the club. She responded with a stacked four-track record and her first exploration of the 170+ BPM range, with a focus of making people move on the dancefloor. Her innovative and unconventional production process is what makes her stand out from the crowd, from using her own vocals and distorting them until they sound alien, to creating instrument sounds from scratch, or using music gear found at the thrift store to produce unusual sonic palettes. Rounding off 2024, EVA808 dropped her final single of the year, ‘LOOSE TEETH’, on her own record label GLER, featuring London rapper Jam Baxter.

The birthrate in Japan hit another record low this year, but the production of one Fetus has been particlarly notable. The so-named Osaka-born, Tokyo-based experimental electronic artist that is. He’s been prolific to an absurd degree, putting out more releases than there are months in the year, and exploring an expansive spectrum of sounds along the way. The pinnacle was his debut album ‘B1 B2’ on the influential Trekkie Trax imprint, an utterly thrilling 15-track ride rooted in drum ‘n’ bass but spiralling into anything from sunny tech-house grooves to hypnotic dub techno. It was shifted further with a follow-up remix EP, featuring the likes of TT co-founder Seimei and Oyubi moulding tracks with acid and footwork influence. The latter runs the Turing label with Fetus, and together they opened the year with the ‘Dogwood’ EP, featuring one solo track each and a collab, with Fetus delving into stirring breaks on the titular track and both artists joining up on an effective blend of ambient sheen and screwface bassweight on ‘Parallel Pressures’. A solo Fetus EP on the label, ‘BPM Core’, then served up breathless, headfuck percussive business. Fetus also put out some of his own hectic remixes, including a fluid rework of Hodge & Nakamura Minami’s ‘Bounce on the Water’ and a hypnotic take on his own favourite tune, IFS MA’s ‘Hanpuku’. Beyond that there’s been numerous other EPs, remixes and tracks, including contributing to compilation for Berlin queer collective Herrensauna. Trying to keep up with his output this year has been like trying to crawl up a soap-lathered water slide, except instead of foamy liquid pushing you down, it’s radical club tracks lifting your spirits up. A truly year-spanning supply of heat has made him one of our favourite new artists.

Beginning 2024 tipped as an artist to keep an ear out for, gyrofield burst into the wider electronic music consciousness with ’These Heavens’, an eyebrow-raising, mutant drum ‘n’ bass EP that landed on XL Recordings in August. Its opener ‘Lagrange’ sets out the Hong Kong-hailing producer’s (real name Kiana Li) stall, crunching and winding its way through multiple futuristic breakbeat patterns, soaring synths and squelching basslines. Held together with intricate and distorted sound design, it’s a production style and technical mastery that recalls the most revered IDM producers. And while ‘These Heavens’ was a wildly fresh take that pushed the envelope of their anointed genre, gyrofield topped off the year with another statement of intent in ‘Flower Burial’. Released via Best Intentions in December, the EP is a six-track jaunt of rich downtempo and beatless tracks that suggest they are far more than one the most exciting drum ‘n’ bass artists to have emerged in recent memory.

Detroit trio HiTech are flying the flag for ghettotech. King Milo, Milf Melly and 47Chops have been an exhilarating soundtrack to 2024. From the release of the bouncing banger ‘GASOLINE’ featuring Juan Michael OG to the house hook on ‘Detroit Money Phone’ featuring G.T., the trio on have been on a nonstop roll. With shows across Europe and the US, including their Coachella debut, and supporting Nia Archives on tour, you’d think this was their climax of the year — but then, out of the blue came ‘SPANK!’. This footwork-driven tune not only is in homage to their Midwest roots but pays respects to their other passion, the ass. These tracks are taken to the next level when played live, as the hyperactive threesome are so fuelled with Hennessy that they’ll fling themselves around in the crowd and scream chaos down the mic. So if you’re looking for some booty-poppin’ new-gen ghettotech, then look no further than HiTech.

You could say that every year since he first fired up an Akai sampler is a year Jeremy Sylvester has defined dance music, given the prolific hit-rate he raced out the blocks with in the late ‘90s and the influence he’s continually exerted across his dizzying number of aliases. In 2024, his Godfather status at the top of the game is absolutely irrefutable. Speed garage is the hottest sound among a fresh generation of high-octane, UK soundsystem hungry ravers, and every day young minds are being blown and jaws are dropping as they follow the well-trodden path of figuring out the sheer amount of these back catalogue classics that all come from one person. His captivation of the nu skool has been reflected in being tapped for the release of two EPs this year - ‘Flashback’ and ‘The Lights’ - on buzzy Bristol label Time Is Now, home to the likes Interplanetary Criminal, Samurai Breaks and Bakey.

His industrious production continues apace, so much so that his Bandcamp page has a £100/year subscription option with a hefty number of paid-up members (as well as a £450/year tier which grants people all kinds of direct access and advice from the man himself). He’s regularly put up classic cuts and previously unreleased material from his peerless vaults through the year. Though the absolute pinnacle came with a long-awaited debut album ‘Undegroud Hero’, where he showcased the spectrum of his abilities with a heady mix of rapid jungle, soulful garage, sumptuous house and rowdy rave stylings, coupled with the launch of new label Garage Paradise, which he intends to use to uplift emerging talents and ensure the future evolution of the culture is in good hands.

2024 kicked off with the release of JIALING’s incredible debut album ‘家 (jiā)’, a deeply personal record created over the span of three years that saw the Taiwanese-American producer sample her family members’ voices, her dad’s record collection and experiment with combining club-angled breaks, euphoric rave vocals, high-energy percussion with erhu and cello instrumentals. For most, that would have signalled a well-earned rest — but ensuring the world becomes enraptured with Baltimore club means “always cookin”. Alongside remixing Om Unit and James Bangura’s ‘Sapporo Drums’ and contributing to compilations for BEATITUDE, Soul Swap and ‘AYI AYI FOR PALESTINE’, she’s also found the time to release two four-trackers on Clasico: ‘FREAKY HORNS’ — with its buoyant title-track having been rinsed by everyone from Pangaea to Jossy Mitsu; and DJ Farsight collaboration ‘WHISTLE TIP’. Thought we were done? Nope. JIALING also founded her own Baltimore club-repping imprint WOE alongside Kade Young, with the pair also collaborating on debut EP ‘WOE001’. We think we might need a sit down, but the force of her music won’t let us.

Juls has been on a journey over the past few years, both literally and figuratively. Travelling across South and North America, the Caribbean, West and South Africa, he’s been opening his eyes to Black music history, traditions, migrations and shared connections between genres birthed thousands of miles apart. He’s someone who thinks deeply about music and his place in it, even attracting global news media like the BBC and CNN to delve into his processes, and poured all of that into his second album ‘Peace & Love’ this year. Released in October, it’s a life-affirming representation of cultures, communities and deeply felt respect for its various inspirations, which span sounds such as Afrobeats, UK rap, amapiano, samba and highlife. Befitting of this approach, there are multiple collaborations on the record, including artists such as Masego, Victony, Wretch32 and Nkosanaza Daughter, with Juls’ attentive touch threading it all together. This is music to fully immerse yourself in and feel. A recent viral clip of Juls DJing is a handy example to follow, seeing him locked in and totally unaware of nonsense happening in his periphery. By all accounts captivation was the vibe at his debut live show this year, where he was joined by a raft of musicians and dancers to perform to a sold-out 2000-strong crowd at HERE, reflecting the British-Ghanaian artist’s position as a leading light of London’s diasporic dance music scene

For the past few years, KMAT has been building and growing her skills as a DJ with plenty of gigs and sets, including for Boiler Room and Radio 1 Dance Presents. However, this year, she has truly found her calling as a producer. In 2022, KMAT dropped her debut EP, ‘Luminous Flame’ which quickly got the amapiano world’s attention, but despite the success of this release, she took time out from releasing — until now. Born and raised in Soshanguve, South Africa, KMAT has had an expansive journey to nail down her sound by experimenting with gqom, hip hop and house, but her productions are always firmly rooted in the log drum. This year, we saw her truly flourish as she delivered more productions than she’s ever made before. After a set at the legendary Afro Nation, her recent release ‘MKK’ features CowBoii, Ranger and djygubzin.live, became the track of the festival. It’s no surprise it reached over seven million streams, establishing her name as a producer. Since this hit carried the amapiano circuit, she's also worked with multi-platinum-selling musician Boohle on 'Iskhath' Sam Manje (Jik'izinto)' as well as recently releasing Afro house single 'QMA' featuring Ze2 and Kuthathu. Let’s hope for more music from KMAT in 2025.

When Brian Eno coined the term ‘ambient’, he described it as music that “must be as ignorable as it is interesting”. The work of Joseph Kamaru, AKA KMRU, might be the epitome of this. With his ear constantly attuned to the world around him, Kamaru takes field recordings of the everyday noises we might otherwise ignore, and distorts them into vibrantly textured, experimental soundscapes. Having received international acclaim for his 2020 album ‘Peel’, the sound artist has been consistently building on this practice, finding new ways to elevate the beauty of noise.

This year saw a string of releases from the Nairobi-born, Berlin-based composer, starting with ‘Disconnect’, a collaborative album with British producer Kevin Richard Martin (AKA The Bug). Featuring KMRU’s own vocals, the six-track record is as eerie as it is peaceful, its apocalyptic drone sounds paradoxically pulling you in. Next came ‘Natur’, a 52-minute arrangement, which the artist first started work on in 2022. This formed a live show that KMRU took on tour, tweaking and sculpting the piece as he travelled. "I became it," he says of the track. "I merged with it on a performance level." Released this year, the composition explores the ways in which different places have different soundscapes, and how these distinct sonic identities inform our own behaviours.

Among collaborative projects with the likes of Thea Soti and Aho Ssan, KMRU put out another solo LP in 2024. Perhaps his best piece of work this year, ‘Forge’ is an exquisite 10-track record that shapes his field recordings into fully formed melodies and rhythms, while retaining their inherent delicacy and minimalism.

Brazil-hailing LYZZA is a masterful storyteller when it comes to production. A distorted arrangement of pop and bass meets rowdy drill in her club-focused experiments, featuring her own pitched-up vocals and hard-hitting lyricism that often muse on her experiences as a Black woman in music. In May, LYZZA took those themes to her first release of 2024, ‘SUBSTATE’, a “recollection of moments” where she’s felt frustrated by social rules that “reinforce systems of inequality”, she explained, combining elements of baile funk, grime, and more. On top of a link up with Venezuela’s most sought after raptor house producer Dj Babtr in September, which saw the two come together on seductive club cut ‘Sucio’, LYZZA geared up to release her most expansive project this year, ‘Third World: The Bottom Dimension’. Across eight tracks, the genre-spanning record dialled down the vocals, letting LYZZA’s experimental instrumentals and sound design prowess come to the fore, an album made to soundtrack a worldbuilding video game of the same name, featuring layer upon layer of experimental dystopia.

Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield, AKA muscelcars,are leading the way for a younger generation of house lovers intent on returning the scene to its soulful roots. Taking what they can from those who came before them, the DJ and production duo pay homage to their native New York’s rich musical heritage, while simultaneously forging new paths for the sound. Having garnered a name for themselves in New York’s underground club scene, 2024 would be the year musclecars dropped their debut album, a beautifully executed and wide-ranging project that explores the Afro-American experience.

Anticipation for ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ was first sparked in 2023, when they teased the heavily percussive, alarm-laced single ‘Running Out Of Time’ at a Boiler Room set, making the crowd go wild. Then came‘Ha Ya (Eternal Life)’, a beautifully melodic jazz-funk track that signalled the breadth and depth of what was to come. The 13-track record eventually landed in May via BBE, with celebratory launch parties widely attended in both London and New York.

In both cities there was a large amount of hype surrounding the album following its release, with many underground figureheads and tastemaking DJs showing love for the tracks. But not all of ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ was built for the dancefloor, as much of it is better played at a listening bar – a testament to the duo’s masterful musicality and command over everything from techno to ambient to R&B. While touring with the album in summer, going from Hong Kong to Melbourne to Leipzig and more, musclecars dropped ‘Double Honey Pack’, an extended version of the album with outstanding remixes from Louie Vega and Maurice Faulton no less.

For the past decade or so, Or:la has been wading across the upper echelons of the European club circuit as a producer and selector of sublime, difficult-to-pin-down dance music, as well as a curator of it via her label Céad. This year though, saw a trilogy of flagpole-planting releases via fabric Originals in the year of the London institution’s 25th anniversary, including her debut LP and one of the best albums of the year, ‘Trusting Theta’, which landed in September. Rooted in dancefloor sonics, but with a remit far beyond, it forms her most ambitious record yet. There’s taped-up hiss overlaid with pad-filled warmth on the accurately titled ‘Cupid Doesn’t Live In Clapham Common’ alongside the menacing, drum ‘n’ bass adjacent ‘Patriarchy Purge’ that suggest ‘dance music’ is now too small a box to fit her sound in. The highlight, though, comes with Eliza Rose vocal-led call to the dancefloor, ‘Slay The Beast’, a bomb that has both basement-filling haze and big room heft. Massive.

The Solid Grooves co-founder has had a belter of a year. With four Beatport Number One releases on top of viral hit after hit, PAWSA has expanded his already beloved discography. As electronic music becomes more and more infused into the charts and pop culture, PAWSA has to be one of the most influential artists in pushing deep house and dancefloor classics to entice a new-generation of ravers and Ibiza goers. ‘Pick Up The Phone’ featuring the King of Hooks, Nate Dogg, was his first release of the year which instantly spread like wildfire across nightclubs from Ibiza to TikTok. Now the artist is wrapping up the year with his highly anticipated ‘Dirty Cash (Money Talks)’ before entering 2025 with a bunch of new shows including a huge headline performance at London’s Gunnersbury Park.

With ‘Da Nao Tian Gong’, a four-track EP of shimmering, textured techno that drew upon the aural and visual aesthetics of a favourite childhood Chinese cartoon, Polygonia kicked off the year with a record that marked her out as a singular creator of techno right now. Her music has a refined, organic brilliance that has led her tracks to become an regular onstage reach for many of the genre’s forerunning DJs. It’s ultimately what led to her biggest project of the year in ‘Dermatology’ – a collaborative mini-album with Rrose that landed in September, who first got in touch with Polygonia after realising that her tracks were on regular rotation in the techno shapeshifter’s sets. Across its six tracks and 40 minutes, the pair travel inwards, with the music’s magic located within the subtle glitches, bleeps, and otherworldly sound design. She rounds off the year with a dancefloor-heating remix of Nesa Azadikhah – founder of Iranian dance music platform Deep House Tehran – and her track ‘Reverie’. It’s top-echelon techno for genre purists and rule-benders alike.

Some producers who operate in more behind-the-scenes genres like pop and rap don’t get their flowers when it comes to wider name recognitions from fans, but Quincy Tellem is one of those names that everyone in the UK rap field knows. This year, Quincy reunited with lyrical genius and melodic rapper M Huncho to produce the likes of ‘Sea of Sorrows’ and ‘Another Tape’ before becoming the main beatmaker on Huncho and Potter Payper’s mixtape ‘36 Hours’. As you might have already guessed, the tape was made during a 36-hour visit to Tenerife where the duo wrote and recorded it all before Quincy added his flair. This mixtape has since gone on to reach millions of monthly listens. On top of his work in the UK, Quincy caught the attention of the US this year after a video went viral of the artist sitting front row of the Kill Tony podcast. The video has the US presenters attempt to joke about Quincy before they’re instantly shut down after playing his iconic GRM Daily track ‘Burning’ featuring M Huncho and Dutchavelli. Ultimately we’ve discovered that no one can mess with Quincy.

When he’s not performing on major stages across the globe, you’ll often find DJ-producer Taiki Nulight in the studio with friends, knuckling down on his next big room banger. Luckily, the process is well-documented by the Mongolian-British producer, who shares clips of his intricately curated and stylistically distinctive production operation regularly on social media. This year, he’s spent time working on both solo productions and remixes alike, having been tapped by the likes of PLS&TY, Hamdi, and Becky Hill to take on rework duties, and was even enlisted by Ahadadream, Skrillex and Priya Ragu to remix their hit summer slammer ‘TAKA’. Blossoming out of the dubstep scene with his deep, dubbed-out basslines and gunfinger slingers, Taiki Nulight’s trajectory to world dominating, multitalented producer has rolled on – and with his last project of 2024, six-track EP ‘Stay In Your Lane’, he’s only hit new heights. Released on Chaos in November, the EP brought trap, grime, and his trustworthy dubstep sound into one, but with a slight “departure” from his usual 140 style, he told Mixmag ahead of its release. Instead, Taiki Nulight pulled inspiration from across the bass and grime scenes, repping features from P Money, Born, Capo Lee, and more across a genre-spanning project.

In 2022, Thakzin released a track called ‘The Magnificent Dance’ and kindled a fresh development in the endlessly inspiring lineage of South African house music. In 2024, the sound of 3-Step has grown to phenomenon status, soundtracking dancefloors from Gauteng to Peckham, denting the dominance of amapiano in the Afro house sphere which had looked unshakeable. Though Thakzin would never speak in such competitive terms. Coming from a family of musicians from South Africa and Mozambique, he’s a firm advocate of cultural co-existence and diverse influences. The sound he’s pioneered is all about blurring boundaries — a musical alchemy that pours elements from Afro house, Afrobeats, Afropop, Afrotech, gqom, amapiano, highlife and more into its stirring concoctions. Not only has it been inspiring to listen to, but also bridged gaps between music scenes in Africa that can be notoriously isolationist.

Thakzin’s crowning release of the year came via his ‘Chemistry’ EP on Sondela Recordings, marking the label’s milestone 50th release, with guest features from Mörda, Mhaw Keys and Brenden Praise on its impactful three tracks. But he’s been busy beyond that, putting out tracks such as ‘Jungle Fever’ and Hyenah and Simmy collaboration ‘Ithuba (Thakzin Perspective)’, while also receiving six nominations at the Metro FM Awards. There he won the Best Dance Song gong for his work on the hit track ‘Mama Thula’, which was an anthem for the South African Rugby World Cup-winning team on its release last year and got an official music video in 2024.

His increasing popularity at home and abroad has been reflected by the steady build of his bookings; whether that’s debuting at major festivals such as Ultra South Africa; or heading to London, where he made his UK debut at Night Tales in February, then played Benji B’s legendary Deviation party in March, before a crowning gig at fabric with Sef Kombo’s Til Two in September; alongside the various other domestic and international dates he’s racked up. With superstars like Black Coffee and Shimza among his admirers, he looks setl to join them at the top.

This year, more than ever, it's been hard to ignore Two Shell. Whether it has been their fake face reveal, or the much-anticipated release of their debut album, the duo have amped up their ascent to the top of underground dance music. In keeping with all their previous work, Two Shell's album campaign was out of the ordinary and featured the release of tracks made in collaboration with Björk, Blackhane, Bladee, Craig David, FKA twigs, Jai Paul, Massive Attack and PinkPantheress (or AI models of them) which blurred the lines of reality. The anonymous twosome have carefully curated a fervent fan base with tools such as shell.tech, a website where you can enter secret codes to download hitherto unreleased Two Shell tracks, a technique also utilised by Iglooghost in the buildup to the release of his 'Tidal Memory Exo' album, another interesting project to file under the "hyperpop meets future garage" tagline. Two Shell’s album release, building on years of hype, crescendoed with a flared-up takeover of South Bermondsey station and a crazy VR inspired music video for single 'Everybody Worldwide' which offered a glimpse into the world that the duo have been building. Taking the first-rate sound design which landed them their early Livity Sound EPs and adding pop sensibilities with an innovator's attitude, the Mainframe Audio heads have emerged as truly singular artists. Standout performances at Rally, Coachella and Glastonbury, plus their weekly South London party series Shell Tek, have seen their star soar further. It's time to believe the hype.

2024 has seen Verraco rubber stamp himself as one of the most exciting producers around. Building on the promise of last year’s future classic ‘Escandolo’ EP on Blawan and Pariah’s Voam imprint, JP Lopez delivered a ferocious four-tracker on Batu’s Timedance in April. The project revealed new depth to the Colombian producer’s artistry and dominated dancefloors worldwide. Coupling Latin rhythms with cutting-edge, glitchy sound design which evokes Joy Orbison and SOPHIE in equal measure, Verraco makes music that references his past but sounds like the future. This year’s résumé also includes a contribution to Dekmantel's 'Dekmantel Ten' release plus a romping re-lick of Martyn’s 2009 anthem ‘Vancouver’ on 3024. The artist’s much vaunted productions have landed him on some of Europe and America’s greatest stages in the past year and, in turn, the TraTraTrax co-founder has invited some of the leading forces in leftfield dance music to perform in Medellin for his aptly named party series ‘Escandoloo’.