KAKA

From:China.

DJ style:“Main stage.”

Best known for:“‘Can’t Stop Us’.”

In the last few years KAKA has been holding steady in the Top 100 DJs poll. The DJ and producer from the city of Harbin, China is in high demand, playing club gigs and festivals all over Europe and Asia. She performed in Croatia, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Belarus, Bali in Indonesia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam this summer, while continually touring in China.

KAKA, who penned the hit EDM track ‘Can’t Stop Us’ for Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings in 2023, has also spent time in the studio working on new tracks, again putting her own vocals upfront. “In recent months, I have been preparing an EP of Chinese electronic dance music as a singer and producer,” she says. “I hope this EP can be released very soon.”

Another new preoccupation for KAKA is the world of fashion. She has collaborated with designer Han Xinglun on “a new set of visuals”, worked alongside various brands and style magazines, attended Shanghai Fashion Week and hit the runway herself, sporting fresh designs. “The relationship between fashion and electronic music is intimate and closely related,” she says, “with both promoting the leadership and innovation of art and culture.”

What’s your favourite track of 2024?

“Ahadadream/Priya Ragu/Skrillex ‘TAKA’.”

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Faustix

From:Denmark

DJ style: “Big techno.”

Best known for: “Collaboration with Diplo, Faustix, Imanos and Kai called ‘Revolution’.”

Everything about 2024 was big and bold for Faustix. The Danish dance music lifer found a new sound over the course of the past year, where ropey and dramatic arpeggios dart in and out of brash techno kicks and every drop feels like barreling down a dopamine rollercoaster. Each release seemed to push the envelope further and further — from the soaring emotions of ‘Lead Me To Love You’ with vocalist Mougleta to ‘All My Friends Are Hot’, whose cheeky vocal flip (“All my friends are hot and only listen to techno”) was the perfect summer festival anthem. Add to that a teased remix of Belgian Stromae ‘Alors on danse’ and it’s clear that 2024 was, without a doubt, the year Faustix found a whole new groove.

While he’s certainly been busy in the studio, Faustix has also played everywhere — from 13,000 person raves in the middle of Copenhagen to gigs on the Faroe Islands. Faustix, in other words, hasn’t taken his foot off the gas for even a second. And, with each gig and release, he is testament to how much people still love pumping, hard-edged techno.

Fave tune of 2024?

“Dash Berlin ‘Till The Sky Falls Down’, it’s an all-time classic and still gets me