Carta

DJ style: “EDM / house.”

Best known for:Being one of China’s top DJs.

Fave tune of 2021:“HENNZ, Johan Oslah, Mike Slvg ‘Layers’.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2021: “Westend. He deserves to rise to the absolute top!”

Not many people can pull off titling a track ‘EDM’. How, after all, can a single track stand-in for the entire genre? But Shanghai-based, Hong-Kong born Carta pulled it off with style this past year. ‘EDM’ is about as perfect a distillation of the future of EDM as anything else out there — pumping basslines, anthemic chords, and understated but driving drum programming. It’s also a perfect introduction to Carta’s world. He’s a dance music purist — his tracks are short and precise, built around sound design bespoke for the world’s biggest clubs.

Last year, Carta wanted to focus on meditation and spending more time offline. While we can’t say how much time he’s spent off social media, it’s clear that he brought a new level of focus to his productions. He released four singles this past year, each outdoing the previous for how much emotion can be packed into the breathless drops. It’s clear that whatever Carta has lined up next, he’ll be doing it with a continued level of laser-like precision.

What’s the best DJ set you’ve seen this year?

“I wasn’t able to see many DJ sets because I was in China all the time and not many international DJs were th

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Cuebrick

From:Germany

DJ style:“Progressive house.”

Best known for:“‘Squid Game’ with Blasterjaxx.”

Fave tune of 2022:“James Hype ‘Ferrari’.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2022:“Marten Horger.”

What’s the best DJ set you’ve seen this year?“Tale Of Us, Afterlife show at the Brooklyn Mirage.”

After finishing just outside of the Top 100 in 2021, this year German DJ and producer Cuebrick breaks in for the first time this year. He now sits at the top table of global dance music after standout shows everywhere from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Singapore to Bangkok.

While releasing big tunes on labels like Spinnin Records, Armada and Ultra Music, he also works as a radio-host on bigFM’s nitroX show, which is the biggest radio platform for electronic music in Germany.

This year he has worked on a new sound which he says “can best be described as a fusion of different elements from genres such as techno, hard techno, and trance. Hard techno kicks are the foundation, with classic trance synthesizers.” It’s a sound that has seemingly connected with fans, who will be pleased to learn Cuebrick has signed a deal meaning “Smash the House will be the main home for my music for at least the next two years.”

Name one great festival you played for the first time this year…

“Hypercat Festival at Noa Beach Club.”

What’s the longest DJ set you’ve