Steve Aoki

From:USA.

DJ style:Festival bangers

Best known for:“Remixing ‘We Are (One Piece)’.”

Steve Aoki’s biggest preoccupation this year was his new album, the 18-track-deep ‘Paragon’. Stuffed with vocal and production collabs, it found the megastar DJ/producer experimenting with Afro-house, amapiano and Latin-inflected rhythms amid his more typical EDM and house manoeuvres.

“Honing down the album to this sound was one of my favourite conceptual visions I’ve had in a while,” Aoki says. Working with a varied selection of artists, from Lil Jon to Ne-Yo and Major League Djz, he was particularly impressed with the rapidly rising South African MC and singer, Moonchild Sanelly. “She inspires me, she’s amazing,” he says.

When he wasn’t making music or playing it, Aoki was to be found cataloguing his substantial record collection. “I’ve been on a rampage, grading all my music, especially my vinyl and cassettes with [Florida archivists] Audio Media Grading.” Of course, there were tonnes of gigs too, from huge festivals like Tomorrowland, EDC Las Vegas, Untold, Medusa, Veld, Ultra in South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong, and World Club Dome, to clubs such as London’s Ministry Of Sound, LIV in Miami, Ushuaïa Ibiza and Cavo Paradiso in Mykonos, Greece. Unstoppable.

Fave tune of 2024?

“Mashle: Magic And Muscles anime opening intro.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2024?

“The comeback of Laidback Luke.”

Should phones be banned

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MEDUZA

From:Italy

DJ style:“Melodic house / house.”

Best known for:“‘Piece Of Your Heart’, ‘Lose Control’, ‘Paradise’ and some other songs.”

Luca Gregorio, Mattia Vitale, and Simone Giani form MEDUZA. The trio’s pop-tinged house music tracks have gained them a devoted fan base worldwide, surmounted countless listens across all the streaming platforms, made daytime radio and stormed official chart positions across the globe. With effortlessly catchy vocals by the likes of Becky Hill, Goodboys and Dermot Kennedy, their productions delve into the worlds of pop and dance in equal measure. Their debut single ‘Piece Of Your Heart’ was released in 2019: an instant hit that shot them to fame, they’ve been unstoppable ever since. Their first release of this year was the single ‘Dola re Dola’, featuring Varun Jain and was a tribute to the Bollywood film Devdas. ‘Money (Can’t Save Us)’ featuring NY-born artist Alec Monopoly soon followed, and most recently for MEDUZA’s latest single ‘Another World’ they teamed up with British singer and songwriter HAYLA. In the live sphere, it’s often Vitale that takes the stage behind the decks, with sets designed for the peak time with plenty of snare rolls, euphoric breakdowns, trance basslines and the occasional sound of 303 acid.

Fave tune of 2024?“Âme ‘Asa’.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2024?“Notre Dame.”

Could DJs do more to ensure that producers are fairly pa