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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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