“Once ‘Missing’ became a club hit, Warner re-released it, so then it became a full-blown pop hit,” says Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn, reminiscing...
Game Changer
When New York house legend Todd Terry remixed Everything But The Girl, it catapulted them to a new level of fame, and into the world of dance music. With their first album in 24 years, 'Fuse', out now, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt reflect on their classic track, and how it transformed their lives
When Kelly Griffin was tasked with crafting a remix of American R&B singer Tina Moore, he decided to try something a bit different — and in the process, he laid the groundwork for the 2-step garage sound that swept London and then much of the rest of the UK in the late 1990s. DJ Mag’s Ben Cardew tracks down Kelly G in the US to hear the story of a true game changer
From its beginnings as a fortuitous sample to dominating Miami’s WMC and topping the UK Singles Chart, ‘Lola’s Theme’ has become one of the most popular house anthems of its time, and gave Shapeshifters a 20-year career that is still flourishing to this day. Carl Loben talks to one half of the duo, Simon Marlin, about its creation and impact
UK garage pioneer Scott Garcia released ‘A London Thing’ in 1997 as a kind of signature track for the burgeoning scene. For this month's Game Changer, Rob McCallum speaks to the DJ/producer to learn the story of an enduring UKG anthem
Double 99's ‘Ripgroove’ helped ignite the speed garage scene in the late '90s, and went on to gatecrash the pop charts and break down mainstream doors for sub-rupturing club tracks. Amid a renaissance of UK garage, Rob McCallum speaks to Tim Deluxe and Omar Adimora about the game changing track’s timeless quality
Lifting the vocals from Jah Screechy’s reggae standard 'Walk & Skank’, SL2’s‘On A Ragga Tip’ surfed the hardcore rave wave at the turn of the 1990s before crossing over to bring breakbeats and bass into the pop charts. The track has transcended genres and styles to stand alone as an enduring dance classic. Joe Roberts calls up Slipmatt, aka Matt Nelson — the ’S’ in SL2 — to learn its story
Released in 1997, μ-Ziq’s ‘Lunatic Harness’ mixed jungle and out-there electronica in a way few had heard before. Here, Mike Paradinas talks to Ben Murphy about the influences that went into creating this genre-meshing gem, and his new album 'Magic Pony Ride'
Released in 2002, a dream collaboration between UK house heroes X-Press 2 and Talking Heads' David Byrne, ‘Lazy’ lit up clubs and the pop charts alike. Here, Dave Jenkins talks to the group’s Ashley Beedle, Rocky and Diesel about how the track transcended generations and genres to become a timeless hit
When Mason first released ‘Exceeder’ in 2005 it was a B-side. But its fuzzy bassline and gated trancey notes garnered a legion of fans, and it became a key building block in the pre-EDM electro-house scene. 17 years later, he shares its story
Ultra Naté’s house anthem ‘Free’ went from club anthem to international pop hit in the late 1990s. Broken by Louie Vega at the 1997 WMC...
Black Science Orchestra’s Trammps-sampling, Frankie Knuckles approved 1992 cut ‘Where Were You?’ marked a key moment in UK house music, and embodied a sound that...
The melodic deep house of Maya Jane Coles’ ‘What They Say’ helped put her on the map, and soon went on to be sampled by...
The Avalanches’ debut ‘Since I Left You’ is one of electronic music’s all-time classics, a sample-heavy travelogue which charmed the globe in 2000-01. Then they...
Influenced by emerging electronic techniques and the rave scene, industrial outfit Coil's third album 'Love's Secret Domain' is full of trippy, drug-fuelled dichotomies and collaborations...
Producing under the alias Renegade, Ray Keith delivered an instant classic in 1994's ‘Terrorist’, one of the most recognisable jungle tunes of all time. Its thumping chopped...
T2 was only 18 when he dropped ‘Heartbroken’: a sweet, infectious bassline tune that rocketed to No. 2 in the charts in 2007. Owing...
Coinciding with the release of a major Tangerine Dream retrospective, DJ Mag catches up with Peter Baumann, one third of the band’s classic line-up, to...
One of the curiosities of psychedelia is that, until 1967, American “happenings” had been mostly sound-tracked by electronic music. Then, as soon as acid trips...
This evergreen breakbeat hardcore missive influenced the likes of The Prodigy and the whole of the early UK rave scene. Ben Murphy charts its story...
“I saw that record go from street level and get bigger and bigger, and there was no video for it, no promotion, nothing,” says Renegade Soundwave’s Danny...
As Black Box re-release the original version of their 1989 mega-hit, DJ Mag talks to Daniele Davoli about the birth of Italo house, the dispute...
IT’S often said that behind every hit, there’s a lawsuit. Black Box’s ‘Ride On Time’ is no exception. Loleatta Holoway slammed it for ripping off her...
Buzzin' hardcore classic 'Bus It' by Blapps Posse was a riotous, sampladelic mish-mash of hip-house and rave. DJ Mag talks to its key originators, Aston...