16 artists who will make your year in 2016

Another year, another bustle of rising artists to get acquainted with.

We're forever studying dark niches and tumbling down online rabbit holes in search of the person who'll give us our next transportive dancefloor experience or gift us a track that hits our sweet spot just right.

Come the changing of the year, that means there's a fresh wave of talent to shout about and share with our nearest and dearest. So, here are 16 artists who will make your year in 2016. There's no doubt you'll come across this squad over the next 12 months, and with good reason...

Being picked up for her first ever release by esteemed German imprint Workshop is an impressive feat, and a sure sign that Willow is on her way to big things. After first appearing as one of the standout tracks on Move D's brilliant 'fabric 74' mix CD, the Manchester-based producer's 'Feel Me' was the undoubted highlight of the 'Workshop 21' EP it was later released on, alongside efforts from Herron, The Horn and Tapes. It's a brilliantly skewed house cut that sounds like a stretched out Florian Kupfer track that's been submerged in the ocean. We can't wait to hear her take the reins of a full release, with material currently being worked on for an EP next year. She's also a very skilled DJ, holding down a residency with touring clubnight 808 where she regularly matches up to the high profile headline acts with sets crafted solely on wax, as her steadily busying tour schedule attests. PH

Follow Willow on SoundCloud here

Kamixlo's favourite wrestling move is the German Suplex, during which one's opponent is thrown to the floor from behind. It's pretty much what the Brixton native applied to the last 12 months, as a series of SoundCloud uploads, incendiary DJ sets and a knockout debut EP reared up on 2015 out of nowhere and pinned it to the ground. Of course, the keen-eared of you will have heard Kamixlo's 'Ayo' edit doing the rounds on radio and seen him detonating frenetic club music at Endless, the London party run by Lexxi (who you should also be following on SoundCloud). But things really started to accelerate in the autumn, with the release of the aforementioned 'Demonico' EP on Codes (containing the blistering 'Paleta', which has become something of a LDN anthem) and DJ sets at parties run by Evian Christ and Jam City. Hell, if a b2b with Venus X isn't a co-sign, we don't know what is. Which is why you should be keeping tabs on Kami into '16, because his tunes are a tornado take on bass-heavy club music and his DJ sets are about as far from mundanity as you can get, revving from 90bpm to 145bpm quicker than you can say "Who's that guy with the blue hair?!" Crack open the 'Demonico' EP if you haven't already and sit tight for the follow up, which is currently being worked on. SW

Watch Kamixlo's Just Jam set here

Matt Harris dropped a real soundsystem stonker called 'No Drama' in August. Earthquake bass and grime bleeps give it a thunderously UK sound and the rest of the EP of the same name that it came on expresses his knack for junglist flavours and silky drum 'n' bass. The record came via Critical, the label he's found home at after a couple of years' worth of releases on Peer Pressure Recordings, Proximity, Diffrent Music, Flexout Audio and Dispatch. You may be thinking 'Why should I be watching him in 2016, then?', but it's been the latter half of 2015 that his name's become that bit more bright. Sam Binga and Rockwell called him in for collaborations on their respective albums on Critical and Shogun Audio, while he earned a spot in the Red Bull Music Academy in October. Plus we saw him play back-to-back with Ivy Lab on a boat at Outlook Festival in September and stepped back onto land feeling a little bit queazy from the amount of deck shakers spun. We've been told he's got a new EP for Critical coming in the New Year, so be ready to buckle yourself in for more bumpy rides. DT

Listen to his Guide mix for us here

Some DJs start their musical journey through their parents, some through self-discovery and some even by accident but Julia Govor carved her path in a pretty unique way. It began in the small Russian military town of Abkhazia where she performed as a cassette DJ at her local nightclub. She was also a singer in a military band called Moryachka and performed songs by Russian singers every week. So where does electronic music fit in? Well, in 2004 she got a job in Moscow working for MTV and ended up interviewing gods like Ricardo Villalobos and Richie Hawtin. She'd been DJing a bit beforehand but after some more skill honing she was playing gigs at Movement and Sonar by 2010. Her first productions came via Visionquest and Get Physical a few years ago and her deep melodic techno is now starting to see full form. She performed at The Lab LA and showed us that she's come a long way since mixing on cassettes (!!!) Although we can't give full details yet, 2016 will see Govor release on some prolific labels, including one of the biggest techno imprints around. From Russia with love... F

Watch Julia Govor's Lab LA set here

[Photo: Yonatan Baraki]

'Sometimes I feel like, I wanna go bang...' is the sentence that resonated across dancefloors worldwide in 2015 as Bjarki exploded onto the scene. As one of the biggest tracks of the year, 'I Wanna Go Bang' was hammered by every notable techno DJ on the circuit. Dettmann and Klock both spearheaded the cut but it's Nina Kraviz who's really responsible for Bjarki's sudden rise. She signed the Icelandic upstart to her трип label and his climb has come hand-in-hand with the imprint's. His tracks overflow with an uncompromising groove and although they're aimed squarely at a floor that's waiting to be punished, there's harmony in his cold, steely beats. He's just dropped another track, 'PC Muscles', via Nina's label and with another EP due for early next year, it looks like Bjarki's gonna go bang once again. F

Follow Bjarki on SoundCloud here

There's been a lot of fucking good techno in 2015 and Dax J has really impressed. The London-based artist is a regular at Jaded, the long-standing afterparty that kicks out the tunes well past normal closing times and is currently situated at Corsica Studios, and he's also tried his hand in Berghain, every DJ's dream gig. In October he showed the rest of the world why he isn't one to be messed with. 'Shades Of Black', released on Monnom Black, was his first foray into LP territory and the result was a debut that showcased ten tracks of pulsating, uncompromising, perfectly-executed techno. It stood up against the biggest releases of the year and Klock even drew for an unreleased track in his Essential Mix in October. Dax has an EP coming out in February and a wealth of heavy artillery that's just waiting to find a home but rest assured once it does, 2016 will have a new techno poster boy. F

Listen to Dax J's slamming mix for Electronic Explorations here

If you thought music from the Mediterranean was all about delicate Latino guitar chords, listen to the output of Barcelona-based Zora Jones to be proved otherwise. Co-founder of Fractal Fantasy with Sinjin Hawke, she began 2015 with canon ball DJ Taye collaboration 'Neutrino', before the '100 Ladies' EP in November, a warped and winding space-age bass adventure. Its short duration of 16 minutes left us clucking for more, but we don't think we're being too narrow-minded by saying we really haven't heard anything like it in 2015. Apart from the raw 10-track bootleg package she gave away, of course. Expect much of the same wonkiness in her DJ sets, as proved by the Fractal Fantasy mix with Sinjin and a spectacular guest mix for ScratchaDVA's Radar Radio show. No word yet on forthcoming work, but don't be surprised if she unleashes a bonkers rap edit out of the blue or surprise us with more new, original material. DT

Listen to Zora Jones and Sinjin Hawke's Point Clouds mix here

"On the airwaves," reads the location on the Twitter account of Jammz. Why? The radio's the place you'll most likely find the East London MC spraying his hyperactive, barely-taking-a-breath bars. He's been known to enter the studio and jump on mic up to six times-a-week, with 2015's DJ collaborators including Sir Spyro and Faze Miyake on Rinse, 'Godfather of Grime' Slimzee on NTS, Logan Sama on 1Xtra and the Local Action crew on Radar. His 'Hit Then Run' EP - featuring production from wax-loving grime don Spooky - blew us away early in the year, a perfect example of his pedal-to-the-metal lyricism, but he didn't do a runner as the title would suggest. Nope, he very much stuck around and hooked up with Plastician for 'London Living', swiftly followed by 'Final Warning' on Local Action with Manchester producers Finn and Fallow. You've definitely been warned so prepare yourself for a forthcoming release with Trends and Mr Dubz. Until then, find him on the airwaves. DT

Watch his set in The Lab LDN with Finn here
[Photo: Vicky Grout]

Rewind a couple years and you'd be forgiven for thinking the word "Kablam" stood for little more than an onomatopoeic phrase from an Adam West-era Batman film, but come 2016 you should all know it refers to one of the most exciting DJs in the game. At its base level, the word's meaning remains the same, from 1960s superhero flicks to modern day DJs, denoting destruction and havoc, which is exactly what Sweden-born, Berlin-based artist Kajsa Blom is wreaking on the boundaries of club music. Innovation is everything to Kablam; she dislikes genre-categorisation (simply listing her genre as "no" on Facebook) and is a CDJ reformist, or whatever the opposite of a vinyl purist is, favouring digital decks for the increased capability to manipulate tracks and add a new dimension of inventiveness to her sets (go see her play for a next-level CDJ2000 demonstration). It's an approach that has already seen her make waves in 2015, roaring across England on Evian Christ's Trance Party tour and the rest of Europe, delivering a string of hard-hitting mixes. Her impact is certain to spread further when her first full release lands on Janus in the spring. PH

Listen to Kablam's The Fader mix here

Sometimes an unreleased track will sweep through clubs with such potency that the search for it sets the dance music community alight. Dancefloor recordings pile up as the internet ID crew rolls into life, firing off tweets and Facebook messages with the relentless rapidity of a pneumatic drill. It's almost unheard of now for tracks to reach the near-mythical level of mystique they once did, when desperately humming a melody to your heady mate is replaced with sharing crisp HD footage with the entire internet. Step forward Swiss-producer Laolu with the exception that proves the rule in 2015. His soaringly beautiful remix of Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra's 'Too Much Information' was the most hotly pursued tune of the year. As dancers worldwide were stunned by the euphoric production, clips appeared on YouTube with titles like "Âme remix?" while counters asserted it had to be a Dixon edit. Eventually Laolu was revealed as the artist responsible when release details arrived through Innervisions, accompanied by the aforementioned honchos declaring it their track of the year. Now with two of the most sought after co-signs in dance music under his belt, Laolu is sure to carry this momentum on into 2016 for a breakout year. He's got a vinyl-only EP of edits all set for release, while work on a remix for Rebirth records is well underway. PH

Listen to Laolu's 'A Number Of Choices' podcast here

"Oi mate, hear this one coming in? It's my new track" shouts Jacky, beaming with joy. He came down to Elrow in The Lab LDN and while it may seem completely random that De La Swing, the club night's Spanish resident, would be ending his set with Jacky's new track, it actually makes a lot of sense. Jacky had a pretty blinding 2015. He's been creating an outrageously big house sound that's littered with triple kick drums and rolling drops aimed at terraces and his most notable release came via Steve Lawler's Viva imprint. The 'Sinabit' EP got his name out there and subsequent productions got blasted by Skream, Dubfire, Pete Tong and none other than the daddy Carola at Amnesia for Music On. The track that ended one of the wildest Labs to date was taken from Jacky's forthcoming EP on Elrow and it's a sign of what's to come. Although he's longtime mates with wAFF and Patrick Topping, the boys from the Toon best watch out, because there's another Geordie bubbling in the wings. F

Watch Marco Carola play Jacky's remix of 'Get Down' at Music On, Amnesia here

18-year-old Toxe makes tracks that sound as if they were harvested from the cutting edge of underground club music. Her productions reflect the mechanic pump of the best Night Slugs workouts, the gleeful dancefloor-not-dancefloor experimentation of the Janus collective and the colourful energy of Staycore, the Swedish squad and label that she's part of and through which she released her debut EP, 'Muscle Memory', in November. The tracks on it are both unusual and club-ready: imagine machinegun drums and earthy low-end layered with ASMR-inducing sounds and melodic riffs that sound like stalactites falling from the roof of a cave. It's scorching dance music of the like that's never quite been heard before and, for now, you'll have to relish the tracks on 'Muscle Memory' as Toxe puts a pause on production in order to finish studying. We're told she graduates in the summer so that's when the Gothenberg artist will begin to set sparks flying on the regular. SW

Listen to Toxe's mix for The Astral Plane

Londoner Joshua Brennan is the youngest of our tips for 2016, ringing in at 17-years-old. As Oshi, he makes bulky, starlit beats that aren't too dissimilar to Kaytranada and would easily slot in at LA label Soulection, with every single one of his tunes on SoundCloud breaking the 100,000-play count. His flip of Bastille's 'Of The Night' is on the most (761k), turning the 'Rhythm Is A Dancer' cover into a three-minute, sugar-coated, bass lullaby. Justin Bieber and Fetty Wap have also been transformed into cranky yet dazzling material, with Busta Rhymes being sampled on 'Pink', the synth-sizzler recently premiered by us and coming out on his 'This Is Not The Album' EP in January. Comments on his SoundCloud suggest that this isn't the first alias he's worked under - identifying MSFT and GRVDIENT$ as previous monikers - but Oshi seems to be the one that's going to pop. Especially if this photo outside Universal Music HQ in Los Angeles is anything to do with his future. We have a strong feeling it might. DT

Watch Oshi's Boiler Room here

Australian producer Daze's first record on Lobster Theremin epitomised everything that is exciting about the label. Among a hectic release schedule, the imprint has unleashed everything from warm house to blistering techno with equal adeptness. Daze threw all this eclecticism into the mix on a single 12" for the genre-splicing 'Lips' EP in 2014, showing remarkable assuredness at weaving together a wealth of influences into a coherent whole for a debut effort. 'Untitled' underlaid spacey ambience with an acid-flecked bassline; the relentless snare of 'Drag Ball' drove forward an otherwise soothing, off-kilter cut of house; and the two mixes of the title track have all the uplifting power of a bold set-closer with euphoric pads and a deep vocal sample, while remaining intrinsically very raw with breakbeat styled percussion. Follow up release 'Neuromance' in 2015 was similarly diverse, but with the intensity taken up several notches. This fresh production style makes every Daze release a compelling event and 2016 will be his busiest year yet: he'll drop a black label via Lobster Theremin (as well as a follow up via LT sub-label Mork), an EP for Noise In My Head and a self-released twelve, too.

Listen to clips from the black label release here

London duo God Colony uploaded two impeccable tracks to SoundCloud at the tail end of 2015. The first, 'Where I Was' with Boston-raised rapper Stash Marina (pictured above), sees the vocalist trace steps in synth tones as whispy and grey as incense smoke. Lyrics are summoned from the deep ("Impossible to just blow out the stress/ and let it sit and fester/ and now I can't escape this shitty smell") and float in a haze before disappearing. It's an intense counterpoint to the rough 'n tumble of 'Steady' with London MC Flohio, which lands somewhere between kuduro, UK funky and wot-do-u-call-it bass mutations. Pitched at 130bpm it's primed for the dance but no less emotive: Flohio controls the beat like a skilled matador, "Thinking you're wavy, I'm popping your bubbles/ Think that you made it, we're popping your bottles/ When I came in I came from the troubles/ SE16 so you know it's a hustle." Though still unsigned, both tracks have been getting airplay from Mary Anne Hobbs and Toddla T and we're told more work will be uploaded in February. Eyes emoji indeed. SW

Listen to God Colony's guest mix for Toddla T here

Mind:Body:Fitness takes a blowtorch to grime, techno and footwork, melting genre boundaries in order to blend and build anew. She's quietly been honing her craft in the club spaces of her current hometown of Berlin, where she's played for CTM and Creamcake, and has been uploading parts of her metallic, flighty, borderline psychedelic live show to SoundCloud. The futuristic waist-wind of 'Body Work', fluorescent grime of 'Taken' and high speed swirl of 'Leaving You' are particular highlights and great examples of a producer moving very much in her own zone. Having been active on SoundCloud for over a year, Mind:Body:Fitness will step out into the physical realm in 2016 by releasing a record on Kuedo and Joe Shakespeare's Knives imprint as well as turning in remix work for Houndstooth and dropping a track on Wasabi Tapes. She'll also be unveiling a brand new A/V show and continue to work with collaborator Cha Cha, who she describes as her "musical soulmate". SW

Check out Mind:Body:Fitness' SoundCloud here