16 artists who will make your year in 2016

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