20 artists who will make your year in 2017
Here's who will guide you through the next 12 months
9 Sky H1
“A bunch of young men all dressed in black dancing extremely aggressively on stage” goes the sample on Skepta’s ‘Shutdown’ satirising the moral panic around grime. If you ever hear someone misguidedly throwing out these opinions, point them towards the output of Sky H1 as a prime example to set the record straight. The Belgian producer crafts sleek and emotive soundscapes that work elements of ambient and grime into experimental club foundations, resulting in a sound that hits a perfect sweet spot between futuristic and resonant. Her DJ sets blend this sound with added bite at the base, working tracks from the likes of Toxe, Fatima Al Qadiri and Mechatok into fluid, mind-bending journeys. Next year an increasingly global audience will have the pleasure of seeing her spin in a club as international promoters queue up for her services.
The ‘Motion’ EP she put out through PAN sublabel Codes this year explored themes of grief and loss, moving listeners with the ambition of its musical depth and sentiment of its inspiration. Sky H1 has said the release marked a closing in a dark chapter of her life, with a new mindset in place for the EP she is working on for 2017. The results are certain to stun us in new and affecting ways. P Hinton
