Features
9 Artists who had a Gold year in 2016
Recognising the year's top talents
Our Gold feature is all about recognising talent. Which is why on this list you’ll find nine artists stacked with it.
From Bjarki’s level of output to Flava D’s ascent to the throne of bass music to Kornél Kovács’ domination of our office’s hearts in 2016, all have reasons for standing out.
Throughout the year we’ve been following these outstanding individuals, getting insight into the stories behind their projects and the processes behind their creativity.
Here are nine artists enjoying a golden year.
1 Fatima Al Qadiri
Rage, despair and politics all played a part in Fatima Al Qadiri’s sophomore album ‘Brute’. The Hyperdub regular spoke to us at the start of the year about how it came together.
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2 Leon Vynehall
When we met up with Leon Vynehall back in March, the Crowborough native was on the verge of releasing the follow up to his debut “mini-LP” ‘Music For The Uninvited’. ‘Rojus’ turned out to be an elegant sequel with the dating rituals of birds and humans in clubs at its core. The release set up a busy year for Vynehall who was booked up in 2016, gracing stages from Estonia to the United Arab Emirates.
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3 Midland
To say Midland has had a good year is an understatement. With the release of ‘Final Credits’, the Graded and ReGraded boss’ summer anthem topped our 100 songs of the year list and closed many a memorable party. He also dropped the popular ‘Blush’ EP and asserted himself as a must-see DJ with sets at Dekmantel, The Warehouse Project and Glastonbury.
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4 KABLAM
Sweden has certainly come a long way from being known for ABBA and Death Metal. From Studio Barnhus to Staycore, the wintry country is quietly undergoing a musical revolution. Having smashed dancefloors since 2013, KABLAM has been carving out her own niche of dark and aggressive productions that she translated into her debut EP this year. In June she spoke to us about her all-female studio collective, using anger as a source of energy and nu-metal.
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5 Flava D
Butterz alumni and one third of super group t q d, Flava D can safely look back at 2016 as the year she ascended bassline’s throne. She spread her garage and house sounds across the globe in a year packed full of gigs, released t q d’s second single ghost and also dropped a video for her song ‘Happy’. Long may her reign continue.
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6 Kornél Kovács
One of our artists of the year, #2 in our albums of the year chart with ‘The Bells’ and two tracks inside our top 100 tunes of 2016. Our admiration for Kornél Kovács is pretty obvious. But can you blame us after the year he’s had? Cementing himself as one of the most fun artists in dance music, the Studio Barnhus co-founder established himself this year as one of the best at producing tracks and DJing sets that start a party.
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7 Pangaea
One third of the Hessle Audio crew, Pangaea’s 2016 saw him knuckle down and release his debut album ‘In Drum Play’ on the imprint. The no-frills LP upheld the label’s levels of premium quality music with tracks like ‘Rotor Soap’ and the absolute mind-melt that is ‘Skips Desk’. As arguably the definitive UK dance music label of the last 10 years, we can’t wait to see what Pangaea has in store with the label next year.
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8 Bjarki
The little known Iceland producer exploded into the limelight with the equally explosive ‘I Wanna Go Bang’ last year and has gone from strength to strength since. Having signed with Nina Kraviz’s трип off the back of that track, Bjarki has been in full effect this year, digging through his unreleased material to piece together three albums of eclectic electronica. In October we debuted his track ‘I Don’t Think So’ and chatted to him about how he dealt the extra attention.
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9 Jayda G
Having spent all year wowing us with blisteringly fun DJ sets and soothing us with hazy house heaters, Jayda G was all positive vibes when we spoke to her in November. Splitting her time between Berlin and Vancouver these days, 2016 has been a breakthrough year for her with releases on 1080p, Geography and her own label, Freakout Cult.
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