Six artists Annie Mac says to watch in 2016

Annie: “Sam’s 18 and from Stirling. I first came across him when I heard his track ‘Long Distance’ and played it incessantly on my show. It sounded like nothing I’d heard before. The quality of his productions is so high for someone so young. In a world of SoundCloud trap fodder, his music stands out for being tremendously creative and imaginative.”

Right from his first appearance on SoundCloud a couple of years back the music of Sam Gellaitry has been exhilaratingly futuristic, a startling melee of strings, Middle Eastern instrumentation, gigantic bass, asymmetrical hip hop beats and much more, sounding unlike anything else around. Even more extraordinary is the fact it’s made by a teenager from the quiet Scottish city of Stirling who’s been producing since he was 12.

“I started being interested when I was ten,” he says. “My older brother Michael used to make music, heavy happy hardcore, and he had software on the family computer. There was a sampler called Acid Pro that I used to muck around on. Then when I was twelve I discovered FruityLoops Studio, which is what I still use.”

At 13 he was into Daft Punk and part of an online community sharing old disco samples. If French house was an early influence, he soon moved on to Flying Lotus and other styles that fed into his impressively eclectic worldview.

“Certainly hip hop stuff, yes, Flying Lotus, Rustie , Hudson Mohawke,” he begins. “I was listening to a lot of abstract off-beat styles, really bright-coloured music. Then there’s game sounds: I used to play Rayman all the time so that got into me when I was really young. Jazz, of course. I first came to that through Jamiroquai but now I’m really into fusion jazz – Lenny White, Jeff Lorber, Roy Ayers. I like the way they don’t have any boundaries and just make whatever sounds good to them.”

Gellaitry’s music certainly avoids boundaries. His ‘Short Stories’ EP on smart alt-hip hop LA label Soulection at the start of last year boasted a wild range of styles. The label sent him on a DJ tour of Europe last summer, and having never even been to a club before he was able to see for the first time how crowds responded to his tunes.

“When people are dancing to four-to-the-floor music they don’t fully react,” he says. “When it’s really repetitive they’re lost in it, but when its trap and bassier stuff they just lose it, jumping around, which is really good fun, more energy.”

Gellaitry is the son of a teacher mum and a father who makes bagpipes. At 16 he went to a local music college but left to pursue music full time in July 2014, when his SoundCloud account had a million hits in a month. At the end of last year he launched his ‘Escapism’ EP on XL Records, and it’s just as experimental as his previous stuff. But when Mixmag asks whether he sees his career taking the Aphex Twin route of being an underground enigma who pops up every few years, or the higher-profile Daft Punk route, with giant live shows and a pop rep, he’s unsure.

“Hopefully a mix of the two,” he says. “I’d like to be discreet but known for the music. I never want to pop up in Heat magazine.”

For now Sam is a well-kept secret, but with a talent this big, his potential is limitless.