Impact - Mixmag

"A digital oasis": Li Yilei's conceptual sound art brings light and hope in a dark time

Jemima Skala speaks to the conceptual artist about returning to China at the peak of the pandemic, their collective NON DUAL and how Aspergers informs their relationship with music

Profound connection: Dar Disku's pumping dance music is powered by Middle Eastern, Arabic and Asian sounds

Safi Bugel speaks to the DJ duo and label heads about their process, eclectic sonic identity, and why Western producers shouldn't reinterpret music from Eastern cultures with an orientalist lens

"The sound of injustice": Muqata'a turns the noise of warfare into protest music

Zab Mustefa speaks to Palestinian artist Muqata'a about life under occupation, sampling weapons of war and fighting back through music

Stiff Pap's abrasive post-kwaito is a soundtrack for frustrated South African youth

Michael Lawson speaks to Johannesburg duo Stiff Pap, whose new EP ‘TUFF TIME$’ delivers an uncompromising sonic vision that "breaks the perception of the rainbow nation"

Incendiary sounds: DJ Firestarr is a UK rap powerhouse

Gemma Ross speaks to DJ Firestarr, who hasn't let a global pandemic and personal crisis stop his rise to rap tastemaker status

Lost in the sauce: Pamcy channels her love of food into blissful house music

Tope Olufemi meets Pamcy, the Filipino who combines two of the best things in life: good food and sumptuous house music

"Never constrained by anything": TAAHLIAH's fearless creativity fuses emotion, pop and experimental electronics

Tope Olufemi speaks to TAAHLIAH, the boundary-breaking Scottish artist combining innovative synthesis and powerful themes

Baby Weight is the Dolly Parton-loving DJ who's here to take tech-house back from the Big Room Bros

Marcus Dowling meets Baby Weight, the Washington DC partystarter who is resolutely anti-bullshit and pro fun

Grove’s radical self-expression inspires collective freedom

Jemima Skala speaks to Grove, whose empowerment anthems will make you "get down and dutty wine!"

Inner werk: VONDA7 is using music to find her authentic self

VONDA7 delivers a mix and interview ahead of the release of her debut album 'Let Go'

“More risk-taking”: Jossy Mitsu is spreading her wings

Patrick Hinton speaks to Rinse FM resident Jossy Mitsu, whose debut EP 'Planet J' introduces her sonic world

“Experiment and develop”: Korzi’s soundsystem-inspired music accepts no limits

The co-founder of Manchester's Left, Right & Centre party and label is pushing a variety of stimulating sounds

Fka Mash’s blend of mbaqanga and kwaito challenges South Africa’s apartheid past

Fka Mash's new EP 'Love Songs From Soweto' takes inspiration from musical styles that were pioneered in the face of - and overcame - colonial oppression

Meet The 83rd, the music professor who makes radical Black club music

Crystal Mioner meets The 83rd, the New York-based music professor whose club music is a continuation of the radical Black tradition

"Just do you!": iPhone DJ's unique style is uplifting dancefloors

Ekow Barnes meets the popular Ghanaian party-starter who DJs on a mobile device

Spirituality, self-discovery and healing: welcome to Dyani's world of sound

Dyani crafts a rhythmic, sensual DJ mix and talks Tanya Akinola through the creative process behind their album 'Under', one of the truly original records of 2020

Dwson symbolises the unified future of South African electronic music

Marcus Barnes meets Dwson, a rising South African DJ who specialises is mesmerising Afrotech

Ase Manual: Finding freedom through music

Tice Cin profiles Ase Manual, the New Jersey artist who keeps releasing crucial club music

Meet DJ Femo, the British-Nigerian DJ who's expanding what it means to be African

Tanya Akinola profiles DJ Femo, the selector who's been dancing on speaker boxes since she was a baby and is continuing to do things her own way

Kamran is exploring his Iranian heritage via the medium of grime

Kamran turns in a weighty, percussive mix to celebrate the birth of a new alias

"Africa is hardcore": Duma are here to melt your face off

The electronic-infused metal makers released one of 2020's most intense albums on Nyege Nyege Tapes