With Outlook Festival quickly approaching, we delve into their eclectic and diverse curation to bring you 5 artists we’re excited to see.
Barely Legal:
Chloe Robinson, AKA DJ Barely Legal has been confidently spinning her unique brand of grime, hip-hop and jungle for the past few years, building up a cult following. Recently she’s performed on the Four Tet & Friends session over at the Boiler Room, and in her spare time is doing her noisy thing with Adidas on the international circuit. Spanning old school garage, grime, DnB, and everything in-between, Barely Legal is at the forefront of the rising UK grime and garage resurgence.
Robinson was brought up on 90’s garage from birth which has led to a genre-merging, party-pleasing showcase set to get crowds at Outlook moving. She’s well-versed, having played her first ever Warehouse Project with bass icon Four Tet in 2013, and then going on to become a staple at Fabric. 2016 will see her perform around the UK festival circuit, with sets at Field Day and Love Saves The Day already in the bag – and hitting Pula’s stone shore at the end of the month.
Eliphino:
Eliphino is Tom Wrankmore, a surveyor of high-octane garage and house, with 2-step and techno thrown in for good measure. Clash Magazine regailed him as their pick for a new-year soundtrack, with “considered selection of jams and gems that give your party bone a poke, reminding you that the good times haven’t disappeared completely in this evil month.” Wrankmore said he wanted to ease listeners into a testing month, starting off moody and deep, and then building to a more uplifting atmosphere to remind us that the party doesn’t stop.
Leeds-born Wrankmore was influenced by hip-hop at an early age, and started DJing almost straight away. His songs incorporated elements from a few genres but always maintained an emotive soul appeal. His first vinyl release was put out on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, where he went on to produce music for Somethinksounds and Hypercool. House and techno now form the basis for both the old and the new to create engaging and exciting sets.
Henry Wu:
This South Londoner comes from a musical lineage that adds a raw and powerful live element to his performance. Grounded, but by no means limited to funk and jazz, Wu muddles with speed and form to spin out more contemporary house music. He’s a part of Peckham’s 22a collective, and has recently teamed up with producer K15 and Alex Nut’s esteemed Eglo for a brand new collaborative ‘Wu15’ EP. It delves into hip-hop, house and soul, and has enjoyed lots of club bumping in the process. Newly signed to the Co-Op family, Wu is pioneering a new release of soul music coming out of UK.
DJ Q
Huddersfield born DJ Q started gathering records and tapes at the tender age of 12, whilst also taking in his parents’ music taste. By 15 he was attributing to UK’s flourishing garage scene, and soon after rose to prominence through the release of ‘You Wot’ – a track picked up by Ministry of Sound in the summer of 2008, and then made its way into the UK top 50. At the time, he entered into the realm of remixing and reworked material from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Dizzee Rascal, Keri Hilson and Katy B.
Earlier this year saw DJ Q perform his first ever Sheffield Boiler Room set, stepping in as a longstanding member of the UK Garage and House scene. From performing to radio hosting, you can be sure that his output is a lifeline to the inner-workings of contemporary music within his field.
https://soundcloud.com/djqmusic/flavor-exclusive-track-taken-from-fabriclive-88-mixed-by-flava-d
Goth-Trad
Japanese dub-step DJ Goth-Trad has found an embracing audience for his abstract dance music over the past decade. At the beginning of the noughties he began building up a following on the Japanese underground, and then paired his first album release, Goth-Trad I with a support slot for Mars Volta on their 2004 tour.
He blew onto the international scene with his third album in 2006, and notably the track ‘Back To Chill’ which invariably began the name of a club night he began running in Tokyo. The phrase became synonymous with the Japanese dubstep scene which was originally inspired by all the grime sounds he had picked up on in London over the years.
Alongside producing and touring, Goth-Trad still runs this famous bass-driven club night, inviting the newest local producers to play alongside the scenes for guys like The Bug and Kode9.