New York’s WTCHCRFT forms part of a new guard of young Black innovators connecting the dots between the history of Black dance music and the future. In particular, he’s casting spells by morphing acid house and techno into rapid-fire, often filthy club formulations. His pivot from downtempo trap to mind-melting
The mainstream’s embrace of no-nonsense house music has long been on the horizon, starting as far back as 2014 when a certain deep house bass-line crept its way into a number of high profile pop releases. Since then, the imminent arrival of 90’s Chicago as the new sound of pop
90's house / bounce / chicago house / House / piano house / Pop
Within a fairly short span of time, Berlin-via-New York techno / ghetto tech artist LSDXOXO has risen to underground icon status. While his last EP, Dedicated 2 Disrespect, might have been a breakthrough of sorts, it happened to come at a pivotal moment in his career when he began flirting
Alt-Pop / Alternative / Bass / Breakbeats / electronica / Jungle / pop-punk
This Pride month, we’re feeling particularly proud. So we reached out to LGBTQIA+ icons and allies alike and asked them to compile a playlist of their all-time ultimate Pride anthems. Today, we have a collection of iconic pop and club hits curated by Australian pop superstars, Cub Sport, who when
This Pride Month, we’re feeling especially proud. That’s why we’re speaking with rising LGBTQIA+ artists all month about their music, influences, and what ‘pride’ means to them. Today, it’s emerging pop talent Shobsy. A singer/songwriter from Dublin, Shobsy’s music combines anthemic stadium pop nostalgia with contemporary soundscapes. From the moment
5 minutes with / Alt-Pop / Electropop / exclusive interview / Interview / LGBTQIA+ / Pop / Pride
It’s possible that Michael Alden Hadreas, better known as Perfume Genius, may well be one of the most underrated voices in baroque and art-pop. It’s also possible that this is exactly the way he intended it to be. Since first breaking onto the scene in 2010 with soft, confessional piano
Alt-Pop / ambient / artpop / baroque pop / dub / experimental / Neo-Classical
Ukrainian producer, DJ, and events promoter Irina Shvydka, AKA 8Kays, has released a special recording of a live performance taped shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Known for her progressive and deep house productions, Shvydka has released music on prolific labels such as Toolroom, Afterlife, and Bedrock. The performance, staged
DJ / live performance / music news / music videos / Producer / russia / Ukraine
We’d never have imagined that we’d be covering a Drake album here at The Playground, but for all accounts, Honestly, Nevermind feels significant. No one could have anticipated that the Canadian hip-hop superstar would pivot toward dance music, and with little warning at that. It makes Honestly, Nevermind one of
afropop / Baltimore club / highlife / Hip-Hop / hip-house / House / jersey club
It has been confirmed that a body found in the Amazon region of Brazil is former Mixmag editor, Dom Phillips. He was identified on dental records. Phillips served as editor of Mixmag from 1993 -1997 during the peak of dance music culture. During his time as editor, he coined the
A new streaming app, Marine Snow, has launched. Unlike other platforms, Marine Snow uses a 90-day rotation of songs, and urges users to interact with each other and the platform to access the music. Users must crack open egg-like capsules in order to unveil songs, or combine ‘shards’ to unlock
