Just before Christmas we held our Best Of British awards in London — possibly the best one yet. It was great to see many people in the industry and a lot of the wealth of talent down at the Steel Yard to celebrate all that is great about the UK electronic music scene.
An awards report and photo montage appears from page 6 onwards in this issue, and all the results and winners profiles begin from page 37. I’d like to congratulate again all the winners and nominees: from the newest breakthrough artists to the seasoned pros, everyone plays a part in making the British music scene one of the most vibrant — and internationally successful — in the world.
Best DJ winner Patrick Topping is on our cover this month. With a debut residency for his Trick brand at DC-10 in Ibiza last summer, and his label and DJ career going from strength to strength, it’s a testimony to one of the most hard-working artists in dance music that he scooped this award. Patrick opens up in his cover story interview about how his recent sobriety has aided his career focus, which makes for a really interesting read.
Elsewhere in this issue there’s lots of juicy features, as usual. Among them, we follow SYREETA to Printworks to document her meteoric rise (p103), and we spotlight fast-rising Dutch house duo ANOTR in Amsterdam (p26). And from page 85 onwards we profile eight rising artists in our Ones To Watch series, all of whom have obtained a DJ slot on BBC Radio 1 as a result of our January takeover. See page 85 for all the info, and don’t forget to tune in — either live, or on listen again via BBC Sounds.
Happy new year!
Carl Loben
Editor