Since emerging five or six decades ago, the modern concept of clubbing — a DJ playing amazing tunes, and a floor full of revelers lost in music — has gone through more permutations than we can count, but it’s still at the core of what we do here at DJ Mag. So once again, we’ve tabulated your votes — hundreds of thousands of them, the most ever! — and we’re finally ready to present the results of our annual Top 100 Clubs poll. The list boasts the most debut entries since the pandemic, from glittering megavenues to subterranean lairs — but the top tier is dominated by a slate of old favorites, including DC’s Echostage, Brazil’s Green Valley, London’s fabric and the full slate of Ibiza superclubs. Did your local hotspot make the roster? Turn to page 49 to find out.
Of course, those clubs would be nothing without the people who make and play the tunes, and as always, this issue is brimming with a look at what makes those folks tick. There’s the producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Channel Tres for instance, who likens his musical intuition to a superpower, one that can be honed into a force for good. There are NYC-based artists like Braille and the musclecars duo, both with amazing new albums that will likely blow a few minds, both on the dancefloor and in one’s own headspace. There’s Richard Norris and Genesis P-Orridge, whose 1987 collaboration as Jack The Tab, ‘Acid Tablets Volume One, ’is credited by many as being the UK’s first ever acid house album. There’s even Wolfgang Tillman, the famed photographer who has sidelines in both creating electropop-ish gems and in DJing at clubs like Berlin’s Berghain. And of course, there’s tons of tech news, including a look at AlphaTheta’s new euphonia rotary mixer, and a slew of reviews, with a deep dive into one of the best 90 minutes of music that we’ve heard this year, Eris Drew’s ‘Raving Disco Breaks Volume II.’
Bruce Tantum
Editor