Dazed 100 members Acyde and Morgan predict the homegrown faces making musical waves in the capital next year
When Acyde and Morgan Zarate released their pan-global debut Kara in October it was only the beginning of We Are Shining’s impressive journey. With complex sonics and a whole new kind of psych-inspired, soul-rooted and voodoo D’n’B leaning experimentalism. Next year promises to be even more exciting for the Kanye West and FKA twigs collaborators and Dazed 100 stars, who are currently prepping their shape-shifting live show. “Part of what we do is about presenting it live and we haven’t had a chance to do that properly yet – so we’re really looking forward to that,” Acyde explains to us. Based in London, here are the fellow capital-dwelling acts the duo are tipping for big things in 2015.
He’s part of the Boy Better Know camp, which is Skepta and JME and those guys. I guess grime has had a resurgence – but it never really went away, none of those people stopped making music – but people are getting excited about it again. Fris has put out music already but I don’t think he’s had his moment in the sun as a solo artist. I’ve heard some new stuff that he’s done that’s got me really excited. I think he’s going to have really big 2015. He’s continuing what Skepta and Wiley have been doing for over a decade. What’s really interesting is that they’re not embarrassed to admit the influence of US rap, but at the same time it still sounds very UK. They’re international artists now, whereas 10 years ago a lot of them didn’t feel like they’d go further than Bethnal Green.
He’s another producer, a young beat maker based in East London. I actually met him before I heard his music on the day of his graduation! I was DJing somewhere and he showed up. We got talking and we kept mentioning the same music. I was really intrigued because we definitely had something in common. Then I went and checked out his stuff and it’s really cool. He’s really good friends with Archy of King Krule and he’s also doing stuff with Young Turks and has produced stuff for Ratking. He works a lot with rap artists doing his London beats thing, but is influenced by so many different things. I feel the British hip-hop generation kids are taking it a bit further than what’s been going on in America at the moment.
MALLiE plays piano and sounds like Dusty Springfield. Her voice just really struck us – it’s timeless. It sounds like it could be from right now or 1967 – it’s a quite unique spirit that she has. We’re working with her on some music that she’ll have out in 2015. She’s in her early 20s but grew up in South Africa, she’s a bit of a traveller and quite nomadic, but she’s finally settled down in London. What we’re trying to do is take some time and create a record that supports her voice rather than just giving her music that anyone could sing, because there’s a lot of that in the charts. We’re trying to hone in on what her voice is about.
He’s a grime-inspired producer and a really interesting sonic artist. There’s a lot of people making music nowadays and I find there’s a bit of a formula to it all, whereas the stuff does he does actually stand out in terms of texture and the boldness of the sound and the rhythm. I found out about him through Morgan, who’s done records on Hyperdub, so he keeps his eye on the instrumental beats producers scene more than I do. From all the music I’ve heard on YouTube – and there’s a couple of EPs floating about – I think he’s going to do something really brave and new in the next few months.