UK club music is a constantly mutating sound. It is shaped by the country’s pirate radio past, sound system culture and the restless energy of its dancefloors. It’s where Garage rubs shoulders with Techno. Where Jungle’s basslines echo through House grooves. And where Dancehall edits sit comfortably next to experimental percussive cuts. Because of this, club music is adaptive, ready to be shaped by legions of DJs, musicians and partygoers. Based in London, Mia Lily is one such DJ and musician pushing boundaries.
Having worked her way through the UK club and festival circuit, she recently released her debut EP Hydrated But Drunk. It is a project dipped in bass-driven, dubby and percussive blends of Trance, Techno, UKG, House and more. We asked Mia Lily to walk us through UK club music and its enduring impact over the years.
Hessle Audio – Issue 136 Cover Mix
This mix from record label Hessle Audio serves as a masterclass in the layering of UK club’s many pulse points. The founding trio of the label – Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea – deliver over two hours of music mined from the label’s 15-year catalogue. In that time, the label has released music by the likes of Anz, Shanti Celeste and the Co-Founders themselves. Their Crack Magazine mix presents a blueprint for how UK club culture can fuse bass-heavy depth, semi-industrial Techno sensibilities and Garage while pushing these sounds forward. It’s not about one sound. More how UK club music has been shaped by experimental, bass-oriented labels pushing at the boundaries.
Just Lil – Foundation FM Mix (Dec 24)
Here we have a DJ who is actively tapping into the cross-pollination zones of UK club. Dancehall shellers, Baltimore and Philly Club, UK Bass and high-energy edits. Just Lil has earned a reputation as an unpredictable DJ and producer, pushing out futuristic tracks and explosive mixes for radio. Her guest mix for Foundation FM speaks to the restless interlinking of sounds at the heart of UK club music. Not simply House or Garage, but those less-tamed intersections where club music borrows from Global Bass and other club traditions and turns it into something uniquely British. It’s absorbing!
Scuba + Boddika – Awakenings Festival 2016 (Day 2)
This back-to-back set at the Dutch festival Awakenings by selectors Scuba and Boddika – yet very much in dialogue with UK club sensibilities – is an intense ride through Techno, Acid, minimal and bass-driven drum sounds. Blending tunes by Josh Wink, Reeko, Truncate and others, the mix shows UK club’s willingness to reach into, and be influenced by, harder Techno and Acid territories. All while retaining that club-mindset: the importance of the dancefloor and its heavy low-end, often distorted edges.
Otik – On The Record #285
UK-based DJ and Rinse FM resident Otik is a disciple of UK club, serving this mix for Insomniac Radio’s ‘On The Record’ show. His contribution is a vivid illustration of UK club music’s Jungle-rooted, bass-led side. It emphasises the importance of Jungle and Drum & Bass to the history and sonic makeup of modern club music. But what Otik does amazingly is that he filters these genres through a more modern club lens: tight edits and unconventional structures. A perfect history lesson while displaying how past sounds can adapt to the present day.
Resident Advisor – RA.1000 Bicep
The one and only Bicep continue to shape UK dancefloors with every track and mix they put out. Their career and contributions are too long to get into here, but a recent feat was their mix for Resident Advisor’s series of mixes commemorating their 1000th mix. Bicep’s set points to when the sound, aesthetic and energy of UK club music step into larger venues – stadiums even – but still carry the DNA of the underground. Elements like arpeggiated synths and breakbeat influences are plastered all over this mix. It marks how UK club music has matured and scaled without losing sight of its roots.
Follow Mia Lily on Instagram and check out her new EP, Hydrated But Drunk, out now.