Our clubbing editor Tomas olesen pulls out his crystal ball and looks ahead to 2011.
Contrary to popular belief I can't see in to the future, if I could I'd be sunning myself on a beach somewhere spunking my lottery winnings on loose cars and fast women (as you'll notice I've never been that good with my money). But nonetheless here are my semi-educated guesses at what will be big in London clubbing in 2011.
I suspect that the move towards unusual or pop-up venues in London clubbing will continue apace in 2011. Counter Culture proved how good temporary venues can be with some good programming and a decent soundsystem. With the spiral of poverty and degradation that looks to be what we have to look forward to in our near future, squat parties like this year's infamous Scumoween will be on the rise too. Dubstep will continue to be the sound of teenage birthday parties and therefore continue to dominate the clubbing landscape. I think UK funky will fizzle out unless it comes up with some new ideas fast. I love the skippy 2 step beat but there's a lot of really mediocre stuff coming out. I suspect that house will continue to suck in influence from tropical climes but be more stripped down and bleepy whilst drum n bass will continue to be dominated by the big Hospitality type stuff. What I'd like to see happen is the jungle renaissance that has been threatening for a while actually materialise as 'future jungle', 'forest', or something equally badly named. There is a lot to be said for the slower bpm of jungle and lack of midrange which gives so much more space than one finds in most modern DnB. Trance and electro will still be the big stadium sound with the likes of Tiesto, Deadmaus and Fedde continuing to rule the world. All in all I'm looking forward to 2011, it's got all the hallmarks of being a great year for music. Poverty, unemployment, unpopular politics, and angry young people are almost always a good thing for music, besides if the Mayans are right we've only got until 2012 before the end of the world anyway so we should probably make the most of it.
Here are a tiny selection of people I think deserve to be making waves in 2011, and yes I've deliberately avoided mentioning James Blake and the like, deal with it!
Ayah Marar
At one time a drum n bass MC, the half Jordanian singer has one of my favourite singing voices ever. She spent much of last year touring with Calvin Harris and has just finished her first album which I was privileged enough to get to listen to recently. 2011 look like being a big year for Ayah Marar.
Engine Earz
Live dubstep bands aren't new, Spoonfed favourites Zej do it better than most, but Prashant and co. have something very special going on and with people like Lena Cullen and Jenna G providing vocals it's got massive success written all over it.
Gentleman's Dub Club
For a band who've never released an album these guys have a phenomenal following and its due to one thing, an absolutely killer live show. If you go and see them live and you don't dance your arse off you probably need a combined trip to the otologist, optician, and a shrink.
Hylu and Jago
Sometimes just the two of them, sometimes with help from the likes of Only Joe, always 100% dope. They've been on their grind for a while now but I feel like this is going to be a breakout year for them and it's well deserved.
Joe Driscoll
You could argue that getting his tune on a Nokia advert last year (the one with the harmonica beatbox) made 2010 his year but the one man band from Brooklyn has a new solo album and another with a virtuoso kora player coming out in 2011. I've heard both and he deserves to be a household name off the back of them, brilliant stuff.
Ladybugz
The all female DJ crew are flipping great and play everything from broken beats and disco, to hip hop and bashment, expect to see a lot more of them in 2011.
Night Slugs
I've prattled on about Night Slugs a lot this year but I suspect that next year will be when Bok Bok and L Vis 1990's fledgling label, club night, and the roster of talent they support, breaks through from kings of the underground in to superstar territory.
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