Welcome back to On Our Radar, Beatportal’s monthly roundup of the DJs and producers we can’t get enough of.
Check out the On Our Radar Beatport Chart to find tracks from the artists below, along with additional tunes that have caught our attention this month.
PACKED RICH
Every once in a while an artist comes along that stops us in our tracks, and Packed Rich is one of them. The German artist combines ‘90s jazz, funk and boom bap, with modern UK breakbeat to create a refreshing and indefinable sound. It all comes gushing out in one musical waterfall in his LP Warp Fields, a project that “depicts the journey of an individual traveling through a field of energy that connects different locations in space.” The album suspends time and transcends genres, with intentional errors and mismatched beats adding a touch of humanity to the project. It isn’t four-to-the-floor dance music, but it is a transcendent listening experience, and an LP of this caliber mustn’t fly under the radar.
TIGERHEAD
Listening to Tigerhead’s music is like taking a sledgehammer to the head. The artist’s unapologetic techno productions have a sense of emotional depth, which defies logic and unites dancefloors. Tigerhead’s sprinkled her head-spangling fairy dust across most of Germany’s underground institutions, including sets at Boiler Room in 2017, Hör Berlin in 2019 and regular appearances at://About Blank, Berghain, Griessmuehle as well as festivals across Europe. This May she makes her debut release on Amelie Lens’ Exhale imprint, with a track called “Looking Glass” that’ll leave you winded and delighted in equal measure. The release follows her 4-track EP Silk Road on HET Records, a project that lay the foundations for Tigerhead’s bright future. Don’t take your eyes off this one.
IN2STELLAR
Sarah Morgan and Georgia Bird are IN2STELLAR, an Aussie duo making waves down under, up over, sideways and diagonal. 2022 was a big year for the pair; they toured Australia and New Zealand and embarked on a mammoth 14-show tour of the UK and Europe, making friends and fans along the way. Their bass-heavy, house-happy DJ sets are just as charismatic as their productions. This month they released their EP IN2STELLAR on Phenomena Records, a four-track project full of big energy, fast BPM’s, and a hefty dose of banter. 2023 is all set to be a huge one for the artists, with a main stage set at Melbourne’s Pitch Music and Arts festival and another UK/EU tour lined up in August.
LE MOTEL
Earlier this year Brussels’ Le Motel released his four-track EP Kindness Weakness alongside Cardiff-based Nigerian poet Magugu, an artist who unifies Afrobeat, dancehall, grime and drum ’n’ Bass while rapping in Pidgin, an English-based creole language. Le Motel is a producer and film composer who’s music glides effortlessly between electronica, UKG, breaks and trap. This isn’t the dream team’s first collaboration – in 2021 they released their single “Shoalin,” a slow-moving breakbeat/electronica track with a laid-back beat juxtaposed by Magugu’s raw bars. Kindness Weakness follows a similar trajectory, with Le Motel’s stripped-back style amplifying Magugu’s spitfire vocals. Le Motel’s imprint, Maloca Records, champions international artists across multiple genres, including Nick León, OMAAR, DJ JM, Dengue Dengue Dengue, Coen, DJ N.K. and Tsongo. Up next on the label is a sweet summer anthem from Le Motel and vocal collaborator Clara! titled “Su Boca, Su Sabor” — set to drop on May 26th.
PAURRO
SOS Music’s latest release comes from Mexico City’s Paurro in the form of Onna-Bugeisha – the artist’s most ambitious project to date. The EP explores narratives surrounding female warriors and forgotten women in history, with the first single, “Naginata / Sable” acting as a kaleidoscopic deep house production that showcases the colour and personality of the artist’s production style. It sets the tone for the rest of the EP with four more tracks as eclectic as they are unique. The EP got its title from a term that refers to female samurai warriors in pre-modern Japan whose legacy was erased from history as a result of their gender. This EP, set to drop this June, reclaims their story and paves the way for other women to tell theirs.
YUBIK
Over the last few years, Yubik has made a big impact on dance music in his hometown Munich and beyond. The artist produces techno on his own terms, with releases on some of the world’s most influential imprints, including Afterlife, ATLANT and Stil vor Talent. His productions have won play-outs from Tale Of Us, Solomun, Adriatique, Agents Of Time, and next up on the Yubik agenda is a remix for Spanish producer Enai’s track “Ira,” which came out on the ATLANT imprint in April. This followed his acclaimed EP Delusions are Inexhaustible on the same imprint, which saw support and playouts from the world’s leading DJs. And there’s so much more to come – Yubik has a packed summer of festivals lined up and even more releases, remixes and collaborations up his sleeve.
Learn more about our previous On Our Radar artists from this year:
April 2023: Azzecca, GHSTGHSTGHST, Tony Y Not, E-Unity, Willo, &friends
March 2023: Anna Kost, Sensu, Zaida Zane, Luxe, Mha Iri, Pretty Girl
February 2023: Black Forces, RaeCola, Salome Le Chat, Close Counters, Angel D’Lite, Lawrence Hart
January 2023: Drumskull, Dasco, Calussa, Jenn Getz & Alfie, Eli Fola, Uncle Knows
