Salute

House

salute feels like one of the clearest examples of an artist taking UK club music’s emotional side seriously without losing the actual rush of the dancefloor. The Vienna-born, Manchester-based producer pulls from garage, house, breakbeat, French touch, soul, and pop songwriting, but the thing that makes the project land is how all of that gets folded into something that feels bright, yearning, and genuinely alive rather than overly polished or purely functional. There is usually a lot of uplift in the music — big chords, movement, warmth, and a kind of romantic momentum — but it still has enough bounce and rhythmic sharpness to work in real club settings. That balance is why salute has become such an important name in the newer wave of melodic, rave-leaning dance music: they make records that feel colorful and emotional without losing groove, and their whole world carries a sense of joy that feels earned rather than forced.

Stacey Pullen

Techno

Stacey Pullen is a Detroit techno artist and one of the definitive figures of the city's second wave, having come up under the mentorship of Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson. Recording as Kosmic Messenger and Silent Phase, he built a catalogue of atmospheric, hypnotic techno through the 1990s, with releases on Transmat and his own Blackflag Recordings, which he founded in 1998 around the club staple Sweat. His longer works include the album Todayisthetomorrowyouwerepromised (2001) and the mix compilation Balance 028 (2015). A fixture of Movement Detroit and festival lineups worldwide, he has remained one of techno's most in demand touring DJs for three decades. His sets fuse the soul and futurism of classic Detroit with a relentless dancefloor drive. Pullen continues to release music and tour internationally from his Detroit base.