10) Tchami
I know, I know, you’ve actually heard of Tchami before – that’s why he’s only the first entry. To be fair, though, he retains an undeniable measure of hipster appeal for one simple reason: He made future house before future house was cool.
Well ahead of the time that artists like Oliver Heldens “jacked his style,” as he put it in an angry tweet, Tchami incorporated elements of ‘90s UK garage with the FQ sequencing methods that yield the metallic hum that is one of the most sought-after sounds in electronic music.
If his latest Confessions podcast was any indicator, you can expect the most current bass house and G house tracks to find their way into his set.
9) Amine Edge & DANCE
Another act who did a thing before that thing was a thing is Amine Edge & DANCE, and in this case the thing in question was G house. Before the hip-hop-infused style of the four-four phenomenon was ever adopted by the likes of Rob Made and Thee Cool Cats, what the French duo termed G house was almost like ‘90s-era hip-house or first-wave Detroit techno.
Even as the style has evolved, though, Amine Edge & DANCE have stuck to their guns and continued to release what I suppose you could call “proto G house” at a rate that makes you wonder how they still have time to tour as much as they do.
8) Sasha
Once upon a time, Sasha & Digweed were to progressive house what… Well, what Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike are to progressive house now that it’s been disfigured and corporatized beyond recognition by the contemporary EDM movement.
Famous for their back-to-back sets at the English nightclub Renaissance in the ‘90s, the former duo popularized the driving, world music-colored grooves that would come to define an era of electronic music.
In recent years, John Digweed is the half of the now defunct duo that’s seeing more success – so even though he’s also on the lineup, you have to go see Sasha instead because he’s more underground.
Come on, that’s Hipsterism 101.
