dancefloor

In 2016 the singer Sam Smith made a gaffe that became a huge international incident. Accepting an Oscar for Writing’s on the Wall, a Bond theme tune from the previous year, Smith suggested that the win was a first for an openly gay creative, before dedicating the gong to “the LBGT community around the world”. Smith was factually incorrect – there had been previous out winners – and the singer spent time on Twitter humbly backpedalling.Fast-forward to 2023 and two sample-filled parentheses on the artist’s fourth album,…

Over just 90 seconds, the theme song to season two of hit TV show the White Lotus manages to cram in a chaotic list of sounds: a beatific harp intro, haunting strains of opera, a chorus of yodels – and that famous EDM breakdown.It has spawned thousands of TikToks, many impassioned arguments against the “skip intro” button, and at least one house remix.And now, it has become a dancefloor staple.For weeks, users on social media have been sharing footage of the Emmy award-winning show’s theme song playing in festivals and…

Witnessing the Chicago DJ Honey Dijon behind the decks can be as close to a spiritual experience as you can get on the dancefloor. Trading in the four-to-the-floor kick drum that provides the aortic pulse to house music, Dijon’s mid-tempo sets conduct her crowds perfectly from tantalising buildups to scattered breakdowns and communal euphoria as her soaring melodies kick in. Her debut album, 2017’s Best of Both Worlds, played as a rousing microcosm of these multihour sets, and in the years since its release, Dijon has…

Australia’s DJs, producers and uncredited ghostwriters have an uncanny knack for delivering bangers on the regular, from acid techno freakouts to tribal house workouts and beyond. Anthem status, however, is not so easily attained. The main prerequisite? A big, belt it out at the top of your lungs vocal hook, or a chorus you might see a burly tradie mouthing the words to in the condiments aisle.This all means that furious chinstroking over whether Lydian & The Dinosaur or Fasten Your Seatbelt best represents Australian…