On Thursday, March 21st, we threw a party at Venue MOT Unit 18 in London, in collaboration with Nike, that featured Peggy Gou alongside three of the UK's most exciting young DJs. Here, you can read more about those three DJs—Danielle, FAUZIA and IMOGEN—while listening to recordings of their Lift LDN sets.

Fauzia

A London artist helping to revitalize the 160 BPM scene.

Things have come together quickly for FAUZIA. She studied music production in Brighton until last year. Once she graduated, she was ready for a break from working to a brief and turned her creativity to DJing. Less than a year later, she's landed a slot on NTS, gigged all over London and launched her own party.

"My first NTS shows were literally all footwork," she says, "but I've been fortunate to invite guests who opened my eyes to different genres. When I did a show with Ikonika and Scratcha DVA, they played a lot of gqom. Watching them intertwine it with other genres made me think, 'This is really sick. I want to do something like this.'"

Now FAUZIA is bringing her open-minded attitude to her SHOOK parties. The first edition took place on her birthday last October, at The Yard theatre in Hackney Wick, and featured Kode9, L U C Y and Sherelle. Maverick junglist Sully is headlining the next instalment, but the focus is likely to be on the debut club set from 6 Figure Gang. The recently formed supergroup is made up of FAUZIA, Sherelle, L U C Y, Jossy Mitsu, Yazzus and Dobby—all wildly exciting DJs and producers carving out their own distinctive paths between footwork, grime, jungle, dubstep, gqom and any other bass-led bruk business they care to throw into the blender. Following a clutch of Rinse FM shows, anticipation for their first outing is intense.

"We're all female, all from London, all young and upcoming," says FAUZIA. "It's hard as it is to be a female DJ, and some DJs see it as a competition. What's good about 6 Figure Gang is we all have our own identities, but when we come together we all uplift each other."

IMOGEN

A rising artist pushing pitch black, peak-time techno.

Few DJs can count Berghain's Saule among their first ever gigs, but IMOGEN has conquered that and many other key spots since emerging into the European techno scene. She quickly hit her stride when she moved to London, forging significant connections and building a sonic identity focused on bass-heavy UK techno.

"I like to dance when I go out," she explains, "and I'm always trying to approach my DJing from a raver's point of view, so I naturally play more energetic music. I prefer tracks that are heavy on the drums, and distorted, saturated sounds. I actually find it quite hard to find tracks I want to play out, but I know straight away if I hear one little noise that fits with my sound."

IMOGEN's DJing exists in tandem with her productions, and the first glimpses of her music have have gotten some well-deserved attention. She debuted on a compilation EP for Sunil Sharpe's Earwiggle label, and last year the fiercely modern "Katla" appeared on Mumdance's Shared Meanings.

"I've always been a big fan of Sunil," says IMOGEN. "I was watching him playing live at Corsica [Studios], and I remember thinking, 'I need to send him my tracks,' so I did it while I was there. When I woke up the next day he'd replied saying, 'I love this track, I want to sign it!'"

IMOGEN's forthright attitude and razor-sharp take on techno has served her well. After a breakthrough 2018 she's looking ahead to another busy summer of festivals including Dimensions, Baltic Weekender and inner city electronic. Watch out for the announcement of some major releases too, which will help cement IMOGEN's presence in techno's next generation.

Danielle

An adventurous selector with roots in Bristol and London's Phonica.

Danielle's mixes and radio shows are always full of surprises. She has a habit of leading unsuspecting listeners into experimental pastures nestled amongst more pronounced beats. From grainy textures to smudged out stopgaps, Her skill lies in delivering these unexpected moments as a natural part of her musical narrative.

"I'm always used to doing warm-ups and starting to an empty room," she says, "so I like building up and playing weird stuff. Working in a record shop for ten years, it would be strange if I didn't have a really broad taste in different sorts of dance music."

Regular shifts at Phonica Records in London will teach anyone a lot about music. Danielle started working Saturdays at the highly regarded Soho shop when she was 18, and held the job down even after moving to Bristol four years ago. She only left in January, when her gig schedule found her booking off more days than she could work. Meanwhile, she got her own slot on NTS off the back of a guest appearance on Livity Sound's show, which has helped fuel a promising run of gigs through 2019.

She may have grown up in London, but Danielle's sound is rooted in her second home. "I definitely think I have a Bristol sound," she admits. "Jake (Hodge), Omar (Batu) and Larry (Bruce) are sending me tunes all the time and we play together sometimes, so it's just natural for that to happen."

In Danielle's capable hands, bass-pulsing tension makes as much sense as angular techno abstractions. In the coming months she'll get the chance to take her canny blend of club and experimental music to some very interesting clubs. From headlining Golden Püdel to playing Circoloco with Courtesy and Or:la, there are some big moments on the horizon for Danielle this year.