Music
Top 10 Best Boiler Room Sets
Get in the mood for dancing with some of the finest moments from the Boiler Room.
Canblaster and Asma
© Dan Wilton/Red Bull Media House
In just three years, the Boiler Room has become part of the fabric of underground dance music. Like all the best ideas, it’s a simple one: put a DJ in front of a small crowd and broadcast the results live online. Since its earliest informal broadcasts it has grown into a bona fide international media empire, broadcasting from around the world.
In the process, Boiler Room has launched and re-launched careers, helped encapsulate emerging sounds and, above all, proven which artists can do the business when put on the spot. Here are the best moments...
Skream b2b Disclosure, London, November 2012
Here, Disclosure are on the verge of tearing into the heart of the mainstream and Skream is just starting to pull away from dubstep into disco/house. What better combination, then, to take the Boiler Room out of basements and clubs and into a decadent London hotel suite?
Samiyam, Los Angeles, July 2012
There have been some mighty live sets in the Boiler Room – Carl Craig, AraabMUZIK, Jon Hopkins – but this is the winner. Los Angeles local Samiyam triggers standard hip-hop samples so fluidly and trippily that the sound becomes utterly immersive.
Thom Yorke, London, October 2011
The Radiohead frontman isn't much of a technically skilled DJ. But damn, he knows his tunes. His session to launch his band’s remix album featured Jamie xx, Caribou and Lone – but his own set was full of "WTF was that tune?" moments, especially as he headed into bleak electronica.
Theo Parrish, London, October 2010
Early in the Boiler Room’s history, when it still felt like a pirate station filmed in a secret warehouse in east London, this set cemented their reputation as somewhere to hear quality dance music from new tastemakers and certified legends alike. Here Theo keeps it ultra-tight.
Nina Kraviz, Berlin, February 2013
The sight and sound of a DJ effortlessly stepping up to the global premier league. This one comes from a glitzy Berlin club, and Nina sips champagne with panache throughout. Yet she also weaves together some of the most warped, atonal techno and head-wrecking acid classics you could hope to hear.
DJ EZ, London, December 2012
This RBMA-curated grime and garage session is one of the most talked-about Boiler Room sessions of all time, and EZ caps it off with UKG classics and CDJ skills that kick through the boundary between DJing and live performance.
Mark Ronson, London, July 2013
Forget what you know about Mark Ronson, the superstar producer, and remember that he was a DJ before all else and has lived and breathed hip-hop since his childhood. Turn the visuals off, and this is as good an up-to-date hip-hop set as you’ll hear this year.
Move D b2b Optimo, London, January 2013
Twitch & Wilkes of Glasgow’s Optimo and David ‘Move D’ Moufang are three veterans in the game and were given three hours to stretch out and enjoy themselves. Every flavour of four-to-the-floor is here, from hazy and spacey to spiky and punky.
Mr G, London, October 2012
Another dance music veteran given a boost by his endlessly watchable session. Mr G pushed the levels of his Detroit/Chicago grooves into the red, distorting everything but never losing the groove – as his own dancing shows. We challenge you to find anyone who embodies his own music as much as Mr G.
Heidi, London, July 2013
Canadian house champion Heidi turns the session into a proper party. Non-stop house music at its jacking and most joyful, a hostess with the mostest, and Prince's Controversy as the finale equals pure party perfection.
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