Best DJs 2019: Ones to watch out for this year in London

If you're into clubbing, it’s time to look ahead to the shape of things to come in London.

This year promises to be an incredible one, with a forward-thinking, genre-defying, inclusive array of producers and selectors set to dominate clubland in 2019.

From 2018’s stars who are poised to launch into new, exciting directions this year, to those who will surely blow up over the next 12 months, these are the DJs that need to be at the top of your to-see list. Not all have confirmed dates for London just yet, but we're sure they'll all appear in the capital at some point — we have included details of any concrete gigs, though.

If 2018 was the year that Amelie Lens went global, 2019 might just be the year she blasts off into space. Belgium’s most exciting dance music export for years, Lens has worked harder than anyone should fairly be expected to, with an unrelenting tour schedule that took her from Fabric to DC-10, by way of Brazil, Lebanon and countless stops in between — not to mention her sell-out smash at Belgium’s best known club, Fuse. This year, she’s already locked in for some big sets, taking her fierce, acid-leaning techno to Coachella, Sonar and Boomtown. If you haven’t seen her already, make sure she’s firmly at the top of your to-see list in 2019.

Peach is predictably unpredictable. The rising London-based artist is a ludicrously dextrous DJ, as comfortable dropping dancefloor-slaying house bangers as she is weaving an emo track into a chill-out set (check out this video if you don’t believe us on that last one). She’s played on the same bill as some pretty big names last year — she joined Ben UFO for a night during his XOYO residency, played alongside Jon Hopkins at Phonox and even went b2b with Midland at 24 Kitchen Street in Liverpool — and in every case has come close to stealing the whole show.

Where to see Peach in London

After three years in London, Violet returned to her native Portugal in 2016. She has spent much of her time since trying boost inclusivity within Lisbon’s clubbing scene and, by and large, she’s succeeding. The queer party she helped launch, Mina, has become hugely popular, while she’s shone a light on women and LGBTQ+ artists through her Naive record label and Radio Quantica station. Her revitalisation of the scene has not gone unnoticed farther afield and, coupled with her superb skill as a multifaceted DJ, helped her land some huge gigs in 2018, playing at both Tresor and Panorama Bar in Berlin, as well as Dalston Superstore and Corsica Studios back in London.

Where to see Violet in London

One of the more mind-bending producers on this list is Textasy. The Texas-born, Berlin-based producer has carved a niche for himself over the last couple of years with his spiky ghetto house cuts and 90s-rave-referencing electro. It may sound hard-hitting — and it is — but the music is never without a smirk, sampling everyone from Death Grips to Spandau Ballet. We’re entirely clueless as to what he’s going to do next, both musically and in terms of touring — he only played once in London last year and has no dates in the capital set for this year — but he if does appear, it’s going to be unmissable.

Occupying the misty, uncertain spaces in the outer reaches of techno, and not afraid to venture much further outwards, object blue is another producer and DJ who forged her own path in 2018. Her music is experimental, which is all too often a byword for “dancefloor-clearing”, but that certainly isn’t the case here. She’s been blowing up the airwaves with her excellent Rinse FM residency, and played some huge London gigs last year — none larger than at Printworks in November alongside Ben UFO, Nina Kraviz and Mount Kimbie.