FUNK THE SYSTEM: Ciel

Ciel is a Xi’an-born and Toronto-based music producer, DJ, pianist, and radio programmer.

Since throwing her first party in 2015 and putting out her stellar debut EP, Electrical Encounters, on Peach Discs two years later, the Xi’an, China-born and Toronto, Canada- based Ciel has blazed a path as one of the hardest-working and most innovative artists in electronic music. Solo production highlights since Electrical Encounters include Hundred Flowers on Coastal Haze, Why Me? on Ghostly’s Spectral Sound, Orlando on !K7 Records, Ecstatic Editions vol. 1, the premiere release on Eris Drew’s vinyl-only label, and her pièce de résistance; the 2023 debut album Homesick, which she toured live internationally in 2024. Collaboratively, Ciel’s efforts are just as impressive, from the intricate, delicate Free EP with Kilig to the subterranean, propulsive Lunagenesis with Priori as Loopchasers. Excursions in bass and breaks with Dan Only as Cloudsteppers and murky, doofy cuts with CCL (on Tilda’s Goat Stare) and D.Tiffany (as Psychedelic Budz) further demonstrate Ciel’s versatility and seemingly boundless imagination, as do inventive remixes for the likes of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Jacques Greene, Seb Wildblood, Off the Meds and Adam Pits. An adventurous selector adept at stitching together disparate styles and genres, Ciel has played at some of the world’s most celebrated venues including fabric, Robert Johnson, De School, Hot Mass, Smartbar, Berghain Panorama Bar and Nowadays, and at beloved festivals such as Draaimolen, Dimensions, Movement Detroit and MUTEK. A typical DJ set might move through dreamy downtempo, wiggly tech house, psychedelic techno, UK bass, slamming speed garage, and hardgroove to work through a diverse range of dancefloors and moods, from deep and trippy to unabashedly euphoric. Community-minded and deeply principled, Ciel has always supported and promoted colleagues and causes she believes in and is currently organizing with Toronto’s chapter of Writers Against the War on Gaza. An outspoken advocate for equity and social justice in electronic music, her values are inextricable from her work as a producer, DJ, label boss and radio host, a quality that endears her to like-minded fans and artists all over the world.

Website · Instagram · Bandcamp · Soundcloud

Residencies: La Cheetah ( club serotone ) Released on: MakeArtElectronic, BamTrax, Verdant Recordings, Alt Dub

Glasgow’s west end-raised duo Thomas + James are part of a new generation shaping the city’s evolving club sound. Deeply influenced by the legacy of spaces like Sub Club and The Arches, their approach is rooted in patience, atmosphere and the art of the warm-up. Drawing on the minimal, driving foundations of techno pioneers alongside the immersive textures of ’90s drum & bass and deep house, they craft a sound that sits between dub techno, minimal and deep house, with clear inspiration from selectors such as Andrey Pushkarev, Ogazon, Apollonia and Priku. Their sets focus on slow-building grooves, subtle progression and spacious, dub-infused textures — designed to guide a room rather than rush it.

Instagram · Bandcamp · Soundcloud