Inspires: the evolution of electronic music
Synth-pop. Bleep techno. Bassline.
Sheffield is a global pioneer of electronic music.
From the innovators who shaped entire scenes to sounds heard around the world, Sheffield's influence continues to resonate far beyond South Yorkshire.
Watch our new documentary - From The Ground Up
As part of Sheffield Inspires, Marketing Sheffield commissioned filmmaker Jordan Carroll to explore the story of Sheffield's pioneering past.
Through conversations with some of the people who have played a pivotal role in the evolution of electronic music, From the Ground Up celebrates Sheffield's lasting impact on a genre that changed music forever.
Detroit. Berlin. London. Chicago. Barcelona. And Sheffield.
Electronic music is a global phenomenon, with a market worth billions (valued at $11.8b, according to an IMS report in 2023) and a cultural influence that reaches every corner of the world.
Yet few cities have had as much impact on its evolution as Sheffield.
From the late 1970s onwards, Sheffield became a laboratory for new sounds. Inspired by artists such as Kraftwerk and Brian Eno, pioneering acts including The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17 helped redefine popular music through synthesisers, experimentation and innovation.
The influence of Sheffield's electronic music pioneers continued to shape the genre for decades that followed, inspiring artists, producers and scenes around the world. Today, Sheffield remains a centre for experimentation and innovation.
Home to internationally respected festivals, record labels, artists, producers and creative communities, Sheffield remains a place where electronic music evolves, innovates and inspires audiences around the world.
Sheffield's legacy in electronic music
The pioneering city of electronic music
There are few cities in the world as synonymous with electronic music as Sheffield. For half a century the city has been producing a steady stream of game-changing music that has gone on to impact and shape the way electronic music sounds all across the world.
Liam O'Shea, No Bounds Festival
Liam has been embedded into the musical fabric of Sheffield since he arrived in the city in 1991.
A new musical language
Electronic sounds have been a feature of pop music since as far back as the Monkees and the Beatles, and Cabaret Voltaire, ABC, The Human League and Heaven 17 went on to be at the forefront of pioneering them in the 70s and beyond.
But the evolution of these sounds - through house and techno, honed in the USA, trance, drum 'n' bass and garage in the UK, bleep and bass and more, continues to shift and influence the mainstream pop artists.
Underneath it all there is always progress and inventive ways of creating new audio experiences, and Sheffield's Alex McLean is one of those people. He pioneered Algorave - a live coding and rave music experience that can be found in cities all over the world, and has been covered by organisations like SXSW.
He has also invented Tidal Cycles, which is another form of live coding approach to music, and is leading to new interpretations on old genres by experimental artists, such as Porter Brook, a 24 year old producer named after one of Sheffield's 5 rivers, and Lucy Cheesman who inspired the creation of, and helped set up, SONA - a network supporting women in digital sound and experimentalism in Sheffield.
image: hellocatfood / Antonio Roberts
Studio Electrophonique to Warp to Gatecrasher
Despite these three legacy, heavyweight names of the UK electronic music scene, Sheffield has never quite had the credit it deserves in the genre as an inspiration of what has followed, even though people like Moloko's Róisín Murphy have always championed the Sheffield spirit.
Thankfully there are publications out there telling the stories. There's a great documentary about the story of Ken Patten and his makeshift home recording studio in a suburb of Sheffield which spawned a generation of inspiration, which is also covered in a book by Jamie Taylor due to be published in April 2025, and has been featured by the BBC.
Similarly, 'Out of Space' charts the influence of cities on the UK rave scene, and as this excerpt from it in Huck magazine shows, there's still so much happening despite the loss of Warp, Gatecrasher - and even now, most recently, Hope Works.
LFO's 'Freak' & Enter The Void
LFO were part of the Warp label that rocket-launched Sheffield's electronic scene and the genre as a whole.
Though authors of many tracks, perhaps most notably they created a techno classic that has inspired countless future tracks, with 'Freak' widely considered to be one of the most genre defining tracks of its type in the last 20 years.
Originally released on August 25th, 2003, it was used to obliterating effect by the acclaimed and provocative film director Gaspar Noé in his 2009 film 'Enter The Void' by sequencing the end credits to the hectic beat and bleeps of the song. This video is the segment of those credits - please be aware it contains multiple flashing images.
Current & future pioneers
Watch out for these Sheffield names... you might know some, and not others, but you can be sure they are inspiring the future of the electronic music world, because somehow this city is always at the forefront of this huge global scene.
Gut Level
Grassroots & community
Gut Level have been firmly putting Sheffield's electronic scene back on the map, by hosting everything from synthesizer workshops to some of the most infamous parties of recent years.
There's even been a documentary film created about their journey by none other than Giles Peterson, and they've been covered in Mixmag too.
No Bounds Festival
Award winning & genre defying
No Bounds is un-definable, but at it's heart, it is a festival that focuses on electronic music, arts, culture, and wellbeing.
It takes over all sorts of spaces in the city, from warehouses to woodland centres, and it features some of the most incredible performances from new pioneers of the genre like Rian Treanor, to oldheads like The Black Dog.
It has won DJ Mag's Best Boutique Festival 2 years in a row (2019 and 2022) and received mainstream praise from media outlets from the Guardian to Rolling Stone Italia.
FORGE Warehouse
A Pioneering music and cultural space
An exciting music space and cultural hub that is a stone's throw from the heart of the centre of Sheffield, FORGE is a repurposed Victorian steel forge that has been renovated into an immersive warehouse and multi-purpose events space that hosts an eclectic programme of global and local acts, events and experiences.
Working closely with Pioneer Audio, the FORGE sound system is an industry leading install, utilising their latest XY series cabinets and subs, and it's as adept for bass heavy club music as it is for live bands.The steel columns, tracks and architecture of the internal building once used for cranes have been impeccably mapped with a unique LED system that races around the space to intensify the atmosphere.
TeeDee
Bassline in the blood
Just a guy from Parson Cross in Sheffield who started out making rap beats, TeeDee is most famous for 'Love Me', which reached over 30 million streams. He is now working his way through the electronic music scene across many genres, collaborating with the likes of Bugzy Malone, Vybz Kartel and James Hype.
He's part of the Zero Eleven Four Music Group based in Sheffield, founded and managed by Omar Khan (who was heavily involved in the MOBO Awards fringe when Sheffield hosted in 2024). Read a full interview in Sheffield's Exposed magazine here (image also from Exposed).
96Back
Genre defying artist, DJ & producer
96Back has hugely expanded his abilities by working on his own music and in collaboration with other artists pushing boundaries, such as Iceboy Violet, Skee Mask and Cadence Weapon.
It's no surprise he's pioneering things when you consider his dad was one of the organisers of the iconic Jive Turkey nights which put Sheffield on the map for electronic music back in the 1980s.
He recently had the honour of featuring on back to back 'artist in residence' Autechre mixes for BBC 6 Music, and we are delighted that he has composed and produced a couple of tracks for Sheffield - one for a city breaks video and campaign, and another one for this Sheffield Inspires work with Rob Lee. Image by Misha Warren.
Self Esteem
Art-pop & a dash of electronic
Self Esteem, born in between Rotherham and Sheffield, has been one of a long line of artists from South Yorkshire to hit mainstream success.
Her music is broad and varied, sometimes with acapellas and sometimes with bold electronic guitars, but you'll often find the production and writing takes inspiration from electronic sources. This has helped form some of the unique art pop styling she has become synonymous with.
Johan 'Hugo' Karlberg has worked with her on both her albums to date, and helped create the link to the Moonchild Sanelly collaboration produced by Skream.
Rian Treanor
Making music nobody else is thinking of
Another artist from Rotherham but with firm links to Sheffield through his No Bounds residency, Rian Treanor is the son of acclaimed artist Mark Fell, and is a bit of an enigma.
His recent collaboration with Cara Tolmie, performed live at No Bounds '24, was mind-bendingly original, as his electronic rhythms fused perfectly with Cara's organic vocal exploration.
His most recent work - Cumulative Entanglement, with Rotherham Sight & Sound to develop new and innovative musical devices, designed specifically for people with visual impairments - has been described by Boomkat as "one of the most unexpectedly brilliant and boundary shattering sides of the year, not to be missed by any self-respecting follower of the future or hyper present."
Big Ang
The Queen of Bassline
This is not a term that Mixmag throw around lightly, but it's heavily deserved when you've been serving the electronic music industry as long as Big Ang.
Her sets around the city's clubs are legendary, as are her festival performances at events such as Bassfest, so it's undeniable that she has inspired many a young clubber who has gone on to etch their own groove in music.
Silva Bumpa
One to watch
Possibly the newest in this list, Silva Bumpa is another young DJ and producer making waves outside the Sheffield scene, with his mash up of genres and styles across breaks, house, garage and more.
With new releases set to drop in 2025, he could be one name that will also go on to inspire others, having drawn inspiration from so many others before him - as this interview in DJ Mag covers.
Toddla T
Multi-discipline musician
Known for his prolific output, production, remixes and championing black musicians, this Sheffielder has risen to fame through his work and projects like the Steeze Factory - and of course, married to Annie Mac, he's never far from all forms of electronic music. He's never far from his Sheffield roots, and you'll often see themes of the city present included in his work (especially his beloved Blades).
Blawan
Perfectionist producer
Blawan was born in Doncaster, grew up in Barnsley's, honed his DJ and production skills in and around South Yorkshire from around 2010, and is heralded by artists as broad as Berlin's famous Surgeon, and Sheffield's own godfathers of techno, the Black Dog. He's remixed Radiohead, fawned over by critics, and constantly reinventing genres to craft his own sound. Long time resident of Hope Works and No Bounds, he's still part of the furniture round here.
image from Resident Advisor.
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