1. The history of the smiley face
Columnist Michaelangelo Matos returns with a look at the history of the smiley face in rave culture for his regular column, Off the Record.
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2. Nils Frahm’s Xmas Mix
“Every year a little bit cheesier, sweeter, cracklier, never banal but smooth as always,” Frahm says about his annual mix. This year, he includes selections from Billie Holliday, Miles Davis, and Beethoven, among others.
3. Vogueing and Texas
In the gorgeous feature, writer Dan Gentile spends a night out in Texas’ underground vogue scene.
4. Smalltown DJs Best of 2016 mix
Here hot tunes from throughout the year, featuring Romare, Jamie xx and Sampha.
5. Tom of Finland, Club Culture Hero
Our Josh Baines interviews DJ Hell about the infamous art work of Tom of Finland.
6. Bonobo on NTS
Besides featuring tracks from Clark, The Field and Shigeto, Bonobo also shares a number of unreleased tracks of his own. “I found these tunes that I made circa 1999 when I was making Animal Magic. They’ve never been heard before and none of them have names,” he said.
7. The best electronic music writing of 2016
Michaelangelo Matos makes a top 30 list looking at the best electronic music writing–from feature profiles to essays to interviews–in 2016. Dive in!
8. The dodeka
Interested in learning the keys? Donate to this new Kickstarter for an instrument called the dodeka, a keyboard that uses its own musical notation system.
9. Fatima Yamaha’s Araya EP
Bas Bron, aka Fatima Yamaha, returns with a new EP, Araya, for Dekmantel. Although it’s not set for release until February 2017, you can get a taste of the music right now.
10. River Tiber
The FADER introduces us to River Tiber, a Toronto-based musician and producer who frequently works with Drake, Kaytranada and BADBADNOTGOOD.
