I've been spinning Ikonika's album 'Contact, Love,Want, Have' album and her unpronounciable EP 'Dckhdbtch' since they came out in 2010. All her stuff is worth checking out - particularly if you grew up playing video games in the late nineties. For Music 101 I phoned up Sara Abdel-Hamid, for an enlightening chat ahead of her New Zealand tour.
Darkstar have just put out a rather splendid album called 'North' on the Hyperdub label. The duo turned trio are one of a number of groups trying to translate the aesthetic of modern British electronic music to a wider audience. In doing this they take more cues from what has gone before than some of their peers, but despite their looking back; this is music moving forward. I interviewed band member James Young for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National.
