A play on its two imperatives of supporting the “next generation” and “gender diversity”, NextGen promotes new digital genres created by artists who fuse visceral production with their own unique voices and sounds. They’re characterised by an energetic hybrid sound that deconstructs and repurposes material from many different sources, while drawing from an emergent youth culture of globally-aware musicians gathering in niche communities on the internet. 

Invited artists include Iku, a musician and sculptor who releases her Body Horrors EP with Creamcake on August 3. Also known as Johanna Odersky, the Frankfurt-based artist uses densely layered and interwoven associative sampling to explore the delicate line between the familiar and the uncanny. Naples-based producer Cecilia’s Mélissa Gagné immerses her listener in a deep state of dreamy interiority for her most recent album, Adoration, released on Halcyon Veil. The two Berlin-based artists, Dis Fig and CYPHR, present the former Chinese American artist’s grime, techno, RnB and hardcore influences alongside the latter hi-tech noise producer’s unique South London sound. Meanwhile, relative newcomer Flagalova presents the softer side of so-called deconstructed club music microgenre, in the epic ambient and contemplative chimes contrasting with the harsh percussive elements of the dancefloor.