When she’s not behind the microphone at Radio 1, DJ Annie Mac is busy prepping the latest incarnation of her AMP live events.
Having your name under “Annie Mac Presents” on the poster is a ringing endorsement for the multiple rising acts who’ll appear at the end of this month in 14 east London venues such as Oslo, XOYO and the Old Blue Last.
They include Brits Critics’ Choice winner Sam Fender, R&B star Mahalia, rap eccentric Jimothy Lacoste and the odd bigger band such as the returning Two Door Cinema Club. Look out too for Georgia at the Moth Club, a singer-producer who earned comparisons with MIA for the gritty electronica of her debut album in 2015 and is coming back now with something lighter and catchier.
Her latest single, Started Out, is a bright, retro dance groove. That it has echoes of Nineties house music is no surprise, given that she grew up immersed in the stuff as the daughter of Neil Barnes from one of the dance giants of that decade, Leftfield, and has been using the 909 drum machine and analogue synths of that period in her own material.
It still sounds fantastic in 2019.
AMP London, Mar 27-30, various venues (anniemacpresents.com/london)