2018 has been a big year for Deena Abdelwahed. The Tunisian DJ and producer has seen her reputation grow considerably, bolstered by a string of well-received festival sets throughout the year. In October, Crack Magazine named her as one of 25 artists shaping the future of music. Now, she’s squaring up to release her debut LP, Khonnar.

The buzz is justified. As part of a generation of politically active selectors connected via the internet, the Doha-born and Toulouse-based DJ-producer creates hyper-rhythmic works that draw upon an array of pan-global sources, ranging from UK bass to traditional Arabic pieces via footwork and ambient techno. As a result of Abdelwahed’s broad artistic gaze, her mixes somehow reconcile density and complexity with a straight-up dancefloor impulse, progressive politics with sweaty, visceral power.

Abdelwahed makes plain out her particular vision for 21st century club music in her Crack Mix, where industrial scrapes and sizzling electro entwine with frenetic rhythms and seismic bass. Keep your ears open – there’s a couple of tracks from the forthcoming album, too.

Tracklist
Zuli – Your Tracks are Too Long
Deena Abdelwahed – A Scream in the Consciousness
J. Tijn – Gut
Warrego Valles – Passsing
Giant Swan – IANAH
Tomás Urquieta – Dueños De Nada
Deena Abdelwahed – Ken Skett
Dehousy – Break
MRTRY – INSOMNIAC (Bungalow Remix)
Lechuga Zafiro – Agua y Puerta
Chevel – Mercurial
Only Now – Timeslave

Deena Abdelwahed is an alumnus of the SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the EU