Say Hello to the Red Bull Music Academy Class of 2014

Red Bull Music Academy 2014 announced their Class of 2014 yesterday, and we're pretty excited for what's in store. For five weeks, RBMA will set up home in Tokyo: running in two stretches from October 12th through to November 14th, with each "term" playing host to 30 participants. They'll be treated to guest lectures (recent years have seen James Murphy, Tom Moulton and Mannie Fresh get cosy on the sofa) and get stuck into collaborations with one another in the studio, the end results of which will be pulled together on specially curated releases. At night, RBMA will also host events in the host city to showcase the class as they grow.

For artists and fans alike, Red Bull Music Academy has become a real benchmark for new sounds and ideas, so whoever gets selected is quickly thrust into the spotlight. Here are six names that we're excited about.

Mumdance (UK)

In the basement of east London bar Birthdays, a tight-knit crew of producers have come together under the banner of Boxed, the club night and brain child of Slackk and Oil Gang. Every month, their rotating roster (including Logos, JT The Goon, Inkke, Dullah Beatz, Murlo, to name a few) churn out a heady slew of grime instrumentals, usually on their own dubplates, that are thrusting the production side of the genre into a dark, heady and sweaty future. One of the Boxed cohorts that we've been championing at THUMP, and who has been selected for RBMA 2014, is Mumdance.

His two collaborative releases with Logos for Tectonic and Keysound last year were two confident strides into the unknown, but it's his new EP for Rinse's recently launched label, Take Time, that has had everyone freaking out. Taking a sidestep from the Boxed instrumental-led ethos by working directly with an MC (the teenage newcomer Novelist) the EP and its title track of the same name have been doing the rounds on radio with fervour. When we spoke to Mumdance recently about the EP, he told us about how he wants to pull the classic 909 sound into his own productions - and the below Resident Advisor session with Novelist that dropped soon after our chat makes a solid case for how well it's going. He's not kidding when he calls himself "The Grimey Jeff Mills".

Head over to his Soundcloud to listen to his various radio shows and releases, including a pretty fascinating mix inspired by his time in Egypt. Gun-fingers, ready.

Palms Trax (Germany)

Speaking of Jeff Mills, he made an interesting point in our recent interview with him about why he thinks rave culture (and perhaps necessarily, rave music with it too) has lost its original meaning: "We did it to death, to the point where we can't discuss it fully anymore. I remember there being very little patience to hear anything of a conversation other than how great the party was. Then, how great the DJ was. Then, how great the technology is  - no matter what, gradually less and less about what music really means."

Now, we adore Jeff Mills, and far be it from us to question his talent or insight. However, we do think that there's far more to acid than throwback YouTube videos and tenuous memories of parties in fields. Acid house music occupies a fascinating place: how can you keep such a simple piece of kit like the Roland TB-303, the beating heart of acid, sounding fresh? Well, one producer that's been working away at this task is Palms Trax.

Having come through with his debut Equation EP on Lobster Theremin last year, we were instantly struck by how languid and dreamy his take on acid is. No big rave stabs, no brash throwback artwork - just four gorgeous tracks that clearly caught Red Bull's attention. We're already picturing the scenes of him in the studio, surrounded by cables and wide eyes, jamming his way through the sessions.

Xosar (Germany)

A constant thorn in our side is that - whilst talent is talent no matter what gender you ascribe to, or body you're born with - female talent is ever-present but far less championed than male talent in the electronic music world. It comes from all sides, too. Line ups are a boys club, and artists like Nina Kraviz are a target for biased criticism because she, heaven forbdi, likes to wear high heels and take bubble baths. One woman who is talented, original and works damn hard is German producer and DJ Xosar, whose name is rarely spoken unless in tandem with that of her boyfriend Legowelt.

Well, fuck that. With releases on esteemed underground labels such as L.I.E.S., Rush Hour Recordings and Crème Organization, Xosar has been making some of the coolest, sexiest deep house and electro we've heard in a while, and all through her own evident talent. It's clear that she's a hardware freak who likes to dig deep, too, as the warm crunches of her sound get under your skin in a way that only that analogue seems capable of doing. We'd put money on a collaborative track with her and Palms Trax in the RBMA studio being a monster.

Tollcrane (Pakistan)

Even wondered what Basic Channel-style house might sound if it was re-interpreted by a member of Karachi's premier electronic music collective, who also happens to be into avant-garde minds like Actress? Earth's third largest city plays an important role in Tollcrane's subtle, anxious pulse. Whilst his tracks are danceable, their intricate sonic bustle also feels like an attempt to recreate the overloaded mega-city on wax. In November of last year, THUMP quizzed the Future South collective, including Tollcrane, to get an insight into the Karachi club scene.

Ekali (Canada)

The reasoning behind Ekali's selection isn't immediately obvious. The Canadian's dark and woozy style, popularised by Tri-Angle Records and R&B performers like How To Dress Well, is everywhere these days, so you'd think the selection board must have been faced with plenty of producers pimping exactly the same schtick. Which begs the question: what separates Ekali from the pack? Well, if we had to whittle it down to just one thing, it would be Elaki's artistry at the low end.

As well as devoid of the usual trap clichés, Ekali's style is innovative when it comes to the bass. Tropes from the ragga tradition are stacked against techniques that started life in London's post-rave break genres, with bursts of crunk science spliced with the molten bass-gloop of this Weeknd-style R&B. It all makes for a nuanced and dynamic bass region, and shows that this Vancouver boy is all about rhythm and force. Get a load of this:

To boot, a lap around his Soundcloud page exposes Ekali as a pretty handy remixer. On 'Sorry', Ciara has her slow-jam R&B hit blasted back at her in crystal shards, and Pat Lok's vanilla EDM is transformed into a 2-step guided bass-buster. As an ad-hoc egalitarian collective, RBMA is all about how the artists respond to one another's style, so it's logical that skilled remixers are a prized commodity.