What marks the beginning of a scene? How do new UK dancefloor trends begin? Sometimes it's the result of a sudden seismic shift - the vanishing of UK garage around the turn of the millennium and the subsequent rise of grime and dubstep, or the swift emergence of UK funky house after grime dipped around the middle of last decade. But sometimes the change is more gradual, and due to smaller factors: sometimes as seemingly innocuous as one or two individual DJ's deciding to do things their own way.

Over the last couple of years, as UK funky has gradually drained out of the clubs, young urban London has increasingly been turning to the deeper, denser sounds of tech and minimal house for its dancefloor kicks. Mark Radford, who started his Saturday night Rinse FM slot in April 2011 after his profile had steadily grown over the preceding few years, has been a pioneering figure in that shift. Drawn to tech house’s hypnotic, bass-heavy drive, he found himself frustrated with what he saw as a lack of soul in much of the genre. So in 2008 he began to dig deeply for tracks that kept the rawness and energy intact but didn’t sacrifice any of the melody and musicality. His new sets started to skilfully balance those two facets, drawing new energy out of the tunes he was dropping.