Max HeyraudTo celebrate YouTube’s 20th anniversary, we highlight 20 of the platform’s most influential tastemaker pages that have shaped the world of dance music discovery.
YouTube has come a long way since its inception 20 years ago, evolving from a simple video-sharing platform to an essential hub for discovering and shaping underground music culture. As part of the celebration of its 20th anniversary, we look back at some of the tastemaker pages that have played a pivotal role in defining the digital digging scene on YouTube.
Rok Torkar
Rok Torkar has been a goldmine for funk-fueled, disco-infused house, from classic French house cuts by Mousse T and Ian Pooley to timeless heaters like Soulsearcher’s house anthem. It’s all about that funky groove, smooth vibe, and house that hits deep.
Gazz696
Gazzz696 is a treasure chest for slow, sexy disco-house gems, packed with smooth, soul-soaked house from the likes of Harvey Sutherland, Black Loops, Late Nite Tuff Guy, and more. It’s the perfect spot for e-diggers seeking timeless, groove-heavy house that’s made for the late-night vibe.
HATE
HATE is possibly the most well-known and commercially successful page on this list. A techno e-digger haven that’s been as prolific in discovering the latest tracks today as it was when it first started uploading in 2015. It remains the go-to for fresh, underground techno heat.
EQUALIZEDTECHNO
Most likely known as TECHNO to most, EQUALIZEDTECHNO is the go-to for techno gold, both past and present. It’s best known for posting endless amounts of golden-era techno classics, some well-known, others deeply niche. From Mike Banks and The Martian to Green Velvet, Bryan Zentz, Technasia, and honest, funk-driven techno anthems, this is the home for the real gems.
Slav
Described as ‘An esoteric house music channel with a deep and groovy selection,’ Slav does just that. The page was pivotal in the growth of lo-fi house during the 2016-2018 era, when artists like DJ Boring and DJ Seinfeld were kings of the genre. It’s also probably best known for constantly popping up on your suggested videos feed with that track, ‘Kettenkarussell – Maybe.’
Hurfyd
Hurfyd is one of the most eclectic tastemaking pages, with some of their most popular tracks ranging from deep and sparkling house from Palms Trax, to tough and rugged techno from Matrixxman, to wonky breakbeats from Objekt.
Ballacid
Ballacid is, as the name would suggest, a haven for deep-seated acid-submerged cuts, though not strictly acid, it certainly leans in that direction. The channel favours luscious pads, fizzy synth lines, and fluorescent string sections. It’s a home to the plush side of acid, house, and electro, serving up fan favourites from Boards of Canada right through to Legowelt.
Ransome Note
Ransom Note is a left-of-field diggers’ paradise, where post-punk shadows, acid flashbacks, and ghosts of screw-faced Italo collide. It deals in leftfield heaters, sleazy synths, and low-slung chuggers. From mutant disco by Red Axes to straight-up house grit from Marquis Hawkes, it’s a haven for highbrow fringe-dwellers.
Acidalia
A home to techno, electro, and bass, with a loosely defined music policy that fits somewhere between the caveats of futurism and purism. On any given day, you’re likely to find a Jeff Mills gem you haven’t heard before, alongside a new track from Batu, pushing the envelope of techno and bass mutations. People often call artists or labels ‘buy-on-sight,’ but this YouTube channel would honestly bleed your bank dry if you go digging here, it’s strictly gold.
Les Yeux Orange
Les Yeux Orange is a YouTube channel that somehow evokes the aura of a well-oiled digging paradise—French style—with deep crates, dusty grooves, and lost dancefloor relics. From cosmic disco to proto-house, synth-laced house to slo-mo burners, it’s a home for warm, slinky, disco-etched dancefloor gems from the likes of Jonny Rock, Skatebård, Identified Patient, and more.
00UKFunky00
What was once a home for lo-fi house classics is now a hub for hard-hitting broken rhythms, from slamming dubstep artillery to intricate hard drum grooves and various forms of UK club pressure. It’s a space of brooding tribal vigour, where garage, grime, and house collide in percussive perfection, with tracks ranging from Baltra and Mall Grab to Tim Reaper and more.
2Trancentral
Belgrade-based 2Trancecentral posts ‘rare, unknown old-school gems and classics missing on YouTube, in the best audio quality—the golden era of electronic music and rave spirit as a whole,’ and to be honest, we wholeheartedly agree. From overlooked Underworld gems to straight-up R&S classics that never quite caught the spotlight like Beltram and Bolland did, this is a digger’s heaven.
Do Funkk
Do Funkk is a home to machine soul and dense rhythmic pockets of house and techno crossovers—minimal house with attitude, curated by a DJ as respected as they come. From slick, stripped-back house by Gene On Earth to modern acid classics from Dan Shake, it’s all funk-driven and strictly heat.
Analogue Network
A modern home for stripped-back, no-bullshit, high-quality techno. For those who say techno is dead or that the scene is struggling, I’d ask them to visit Analogue Network’s channel on any day of the week and find an endless supply of high-grade techno. What many would describe as ‘proper techno’—from the likes of Truncate, Marcal, CRAVO, Stef Mendesidis, and more.
Stamp The Wax
Stamp The Wax is the go-to internet digging destination for sweet and soulful cuts, sun-drenched house, intricately woven jazz-infused grooves, down-tempo broken sizzlers, and much more. From Bristol basements to Cape Town block parties, it’s a passport for the soulful and adventurous, featuring music from Desert Sound Colony to Jamie XX.
Délicieuse Musique
Délicieuse Musique is a silky blend of house music, from the velvety, jazzy corners to the warm and fuzzy edges of the genre. It’s a Parisian home for house on YouTube, and through its artwork and selections, it radiates an elegance true to its French spirit, serving laid-back luxuries from downtempo to deep disco, with tracks ranging from David August to HNNY.
Doubleu
An Irish favourite, a moment in time, and a home for the disco-house revival that lit up dancefloors from Waterford’s Factory to Galway’s Electric and Hangar’s aptly named Disco Bar. It helped put a whole host of Irish producers on the map—from one of its founders, Adamant, to global star KETTAMA, Boots & Kats, and many more. This was an integral part of the rise of the current crop of Irish dance music talent, reaching the heights they have today.
Electronic Love Collective
A motherlode of house dancefloor burners, moving from dreamy, warm-up-esque breaks to more upbeat tribal rhythms from the likes of Butch & Nyra and beyond. It’s a sanctuary for club music that aims to be everything but ‘tools’, featuring big string sections, anthemic drum moments, and melodies that linger long after the lights come up.
Future Funk
A home for electro, broken techno, and generally wonky, skippy, and slippery-adjacent club music, with cuts from the likes of Jensen Interceptor, Locked Club, Detroit In Effect, and more. It’s a true home for electro, not just a side pocket that caters to the sound, but one that hones in on it and champions it fully. From the Miami contingent to the Drexciyan continuum, stargazing Berlin interpretations to Dutch hammers, it’s the golden goose for electro diggers.
cobra cobra
A space where rave-esque techno, breaks, electro, grime, and more are given the spotlight, it feels like if Mumdance started a YouTube channel to upload his favourite cuts. From deep, trippy tracks by Nina Kraviz to relentlessly punishing industrial from Giant Swan, sexy yet hard-edged electro from The Exaltics, and Egyptian Lover, it’s a true haven for genre-blurring sounds.
Photo Credit: Simon Cunningham