TERRITORIES: NORTH & SOUTH AMERICA
Laurence Guy is no stranger to throwing a party. When he was younger, he and his friends would take over village halls or pubs in his hometown of Guildford. That urge continues to this day, where he regularly puts on free daytime raves at his Stoke Newington local, The White Hart. It was an idea partly to help pubs in difficult post-Covid times, but it’s spiralled into a way for him to do something for his fans. Last year he hit up a uni house party for a surprise show – the police turned up, the speakers fell over, and it ended up being one of the funnest gigs he’s done (despite regularly playing at some of the UK’s most iconic venues and festivals including Printworks, Glastonbury, Southbank Centre and Fabric).
Music’s power is in creating community, and this is the essence of Laurence Guy’s work. The London-based DJ and producer’s motto is ‘music to make you feel feelings’: whether that’s comfort, nostalgia, bittersweetness or melancholy, he’s triggering emotions in the listener. His sound has an unmistakable warmth while being squarely aimed at the dancefloor: samples fit into sprawling keys, and dusty drums thud under lush chords. Then there’s the upbeat euphoria, which Guy’s productions are increasingly embracing as he enters a new phase of his career.
Guy first got into electronic music aged 12. It was drum ‘n’ bass back then – his older brother’s friend used to lend him Ed Rush and Optical CDs – along with the massive cultural movement that was UK dubstep’s beginnings. He started going to rowdy, Skins-like house parties where he’d hear wobbly 140 BPM sounds and d&b. It was there that he learned to DJ in hectic environments – quick bangers, non-stop, around lots of people – which informed how reactively he plays now. Too young to get into clubs, he and his mates would drive up to squat parties in Acton and Seven Sisters to hear slamming techno, before graduating to the fabled FWD>> nights at Plastic People on a fake ID.
He started producing in his very early teens, playing around with FL Studio before moving onto Logic and Ableton. He sources samples for his own music through charity shop finds – if he’s touring, he’ll search through local thrift stores for gems he can put into tracks. Amid a string of EPs, he’s released two acclaimed albums; 2017’s blissful house LP Saw You For The First Time and 2023’s Living Like There’s No Tomorrow, But Killing Yourself In The Process, which looked at the allure of hedonism. While he’s graced labels including Studio Barnhus, Ninja Tune, Shall Not Fade, Church and more.
Deeply embedded in UK rave culture, Guy has steadily been dropping music that’s been recently dominating dancefloors. From disco-flavoured heater ‘Hey Baby’ to the groove-laden, loopy ‘Most Perfect People (Are Mostly Not Perfect)’, Guy’s tracks have amassed over 60 million streams. Now signed to Future Classic, he’s sitting on a stash of hip hop and filter house influenced dance tracks to soundtrack people’s best life moments.
‘Hey Baby’ is a track he’s been playing out for around a year – all hands-in-the-air horns and Amen breaks. On release, it firmly entered the running for song of the summer 2024, and was played out by everyone from Jamie xx to Axel Boman, Barry Can’t Swim and Dan Shake. While the philosophically-titled ‘Most Perfect People (Are Mostly Not Perfect)’ slots a soul sample into swooping strings. This new output is fun dancefloor music that he’s being more impulsive with releasing, he says. “If I make something tomorrow that I'm really excited about, I can release it a week later. Everything’s fresh and immediate.”
A gifted crate-digger and selector, as well as producer, Guy’s own record collection is extensive. His other passion in life is rock climbing – it’s something that calms him. He’d test out tracks in the climbing shop he used to work in – if customers commented on them, they were a winner. That spirit for synchronicity comes through in his DJing and ability to read crowds, taking them on a journey through his encyclopaedic music knowledge.