In 2 years of running Highlife, we've never relented in our mission to explore new musical territories from corners of the planet you'd least expect. We've brought artists over from as far afield as Mexico (Rebolledo), Chile (Alejandro Paz) and Zanzibar (Mim Suleiman), we've experimented with afrofuturism (Actress, Bamboo Palace), voodoo drumming (Shackleton), we've created amazing visual experiences (UV South Africa special, Tribute to the Sun), continued to push the boundaries for new club sounds (T Williams, Drumtalk, Jd Twitch) and even create our own Highlife Homebrew (Raoul K).

Our journey has seen Highlife host events in La Cheetah, The Sub Club, The Admiral, Arches, Art School, in Barcelona and London.

Highlife has also created the launch pad for Auntie Flo and Esa, now regularly touring and with residencies at London's Plastic People, slots at Fabric and upcoming shows at Rockness, Stop Making Sense, Bestival, LoveBox. Plus 2 Radio 1 sessions and high praise for Auntie Flo's Future Rhythm Machine album (out 14th May)

We'd like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped us along the way, those that have danced and everyone who's been able to open their minds to the new, weird and wonderful music that we play. It's a very enjoyable challenge to push music that we love to willing ears and hopefully we'll be able to continue for the foreseeable future.

Which brings us to our 2nd Birthday celebrations. We've been followers of William Bennet's music (if you can call it that) for a while now and were very excited to be able to host his Cut Hands project at our 2nd Birthday. Using original african percussion instruments as the source, Cut Hands manages to create a unique and gut wrenching soundscape, unlike any we've heard before. It might make you feel physically sick, it will probably make you feel alive and it will almost certainly be like nothing you've heard before.