Selections: Bradley Zero

Nestled amongst the greenery of Peckham Rye Park, and laser-focused on its values of inclusivity, sustainability and community, GALA is the ultimate summer curtain-raiser. From its small-scale, single-day debut edition in 2016, the festival has grown into a shining star of London’s festival season, whilst retaining the warm, communal energy of a mates’ backyard knees-up. In 2025, the weekender returns with its tenth-anniversary edition – a milestone few independent festivals fulfil. “It means a huge amount to be joining the ten-year club,” GALA director, Giles Napier, shared in a statement ahead of the event. “Like all independent festivals we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs but to see GALA evolve into what it is now makes me exceptionally proud.”

Kicking off tomorrow (Friday 23rd May), the bank holiday bash provides the perfect backdrop for dance music devotees to congregate and blow off the winter cobwebs, soundtracked by a delicious spread of underground and all-star talent. This year is no exception, with sets coming in from Ben UFO, Avalon Emerson, Anz, Batu, Gideön, Hudson Mohawke, Michelle Manetti, Surusinghe, Tash LC and many, many more. There’s also live sets lined up from Caribou, KiNK and Alex Kassian; Horse Meat Disco will assume their annual closing slot in the Pleasure Dome; and Floating Points will roll out his new Sunflower Soundsystem on its own stage, featuring special guest DJs from Plastic People, Melodies International and Cosmic Slop. You can check out the full GALA 2025 line-up here.

Over the years, GALA has provided countless memorable moments, from Honey Dijon’s spiritual headline stunner in 2019, which held a full crowd despite bucketing rain, and Goldie and Nia Archives’ generation-spanning 2022 jungle set, to last year’s joyous vinyl B2B from GALA royalty Eris Drew & Octa Octa. The event also attracts a red-hot roster of local talent, including NTS regular Bradley Zero, who has made a habit of walking down to the festival site. The Peckham local has been a stalwart of the South London scene for the past decade thanks to his night and label, Rhythm Section, which has been a steady source of consistently excellent discoveries for its audience both at home and around the world.

“Rhythm Section doesn’t have a sound but a purpose, and that is to discover and nurture new talent,” Zero told DJ Mag in 2019, “finding new ways to transcend borders and cultures is what drives the discovery, not just doing the same thing over and over again”. This thinking extends to his own soul-nourishing DJ sets, which take in everything from 303-fuelled house, jazz and disco, to funk, dub and techno, and have been a pillar of GALA’s annual line-up since 2018.

To celebrate the festival’s tenth-anniversary edition, Zero spotlights ten essential GALA tracks, from party-starting deep house and underground acid jewels, to corrosive dub techno, breakbeat and beyond. Dive in below.

GALA 2025 will take place at Peckham Rye Park from 23rd to 25th May. Remaining tickets are on sale here.