Interview: Thomas Hayes from Australia

The stunning warm progressive tracks and the more uplifting mainstage bangers have the signature of the upcoming talent Thomas  Hayes from Australia. His tracks Neon and Golden on Enhanced recordings have been in the playlists of the most important DJs  and producers and as it seems the future is bright for this very inventive artist who has ability to compose memorable melodies and infectious harmonies that mesmerise any audience in every part of the world. I'm super glad that Thomas Hayes has accepted to answer in my request for an interview and here you can read it exclusively! Thanks so much to Rory from Enhanced music for arranging it!

Alex Wright: Top Five Trance Encounters

Here are Alex Wright's top 5 Trance Encounters ahead of his first show on 1Mix Radio which begins at 20:00 - 21:00 GMT New Year's Day! This  month's reviews include a special Christmas give-away from Mark Sherry's 'Outburst' label, a dark progressive trancer from Poland's Jackob Rocksonn, and quality Tech Trance from Liam Wilson as well as uplifting goodness from Enhanced Music.

Interview: David Forbes

One of the best ever DJ, producer and label owner is David Forbes from Glasgow who has magnificent high class releases on top labels like VANDIT, Subculture, Perfecto Fluoro, Outburst, Armada Music and many more. In the last 20 years he released mainly trance records but he is well known producer for many other music genres as well. He has his own labels Aria recordings and Aria Digital releasing cutting edge power trancers from uplifting to big room and beyond. What is more David is one of the most capable mastering engineer with talent to add that sparkle and finishing touch to any production that need that little extra. 

His current releases on VANDIT, Perfecto Fluoro and of course John O'Callaghan Subculture recordings from Ireland are examples of his unique talent and great diversity of sounds he can compose for all the clubbers in this planet. So probably you have danced to his beats many times as his tracks are played by the top names in the scene so you are curious to know who is that gentleman hidden behind the name David Forbes.

Event Review: Trance Encounters written by Alex Wright

Trance Sanctuary is considered one of the best clubbing experiences in the UK, taking place at Egg in London a handful of times a year. Well known for its special atmosphere and quality line-ups, it draws in some of the scene’s most passionate fans and makes for an epic 15 hour long party marathon.

This year’s November event saw Outburst owner Mark Sherry host a label showcase in the Terrace along with Tempo Giusto and others, and DJs Dan Stone, Menno de Jong, and Akira Kayosa were on down in the Basement. In the newly refurbished Garden, up and coming DJs were given the chance to perform from a newly built stage, one of them being me along with my uni friend Jonny Royall who had played at one of their previous events.

Amsterdam Dance Event presents RESONATE

The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the world's biggest club festival and conference for electronic music, launches a unique short documentary that reflects on today's global electronic music movement together with inspirational artists and leading music professionals.

Interview: Will Atkinson

Will Atkinson; the 25 year old responsible for over 80 Radio 1 airplays since 2008, the man who engineered over 90 records between 2011 and 2013, the teenager who began producing at 14 and the boy who began mixing records at the age of 7...

Championing Judge Jules as one of the main reasons he got into Dance music after striking up a relationship following one of his gigs in 2008, Jules gave Will his first ever radio airplay, playing his track ‘Perpetual Sunrise’ back in 2008. This relationship continued with Will joining Judge Jules to play at Digital, Newcastle with the event recorded live as part of BBC Radio 1’s In New Music We Trust.

Interview: Bluefield for 1Mix Radio

One of Bonzai's most prolific artists, Blufeld delivers his 4th artist album - A World Less Ordinary. We are delighted that he accepted our request to have another interview with him after the one we did for his previous album Thoughtscapes and you totally adore. If music that sets your imagination free is what you are after don't miss this top album that is now available at beatport click here and in October in CD format as well. 

Welcome to Blufeld's A World Less Ordinary, enjoy your stay and his very informative answers.

Review: Creamfields 2015

Creamfields is considered to be one of the biggest summer festivals organised in UK which has an impact all over the world. The videos of the DJs performing at the festival go viral on YouTube. The last bank holiday weekend in August is the perfect time for such a huge scale event to take place at the Daresbury Lane in Warrington. To bring smiles to the faces of the many visitors from UK and all over the world. 28-29-30 of August the global festival visitors had no excuse not to attend the most innovative and playful gathering of all colours and styles of modern electronic music culture contemplated with amazing weather that was mostly sunny and bit cloudy at sometimes.

ADE 2015 Details

For five days and nights Amsterdam is the dance music centre of the world.

The nighttime program of the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is now finalised. Between the 14th to 18th of October more than 2000 artists will be appearing at over 340 events across the 100 clubs and spaces that are participating with ADE. During the upcoming anniversary year, Amsterdam will be in the international spotlight with over 400 visiting journalists and media, more than 5.000 professionals and an expected 365.000 festival-goers who flock to the city from around the world.

Interview with Audio Noir

Since quietly appearing on the scene at the beginning of 2013, Audio Noir has slowly built up a strong reputation for creating atmospheric and dance floor friendly productions. In a short space of time, Audio Noir has gained support by many of the industries most notable DJ's; including: Paul Oakenfold, Solarstone, John 00 Fleming, Airwave, Gai Barone, John Creamer, M.I.K.E Push, Matan Caspi & many more. Having received his "lucky break" by signing on with the ultra classic label - Bonzai Progressive, Audio Noir has gone from strength to strength releasing material on other respectable labels such as Perfecto, J00F & Green Martian, EDM Ravers & more. Releasing quality productions & remixes regularly, the Adelaide based producer shows no signs of letting up with his follow up Album due for release late 2015! Also look out for a steady stream of new releases slated for the rest of the year.

Festival News: Creamfields, 28,29,30 August 2015

The UK’s No.1 dance festival Creamfields is back this August Bank Holiday weekend taking over the Cheshire countryside for 3 days of music.  Attracting a record breaking crowd of 70,000 people and selling out in record time in 2014, this year’s festival looks set to eclipse it.  

Building on their winning formula they have delivered the biggest electronic line up you’ll see this year with an array of exclusive performances to boot, 4 Friday headliners, 2 colossal outdoor stages, a 14,000 capacity mega arena never before seen at Creamfields, 22 arenas across the weekend including Cream, Size, All Gone Pete Tong, Mistajam Presents Speakerbox, Pryda, Revealed, Goodgreef and Tidy as well as introducing 7 new arena hosts including Rebel Sound, Paradise, MK Area 10, Fatboy Slim Presents Smile High Club, Armada, ANTS, Nation and Pepsi Max.

ADE 2015 Amsterdam Dance Event announces first festival acts for 20th Edition

In 20 years ADE has become a global clubbing destination and an international platform for electronic music culture.

The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), the world's biggest club festival and business hub for electronic music, today reveals the first selection of artists that will perform from 14 to 18 October. The ADE is preparing for its 20th anniversary edition with an expected 2,200 performing artists at one hundred of the most diverse venues in Amsterdam. The organization is expecting 365,000 visitors from all over the world.
 

International platform for electronic music

The ADE, founded in 1996 as a conference and festival, has become an international platform that connects both the music industry and music lovers. Besides the business aspects of the event its extensive music, film and art program covers the global electronic music culture.

Feature: UNITE, Mirror to Tomorrowland : experience Tomorrowland in Mexico and India

Tomorrowland 2015. Raise a toast -with a cold glass of Belgian beer, of course - to the friendship between a Russian and an Australian, dance with Mexicans and Cubans, wave that Swedish or Norwegian flag, wake up in DreamVille next to a Finn and enjoy French croissants with your Spanish neighbours…

Tomorrowland is the biggest international festival on the planet. Literally the whole world comes together once a year at De Schorre, with more different nationalities participating in Tomorrowland than the Olympic Games. Last week, the personal message from Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was engraved for posterity on a piece of wood that will soon be added to the permanent bridge One World by People of Tomorrow at the recreational domain De Schorre in Boom, and this summer, more bridges will be built too, but they're going to be digital ones. On Saturday 25 July, a live video connection will be made from Boom to Mexico City and Mumbai and… back again.

Interview with Eddie Bitar about his Digital Society debut 22.05.2015

In a scene where many sounds have come and gone, Eddie Bitar has pushed through his sound of cutting edge music which has become recognisable in its own right throughout the world. With stunning releases on Paul Van Dyk’s VANDIT arm of powerhouse Armada Music and Indecent Noise’s in-form Mental Asylum Records, Eddie’s catalogue of tracks have found their way into speakers in each boarder of the globe. Voted number 108 in 2012’s Trance Addict poll and number 84 in 2013's Trance Podium poll, success has continued to snowball for this Canadian-Lebanese producer and DJ. Controlling crowds for huge brands such as ‘The Gallery’ at the world famous Ministry of Sound in London, ‘Tranceport’ tours in Argentina, a residency for ‘The Energy Box’ in London, American breakthrough at ‘L.M.D’ in L.A U.S.A and shows across Australia, Eddie has been ticking continent after continent off the world map at the highest stage . Known for hard hitting, dance floor driven music played well into the depths of the early hours, his explosive sounds are continuing to cause palpitations all the way through the scene.

Interview: John 00 Fleming, director of Brighton Music Conference

Following a hugely successful debut in 2014, Brighton Music Conference (BMC) returns to the UK’s South Coast city for a two-day event on 5th & 6th June 2015. Reflecting the concept behind BMC, tickets are split between BMC Professional (for industry professionals) and BMC Academy (for students and non-professionals). 

Some of the core contributors and partners for 2015 include YouTube, Facebook, BPI, Beatport, DJ Mag, Music Week, BIMM, Point Blank, PRS For Music, PPL, BPI, AIM, MPA, Access to Music, Youth Music, and LNADJ.

This year’s sponsors are Native Instruments, Ableton, Allen & Heath, Audio Technica, Focusrite, Novation, Funktion One, PRS for Music, PPL. Sennheiser, and Next Audio Labs.

Interview: Lost Frequencies, Pretty Pink and Marwen at Bearded Man

During the Armada Demo Drop Session at Dancefair 2015 that took place in Utrecht 21st and 22nd of February I met Marwen who is the mysterious A&R behind the recently established but very successful Armada Music imprint The Bearded Man recordings.  On the same company with him was the extremely successful Belgian artist Lost Frequencies who is going to become worldwide successful with his anthem Are You With Me? and he just remixed Armin's van Buuren eternal classic In and Out Of Love. Also on the same table was the upcoming female DJ star and producer from Germany Pretty Pink. Her career is on great high's at the moment with personal productions and remixes on legends like Paul Oakenfold. I asked them if it is possible to have  an interview all together and they accepted the challenge. Right here, Right now you can watch their very nice answers.

Interview: Kyau and Albert

Interview with Kyau and Albert. The exceptional DJ & production duo Kyau & Albert return in 2015 with a brand new shining album that sounds great. The beloved German artists always manage to produce tracks with complexity, substance, rich sound textures and most importantly unforgettable melodies and involving lyrics that resonate in the life of any electronic music fan. Their music can be generally characterised as trance but the truth is that Kyau & Albert sound incorporates elements and influences from many other genres. Their Distant Lights album tour is in full effect so we were not sure if they will manage to reply on this interview and I'm glad that they finally did and you can read right now their informative answers. 

Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, Music Journalist/1mix radio host

News: Brighton Music Conference Reveals First Panel Topics and speakers

Brighton Music Conference (BMC) has revealed the first details of its professional programme for the 2015 event, with two days of master classes, panels and talks featuring speakers and brands including YouTube, Beatport, Dave Clarke, Rhys Hughes (BBC Radio 1/BBC 1Xtra), Ableton, AFEM, Native Instruments, DJ Pierre, Hospital Records, Believe Digital, Icicle, X-Press 2, Mobilee, DJ Magazine, and many more.

Panel topics for this year span the music industry, including the latest developments in streaming, publishing (and monetisation), live, digital broadcasting, legal, synching, social media, the DIY route (for artists and labels), Ibiza, and beyond. Further details and speakers will be announced soon. An outline of the first programme content follows below.

Review: Digital Society 8th Anniversary 6-3-2015 - 02 Academy, Leeds

Digital Society 8th Anniversary. The most successful Trance night in the North of England, the legendary Digital Society, celebrated gracefully and with the volume and size that deserves it's 8th Anniversary. The event was organised in the most beautiful venue in Leeds, the world famous O2 Academy, which hosts the most amazing live performances and club nights through out the year. The line-up was announced many months before, and the anticipation rose to the highest highs imaginable. The finest DJ's and producers came together for an unforgettable night without any major issues with 2,500 Trancers from across UK and even from other countries.

Interview: Onno van Kemenade & Joel de Vriend from Armada Music

Dancefair 2015 took place in Jaarbeurs, Utrecht from 21st to 22nd of February with considerable success.

At the 'Drop Demos' session organised by Armada Music & Cloud 9, I met Onno van Kemenade, A&R at Armada Trice, and Joel de Vriend, A&R at Armada Captivating. I asked for an interview and I'm very glad they accepted the challenge. In this interview I asked them about  future releases on their labels, if they have found any new tracks at the drop demo session so far, and why they thought it's important for an artist to be signed on a record label such as Armada Music. I also asked if they often discover  fresh tracks with original ideas or if the majority of them tend to copy paste ideas from the successful tracks on beatport? I also wanted to know where the biggest audience for Armada Music was. if they considered music video an important tool for promotional activities and if Beatport or Spotify were important for Armada Music? I was also curious to know if artists can make a decent living out of music production and why is so vital to be included on the playlists of the radio shows of well known DJ's such as ASOT or Hardwell on Air.

News: A State Of Trance 700

On Thursday 29th of January 2015 Armin van Buuren celebrates the 700th episode of his weekly radio show ‘A State of Trance’ and is handing over control of the episode to his fans. Over the past few weeks, listeners were asked to submit a voice recording of themselves introducing a favorite track for the show. The two-hour show, which will be broadcast tonight worldwide between 20:00 and 22:00 and on Friday on Radio 538 in the Netherlands from 23:00 to 01:00, will have been created entirely by the hands of the A State of Trance fans.

The radio show this Thursday is just the first part in a series of celebrations. Next week, Armin will start a new tour called “Together in A State of Trance”, a theme that has been chosen to involve the fans as much as possible in the tour. The tour will take the ‘A State Of Trance Festival’ to continents around the globe. So doing, Armin van Buuren will become the first DJ to have his own festival. It promises to be the biggest trance festival tour in history.

News: Dancefair 2015

This year Dancefair takes place the 21st and 22nd  of February 2015 at the Jaarbeurs Utrecht. You can now browse through the full program at www.dancefair.nl.

For years Dancefair has been the go to educational event for DJs and producers around the world. With over 5000 visitors and more than 200 seminars and workshops to attend, Dancefair is considered the worlds’ biggest educational electronic music event. 

One of the prominent names this year is Martin Garrix, who’ll provide a top notch producer workshop. Over 100 other renowned artists like Laidback Luke, Joris Voorn (interviewed by Native Instruments), Oliver Koletzki, Dale Howard, Egbert and Wildstylez also confirmed their attendance for the 4th edition of Dancefair.

News: Hardwell to headline Exit 2015 Dance Arena

EXIT Festival is proud to announce that the Number 1 DJ in the World Hardwell, will be coming to the Dance Arena this summer. The global superstar is set to take to the decks on Friday 10th July 2015, and will be bringing his signature sound to the Petrovaradin Fortress for the very first time. This top-selling hit-maker from the Netherlands remains the king of the global Top 100 DJ rank list for a second year running and is also the youngest ever holder of the coveted World’s No.1 DJ title. Having just this week released his debut album, Hardwell looks set to reach even greater heights than before and so we are delighted to have him play for us this year.

Interview: Standerwick

Born in Bristol England, Standerwick’s early career as a Songwriter/Producer saw him signed to one of the most successful music publishing companies in the world, the famous Zomba Music Publishing Group.

A recent DJ Mag feature labeled Standerwick as part of the ‘New Wave Of Trance’  (September 2014) and credited him as being ‘a defining talent for roaring trance pitched at the distinctive pace of 138 BPM’

In the last 2 years Standerwick has had tracks released on Armada, Future Sounds of Egypt, Blackhole, Subculture, Mental Asylum, Arisa Audio, Enhanced and numerous others, including a remix for none other than Armin van Buuren which was released on Armin’s More Intense Album and became one of the most successful remix’s of the album.

Review: DJ Kura - Makhor

Poised to be one of Revealed’s future break-out stars as a truly monumental year for the label draws to a close, Portuguese producer and DJ Kura unleashes his solo Revealed debut ‘Makhor’, to end 2014 in style. After releasing on the first ever Revealed talent EP ‘Ammonia’ back in 2011, Kura’s productions have sent his career on an upward trajectory as he entered into the prestigious DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll at #42 this year, only confirming a burning, bright ability that was primed to ignite.

Undoubtedly set to rise up the ranks alongside Revealed’s trailblazing talents and renowned roster, ‘Makhor’ is a bold electro-house statement of precise percussion, high-intensity and sheer euphoria, thanks to Kura’s signature mega drops that act as the added ingredients for a peak-time, hands-in-the-air anthem.

Review: Blasterjax & DBSTF - Beautiful World

As 2014 saw Revealed Recordings uphold a strong industry presence - from hosting stages at festivals including the Amsterdam Dance Event and Creamfields UK, over to providing the platform for a plethora of artists both familiar and new, to take various chart top-spots worldwide - 2015 is certain to be the label’s greatest year yet.Returning to Revealed after also offering the label’s first release of 2014, with the Beatport #1 ‘Mystica’, Dutch production/ DJ duo Blasterjaxx arrive back at Hardwell’s imprint to work their magic with ‘Beautiful World’. After leaping a colossal 58 places up the rankings to receive DJ MAG’s #13 spot in their historic Top 100 DJs Poll, Blasterjaxx have united with Revealed newcomers DBSTF for their debut release on the label, sure to send shockwaves through the seasons that will reign on supreme.