What genre would you describe your music as?

Some of my tracks have afro-house vibes and some are very melodic and tech-house. I like to produce whatever I feel like doing and not follow a specific genre. What's important is to put my own "signature" in my productions.

Where are you from?

Zurich, Switzerland

What age did you start DJing?

I started around 2005 but wasn't really into it in the beginning. I always wanted to play my own tracks, which I didn't have at that time.

If you weren't a DJ, what would you be doing for your career?

I would be in the studio and work as a ghost producer.

What's your favorite artist/style of music outside of dance music?

I grew up with Hip Hop like N.W.A, 2Pac, Biggie, and the whole East and West Coast story. But one of my all-time favorites is also Depeche Mode, always inspiring and timeless music.

“I couldn’t even imagine getting to this point. I told my friend ‘imagine doing a track with Nic Fanciulli…’ we couldn’t even fathom that happening in real life and for myself, it felt far away. When Black Coffee played ‘Foolish’ out I was going crazy.”

For AJ of Black Circle, discovering house music took time. Finding the sound he wanted to put his heart and soul into, is a journey he has just begun. A self-proclaimed hip-hop kid, AJ grew up on the sounds of NWA, Biggie, and 2Pac. In 2005 he had his first encounter with house music, hearing a track by Mousse T. “I was into it but I was still kind of against dance music as a concept. It was a step-by-step, sneaky process, slowly getting more and more into it.”

Growing up in Switzerland, AJ focused initially on listening to local artists. At the time, he was not aware of other artists or the larger, global house music scene. Discovery for AJ was a process of just listening to everything and determining what he liked and didn’t like. This fascination with sound over artist led AJ to begin producing music before he learned how to DJ. “To be honest I never followed artists, I always followed the sound. I was obsessed with tones and sounds. How does a certain sound come from a synthesizer? How do I bend the tone? Create a melody? I was really interested in the music production side of it. Creating something that comes 100% from me.”

Although AJ started the Black Circle project in 2019, his music career began long before that. He had the opportunity to play his first gig in 2011 after being discovered by a local DJ who had seen the music he was posting on Youtube. “I went to his agency to meet with him, I was shaking I was so excited. I thought yes, I did it, he invited me to play… I thought I made it right there. He gave me my first gigs, I totally fucked up on my first one, I didn’t know what a CDJ was. The mix was terrible but that was the first experience.” 

As AJ began to dive deeper into the world of becoming an artist, he ran into a wide variety of roadblocks. AJ worked for many artists as a ghost producer, stepping into their studios to work on projects that were assigned to him. “I didn’t have any contacts so it was a tough beginning. I was making a lot of pop music, pop electronic, and deep house. Until 2019, it was an up and down experience… It was hard to keep motivated after just getting rejected by so many labels over and over again. It was like producing for nothing… If nobody can hear your music then what’s the point?” 

A lack of a studio/access to a place where he could create music that was true to himself began to drain AJ’s creativity. Although ghost-producing was a good entrance to the industry, it did not prove to be a satisfying career. Additionally, cultural and familial pressures to have a “normal job” ultimately forced AJ to take an extended break from music. 

“My goals at the time were not attainable. I stopped making music for five years before I returned to create Black Circle. I was working at the airport, my girlfriend at the time didn’t like the idea of me being a DJ… I come from a culture where deviating from the norm is not as accepted. My parents wanted me to have a regular job and the idea of being a DJ was not acceptable. I didn’t have the support. When I quit everything to focus on being a DJ again, it was a tough time between us all.”

 As he started Black Circle, AJ set a high bar for himself and immediately got to work. He knew roughly the kind of music he wanted to create, and as always for AJ, followed the sounds that he liked. “I was just trying to find myself. I liked going to gigs and watching DJs show their sound. I knew how to produce, but it was not complete. The track ‘Autumn’ was not the quality I wanted. You can from this track to now, the quality keeps rising. ‘Foolish’ on I think the whole quality to my sound improved. My mastering and mixing got better as well.”

After starting Black Circle, AJ did not have to wait long for a positive response. Almost immediately he received support from headlining DJs as well as remix requests and collaboration opportunities. “I made ‘Journey’ for Nic [Fanciulli] after connecting with him because he was supporting my music. I first sent the track to Black Coffee. One month before it came out, I saw that Black Coffee was playing the track in Ibiza every single Saturday at his residency. It went #1 on Beatport immediately. Matthias Tanzmann also supported the track so I reached out to thank him. He asked me to send him music, I asked him to collab, he said yes… I thought, oh shit what is happening.”

For AJ, these special moments are what make it all worth it. It is a step-by-step process, climbing the ladder slowly but surely. “It feels like you’re dreaming and hoping that you don’t wake up except in this case it was real.” 

2021 started quietly for AJ, although he has a tremendous amount of work in store, and lofty goals for himself going forward. He has a collaboration with Nic Fanciulli coming out soon Pete Tong’s label. The track was born from a canceled show and the two decided to create something for the people staying at home. He will also be releasing a collaboration with Andrea Olivia in September and will be making his way to the US for live shows as soon as possible. AJ’s Black Circle project has just begun, but he is clearly destined for greatness. Humble, driven, and talented, we cannot wait to see what he has in store next. “I know that I’m climbing stairs in my career. The more I deliver, the more is coming. My ultimate goal is to go to the Grammys.”

Ferreck Dawn has been on a winding two-decade journey from raver to global house mainstay. Each unexpected pathway led him towards realizing his most authentic work. Even when he struggled to feel connected to his output, he presented the playful grooves and sultry swag that defines his sound. His 2018 Defected debut, “In Arms,” is the culmination of that journey. It was a moment of activation for Ferreck.

 Ferreck says his life changed when he attended his first festival as a teenager. “I wasn't the age of actually being allowed. The thing is you have to be 18-years-old. A 16-year-old shouldn't be at an event like that usually. So, I got a bit lucky.”

 At the time Sensation was the gold standard for dance events. Larger-than-life production, arena trance, and 45,000 people dressed in white. How could he not fall in love with dance music?

 Ferreck said, "That kind of opened my eyes. I was completely blown away by that event, everybody in white and the music and the DJs. And that's definitely the moment in my head that I realized this is something I want to get into. "

When you listen to his music now, it may be surprising that he got his start in hardcore. He still likes his music a little tough these days. When he goes out he prefers techno. Maybe it's not so surprising when you consider the Dutch are possibly the biggest consumers of hard dance in the world.

After a few years of banging it out, he felt like he was stuck on a roundabout and needed to pick an exit.

“I didn't find this genre to be very fresh and innovative. And I got fed up with it at a certain point. So, after I think about four years I figured, I'm gonna do a 180. I started to notice that I felt a lot better listening to house music.”

He's held on to a memento from his formative DJ years. The name Ferreck Dawn is the yin to his old DJ name’s yang. As a hardcore DJ, he went by Dusk. And he says he wanted to flip that vibe, “In my head I’m figuring that I'm going to do a 180. So, I'm going to go for Dawn and Ferrick. It's just different way of my real name.” It was also an easier way for people in the UK and US to pronounce his given name, Freek.

He began to feel more comfortable with his new direction. And in 2011 he signed a four-year deal with Spinnin'.  In 2014 he released “Love to Deep,” with Spinnin' regular Redondo. Garagey house was having a moment. And “Love Too Deep” pulled on the thread of classic tunes like “Show Me Love.”

Ferreck seized the moment. He said it was the first time he felt that music could be a career. “It went on to BBC Radio One daytime radio in the UK. That was definitely the moment that I told my girlfriend, listen if I'm ever going to do it, this is the time.”

Spinnin’ was at its peak. Ferreck was grateful for everything he learned and accomplished there, yet he still fell short of his most authentic self. 

“They [helped] me go into a direction that's successful. They're really great at doing the music they do. But at a certain point, I definitely felt like this is just not for me.”

He never felt pressured to follow trends. And Spinnin’ supported a transition to what resonated with him. 

“Slowly, but surely, during those four years, you can hear my music transition to house music more and more. And then, when the four years were over, we shook hands in a very friendly way. And I went on to different labels that I felt are better suited for the music I do.” 

As the door closed on Spinnin’ it opened on a label that has been at the pinnacle of dance music for nearly 20 years. Ferreck signed his breakthrough track “In Arms,” to Defected in 2017. And it was an incredible full-circle moment for him.

“From growing up and slowly and surely going from gabber to house and techno, Defected has always been there. So that's always been a label that I thought wow that's something if you can release on Defected! It's actually happening, that that was such a cool moment.”

“In Arms” was intended to be part of a two-track EP for Defected sublabel DFTD. Ferreck finished the second track, “Lovers & Haters” (out summer 2021) in December of 2017. Sam Devine broke “In Arms” while on tour in 2018. The track resonated with the dancefloor, and she ended up dropping it everywhere on tour. Defected decided to put all their power behind it as a single on the main label. And it’s Ferreck’s most successful record to date. 

Ferreck has continued to release music that feels authentic and personal. And as he rounds the turn on another leg of his journey, he's hopeful about the future of dance music. And he’s overjoyed that the world has caught on to what Sensation opened his eyes to at 16.

“I'm excited that house music is thriving. Still, after 20 years, there's definitely no slowing down. Probably even picking up pace. It's getting bigger and bigger. It's amazing how dance music kind of exploded in the US. It's very cool that throughout the world everywhere people enjoy this kind of music. When it originated at end of the 80s that they said it was just a short thing. It’s amazing that it's so powerful and keeps growing.”

Event producer, label manager, and DJ are just some of the jobs that Dan Faulwasser, also known as Dan Drastic, calls his own. Growing up in Chemnitz, Germany, Dan was a child of the early techno scene in Germany. “In the 90s, I was 15 and my cousin was a DJ. He took me to a really shitty party somewhere in the mountains, but they let me play records for 30 minutes… It was hard because I didn’t know the records, it was hard but no one cared. Pretty quickly I stumbled upon early techno and early house, a lot of hip hop as well. Commercial hip hop that blended with house. Becoming a DJ was a plan [for me] suddenly.

Coming from a place that was not a major metropolitan center, Dan had to work harder than most just to discover music. Living in East Germany as a kid, he would record songs directly off the radio that they were streaming from West Germany. According to Dan, the quality of the music often depended on the weather and getting a clean signal. “I didn’t know the names of tracks but I always had new stuff. We listened to everything… the techno stuff came later with the early 90s.”

These days, Dan works full-time as a label manager for the iconic Moon Harbour Records. He also runs their radio show and plays the occasional gig when the right opportunity comes around. For Dan, it was an interesting journey to get to this point, one that started with him throwing his own events in his hometown. 

“At some point we just found a space, an old factory, and started making partiers there. We actually did it by the books. If the police came we wanted to make sure we didn’t get shut down. It was nothing nice but it was fun. There would be one toilet for 300 people but we had two floors with different music… we always tried to have a techno floor and a house floor but in Chemnitz, the techno floor was the busy floor.”

As Dan worked to help foster a positive scene in Chemnitz, the rest of the country followed suit. Germany as a haven for techno is in part made possible by the government. Clubs are allowed to stay open all hours with very few restrictions. The scene is vibrant with an incredible community around the underground sounds. Although Dan got his start promoting and DJing in Chemnitz, he eventually moved to Leipzig where he transitioned to an industry role, focusing on becoming a label manager for Moon Harbour. 

“I moved from Chemnitz to Leipzig because the scene in Chemnitz was not working anymore. I had no job at the time and it just felt right. In Leipzig, there was already a good club scene. There’s an art university here which means every year there’s new people coming in that are open-minded. People are friendly and accepting, there are no closing hours so the clubs can stay open all weekend.”  

After settling in Leipzig, Dan quickly joined the Moon Harbour family, releasing music with them until eventually, he joined the team as a label manager. Despite their long-running success, running a small independent label is no easy feat. In today’s music scene, especially on the electronic side, there is a tremendous proliferation of independent, and artist-driven labels. In almost 20 years of existence, Moon Harbour has managed to consistently sign high-quality music, and identify incredible up-and-coming talent in an ever-growing scene.

“For us, we only release music that we really like. Music that we think has some sort of longevity. We focus on tracks that we think aren’t just about a trend happening right now. It needs to be timeless. It’s also about working with artists who want to stay with us. We don’t want artists to see us as a springboard for the next step, we want to have a relationship with them.” 

Dan has been with Moon Harbour for about 15 years now. In his time with the label, the electronic music scene has changed drastically. When Dan started in 2006, the biggest trend in electronic was a more minimal style of music. This was reflected with early releases from Matthias Tanzmann, Marco Faraone, and Luna City Express.

Over the years, music production has become more accessible, allowing more people to experiment and create high-quality music. With youtube courses teaching music production, and the need for a studio becoming less important, there has never been more amazing music being created. “The sounds have become more complex and layered. It’s [tech house] turned back into house. House has always been more full and groovy. People are getting so much better at mixing their music as well. The product you receive as a demo in the last 5 years is so much higher quality than it used to be. It’s not just a couple of loops and let’s call it a day. A lot of artists are making relatively original tracks, working with vocalists… the bar is just higher now.”

Even for a veteran like Dan, it can be hard to keep up with a revolving door of new talent and production concepts. “When I started making music in the early 2000’s I borrowed a version of Fruity Loops Studio that only had like 8 tracks I could use… making good music now is easier than ever… This is another reason why I stopped making music, I’m just not good compared to these guys now. There are enough people who are really good that they don’t need me anymore.”

In the last few years, Moon Harbour has continued its run of excellence. Recent releases like ‘Scratchin’’ by Detlef and Cloonee, and ‘Evolve or Die’ by Hot Since 82 are just a few examples of how Moon Harbour stays fresh and consistent. Focusing on quality tech house and deep house, with an eye always on the future has allowed Dan and his team to stay at the top of their games for decades. Dan releases 3-4 Moon Harbour radio shows every month, highlighting new music that the label enjoys, and Moon Harbour will continue to release music regularly for years to come.

“We have always had our lane. Kind of on the deep house scene while also doing tech house when we can. The idea is to not get too cheesy or mainstream, while also not going too deep.”

Both members of Guz, Freek Geuze and Wouter Simons have long histories in dance music. Both from Holland, their eponymous meeting at a 2016 WMC party in Miami led to a fast friendship. And eventually an avalanche of music that was vastly different than anything they had produced under other aliases.

Their break-out hit “Playing With My Heart” on Toolroom in 2017 solidified the duo's slinky tech house sound. Both had found earlier success in their other projects but felt a renewed sense of authenticity with their new direction. However, Guz was supposed to be a studio project. Geuze continued his work as part of Spinnin’ mainstay Redondo. Simons pulled double duty as a festival organizer and on his solo project SIMUN.

They continued to press and scored releases on tastemaker labels like Simma Red, Sink or Swim, and Relief. Finally, in 2019 they decided it was time to take the show on the road. Their 2020 was already planned out with releases on Spinnin and Big Beat on the horizon. 

It was all a dream come true for Simons who started DJing in bars as a teenager. He remembers telling a bit of a white lie to get on stage for the first time. “I worked at a bar during my school period. And when the bar the owner sold the bar, I had to look for another job. And I go to another bar and just tell them, I can play music. I never played music before besides [in] my bedroom.”

Because he has spent so much time in nightlife, there was never really a point where he had the aha moment where he decided to go all-in on being a career musician. “I never thought about it that way, actually. Because, I also work at an event company. I never had a day in the morning [where] I was thinking ‘shit, man, I have to go to work’“

The advantage to working on two sides of the industry, Simons says, is being an impartial observer of nightlife culture. 

“You see everything backstage. You see a lot of guys. They're doing stupid things and you think, I don't want to do that.”

Another obvious advantage he appreciates is networking. Because had it not been for learning how to navigate multiple sides of dance music, he met his partner in crime, Freek.

Working together has opened his eyes to the beauty of collaboration. Simons's work on his own was fantastic. But he says the Guz project has added something new to the equation. Geuze has always stood out because of his ability to create catchy hooks that make themselves at home in your memory. It’s not easy to craft dance floor-ready hooks. And Guz’s success is an example of how underground grooves and commercial sensibilities can be so compelling. 

Simons says he’s excited about the future of Guz. As 2020 dawned, while Freek was more comfortable staying in the studio, Simons was ready to tour. But when COVID knee-capped the industry that was put on hold. They instead spent their time in the studio and found new artists to bring into the equation. 

"Thin Line" with boy wonder John Summit, is built around a slinky soulful vocal and a throwback piano house riff. It's an essential slice of old-school flava with a modern flair.

Their collaboration with Ferreck Dawn “Knock Me Out” further pulls on the old school thread with a dash of filtered disco house. The early oughts disco-house era heavily pulled from the iconic Salsoul Records catalog to recapture a sense of nostalgia for the disco era. Ferreck and Guz masterfully sample Inner Life’s 1981 record “(Knock Out) Let's Go Another Round” to create a modern disco-house classic.

Simons is excited to emerge from lockdowns. It means he can begin throwing events. He says he’s ready to hop on a plane and DJ again. He’s also excited about what this means for the future of dance music he says because “With dance music everything is possible.”

Yousef believes that you can will something into existence. This unique ability is central to his long career as a DJ, producer, event organizer, record label owner, and dance music activist. It played a pivotal role in pulling off The First Dance, the first legal, unmasked, and non-socially distanced dance music event held in the UK in over a year. He witnessed house and techno evolve from the illegal warehouse parties that birthed the UK rave scene. And 30 years later amidst the uncertainty of a waning pandemic, he organized the most covered event in dance music history. The First Dance received an unprecedented seven billion engagements across the internet.

Yet he says he'll only allow himself to linger for a moment on its significance.  “In my mind, I'm already looking at what's next. I'm already in direct contact with the powers that be in the government to make sure that electronic music is now going to be considered a legitimate art form in the UK, because at the moment, in essence, it's not.”

He insists it’s a travesty that, “They don't understand the 30-year history and the footprints and the cultural and economic exposure of what has happened from the UK [to] the world.” Especially to someone who has been around since the beginning of the movement.

Young Yousef was big into early hip-hop and electro. He was captivated by the culture similar to how he’s absorbed dance music into his DNA. Even before he was 10 years old, the DJ wheels were turning. "These albums called Street Sounds Electro. They were the first albums that were sequenced. And I was fascinated why the music didn't stop."



He was a seven-year-old breakdancer who discovered he loved to cut beats when his parents bought him a ghetto blaster. He was enchanted by the idea of playing two cassettes at once, almost in sync. Barely big enough to carry the huge boombox, he would drag it to breakdancing completions in his neighborhood. Not long after that, acid house began to envelop the Northwest of England.

“My older brother, who was maybe 15 at the time was going to illegal raves in these huge warehouses. And he’d bring in these little mixtapes and over a quite a short period of time I started stealing his tapes and listening. And these mythical 12-inch records would suddenly start appearing and was like, Okay, now I'm interested in that.”

 Like hip hop, dance music was counter-culture. And Yousef has always been interested in anything that's not mainstream. "Not to stroke my chin. I'm just curious about what else people are doing. I don't measure a record's quality in terms of its commercial success. I measure the record's quality if it makes me feel good."

He was enamored with a DJs ability to seamlessly weave records together into a story. His brother provided a pathway into a new counterculture that enveloped him fully.

“Then he introduced me to this DJ. And this guy was mixing on three decks instead of two. And I couldn't figure out two decks. I’d never looked at a set of decks at this point. This guy called Carl Cox. He was the first DJ that kind of blew my mind. And eventually went on to DJ at my wedding.” 

When he was around 15 fell into some glass on the street that resulted in a scar on his nose. Enough time passed that he forgot about it. And then, a friend asked him if he wanted to buy a pair of Technic 1200s from his father. Seeing them sealed the deal. “It was honestly like seeing Angel Gabriel. But at the time, it was 600 pounds, I remember. And it may well have been 6 million because I never even had six pounds at the time and never anything. We didn't have any money at all.”

He went to sleep hopeful, but with no clue idea how to get them. “And I woke up the next morning, and the first letter I ever received in my life was from the local authorities. It's an apology for the scar on my nose because I tripped over something and ripped my face to shreds on the glass. And it was 650 pounds. And I went off and bought those decks. It was literally the next morning.”

He always envisions what he hopes to achieve long before he understands how to make it real. He famously got his big break after winning Muzik Magazine’s Bedroom Bedlam DJ competition in 1998. It led to him scoring residencies with Ministry Of Sound and Liverpool’s super club Cream. Yet even before he played at his legendary hometown spot, he lost sleep over the logistics of DJing there.

 “Cream got renovated by Steve Dash, a famous sound engineer from New York. He is the greatest of the greats. He introduced the concept to the UK of floater turntables. Which was the 1210s on big, thick elastic bands. And bear in mind, I was just a raver at this point. So, I go every week. I used to go home, some nights, I couldn't sleep worrying about how I'm going to use those decks.”



Yousef had spent countless nights as a punter at the famous night club and when he was finally asked to play there was like, “someone from New York that's been hitting the baseball, and eventually got signed for the Yankees.”

It was there that he honed his world-renown talent for long sets. “Even though I thought I was quite an accomplished DJ and [could] do all these tricks. I listened to Carl Cox and Roger Sanchez and Derrick Carter and all these guys that owned the music properly. And what I learned when I started playing six-hour sets is that's when you become a proper DJ, you have to start again. Learn how to embrace the room warm-up, take it to peak, keep people entertained, and really explore music. I learned in The Annex at Cream. It's put me on to the rest of my career with confidence.”

During his six-year residency at Cream, he grew less connected to the sound of the club. He struggled with the thought of leaving a place he called home for so much of his life. But in 2006 Cream opted to give him a night to capture the spirit of what brought him to Cream as a wee raver.

The name Circus was born from a Miami afterparty he says, “I was in a crazy afterparty in a penthouse on Collins Avenue, Miami. And all the UK and Americans were there and it was going nuts. And it was just like a circus.”

While Yousef was on his first vacation in a decade he received the news that Cream was shuttered. He says, “I was obviously heartbroken. Because I felt like I’d been dumped by my girlfriend. Because the place was so personal to me.” But it also meant his event was no more.

Luckily a fellow Cream alum Richard McGinnis – the owner of Parklife Festival and Warehouse Project - insisted they turn Circus into a club.

On opening night, they expected 100 people and 500 showed up. And Yousef says it was beautiful, “Everyone had a great time. It had everything about the annex room. Great music, new house and techno and an inclusive atmosphere. That's everything that I really insist upon is that people are made to feel welcome.” 

The spirit of what’s made Circus a success started at Cream and continued that opening night. 

“You know I've always said, and it might sound like a bit of a corny cliche, but the people who pay to get in are the only important people in the club. So I've always tried to make sure that people feel included and have a good time together. The music's kind of serious. The attitude, it's silly. So that's the way it's worked.” 

Community has been so central to Yousef’s life. So he does all he can to give back as much as he receives. “I think that's my default setting,” he says.

"My attitude is it's really important that you contribute to the scene. Because if you are concentrated on taking out from the scene, It's not gonna serve you." 

His activist spirit is what led him to organize what may go down as the largest community organizing effort in dance music history. The First Dance arose from Yousef’s crusade to help people in dance music get back to work.

It led him to conversations with Liverpool’s political establishment, the UK government, and even Prince William. And because Liverpool had done such a great job with mass testing for COVID, the city was granted a license to run one of several test events in the UK to understand the efficacy of lifting COVID restrictions. With only three and a half weeks' notice, Yousef and his team turned an empty warehouse into an event site.

It was a complicated effort that put on display the best parts of dance music culture. When the world shone a spotlight on rave culture its best parts were revealed: community, love, and great music. And after 30 years it’s a signal to the powers that be dance music should be taken seriously. 

Yousef says, “It should be nurtured and cherished, and understood. We're working on it to make sure that within a short period of months, the government will finally have to take our what we do, seriously and permanently.”

The worldwide media attention that dance music received from The First Dance would’ve been unheard of 30 years ago. Yousef sees the positive reactions as a springboard to make the government understand that the music community are clearly professionals that should be protected. And he says, “If we pull that off, I'll give myself some props.”

Whether Matt Caines is laying down one of his deep, sexy, and sophisticated DJ sets or building an immersive world of lights, sound, and art he’s always a storyteller first. Even his musical taste as a teenager was focused on it, “Something that kind of brought you out of body and took you somewhere.” The co-founder of experiential event brand Art With Me says, “I like storytelling, I think it is really important for musicians and DJs and artists.”

He started his journey when he attended the first Electric Zoo festival. Stunned by the sense of community and fully immersive atmosphere he followed the path of the young raver. He fell through the rabbit hole and began to explore the New York club scene.

He became a fan of Richie Hawtin after going to a few of his shows. A failed attempt at seeing his favorite DJ brought him down a path that would eventually turn into a career.

“I remember going to a couple Richie Hawtin shows and I was like, Okay, this stuff is awesome. And I remember wanting to see him one day at a club in New York. And they were very strict on the door policy and didn't really want a 23-year-old kid there. Not enough money to get into that one. But I walked into an event off the street, which really brought me to where I am today. And that event was Cityfox, it was the first Cityfox pop up in SoHo." 

Cityfox’s fully immersive event experience was a revelation to Caines. “Between the lighting and the sound, it had something special about it. "Ironically, by going to that party, I ended up helping launch the Cityfox experience in New York” 

That night was transcendent. And he set an intention to involve himself in dance music. Call it a coincidence, call it the law of attraction in action. But his subsequent move into a DJ house would bring things full circle.

He moved in with Rishi Patel. The co-founder of Plus8 Equity (owned by Richie Hawtin and John Aquaviva), Rishi was heavily plugged into the NY underground dance scene. Their home was the spot for the afters.

Late one night after a Cityfox event, Caines walked into his kitchen to find his roommate chatting with Cityfox’s promotional partner, Gunita Nagpaul, from Listed Bookings.

“Rishi turns around and was like, ‘Matt, you need to talk to this woman’ and Nita spoke to me for about four hours.” She let him know that he had barely scratched the surface on dance music. And that his most life-changing moments were yet to come. “[She said] ‘You want dance music, I'm gonna’ give you dance music. You're gonna’ work our next event. I didn't know what I was getting into.” 

Living in that home taught him an important lesson about community, he says. “We've got to be flexible in life. And we gotta be open to being vulnerable and relying on people or asking for help. Everyone inside this community really does like to help each other. They want to see everyone do well. I think as a scene we want to see everyone be successful. And there's plenty to go around.” 

He quickly learned the back end of event production, and his fledgling DJ career blossomed. Caines played a pivotal role in the development of the Cityfox brand. And he went on to help build Brooklyn Mirage.

After a stint in Utah working for Summit Series – an organization that holds conferences for young entrepreneurs, artists, and activists – he moved to Tulum. He knew it was a risk, but he wanted to create something of his own.

Art With Me is the culmination of his work in the industry. A unified vision that gathers music, art, wellness, food, family, and ecology into a dynamic festival experience. It was co-founded by Caines, David Graziano a longtime burner and Tulum hotel owner, and Jorge Mondragon owner of one of the largest talent agencies in Mexico, Celebrity Management.

“David Graziano, a longtime burner really wants to create an event that was like a Burning Man on the beach [and] celebrates the creative arts. So, we want to take all creativity and use it as inspiration to make positive change and impact in the world.”

An ideal day includes yoga, a workshop, hanging with your kids, checking out big art on the beach, delicious delectables, and a night capped off with dancing.

Caines spent years in nightlife and he understands that his audience has matured. Art With Me is about balance. It can’t always be about warehouse raves and all-nighters. 

His demographic is reflective of his friend group. It's come to include parents, unattached adults, and younger festival addicts in search of experiences with purpose. Art With Me aims for balance through cultural experiences he says, “We want to highlight the most artistic things per industry, per pillar as we call it. And bring it all together to share with the world.” 

The cultural hurdles aren’t lost on him though. Bringing a largely international audience to a country that struggles with poverty comes with responsibilities. The organization takes them seriously.

Art With Me carves out 20-30% of the budget to give back to the local community. They also insist that locals never feel priced out. Caines says they offer free programming to the local community. “We've invested a lot of money to offer programming for free for people that can't afford the ticket. So, by charging a ticket to international people who come to the event, it actually subsidizes programming for the local community.” 

He also points to a waste management awareness program the festival ran in 2019. In exchange for 15 pieces of plastic, attendees could see the iconic Mexican grupero band, Bronco. 7000 people took part.

Caines' goal is to gently guide conversations. “[People] always like to say what's right and what's wrong. And I don't really know, technically, especially from a creative standpoint, that what I'm going to say is really right or wrong. And it's not like there's a better way. There's different ways to look at things. And I think when you can turn around and you can inspire people to change their perspective, it’s a real unique and amazing thing. And that can come from someone being inspired with a sense of awe and seeing something that's never been done before. And to shift their perspective is really powerful.”

Everyone discovers electronic music in a different way. Whether it’s a close friend showing you music at a young age, the radio playing in the car, or a chance encounter at a club, each story is unique. The first time Max Chapman fully understood that he loved electronic music was after a night out in Sydney. “[i saw] Art Department on a boat in Sydney Harbor. After I was getting in a cab and they were sitting on a curb waiting for their driver. I offered them a lift to the afterparty and I ended up spending the night with them. I played 4-5 gigs the whole time I was in Australia. I didn’t know anything about DJing but I loved it and wanted to hone my craft.” 

Growing up in Essex on the South East coast of the UK, Max has been a self-proclaimed beach boy his whole life. Although there was not much of a music scene in Essex, Max still found himself immersed in the sounds of electronic music at an early age. “I was about 13 and I wanted to learn how to mix. I worked at a fish and chips shop to save money, bought some decks early on, and learned how… about 4-5 years later I got into electro.” Max didn’t think too much of music as a career until hanging out with a friend who produced music. After learning the ropes and buying some basic equipment, Max’s career as a producer began. His love for DJing quickly followed. Traveling to Southeast Asia and Australia exposed him to new sounds and when he returned to Essex, he secured a residency at a local bar on the beach. 

The journey from local resident to international headliner was a lengthy one. Max was attending an event at the legendary club Sankey’s in Manchester and had a demo CD which contained what would become his first ever release. “I lost the CD. A guy found them who owned a label and he called me and said he wanted to sign all the tracks. Two weeks later it [‘Don’t Go’] got played on Radio 1 and two weeks after that I got my first gig at Sankeys. I was playing Manchester every month, slowly crept into London after that. The promoter who ran Paradise and Circoloco started putting me on lineups for Sankeys Ibiza… they still book me to this day.”

Max Chapman’s progression as a music producer has been filled with self-reflection and an ever-evolving sound. His early work had a consistent deep/minimal sound, inspired by the likes of Hot Natured, Jamie Jones, and Art Department. “I’d create a very simple bassline and then try and jack the melody in it up and down. It was a very very fun time making music then but when I look back, it sounds awful to me.” 

Although his early music did not translate to a quick breakout, Max decided to start a label of his own. A bold move for an up and coming artist, Max describes it less as a business decision, and more as a gut feeling it was the right move. “If it fails it fails. So many people told me not to do that because I hadn’t put anything out yet. It’s so much more common now to do. When you have that platform and a little bit of backing, it enables you to utilize promo and distribution and work harder on the track rather than putting it into someone else’s hands.” 

After a few years of consistent output, Max started to break through in 2016 with a handful of high-impact tracks and rare live show opportunities. Although it was a period of great success for Max, looking back on the era is not always fun for him. He released ‘Get Freaky’ with Elrow music, and quickly followed it with his biggest track to date, ‘La Fiesta.’ Max’s tech-house era had arrived, inspired by the sounds of Ibiza and Latin house. 

“Around that time it was more about what was going on when I was out DJing. Honestly, it was one of the worst times for me in the clubs. When I go back now and listen to that music it feels boring to me and soulless but at the time I loved it and the crowds loved it. Personally, that tech house phase is the least favorite of my work. Things changed for me when I started going to  Ibiza. [Club] Amnesia specifically. I heard a Spanish vocal over a tech-house tune at the club and it was influential for me. I went and made ‘La Fiesta’ in 3 hours and Jamie Jones signed it. Since then I’ve taken more time on my music. Focusing on quality over quantity.”

Although the music no longer speaks to Max, the energy and experiences remain influential. When discussing Ibiza, Max was at a loss for words. “It starts with the air that you breathe when you walk in off the plane. I know it sounds cliche… but you feel the music, you feel the moment so much better than any other place.” Around this time, Max had the opportunity to take his newfound Latin-inspired tech house sound to South America. 

Max’s favorite type of set spans 2-3 hours and takes place in a large club. This reality came to life when he was booked to play Lost Beach in Ecuador, headlining the first-ever Boiler Room set at the venue. “People traveled from all over South America to come to this place. Moneteninto is a tiny town. Little surfer town in Ecuador. People came from all over the place, I don’t even know where people slept to be honest… It was amazing. It’s brilliant to be on a beach in warm temperatures. As long as it’s got a huge sound system, good lights, I’m happy.”

Despite a storied and lengthy career, Max is just now finding his groove on the production side, finally in a place where he feels he can create the kind of music he really wants to. “All I listen to when I’m not working is more melodic music… Bicep is a hero for me… When I was making tech house, I slowly started to mature and evolve and realized my music was soulless and dead. There was no feeling to it. Now I use more melody and chords and I’ve never been more in love with my own sound.” Max has even started a new alias which he has yet to unveil. He plans on releasing more melodic, emotion-filled music under that project. 

For Max, a sense of direction has him feeling like the future is promising and will bring new and exciting things. “I found a new love for making music. You can hear in the ‘Dusk EP’ there’s quite a lot of emotion. I loved making that, I used a Roland 303 for the man lead. It’s such a raw clubby sound... When I make music I want to do it as if I’m playing live. Going forward I’d love to have a live piece of the show… I’d love to find someone that had a similar love for that kind of music and someone who was in tune with me.”

Although 2021 has been a quiet year so far on the release front, Max has stayed busy. He is almost finished building a home studio where he hopes to continue to hone in on his favorite sounds. He remains focused on building out his label, Resonance Records, and just released a track called ‘Together’ with George Smeddles. Max will be touring the US this fall and we cannot wait.

“It started with Nik trying to make a combination of a Fatboy Slim song and ‘Face To Face’ by Daft Punk. I had a small demo that I brought to Ryan. It was the first Sponges effort. At that time we were both working on our own music projects. Nik came to me and as a joke said he’s starting a band called The Sponges and asked if I would by his lead singer. Next thing you know we have this [‘Somebody Somebody’] and ‘Make it Juicy.’”

Ryan and Nik of The Sponges have made a name for themselves in recent years with an incredibly unique sound, blending funk, tech house, and bass house in a seamless and fun way. The duo is from Palm Beach, Florida. Growing up outside of Miami, Club Space quickly became one of their favorite venues and helped introduce the two to electronic music. “The sound system is so pristine. I’d want to see Tipper or Eprom… bass acts that make the system really work. We saw Disclosure there and they played ‘You and Me (Flume Remix)’ and it was the only time we’ve ever seen a track under 120 BPM and it was just insane.”

The duo’s influences are wide-ranging, and their discovery of electronic music was less than traditional. Ryan and Nik first met in high school. They were both producing rap beats for their friends and eventually decided to try working together on the project. After some time, the two discovered electronic music. “After attending some raves we knew we wanted to make electronic music. [We saw] Skrillex at Bonnaroo in 2014 and we knew we had to enter the scene.”

Despite Skrillex helping them turn the corner, the earlier years for Ryan and Nik were defined by rock and rap music. Linkin Park, Lil Wayne, and Kid Cudi were major influences. The first time they performed together was long before The Sponges had a true identity. “I [Nik] was in a rap group and we needed to record music before our show. Ryan was the only person we knew with a mic. We were in high school and Ryan ended up performing while I DJed… That was in 2012, it wasn’t until 2019 that we played a bigger show.” 

For The Sponges, creating music is a complex process often driven by older samples and two unique production styles that Ryan and Nik bring to the table. “The oldies is what we sample. We’re constantly listening to… James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire. The great disco/funk artists from the 70s and 80s… All of our songs have a different story as far as how they began.” Sometimes the guys will find a sample and build a track around it. Other times the bassline comes first. When producing their track ‘Funked Up,’ the goal was to make an edit for a Rick James song just for fun. Three months later it became a breakthrough release. 

Ryan and Nik also take tremendous influence from the world of jam bands. Funky vibes permeate their music and a lifetime of listening to The Grateful Dead, STS9, Lettuce and more has given The Sponges another unique angle to their music. To quote their primary label, Box of Cats, “If James Brown produced tech-house, this is him.”

Two years after truly discovering electronic music, Ryan and Nik were still finding their sound and working on getting their first track out to the world. They started attending a diverse range of music festivals and began seeing a lot of electronic performers, and jam bands. After attending Bonnaroo in 2016, Ryan had the idea to mix the funky sound from Griz and The Floozies with a tech-house sound. Nik had been working on a sample-based four on the floor sound and their combined sonic concepts led to the birth of The Sponges. “We spammed Soundcloud, sending this track [‘Make It Juicy’] to everyone we possibly could. Marc Spence was the one who responded and he asked if he could send it to Box of Cats. After that, Wongo hit us up and since then he’s been such a mentor.” 

‘Make It Juicy’ was followed by a run of successful releases with Box Of Cats. After ripping off ‘Space Funk ‘75,’ ‘I Can Dance,’ ‘Funked Up’ and ‘Rachet Express,’ Ryan and Nik felt like they had found a home. “It’s a dream come true. Box Of Cats feels great because Wongo is so open-minded and such a big brother to us. To have made a song with Kyle Watson is amazing. They’ve been supportive and we wouldn’t have had an avenue to share our music without them. A lot of the big labels have such a specific sound that producers cater to. There’s nothing wrong with that but we needed a label that would cater itself to our sound.” 

The Box of Cats team has helped Ryan and Nik to the point of getting their music out to other labels as well. One of their recent releases, ‘Feelin Alright’ landed on the iconic Night Bass label with the helping hand of Wongo. Staying true to The Sponges sound, the track is another masterclass in sampling and funky beats. “Nik spends a ton of time sifting through samples, finding what works best for our sound. The Sample we picked [for this one] was because the guy sounded like James Brown. I [Ryan] made a demo right before a show we had, I didn’t tell Nik about it until we were walking on stage and just surprised him with the track… [with samples] we want something memorable that will bring people back.”

A unique sound has led to unique support. A wide variety of artists have shown love to The Sponges, ranging from Zeds Dead and Griz, to Malaa and Destructo. For Ryan and Nik, it’s a sign that they’re doing something right, and that their diverse abilities give them tremendous career flexibility. Whether it’s opening for The Knocks to a pop crowd, playing a small dark club, or opening for Griz, The Sponges bring high energy to their live set no matter where you catch them. Ryan and Nik hope to eventually get into the studio with jam bands in order to fully flesh out their funk sound. On the live side, they have long-term goals of creating a hybrid DJ/live set performance inspired by the likes of Gramatik. The Sponges will be putting out a track with Griz in July, and will hopefully be coming to a city near you soon.

Will Clarke’s first breakthrough record was “Big Booty.” A hooky booty-bouncing beat signed to Worthy’s Anabatic Records in 2015. In a post EDM world, it was the perfect dose of weird and womp. As part of the rotating cast of Dirtybird players, he helped redefine tech-house. And while that music helped soundtrack thousands of nights out for a generation of clubbers, Clarke says his latest work is his most meaningful.

“I think the thing with dance music, “ he says. “Is that a lot of the time, it’s just for the club. And that’s absolutely fine. I think clubs have a real important place in our lives. But I think there’s actually more to [dance] music than just the clubs.”

His sound began to turn in 2018 with “Mercy,” a peak hour techno tune centered around an impassioned gospel vocal. You could tell that he was toying with something deeper, and more emotional than the club bangers he’d been known for.

In 2019 he marked a new era with the launch of his label All We Have Is Now. An outlet for his most personal work. His emotionally charged releases “U Take Me Higher,” “Hallelujah,” and “Place Where I Belong” prove dancefloors can be moved with purpose and intention. They are also the most heavily supported tracks of his career. His audience has fully embraced his message.

“I'm trying to write songs that have a bit of a meaning,” Clarke says. And for many of his fans that message is loud and clear. Yet he recognizes music without traditional structure doesn’t always translate deeper messages to broader audiences. "Because I'm not writing songs that have full-on lyrics. It's kind of hard to get that across to people and [that's] what I'm trying to get at and with the videos."

Filmmaker Matthew Freiheit masterfully interprets Clarke's music in emotionally reverent pieces of visual art. Clarke isn’t interested in tired tropes he says, “I didn't want to just be like, Oh, it's a rave and a dude or chick is just taking some pills. And it's just a generic dance record video.” We’ve already seen that video a hundred times he explains. “I'm not there to promote, getting high and shit like that. I'm there to like, actually give a bit of a message out.”

The video for “U Take Me Higher” incredibly sets that tone. It’s a realistic portrayal of the desperate life of a drug addict is heartbreaking. While the vocal hook seems uplifting, the song’s melancholic chords are punctuated by the dark content of the video. It accurately depicts a cycle of abuse and failed attempts at rehabilitation. Something Clarke has witnessed first-hand.

“My family-run drug and alcohol rehabs. And I've always been around addiction in my life through working at the rehabs for my parents. So, I wanted to give a little bit of a message about that.”

It’s not all serious work though. His collaboration with MK, “My Church,” came with an abstract journey through the birthplace of techno. Detroit is where Clarke lives when he’s in the US, and where MK is originally from. So, it was important to both that the Detroit they know and love feature heavily in the video.

It comes with an uplifting message he says. “This sounds really cliche, but I class a club as a church, as a community. I'm not a religious person. But I'm a true believer of what religion does to a certain extent. And it just brings people together. And I think that's what clubs do in the best possible way. You can have God knows what views and no one gets judged in a club. And I think that's what's really important to me.”

His artistic vision is now wholly focused. And he feels like he’s doing his best work yet. Because he says he’s not interested in following trends or making anything generic. “I don't see the point,” he states. “If I'm kind of pulling on the emotion chords of someone, then I've done the right job. In fact, that's what I kind of set out to do.”

Clarke is as honest and vulnerable in his music as he is with his podcast. These qualities are probably why the show is so bingeable. His winding and fascinating conversations with people like Walker & Royce, Oliver Heldens, and Patrick Topping allow his guests the space to settle and share in ways they don’t have the opportunity to in any other context.

He says he wants to encourage people to communicate better. “People need to talk more. We live in this world where even our music listening [or] how we watch things, we want everything now. And if it doesn't get our attention within the first 20 seconds, then we fuckin turn off. Long conversations [are] actually what we need. Because I think long conversation can be the way that we all grow as human beings.”

EDDIE is on a mission to bring electro-house and progressive back to the forefront of dance music. He came of age at the peak of EDM. Artists like Deadmau5, Knife Party, and Porter Robinson were his entryway into electronic music. Their influence is clear in his mix of grungy thumping electro and blissful heartfelt progressive. 

It’s all about giving people something familiar he says about his music. “It's got an aesthetic feel. People really enjoy nostalgia. I think it's really an important part of music.”

His Monstercat debut, "Waiting," pulls that thread. The thick chords, uplifting vocals, and driving beat call to mind early Deadmau5. It’s bright, fun, and heartfelt.

He may have first realized where his tastes lie in dance music at an all-ages Melbourne music festival as a teenager, but his roots run deeper. He recalls his dad picking him up from school with AC/DC blasting from the speakers. “AC/DC brings a lot of energy. It’s very simple riff simple drum work. Something about them really drives you up. You get really pumped up. So I think a lot of the energy in my music definitely kind of correlates with that because I love bringing that energy to my darker electro stuff.”

EDDIE isn’t certain when he transformed from a teenager messing about with mashups and Fruity Loops to career musician. Yet, he knows that he appreciated the journey. “You start to release stuff. Then your friends start saying, ‘Yeah, that's actually, that's actually good. It's not trash anymore.’ And then I just had a vision for a set sort of sound that I wanted. A vision for a brand that I wanted. And you put all that together, you work towards a goal that you might think is possible. And bam, suddenly it happened.”

The key to his breezy and unaffected persona is knowing dance music is supposed to be fun and uplifting. EDDIE has mastered living in the moment. He doesn’t put pressure on himself to reinvent the wheel every time he sits down to write he says, “I feel like when I when I sit down to write music, I don't have that added pressure, where I feel a lot of producers are like, I need to make something that no one's ever heard before. And then they freak out and then write something for like two months, right? I'm writing at the moment because I feel inspired.”

Sometimes that inspiration takes him on a detour. While EDDIE is steadfastly dedicated to electro and progressive, he’s had several high-profile collaborations with the likes of Rezz and ATLiens. His discography plays like a good DJ set. It’s got hills, valleys, and these incredible curveballs that give you the bass face.

He insists that he doesn’t want to confuse his audience, yet he never wants to shy away from the chance to experiment either. “If you go through my discography 95% of it will be electro and progressive, right? And then that 5% will just be me when I experiment. Because it's music at the end of the day. I have an outlet and I just make stuff. I've had the opportunity to work with some really cool artists. And at the end of the day, [if] we make something that might not be progressive or might not be electro and I still think it's really cool, and they really like it, it ends up coming out. And I've been blessed that the fans still really enjoy it.”

He’s always kept himself open to opportunity. It’s how he ended up collaborating with legendary Australian producer, Dirty South on "Just A Riff." 

Their friendship started when EDDIE realized that they were neighbors and share the same Serbian-Australian heritage. EDDIE value’s the professional lessons he’s learned from hanging with an industry vet, and also some of the practical advantages as well. “He's got a really nice studio [so I get] to learn how all his hardware works. Because I don't get to play with hardware much. I don't have any of that stuff. So it's been really fun to mess around with his equipment with him.”

For someone who went from raver to working with notable figures in dance, the significance of these moments are palpable he says, “That's one of those things where you have to take a step back a little bit just to be like, you know, you might not be where you want to end up yet. You're still going on the journey. But take a step back to realize you've done some cool stuff. And I've managed to Yeah, work on deadmu5' label release stuff there. And I managed to get noticed by some pretty big names that I used to really, really look up to. So it's been a great journey so far. It's still climbing. So, I'm happy with that.”

In the end, everything about music is about having fun for EDDIE. “I'm not actually trying to be overly unique. I'm not a producer that aims for that as much. I just aim to make something I love a lot. “

Growing up in both Warrington, England, and rural New Zealand gave Josh Butler an incredibly diverse introduction to music. Although Warrington is a small quiet town, it lies right in the middle of Manchester and Liverpool, two vibrant cities with incredible electronic music scenes. Josh also spent a lot of time in New Zealand, attending high school in the north of New Zealand. Despite virtually no electronic scene when he first arrived, Josh’s first opportunities to DJ came in New Zealand. “The first time I played in front of people was in New Zealand. People had lots of land so we had outdoor raves. I was into DJing and had decks and a PA system so when people threw parties they hit me up to come play. Those were my first gigs, I was playing all sorts of stuff… 2Pac, Drum n bass, house tunes.”

For Josh, his teenage years were a time of discovery and learning. He started producing music around the age of 14, before he was a DJ. Primarily listening to electronic music at the time, Josh noted that producing first, helped him focus on music as a career. “Over those years I was getting more and more into music, starting to get some tracks played on the radio. I was obsessed with music production and electronic music. When the time came to think about jobs, I told my parents I wanted to give the music thing a go. I flew back to the UK to start a music technology course and the rest was history.”

Growing up in two different places saw Josh gain a multitude of musical influences. Although he initially only experienced an electronic scene in the UK, New Zealand has quickly become a second home for him. “All of my musical input came from being in the UK. Only in the last 10 years has the scene in New Zealand grown… I first came back 7 years ago to play in Queenstown. I’ve been lucky enough to go back every year since. There’s always another city added on to the tour ever year. [My favorite] is a club called 121 in Christchurch. Probably the best venue in the country.”

Creating a sonic identity for Josh is a process that took time, maturity, and is still ongoing. It takes many artists years to get heard and break through. Josh faced a unique challenge when a remix of one of his earliest songs acted as his breakthrough. “‘Got A Feeling’ blew up in 2013. After that big record I almost wanted to distance myself a bit. It was a remix that blew up, not my original. I was getting known for that sound so I wanted to go in the completely opposite direction.”

Josh felt that his next record needed to be true to the sound he loved, and not compliant with fans' expectations after a hot remix. He put out ‘No Frills’ with Kerri Chandler’s Madtech records. The track was very underground and minimal, “I was throwing hard house sounds in there… I was trying to combine all my musical tastes and put them into the pot and figure out how all these pieces would go together. The Madtech EP felt like I found my formula.”

For those who don’t know him, Kerri Chandler is an American house music icon. Running the influential Madtech label, as well as owning a catalogue of iconic tracks, many rising DJs find their inspiration from Kerri. Josh Butler’s first meeting with Kerri was one he would never forget.

“We got booked to play the same show at a place in Paris called Concrete. The club was right on the river, beautiful setting. I was fresh on the scene and we just really got along. He invited me to his soundcheck [Kerri is infamous for his soundchecks]. The soundcheck was almost longer than his set. He’s a man of detail. He brings bits of equipment, analyzing frequencies of the room, running to the sound engineers booth tweaking sounds and knobs to make sure everything sounds perfect. We started playing more shows together and stayed in touch. When I started my label, Origins, Kerri was the obvious choice to tap for a record.”

As Josh worked to define himself and hone his craft, he began finding musical influence in different places. “I rarely listen to house/techno if I’m chilling. I listen to a lot of dug reggae. Minimal vocals buts of effects, reverbs, and samples. These guys for me were the pioneers for what I and a lot of people like me do… its out of this world with all the effects, really atmospheric.” At the same time, Josh started to understand who his peers were and who he could look to for collaboration and feedback. “The Solid Grooves guys, Michael Bibi and Pawsa. Their style is very minimal and stripped back. I get into that style and they know how to party as well. Jamie Jones’s paradise is a good one as well.”

Throughout Josh Butler’s career, he has often worked with others in the studio, making the process of production an inclusive one. One of the strongest relationships he has is with fellow DJ/Producer Bontan. The duo have been friends for years now, performing back to back often, pumping out hit records, and even going on tour with Nile Rodgers and Chic. “We knew each other before we were successful… we made some terrible tracks over the years but luckily we also made some good ones. We got introduced a decade ago and still speak daily.” Butler and Bontan were embarking on a special back to back tour in which they were playing extended, 6 hour sets every night. As they approached the UK leg of their tour, they got an offer to open for Nile Rodgers and Chic on a handful of shows. It was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

“It was very different from what we were doing. It was all disco, playing pretty early. Start with an empty room, playing slow disco, dropping classic house tunes as well. Slowly the room would fill up and when Nile came on stage, it would erupt.” For Josh, it was a serious signal that his career was heading in the right direction. After their stops with Nile, they continued their tour. Despite the incredible experience playing extended sets, it is not always Josh’s goal to take on a six hour night. Often the setting is key in determining set length. “If you asked me 4 or 5 years ago I'd say extended sets everywhere. I like to explore my music. Sometimes I'll play venues that I don't feel comfortable playing long sets in. Those are typically ones with large stages and tons of lights. For one or two hours theyre amazing but for a long extended set i prefer a small dark room with the DJ off to the side and a great speaker system. If I get lost in that flow state, time becomes irrelevant. I can go for 8 hours and it feels like 30 minutes.”

As Josh’s career has continued to grow, he has had the unique opportunity to produce with/remix for some of the biggest names in the industry, as well as playing regularly in places that techno tourists dream of. His remix of “I Want You” by Carl Cox is a mainstay in sets around the world to this day. Speaking on the experience Josh mentioned that the song was so old he had to find the original samples used by Carl Cox in order to do the remix justice.

South America and Ibiza hold a special place in Josh’s heart. “[South America] has such a strong scene. The Lost Beach in Ecuador is one of my favorite spots… some of the best parties I’ve ever played are in South America.” Speaking on Ibiza, a place Josh has played for years now, he almost could not describe it. “Without sounding cliche, it’s hard to put into words… [it’s a] big hippy place, lots of hippies still live in caves there and I think that energy brings to the magic. On the other side of it you have the music scene. It’s the strongest in the world… all the DJs go to test new music and it’s where you’re going to see the best in the world.” Josh’s new single with Dennis Cruz, “Ahora Todo Va,” is out now and he will be playing in New York City on July 24th for Elrow.

Illyus & Barrientos create timeless house music that transcends subgenre classifications. Since their debut release, “Need Me” in 2016, the Scottish duo have effortlessly moved from strength to strength and released hit records on respected labels like Toolroom, Defected, Ultra, and Armada. Their success is a combination of Illyus’ encyclopedic knowledge of modern music and Barrientos’ technical acumen. Each record is unique but captures something familiar and nostalgic. Their music has roots in the underground but as Illyus puts it is, “Accessible to anyone who has a passion for life.” They just want people to feel good while dancing.

Part of what makes them unique is their compelling use of vocals. They’re passionate, soulful, and communicate the breadth of human emotions. Illyus and Barrientos have borrowed heavily from gospel to achieve their brand of uplifting dance floor heat. Illyus says it’s because of the genre’s ability to communicate the human struggle. “Most of [these songs] are about hardship that rises from something terrible to something amazing. That energy translates so well to humanity.”

It’s as much about creating an emotional connection as it is paying respect to black music Barrientos says. “It’s also about having the utmost respect for black music and black culture. And knowing where that came from. There’s no other music that comes close to the hope you get from that. And we have a deep respect for it.”

Despite their obvious chemistry, they came from distinctly different backgrounds. Illyus grew up on classic funk and soul. “Everything had a rhythm, which allowed me to move into hip hop. She was a massive George Benson fan. And then the legend that was Marvin Gaye. Just very soulful, very sexy. Maybe that’s why I’ve moved into what we do now because it’s all soulful and sexy.”

As a DJ he cut his teeth in the Glasgow hip hop scene. And while he was consistently booked, he felt like there wasn’t much more he could do. “I was getting gigs all over the place and playing hip hop. And as far as my city was concerned, kind of hit a glass ceiling. I couldn't go anywhere.”

He started to imagine dance music as the change he needed when he saw Jazzy Jeff and Ferry Corsten in the same week. Jeff was technically incredible but only played a few self-produced songs. Ferry wasn’t his vibe, yet he was impressed that he could play a set of his music. The crowd hung on every song and it was a revelation. “I could just see the people going absolutely crazy. It was a lightbulb moment. I had to find a way to a faster BPM that was accessible to me and that could still have the influences I want to use.”

He was familiar with names like Armand Van Helden, DJ Sneak, and Daft Punk. Beyond that, he knew absolutely nothing of dance music. He quickly realized that his world and the world of dance were much closer than he imagined. “My thing has always been you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. As I read back on where people like Van Helden came from, their journey, and [them] being hip hop heads (like, Kenny Dope is a massive hip hop head). I realized I don’t need singers or songwriters. I can just create something from me for a dance floor.”

Barrientos on the other hand was raised on obscure classical music and jazz from his father. And samba, cueca, and Latin music from his mother. But his sister had the most impact on the development of his taste when he got into high school, “ My sister was really into heavy metal and goth. I really used to love it. And then she got me into post rock. It wasn’t until I was 16 or 17 that I started listening to Daft Punk, I was very late in the game. I didn’t really know much about dance music at all until I was old enough to go out.”

He says that he fell in love with dance music nearly instantly. “It was genuinely overnight. Daft Punk was playing at a festival in Scotland. And they were the only ones I knew. But DJs like Erol Alkin, Soulwax, and Tim Deluxe were there. And I remember thinking fucking hell that’s so good. I had never heard anything like it. Mind blown!”

Illyus and Barrientos found their footing as solo projects. Illyus had support from Pete Tong on the Dale Howard remix of his record “Not the One.” Barrientos released a few records with Glasgow Underground including remixes for Romanthony and an early Walker & Royce tune “I Surrender.” It was a mutual friend and Glasgow Underground head honcho Kevin McKay that insisted they meet for dinner. He must have known they’d get on so well.

However, it was obvious that they came from different worlds Barrientos says, “We were kind of put together.”

“Like a boy band,” Illyus adds.

“We were on way opposite sides of who we were running with,” Barrientos goes on. “I was running with people who were in art school. And Illyus [knew] loads of people who liked to party and club. Honestly, if it wasn't for house music, I don't think we would ever have met or been friends.”

Illyus agrees that they were an unlikely match. “Ivan had a full-time job and I’m more of a hustler type. But our taste in dance music was so similar, we shared a passion for deep house at the time. Which made it great, because you have these two different people but there’s a common ground.”

Remarkably, two men from vastly different backgrounds found a home together in house music. But, that’s what dance music is all about. Barrientos says, “Illyus is like a brother to me, we speak every day. It was never just about business or writing records. We grew naturally in a way that we could work together.”

Illyus adds, “I could be wrong but when a lot of people start making music today, they dream of the big stages and the party life too soon. And for us that isn’t why we do this. It has to do with loving music and enjoying DJing. You see someone across from you and you don’t have this grand plan. You just do a record and see what happens. It’s a nice journey and the fact that I trust this person as well. When it comes to music there’s no ego.”

As Santé reflects on the winding journey that led him from smashing out beats on his MPC to playing sexy groove-laden house music at clubs like Amnesia, Watergate, and Fabric he tells me how he misses when every day was a new exploration. “You experimented so much in the studio. You just try out and learn new things. It’s so freeing. I really miss those times. It’s like finding your language, finding what's interesting, what inspires you. And I think that [it] was an interesting process.”

The German DJ speaks to me from his home in Portugal. A far cry from Berlin, but a welcome change. Before he moved there it was a second home. And now he can soak up the beautiful weather and surf every day. A skill he says he slowly grew to love. “I was snowboarding all my life more or less. And I came here [for the] first time, my friend was running a surf camp. I took my first classes. I didn't like it so much because I was used to snowboarding. And it was so difficult to get by. But something kind of sparked and I wanted to learn it. And yeah, and ever since I love it. I go twice a day.”

This slow process of falling in love with an art form mirrors how he discovered dance music. His father was an avid jazz fan and record collector. His dad stayed in his lane almost religiously. So much so that Santé doesn’t care much for the genre. But while Santé may have had his fill of jazz records, it’s clear he appreciates the art form and one’s dedication to what defines them.

As Santé created his audio roadmap, he realized a will to create. He picked up the guitar at 14. But says, “After some several lessons and practicing by myself it became kind of boring to me.”

His search for what would define his musical passion was fulfilled when an older friend introduced him to dance music.  “He was 16 or 17 and he was working in a record shop part-time. He introduced me to electronic music and I was like ‘Wow, what's this?’ And a little bit later, I started working in a grocery and got my first sampler.” Suddenly a whole new world opened up to him.

It wasn’t long before he found a way to turn his passion into a profession. At 21 he moved to Berlin to immerse himself in the mecca of techno. He intended to finish school but says Berlin had other plans, “I didn't actually make it through university because I was too bad. And I failed. So, I got an internship in a studio. And from that point, everything in my career broke. I met quite a few people especially a producer [who was] well known back in the days, Tiefschwarz’.”

Tiefschwarz and Santé had an instant connection and began to introduce him to the ins and outs of the industry. Santé realized that he could make a living as a musician just as he scored his official first release, a remix for Richie Hawtin.

Even as Santé’s star rose, he found himself living in two not so dissimilar worlds. His nights spent in dark clubs, and his days spent creating music for ads. It’s a skill he feels lucky to have. It’s helped support him through the pandemic. When he’s writing for ads he works to evoke an emotional response dictated by film and a physical reaction, consumption. When he writes for the dancefloor he seeks an emotional response, joy. And a physical one, dancing.

Touring has introduced a new passion, cooking. You can catch his skills on display on an informative and often hilarious cooking show, “Foodieloops.” It’s a brilliant mix of Santé’s infectious sense of humor, and delicious delectables.

He’s a self-taught chef. And he says he picked up a lot of inspiration from his travels. “You meet so many different peoples of different cultures. And yeah, it opens up your horizons. so incredibly, Touring really opened up a lot of culinary interest.”

Santé has been lucky to work in an industry he loves for most of his life. And as he looks towards the future of dance music, he’s hopeful and excited. “I think there’s plenty of incredible times ahead because everyone is not taking going out, clubbing, and having this incredible experience for granted anymore. So I think the next couple of years could be kind of like the golden era of, of clubbing. Because the social context and feelings that you get from an incredible rave or festival is something that you can’t translate with any stream. I think it can make people more aware of how important the social interaction is in real life for that kind of art. Or even as a clubber, I can’t wait to get caught by myself being in a club.”

What genre would you describe your music as?

House-tech music (not tech-house, I call it house-tech if you know what I mean)


Where are you from?

Lima, Peru

What age did you start DJing?

24. I am the Luke Skywalker of the DJs – start late, became a Jedi Master fast.

If you weren't a DJ, what would you be doing for your career?

Directing and producing audiovisual content.

What's your favorite artist/style of music outside of dance music?

Pink Floyd, The Beatles, James Brown, Prince, Jamiroquai, Gustavo Cerati, and more.
Blues, rock, funk, soul, and roots.


TolinchiLove never intended to be an ambassador for the Peruvian house music scene. He didn’t even intend to be a DJ or producer, “I only wanted to dance. I just wanted to party and connect with people.” He was simply a well-known raver and occasional promoter in Lima, Peru. He entered his local rave scene at 17 with his eyes and ears open and spent nearly 10 years absorbing music and culture. And then in 2010 sought to apply that knowledge to a sound that’s soaked in the nostalgiac beauty of classic house. A sound that he says is, “A joyful funky groove. An exciting clubbing dance house vibe.”

South America is home to a thriving group of artists drawing international attention to a well-established dance music community spread across the continent. “We are the first generation of Peruvian artists that are coming outside,” he says.

He’s proud to be an ambassador of a dance music culture whose history dates back to the ’90s. It’s stayed insular due to a lack of resources to gain an international audience. “We used to import a lot of talent in the 90s. We knew a lot of music for a third world country. We started as a little community and then it spread. So we're the first generation of professional artists that are here for real, [that] know how to manage our careers. in Peru, that is very difficult because there is no managing. There are no agencies. We are the first ones that are learning how to do it and teaching how to do it to others. It's important for us to be acknowledged because we are representing the people that are coming behind us. We are opening doors.”

He hesitates to call himself a pioneer though. “There's always people saying that pioneers are not only ones. There are other pioneers in another kind of way." He always pays respect to those that came before him. The DJs that taught him how to DJ, and first exposed him to dance music. 

Tolinchi and other Peruvian house producers like Ammo Avenue and Chinonegro are among the first to receive international attention. And for someone who only cared to dance the night away, he couldn't be happier. He's spreading that joy to others. It's like his life has come full circle he says, "We are the first ones and were happy about it. And that's why we take [it] so seriously. We’re making art. Communicating something.“

Tolinchi is humble when it comes to calling himself a musician. He values his work, but he sees it as a form of audio archeology. “The music is not that complex. We are not musicians. We work with musicians. We are musical people like musicians. But we as producers take stuff from all the knowledge we know about music. And that’s why we can do some of the things we do. Because of the love of music. We are like the Indiana Jones of music.”

His digging began early on when he discovered a group of DJs who were pioneers of classic house music but had never traveled to Peru. Dennis Ferer, Masters at Work, and Frankie Knuckles had a lasting impact on Tolinchi and are forever coded into his musical DNA. But none more than Danny Tenaglia, who he now calls a close friend. 

“Danny was the first one. When I was first learning dance music the parties I could go to were only techno parties or early progressive. I wanted another kind of music. Another vibe.  A friend of mine showed me BackToBasics disc one and it was incredible." It was the first time he recognized DJing and house music for all that it was. A beautiful roadmap of perfect track selection and precise transitions.

Peru offered plenty of opportunities for music discovery. But something was still missing for him. “All that mattered to me was why is this music not here. Why can’t I listen to this music? It was so musical. It was another school of house music that never came to Peru. So we don’t have the real house culture. I have to look it out and try and get it to my country.”

His career as a DJ is that dream realized. The mission to bring the sounds of classic house to Peru and South America began to materialize when he first stepped up to the decks. And as he looks back on his journey from raver to DJ to international producer, he’s happy that he’s been able to spread the good word of house music to so many people.

“My mission in the world is to spread that message and that’s exactly what I have to do. Before college, it was the perfect road to the dream. I was already living the dream. From a lot of time working in Peru being nobody to where I was touring all of South America. I have something to say and something to give to electronic music. For me it is a dream come true.“

Tyler Young may seem like a fresh face in house music but when you pull back the curtain you'll see over a decade of grinding. Add to that a musical upbringing that stretches back to the birth of West Coast hip-hop, and throw in some peak dance floor experiences, and you are one step closer to understanding how Tyler Young got here. 

Young’s influences are wide-ranging. On a given day he easily bounces from The Cure to Young Thug to Noizu. He also has a remarkable musical upbringing. As the son of hip-hop pioneer and entrepreneur Dr. Dre, rap was the defacto sound in the house. However, Young may have some dance music coded into his musical DNA as well. He says, “My pops told me he was working on dance music at the very beginning. He was making house in the very beginning. I was like, Wait, what? Wow. So he's done it all, like two times over.”

When your father is an icon, there’s much to learn. Young's father has been an inspiration not just because of his music. He also impressed on Young important lessons in how to move about the world.

“I've learned so much from the guy. And it's been massively inspiring to watch someone with such a fine-tuned sense of detail. There's always that element of trying to just be 100% authentic. And trying to just think outside the box, not really be trapped in any way.”

His father encouraged him to be confident in his aspirations. Young says that his only expectation was that whatever it was he chose he should, "Go for it, and just give it your all. Be the best you can be, for real."

Young realized his dream at one of the most iconic moments in dance music history. In 2006 he witnessed the unveiling of Daft Punk’s Pyramid. He was already a fan of dance music but this was when he recognized that dance music was his future.

“Watching that happen completely catapulted me to the point of wanting to commit to it. I think that was the first time where I felt so connected. Their sound and the energy was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. You know, I felt like, up to that point, nothing had ever grabbed me like that.” 

Beyond the visceral experience, it was a spiritual awakening. “There are lightbulb moments where you kind of see yourself in the future. Then you stick to that goal and never stop and essentially, for me seeing Daft was that moment.”

Shortly after Coachella, Tyler immersed himself in DJ culture. However, resources for fledgling DJs were limited in 2006. But even the most illustrious careers emerge from humble beginnings, and a little bit of ingenuity. “I wanted to go home and start DJing but acquiring the gear wasn't as prevalent in that moment. My friends would come over to my crib, we'd sit in my room and we would just practice DJing on the [laptop] trackpad on Traktor. Just trying to teach each other how to get a clean transition.” 

He eventually got a proper DJ setup and by the time he moved to San Francisco for college, he was ready to destroy dancefloors. “I was still underage at that point. And with no fake ID, it was kind of hard to get into 21 plus spots out there. [It] didn't really stop us from fucking rocking it.” 

He stuck to college parties and undergrounds but he values every moment of those early experiences. "House music was always a goal. I was doing little things towards it the whole way. And now that I'm here, it's funny how everything comes together. And you realize that all those years of going at something you felt was in your heart ends up working out."

Tyler’s tastes shift with his moods. He draws from broad influences that he hopes steep their way into his music. He says, “I'm all over the spectrum and I need it. I'm definitely an emotional being. So at points I need more of that sad and then other points I need the four to the floor club vibe, that energy. But I'm always balancing out different kinds of energy because my emotions are complex. And I think that helps my creativity because I'll get ideas and [open] new mental pathways when I'm listening to something like The Cure."

His ability to translate emotion into music is on full display in his debut single “My Time.” It features the glorious vocals of Hayley May amidst a sweltering bassline and a bed of classic piano riffs. Equally built for radio and the club, it’s a culmination of years of hard work. And a nod to his father’s lessons in proper execution. 

The song was passed on to Young from Jon Kong of Leftwing & Kody after they couldn’t find a proper home for it. “They were willing to pass it to me if I wanted to work on it. And I couldn't believe it. This is just a massive opportunity. And I have just been so thankful for that. It's been unbelievable.” 

May and Young were never in the studio together, yet he captured the spirit of her vocals masterfully. It's a record that sparks joy, in a time when we could all use it.  And, he says it’s been an unexpected stepping stone, “What's crazy is that this wasn't initially my plan [or] direction for my initial debut. But the way the cards kind of came together, It worked out beautifully.” 

“My Time” is a song he says, “Anyone of all ages could just dig.” Young wants to occupy two spaces at once. He’s equally focused on dance music for the masses and filthy club bangers for the ravers. 

He’s proven he can make great dance music with mass appeal. And he's ready to take on dancefloors that are primed for peak hour beats. “I think the direction is [to] smash this club out. With clubs back open, I thought we could start pushing a little bit more edgy and go a little bit more tough. That's always been the forefront of my heart, the club. And some of that's gonna bang for sure.”

Korolova, real name Olga Korolova, finally feels connected to her music. Her lilting and emotional melodic techno represents a full-circle moment for the Ukrainian DJ and producer. 



She first fell in love with dance music while watching Gabriel & Dresden in 2003. And while she's spent much of her career in EDM, she's held her connection to the soaring melodies she heard that night close to her heart. She's spent the last year reinventing herself, and she feels at home at last.

“I’ve never been a very big fan of pop music,” she says. “Before I listened to Korn and very hard music. Or British rock and old music, like Bob Marley.” But when she watched Gabriel & Dresden perform something woke up in her. She knew that she wanted to give others the same feeling.

Korolova immediately took to DJing. And she pivoted from a degree in mathematics to music, much to the dismay of her parents. Although her mom encouraged her to take music lessons as a child - a tradition she's continued with her daughter -  her parents weren’t convinced DJing was a realistic career choice. “My parents started thinking that maybe you need to change your way and try to something else. They were worried. You can be a good music player, but my parents were not thinking about this as a good profession.”

She eventually found herself traveling the world as an EDM DJ under the name DJ Da Queen. She was living her dream of being on stage, but her heart was somewhere else. She says, “I was not very big fan of that style, actually. For me it’s too much hard bass. It’s why I wasn’t a very good producer of this music. I’m not feeling that.” 

Korolova was grateful for her success, yet she struggled to find her voice. That changed when she traveled to Mexico to perform at Daydream Festival in 2017. She was booked to play the main stage with Yellow Claw, Oliver Heldens, Afrojack, and a host of other massive EDM heavy hitters. After her set, she ended up at a stage that resonated with her deeply. As she marveled at music from Claptone, Boris Breja, and Kölsch she turned to her manager (husband) and said, “Andrew, we need we need to do something in this way for sure. This is music for my soul.”

She started to work on techno as a side project in 2016 and still accepted gigs to play EDM. “Every time I wanted to start something my company would say ‘Olga you don’t have time, you have a lot of gigs.’ It was very hard for me.” That is until COVID hit. With no bookings, nothing was holding her back anymore. “It was time for me! I was very happy that we had time for my project Korolova. And it’s worked!” 

Korolova has found her heart song. Her keen attention to melody is something she’s wanted to share since she first heard Gabriel & Dresden nearly 20 years ago. She’s now remixed Tube & Berger, released a collaboration with Jan Blomqvist on Get Physical, and has an upcoming project on Tiesto’s Musical Freedom. It’s a remarkable moment for her because Tiesto’s trance classics are such an integral part of her musical DNA.

She’s leaned into the beauty of her music with a series of YouTube videos recorded against breathtaking backdrops. They’re almost like personal Cercle events complete with drone shots of fantastic locations like Love Valley in Turkey, an ancient castle in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, and the Farsh Café on the cliffs of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

It’s a fascinating way to connect with her audience. And while the experience has been gratifying she admits, “It's a little bit sometimes complicated. Especially one of them in [a] frozen lake.” She imagined recording from a place many could only dream of. Especially her family in Portugal who has never seen snow before. However, she says, “It was very hard because it was minus 10. Can you imagine?” And her set from Egypt was another extreme, “And the last set was another situation, it was plus 35. It was so so hot!” 

This intimate way of connecting with her audience is a nod to her preference for small rooms. Festival stages are too detached. She says, “I love to see the people. I love to see that reaction. They bring me energy and I'm bringing it back.” She goes on to explain how she needs to feel the warm energy of a smaller venue. “I prefer [a] small place when you can touch, you can feel each other.” 

With her sound solidified, and her direction sure Korolova is eager to take on the future with a renewed sense of purpose. She finally feels heard, “My whole team, now understands what I tried to tell them [for] 10 years. It’s not just [a] project. It’s music.”

What genre would you describe your music as?

Uplifting house music, minimal deep-tech, old school house, and tech house.

Where are you from?

Ibiza, Spain, the best place on earth!

What age did you start DJing?

15

If you weren't a DJ, what would you be doing for your career?

Property development, hotels, or anything related to tourism and lifestyle.

What's your favorite artist/style of music outside of dance music?

I love all music, but I do love hip-hop and funk. My fav artist at the moment is Drake.

Manu Gonzalez is one of Ibiza’s most successful hometown heroes. He’s achieved a kind of international success that’s rare for DJs from Isla Blanca. His groove-laden house effortlessly spans the breadth of the genre. And his skills as a selector became clear long before he laid down his first club set. 

Manu is the self-described black sheep of his family. And while his parents hoped for a university career and the stability his siblings chose. He was always interested in music. So, his father called in a favor from a friend and got Manu a job at Discos Delta, the legendary record shop in Ibiza where Sven Vath, Roger Sanchez, and Pete Tong bought their wax.

“I wasn't even supposed to be working there. I was young, only 15 and in Ibiza you can work when you are 16. I had to get a special paper saying it was okay for me to work,” he says. Surrounded by the best DJs in the world at such a young age, he began to make the connections that would eventually put him on a path towards global success.

Discos Delta was a pivotal part of Manu’s musical development. It was the most important record shop on the island. Among its legendary clientele was the “Father of Balaeric Beat,” Cesar De Melero who invited a young Manu to Amnesia. 

Imagine for a moment being invited to your first club night, by a pioneer of Spanish house music, to stand in the DJ booth of one of the most well-known clubs in the world. 

“I was only 16, but if you have permission from an older person like a parent you can go the club. So I told my bigger brother.” When he arrived at Amnesia that night he handed the bouncer a handwritten note from Malero. “Of course we got there and it was rammed. And I just stood there with my pinapple juice and watched him play.” As he looked out over Amnesia terrace he imagined himself as the master of the dance floor.

Before digital music was the standard, record shops held all the cards for a successful release. Joan Tur recognized that Manu had a keen ear and gave him his first shot as a curator.

“We used to get calls from the labels and they would play their songs over the phone. We would tell them how many of each record we wanted. I got the chance to select some of the records for the store.” He explains. “And when the big guys would come in, I would recommend them. And these bigger DJs who would come in started to notice ‘he's got great taste and he's so young’ "

Meanwhile, he spent every waking moment honing his craft. He bought CDJs with his salary. He used the decks that were in the store. As he says, “Anytime I wasn't working, I was beat matching.”

It was a transitionary period for DJ culture. Digital had begun to replace vinyl. And record stores were no longer the default distributors of dance music. Manu recalls, “When MP3s started to get big the record store owner told me ‘I can't afford to keep you here anymore.’ I had already started getting gigs here and there but nothing big.” 

On a friend's advice, he took off to the mainland. He remembers, “A friend of mine told me I should go to Madrid to learn production. So I did three years there learning. And it was the best thing I ever did. Because my manager Danny has always told me, that you can make good money DJing, but to be global you need to do it all.” 

He’s since logged thousands of frequent flyer miles between Europe, Asia, and South America. In 2019 he played a blinding 150 shows. Still, many of his most memorable moments are tied to the island. Even the short conversation that led to his 2014 remix of “Restless” by Hot Since 82 and Alex Mills.

Manu had just finished opening up for him and was surprised when he was asked to do a remix for Knee Deep In Sound, Hot Since 82’s label. Manu was honored, but lots of things are said at the club. So he thought nothing of it. Until he received an email the following week to confirm the offer.

Despite Ibiza’s status as a global dance music mecca, DJs who live on the island don’t always see the kind of success that Manu has. He believes that's due in large part to the relationships he's spent years building. And the encouragement of his manager Danny Whittle.

Whittle is another legendary figure in dance music. He's been a staple of the club scene on the island since the mid-90s. And he's had a hand in many of the famous clubs on becoming what they are today.

Manu says that Danny has been a significant part of his success, "I could have easily been one of the DJs who only played in bars for my whole life. But Danny my manager always said we need to play the long game." Whittle wouldn't even book Manu at his own bar. He goes on, "And he advised me on things to take and things not to. Sometimes he would tell me that a gig wasn't good enough for me. The goal was always to be global."

And even given his immense, he feels that there is more work to be done. He remembers an interview he did in 2014 with Ibiza Spotlight. It was in the lead up to one of his favorite nights as a DJ, playing International Music Summit on Dalt Vila. 

 “When I signed with Danny they told me 'you are going to be the first ever bicenca who will play at IMS. You have shows at Ushuaia. You are signed with Danny Whittle, one of the pioneers of electronic music what's your dream?' And my dream was to work many years. To be together with Danny. And to break through in the American market.”

It seemed that he was on his way to that before COVID kneecapped the industry. Yet, Manu remains hopeful that this time without gigs has taught us all something important. He's learned that nothing is guaranteed. And that going forward we have an important duty to keep the global dance music scene thriving without ego, “We are all here for the same reasons. We need to really help eachother. We need to love each other. We really need to be nice people and help each other grow. I really think it’s going to bring the best out of each of us. I think that once this is over things are going to be even better.”

Many fans of Martin Ikin discovered him in 2019 when he released the massively sought-after “Hooked” with Fisher’s Catch and Release label. Although his career has recently taken off to new heights, Martin is a true veteran of the house and techno scene.



Born in Liverpool, but growing up in London, Martin’s career began in the early 90’s. “I had my first release in 1991, I was 17. I was DJing a little bit then but not a lot. At the time it was the rave scene, lots of warehouse parties. My friends were putting on parties and I would play for their shows. Straight from the bedrooms to the warehouse raves.” Coming up in that era, Martin was inspired to DJ by the likes of Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.

It took Martin many years to turn the hobby into a profession. “It was a lot different then, it wasn’t a thing to be a DJ. Back then it was not a career choice. I was still doing my apprenticeship while being a DJ on the side. It was harder to buy equipment, there wasn’t loads of choice. I had one Technics turn-table and a Sony belt table from my dad which I broke. I’d use all that and record on my dad’s Sony tape deck and just pass it out. There were no CDs or USBs.” Not only was the industry and scene more underground at the time, but Martin was also busy exploring another side of live music. His favorite music to listen to outside of house/techno is Jazz. “I play and study jazz piano. I have an old 1968 record player. I play all my old records on that. Oscar Peterson is my favorite jazz pianist. Herbie Hancock when he was doing Jazz on Blue Note. It’s just my love of piano. I taught myself how to play in my early teens. I took some classes and studied it. It’s the ultimate way to play piano and it stuck with me forever.” 

With this knowledge, it’s easy to see the influence jazz has had on Martin over the years. Many of his greatest tracks are tinged with beautifully constructed piano melodies and breaks, helping to bring an uplifting and soulful vibe to his music. That being said, Martin is a fan of big energy whenever possible. When it comes to his setting of choice for performance, the answer was easy. “Festival. They’ve all got pros but it’s gotta be festival. It’s normally daytime and it’s sunny, the crowd is massive and always ready for a party.” Furthermore, when discussing the perfect lineup at a club, or his preferred brand of party, high energy seems to fuel the answer. “I’d have to put all my mates on there… definitely fish, Chris Lake, Noizu, Biscuit, all my pals… I’d have to play BTB with Fisher cause he’s just mental… I’d also love to be on an elrow party. That’s the one that sticks out. Their production is so unique and it’s just an amazing vibe.”

Although we now have a picture of what the Martin Ikin sound is, he has gone through a variety of phases in his career. Some of his early releases such as his “Rage EP” and “I Know EP” have a distinct bass house feel, tinged with breakbeat sounds and a clear influence of the 90’s sound in the UK. “I’ve always been influenced by the early stuff that I started out doing. 1991 was when I started, the rave era. That moved forward into Drum n Bass and even a few years after that I started making Garage. All my music is influenced by the stuff from the early '90s.”

Martin continued to release music consistently, although it was not until 2018 when he seemed to find his modern sound and begin to cement himself as one to watch. Releasing the “Pulse Wave EP” in 2018, Martin’s sound switched to a more tech-house sound, with four on-the-floor beats and snippy vocal samples.

He followed this with a release on the legendary Toolroom Records, and then banged out two of his most famous tracks to date, “No No” and “Hooked.” 

For those who didn’t know Martin before, they certainly did now. For Martin though, he had a hard time looking at it like that. Internally, he didn’t even know that he had created a hit. “When I’m making tracks I always make something that I would want to play. If I’m working on an idea, would I play this, if the answer is no then I don’t go any further with it. For me I always think my tracks are good. It might sound a bit big headed but it’s just the truth. ‘No No’ and ‘Hooked’ to me weren’t any different. I just thought they were good tracks. The weird thing is, sometimes it takes people a while to latch on to what you’re doing. I’d sent both of them out to a lot of people and no one was interested. It made me doubt myself and feel like they weren’t good. Thank god for Lee Foss and Fisher cause they took them and gave me their platform and helped elevate me. You can be making good music but if it doesn’t get into the right hands it can be tough to take it to the next level.” 

Martin’s breakthrough is a story of decades of experience and hard work. Some artists find themselves in the spotlight after a year of strong releases, some take longer. For Martin, he had his share of moments of doubt but his perseverance is an example of how staying true to oneself can and will pay off. “It feels personally validating. You’ve been sending your music out to a lot of people and they either don’t respond or don’t give positive feedback. When you get that sign-off, it shows you you can do it and it opens the door on your career… There were loads of moments when I doubted myself. I’ve never felt like I’m gonna stop doing it but there’s many times where I’ve felt like it’s not gonna happen but I’m gonna carry on anyways. ‘Kids if you get those moments, carry on! You never know what’s around the corner.” 

Having big-name artists open the door for your career is in reality, just the start. For Martin now, he is focused on maintaining a consistent output of quality music while remaining fresh and always experimenting with his sound and production style. “I try not to ever make the same record twice. I love synthesizers, that’s one of my favorite things is making noises and sounds and finding something new to put in the next track that will make it sound different.” A self-professed gear head, Martin’s synth collection is ever-expanding as he seeks to truly create a brand new sound. “Sometimes it might be a vocal sample, that’s the kick-starter, having a little clip and build around that. A lot of the time it’ll be making a sound on one of the synths. I made the sound for ‘No No’ five years ago. When I made a new synth sound on my Jupiter synth, I knew it would go with the vocal and so I built the track after that. Sometimes it’s a bass sound from the Pro-1 or the Moog. The Moog is my baby, from 1972. The 303, Jupiter, Juno and Korg, are all also personal favorites.”

When Martin envisions the future of his live performance, one word comes to mind first. “Lasers. Going back to the old rave days of the '90s. Big green ones and some nice visuals behind me.” He hopes to bring a taste of the early days of rave culture to the modern world of high-powered visual spectacles that now are an industry standard in any electronic music show. Martin would like to eventually play at Coachella and Burning Man, although in the near future, he is excited about making his NYC festival debut at the iconic Electric Zoo festival. The veteran DJ and producer has many years of greatness ahead of him, and we look forward to catching him live in the states soon.

For David Wheatcroft (AKA Wheats), electronic music and a passion for DJing was introduced to him in his early childhood. Despite growing up in Portsmouth, a city without a vibrant house and techno scene, David’s father helped show him the ways of the world of electronic music. “He was a huge fan of Carl Cox and Frankie Knuckles, he used to show me that kind of music as a child and it inspired me to take it up. I used to peer over the decks when i was 6 years old and watch my dad play… I decided to pursue it myself by the time I was about 13.” 



A home education in house and techno, and close proximity to Southampton and Brighton gave David all the tools he needed to launch his career. That being said, the early days were not to be taken too seriously. “I was 14 and my dad snuck me into a nightclub called Sky bar in Portsmouth. I took my laptop and old CDJs in there, no one turned up whatsoever, I was just playing for my dad and his friends.” Despite humble beginnings, David has since built up a career that now seems him as one of the hottest names coming out of the UK with a distinct, hypnotic sound. Although he has found success, he remains driven to continue growing and achieve new goals with his career.

David’s inspiration comes from a variety of avenues. Although he has played some of the biggest stages in the world, there still remain untouched venues. “After watching Jamie Jones smash it [DC-10 in Ibiza] the last few years, it would be a dream to play there.” In line with this, David notes a strong preference for the type of performance he prefers. “In an intimate club, I feel you have more control over the crowd. At a festival, the crowd is a diverse spread of people. At the club, you can create connections and control the floor in a different way.” 

The first official Wheats release came in 2014 with his “Knee Deep EP.” He followed this with a handful of releases over the next few years, waiting until 2017 to start releasing with regularity. 

In the beginning, David was still finding his sound and working on his identity as an artist. “When I first started, I didn’t have a direction. Even up to 3 years ago I was still figuring it out. I felt a little bit lost, I hadn’t been out enough and explored enough music to understand where I wanted to go with it. Now I know I want to go down this path of hypnotic trippy sort of style. When I’m on the dancefloor [as a fan] I want to be hypnotized, so that’s how I want to play.”

Although he now knows his sonic direction, the progression was a slow roll. David’s Al Shrill EP (released in 2017) marked the first real development in his style. The EP came out on Amplified Records, a local brand for which David was a local resident with in Portsmouth. “They shined the light on me first and took me under their wing. That motivated me to have [someone else] sign off on my talent. It is a small brand but had great connections. It made me feel like I wanted to keep going forward and smashing out records.”

Around the same time as the 'Al Shrill' EP, David connected with Toolroom Records and proceeded to make the label his home for the near future. “I met Toolroom in Brighton and handed in a demo which won their demo of the week competition. Later in the year, their sub-company, Engine Rooms, asked to manage me.” The recognition of David’s talent continued soon after with a major sign-off from American house legend, Kerri Chandler. “I met Kerri at a festival in 2017 with my dad. My dad got chatting to him about some old vinyl records. Kerri asked me to hand him some music. That day he opened his set with one of my tracks and it blew my mind. He was the first major artist to play a song of mine. We’ve kept in touch and we even have the same booking agent now. It’s just crazy to me.” 

After a few years on Toolroom, David honed in on crafting a true identity for himself sonically. 2019 saw him head into a deeper and darker realm of house music. The influences causing this had a wide range. “Whenever I’m in the car I always have a radio station playing called BBC Radio 2. They don’t play anything top 40, just a widespread of music from older eras or current stuff that’s not popular. You can generate ideas for your own records by having inspiration from the music you might not normally listen to.” David notes that listening to a broad spectrum of music is key to development, but he can also point to a specific moment that changed everything for him. “I went to We Are FSTVL with some friends, we watched Jamie Jones BTB Marco Carolo BTB The Martinez Brothers and it just blew my mind. It changed the direction I wanted to go in musically and it opened a door for me mentally.”

Jamie Jones has long been one of David’s biggest influences and idols. The two first met in April of 2017 and since then David has worked hard to foster the relationship to the point that he is now releasing music with Jamie Jones. “I got friendly with a club owner in Southampton. Ryan [the owner] invited me to the green room to meet Jamie. When I met him I handed him a USB. Ever since then I kept sending him music and in the last year or two he’s finally started asking me to sign music with him, as well as inviting me to play at his Paradise shows.” The first result was a hypnotizing slow roller EP called “In Your Head.” 

Going forward, David has seen doors open and opportunities abound as his profile continues to grow. “Recently I was in the studio for about two weeks with Latmun, we wrote 5 or 6 tracks. We just started sending them out for feedback… Recently I’ve been working with quite a few vocalists, a young woman named Medusa who just helped me on my recent Hottrax EP [Jamie Jones’s label], she does awesome trippy vocals.” For David, the process of music production can vary greatly. Sometimes he hears a sample or sound and decides to build a record around that one sound, other times he simply sits down and in the studio and creates from scratch. “There are great samples from all over the place… recently I’ve been doing edits of old 80s tracks and turning them into modern house tracks.”

The future is bright for David and he plans to dream big when it comes to the next phase of his career. David is currently working on a project called Box Red where he is putting out edits on Bandcamp and doing limited edition vinyl releases. He hopes to build out the project into a real label as it grows. David is also focused on eventually entering a curation role, building out his own party brand to help push the sound he loves. There will be a handful of Wheats releases in the near future, as well as a USA tour in the fall in which he will be co-headlining with Latmun.

For many, Malta conjures images of crystal clear blue waters, historic castles, and an incredibly diverse culture given its proximity to both Sicily and Northern Africa. For Edward Carabot, Malta is home and a bastion of funky house parties. Edward, also known as Edd, is a rising DJ/producer from Malta. He broke onto the local scene with an infectious upbeat energy and production style that exemplifies the Maltese sound. Since Covid-19, Edd has focused all his energy on music production, the results being an incredible EP that is out now on Patrick Topping’s Trick Label. 

Growing up in Malta, Edd was surrounded by music from an early age. At age 7 he started playing guitar, eventually teaching himself the piano and drums. Over time he began to produce using Fruity Loops. “Originally I made hip-hop and classic EDM tracks… I’d just post my beats on SoundCloud and would be happy about getting 10 listens.”

For Edd, producing came before Djing. He started to learn by using his friends' equipment and playing with them until eventually, his father bought him a Traktor S2. “My mom didn’t let me play parties so I just did it at home and continued to learn and make friends who spun. Eventually, my friends helped me get some gigs at clubs. Once I did that I started to learn more about house music and producing house music, and I completely fell in love with the scene.” 

The club scene in Malta has developed and grown tremendously over the last few years. The clubs became more professional, the parties grew bigger, and the talent of the DJs has risen. Edd broke through by networking at every show, and taking any gig he was offered. He was bouncing around, playing any club that would have him until one of his sets was heard by a promoter at Uno Malta, one of the biggest venues in the country. 

Edd was invited to play at Uno and was told if it went well, he could potentially secure a residency. “After he told me he was going to pay me for it, I’d never been paid before… I told him I would literally pay you to let me play.” For Edd, success has nothing to do with money, he simply loves the music. That passion translates onto the decks, as Edd’s skill for performing was quickly recognized and allowed him to secure a residency at Uno, playing the club's legendary Distrikt party. 

“It’s a challenging place to play as a resident because you’re always trying to raise the bar from your performance last week, as well as some healthy competition with other residents.” The sound in Malta skews more towards disco and vocal house tracks, although for Edd he hopes to help build out the tech-house influence in Malta. Despite his local success, Edd has bigger dreams. Traveling to Amsterdam Dance Event was an inspiration, seeing so many world-class DJs in the same place gives Edd the drive to continue to grow and learn. He hopes that his new music and continued success will one day land him an international residency in a place like Ibiza which he refers to as the gold standard. 

In order to achieve these goals, one must consistently release high-quality music. As with everyone else, Edd’s life changed during the global shutdown. He was used to spending most of his free time prepping his sets for his residency and getting into the studio to produce simply when he had extra time on his hands. With no shows to play, he locked in on producing music. Furthermore, the influences he experienced changed. “I haven’t been influenced by the Malta sound in a while because of the lack of shows. Instead, I’m finding that clips of my favorite DJs spinning are pushing me to produce different and challenging sounds.” 

The sound of Malta comes through in many of Edd’s previous releases. To Edd, his track “Sola” is the perfect representation of Malta. 

However, quarantine has allowed him to try new things which are reflected beautifully in the Trick EP. Although his signature sound comes through, the EP has a dancefloor-ready feel with four on-the-floor beats and heavier basslines. The extra time in the studio shows, as the EP marks a level of experimentation and willingness to try new things. We can only hope that Edd continues the hot streak and that other big-name artists give him their stamp of approval as he grows and develops as an artist. Edd is truly one to watch, and the electronic scene in Malta will continue to rise with him.

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