Ask any successful artist, in any genre, how they made it to where they are. The answer will always be a different version of the same thing: determination and self-motivation. 



There is no roadmap to pursuing the arts. Instead, it’s a field where a college degree is mostly meaningless, measures of what’s “good” or “bad” are entirely subjective, and the amount of competition is astronomical.

That’s why the ideas of determination and self-motivation are so universal. They are simple to understand but not necessarily easy. 

House music is inherently simple, yet so many replaceable tracks are attempting to follow formulas based on previous hit records. To transform that simplicity into something that captures your soul takes determination and self-motivation, just like building a career as an artist, and HoneyLuv—real name Taylor Character—has accomplished both of those impressive feats.

“When you have those two things, honestly, anything is possible. And also speaking positivity into the universe because the words that you put out into the world are very powerful. The universe is listening,”  Character tells Gray Area over Zoom from Los Angeles.

Character didn’t begin speaking a career in producing and DJing into the universe until a few years ago, but the universe surrounded her with music from a very young age. She has memories as far back as three and four years old of riding around in her father’s purple drop-top Mustang in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, listening to old R&B songs from the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“From there it started,” Character says of her fascination with music. “Music is everywhere. You really can’t escape it, and so it’s best to just embrace it. Literally everywhere you turn there is music.”

Amidst an atmosphere consistently swirling with music, Character’s mother introduced her to house. She’d play it all the time, and one track that still sticks with Character to this day is “Your Love,” by house music legend Frankie Knuckles.

Character heard it when she was growing up and then again when she played the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, wherein “Your Love” is featured on one of the radio stations. The track continued to inspire something deep within her.

“This song is a classic. It’s just timeless,” Character says. “I wished I could make something as dope as that or something as classic and timeless as that.”

Once the bug to make house music had buried itself under her skin, the determination and self-motivation to become an artist began, even if Character didn’t realize it herself. 

Character’s introduction to DJing came, in some ways, by force. She moved to Los Angeles in 2016 after the Navy stationed her there, and her friends in the city twisted her arm into DJing because she would play all the good songs on the aux cord.

“I kept the energy going when we were in the car,” Character says. “So they just kept pressuring me to do DJing, and at first I was reluctant, but they kept pushing me and pushing me and then eventually I gave in.”

Character bought her first DJ controller, and that’s when her determination and self-motivation kicked into high gear. She practiced every day in the barracks at the military base after work.

Character was already playing gigs at R&B and hip hop parties within a couple of months. She wanted to play house music parties, but she only knew people in the realm of R&B and hip hop. 

Then the pandemic closed all the parties, but that didn’t slow her down. Instead, she recognized a huge opportunity to start playing house music on Twitch, and before long, she was playing streams for major channels like Desert Hearts, Groove Cruise, and LP Giobbi’s Femme House.

In December 2020, when the scene was still remanded to live streams, Character left the military and started taking production courses the following month at The Los Angeles Recording School.

“I started grinding into making music because I knew that was the only way that I could actually excel to higher heights,” Character says.

The universe was listening, and she’s been transcending ever since. Soon after restrictions started to relax, she met one of the founders of the LA via San Francisco label, Popgang Records, at a gig, and within a few weeks, they released her debut, “Free.”

With original tracks to her name alongside a solid reputation from Twitch and the experience of an open format DJ, Character had the CV to reach out to promoters all on her own for house music gigs. One of those gigs was a show at The Flamingo Deck in San Diego, supporting Dirtybird’s VNSSA.

Character connected with VNSSA’s agent, and they hit it off. And just like that, Character was opening for Chris Lake at the Brooklyn Mirage and playing Insomniac festivals. 

“We had a meeting I think that following week, and then literally after that meeting a week later he had me on all these festivals, and so it happened pretty fast,” Character says.

In 2022, she is already scheduled to play Skyline and Beyond Wonderland, and she just dropped her debut single on Insomniac Records, “Your Tongue.”

Character created success in a timeframe that’s unheard of through determination, self-motivation, and a bit of trust in the universe. That’s the secret sauce, but it’s so deceptively simple.

One must apply these tenants to every aspect of their life, not just music. Determination and self-motivation must drive every decision at all times. They must become a part of someone’s humanity. That’s when the universe will start to listen.

“If you have all those three things intact and you stay consistent with what you want, things are bound to happen,” Character says. “I never wanted to be comfortable in anything that I’m doing. I never wanted to be satisfied. I don’t want to be a regular. I just wanted more out of life, and I’ve always been like that since I was little.”

Big Miz— aka Christopher McFarlane—has come into his own as one of the UK’s most exciting rising talents. While he’s been steadily releasing music for nearly ten years, he’s achieved recent acclaim through a slew of notable appearances on labels like Nervous, Knee Deep In Sound, Toolroom, and Defected and a notable 2020 remix of Hot Since 82’s “Rules.” His sound is rooted more in classic soul and funk than anything. McFarlane takes all the best of the sound of a bygone era and injects it with his own modern flair.

He initially released music under Medders, which he thought was “edgy and cool when [he] was younger.”

“My friends just shortened that to Miz,” he said, “And they would call me ‘Big Miz.’ ” And then when I got my first record out. I wanted to get a fresh start because I had been making music since I was like 14, and I just thought, ‘Why not just use Big Miz?’”

Music was always in the blood for Miz. He played the drums in bands starting at 14. “My friends and I used to play a lot of pop punk covers and screamo music and stuff like that,” he said. “The first band I was in was called Sugar Rush, and then I was in another one called Autumnsun.”

He naturally fell into being a DJ over the years. “It happened quite organically,” he said. “Me and my friends used to go out to clubs, and we were buying records because we liked the music, and we were thinking how could we get to DJ-ing clubs.”

They decided the best way to go about it was to start their own club night. Then, if they booked other DJs, they could warm-up for them.

“I was just doing it for fun for a lot of years, and then eventually started getting offers for shows.” He eventually made a connection that allowed him to release a record through Dixon Avenue Basement Jams in 2015, paving the way for a career as a [producer.

“After I got that first record ou and started using the name Big Miz, it just so happened at the same time they were doing a Boiler Room at the Sub Club [in Glasgow].” That set in 2015 was his first major gig and a steppingstone for a serious career as a DJ. He returned to the Boiler Room decks again in 2019 and has played all over Europe and Asia.

Being an experienced drummer has undoubtedly influenced how Miz goes about his sets. “I spend a lot of time worrying about the drums and how they feel and how each drum part is playing off each other.”

When it comes to selecting tracks for his winding eclectic DJ sets, Miz says that it is all about the vibe of the night. “I just try and feed off the crowd and pick the tracks in the moment,” Miz explained.

However, when he’s not DJing, you’ll rarely catch Miz listening to dance music. His listening habits are a window into how he seeks inspiration for his music.

“I like old soul music and jazz and a lot of Irish and Scottish folk music,” he said. “I find myself kind of having to force myself to listen to new, current dance music, rather than just going back to the stuff that I know and love. I love Sam Cooke and Amy Winehouse.”

Surprisingly his biggest inspiration, though, is Billy Joel. “I feel I owe a lot of my musical education to [him]. That was like the soundtrack to my life growing up.”  His favorite Billy Joel track? “The River of Dreams.” The love of music runs in his family, as well, and Miz’s father had seven brothers, all of whom are “slightly musical.”

“Some of them play the pennywhistle. My dad can play the drums, my granddad used to play the drums in a wedding band when he was younger, as well. So it kind of runs in the family a bit.” His parents assisted with Miz’s musical interests as a kid, too, getting him his first drum set and keyboard to pursue his passion.

During the pandemic, Miz kept busy by producing remixes for other artists, but now that the club scene is getting back to normal, he has some exciting projects on the horizon. His recent self-released EP Flashbang that he says are “five proper, dance floor tracks.”

He emphasizes the word “melodic” when describing his sound, “These tracks I’m putting out are a bit of heavier more kind of club-driven more drum-focused and stuff, but definitely with that melodic, fun feel to them.”

A veteran of the electronic scene in Mexico, now residing in Berlin, Robbie Akbal is a DJ, producer, and label owner. Not only the founder of the widely respected label, Akbal Music, Robbie has also been signed to several highly respected labels like Get Physical, Culprit, and Crosstown Rebels. 

How would you describe the type of music you create?

It's a blend of house music that sometimes can be deep or tribal, organic twisted melodic groovy music with always an edge.

If you had to choose one — festival, intimate or big venue?

I personally love intimate venues with a 200-300 person capacity.

You’ve been releasing music since 2005, it’s easy to look at a DJs career starting from their first release, but it’s safe to assume that you were working on your craft well before that. Can you tell us about the years prior to releasing music, what it was like for you coming up? 

I grew up in the restaurant/club industry, my father had clubs when I was a kid so I grew up next to instruments, turntables and records. Also my brother had a huge influence on my music taste as he was the first person that introduced me to electronic music.

You launched Akbal music in 2006. Nowadays it’s extremely popular for artists to start their own labels, but it’s safe to say you were way ahead of the curve on this one. What was pushing you to start a label so early into your career? Have there been any surprising rewards or challenges you’ve faced in owning a label? 

I started the label to release my own productions and then it grew organically.  It has been a great challenge in these 15 years, the music waves have been changing and we have evolved with the time adapting to each cycle.

Although you now reside in Berlin, you came up in, and are a veteran of the prolific house scene in Mexico. Could you give us a bit of a history lesson on house music in Mexico? How do you feel the scene there has shifted in your time as a DJ? Has it changed for the better or worse you think? 

I think Mexico has a lot of great talented artists that are making waves all over the world. It's funny that now that I reside outside of Mexico, I find myself getting more gigs internationally than when I lived in Mexico.

You eventually made the transition to Berlin. What prompted the change of scenery? While Mexico is generally known for a more ethereal, tribal rhythm sound, Berlin is generally known as the techno capital of the world. How does your sound fit in there and is there anything you’ve noticed about the electronic scene that you feel is different to other parts of the world? 

Yeah so i've always wanted to live in Berlin because in Europe, it is the capital of electronic music. A few years ago the opportunity came to move there and I jumped on it. I think it is a great hub to connect with a lot of artists and also to easily fly around Europe and Asia for gigs makes my life easier.

You first released with Crosstown Rebels in 2017. I have a couple questions about this. First and foremost, how did you connect with Damien Lazarus and how did that impact your career? 

We always had friends in common and a good relationship. Over time, I've sent him some demos and he told me he was playing some of the tracks. Suddenly, while at a Day Zero event [Damien Lazarus’s event brand] I visualized some music to be played there and I went to the studio straight after, feeling very inspired from the event and produced a few tracks. Afterwards I sent them to Damian and a few months later got signed to Crosstown Rebels and he invited me to play for the Sprits release party in London.

The Crosstown Rebel sound seems to be the popular sound in places like Tulum these days. Do you feel that individuals like Damien Lazarus have brought more awareness to the unique scene/sound in Mexico, or is it just increasing the popularity of traveling to these destinations to party? 

For sure that event is such a high standard in all production levels and a unique experience that for sure attracts many people. Damian is a genius; everything he produces is great!

Are there any young upcoming DJs that you want to shout out? 

From Mexico, Alberto Hernandez, Hole Box, Vite,  and Argentina Cocho, Facundo Losardo as well. There is a fresh generation of very talented artists in Central/South America that I’m very excited about.

How do you feel the state of house music overall is right now? Heading in a positive direction? 

Sure always evolving and sounds are being recycled but always with a better age.

After getting his start as part of a DJ duo in Atlanta, Paraleven set out on his own in 2019, focusing on melodic house and techno. Immediate success and recognition followed. His warm melodics and ability to weave brilliant emotions amongst sultry sweaty beats were noticed by leading industry figures. His first releases came out on Lane 8's This Never Happened label. After touring with Lane 8, Paraleven released music on Rufus Du Sol's Rose Avenue label. The rest is history. 

We caught up with the ascending star of progressive house to hear about his journey in dance music.

How would you describe the type of music you create?

I think at one point I referred to it as melodic house and techno with ‘Cinematic Flair’. I like to create something that brings a lot of energy in a live setting while maintaining a melodic feel to it. I use a decent bit of cinematic sounds and it ends up coming out big most of the time.

What do you remember about your first gig?

My first gig was at the Quad in Atlanta for Toasty Thursdays back in 2012. There were maybe 5 people there. 2 of them were facing the other way sitting down playing PlayStation. I played on a pioneer DDJ-T1.

What would the lineup look like at your dream club performance? Who’s opening? What Club?

Oh man. Ben Bohmer, Tale of Us, Moderat in that order. Would it be weird if I said the Mirage?

You were originally part of a duo called Halogen. What prompted the switch in direction?

I think after years of putting work into a project people never wake up one day wanting to start completely over with something new. I grew as an artist and wanted to make a different style of music.

Do you have any advice for young artists who want to make a change in their sound?

I think that it is important for people to understand that you aren't really starting over, because of all the knowledge you have gained and people you have met along the way. Do what you want always. Don’t just keep doing something just to do it.

Atlanta is growing, yet it's not considered a haven of underground music. What was your experience coming up there and how did you discover electronic music? 

I fell in love with Deadmau5 in College at Georgia Tech. Ended up going to the first Counterpoint festival which was originally located where TomorrowWorld was held and it definitely made me realize that it was what I wanted to do. The scene in Atlanta isn’t the same as other cities. But growing with the scene there was special to me regardless. There were some memorable times at each of the venues.

You first released in 2019 on This Never Happened can you speak on how you connected with Lane 8, and what his support has meant to your career?

Lane 8 is a great dude. I knew at the time that the music I sent him was some of the best stuff I had made to that point and I figured he would at least commend me for the production quality if anything. But I got an email back saying he wanted to sign me and eventually led to going on tour with him. I learned a lot from him. He pushed me to make great music and not good music. He gave me a shot and it has led me to where I am, so I could not be more grateful for that.

After collaborating with CRi and Lastlings, you made Rose Avenue your home. On many of your tracks with Rose Avenue, you have incredible featured vocals. What do you look for in a vocalist?

With vocalists, it’s all about preference really - the style of voice you like in your music. I reached out to some vocalists I really liked from other songs and had the opportunity to meet them and really drive home what I wanted. Songwriting is a whole different skill. I really admire the craft. I personally like lyrics that are abstract and leave the listener interpreting it in different ways.

You’ve been working on a live performance of your music. What prompted you to create this style of show and what equipment will you use?

Creating something unique for the night just adds another layer to the performance. I use a Korg Minilogue to play various synths throughout the show and use three Xone K2’s for bringing in and adjusting the various elements of each track. I have an analog reverb and a drum pad that I am trying to incorporate as well. The live show will evolve over time. I was inspired by Ben Bohmer.

Rufus du Sol put out your debut album, an incredible, consistent piece of work that really stays diverse while maintaining your sound. What is the general artistic process behind putting an album together?

I actually didn’t originally go into it creating an album. It graduated to that after a suggestion from the Rose Team. After re-listening to the original five songs they felt cohesive and I decided to work off the sound I had going to build the LP. It takes time (over a year) and patience. This one was intense because of all the vocalists and people involved. I have a great team on my end that helped create the whole vision.

Do you have a favorite track on the album?

I personally enjoy ‘Crash and Burn’ the most. Part because of the song itself and part because it is the most fun to play live.

You’ve been booked to perform at the third annual “Cityfox Live” festival. What does it mean for you to be booked on an event like this and to make your debut at Avant Gardner?

It has been an actual dream of mine to play at Avant Gardner. So this is a special one for me. I told myself that I would play there one day and here we are. I am humbled at the opportunity to play for the Cityfox brand and excited to perform in NYC alongside all these other great artists. Feels surreal honestly.

Do you have any big-picture goals for your career?

We have some big ideas for the future. Our team is working to build something surrounding 432hz. But we will save that for a later discussion!

With a glistening discography and collaborations with dance music pioneers, Supernova - aka Giacomo Godi and Emiliano Nencioni - have finessed a classic house sound of their own through decades of experimentation. Born and based in Florence, Italy, the duo proudly founded three labels - Lapsus Music, Downtown Underground, and Blackboard. They have performed at some of the world's most celebrated venues and festivals, including elrow, BPM, Ministry Of Sound, Space (Ibiza and Miami), and Tenax (Italy). 

Despite being born in the '70s, the music of the '80s had the most considerable influence on the duo. The first band that Godi can remember loving is Duran Duran. 

"Of course, all the music that you listen to as a child… eventually influences you. In our first album, we did a cover of Duran Duran' Save A Prayer.'" In the late '80s, when house and techno were first emerging in Chicago and Detroit, the pair began DJing and producing.

The duo's friendship has a long history. They grew up together and shared the same friends from a young age. Nencioni recalls that the concept of Supernova started because of a party they both went to. "I was DJing… We used to speak about music [and] our projects. I was starting a new project with a club in Florence. I invited Giacomo to [see if he wanted to] do these projects together." 

After visiting Godi's studio in Milan, the pair began producing music together and decided to join forces for good. 

"And here we are after almost 20 years," Godi concludes. "Next year is our 20th anniversary. We've [got the idea] of releasing an album in 2023, but first we have to produce it." They're also planning a tour off the back of the album release. 

Godi and Nencioni first fell in love with dance music thanks to 'The Godfather of house' himself, Frankie Knuckles. His track, "Your Love," which they bought on vinyl in 1988, remains one of their all-time favorites. 

Now, for Godi, being a DJ has become conflated with social media presence. "A DJ career is not only about DJing, or music… it's maybe half about social media, or maybe [even] more than half…You can be a 'pop star' DJ today if you are really good with social media, but that's another job."

The first track that Supernova produced was one of the tracks included on Afterbeach, their first album. Godi explains that while they're unsure which one it was, Afterbeach encompassed all of their earliest productions. 

"We were in a studio in Milan… At that time, we were using Logic. The fun thing is that we were using a synth… that is from Novation, and it's called Supernova." It's this synth that gave the duo their iconic name. 

Over the years, Supernova have churned out an incredible quantity of brilliant remixes for some of the world's most accomplished artists. Godi believes that a critical breakthrough moment came 15 years ago. "We had the chance to remix a track by Kerri Chandler that did very well. It was played by tons of DJs. Kerri is one of our favorite DJs." In the same year, they flew to London to work on a major project with Defected Records, culminating in mixing Defected's coveted Miami in The House compilation.

In 2012, the pair were asked to remix "The Whistle Song," a legendary house track by the Chicago mastermind, Frankie Knuckles. In a world saturated with house music producers, it's Supernova's fresh approach to remixing that has continually caught the eye of legendary artists. Godi says the best approach to remixing a classic track is translating its biggest element to the new generation. "We were able to give a different and new vibe to a big hit without moving too far from it, without ruining it. I think this is the goal of a remixer."

For Nencioni, another breakthrough moment in their career came in 2009, with their first label, Lapsus Music. "[The label] allowed us to create a real Supernova music scene because we could share all the music we wanted. I think from that moment, a new Supernova era started. It was really important for us." Today, the pair are living the dream. They own three music labels and a publishing company, which allows them to release music from a broader range of genres than house alone. 

In 2010, Supernova released a massive hit with the Detroit legend Kevin Saunderson, one of the pioneers of Detroit techno. "We first released the record without meeting him," Godi recalls. "We took a sample from a library that we had, that wasn't just a small sample. We didn't realize that it was part of a Kevin Saunderson record. Kevin, at the beginning, was a little bit upset about this because we didn't clear the sample." After re-releasing the record as with Saunderson credited, the duo developed a great relationship with the iconic producer and have played together in New York. 

Nencioni highlights the pair's work with other members of the Saunderson family. "His son, [Dantiez Saunderson], released on Lapsus too… and we've had several collaborations with Ann Saunderson… So, we've collaborated with all the family! We feel like part of the family."

Part of Supernova's individuality stems from their innovative live setups, which have shifted significantly. They started as some of the first artists to experiment with doing a live set in a club with real instruments. 

"I was coming from a live, studio [background]," Godi explains, "and [Emiliano] was a DJ… We were going into clubs with thousands of keyboards, mixers…every gig was a mess in the beginning." The duo soon found that sticking to a rigid, pre-prepared set of tracks was ill-suited to a club setting; for them, live shows worked better at festivals. 

"We started to do this mixed thing between DJing and a live set… we moved to using decks, and Ableton, so basically we were playing music from decks, and at the same time adding on live percussion or playing some small live synth lines, or playing our tracks from Ableton as well." Nowadays, Godi and Nencioni generally stick to standard DJ sets but plan on incorporating both DJ sets and live performances into their 2023 album tour. 

With a wealth of experience and wisdom, Godi and Nencioni are well-placed to reflect on how the Italian electronic music scene has changed over the years. Nencioni argues that, during the '90s, the Italian scene was one of the best in the world. 

"Now, maybe it's not the best… [but I still] think we have good spots, good festivals, and good clubs these days." The industry has transformed in tandem with the growth of the internet and social media. 

COVID hit the Italian electronic scene hard, but nevertheless, Godi remains optimistic about the future. "Maybe now it's a new beginning… for the club scene in Italy. One of the things that I think the Italian scene doesn't have, or hasn't been able to do, compared to other scenes… is to make a really Italian scene and export it around the world, like for example the UK does, or Amsterdam." 

For Godi, Italy has always been and continues to be home to tons of great Italian producers and DJs. "But we haven't been able to set a trend. We always take trends from outside." Nencioni also sees this as a political issue. "In Italy we have more restrictions than the UK or Berlin, so it's not easy to develop a good culture for the young generation, or for investors. It's difficult to evolve with these kinds of limits."

Ammo Avenue – aka Sebastian Paul – sits in his studio with a customized Funko Pop! of himself on the speaker. He resides in his hot hometown Lima, Peru, where he champions its small but flourishing dance music scene. 

"I think we're at our best time right now." he says, looking back on a decade of local dance music shows. "Compared to when I started going to raves in 2012-13, you can tell it's grown so much in terms of scene, production, crowd, and franchises that now come that didn't come before."

Ammo Avenue is a straight shooter in tech house. His beats have let him reach Rawthentic, Deeperfect, Repopulate Mars, and, as he's most excited for, Chris Lake's label Black Book. 

He beams, "Sharing a booth with some of these names, being on the labels and them knowing my name, writing and contacting me… it's still a little bit surreal but it was what I was looking for."

When he was younger was moved by punk rock and hip hop. His brothers shared their musical tastes with him, listing off rappers Eminem, 2Pac, and 50 Cent. While he grew up surrounded by music, he didn't dream of making it in the industry until after he first studied publicity and advertising. Now, he lives and breathes house and is a self-professed music addict. 

"I didn't see music or DJing as a proper career. You dig deeper, and realize it's actually a full time thing," Ammo Avenue says. 

"You think of money, you think of time, you think of your personal stress." When it comes to  hard work towards a dream, he says, "if you want one to properly blow up, you have to let the other one go." 

"It was a natural transition," he continues. "I studied and worked in advertisement agencies parallel to DJing and involving myself more into house music. I had to decide which one I wanted to blow up, which one needs to have more attention, and I had to let the other one go." For Ammo Avenue, it was critical to carefully plan and take it slow.  

He first discovered the world of dance music at house parties during high school. He recalls the key moment when he first heard Tocadisco's remix of "Body Language" by M A N D Y and Booka Shade. 

The first festival Ammo Avenue attended was Creamfields 2014 in Lima. Around that same time, he started playing parties and developing his artistic identity as a house producer. He downloaded and promptly deleted Ableton before getting serious and giving production a real shot. With the help of his cousin and friends, he learned the musical skills that led him to where he is today. 

He's a proud DJ of the digital era, happy to travel with simply his USBs and headphones. He respects any road to making the dream of being on stage come true. "I love all setups. If it works for you, it works for you," he says. 

Ammo Avenue's earliest releases were in the realms of nu-disco and G house. He developed his current sound by "Being more mature about my style and realizing I don't want to follow short-term trends," he says. "Instead I want to make timeless music – tech house, deep house and house fell into that." 

As much love and sincerity that go into a track, most artists look back and call their first works "trash." But when fans have gone back to Ammo Avenue's early music and said they loved it, he can't shoot them down. "If they're feeling it, it's for a reason." 

With newfound confidence, Ammo Avenue is pushing his signature house spices to other aspiring producers. Recently, he released a sample pack with sounds that continue to appear in his upcoming tracks. Crisp hi-hats, far-out flips, and tight bass grooves are Ammo Avenue's way into house. He also launched his own production course. 

"What I love about sampling – I don't just drag and drop, I try to make something different out of it," he says. "You cannot get too purist about some stuff. Everybody can access a 909 hat, so it depends on you." 

While only at the beginning of his artistic journey, Ammo Avenue looks forward to his European debut in the near future. He plans to tour more of South America, then explore Central and North America. He'll soon be releasing more tracks through Repopulate Mars and Syracuse Music. The rest of his success will arrive in due time. 

"Don't rush. It applies to everything," Ammo Avenue shares. "Everything happens for a reason."
 


Interview by RYDEN

Miami-based DJ and producer Malóne has been a key fixer in the Miami house scene for the past few years, throwing parties and putting out releases under his Hurry Up Slowly brand. With his latest release sitting at the top of the Beatport and Traxsource Afro house charts, his rise looks set to continue. We called him up to hear about his journey so far and what’s coming next. 

Malóne’s earliest musical memories, growing up in Miami in the ’80s and ’90s, reflect his Cuban roots. “Salsa was always a huge thing in our household,” he tells us. “It was literally every day, the only thing I’d listen to. Salsa and the Bee Gees, because my mother listened to the Bee Gees and only the Bee Gees when we were in the car.” 

These twin threads of disco and Latin dance music were woven together thanks to an uncle, who introduced Malóne to DJing when he was still a kid. 

“My uncle was a DJ in the ’90s in Miami and he had the first Visiosonic DJ software. He taught me how to use it when I was 10 years old and I fell in love with the idea of mixing music. He would book little parties, like high school dances and kids’ parties. He would play the Spanish styles of music and I would play hip-hop and contemporary stuff.” 

In the late ’90s, Malóne discovered the US trance scene, going to all-age raves and daytime foam parties at the Miami institution, Space. But it wasn’t until the early 2000s, after college and a stint playing professional baseball, that he became immersed in electronic music. 

“I went to my first Ultra when I was 23,” he says. “It was the early years of the EDM boom and all the Miami clubs started booking these massive headliners.” 

Space reopened, and the Miami scene started to carve out its own identity. “Since then, it’s just built,” says Malóne. “And Space has always been at the heart of it. I think it’s the best club in the world.”

The club has played a significant role in Malóne’s journey. In early 2014, he wrangled a set in the ground floor room at Space, his first major DJ gig. “I showed up with my Traktor S2 controller because I had never even played on CDJs before. It was the first time I actually played at a club and I was nervous as shit, but it went well. Then fast-forward eight years to a few months ago, I had the chance to play the terrace [the main room] at Space. I jumped on about 3:30am and the next thing I know it’s 7am. I ended up playing until 9:30 am. It came full circle for me, playing my first show at Space eight years ago and then playing a six-hour peak time set in the main room. That made me realize how far things had come.”

Malóne’s productions have also found their crowd. His latest track, “Muy Bien,” has just come out on Oscar G.’s label, Made in Miami, and hit #1 on the Beatport and Traxsource Afro house charts. 

“It’s my first number one and that’s a huge moment for me,” he says. “It’s a collaboration with two Cuban artists called PAUZA. They’re still in Cuba, like lots of my family, and everyone there is dealing with some really difficult circumstances.” Having found each other via Twitch, they worked on the track for two months, sending stems back and forth over Cuba’s creaky internet. “It was amazing to collaborate with these two local artists. I’m very humbled to see that happening, and very proud, too.”


Twitch streaming brought Malóne’s music and DJing to a much wider audience during the pandemic, thanks to a hook-up with BLOND:ISH and her ABRACADABRA crew. “A few weeks into the first lockdown, I wrote my track Bana,” he says. 

“I was kind of depressed, like everyone, and the track was a lot deeper and more melodic than my usual sound. I sent it to BLOND:ISH because I knew a guy who was doing video work on her livestreams.” BLOND:ISH put it out on ABRACADABRA and asked Malóne to become a resident on her Twitch channel. 

“That year and a half of the pandemic, when nobody was able to do anything and everything was closed, I was able to join this amazing, beautiful community of ABRACADABRA and play with them every week. My career took off in a really positive way. It was just because of that one track, which was influenced by that one moment. Music is a beautiful thing.” 

Malóne’s label, Hurry Up Slowly, has just come off a huge party series during Art Basel Miami. “We did almost 10,000 people over four days, with Guy Gerber, Marco Carola, Rony Seikaly, and Diplo.” He says. “The brand is growing and we’ve got a lot of big things coming up."

Malóne also a release coming up on Saved Records, Nic Fanciulli’s label. 

“It’s one of my favorite labels of all time,” he says. “And I’ve got pretty close to Nic. Just to be able to work with a legend like that who’s been around for so long, that’s a huge thing for me. I’ve just been amazed at how quickly everything’s grown in the past couple of years.”

“I always try to tell people to follow their dreams and don’t get trapped in this vision that other people might have for your life. A lot of people have opinions on what you should do with your life, but it is your life, and if you wanna go out there and do whatever it is you wanna do, we live in a world where that’s possible.”  

Doc Brown is a living example of his own mantra. From playing in a high school rock band to holding over a decade of experience behind the decks, music remained his focus ever since picking up a guitar. Studying classical guitar at the University of Miami would prove crucial for his career, both in terms of professional development and creative inspiration. The degree allowed him to gain access to the music industry professionally. The city allowed him to discover a passion for dance music that would later become his legacy.

Download "Super You" out February 18, 2022, on Farris Wheel

“I came to Miami in the mid 90s and prior to that I hadn’t really had any exposure to dance music. At that time South Beach was really blowing up. It had a lot of crazy clubs a lot of European influence. It was really my first exposure to dance music. I don’t know if it was the first club I went to, but one of the first clubs I ever went to was Liquid on Miami Beach. Lasers and lights and people going crazy. I was like, what is this?! I really enjoyed it, so that’s what inspired my passion to get into that music.”

Doc Brown paints a charmingly vintage picture of his initial discovery of dance music. Having bought two 1200s and a Vestax mixer with his first paycheck out of college, he would sift through record shops on Miami Beach. However, it wasn’t until winning competitions to play at EDC Orlando and Groove Cruise, years later, that he describes his career as a DJ “taking off.” He has since maintained his residencies at both festivals and added several other internationally acclaimed events and venues to the list. 

The artist’s talent extends to production, with releases under significant labels such as Lapsus Music, Go Deeva, Natura Viva, and Cube Trax. Rich with groovy percussion and rolling basslines, Doc Brown produces his brand of tech house, a genre he defends against popular criticism:

“I don’t necessarily care what genre people want to put my music in. Tech house gets a bad rap because it’s the catch all bin for everything that’s not house or techno which encompasses a wide range of stuff and sometimes not awesome stuff. Genre police are funny to me. All those problems that they talk about, they are in every genre.”

Nonetheless, he is adamant he doesn’t produce for genres or for labels, instead focussing on genuine quality and inspiration, qualities which have undoubtedly been key to creating his own signature sound. These sounds are now captured by his label, Unlearn: Records, launched during the pandemic. 

Disappointed with the lack of support offered by labels, Doc Brown founded Unlearn:Records to revolutionize the relationship between artists and labels.

“If you’re going to give away half of something you made to somebody, let’s at least hold them accountable to make sure they are doing everything on their end to maximize the amount of whatever can be achieved with that particular creation.” 

The label particularly supports young or new-to-the-scene artists in a conscious effort to combat illiteracy on technical matters like copyright. Indeed, in 2020, Unlearn:Records saw two first-time releases from new artists. The label has also picked up widespread industry support from artists like Jamie Jones, Claptone, Low Steppa, Codes, and Demuir.

This passion project reflects Doc Brown’s determination to create a healthier and more accessible music industry. He describes the pandemic as having opened his eyes and the broader community’s eyes to future avenues for direct monetization.

“A Twitch subscription is a perfect example of that. They [fans] aren’t giving you money for anything, they’re giving you money because they like you and they want you to keep doing what you are doing because it gives them joy. That really made that very real for me. I do think that’s a huge future avenue for musicians and artists in general: being able to directly monetize their fans instead of having to participate in a system that might be somewhat exploitative, and not give away so much of what it is that you created without having that direct return on it. We’ll see how it all works out, I think technology is moving that way, like blockchain technology. A lot of these problems we’ve been having with digital art are slowly going to resolve themselves hopefully over the next five to ten years and that’s really exciting if you’re a young artist or new to the music industry.”

Despite getting stuck into online communities, Doc Brown’s eyes light up when I ask about his return to real dance floors. He has just returned from Groove Cruise, and he excitedly recounts his favorite moments. Amongst these, it seems, he cherishes reunions with all those working behind the scenes. I come away from the interview with the warm feeling that this artist cares about the industry from top to bottom.

Los Angeles-based RYBO – aka Ryan Bohnet – thrills the masses as soon as he steps behind the decks. As an invaluable member of the Desert Hearts crew, he’s released on multiple occasions through the group’s record label and played an array of stunning performances at both the Desert Hearts Festival and City Hearts tour stops. 

Bohnet was always an avid music lover. Growing up on the outskirts of San Diego, he gravitated towards the piano in his living room, noodling around on the keys. “Of course, I didn’t get the lessons. My sister did. I got a guitar when I was maybe about 12 years old. I only took one lesson, then learned how to read tabs, and from there on, I taught myself how to play guitar.” 

As his guitar playing improved, he started to meet up with his neighbor, who kept a drum set in their garage. “I’d bring my guitar over there and we’d just jam out some horrible Black Sabbath or something like that.”

A shift of focus to dance music came at the age of 16 when Bohnet’s friend gifted him a CD with “Around the World” by Daft Punk as its opening track. “I remember listening to dance music, driving around in my car… and I was like, ‘How do they make this? It’s not conventional instruments.’ I was flabbergasted by how they make these electrical sounds.” After doing some research, Bohnet discovered that the source of all that electronic brilliance was drum machines, synthesizers, and computers. 

On his sister’s MacBook, he used GarageBand to get a grip on making an electronic beat of his own. He later upgraded to working with Serato to venture into DJing. However, he initially found it challenging to navigate. “I did not get it at all. It was like a whole foreign language to me.” 

Alongside Daft Punk, Bohnet’s other early favorites in the world of dance music included obvious choices like “Sandstorm” by Darude and Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400.”

Bohnet imagined pursuing a career in dance music after his first rave in 2008 when he turned 18. “I remember coming back to a buddy’s house after the rave, going to sleep, and thinking to myself, ‘Man…I think I can do this! I think I can make some dance music, start DJing.’” 

After finishing high school, Bohnet followed in his father’s footsteps and started working in construction. “My dad had his own construction company, but he retired when I was right around 18. I wasn’t working for him, I was working for one of his buddies, doing underground work, and I thought that was probably what I was going to do for the rest of my life.” 

He had a healthy salary for an 18-year-old and a strong knowledge of the trade. However, Bohnet’s career took a turn in the 2008 recession. “I got laid off along with a lot of my co-workers... construction work was just non-existent.”

After deciding to enroll in a music and recording arts school, Bohnet relocated to LA to pursue music production full time. “That’s really what started the whole journey for me.”

While Bohnet is fully dedicated to house, he didn’t always have a tunnel vision approach. “I started out making hip-hop productions, instrumental beats…a big influence growing up was 9th Wonder, J Dilla…all that sample-based hip-hop.” 

He maintains that he’ll always love hip-hop and still creates hip-hop beats from time to time for personal enjoyment. “Me and my friends just rap on them for fun. Nothing’s release. I have them on a private Soundcloud somewhere.” 

After finishing music school, Bohnet interned for Ludacris’ producer but eventually became disillusioned with the music that he was working on. “I was doing a lot of pop stuff with them, also some folk music and country. But I really didn’t like working on that side of music.” 

Bohnet began taking DJing and house music more seriously. “If you’re not having fun with it, then at the end of the day it really turns into an ordinary 9-5 really.”

When asked about his very first gig, Bohnet hesitates at first. “Probably one of my very first gigs was at a wedding, but I don’t think we want to talk about that one….” Bohnet’s first actual gig came when he turned 18 at the Avalon in Hollywood. 

“It was during the blog house days. Electro and dirty Dutch music were in. The room could probably only fit about 25 people in it.” Playing at the iconic club was an eye-opening experience. Seeing his name on the flyer beside bigger artists was a massive confidence booster. “It was special to me. I was definitely nervous, but during that time I had a lot of buddies who I was DJing b2b with, so we were all bringing each other up.”

Bohnet’s proudest achievement to date is his record label, Percomaniacs, which he co-owns alongside one of his best friends, Lubelski. “I’ve always wanted an outlet to put out my own music whenever I wanted, and also to be able to curate a label… by picking and choosing up and coming artists. That’s been a really big goal of mine.”

The inspiration for Percomaniacs stemmed in part from the legendary Jamie Jones, who Bohnet worked with for five years as his LA studio manager. “I got to pick his brain a lot. I would always ask him, ‘Oh, so I noticed you only release on Hot Creations. You don’t do much else on other labels.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, because I want full control of my releases.’” Bohnet took these words on board and adopted the same outlook. 

Bohnet contunes to be ambitous. “I’d love to see [Percomaniacs] throwing parties across the USA and internationally, that’d be amazing. There are definitely some artists we’d like to get on the label. There are also some events I’d like to play, some labels I’d like to release on.” Like many artists, he’s hungry for international exposure and touring. “Getting over to Ibiza, Germany, the UK as well…that’s what it’s all about: love for music, and travelling.”

As a festival, record label, and party tour, Desert Hearts is a family through which Bohnet has flourished in recent years. “They’re all my best friends, so it’s a bunch of brothers hanging out… There’s a lot of fun to be had, a lot of debauchery. I definitely owe a lot to them for opening my eyes to the whole Burner culture.” Never failing to put maximum effort into every party they throw, the crew has nurtured a loyal fan base in the years since their inception. “They really care about their fans. It’s all about the love that they put out there. I’ve been releasing on them ever since the label came out, and I plan on releasing with them forever.”

The Desert Hearts Festival stands out as being particularly unique. “They were one of the first to make the Burning Man culture more accessible to people that are afraid to go to Burning Man, or that just don’t have the money to go to Burning Man. I think that’s really what sets it apart.”

Despite his love for performing in new and exciting places, there’s a special place in Bohnet’s heart for the LA house and techno scene. “When I was living in downtown LA, most of the parties we would go to would be underground warehouse illegal raves. It doesn’t really get much better than that… the music never shuts off, you have a lot more freedom, you can go from warehouse to warehouse.” 

According to Bohnet, although there are great scenes across the USA, no one does it as crazy as LA does. “Recently, we’ve had a lot of people move out of here to go to Florida and New York, so it has died down a little bit, and also the whole COVID thing just shook everything up a little bit.” Despite this, he maintains that LA is still his favorite spot to play, even after being on tour.

It's hard to imagine a life outside of dance music when you grow up at the forefront of the Ibiza club scene. Ibiza-born DJ, musician, and entrepreneur Anna Tur carries on a legacy of her culture-defining family. She's established a dominating presence in the scene after years of heartfelt dedication, and both her innate artistic flair and unthinkable musical expertise only continue to bloom as her journey continues to unfold. 

Art, music, and media were the backdrop of her life from a young age. It was inevitable that she fall into the industry's lap, never questioning how she ended up here. Her greatest inspiration comes from her upbringing in a stimulating and imaginative environment.

"I'm so lucky to have been born and raised in such an inspirational place like Ibiza. It's the perfect place for those of us who aspire to dedicate our lives to music or any other artform. It's just a very inspirational place. It's home."

As her role models, her parents played a tremendous role in shaping her into a progressive, forward-thinking creative. Her father, Daniele Luppino,  is the mastermind behind Ibiza Global Radio and her mother was a journalist and radio broadcaster on the picturesque island. After endless summers of observing their work and volunteering to assist them as a teenager, she was mesmerized by the thrill of working in the industry,

Anna's story expresses the nature vs. nurture notion wholeheartedly. Thanks to a little bit of luck, a little bit of fate, and a whole lot of extraordinary talent, she's become one of the most fascinating artists in the industry today. 

The world was her oyster, and she could go anywhere and everywhere she wanted. But the spellbinding ambiance of Ibiza anchored her. She couldn't imagine exploring her talents and uncovering her path in the music industry would lead to anywhere but there.

She followed in her father's footsteps and managed Ibiza Global Radio for several years, and hosted the popular show 'ON AIR With Anna Tur.' But, when she launched her imprint, Lowita Records, she realized she craved more. She just knew there was something else she must accomplish. 

This is where her adventure as a prosperous DJ began. Despite having well knows parents, she still paid her dues. Like most DJs out there, she started performing at local restaurants and venues around the island to smaller crowds. She was only familiar with mixing house music yet yearned to create her unique sound within the genre. Eventually, inspiration struck, and after experimenting with a varied palette of soundscapes, her obsession with techno ignited. 

Her extraordinary sound comes thanks to her genuine creative nature and never-ending devotion to electronic music. She intertwines an exotic blend of hypnotizing, soul-stirring house and grooving techno. 

She spent a lifetime around Dj culture. It's not just her passion. It's the central focus of her entire life. She's a natural storyteller, and on stage, she seeks to translate her intense emotional connection to music into peak dance floor experiences.

"Watching people's reactions, seeing how I'm moving them with my music, and realizing how it makes them really feel something is what made me fall in love with doing what I do. From a young age, I've always felt the music. My parents would play records at home and they had to stop at times because I would cry of emotion. Music just does this to me, and I still get this way to be honest. I knew I wanted to make other people feel exactly like this. That's our main goal as DJs anyways."

Anna's DJ career has blossomed since her debut at Space Ibiza in 2009. She's had groundbreaking performances at festivals like Dreambeach in Algeria, Untold in Romania, and Creamfields on the Carl Cox Invites stage. She's also a mainstay at renowned Ibiza, such as Marco Carola's Music on Amnesia. And beyond the shores of the White Isle, she's a regular at striking nightclubs in Spain like Fabrik Madrid and Pacha Barcelona.

"Whether I'm playing to 15,000 people at a festival or to 300 people at a club, it's all about that special connection with the crowd and really feeling that bond and sense of togetherness. You have to feel that feeling in both atmospheres, and I feel it, which is how I know I chose the right profession."

The integrity of the one-of-a-kind Ibiza groove is an international concept that continues to live on in Anna Tur. Her sensational soundscapes and enlightening entrepreneurial mindset instill a sense of inspiration in other like-minded creatives and music lovers. It's artists like her that keep this enchanting world of electronic dance music spinning around. 

She wisely notes, "When you're passionate about something and you choose to make it your career, it becomes a part of your life and everyday is an adventure. Plus, you get to change the world by doing so."

Steve Bug would not be alone in saying he's involved with dance music for the love and the passion. It's a culture that inspires, enchants, ensorcells, and otherwise intoxicates nomadic individuals to love any and all with every fiber of their being.

What makes Bug unique is his universal application of that love and passion. For nearly 30 years, the Berlin-based polymath has served as a producer, DJ, event curator, and label head to a plethora of different imprints. 

In the mind of Bug, none of these activities are mutually exclusive. They all embody the same thing. If he is going to do one, he will do them all because that is how he can best represent dance music as a human being.

"To me it's all a big thing. I'm either in it 100 percent or I'm not," Bug says, dialing in from his studio in Berlin. "I don't think I could just be a DJ or just be a producer or just a label guy. To me it has to be the whole thing. I want to do everything because I love it so much. This is what brings me joy."

Preeminent physicist Isaac Newton's third law of motion states that "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," and Steve Bug proves this rule via his introduction to dance music. His first authentic experience was an evening at Hamburg's now-legendary Front Club in the late '80s.

"My friend said I should come with her to Front Club in Hamburg where they play this house sound. I didn't know anything about it. I hadn't heard anything about it," Bug says. "So I went to a record shop and basically found two records. The House Sound of Chicago and one other compilation that I don't remember right now to know what was going on. So I went home and listened to those records and I really enjoyed what I was listening to, but I didn't know what to expect from the club."

Bug proceeded to "dance his ass off all night," in this mecca for dance music culture surrounded by people expressing themselves without inhibition. But what truly sparked Bug's attention was the nonstop music.

"Before DJs in the discotheques weren't really mixing records together. It was just one track one by one. Music stopped and they played the next track," Bug says. "I was enjoying the music nonstop. That was really blowing my mind."

Bug took action through attending Front Club that one fateful evening and the equal and opposite reaction was a complete and utter passion for dance music.

Steve Bug DJing in the 90's

Soon after Front Club, Bug completed his DJ set up with two turntables and a mixer. He started working with others to produce music before building out his own studio, and after that, he started running his own record labels. That was over 25 years ago, and throughout that time, Bug has proven himself an innovator in all three of those areas (his activities within dance music go far beyond DJing, production, and record labels as well).

As a DJ, Bug has a dedicated fanbase worldwide, playing regularly at hotspots like Miami Music Week and festivals like Germany's Fusion, Saint Maarten's boutique island experience SXM, and BPM. His production catalog spans seven full-length albums and dozens of singles and EPs. Along the way, he has run a variety of record labels, including Raw Elements, Dessous, Traffic Signs, Sublease Music, and Poker Flat Recordings.

"We're doing Poker Flat right now and Sublease Music. These are the two we're focusing on. The others I prefer to say they're asleep instead of saying we definitely put them away, and that's not ever going to happen again," Bug says with a laugh.

Raw Elements was Bug's first label. He adopted a genre-spanning approach from 1997 to 2000, releasing various styles from disco house and electro to Detroit techno. After discovering that so much diversity on one label wasn't necessarily viable paired with some issues with their distributor, Bug put Raw Elements to sleep and started Poker Flat Recordings in 1998.

Poker Flat Recordings is Bug's most prominent and longest-running label. Over the last 23 years, he's put out over 300 different releases on Poker Flat from artists like John Tejada, TRENTEMØLLER, Tim Engelhardt, Alex Niggemann, and Francesca Lombardo, as well as his own productions, all while being sure to maintain the label's integrity; remaining true to the off-kilter and eerie approach to minimalism regardless of whatever sound is the trend of the day. 

"Integrity is not about setting trends. Music to me and I think for a lot of other independent label owners is about passion and about something you personally feel. It's not about what other people like out there, and if a trend is shifting, it's not a smart move to shift with a sound financially, and in the long run, you keep your integrity, Bug says. "It's who we are. I can't do it differently. This is how I do it, and I think this is true for all people who run these sorts of labels, no matter if it's dance music or any other sort of music. Independent labels are basically driven by passion."  

Bug is still driving the culture forward with that passion. He is signing exciting new artists to Poker Flat like Ausilio Jo (whom Bug discovered through a track feedback session at SINEE Electronic Music Production School), he's curating more "reduced, hypnotic, and raw sounds" through Sublease Music, he's producing his own music (Bug had the final release on Poker Flat in 2021) and tours are coming soon as well.

With Bug's love and passion, even a global pandemic couldn't stop him from being in dance music 100 percent.

Many artists find their lane early in their careers and stick to it for years. Maybe slightly drifting off course at some point, but never really straying too far from the sound that made them fall in love with dance music. Proper Villains—aka Jon Shulman—has spent two decades politely destroying conventional wisdom and writing whatever he wants. As a result, his catalog runs deep, brimming with genre-spanning gems from dubstep to drum & bass, tech house to breakbeat, minimal to trap. And despite his meandering genre fluidity, his music still carries with it a cohesive string. It’s part of the reason why his music appears on lauded labels like Classic Music Company, Box of Cats, Southern Fried, and Fool’s Gold.

His eclectic ear formed early. He says he grew up with “the most non-musical family.” Nevertheless, the imprint that his parents left on him is indelible. 

I imagine an old Looney Tunes cartoon as he endearingly recalls his mom playing all the wrong notes on the piano. However, she insisted that he take lessons starting at eight. And even though Shulman has developed a discerning ear, he says he didn’t get his innate abilities as a selector from his dad either.



“My dad ran a laundry company in Brooklyn. So, he would just get whatever the dudes with the blankets on the sidewalk were selling as far as CDs. He would come home with like, Kenny Loggins, 50 Cent, and Enrique Iglesias. That was just what he listened to. There was just no filter.”

What sparked his love affair with music was their record collection. Hiding between his mom’s Simon and Garfunkle albums were records from Ozzy Osbourne and Led Zeplin.

“I was a super metal and punk kid. And then I got into industrial metal like Nine Inch Nails.” The intersection of synths and heavy rock was fascinating. Eventually, his love of synths took over.

“I played guitar in two or three really awful bands. We ended up being an industrial metal band just because we couldn’t find a drummer,” he explains. Although it was more like none of his friend’s parents would let them have a drum set. So they improvised. “We’d loop up Rage Against the Machine breakbeats on a computer. And after a while, I was just like, well, this computer never shows up late to practice or stoned, so fuck y’all, I’m just gonna like roll with this computer.”

He grew up in the storied 90s New York club and rave scene. And as he reminisces on the iconic nightspots he spent hazy nights at (Twilo, Limelight, Exit, and more), it becomes clear that he’s been harvesting this eclectic sound in dark rooms for a good portion of his life.

By the time he was a senior in high school, he’d made the natural progression to D&B. After being so into metal, the high-energy drum breaks and grinding synths seemed natural. By the time he went to NYU to major in music business, the young DJ was building an arsenal of vinyl.

“I kind of joke [that] I got a minor in dance music. I stayed at the commuter dorms that were downtown. And between classes ‑ these two hour breaks ‑ I would just go to record stores. It was four years of going to every single record store in the city.”

By the time he graduated in 2001, the music industry had vastly changed. The first tech bubble had just burst, and the demise of Napster hinted at a burgeoning online music community. It was right around then that Shulman began to sign his first records.

Throughout the early ’00s, he continued to embed himself in the music scene. By the time the blog house era rolled around, he was a fixture on message boards like Diplo’s Hollertronix. Which is where an A&R for Fat Boy Slim’s Southern Fried Records discovered and signed “Trick Baby,” a sleazy sub-grinding breakbeat.

Around the same time, a friend of his introduced him to a way he could build a career out of his immense library of genre-spanning beats. He started working for a library company, a clearinghouse of sorts where producers can sell their beats to appear in movies, TV, and commercials. It gave him a way to put all of his unused material into the world. It ended up drawing him away from DJing between 2015 and 2018. But ultimately, he wanted to get back to the dancefloor.

“It’s relatively lucrative. There’s no glory,” he explains. Part of the reason he went into the corporate world was that after a short foray into dubstep, he stopped having fun making music. He felt dance music had kind of jumped the shark. It had become too aggressive, there was no more groove. But, he says after the break, “I just wanted to get back into DJing.”

The last three years of his career have been some of his most fruitful. In 2021 his track “Don Dada” with rapper Cakes Da Killa was remixed by Honey Dijon and Luke Solomon. And Eat’s Everything released a remix of “ICU” featuring Naomi Ruiz on his 10 Years of Eats Everything compilation. He also released Muvaland, Vol. 2 on the tastemaking HE.SHE.THEY imprint.

His remix of QRTR’s “Nossa” takes a moody, atmospheric interlude from her album and flips it into sweltering, late-night tech house. His roots in drum and bass are evident in the grimy descending bass swells. But the thumping bassline and crispy percussion make it perfect for a peak-hour dance floor. It’s a masterclass in creative sampling and inventive sound design. He says that his goal when remixing is to take the best parts of the original and make it his own.

“That’s why I want to do the interlude. I asked her about it, she recorded it in a church. She just, took a field recorder and recorded the choir. I was like, ‘this is awesome. Where’s the sample from? And she’s like ‘this is the original sample.’”

As he looks back over his journey in dance music, he feels lucky to be here. When he first started going to raves in the 90s, it was a place for misfits. 

“When I got into DJing it wasn’t like, ‘Oh be a DJ [to be] super cool. It was like, ‘oh, you’re the dude who wears like goofy pants.’ It’s so weird to me that this stuff’s cool.”

With releases stretching back two decades on labels such as Dirtybird, Poker Flat, and his own imprint Moon Harbour, Matthias Tanzmann is a stalwart of the European house scene. The German artist's impressive catalog is bolstered by residencies at iconic night spots like DC10 in Ibiza and festivals like BPM, Ultra, and Tomorrowland. Tanzmann is also one third of Better Lost Than Stupid with Martin Buttrich and Davide Squillace. We caught up with him as he returned from a short tour of North and Central America to look back on his life and times. 

Tanzmann grew up in Leipzig, in former East Germany, hitting his teens just after the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet bloc disintegrated. Like many Germans, he found this to be a time of enormous freedom and exploration. 

“When the Wall came down there were so many abandoned places,” says Tanzmann. “It was a period of restructuring and old factories went out of business. All those places were empty and no one really knew what was going on. The police force had to be restructured so you could do a lot of things that nobody cared about.”

Like Berlin in the years after reunification, these abandoned spaces were ideal venues for raves and celebrations of newfound freedom. 

“There were so many illegal parties. You would just move a very basic sound system into an abandoned place and put in a bar and away you go. Nobody would care – there was no police. It was a time with so much opportunity. It was so new. This is what really got me into electronic music and this whole world.” 

Distillery club, Leipzig | Photograph: martin@distillery.de

Tanzmann started playing house music in local bars before landing a residency at the Leipzig institution Distillery. 

“It was a big step for me. Distillery was already a legendary club back then. First, I played the basement, which was more techno than house, then in 1997 I had my first appearance upstairs on the house floor, which was a better fit for me. But the crowd was way more open-minded back then. Techno and house weren’t clearly defined. Everything was new and the crowd was super mixed – you’d have queer people, someone in a suit over there, a punk over here, just this really diverse crowd.” 

Around the same time, Tanzmann started producing music under Gamat 3000 using basic hardware synths and effects. “From the first money I earned, I bought the most basic sampler you can think of and we had one Yamaha synth and two cheap effects. It was exciting. Now you have all those options in a big studio, but back then being limited to just a few sounds and samples, it was a good thing. We had to focus on the limited equipment we had.” 

Tanzmann and some friends from Distillery founded Moon Harbour Recordings in 2000, mainly as a label to put out their own releases. Still going strong, last year Moon Harbour celebrated its 20th anniversary. “We never expected it to exist for so long or to get so much international recognition,” says Tanzmann. “There was no business plan. It was just – hey let’s do something.”

By 2007, with Moon Harbour firmly established as a deep house imprint, Tanzmann was DJing small shows around Europe when CircoLoco invited him to play at the iconic Ibiza club DC10. 

“I had played Space and a few other gigs in Ibiza before this. Then in 2006 I released a track that was played a lot at DC10, so they invited me to play a New Year’s Day party as a try-out.” Then disaster struck. “I was playing a New Year’s Eve gig in London and my luggage was lost on the way to Ibiza.” Tanzmann had some records on him, but the lost luggage meant he was late for his CircoLoco show. “Because we were so late, they took me from the airport directly to the club, opened the back door and shoved me into the DJ booth and I started playing immediately. I didn’t have a chance to get nervous.” 

The slot led to a residency at CircoLoco for the 1997 Ibiza summer season, and he remains one of CircoLoco’s most frequent guests. Tanzmann had found his home away from home. In the subsequent 15 years, he built growing international renown playing deep house, minimal, and tech house, learning to craft his sound, whether playing small clubs with 300 people on the dancefloor or huge parties of 10,000 people. But for Tanzmann, the house sound continues to inspire him. 

“House is always going to be interesting. It’s so self-referential – you have these cycles where it sounds like the ’80s again, then it sounds like the ’90s TR-909 rave sound,  and now it’s the very melodic stuff. I don’t even know where house is right now – there are so many different scenes. But that’s good – it just underlines how big house has become.” 

Ibiza remains one of Tanzmann’s favorite places to play, but he also shouts out South America, especially Argentina, Peru, and Chile. “You have such a responsive and educated crowd in these places, it’s amazing to play there. Recently, I was also able to play again in the US, which I love. And hopefully as the world opens up I’ll be able to play more. I had some great times in Switzerland during the pandemic, as it was one of the few countries that allowed clubs to stay open most of the time.”  

As lockdowns end around the world, Tanzmann splits his schedule between producing and DJing. His latest release on Knee Deep in Sound is a collaboration with long-time friend Steve Bug. He’s also working on remixes for Rony Siekelay and P. Diddy and a project with Black Circle for Moon Harbour recordings. Most of all, he looks forward to the festival circuit ramping up again after two long and quiet years. 

“I just came back from a small tour in Mexico, Costa Rica and the US. Hopefully the pandemic will slow down and we’ll see each other at festivals and clubs soon. This is what I really hope for.”

A true veteran of dance music, Mz Worthy cut her teeth in Washington D.C and New York City before moving to the west coast and helping found the now iconic, Dirtybird brand. Coming up in New York City in the late 90s gave Worthy a unique opportunity to witness a new era of electronic music emerge. Legendary residencies inspired her to take up the art of DJing and producing. 

“It was after I moved to New York… I was hanging outside my dorm room and some girls said they were going to a party down the street… I walked in there and it was like, what I had been looking for for a long time. This is the music I’ve been trying to find for a long time and I just didn’t know how to find it… Once I had that moment I was just like, what’s going on next week? It was just like an electronic music education in New York City. I was listening to house music, jungle, Drum n Bass…” 



After that breakthrough moment, Worthy devoted herself to learning the ins and outs of the scene. Her first night out in New York City was shared with her good friend, Justin Martin who became equally infatuated with the world of electronic music. The two of them got turntables and explored record stores, buying everything they could.

“We’d go record shopping together and buy the drum and bass records and we’d go back and just play records in my dorm room. We’d sit there and just kind of imagine that we were in front of a big crowd, pretending like we’re at Twilo, drinking 40s and smoking… Justin Martin moved out to San Francisco halfway through the year and it was a big reason as to why I made the move.”

Shortly after departing the east coast, Worthy linked back up with Justin and his brother Christian Martin. They befriended a guy named Barclay Crenshaw (now known as Claude VonStroke), and never looked back. Within a month or two of being out west, the group decided to start throwing parties. Even with their shared expertise, none of them envisioned a future with Dirtybird festivals when they had their first get-together. 

“Those first couple of parties, there were like 20 people, maybe 50 on a good day. I don’t think any of us had any idea that it would get to where it is today, you know, with a giant festival and parties all over the world… But it was exciting to just have a room and party with our friends.”

Eventually, the group began renting out spaces to ensure the party could be inside. They started doing some club dates and the brand began to grow organically. More and more people started to attend the events, leading to larger-scale shows and eventually the foundation of a label, music festival, and so much more.

Despite a tremendous amount of success in her career, Worthy found herself feeling increasingly unhappy as the years progressed. In 2020 she came out to the world as transgender and began transitioning. The decision gave Worthy a massive sense of relief and freedom, finally allowing herself to truly be the person that she always knew she was deep down inside. 

“It became really obvious that something was just not right in my life. Probably like six or seven years ago, I realized that there was something going on that was just not normal. It felt like I had this traumatic event that had happened to me in the past that I didn’t know about and was trying to figure out," she remembers. 

"The pandemic really gave me this opportunity to sit with myself more and explore myself. Being locked up and alone gave me the strength to explore dressing up, and talking about it with someone which ended up being my ex-wife. After discussing at length with her that I’ve always been doing this and felt this way, she said that I could be transgender. That was kind of all I needed to hear.” 

Those words of affirmation confirmed why she felt so conflicted about her gender identity. With renewed clarity, the idea of accepting her identity became a reality. She began transitioning and has since become a beacon of happiness and acceptance. Worthy also notes that the transition helped her take new steps musically. Not only is she free as a person, but she feels the confidence and strength to play any type of music while DJing, and explore a wide variety of sounds in her productions going forward.

“I think before there was kind of a wall in front of me that made connecting with the audience difficult… Now everything seems to flow smoothly. I think it’s a bit about finding myself, feeling confident again standing in front of people, and that parlays into feeling confidence in my track selection and not second guessing what I’m doing.”

Finding your bliss isn't a straight line, especially when the road map for life doesn't include the side streets that will lead us to our passions. Abby Tilton—aka ABCO—spent years of her life standing on the shoulder. As the music industry navigated a community kneecapped by the pandemic, Tilton transformed a small dedicated Twitch audience into a nationwide community of dancers enamored with her UK-influenced blend of feel-good house and chunky beats. Her energy and charisma are mirrored in her music, supported by Sam Divine, Paul Wolford, and many more.

Tilton grew up with a backdrop of music. And yet, while she picked up the guitar at seven, the trumpet in high school, and had a father who was a singer-songwriter, she never considered music a career path.

"I was a big athlete growing up, played a division one sport in college, and I definitely got burnout," she remembers. "Post-college, my dad was the one that was like, 'you know, you can only play sports for so long in life anyway, but music you can have forever.' And that really stuck with me. So, I think that's why I'm so passionate about it. And I know that maybe at 31 years old, it's late in the game for me to just really be getting into it. But it doesn't mean anything, honestly."

Tilton pursued a master's degree in engineering and worked at Bose designing headphones and speakers. Working in music, but not on music, she was veering closer to the path. While she stayed in the corporate lane, she found herself drifting further into life as a creative.

She says her admiration for dance music developed into love slowly, similar to how a romantic relationship blossoms. As her love affair grew into a lifetime commitment, she realized she wanted to do more than be in the crowd. So she started taking DJing and production classes. Yet, she still struggled with letting go of her corporate job.

She had a transformative experience at Austin City Limits in 2018 that further aligned her to her goals.

"I remember seeing the band Arizona. And this is when I was really struggling with not being happy with my corporate job and really wanting to do music. In the middle of thier set he [Zachary Hannah] was kind of explaining where the band came from and how they came to be. And I just remember he screamed into the microphone. 'If you're not doing what you love with your life, then you're wasting your fucking time.' and I just lost it. It really hit me. That is a moment that I definitely have ingrained in my mind forever."

The experience revealed what had been brimming beneath the surface for some time. Her corporate gig wasn't fulfilling. And as she started to DJ, she realized her place was on stage.

"Corporate life is 60 hours a week. I was traveling to China, three, four, or five times a year. It was a lot. I think that the biggest push for me was [when] I met my now wife. We met in Boston, and she moved down to the DC area. So, we did a year long distance. And it kind of got to that point where I was ready to make a change and go be with her. And I think that was kind of like the extra push, I needed to be like, 'This is the moment where I should really be leaving that part of me behind.'"

The pandemic provided an opportunity to see herself in another life. She was laid off from her job at Bose at the pandemic's start. And with nothing left to do, she decided to start streaming. She was already familiar with it, as she had spent time on other platforms streaming for friends and co-workers. But Twitch opened up a whole new world of community to her.

She streamed nearly every day, and while she built her fan base, she connected with other creatives like LP Giobbi. After seeing her DJ, Tilton shamelessly sent her a DM via Instagram, and the pair sparked up a friendship that's led to Tilton becoming a part of the Femme House collective. As a result, she's formed friendships that continue to inspire her.

"I've gotten to meet now a lot of these femme house people and meeting other female producers and DJs it's just been so inspiring. And it's like really opening my eyes to how much female talent is out there that I don't think I recognized before."

Recognizing that she is part of a collective of strong, talented female artists has been a huge source of inspiration. And as she looks forward, she's excited about taking a leading role in helping that community grow.

"I am starting to see a bigger push on diversity in lineups. So that's something I'm really excited about. More people of color, more gay people, and more women that's what I love to see. That's why I love being associated with house. Because even in DC, I'm starting to see a bigger effort on promoters booking more diversity in their lineups."

House music has changed her life for the better in every way. She's found the path that's leading her ever closer to her intentions of spreading positivity and positively dope beats to as many people as possible. House is more than music to her. She says, "I always say house music is an emotion, you know, it's a feeling there's, there's no way really to describe it."

With so much authenticity and artistic flair to offer, Mexican artist Mike Montaño continues to astound listeners with his uniquely curated house-driven soundscapes. The flourishing musician is a staple of Mexico’s pristine nightlife scene, especially throughout the country’s booming party cities along the Riviera Maya like Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, and Tulum, where he resides.





Throughout his career, he’s depicted the true meaning of underground with each relentless beat and profound performance. Never afraid to go against the norm, he’s demonstrated that forging your path as an artist is always attainable, even in this highly competitive industry.In his eyes, success isn’t releasing records on top labels or finally attaining a one-hour time slot on the main stage at a massive festival. For Montaño, success lies in stirring people’s souls and moving listeners with his music. It’s all about creating these inspirational moments and memorable experiences through each melody. 

“There’s something about being part of this small community where everyone knows each other and everyone goes to these underground events simply for the people, the music, and to just enjoy themselves, nothing else. I want to move people with my sounds.”

His devotion to music stems from his upbringing in lively central Mexico. No matter where he wandered, he was surrounded by infectious rhythms. His mother was a tremendous influence and introduced him to 70s disco at a young age. The two would have solo dance parties at home and listen to disco records on the regular. Dance music captured his soul. 

“Without knowing that my upbringing would be the main influence to push me to pursue a career in music, that familiar feeling came back to me later in high school when I started listening to artists like Daft Punk. I was playing the drums at the time but I realized I couldn’t bring the equipment everywhere, which was a problem. I decided to experiment with turntables and that was where it all began. Then the 2000s progressive house era happened. This new movement brought me back to my disco roots and my love for Chicago and Detroit house. That’s when I realized I could transition to making music with just these four-on-the-floor beats.”

Every life experience suddenly began to connect, and music always seemed to be a significant part of the beauty of it all. Then, one day it all clicked, and that’s where his journey as a house music artist began. 

“Music has been chasing me my whole life, and everything along the way kept pushing me to pursue this. Once you fall in love with it, you cannot escape it. It’s something that I believe becomes part of your life, and once it becomes that important, it’s very difficult to let it go.”

His closest college friends further inspired him to become more involved with the movement of the scene in the early 2000s, and after eight years of spinning records, his career exploded like never before. Since then, he’s captivated listeners and underground labels across borders and has made a name for himself within the BPM Festival community, among many others. Industry legends like DJ Sneak, Nick Curly, Paco Osuna, Alex Dolby, and more have actively supported his sound by featuring his tracks while in the mix.

 House music is at the core of his creative processes, yet there’s no attachment to one specific soundscape. Instead, Montaña evolved through these distinct styles. His tracks range everywhere from deep and melodic to progressive and minimal. The notion of describing his releases using sub-genres doesn’t make sense to him. For him, his sound is a feeling. 

“It’s all about the way we can create movement and the way rhythms can be transformed into any specific type of house sound that we want. I always try to explore different sounds and different types of house music. Creating a sound is something that you cannot plan or expect, it's all about that tickle that makes you move while playing around in the studio. My sound is a feeling. It's hard to describe. It's not techno and it's not house, it’s that tickle I feel when I’m creating music.”

Now that Tulum has blossomed into the international hot spot for underground house and techno soirees, there’s no reason for Montaño not to use this to his advantage. He currently lives in Playa Del Carmen, making it easily accessible to host and perform at these secret parties throughout the Riviera Maya, where all the magic happens. 


“More than playing a huge festival, I’d rather be a part of this intimate energy and more underground vibe where everyone is just connected to the music. All the love to Ibiza, but right now, Tulum is winning the spotlight. I think Ibiza has officially landed in Tulum.”

His passion for the underground is in alignment with this ongoing movement, and getting to be a part of it all is everything he’s always dreamed of and more. 

“I’m not in a rush. I know where I’m at and I know what I’m capable of, and I’m just really enjoying every moment along the way.”

Arielle Free runs on pure joy. As a touring DJ, she’s played colossal venues from Glastonbury to Creamfields to London’s Printworks.



She's also a label owner and in the midst of adding producer credits to her work of pushing dance music to the masses.

As one of the leading radio presenters in the UK, Free currently lives out her dreams on BBC Radio 1. She’s up before dawn playing dance anthems for night owls, then smoothly transitions into getting the day started for other listeners. Free’s 4-7 am show is dedicated to “people who've worked through the night and need that last bit of energy,” she says.

Free’s key show segment is the Big Whopper, a term she coined for massive hits, tunes that have an inescapable impact. When a new track lands in Free’s inbox, she knows it’s a Big Whopper when “I know the words straightaway. The beat is all killer, no filler,” she explains. “Whether it's a massive big kick drum beat or a huge big vocal, it’s something that puts a smile on your face.” 

“It's really nice for me to see when I go to do a show and people come up and be like, ‘I love listening to you in the morning!’ ” Free beams. “The beauty of being able to win an audience you don’t know yet is the best thing.”

Free’s story begins in Stirling, Scotland, northeast of Glasgow. There, she became streetwise, figured out how to take care of herself, and most importantly, learned the gift of gab. She practiced ballet throughout childhood and loved having the discipline. “My journey as a ballet dancer led into me being a broadcaster because it was always about the music.” 

Free discovered electronic music during the nu-rave phase in the UK – reminiscent of neon tops, legwarmers, and the sounds of Boyz Noize and the Klaxons. This led her to Hyde Park in 2007, where she witnessed Daft Punk live, and electro house took over her life. Until then, “I was a band girl through and through,” Free says, remembering years of listening to rock and R&B. 

“I always wanted to be involved and immersed in music. That energy I would have brought to being a rockstar, I just put behind the decks now.” Free is relentless in her efforts to make crowds move. “I’m here to put on a great show and make you have THE MOST fun,” she says. 

Today, her love endures for superstar stage productions. Free once changed a festival slot to be as early as possible to make it in time to a Spice Girls show. 

Free’s interest in presenting sparked when she listened to BBC Radio 1 and dreamt of being like her idol, Zane Lowe. Free’s hustle began in 2011, making content for music-based YouTube channels, eventually joining community radio stations, and building her own audience. 

Broadcaster Annie Mac was also an inspiration as she introduced countless new acts to Free’s ears. To her, it was incredible to see Mac be one of the few females to be billed, let alone headline festivals a decade ago. Now Free’s lucky to call Mac someone she can pick up the phone and call. Grateful for those who paved the way, Free plans to remain outspoken and keep paying it forward.  “Girls can do it just as good as boys.”  

Free got her start as a DJ for Ministry of Sound. After years in this role, Free recounts endless stories ranging from epic wins, funny moments, to completely disastrous gigs. Despite self-doubt, she’s acquiring confidence and authority in her own voice. 

“I’m in a certain position of privilege in that I have a platform. DJs rely on me to play their music and big promoters rely on me talking about their festivals on the radio. But also a lot of people won’t book me because I will call them out,” if they’re not putting effort into uplifting diverse talent, she says. “And then I thought, rather than pointing out the ones that aren’t getting the females on the bill, let’s shout out the ones that are.” 

Free rejoices in each opportunity to flex her many skills. “I love a good dance behind the decks,” she laughs. “Every stage manager hates me because I’m the DJ who jumps on the decks to have a dance.” 

Recently, Free poured her heart into her first ever original release. “Soul Full” with Mortimer and Joe Killington is dropping via Defected’s D4Dance label. “It’s me in a track,” she says, teasing gorgeous vocals with a house and disco edge.

Free’s goal is to use her platform to support other producers and DJs. Her ambitions continue to grow through her label and event series, Free Your Mind. Ultimately, Free wants to build “a home for uplifting house music.” 



Interview by RYDEN

With tracks that stimulate the senses and excite the imagination, Fabio Giannelli and Alessandro Gasperini – aka Glowal – have earned the respect of electronic music fans from every nation. The Italian duo's melodic techno and deep house tracks bless the catalogs of taste-making labels like Sapiens Recordings, Afterlife, Diynamic Music, Innervisions, and many more. 

Giannelli and Gasperini grew up on opposite ends of the Italian peninsula. From the age of 12-19, Giannelli lived in the southern city of Brindisi in Puglia. 

"The scene was not very prolific back then," he explains, "but there were some very good parties thrown 40km from my hometown at Torre Regina Giovanna and Mediterraneo." Giannelli would head to these spots every weekend to listen to local and international artists. 

Gasperini hails from the Tuscan city of Pisa, a region steeped in the rich history of the Italian electronic music scene. According to Gasperini, "Tuscany has been the home of some of the first clubs and some of the first Italian legends, such as Insomnia Discoacropoli D'Italia, Jaiss, Tenax, Imperiale, Duplè, and Kama Kama." 

His first club nights were disco events on big occasions like Halloween and NYE in the mid to late 00s. He managed to get in, despite his young age, thanks to his brother, an events promoter at the time. 

"I was madly in love with that new world," Gasperini tells us. "The progressive house influence of the 1990s and 2000s was very important for my dedication to the world of DJing."

Giannelli's first live music experience came when he was seven years old, listening to his brother DJ at a small beach party near his hometown. "This was also the moment when I fell in love with parties and DJing." Later on, Giannelli moved to the more cosmopolitan cities of Milan, Rimini, and Barcelona, allowing him to experience the breadth of club culture.

Both artists began playing instruments from a young age. For Giannelli, this was "a little bit of piano and guitar that was self-taught. I also tried a bit of drums at one point when I was very young, but pretty soon I fell in love with sequencers and VSTs and understood that it was my way of expression." 

The purity of acoustic music is a side to Giannelli that stays with him. Similarly, Gasperini "played the piano for a few years around the age of 10." But after moving away from home, he realized that, sadly, he could no longer attend his lessons. 

It wasn't long before the artists gravitated towards producing dance music. Gasperini's first production, "Rain," which came out in 2013, was a joint project written with his former partner, Andrea Scaglini. Released on Fahrenheit in 2013 by Mario Più, dropping it was a "very satisfying experience, [but] the best part was definitely seeing it work on the dancefloor."

Giannelli's first production came about in 2005 when he was just 19 years old. "The track name was "Tweak." I made it with a laptop and two normal computer speakers." Despite his limited audio equipment at the time, his creative flair was recognized two years later by Italian DJs Paolo Martini and Gianni Bini, who released the track on their label, Ocean Dark. "I was very surprised by the support it got, being played by some influential DJs and being included in some important compilations at the time."

Telling your family that you'd like to pursue a career as a full-time musician is something that's often met with expressions of concern. Giannelli's experience was no exception. When he first broke the news to them, they didn't react very well at first. "I'd also decided to leave home alone very young to pursue 'the dream'. But very soon they understood that this had to be my way of life; [they realized that] this was the only way for me to be really happy, and they supported my choices."

Gasperini's family has always supported—sometimes doubtfully— his choices. "They always wanted me to have a plan B... and I understood their concern. I was afraid that if I focused on other things, then I wouldn't get the same results with music, or rather, it would be more difficult to get the same results." Nevertheless, he's happy that he ended up taking the plunge and that his family is now more curious than worried about where music will take him.

Glowal came together gradually. Giannelli experienced a difficult period in his life at the end of 2015 due to some bad personal situations and choices he was faced with. 

"I was losing all of my focus. Meanwhile, I had started another job. I was still making music, but I was stuck in this negative circle." Giannelli and Gasperini got in contact in 2016 to schedule the release, on Giannelli's label, of an EP that Gasperini had produced alongside Andrea Scaglini. Gasperini was also organizing events and invited Giannelli to play near his hometown.

After Gasperini and Scaglini went their separate ways, Gasperini released music as a solo artist for almost a year. "During this time," Giannelli recalls, "we regularly kept in touch... At some point [Gasperini] told me: 'You shouldn't even think about leaving the music career, because you are born for it. Why don't we join forces?'" Following his gut instinct, Giannelli immediately said yes without giving the question too much thought. 

Giannelli felt that he needed to start from zero with something fresh, and Gasperini was the right person to do it with. 

"We started talking deeply, exchanging ideas, making music, and working on all different aspects of the new project. Everything started like this, really naturally." Their first live performance together was entirely improvised, yet the flow that bound the pair together soon revealed a strong connection between them. 

 Even with some perspective, it's difficult for Glowal to pinpoint their single most significant achievement. So instead, Gasperini points to several joyous moments in their short history.

"Production-wise, some of our biggest moments include the release of 'Cries' on Innervisions, which really introduced Glowal to the scene. The collaboration we did with Adana Twins for 'My Computer' via Diynamic music. And 'Roda' with Simon Batten on Sapiens, Agoria's Label, which is where we've also decided to release our first album coming up in 2022."

He also mentions their many collaborations with the Afterlife brand and the launch of their label, Sementa. The pair has a lot to be thankful for and a massive network of industry supporters. 

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When asked about the origins of Sementa, Giannelli tells us, "We were thinking about setting up our own playground since day one." The pandemic gave the pair enough time to think deeply about it and finally took action. 

"Basically, it was conceived to be a platform of free expression. At the moment, we've mostly released our music, but we are open to other artists as well." The duo intends to allow the label to grow organically without dealing with the pressure to release every month. 

In the few years since their conception, Glowal has performed in some incredible venues across the globe. When quizzed on which has been their favorite so far, they respond that it's tricky to narrow it down. Gasperini explains, "Every place has its characteristic. Sometimes, it's the big place that's good because it's got that 'bang.' Sometimes, it's the more intimate atmosphere that makes it special." Ultimately, the pair love playing and partying everywhere.

The Italian house and techno scene is massive, with game-changing artists like Tale Of Us, Agents of Time, Ivory, Armonica, and many more. Gasperini and Giannelli agree that the country's top clubbing destinations can be found in Milan, Rome, Turin, but also Puglia and Tuscany. "For our sound, there are nice spots in those places. [But] Techno, the punchier kind, is popular everywhere in Italy."

When working on new material, Glowal never construct a track around a predetermined formula. Instead, Giannelli explains, "It depends on our state of mind in the moment while writing, and about what touches the soul in that precise moment." As a result, their music can be socially-driven, as with "AI Talk," a track that reflects the climate change crisis. 

Giannelli says their music also communicates the pain of struggle, spurred by the desire to trigger your senses. 

"Honestly, sometimes I feel so much pressure from seeing what's happening around me that I need to let it out somehow, and writing is a good way to share thoughts and translate them into music."

Before I die, I want to… 

How might you finish that sentence? Most people might share a grandiose dream they seldom dare to speak into existence. Or a flashy, larger-than-life final deed for humanity. 

When asked to finish that strikingly open-ended statement, James Edwards —aka Made By Pete— pauses, shares a sheepish shrug and a laugh before explaining. 

"Maybe I've done everything I want to do, or I'm doing everything I want to do. There's nothing I really want that I'm not doing or already have at the moment… I'm not rich either, it's nothing monetary," he chuckles, "I'm just living life the way I want to live life."

Edwards's peaceful space of gratitude has steadily grown after years of following a distinctive path. He's had a journey full of lessons, self-growth, and a steadfast commitment to what feels right in music and life. The result? He has a growing reputation as a master producer, a performance schedule that takes him all over the globe, and an infectiously healthy perspective of the art form he loves.

Before Edwards traveled the globe to perform sets in exotic underground locations as Made By Pete, he started as a grade school kid wanting to try out an instrument. 

 "My earliest musical memory is probably wanting to learn how to play the saxophone but being forced to play the clarinet instead in school, which lasted about three months because the clarinet was boring," he remembers.

Despite his apathy for the clarinet, his musical curiosity still yearned for an outlet. Various styles punctuated his early teens, from Nirvana to oversized, overpriced Moschino shirts. But when family vacations to Ibiza started to include adventures to its world-famous clubs, his life would forever be changed.

"Eventually year after year we would go back and me and my friend started to adventure up to the clubs and that's when I got into electronic music and started thinking 'Hey I want to start mixing two records together.'… By the time we were 16 or 17."

"I think Es Paradís was the first club we went to. We got there at like 11 o'clock, and there was no one there. In the UK, when we were going out as kids, it would be 11 o'clock. And I think by one o'clock the DJ had started playing the same music again so we thought, 'Oh it must be over now,' and we left as people are just starting to go in. But we would go back every year and started going out to all the other clubs and just experiencing it all."

His experience in the clubs of Ibiza captured his imagination. From the music to the people, he was hooked.

 "I have quite a vivid memory of being in Pacha in Ibiza… Where I grew up going out as a kid you would be worried about getting on the bus, who you gonna bump into, is there gonna be any trouble that night. When I was in Ibiza, you'd bump into someone on the dance floor and they'd be, 'Oh sorry mate! How ya doing?' Everyone was friendly, lovely, everyone was really cool. I was just like, 'Wow,' man. This music is amazing. The people are amazing. I wanna do this. This is where I need to be."

Pacha, Ibiza

It didn't take long for those adventures in Ibiza to start bleeding into Edwards' life back in the UK. While his friends would frequent other venues in favor of popular music and chasing the ladies, James happily frequented the UK's vast array of Dance clubs like Ministry of Sound, even if it meant going by himself.



A friend soon let Edwards borrow turntables, and a dive down the DJ rabbit hole began. He set them up wherever he could: the kitchen, the garage, a basement, and started to set up parties at his local pubs. There was no denying he had found something he truly loved, and with his family's stamp of approval, he enrolled in a music production and business school.

"My mom's always been really encouraging. She saw that I had an interest in something and instead of discouraging me, encouraged me to do it properly…. She was the one who sort of encouraged me to go to college and learn how to make music. That was the thing that sort of turned it from just DJing and hobbying, to something like hey I can try and turn this into a career."

Edwards continued to polish his craft after finishing his coursework, his DJing abilities now accompanied by a capable working knowledge of his production software, Logic. And rather than jump headfirst into the exceedingly ruthless music industry, he picked up extra side-work and took time to methodically find the most authentic expression of his creativity. 

He wisely shares, "Nothing in music is guaranteed… I've always had something else I was doing, be it tennis coaching or other things. I work as a digital designer now as well. Another way to earn money, I think it's really important to have that… If you're relying on the money in the early stages, you probably end up making wrong decisions with your music. You might take the wrong remix or the wrong gigs, ya know if you need that 300 quid to pay your gas bill, you're not gonna turn down that thing," he laughs. "But that's not always the best way to go when you're trying to create a brand, a sound, and a vibe. You want to be free of any limitations or needs financially and just go with the flow."

Now, over a decade removed from those music courses, artists from around the world convene in his garden studio to create new sounds. His studio is a producer's dream come true. His socials brim with the top-shelf equipment lining the room. From his new IGS Tubecore vari-mu compressor to the Moog Matriach analog synthesizer and the Allen & Heath GSR24 M mix board that puts the icing on the delicious sonic cake, every piece of hardware has its role. 

Edwards is the first to admit that he continues to learn every day. He says he gets better every three to six months. His passion for music allows him to retain the role of an excited student exploring new possibilities with his gear and appreciating the talents of fresh artists.

"I love working with anyone who's got a talent that I don't have. I like to be the guy who's at the desk producing and getting that final sound together but I'm not a musician myself," he humbly explains. 

"Anyone like a vocalist or anyone who can play different instruments, it's great to get them in the studio because they often tend to have the skills that I don't have and I tend to have skills that they don't have and we work really well together… You can't do everything yourself."

He doesn't subscribe to the prevailing attitude in dance music that producers must do everything to be considered an artist. 

"Traditionally, the role of the producer is to get the best out of the artist. We just happen to be the artist as well as the producer and the engineer. You gotta find a way to work, don't limit yourself to just the things you can do, so why not experiment and bring in other people.

 "I tend to come up with things I would have never come up with myself, which is great because you just found something new there… and maybe you make a friend as well," he finishes with a smile.

Each Made By Pete track pulls on different sonic threads. "Sign Of The Times" and "Drunk In Chicago" are head-spinning bangers primed for a steamy dance floor. "Aikido" and "Rhythm Fabric" lean into his lifelong love of percussion. And magic bubbles when vocalist Jem Cooke hops on the mic for tunes like "I Am Not Afraid" and the 2018 hit, "So Long." 

His music finds harmony between organic, analog material and electronic proclivities. Much like his approach to life, balance is the keyword. A brilliant sonic pallet of distinct melodies skates across an always reliable groove. A vibe that's never uncontrollably aggressive, with an energy that's far from sleepy. You can lose yourself to it in the club or keep it steady in the headphones.  

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The music of Made By Pete is the meeting point of the many strings of James Edwards' life. Through career ebbs and flows, donning different monikers and sounds, and starting a family, the music has always been his north star. Patience and passion have led James down a path that regularly fills his heart. His face beams with love as he speaks. And while he'll tell you music hasn't made him rich, it unquestionably has made him rich in spirit, wisdom, and experience.

He’s one of the hottest DJs in Toronto, known by the moniker “randomdoug.” But, to his friends, he’s just Doug, and Doug’s rise in the music scene has been far from random. Instead, it has been the result of a consistent, unwavering love of his art.

“I can even remember as a child,” said Doug, “we had a vinyl record player, and I remember being young… and actually turning it and playing with it, not knowing what I was doing, but now looking back it makes sense… that I did that.”

Every element of Doug’s life has intersected through music, even meeting his wife, appropriately, on the dance floor at the club Footwork, which is now known as Coda.

It started for Doug in 2002 when he was visiting the now-defunct Government nightclub in Toronto. Watching the sets, he felt a spark of inspiration. “Ok… I could probably do that. I really love the music,” he thought to himself. As he went through the club scene of Toronto, again and again, the thought hit him, “Maybe…”

“Those are the spots that I’d say cemented my love for the music and propelled me to… finally give it a shot,” said Doug. He learned the trade through a friend who happened to have some equipment in 2006. It was through the club Comfort Zone that his big shot came. He was hanging at the nightspot nearly every weekend. He made friends with the DJs there. He politely asked if he could watch at a distance. In the meantime, he had started working gigs at smaller venues.

“I kind of got close to one of the DJs [who worked on] Saturdays, his name is El Duran,” explained Doug. “He let me hang out at the back… and then one day, [El Duran] and [former resident DJ of Comfort Zone] Paranoid Jack… they kind of asked me on the spot… cause I went there after a small gig I had at a small bar, and I had my DJ stuff. And they just asked me to hop on!”

With the support of these mentors, Doug grew to be a popular DJ in the area. He has enjoyed local residencies and consistent work in Toronto, which has proven to be a stepping stone for some of the top artists in the field. “We do have quite a bit of guys and gals that have gone international,” said Doug. In January 2020, just before the pandemic changed the live music scene, he got one of the best gigs, playing the BPM Festival in Costa Rica. “That was amazing.”

A particularly influential track for Doug that helped inspire his foray into the job was “Just Kick” by Renato Cohen vs. Tim Deluxe (Carl Cox Mix). “That would just get me going,” he said. “I used to hear it in the Government Main Room, and I would request it at Comfort Zone.”

Comfort Zone has become a standby for Doug, and over the years, he’s enjoyed his fair share of memorable moments at the club. One time, a patron got a little too into his set. “They were just so excited,” Doug chuckled, “and they just jumped over the front [DJ] area. Then, while that’s all happening, the bouncer tries to get him off the stage, and then while doing that, it unhooks my laptop… and the music goes off.”

“But the cool thing was Mikey Terra, who was the next DJ… basically he was already coming on, so it came at not too bad of a time.”

Terra started to applaud, saying, “Hey, way to go randomdoug,” to fill the dead space. It was only about ten seconds without music, but Doug said, “That feels like an entirety when that happens.”

Doug works off the crowd’s energy when it comes to playing a set. “Whether you start playing more vocally or you start playing more techno, or you start playing more bouncy or housey, you can kind of feel the crowd and what they’re into given the time and what their mood is. You just ride that wave and go with the flow.”

It started with the classics, the real classics, for Doug. His clearest, early memories from childhood involve listening to Lionel Richie with his mom. “I guess I have my mom to thank for that, for her pretty good taste in music.” His mom also pushed him to learn piano from the time he was a toddler through middle school. “And then I played the bass in high school because I wanted to be cool. I was in a little bit of a band for a bit.” He also took up percussion.

All this experience led him to be better at his craft. “Anything like that with music theory or learning timing… it only helps with… programming your set, when to bring in a track… just the construction and the flow.”

Looking to the future, Doug will expand a new venture: his brand, R&R, which he and his wife started not long before COVID hit North America. The R&R stands for Return and Revolve. Doug explained, “Basically it’s returning to what we like.”

After putting on a few parties, they went into forced hiatus in 2020. They have recently been able to get the brand back on track, hosting an event last December. “A lot of the OG heavyweights of the Toronto scene came, which was really cool, and it was a really good vibe.”

Doug will also be putting time into music production. Of course, he will continue to be a fixture on the Toronto scene, where he maintains a residency at Comfort Zone and plays Coda and Vertigo. For updates on all of Doug’s future activities, follow randomdoug on both Instagram and Facebook.

Manda Moor's infectious determination seeps into her bouncy yet sophisticated tracks. European audiences will most likely be familiar with the Paris-based artist, making it hard to believe she only played her first major gigs in 2019. 

Her relentless drive has since landed her international gigs in some of the most acclaimed house and techno spaces, particularly in Ibiza and the UK. Her tracks have been released on acclaimed labels like Tamango Records. Her debut EP What U Want on Kaluki Musik hit number one on Beatport’s minimal tech chart.

While detailing her career, the artist repeatedly emphasizes her gratitude and wonder. Yet, despite her sincere humility, it's evident success was no accident. 

A self-proclaimed party girl, Moor's love for dance music began amidst the crowds and culminated when she became a protegée of sorts of one house music's founding fathers, the late Paul Johnson. 

Crossing the decks wasn't a smooth transition. I cannot help but feel sympathy as the artist reveals her struggles with anxiety. Nonetheless, her smiles while performing exude a confidence mirrored by her simultaneously warm and serious house and techno. Perhaps this melange is a reflection of her Danish-Filipino heritage. Her theory is that warmer countries inspire bouncy rhythms while colder countries inspire technicity. These coexist hypnotically in "Catfish," from Kaluki Musik's 16th Birthday EP. However, she explains, her musical influences derive mostly from her Filipino mother's side.

"I definitely got the music bug from my mother. She was a singer. Singing and music in general is a huge part of Filipino culture. She would play music whatever she was doing. There was always music in the house. Filipinos are kind of like the latinos of Asia, because the Philippines were colonised by the Spanish, then they were colonised by the Americans: that's what also brought disco and the love of singing."

Moor details the strong tribal and percussive roots of Filipino music sounds that she naturally feels drawn to in her own production.

In terms of conscious influences, Manda Moor's career constantly nods to the early Chicago house legends.

Manda Moor w/ Paul Johnson

"2019 was also the year when I started to really get into producing. That was the year I went to Chicago and met with the Chicago house legends, like Paul Johnson - rest in peace - , Dj Deeon, Dj Sneak, K'Alexi, Dj Pierre… I'm so blessed to have them in my life, and to know them personally. I consider them as family, they really, really inspire me to this day. They inspired the whole music industry! They are the founding fathers, the pillars of house music today. So, yeah when I went to Chicago it lit a fire in me to produce. That's how I started, basically. Obviously today if you want to be a successful dj and artist in the electronic world, you need to make your own music."

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We touch briefly on the tragic death of Paul Johnson, and it's clear the artist has been deeply affected by the loss. Yet, his legacy lives on through Moor's career, particularly through her long-term residency on France's first national electronic music radio station, FG.

"I was speaking with FG about how I met the Chicago house legends. That kind of revived within them the need to reconnect with the origins. So, they really encouraged me to play more of that type of music even though it's not real mainstream for a big radio station. It's just all about the reconnection with the origins which was the initial foundation of FG." 

The pandemic brought about more opportunities to reconnect with origins. Together with fellow France-based artist Sirus Hood, Moor founded Mood Edits. The concept was a limited series of edits, released only on Bandcamp. Every month a new volume of three or four edits was released, and the previous volume deleted.

"The idea was to give value back to music, whilst reminiscing the good times with tracks that we remixed. It was disco, hip hop, R&B tracks. We really felt that there was an oversaturation of music, partly due to streaming."

The edits received widespread support from acclaimed electronic artists like Pete Tong who played “Slow Touch” and introduced the series on BBC Radio 1. 

Moor joyfully recounts the gratitude she felt when major artists, like The Martinez Brothers, played Mood Edits at events in the summer of 2020. 

She attributes a major growth point in her career to videos of these edits circulating social media. Yet, after 12 volumes, the duo halted Mood Edits in fear of being subcategorized as purely "edit DJs" - though Moor passionately explains that that house music itself commenced with edits of disco tracks. 

Just as one door closes for the driven artist, another opens. In 2022, the artist hopes to announce her very own label. The label will similarly focus on giving value back to music but aims to differentiate itself by implementing blockchain technology. 

Moor's closing statement regarding 2022 aptly embodies her humbling attitude.

"Very excited for this year. Hopefully it's going to be so much better than the past two. In any case, I'm super grateful whatever happens."

SOEL's music reflects a rich sonic palate informed by a lifetime absorbing a multi-colored patchwork of sounds. Equally refined, emotional, dark, and cinematic. He is a master of twisting synths into gorgeous wavering layers of beauty. His moody, melodic techno has wowed acclaimed producers like Adriatique, Tale Of Us, and Recondite. And the list of labels he's released on is remarkable, including Afterlife, Siamese, Mobilee, TAU and Plangent. 



He often draws from his Arabic roots and the rich cosmopolitan culture of Milan for inspiration. He grew up a stone's throw from the temple of opera, La Scala. As a result, classical music influences his music heavily as well. Yet, his father had the most profound impact on his musical DNA.

"My father was collecting vinyl and cassette tapes and listening to a lot of blues and a lot of jazz. Louis Armstrong, Myles Davis, and Ry Cooder. So a lot of black music, a lot of soulful music."

Milan's proximity to so many iconic dance music cities meant that by the time he was old enough to go to the club, he rarely spent a weekend or holiday at home. "Every single time I had a break from school, or a weekend off or something like that me and my friends would just jump on a train or a low fare airplane and then just go."

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He was obsessed with club culture and techno. "I did over 15 Time Warps. Festivals in Germany, Italy, and then Holland. University festivals during the summers. There were huge enormous festivals in Spain. Even small clubs. My favorite was a Cocoon club in Frankfurt, which was owned by Sven Vath."

He was all about the club, his friends and, "just having fun during the weekends. That's it."

Cocoon Club's DJ Booth

His move from the dancefloor to the decks was gradual, he says. Fascinated by dance music's culture of playing exclusive music, he spent hours digging for and collecting tracks. So before he even touched the turntables, he was already an expert curator.

The biggest draw to create has always been the peak dance floor experience. He still lives for the moments when you lose yourself in the beat. When the world seems to fade from view, all that remains is you, the music, and the lights.

It's almost visceral when he reflects on one of those moments during a Time Warp pre-party at Robert Johnson in Frankfurt.



"At 3 or 4 am, Ricardo Villalobos played this random singer from Iraq or Syria. And I knew that I know this kind of music. It was such a random thing, but such a surprise in a positive way. Because my friends and the people that were in that in the club back then, they didn't know what it is, but just went crazy. That's the power of the artist and the DJ."

He chases that feeling with every set he plays. The transcendence of his music is built for it. And as SOEL continues to build a massive library of music, he drifts further away from providing those moments as a DJ. Instead, he believes that those moments are more impactful when he's playing his music.

"I produce so much music. So much music, that I think the only way to really express myself is by playing only live. I think it's the creative point of view, honestly. And sometimes DJ sets are not, something that satisfies me."

His catalog is tremendous, forty hours of unreleased genre-spanning music from ambient electronic to peak hour techno. His decision to play more live sets allows him to stretch, build a vibe, and build a narrative. Performing dance music in a live environment is an act of storytelling. SOEL wishes to enter himself into that legacy of artists who are our raconteurs. 

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SOEL intends to make sure all of his work is out in the world for people to appreciate. His imprint Oracolo is part of that mission. Described as "A label where musical concepts and aesthetic boundaries are seen as a way to unify - not separate." Oracolo is the antithesis of his ethos.

Despite having no formal training, SOEL has established a unique musical footprint. The consummate creative, he says that he's been training for this his whole life. Creativity blossoms naturally when fed exposure to creative endeavors.

"Honestly, I think our brain is really a sponge. When you get exposed a lot simply because you're curious and you like something, I think this will come naturally. Nobody [can] actually teach you to be creative. So, think simply, let it come on naturally."

Looking from the outside in, it would seem UK DJ Ben Sterling has had the kind of career that most aspiring artists can only dream of. Despite his youth, Sterling has seen break after break go his way, leading to international recognition. But his charmed status does not illude him. His recent project tells the overarching story of his professional life: respect what comes before and pay it forward.

Sterling has released with some of the most respected labels in the world, including Edible, Origin Rcords, and Hottrax. Yet, he's in the process of launching his imprint, Planet X.

"I wanted to create a new platform for the young eyes," said Sterling. "There's a lot of new music coming about everywhere… and I just feel like not many labels pick up on it."

Planet X has its roots in Sterling's passions, connecting to a long-time love for science fiction. The correlation between the synthetic sounds associated with sci-fi entertainment and dance music is not lost on him.

"For instance, the Dr. Who theme song… that was the first created, synthetic track… and it was just such an influence," he explained.

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"I wanted to create something fun, and I thought [the name] Planet X just to be out of this world and having the feeling of listening to stuff that's kind of a bit different." He also will have a sister label called The X Files, which he said will be for "deeper" material and "hidden secrets," while Planet X remains "fun" and "energetic."

Sterling chose the letter "X" to anchor his label because of a Duck Doggers episode of Looney Toons where the classic animated characters go to Planet X. For The X Files, he liked the idea of searching through files to find hidden gems.

Every decision connects strongly to something from his past and the collective past of music. Even the color palette from the label is personal, with purple representing his birthstone, Amethyst.

He's working on an EP for his label now, which will likely drop at the end of February. "I'm gonna push the hell out of it and make it look…" and Sterling gestured with his hands, symbolizing an explosion.

His career trajectory has been something of an explosion. The success came, though, through years of what Sterling dubs "crafting," a term that he uses to describe making sure he was everywhere.

"Every single party... especially in London, there's a lot of parties going on every single weekend… going to all the clubs and just mingling with all the great DJs and people… just trying to get [my] foot in the door." He also worked a part-time job while networking his way into the industry to keep him afloat while he steadily devoted his free time to improving his art and getting exposure.

A residency at London's Ministry of Sound got him started when he was only 18. He released the record "Ciao," which impressed UK legend Jamie Jones so much that he played seven of Sterling's unreleased tracks in his EDC Las Vegas set in 2018.

"I thought that was it," said Sterling, "I thought, he's played my track, 'thank you so much, that's enough, thank you.' And suddenly… after that it was just constant, it just spiraled into a snowball, and just everyone started playing it."

Sterling's unique blend of historical music trends started with his parents. "So my dad was very much into electropop," he explained, "And then my mum was very into Balearic, Ibiza, and it kind of just merged together… and I was born."

"There were just so many influences happening at once." As a result, sterling never listened to what was trending on the charts, sticking instead to the eclectic blend his parents introduced to him. He found further inspiration in a documentary on the history of house music Pump up the Volume.

"It is very important in the industry to know where everything comes from," Sterling said. "Having the kind of knowledge on what makes house, what makes tech house, what makes acid house what it is today… is so important." He said that by exploring history, artists evolve their sound and discover new sources of inspiration.

"I still want to make it cool, fun and kind of maturic… that's not even a word, but I just made it up," Sterling laughed. The invention of a word that somehow perfectly sums up the collective of style and talent that has informed Ben Sterling's young but varied career, bringing together old and new, infusing what was with what is. Keep an eye on the maturic DJ Ben Sterling.

Hailing from Malaga, Spanish artist Cuartero began producing at just fifteen in 2009. He achieved rapid success and, by 2015, was awarded Best Newcomer DJ at the DJ Awards, Best Tech House Artist, and Artist of the Year at the Vicious Music Awards in the following years, among others. Beyond the decks, he's a skilled producer, recognized by industry peers, fans, and labels for his rhythmic acumen and slinky basslines.

A little over ten years from the start of his career, he boasts releases on major labels such as Hot Creations, Moon Harbour Recordings, and Waveform Recordings. His sounds have increasingly developed, maturing in-depth and seriousness alongside his career. His most recent release, "Static Sea," in collaboration with East End Dubs, embodies this maturity in the form of a high-energy, moody after-hours groove. 

Cuartero also curates two well-respected labels, Sanity and Cuartero Concept. Founded in 2011, Sanity features energetic deep tech and tech house tracks with a clear intention of prioritizing talent over fame. 

Cuartero Concept, founded in 2017, is a vinyl-only project dedicated to elevating more underground sounds. He's worked with heavyweight techno names, like Bodeler and Cocodrills. 

A man of few words, he seems surprisingly disinterested in vanity or self-celebration. Cuartero has built a serious legacy, one that remains unadulterated in its commitment to platforming raw talent and nothing else.

You grew up in Malaga, a cultural hub in its own right. How do you think the city itself influenced you to pursue electronic music? Did you hang out with particularly musical people, or was it a passion you developed individually? 

Well, I started with a group of friends, but very soon, I started to go deeper into it and fully got involved on my own. My father was a great influence as well, and he supported me heavily. 

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What is your relationship with the dance music scene in Malaga now?

It is excellent! The community is very thankful. We actually do our own events in Malaga as well, and they have been a great success. 

How did you go from rapidly getting noticed to rapidly becoming internationally acclaimed in such a short period? What were some crucial moments that propelled your career?

I think the main thing is perseverance, hard work, and dedication. With regards to international recognition, I think that my track "Mama" or my first EP on Desolat, "Abandonado," were important moments for my career.

How do you feel you've evolved in your production over the years? 

Something that I demand of myself every day is to evolve yet maintain my essence. Currently, I have been adding more minimalism to my style.

Similarly, your labels seem to reflect different sounds. Cuartero Concepts seems more experimental with Romanian micro-house style influences. How do you view the relationship between Sanity and Cuartero Concept? 

Sanity is focused more on minimal deep tech, though the label has changed a lot over its ten years. Concept is still relatively new, and I am taking it slowly. For Concept, I want to look for a special sound, but I will take my time to find it. 

How did the collaboration with East London producer, East End Dubs, come about? 

Well, I've been working with East End Dubs and their label for the last few years, and I had wanted to do an EP collaboration with them for a while. So we decided to do it, and it was fantastic!

What is your production method when it comes to collaborations with new people? 

It depends. Sometimes we do it online and send each other ideas, sometimes in person, in the studio. 

Your first residency in Ibiza was around 2014. How has your relationship with the dance music scene in Ibiza evolved? Is it a special place for you to play? 

My relationship is still great. I've lived there and still have lots of good friends there. They have always welcomed me very well, and I feel at home there. Playing on the island is always very special to me.

Would you rather watch your favorite football team play or play a set at your favorite festival?

Play at my favorite festival!

Festival or rave? 

Festival.

Paella or pizza? 

Paella.

Would you rather start a new project or finish an old one? 

New project.. hahaha! 

Three words to describe your first-ever live set, however informal it was. 

Nervous, Illusion, Innocence.

Artist Spotlights