“You never know what’s gonna change your trajectory as an artist. I was just making music for the moment. Pre pandemic was all club music. I’ve really explored song writing recently rather than just tech house bangers. What makes a good song? What makes a good listening record? It’s been a clash of different worlds in the time off, especially looking back at that [“Downtown Diva EP”] release.” 

J Worra—aka Jamie—has seen a steady rise since entering the tech house scene in 2015. She started her career in the bass house realm, and transitioned smoothly as the worlds of tech house and bass house were finding their union. Jamie has had a career-altering 18 months, exploding onto the scene and cementing herself as one to watch despite the holdbacks on live performances due to the COVID pandemic. 

Her introduction to house music came as it does for many of us. Musically inclined at a young age, she attended a local electronic music festival and was instantly hooked. She was also acutely aware of the lack of female representation on stage and knew she had to take action. 

“I went to a festival early in my life and saw no women on the lineup at all. I had to give it my best to join this world and try and flip that. Now there’s so many of us doing our best. LP Giobbi with Femme House, streaming every week with new female artists… I was able to book people for my tour that I found off her stream. Just having that exposure is a game changer. When I started it was desolate for females but we’re seeing a big surge now. Men are paying more attention, and women are trying harder to help one another out.”

After deciding to begin her music career, Jamie quickly realized she was in a great city to build herself up as a promising local act. Coming up in Chicago, she had loads of opportunities to get gigs and hone her craft. That being said, she readily admits that she did not truly understand the depth and history of the house music scene in Chicago until after she left for LA.

“I feel like I’m a completely different artist than I was pre pandemic. I took time to listen to old school Chicago house and sort my roots more. I can’t even remember what I used to play like. It’s fun to start fresh… Being able to sit still for a while and dig through old music is a rare opportunity for artists wh tour. It changed a lot of perspective.” 

The time off was a massive refresher for many artists in this world. Jamie took the opportunity to dig into the history of house music, develop and grow her sound, and field new opportunities. She began taking on the challenge of remixing other artists more frequently and realized how it can open doors.

“Griz sent me ‘Meduza’ to remix. I wasn’t sure how the release would pan out. You never know with remixes what’s gonna catch on. I’ve actually never met Griz but I have so many association relationships and I think that remix just opened me up to a new crowd.” 

Jamie is now touring the country, playing new markets, big slots, and releasing tons of awesome music. She just played two sets at the Brooklyn Mirage and will be opening for Kaskade in California. We look forward to having her back in NYC for the massive Elrow December show and she will likely be coming to a city near you sometime soon.

Even before Vintage Culture—aka Lukas Hespanhol—went viral with his 2013 remix of “Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd, his sound was a well-developed blend of deep, soulful, and slappin’. It’s a fine line to ride, and Hespanhol does so with class and a masterfully ubiquitous sound that appeals to both the underground and the mainstream. The Brazilian artist has led the charge of artists from his homeland that has spent nearly a decade dominating the charts and playlists of major DJs and reshaping the sound of modern house music.

A product of the SoundCloud age, when a proper remix could put you on the map the self-taught producer rose to fame in Brazil, toured South America, and continued to release music at a steady clip. And with each release, he confirmed why he would soon be a global
superstar signing tracks to Enormous Tunes, Defected, Spinnin Deep, and Sony Music. 

In 2015 just two years after his bootleg remix went viral, he entered the DJ Mag Top 100 for the first time, and in 2017 released “Memories,” his first of several records to be certified gold. He’s since clocked over 1 billion plays worldwide, gone platinum 10 times, and remixed Diplo, Tiësto, Rufus Du Sol, and Louie Vega. He’s a prime example of the DIY spirit that anchors dance music. A kid from a tiny town in rural Brazil who learned how to write tunes via Google searches on a busted computer is the blueprint for dance music's DIY spirit.

What was your musical upbringing like? What did your parents listen to when you were a child?

My musical upbringing was completely self-taught. There was music at home, of course, especially on the radio as there was no Internet yet. The radio was always on in the background playing local heroes as we call it Brazilian Country Music. I'm from a small city in the countryside of Brazil and the genre is super popular.

How did you begin to develop your own taste in music?

Do you remember internet cafes? One day I was sitting next to a friend at an Internet Cafe. On his laptop computer, he played to me the sounds of New Order and Depeche Mode. This changed my life. At that age, it was like nothing I’d heard before. I was completely inspired.

Can you tell me how you discovered you wanted to create music?

After hearing these artists who were new to me I began looking deeper into it. I discovered these great anthems from bands coming from the UK like Oasis. I actually googled “How to make music” on my small computer and started from there. Looking back now it’s funny but this was my first step when I was a kid. I can say YouTube was my best friend when starting out.

When and how did you decide you wanted to pursue music as a career?

Somehow I found the vocal stems to “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd. I posted this on SoundCloud and to my surprise my remix started to get attention from DJs across the country of Brazil. The remix kept growing and soon I was receiving calls from club promoters. This very positive reaction in the beginning was encouraging, but once I saw the reaction from a live audience - I was hooked.

Can you talk about how you began to work with Só Track Boa?

The music festival and I grew together. In English Só Track Boa translates to “Only Good Tracks.” We had a good time. The festival partners wanted to grow their audience and I wanted to grow my music. We evolved together and soon I was headlining. Following this we became partners. Recently the Só Track Boa Festival sold out 7,000 tickets in New York and we’re planning new events in cities across North America.

What does it mean to see the brand make its way to the US again?

It is a feeling of deep satisfaction to watch something we built grow. To have an international audience enjoy what we started in our hometown in Brazil. Our plan is to combine Brazilian artists with other artists from around the world.

How did you find ways to balance yourself mentally with such an intense schedule?

I'd say the balance is purely my family and my best friends. If we can enjoy this together, that is real success. I have had the same team with me for years now. They are very loyal to me and I am loyal to my team. This has helped keep me very stable and grounded.

What did you learn from the break in touring during COVID that you will carry with you as life slowly returns to normal?

During COVID I learned that we have to evolve or disappear as the world changes. When shows and tours stopped I needed to find alternatives to reaching my audience. We did weekly live shows on Youtube and other video outlets. I released more music in 2020 than ever before. During this time I was always in the studio and if there is any silver lining, it is that I’ve come through this as a better music producer.

Brazilian artists dominate dance music. How does it feel to have helped lead that movement?

I’m very proud that artists from my homeland are finding international audiences. If I was able to help facilitate this, then it gives me a sense of joy. As artists from Brazil become more popular internationally, I’ve noticed that the sound has evolved into something that is not distinct to one country. The Brazil sound has changed into a combination of many different influences worldwide. Every DJ should play in Brazil at least once in their lives, the crowd is unforgettable.

How do you see yourself supporting people from Brazil in music?

I have close friends who are also talented music producers. I’ve brought them on the road with me. I play their songs during my live shows and radio shows. When possible, I introduce them to other friends in the music business around the world who may assist them.  It really is a labor of love. We are here for each other.

What excites you about the future of dance music?

What excites me most is I don’t see many limitations. I really like that dance music producers are focusing on real songs that will live on, as opposed to simply sound design or samples. Great songs are what inspired me in the beginning—the melody, lyrics, and memorable choruses. If anything, I see the potential for real growth. So I would say to any young producer who wants to learn, it is all about the songs. Keep going.

Not many have had the opportunity to witness the origins of New York City’s house scene in the early 90s and also play at The Brooklyn Mirage in 2021. Harry Romero is a legendary figure. A house historian, modern legend, and non-stop touring DJ, Harry has been building his resume for decades. 


“I really started going out to these parties in the mid 90s. At any given night in NYC there were multiple clubs hosting 3000+ people. Guiliani came in and enforced his cabaret laws which wiped out the scene in Manhattan. It’s been seeing BK take the helm on throwing proper events. I was a regular back in the day at the Sound Factory Bar in Manhattan. Louie Vega was the resident and it was a seminal club for me because I just knew I was experiencing something special, Louie is a big reason that I do what I do.”


Harry first released music in 1995. The experience of putting out a record back then was nowhere near where it is today. There were not a plethora of small artist-driven labels, no Soundcloud to upload your music for free, no Spotify to add you to a playlist for discovery. 
“There were two major players in the city at the time. Nervous Records and Strictly Rhythm. I was pushed to Strictly Rhythm. The head A&R was a woman named Gladys (Pizarro) who does not get enough acclaim or credit for being a massive part in the second wave of house. The first wave was the mid 80s in Chicago. Second wave was 88 to early 90s in NYC. I tried many times to bring her music before she eventually signed something of mine.”


Releasing music for over 20 years means Harry Romero has experimented with countless methods of production. Although he lived through the transition from hardware to software, he maintains some of his techniques from the early days. He has managed to evolve his sound over the years without compromising the core of his musical identity which in his words, is based around drums. 


“It’s so much more accessible now than it used to be. Everything I did back then was done on an EPS keyboard. We used floppy discs and an 8 channel mixer. I would sample records and just try and create anything I could. My music was always based around drums. My production is focused on what I say, Dope drums. Todd Terry and Kenny Dope were two of my biggest influences.” 


As Harry worked tirelessly to maintain and continue his career, he noticed drastic changes within the industry. Coming up in NYC in the 90s, he was acutely aware of who was important to the culture of house music, and who really owned the underground scene. When the EDM boom occurred around 2008, it was a strange time for him and his peers. 


“The mechanism changed. The way of doing business changed. The EDM thing really commercialized the industry and for them to claim that they were house music was just strange. The reality is that it became a business. It was pop music all of a sudden. A lot of people steered away from what they loved. I’m not mad at technology or the times, you just have to find a way to put your own twist on it.”

Working through this time was challenging to artists who had been around beforehand. For Harry Romero, the key was always just to try and have fun. When the fun stops, so will his career. But for now, he knows that fun is the name of the game.


“It’s always been a feeling that’s almost physical. I know when it’s good and I know when it’s not. When you’re in the studio and your butt starts shaking and the hair on your arms stands up… When the drum beat is popping people gravitate towards it. You wanna shake asses, make people sweat, that’s just how I go about it… You’re not always going to make a hit but the important thing is to just have fun.”


Harry Romero has no plans of slowing down. He continues to evolve and twist modern innovations and changes to fit his sound and style. He has a collaboration with Claude VonStroke coming out soon and will be playing the Dirtybird Campout in October. He’s touring the country, releasing music, and continuing to make asses shake.

One of Bachir Salloum’s earliest memories of dance music was listening to James Holden’s 2003 Balance 005 mix. Even close to 20 years later, it gives him the same blissful feeling he had upon hearing it for the first time. It’s fitting since Salloum’s languid and gently rolling progressive is so reminiscent of Holden’s. A sound just as much inspired by his homeland as his musical past. He gently folds in the multi-ethnic sounds of Lebanon with emotive, slow-burning house beats. A style that earned him the notice of the likes of Hernan Cattaneo and releases on Balance Music, the label that released the mix that inspired his
love for dance music.

He grew up in Beiruit, a world-class city for music. “You have fusion. you have a combination of Arabic [and] Armenian because you have a lot of nationalities,” he explains about his culturally diverse hometown. 

“You listen to different types of music everywhere. You get inspired by the city also and the people.“

One of the people that provided the earliest inspiration was his brother. Salloum sat and watched his brother spin hip hop and R&B records for hours. It was the first time he
remembers connecting with music on a visceral level. 

“I didn't know what style that was because I was a kid. But I had feelings. You know, I was feeling something. I was happy when I see him like that, playing.”

Salloum's brother didn't share his DJ equipment, a sentiment he tells me he understands now as he speaks to me from his well-appointed studio in Dubai. His brother did share his musical acumen, and abilities as a selector. And he brought him to his first dance music event in Beiruit’s famed dance music scene.

“Anthony Papa was the first one [sic] I go to a club in my life.” He leans into the camera as if to share a secret, “I was underage.”

Salloum eventually inherited his brother’s turntables and began his journey as a musician. He joyfully recalls some key steps in his journey. His first gig—a near-empty club with only his close friends dancing. And the first time he conjured the courage to play one of his productions in front of a crowd.

“The first music I released,” he remembers. “I didn't have the courage to play one track…but now the first time I played a track and it worked. I can’t believe that. Like, it was goosebumps and everything. You know that your music is actually working.”

He continues to chase that feeling with every new track he writes. And at the turn of the pandemic, he realized he needed to devote his entire being to the chase. 

“I always had a daily job, you know, an office job and everything. And I always had the music on the side,” he explains the plight every producer understands. 

“Recently, during the pandemic, I made the decision that I only want to work in the music industry… I don't want to do anything I'm not passionate about… And I said, to most of my
friends, I said, 'Guys, if you're not doing anything you love if you're not working in anything you're passionate about, I think you are wasting your time.' ”

Part of the reason he feels so confident about this decision is because of his surroundings. In 2014 he moved to Dubai. He loves the people and culture of Lebanon but needed more
stability.

“You cannot deny the culture that you are raised with, you know, it affects you as a person… You think about Lebanon and it's unfortunate, very unfortunate, because the people are very nice people. The country is super beautiful. But the political situation it's
killing the generation. Yeah, it's killing the future of the country.”

“I think it gave me the opportunity to be more focused,” he says about his move. And while aligning with a new community was initially difficult it was well worth it.

“First, you are safe. And here if you work, you have the opportunity to focus on what you really want. Because all the unnecessary stress that you think about in Lebanon, it doesn't
exist here,” he explains.

Dubai is a young city that consistently inspires him. It’s vibrant, with a nightlife scene that reflects its beauty and diversity. “You know, in Dubai, you can find all genres of music, that's very important. And people now they know more about the music. You know, you can tell that you are giving the crowd what they want. When there's good music, there's also good people on the dance floor. “

How would you describe the type of music you create?

Tech & House, because in my tracks, there are always house roots but also sometimes techno, above all I like to create very energetic music, which makes you dance a lot, but also in the last 2 years, with the pandemic I have made more radio-friendly releases.

What do you remember about your first gig?

I remember that I was 16, that I had 2 big bags of vinyl with me, it was 2001, it was summer and I was playing at a private party in the countryside, I was nervous and my hands were shaking, it was nice because no one knew me as a DJ since in those years I was PR for events in my area, it was a surprise for everyone, but since my brother was also a well-known DJ in the area, they immediately began to respect me all because technically I was always good, according to many friends I looked like to many famous DJs, you know 20 years ago the technique was fundamental, especially with vinyl, not like today that everyone can do DJs with sync.

What kind of music did you listen to as a kid/was playing in the house?

A little bit of everything, from the psychedelic rock of the 70s to disco music, I am also very attached to synth-pop music of the 80s, up to the electronic music/house and techno of the 90s. I had so much vinyl at my father's house, my uncle too, you can't understand how much music I listened to every day I really have to thank them for giving me a huge musical culture.

Italy is a country that I think most people don’t always associate with electronic music. That being said, there is obviously a diverse and strong scene there. Could you tell us about where specifically you are from, what the scene was like when you came up, and how you’ve seen it change over time?

True, Italy is more associated with the history, culture, but not electronic music, especially where I was born and raised, Teramo, a small town of 50,000 ppl. There have always been a few clubs, I have worked in several and let's say that from 2001 to 2009 I was very active in organizing important events with international DJs, but then in 2010 I started traveling around the world and I was no longer able to make party in my area, then in recent years, even before the pandemic, electronic music no longer existed, it has been canceled by radio music, reggaeton, hip hop, but every year I go back to my area to have at least one party to get together with all my friends, those who do not have the opportunity to listen to me around the world.

You’ve been releasing music since 2007. Although you had some early success with a handful of releases, it feels like it took a few years for you to really start establishing yourself. Could you tell us about those early years, and even before you released music officially. What was that grind like and is there anything you miss from that time? 

It took about 3 years to do my first # 1 on Beatport, then between 2010 and 2012 I did another 2 # 1 overall on Beatport and also a # 1 on the UK club chart. I think these years were the ones that made me known in this world, but you can't understand how much work there was in the years before, I started in 2006 to produce music, at first my sound was horrible, sometimes I am ashamed to listen to the releases I made in those years, the tracks sounded really bad, then from 2009 thanks to the help of some sound engineers I was able to make my productions sound better and better, to use vst and loops that had a better quality. I miss those years, I had the studio in my bedroom and it's amazing how I made those club hits inside my bedroom. Last year because of the covid I left London and went back to live in Italy, not having the studio anymore I had to make music again in the historic bedroom and in those days I also did the cover of "everybody's free" so I think that bedroom has something magical.

I would say for the most part, up to this point, your sound was primarily in the tech house world. In 2014 you released an EP on the iconic Saved Records called Can You Hear Me. First off, how did you connect with Nic Fanciuilli, and what inspired you to create an EP that had this type of sound? It felt like a bit of a shift for you and some of your follow up releases stayed in this lane like Cristallo and Rising.

Yes I wanted to explore new sounds, that Saved release helped me a lot to make myself known also by artists like Damian Lazarus, Blondish and others on that deep house style. I had known Nic for years, I had already done a Saved release called "Guarda", which was also an Essential New Tune on Pete Tong's radio show on BBC Radio 1 Dance. In those years I was always in ibiza both playing in clubs but also because I like being on the island and ibiza gave me those deep Balearic sounds that then made me produce Saved, Cristallo and Rising. Ibiza influenced me at that time by changing my sounds.

In 2017 you release the Out of Control EP with Relief records. It felt like a return to the tech house sound. You follow this with an Elrow Release, Armada, Sola, and Solotoko. Such an incredible string of awesome labels. Did you think that the Relief release helped open some doors for you or was this all in the works at the same time?

I worked for months to make a release on Relief, I sent many demos to Green Velvet but he had always declined them, until he signed "Out Of Control" EP, I was very excited, surely that release gave me a boost in doing Elrow, Sola and all the others. I have again had massive support on all these releases from all the great DJs. I started doing tech house again, I missed going back to my origins, from 2017 to 2019 I produced and released many tech house tracks that I'm really proud of.

Everybody’s Free was such a monster track. Both the original and the deeper purpose remix just smashed the charts. Did you know when you made it this would be a hit and what prompted you to reach out to Deeper Purpose for the remix?

Thank you, I have always believed in this track, it has a special meaning and is perfect for what we have experienced in the last 2 years. Spinnin' sent me a list of artists who could remix the original, I had expressed my preference on a couple of artists and one of them was Deeper Purpose, he liked the idea to remix an iconic cover and he did a great remix. He's one of my favorite producers and I was so happy when he accepted to remix it.

Your last few releases feel like you can really do what you want now. You’ve shown a lot of diversity in the last year whether it’s How do you feel, Gimme Luv, or Stronger. Do you feel good about where you’re at right now and what is inspiring you these days in the studio?

Eehehe, yes, I feel very comfortable, I must say that in the last 2 years I have experienced a lot, thanks to the pandemic I spent all my time in the studio and I started doing everything, house, techno, EDM, pop, breaks, minimal, I enjoyed myself, it's been fun. In recent months I have produced some electronic, melodic demos but always with tech & house grooves, I would like to merge what I was doing in 2014/15 with the tech house stuff I've been doing lately. In the coming months, however, there will be many cool releases on D4 D4NCE, Spinnin', Good Company, Repopulate Mars and on my NONSTOP label, a mix of house and tech house stuff which I'm really happy to release.

Tony Romera’s decade-plus in dance music is dotted by landmark achievements that prove the French artist’s nuanced and compelling approach to songwriting. Even on early releases like “Don’t You Know” in 2011, his combination of moving melodies and organic basslines make his music feel just as human as it is electronic. 

His releases run the range of house music's most lauded labels from Armada, Insomniac, and Universal to Monstercat, Cr2, Confession, and his own Sans Merci. He's reached millions of dancers both in the underground and the mainstream. His diverse catalog should be proof enough of how he unites house music fans from all corners of the global dance community. Yet when you look at the list of DJs that have supported him on the mainstages of festivals and darkest of clubs, it becomes even more evident why Romera is so distinctive. The diverse set of DJs that drop Tony Romera tunes in their sets includes Roger Sanchez, Armin van Buuren, Chromeo, Alison Wonderland, and Dombresky. The only tie that binds his fans is that they are all fans of great music, and Romera’s blend of the French house aesthetic, grimy basslines and grooving hooks seems to be genre-fluid. 


Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic, he used his time away from gigs to embark on his most ambitious project to date. His debut album Introspection on Monstercat is a journey of inspiration for Romera. A genre-blurring album of 16 tracks that drifts effortlessly between heavy electro house, D&B, languid piano interludes, hip hop, and disco-tinged French touch. The album is a look inward at everything that makes Romera the artist he is. It’s a love letter to dance music and an homage to the family, friends, country, and global dance movement he holds so dear.


I know your family is very important to you. How did they have a part in your musical influence when you were a child? What did you hear at home when you were young?

They’re truly important to me. They’ve been so supportive for many years, even at the beginning when it was a bit hard (haha). My parents were listening to a lot of different music. So, that’s probably why I’m really open to any genre. They played a lot of dance music in the 90s and also some disco and funk. I think that’s why I fell in love with French touch, because it’s just disco and funk samples flipped. 

You started your musical journey with a guitar. What drew you to playing music initially?

initially?
I started making music when I lost my uncle. I was 14 and probably wanted to let the music speak as it was hard for me to express myself with words. Then I was searching for a way to add different instruments into my computer. I started recording my guitar, then my flute, as it was the only instrument we were learning at school. I was also playing djembe and trying to sing. That’s when I started trying to figure out how I could make a full song alone. A few years later, I discovered production programs like FL Studio and then Logic, and I spent many sleepless years just working on music and then sleeping at school, hah! 


How does the guitar still come into your music?

I played some guitar on my new album, “Introspection.” That was fun to get back to my roots. I love to add some funky vibes with it.

When did you fall in love with dance music?

I remember a friend of mine showing me his big brother’s Daft Punk albums. I was around eight or nine years old, and I immediately fell in love with this music. Since then, I’ve been a fan of them, and more broadly the french touch genre and electronic music.

At what point did you realize that music was going to be a career and not just a hobby?

In 2012 I started releasing remixes for big artists and releasing on some cool labels. My music was being played by a lot of artists at festivals like Tomorrowland, Mysteryland, etc., and all of a sudden I started receiving show offers—it all happened so fast! 
I had a bit of a calm period where I was a bit lost and didn’t really know what to do next because things had moved so quickly. I needed to recalibrate. That’s when I started making music I really loved, and since then, I’ve been true to myself.


 

What inspired you to start SANS MERCI?

I wanted to release my tracks and music from my friends more easily. Also, I wanted to create a family with a good vibe and confidence in each other. We have a great community, and some of them are now friends because they met at our parties. That’s awesome to me.

Your album, Introspection is quite diverse. Some artists feel like they have to stick to a certain sound all the time. What gives you the courage to experiment so much?

I’m bored easily if I’m stuck in only one genre, so I really love to make different genres every day. I listen to all kinds of music, and every time it gives me inspiration and ideas for tracks. It’s also really important on the technical side to know how to make other genres, that way it’s easier to mix them trying to make something new.

Your use of samples is incredible. How do you find such compelling and interesting content to work with?

It’s a lot of work, a lot of time to check everywhere, to cut and experiment, but that’s probably one of my favorite parts about production. You never know where you go, and sometimes magic happens.

You have an impressive collection of synths. When did you start collecting them?

Thank you! I started in 2013. I wanted a Moog so I bought one but it collected dust for a while until I bought the MS20. My friend Habstrakt told me a lot of good things about it and since then, I’ve never stopped working with hardware and collecting new synths. I have a ton of dream synths, but I have to work more so I can afford them one day.

How did they all figure into your process? Which one is your favorite?

It really depends. Usually, I start tweaking the knobs at the same time as I try melodies/gimmicks. When I have a good idea, I start recording it and start making a track around it. Sometimes I’m working with plugins and then I search for a sound with more character, so I send the MIDI to the synths and try things. 

How did you stay motivated to write during lockdown with no shows to play and no audience to test ideas on?

That was exactly why I’ve been more inspired than ever. I knew I was stuck at home for a while, so I wasn’t stressed about packing for the next flight, preparing for the next show, or making music and thinking about how the crowd would react. I was just making music for myself, and that’s how Introspection happened. It was a hard time because I was missing playing shows, traveling, everything my government did was pissing me off, and I had some personal problems to deal with, so being locked in the studio was my therapy.

Albums are rarer in dance music, especially with playlist culture being so big. What inspired you to take on such a large project and how did you approach telling a story?

I’ve always been a fan of the album format. My favorite albums ever are Daft Punk - Homework, Daft Punk - Discovery,  Daft Punk - Human After All, Justice - Cross, Joris Voorn - Nobody Knows, Flume - Flume, Flume - Skin, French 79 - Olympic, Gesaffelstein - Aleph, and others. Listening to all these albums often made me think about doing mine. I love how you can tell a story, from the beginning to the end. And that was the best way to look introspectively and tell the story of my life to people.

What's exciting to you when you think about the future of dance music and club/festival culture?

I’m super excited to be back on stage after all this time at home. But what amazed me the most is that there are always new artists bringing something new to the table. It’s so interesting to see how the scene evolves every day.

Devon James is full of stories from his colorful musical past. He picked out his first concert at the age of seven, Maxi Priest and Shaggy—an obvious choice for a boy whose father was the guitarist for Jamaican band, the Skatalites. He spent four hours in a basement studio with Lee Scratch Perry. It was part of an album he recorded with legendary house producer Felix Da Housecat. He’s traveled the world as the tour manager for Nicole Moudaber and stage-managed for major festivals. He’s the consummate dot connector. A Swiss army knife of music industry skills that he started honing as a child.
 
Industry know-how aside, James is also an accomplished producer. With a style that touches funk, breaks, disco, tech house, and weird and filthy bass house he’s released on a wide range of lauded labels that continue to come back for more. Box Of Cats, We Jack, Founders of Filth, and Farris Wheel have all tagged James for his diversity of style.

James was groomed for a career in the music industry early on. At 12, while his father was in Europe on tour, he was enlisted to help with admin work, faxing documents to agents when his father couldn’t. The observations he made as his dad navigated a career as a musician and band manager helped inform the industry knowledge he needed to break his way into music. 
 
James is, as some might say, is industry AF. 
 
“I knew how to talk to people,” James tells me. “It was just really always easy for me to reach out to people and ask for an opportunity.”
 
It’s a skill that many in music don’t develop early enough, he explains. “I think that's one of the biggest things that I see with people is like, they sit back and wait for things to come to them. But I've just always been a go getter. I've never really been intimidated to talk to people.” 

Those that get the furthest the fastest in music know that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t shoot. James is a master of shooting his shot, even when it may seem he’s in uncharted territory. Just after graduating from Syracuse University, he moved to New York City. He’d picked up DJing in college and had some expertise in DJ controllers and software, namely Traktor—software manufacturer Native Instrument’s DJ suite. At the time, most DJs in dance music were exclusively using CDJs, digital DJing was not common practice. 

He went to work for now-defunct New York DJ and production school Dubspot. His colleague and Traktor expert Mike Henderson, aka DJ Endo, connected James to Felix Da Housecat who was a Traktor novice and needed an expert to go on tour with him.
 
James gravitated to the bubbly and hilarious spirit that Felix exudes. Felix gave James the nickname Devon Dazzler after his 2004 album, Devin Dazzle & the Neon Fever, on their very first call. 
 
“Felix had a show at the Hilton or something around Halloween. [He] calls me the day he's supposed to play and he's like, ‘What's up Devin Dazzle? What's up Dazzler?’ Felix thinks I'm like Devin Dazzle incarnate. That was like delivered to his doorstep at his hotel.”
 
Their fast friendship strengthed the working relationship, and James became his go-to guy. They toured Europe together, and Felix encouraged James to continue producing. He even invited him to work on music. And then at an afterparty in Brooklyn, Felix was offered a record deal. James and Felix moved into an old monastery on 16th street in Manhattan, apparently the former home of Ashley Simpson. And for four months, worked on the album Narrative Of Thee Blast Illusion. 

The James and Felix relationship has also resulted in a new collaborative song called “Dazzler,” a quirky house track that features Felix’s
glamorous vocals. The inane lyrics were pulled from voice notes sent to James on an old phone. It’s a hilarious look at the relationship the two have built over the last decade.
 
To say that Felix was instrumental in James’ career would be an understatement. However, the industry know-how and skills as a relationship builder were the things he trained his whole life for. And James has continued to be the consummate dot connector in the house music community. He went on to be the label manager for Golf Clap’s Country Club Disco imprint, and now manages Ghettoblaster’s We Jack
record label.



Devon also throws his events in New York. Radioactive is dedicated to social responsibility. The multi-disciplinary artist collective started in 2012 as a way for a group of graphic designers, filmmakers, and musicians to support each other’s work. It grew into a covertly activist action network.
 
Instead of insisting on donations for causes, Radioactive supports marginalized communities by giving them real-life opportunities. “I think the, the biggest way to prove something, or to do something is just do it. One of the biggest things that we did was this thing called the Tunnel Project, where we went and interviewed different musicians that we saw in the subway station… we started to talk to these people. And, you know, we just started to tell their stories.”
 
James is an amalgamation of the cornucopia of experiences he’s had in music. He overflows with positivity and love for the culture and spirit of dance music. So when I ask him what excites him about the future of dance music, his answer is 100% what I’d expect.
 
“I think what we're seeing right now is like a lot of a lot of like cross-pollination… I think we're seeing a lot more of that stuff, pop music producers, like, Sophie Tucker working with John Summit. I think that dance music is becoming popular music. And I hope that it keeps expanding like that. I hope it definitely includes a
little bit more diversity and inclusion."

Sara Landry has no fears of staying true to herself, and creating her own unique brand of techno. Based out of Austin, TX, Sara does not confine herself to just being a DJ. Despite a career that is still relatively new, Sara runs her own record label, promotes her own local party brand in Austin, is a master audio engineer, and of course, destroys dance floors with her self-described brand of witchy-warehouse techno. She is at the forefront of America's burgeoning techno scene and is one to watch. 

How would you describe the type of music you create?

Witchy Warehouse Techno

What kind of music did you listen to as a kid/was playing in the house?

Classical music and hip hop by my mom, new wave/Queen/Fleetwood Mac by my Dad.

What do you remember about your first gig?

It was in a condemned party house on the East Side of Austin during SXSW 2016.

How did you discover techno and what about techno pushed you to follow it professionally?

I took a journey through other vintage electronic genres before eventually finding the harder style of techno and falling completely in love with it. I went to Berghain when I was in Berlin in 2017 and that was it for me. I was forever changed.

How does having a background as an audio engineer influence your production?

Having a deep technical skill set enables me to push the envelope and create things that are complex, innovative, and unique, which I really enjoy doing. Plus I can make my mix-downs sound exactly how I want, and that’s very important to me. The best thing I ever did was focus on engineering mastery because now I can do anything.

Can you tell us about the KLUBHAUS project that you started? It felt like it was really on the shoulders of the artist to stand out during the shutdown and your streaming was just one example of maximizing your time.

I had started KLUBHAUS as a warehouse series in 2019 as a way to throw more authentic warehouse parties and they started to do really well here in Austin since that didn’t really exist before. When everything was shut down, I wanted to find a way to move them online, and I was lucky enough to have friends at CPD that were willing to collaborate on something different to pass the time while we waited for things to open back up. Creating those KLUBHAUS streams definitely kept me sane during a very challenging time, and I am so grateful to the team at CPD for their help and contributions. I see those sets as art pieces and am immensely grateful that we were able to create them. 

You recently announced the launch of your own label, Hekate. What was the inspiration behind starting a label and what challenges have you faced so far in getting it off the ground? 

I wanted to own my masters, independently flesh out my creative concepts, and have the ability to take whatever creative risks I want without having to filter that through someone else. As far as challenges, the current vinyl production delays are a huge challenge, and also it’s just a lot of clerical work to start a label. It was worth it though and I’m thrilled to have seen such a positive response. 

What were the years like from when you first started DJing to that release these most recent releases?

I spent every possible waking moment in the pursuit of music production mastery, sitting in the room I am sitting in now for the last 6 straight years, for over 9000 hours. It’s not very glamorous; you have to put in the work, and that’s what I did. 

There are so many women making waves in the world of electronic music,  and especially in the techno scene. That being said, there is still not enough representation at festivals and large events. Are there any fundamental changes you see that need to happen? And have there been positive changes you’ve observed throughout your career?

There’s so much misogyny. It’s inescapable; it’s exhausting. I still have people accuse me of having a ghost producer, and I’m a fucking Ableton beta tester who was just featured in an Ableton editorial, who has done live masterclasses before! There’s this weird undercurrent that if something is “good” then a man must have made it, and it’s SO annoying to hear that when you’ve spent 9000+ hours working toward mastery. That misogyny is everywhere and it’s a problem: “she doesn’t deserve that slot,” “she fucked her way to the top,” “she doesn’t make her music,” and other sexist shit that every woman has heard 1000 times from jealous misogynists.
How do we solve this problem? Get more women in the industry. Give chances by taking “risks.” Give women the opportunity to prove themselves. Larger US festivals are (mostly) not even touching the hard techno, even though it’s HUGE in Europe and South America, and is really starting to catch on here. The problem with the US music industry is that it’s more about the money than it is about the music, and until people are willing to put the focus back on musical innovation and give new things a chance, they will stay the same. Of course, COVID has really fucked a lot of things up and everyone is playing catch up/rollover and I completely understand that, but for 2022 I really hope we start to see new names and more underground representation.

Movement Detroit has done an incredible job curating a festival that has something for everyone with excellent representation, so we know it’s possible, it’s just a matter of the people with the agency to affect change choosing to do so. There’s so many talented women right now who have fought tooth and nail to get where they are, and they deserve a shot! Shit, every gig I get is like 8 mile for me; I don’t take anything for granted and put my full heart into every set, but it’s much easier to kick a door open if someone on the other side is willing to crack it open for you beforehand. The opening of doors falls on the bookers. It’s up to them to investigate new talent, talk to their communities, and commit to trying new things to deliberately push the industry forward, and I’m seeing a lot of positive signals that things are changing and will continue to improve over the next few years. In the meantime, all we can do is keep demanding more representation and advocating for each other however we can. 

You’ve spoken previously about how your sound has changed over the years. You recently described it as witchy warehouse techno. Do you plan to stay in this lane for the near future or are there sounds you are eager to experiment with?

Yes, I love this sound and have a lot of fun making it, so I will be staying in this lane. Any other experimenting would be done as a separate project under another alias.

What’s your plan for releasing music the rest of this year and are you planning on touring anytime soon?

Have a lot more music coming out, including a remix on Sept 24 and another HEKATE release before the end of the year. Sadly, due to vinyl production delays, my two releases that were slated for September and October have been pushed back, but I promise not to leave you all without another SL release for long!

If you could headline a large room and have whatever production you wanted, what would your show look like?

Very very similar to the production that CPD and I collaborated on for the DJ Mag and Insomniac streams, so I would want to bring that entire team with me, since we all work so well together.

In the early 1990s, at the end of the Lebanese Civil War, a young Rabih Hamad broke into a vacant music studio with his friends. The kids weren’t planning to vandalize or steal; they just wanted to play music. After their first illicit jam session, the group returned to the studio often. They even managed to befriend the studio’s staff, who would leave the windows cracked open just enough for the boys to scramble through. Their secret musical rendezvous continued this way for nearly two years. But aside from the studio’s staff, no one knew about the talent burgeoning behind closed doors. 

Twenty-some years later, Hamad is no longer unknown. Better recognized by the moniker, Soapbass, he is at the forefront of the Lebanese dance music scene. His resume boasts bonafide producer status symbols, like his own record label, Polite as Fck, event management company, Lucidwave, and an enviable roster of performances at venues like the famed KitKatClub in Berlin. 

His techno-driven beats weave together elements from each phase of his life, creating a sonic tapestry that pays homage to rock, blues, jazz, and his Lebanese heritage. Although he’s clearly on his way, Soapbass’s path to producerdom was far from linear.

After picking up the drums during those jam sessions in the vacant studio, Hamad moved on to bass guitar when he was 16. He quickly became fascinated by everything to do with music and began to study in earnest, taking classes in everything from jazz to blues, funk to rock. He dreamed of making music his life. Each day, he saved up the pocket money his father gave him. And after a long two years, he finally had enough to buy a bass guitar. 

New bass in hand, Hamad formed his own rock band, Soul Active, with a group of musicians he met online. Gigs picked up quickly for the group, and soon, Hamad said, they were making good money playing all over the country. The group’s accomplishments came to a crescendo with a big win: first place in Pick FM’s Best Rock Song contest. Their triumph resulted in national media coverage as well as an album deal sponsored by Radio One.

The band members parted ways in 2007, but Hamad wasn’t done with music yet. 

There was always something about dance music that struck a chord with Hamad. He first became interested in the genre as a teenager through listening to bands who incorporated electronic music into their songs, like Radiohead. When the dance and electronic wave hit Lebanon, the young musician was practically swept off his feet. 

“I was standing in front of the DJ booth and I was just amazed by everything happening,” Hamad says. “I started imagining myself, with the crowd moving, the sounds, the beat… I wanted to make the crowd feel how I was feeling in that moment.”

Hamad's musical acumen translated producing just as it had to the bass and drums. When he made his first EP, Charlie, he was still in the learning stage of music production. DJ LION, a friend, and more experienced producer coached him during the creation of the seven-track project. 

“He saw something in me and insisted on teaching me to produce,” Hamad says. “He stayed with me for months, doing production training. After two months on my own, I came back to him with six tracks. He was shocked and told me he believed my music deserved to be released on his label.”

Charlie was released on DJ LION’s Patent Skillz in 2021. Soapbass released another EP, Mary F*Cking Poppins, just over a month later, setting a precedent for a prolific career to come. And the producer appears to be maintaining his momentum, with three more EPs on the way within the month. 

Although he’s built up his skills and discography quickly, Hamad has kept a learner’s mindset, developing an artistic process that is somewhat improvisational. Not one for prescribed beats or predictable melodies, the musician doesn’t enter a production session with any preconceived notions. 

“I start on the spot. I listen and pay attention to what my ears catch,” Hamad says. “I’m risking a bit with my sound. The way I create it, the way I do it, it’s different.”

As eclectic as his process and background are, so are his inspirations. Charlie was written in memory of his late dog, and Mary F*Cking Poppins came as an homage to the timeless movies he loved as a child. And of course, behind everything are the rock influences that shaped his early career and Lebanese culture that honed his musical ear.  

“My sound comes from my country,” Hamad says. “The country here is full of a mix of nationalities, religions, and cultures. Growing up here, I’ve always been inspired to use a mixture of sounds. The nightlife and the parties here are really impressive. Music means joy in our community.”

A combination of glamorous 80s synth work, glistening disco vibes, and groove-laden modern tech house come together in the music of Italian DJ and producer Adapter. A veteran musician with a decade of releases under his belt, he continues to evolve and reveal new ways to revisit nostalgic sounds on the modern dance floor. His sub-thumping synth-heavy beats beautifully bridge the gap between modern house music and the genres that helped form its foundation. His releases on Get Physical, Hot Creations, Snatch!, Relief, and Black Book have blessed dancefloors the world over.

A lifelong musician, his background as a percussionist informs his approach just as much as the 70s and 80s records he grew up on. His hometown of Naples is also a key player in the construction of his musical DNA. We caught up with Adapter to chat with him about the moments in his life that informed his unique approach to house music.

What kind of music did your parents listen to when you were a child and how did that influence you as an artist?

My parents listened to all the good music of the 70s and 80s. I was very fascinated by those sounds. They conditioned me throughout my artistic career.

You are a pianist and percussionist. When did you start your musical journey?

I started from an early age alone without any professor. I was very tending to the piano but then I met the percussion and I fall in love with the influences of Neapolitan music.

Percussion still plays heavily in your music, do you incorporate a lot of what you learned as a percussionist into your creative process?

I believe percussion is the soul of a record. I love to include them in all my tracks, they give a magical essence. Also, I see that the reaction of the dancefloor in the club is different when percussion is involved in the tracks.

How did you fall in love with dance music? Was there a specific time or place that it happened?

Yes! I was 15 years old and I watched DJs play dance music in the clubs. I saw people's reactions were crazy and from that moment, I said I want to play this music too!

What do you remember about your first gig?

In the beginning, my hands sweat and I had difficulty batting the track cause of the emotion of the moment I was living, then thanks to the support of friends I let myself proceed to do what I know!

Naples has a strong culture of music. How did growing up there influence you musically?

[It] influenced me a lot. Naples is 100% musical exploration. We can start from the spiritual rites of the past, passing through the tarantellas, and end with the current songs.

You've said you don't listen to dance music outside of your work. Is there any particular reason?

Certainly, because the influences to produce come from other genres like rock, pop, chill, R&B, ambient, etc... That's the main reason!

Your music has big '80s vibes. Where did this fascination with the '80s  come from?

The music of the 80s influenced my whole life. My mentor is Michael Jackson. All my research on 80s music started from him. I love that genre is the most beautiful ever created!

What excites you about the future of dance music?

Dance music will always change. I'm fascinated by the new experimentation, continuous use of new sounds and vocals. I think we will reach increasingly difficult levels but really interesting at the same time!

Talent is only part of the equation when it comes to success in the music industry. So many opportunities arise through a mix of ingenuity, self-motivation, and tenacity. Mr.Diamond—aka Jamil Alvear—represents what happens when these qualities coalesce in one artist. Only two years into releasing music under this moniker and he’s already hitting all the marks. His masterful mix of soulful funk and bassline tech put him on the rosters of lauded labels like Moon Harbour, Solid Grooves, King Street, and Hot Creations. How he got there in such a short time is a nod to the intense drive and focus he exhibits.


Born in Ecuador, Alvear was always surrounded by music. His father came from a family of musicians. Latin rock, electronic, trance, and house were the musical backdrop of his childhood. Almost everyone on that side of his family was a musician or artist, so he was encouraged to follow a similar creative path.



As a child, he didn’t see himself following that road. His dad tried to push him into learning piano from some of the top teachers in Ecuador. Alvear wasn’t interested. And when his parents divorced, he actively rebelled against his father's musical wishes. 


He got a guitar from his maternal aunt, a woman who he lists as one of his biggest mentors. She taught him to play "La Bamba." He was hooked, and soon all he did was play the guitar. He enrolled in guitar lessons, and in a departure from the classical style that his father encouraged, he learned an important lesson for all musicians from his teacher.


“It doesn't matter how you play it, or what you play it so long as it sounds good. Yeah. So that, you know, changed my life.”


The simplicity of the statement was so freeing that he went on a journey of discovery and realized a talent for learning instruments quickly. He taught himself the flute, piano, melodica, and bass. And when he picked up his first DAW in high school, he put the same kind of drive and determination into learning how to create dance music.




EDM loomed large in the global dance music conversation, so he picked up progressive house first, then tried his hand at techno, D&B, and hardstyle. When he discovered Jamie Jones, he says things clicked. 


“I immediately fell in love with the way that he plays and the way that he controls the crowd.” Alvear decided to focus all his energy on house music, to get signed to Hot Creations.


Between 2017 and 2019 he relearned everything he knew about music and reapplied it to house. And when he felt he was ready he set off to figure out how to get his music in the hands of Jamie Jones.


With a little internet research, he was able to find Jamie’s email and sent him some music. He was surprised to get a response asking for a different set of files that he could access. And even more surprised when a few months later Jamie asked him to hold on two of those tracks for possible release on Hot Creations. Unfortunately, he ended up passing on those tracks. But that didn’t deter Alvear. In the space of two years, he’s created over 200 songs specifically for Hot Creations. And as the pandemic waned and Miami’s Space Park opened to crowds, Jamie Jones had the chance to test out some Mr.Diamond tracks on a dance floor, shortly after that he got the email that he would be signing a huge batch of songs to Hot Creations throughout the 2021/22 season.


“I knew that was gonna’ happen it was just a matter of time,” he says. “You think about it, you dream about it. When you see it thappening in real life and you're like 'Whoa, I am crazy. Now this really happening.' It's like a confirmation you are in the right place … this is the right thing for you.”



His journey to being signed to some of the hottest labels in house music paralleled a personal journey. In 2019 he decided to devote himself to music full time, he was still living in Ecuador and had some money saved so it seemed like a logical move. He told his mom at the time, “I'm just gonna, you know, take a leap of faith and see how everything evolves.”


But he also moved to the US in the same year. His grandmother is a US citizen and was able to bring Alvear and his father over. He had to go back to working again. But the pandemic job stoppage brought a fresh opportunity to work on music full-time again, and he doesn’t see himself going back.


“I want to focus like 100% in the music in and try to make it because like, there's no other thing that I can do in my life that will feel me the most producing every single day of my life.”


He says that he’s able to look at everything differently. Even his relationship with his father, who he once rebelled against. Ironically, the very thing he was trying to avoid came into being, and he couldn’t be happier that his father helped inspire that.


“The relationship with him is fantastic. He's not like he used to be in the past. And we're actually making music together. Like, I'm producing songs for him right now.” He also asked his father to sing on tracks for him. He’s noticed that the music his dad exposed him to as a youth is now getting popular again, and he’s using his dad’s singing voice to avoid sample clearance.


“It's like a full circle thing. And it's funny because you end up being grateful for everything in your life. Why did it happen this way? ... because [artists] put our emotions, we put our resources, we put our influence we put our feelings, in our creations.”

Marc Spence is much more than a DJ. The Birmingham native is a man of many talents: DJ, producer, A&R specialist for Box Of Cats, and a teacher just to name a few. As a child, his dreams were to become a professional footballer. After an injury, Marc began promoting shows and never looked back.

“We stored our flyers in a record shop. I was much more into urban music back then. The guy I was working for introduced me to drum n’ bass and UK garage… I was going to hip-hop clubs and loved it. Funky house was really big at the time, I appreciated it but wasn’t into it… When I heard the music of Dave Taylor it changed my whole perspective of house music. I had never heard music like it before. I was converted overnight.”

Although Marc Spence eventually found his way into the world of house music, his early introductions into the electronic scene were spurred by the ever-present sounds of UK garage. The golden era of UK garage took place from about 1996-2002. According to Marc, the lack of digital interfaces for music production made music production less accessible, and objectively more of a commitment. This, in turn, led to a more unified sound. 

“You mostly had hardware, the commitment to the music and to the craft was so much higher. Nowadays there’s so many people doing stuff, it’s probably even harder to stand out but it’s easier to make whatever sound you want.” 

Although Marc has now had a lengthy and successful career, he is perpetually wary of relying too heavily on one source of income. For Marc, relying on the next gig check or royalty payment causes art to suffer as the extra pressure leads to creation without inspiration. Early on in his career, Marc found himself living with a fellow DJ and Birmingham native, Chris Lorenzo. Chris Lorenzo brought Marc the idea of working at a DJ school, and it has been a passion for Marc ever since. 

“If it wasn’t for the technology, I don’t think we’d be able to have a company as successful as it is… I teach anyone from an eight-year-old to a couple in their 60s who are banging out hard techno in our sessions… The visual aids in CDJ screens make the floor of learning so easy.” 

Working at the DJ school gave Marc a fresh perspective on the industry that he is an integral part in. His relationship with Chris Lorenzo can not be understated as well. The two lived together for many years and helped bring one another to the next level professionally. 

“I sometimes have trouble getting into the studio with other people. Chris used to be in the speed garage scene. I was on the house side of things. There was a crossover period about 8-9 years ago and my friend, Dr. Love, introduced the two of us. We met and had an immediate connection.”

In 2015, Marc saw the trajectory of his career take a major upswing. Following the release of the massive track, "Nasty," he soon joined the iconic label, Box Of Cats. It was the culmination of months of work. He admits it’s the longest he’s ever worked on a track, pushing the limits on the amount of time he would typically allot a production. 

“I was living with Chris Lorenzo at the time… I had created the core of the track using a DNB sample. I remember snapping all the pieces together but when it came to the mix, there was so much class. It took me months to finish. I remember Chris walking up the stairs and saying I gotta give up the tune. For him, if he hasn’t finished a track in 2-3 days, he moves on. I know he’s usually right because you have to get music out there. You can’t just work on one track for six months. But he drove me to finish it because I knew it was a special one.” 

After the success of "Nasty," Marc received an invitation to become part of the Box Of Cats collective. With their first release in 2016, Box Of Cats quickly became a tastemaking label, helping some of the brightest names in house music break out. The invitation to become one of the leaders of the label was an immediate yes.

“I was a bit of a late comer. They had it all set up and I was talking to Wongo and he just invited me and told me about the project. It was a no brainer.”

What makes Box Of Cats so unique is the label's lack of discrimination in sound. They do not subscribe to any one style or genre. As Marc puts it, “it just has to bang.” While Marc has had his hands full with the label and his solo career, he has somehow also managed to find time for a side project. 

His collaborative project called Ilgot n’ Gane will see the release of an album soon. “We’ve been working on an an album for over ten years. The concept of the album is to represent Birmingham from the '90s. In order to be authentic, we’re trying to use as much hardware as we can.” 

While we eagerly await the passion project, Marc Spence will be coming stateside in early 2022.

“Working in two is not easy. But for us, it felt natural. I am the black, he is the white. I am the night, he is the day. We combine a good contrast of ideas and concepts to work together well. We love Acid music and try to put those sounds in our tracks… We balance our sounds, with one of us being more minimal, and one of us having deeper darker sounds.”

The Italian duo, Adne, works to bring dark, minimal sounds back to their home country. As natives of Florence, Adne has been making a name for themselves for a decade. Despite having a lengthy career under their belts, they recognize that the local scene for their sound is not strong. 

“About 10 years ago there was a huge scene in Italy… the techno is strong but the minimal scene is pretty non existent… South Italy has more of a minimal scene but here in Tuscany it’s scarce.” 

They first met 10 years ago in Florence. Coming up as promoters, hustling to make a buck selling tickets for any club that would allow them, the two decided to give DJing a try. They landed a residency at a club in Florence called Hedonist. For four years, they honed their craft and learned the ins and outs of the music industry.

“We got an understanding of what it means to be a DJ… it’s more than just playing for people you love, you’re flying all the time, playing shows in countries you don’t know… the club was called Hedonist. It was our first project together, it was a boiler room type vibe with an amazing sound system and a DJ booth right in the middle of the floor.” 

Studying that tight-knit crowd gave them intimate knowledge of not only what people wanted to hear but how to deliver their sound effectively. An essential part of the Adne project is their complete rejection of the standard methods of music production and performance. Although they are more than capable of performing with CDJs or vinyl, Adne prefers a live setup using a plethora of synthesizers and analog boards. This method mirrors itself in the studio. 

“It always felt like something was missing… We invested some money and time into learning synthesizers and how to use them live as well as analog sounds… The process changed a lot as we learned. Changing cables while you make music can be stressful but at the same time, the sounds and feelings are incredible. When we do it this way, every live set is completely different and the sound quality is supreme.”

For Adne, the desire to be different stemmed from the desire to have freedom. After years of resident DJ warm-up sets, and having their performance dictated by the headliner, Adne wants the ability to present their music in its most pure form. “We really just want the ability to play our own music in the exact way we envision it.” 

Adne’s unique vision was recognized early on by one of their biggest idols, Seth Troxler. They met Troxler four years ago at a party in Italy, and after talking with him and showing him music, he was sold immediately. Soon after, Adne released multiple tracks on Seth’s iconic label, Play It Say It. The sign-off from such a major player gave Adne’s career the jumpstart it needed. 

Although they have only been releasing music for two years, Adne is a name to watch in the minimal scene. Purists in the studio, the Italian duo are quickly on the rise and will be headlining stages globally before we know it.

To watch Miss Nine—aka Kristin Schrot—DJ is to understand how the multi-hyphenate creative approaches her life. She rarely spends a moment at rest, a constant ball of energy, absorbing every beat exuding pure joy and positive energy from her core. She moves fluidly from DJing at lauded venues like Nikki Beach, Pacha, and Space and releasing with labels like her own 925 imprint, Yoshitoshi, Flamingo, and Be Yourself to modeling for Tommy Hilfiger and advocating for the rights of girls around the world. And all with a positive, life-affirming spirit and an overwhelming streak of honesty. And all the interest of improving the lives of others and spreading joy as far as she can.





She was raised in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. She fondly remembers sitting in the backseat of her parent's car in the ‘80s listening to bands like Nena on the radio. Her sensory memories are her strongest, like when she tasted cuties for the first time one Christmas.

"We had family in the west part of Germany. So, they invited us, and they had mandarins. And they were so sweet. I never ate a mandarin before. So, I almost ate like a whole net. And I remember the taste today.”

She says growing up with so little was a benefit to her budding creative mind. “I think I'm actually very lucky to grow up in such an environment. We didn't need much to actually be happy. I remember [my mother] could put me into a room with a piece of paper and I could play for hours with a pen and a piece of paper. So basically, making something out of nothing or working with limited tools. And this is when creativity comes to life.”

When the wall fell, a whole new world opened to her as Western culture flooded the former soviet side of Germany. The influence spread quickly to music as techno created a vibrant scene, and her older brother made sure that she was there to take it in.



Her mother was a nurse and often left Schott at home with him while she worked 24-hour shifts. He introduced her to soulful house and planted a seed. 

However, expectations were high in her household. She had to learn a musical instrument like everyone else in her family had. Schott was also to follow in her mom’s footsteps. And while she did work in a hospital for a short time, she quickly realized that her future lie elsewhere.

After falling into a career in modeling by submitting her pictures to a national TV contest, she started to realize a new goal. Daft Punk’s “One More Time” had etched itself on her soul, and suddenly all those parties her brother had taken her to, began to make sense. She built a record collection and on Queens Day in Amsterdam, she performed her first gig in 2003.

“It was very windy, and the needle was jumping up and down the whole time. I was like, ‘Oh my god, what would people think of me?’ But everybody enjoyed it. Everybody had a great time. And then slowly in my free time, more and more gigs came on my path. And then creating events. That was the key and transition to more.”

Schott and a few friends began to curate the legendary Motion events in Amsterdam. They hosted some of dance music’s finest selectors like Nick Warren, Layo and Bushawacka!, and so many more. Motion also gave Schrot the connections that to go on tour with Deep Dish and Avicii.





The opportunities that came her way during this period were incredible. Her 2006 Yoshitoshi Ibiza mix reached number one in the iTunes dance charts. She traveled the world to play at iconic events like Carnival in Brazil, but behind the glamour, she struggled to stay healthy.

“I learned the hard way, I was close to a second lung infection,” she says. The constant movement of a life split between modeling, advocacy work, and DJing caught up with her. She didn’t want to cancel on a big-name fashion campaign for Peter Lindbergh but flying to LA with a high temperature was the last straw. She chose to get healthy.

“Basically, I was laying low for almost five to six months to recover. And that opened my eyes … your body is not a machine, when your body craves for something, you really have to listen.”

It also opened her eyes to the role the fashion industry plays in body image for girls. “If a girl's body is made with curves, or with a certain bone structure, you cannot just take these inches away. You have them, so embrace them, and live with them.”

Spreading positive messaging to young women plays a crucial role in Schort’s life of service. When she travels to DJ, she's not just living the Instagram lifestyle. She sees how people truly live even when it means she has to deal with the harsh realities of life in a developing nation.





Her work with Plan International helps young girls understand the value of education and the kind of power that wields. 

“When you give a girl education, she puts it into the family, and it's like a cycle. And then she puts the education in the kids, and then it grows,” she explains. “We had campaigns for early forced marriages, and for prostitution. I've seen it with my eyes in, in India, in Bolivia. We recorded and created documentaries, to raise awareness."

Schrot’s tapestry of life experience creates a varied palette of colors to paint her musical identity. Her life of service through music and advocacy is a fulfillment of her mother’s intention to ensure that she did something to help those in need. She continues to heal the world with the joy she spreads with her music and the lives she touches with her activism.

Music is Michael Frazier’s whole life. It’s who he is. Frazier, who DJs and produces under the name Monsieur Frazier, has the ear of a musicologist; reveling in the deepest intentions and history behind genres across the full sonic spectrum. 

For over ten years Frazier has displayed this level of knowledge in his DJ sets, hitting the stage at celebrated institutions like Coachella, Splash House, and a residency at Hollywood’s top-rated nightclub, Sound. 

He also recently made his first official entry as a producer with his self-titled debut EP, Monsieur Frazier, on Understated Recordings, the label arm of the event series and artist collective, Understated, which he co-founded.

Michael’s interest in music came long before he first started DJing, and he owes much of his influence to Los Angeles, the city where he was born, raised, and currently resides.

“LA is my musical identity. One of my first memories of music and life in general is being two or three years old and hearing ‘Nothing But A G Thang.’ I think the sounds that I gravitate towards now have a lot to do with the sound of west coast hip hop and west coast music in general,” Michael says. “I remember very often hearing ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine,’ as a kid. Roy Ayers is from LA. The chords, the colors, that song sounds like how LA looks.”

Any song that retains the jazz-funk aesthetic championed in the City of Angels brings him to a place of home. So many LA groups, from classic artists like The Doors moving through time to more modern stalwarts like Rage Against The Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers, all have that power and widely influence his taste and output.

While N.W.A. and Roy Ayers have made frequent appearances in Michael’s sets over the years, his career as a DJ and producer is largely supported by house and techno. Similar to the sounds of Los Angeles, his ear doesn’t get caught up in the granular sub genres of dance music, rather he hears the intention and history behind it due to his family’s east coast roots.


“My family is from the east coast, and house is a very distinctly east coast/ midwest genre. Because of that, it’s always been a part of me,” Michael says. “The same way that west coast vibe is in me, that east coast vibe is in me too ‘cause that’s my roots. So I think I have a natural inclination to it as well.” 

Michael’s natural inclination towards dance music started to take off around 2007-2008 as a myriad of sounds entered his awareness. Daft Punk was on the road for their legendary Alive tour at the time. Justice, Crookers, and the rest of the Bloghouse movement was on the cusp. 

Michael also went to his first EDC Los Angeles in 2008. As soon as he walked into the festival, he heard both drum and bass and dubstep for the first time. It opened up a whole new realm and added to his already widespread appreciation of dance music. 

With an appreciation and growing reverence for those different styles feeding into Michael’s existing affinity for hip hop, rock, soul, and funk, DJing was the most natural conclusion to express his eclectic taste in a tangible way.

“[As a DJ] I can bend music genres to my will and also present them in ways that I can show that they’re linked together,” Michael says. “I love all these different types of music. I’m such a music head in general and I want to express that. I want to show that this is who I am.”

When the conversation hinges towards DJing, a passion lights up in Michael’s eyes. Anyone could talk to him about it and know that he belongs on the decks without ever seeing him play 

He discusses the pure DJs who don’t produce and the derision he feels because people who champion the art form aren’t celebrated the way producers are. 

In his opinion, DJing requires a different talent, and different kind of musical knowledge; a knowledge based on the connectivity between all genres of music. DJing unlocks the creative freedom to demonstrate that connection in the moment. This idea is his guiding light on the decks, which is why when people ask what genre he plays, he doesn’t know the answer.

Michael then launches into a quickfire history lesson on the evolution of American popular music. From blues to jazz to rock to funk to disco to techno and beyond.

“When I got into DJing and dance music and house music I just did my research,” Michael says. “I studied. I did my homework. I watched videos and documentaries. Read Wikipedia pages. I read books. I did so many different things and I really learned the history of it. I learned where it came from. I learned the roots of it, and that to me is what unlocked that creative freedom.”

That archival knowledge of the craft gave Michael complete confidence in his skills behind the decks. 

“I know once I play, I’m going to shut it down because I really unlocked that creative freedom in my brain,” he says.

From there all it took was the grind to make things happen for himself and the LA community. He played all over town and landed a coveted residency at Sound Nightclub as a pure DJ, also spinning at other notable venues and parties like Exchange, Minimal Effort, Day Trip, and his own parties through Understated.

Michael co-founded Understated with friends and fellow members of the LA community back in 2016. Upon asking about how it came to be, he finds himself a bit lost for words because of the organic nature. 

“We just followed our instinct, our intuition,” Michael says. Their first party was a hit. The second one was bigger. The third one was bigger than that. Eventually, notable artists like Mija, Mat Zo, and Amtrac started playing their events.

Understated is a means of giving back to the LA scene; the scene that gave him and his crew good times and so much more. As the circle got wider, Michael and the team wanted to give back in another way, so they started a record label, Understated Recordings. 

After serving as A&R for the label since it launched in 2017, Michael put out his debut EP, Monsieur Frazier, this year. It was made with the same confidence he has in his DJing.

“During lockdown I needed to do something so that’s when I started working on music again. I had the time, the energy. I had a fearlessness. It’s now or never. I might as well go all the way in on this,” Michael says. 

The result was three tracks that are only similar in essence. Rhythms, melodies, basslines, samples, they all harken back to different eras of music history. There are elements of garage, tech house, breaks, soul, funk, jazz, hip hop. The single connection between them is Michael Frazier because music isn’t what he does. It’s who he is.

One listen to Luke Andy’s discography reveals a thread that runs throughout. An affinity for b-more kicks, growling basses, and stark minimalism. It’s the space that he leaves between the notes that gets your feet moving. He gravitates towards the wonky weird and always manages to inject plenty of organic funk and soul into his unique slant on house music. 

“You got to either be different or you're going to be basic,” he explains. "And for me, I gotta’ do something to keep it interesting.”

The LA-based artist was born in Baltimore and says that his brother was considered the artistic one in his family. Luke was an outdoorsy kid, and while his brother obsessed over the clarinet, he never felt he had the patience to master an instrument. 

He wanted to try percussion in the third grade unfortunately for him, those spots were reserved for kids with more experience. 

His mom made him try violin and trombone. Nothing stuck until a friend introduced him to Apple’s entry-level production software, GarageBand. He eventually picked up Logic—with relative ease—and as he delved deeper into making his own music, he found his musical footing.

“It was so much more fun for me because I was the teacher,” he explains. Experimentation was far more compelling to him than the rigor of an academic setting. “The other part was when I started wanting to produce music it was because I went to my first music festival.”

When he graduated from high school, he opted out of going into debt in college. Enlisting in the Marines was the (relatively) safe and financially responsible bet. However, his boot camp date kept getting pushed back because of an iron deficiency. He started a regimen of supplements and weekly tests to assess his progress. By the time his friends returned from boot camp, he was no closer to leaving and incredibly frustrated with the experience. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so his friends invited him to Moonrise Music Festival in Baltimore in 2016.

“This is the first time I did a lot of things, [it] was the first time that I really got a chance to be immersed in that music scene,” he remembers. “There were some influences that made it much more spiritual.”

Watching Tchami perform altered the course of his life. He decided then and there that the military was a no-go. “I just, like locked myself in my basement, and I just kept on producing until I made something that was good.”

Luke is uncertain what force steered his course away from boot camp that summer. He is confident he made the right choice. 

“There was a reason that I couldn't go into the Marines, whether it be an iron deficiency or whatever it is like, you know, God. It had something else in plan for me. And it really took me the ability to step out of my comfort zone and try something that I had no idea was gonna work.”

His risk began to pay off handsomely. He quickly made a name for himself in the DC area and soon played on the stages of the area's most lauded clubs. However, as he progressed, something was missing. He soon felt he needed to reap the possible rewards of risk again.

“My parents were moving out of the house. We had a death of a friend and family and there's just a lot of things. I got out of a relationship. I really felt like Maryland was holding me back.” He explains. “And I don't know, I just felt like I had maxed out DC and I was ready for something more.”

He decided to pack up a Prius and drive across the country to Southern California. He decided on San Diego. Close enough to LA to experience the benefit of being at the epicenter of the US dance music scene. But far enough away that he would stay focused on his work. 

“[I] fell asleep on my buddy's couch [when] we landed in San Diego. And when I woke up, I got an email from dirtybird accepting that song for birdfeed that I signed up for three weeks prior.”

“Shake It Girl” was released on Dirtybird’s sub-label birdfeed on January 6, 2019. His release output since has been an avalanche of unique records on a laundry list of lauded labels. His releases on Dirtybird, Psycho Disco, In/Rotation, Dumbfat, Medium Rare, and Space Yacht continue to extend his sonic reach to house heads across the globe.

His move also allowed him to spread the same feeling he got from watching Tchami perform. Now a regular at Dirtybird, Insomniac, and Space Yacht events, there’s a visceral feeling he gets from sparking joy on the dancefloor.

“It’s a beautiful takeaway to be able to play or have the option to play your music in front of a crowd. It's a rare moment to be able to control people's emotions from something that you made in your basement and in your room. You know, I think that's what makes it so special.”

A veteran of the Italian house scene, Leonardo Gonnelli has been pushing boundaries since the early 2000's. Starting his career in Florence, Leonardo was influenced early by the sounds of Detroit Techno and acid house. 

He has never conformed to one identity, producing music for a wide variety of labels including Knee Deep In Sound, Play It Say It, Spinnin' Deep and Dirtybird. Recently Leonardo has delved deep into the world of minimal tech house, producing frequently with Italian newcomers, Adne. 

How would you describe the type of music you create?

Hello guys, first of all, thanks for having me here. It’s not so easy to describe my music, I’m very eclectic and I love to produce every time different things. If I can choose two words to describe the music I’m doing It would be “energy music” because when I make music my mind is always focused on the dance floor and the first thing I think while I’m making music is to do something full of energy!

Can you point to when you fell in love with dance music?

When I was young my first passion was to play guitar, I was a huge fan of melodies and to be honest I wasn’t a big fan of electronic music scene. Everything changed when I tried (more than 20 years ago) to mix vinyl for the first time. I still remember my reaction: wow! something so easy to do but at the same time it’s so magical! It’s so different to play an instrument and mix some music, but both are so magical that I never expected this. Today I still love my job like the first day I touched that vinyl!

How did you discover acid house and Detroit techno?

Every weekend my routine was to go to “Mastelloni Disco shop” an amazing shop where every week you could listen new music from all around the world. 25 years ago it was not so easy to find good music because the internet was not like it is today. Beatport and all digital stores were not online so the only way to find amazing music was to find the right shop. It’s thanks to Mastelloni if I discovered Acid House and Detroit Techno!

What do you remember about your first gig?

A lot of good memories about my first gig, I was in Florence the club was Central Park, it was so amazing! I remember for the opening parties it was always sold-out with more than 6000 people. The owner was very strict, so it was very hard to work over there, but finally, after a million of mixtapes sent to him he decided to give me a chance, and that was my first gig! My hands trembled when I played but was so good that I still remember the good vibes. I played in that club as resident DJ for three years.

How do you try to stand out within the house music scene?

It’s all about quality. Every single day I’m working and trying to do better than the day before. I believe that’s not just following a genre that makes an artist become strong, but It’s working hard on the quality of his productions that makes the difference. You can change your genre a million of times but work hard on the quality because is the key of your career.

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

Intimate club is cool for me because you can see people in front of you, you can touch their hands, in a few words we’re talking about “connections.” Intimate club means for me a real connection between me and the dance floor. Festival/ big Venue is another kind of sensation, it’s for sure amazing to play in front of thousands of people but you can’t get the same kind of connection. At the end, I love all venues big or small it’s just the approach that is different.

What excites you about the future of house music?

We’re leaving a bad time for the musical scene, but for sure we going to be back stronger than ever. I guess all the technologic side of music is something that excites me more. In the next years, the evolution of technologic (synths, drums, mix) will influence the future of all world of house music. Maybe we will see something really different!

You came up in the early 2000’s in Florence. Can you tell us what the scene was like back then in Florence and how you’ve observed change and develop over the years? 

A lot of things have changed, especially in Italy and Florence. 20 years ago, there was an amazing movement behind the electronic scene. You can just think about what I told you before, a club like Central Park was unbelievable, 6000 people! Now seems like a dream to find 6000 people inside a club. Over the years people started to follow different things, and maybe there are too many things to follow today, like Open Bars too similar to clubs, Pubs too similar to clubs, even Restaurants sometimes too similar to clubs. You start to dance at 7PM for an aperitif and when it’s the time to go inside a club you already spent a lot of money and you're already tired, that’s the main problem for me. By the way, there’s still a big movement behind electronic music and for sure the quality is now much better today, but to be honest I think after a bad moment from COVID, we should start to re-build the scene and make it stronger than ever.

Big picture, how do you think the house and techno scene has changed in the last twenty or so years?

I think during last years, house & techno scene has been focused on big events like festivals, with amazing line ups and that’s a good thing because I love festivals but also I would like to see a lot of small venues become strong like some festival around the world. Small clubs are the foundation of our scene.

You started putting music out around 2008. Your output has been pretty amazing since then. It feels like in 2014 you start to break through with "Soledad" and then subsequently, the release on Play It Say It. After those tracks, it seems like you began to get a lot more attention from big labels. Did you feel that this was a breakthrough moment for you and do you have particular memories of this time period?

Yes, for sure 2014 has been a really important year for me. Soledad has been nominated in the category “Best Song 2014” at Vicious Music Awards and after that amazing production I’ve started to collaborate with Seth Troxler and his label Play It Say It. I’ve a lot of good memories of that period especially when I was in Ibiza. It was surreal, everyone was playing Soledad multiple times in the same party, it was crazy! I loved that production because everyone from techno DJs to house DJs supported that song all the summer. Definitely an important step for me and my career.

In the last couple of years, your sound has moved away from the more melodic deep house stuff and into some more minimal sounds. What prompted this change for you?

As I told you, I’m so eclectic that is impossible for me to produce just minimal or tech house or deep tech or melodic stuff. It’s absolutely something not planned like all my life. When I’m working in studio I focus my attention on a strong idea, sometimes it's a vocal sometimes a synth or a bassline, or even something stranger like the sample “Thank you, Thank You, Thank you, and FUCK you” the one I used on my track "She Likes It." The most important thing for me is not the musical genre but the idea. Of course I’m not about to produce classic music the day after tech house, I’m talking about shades of the same genre.

You have collaborated with ADNE many times in the last few years. Could you tell us about your relationship with them and how you all connected and decided to make music together? 

They live both near my town, I met them a lot of years ago and I loved since first time their potential as producer and DJs. They’re young but I guess in a couple of years the scene going to put the right attention on them. There’s a very good feeling between us that’s why we started to produce music together. I wish them all the best!

What are your career goals in the next couple of years and how do you hope to cement your legacy in the world of house and techno?

I’m working hard every day on something new, sometimes cool sometimes not so good, that’s my goal. I think about the present because the future is something that we don’t know and I think the most important thing in our life is to leave well the present!

Are there any Italian artists that you believe should be more recognized or are rising the ranks locally?

It’s very hard to answer because we have a ton of great artists ! My attention right now is focused on ADNE project :)

Spanish producer and DJ, Miane personifies one—if not all—of the founding tenants of dance music culture. Her intense DIY spirit drives her to push the limits of sonic manipulation. It flows through every chunky beat and funky bass line that bounces from within her. She beautifully harnesses the heart and soul of Black music, lovingly paying homage to those that paved the way for the culture’s very existence. Her 2019 EP House So House, on Hot Since 82’s Knee Deep In Sound is the perfect example of the care she takes in wrapping stirring vocals in pumping drums and shoulder-shaking bass lines.

Her musical DNA is coded with the sounds of the Black diaspora. “I grew up with soul music, R&B, and house. My aunt introduced me to R&B, and my grandfather always showed me soul music,” she says. 



Her relationship with music was informed by a close circle of influence. At 10, she was drawn to house music as it reverberated through the walls of her apartment. Her upstairs neighbor introduced it to her. That same neighbor would continue to influence her life in innumerable ways.

“[It’s] Really hard to forget,” she explains. “I was 10 years old and she was always with dance music on the speakers. I have been growing up with my ear at her door and that was when my interest began little by little.” As her ear became more finely tuned, Miane says the relationship flipped. “In the long run, she ended up asking me where I found the music.”

Yet, while she recognizes what her family and friends impressed on her, she takes full ownership for her deep understanding of what moves a dancefloor. Miane hand-picked what she liked from her vast catalog of influence and wrapped in all in rhythmic sensibility all her own.



She started her journey as a musician under her given name, Taty Munoz. She always had a stage name picked out, but she didn’t feel like it was the right time to use it. She wanted to establish her sonic footprint first, “Miane's name had been around for a long time, but I was just looking for the right moment.”

The years that she spent learning the craft were fruitful. Her list of major DJ support was a clear indication that her potent talent was in hot demand. Adam Beyer, Richie Ahmed, Dennis Cruz, Leftwing & Cody, Danny Howard, and Hot Since 82 were all fans of her work. In 2012 she was nominated for best tech-house artist of the year by DjMag. And as her status continued to grow, she leaped and moved to the mecca of club life, Ibiza. The upstairs neighbor who had introduced her to house music all those years ago moved with her. 

Her years of experience coalesced when she took on the name, Miane. More an evolution than a rebrand, she finally felt comfortable adopting the persona she created years ago. It was an intense change, especially for someone whose career was already well established. But she’s never been afraid of change. She tells me, “I keep learning a lot, and I love it … For me, this change was very big and I feel very good about the decision.”

2019 was the year that Miane came into her own. Releases on landmark labels like Knee Deep In Sound, Moon Harbour, Toolroom, and Rawthentic confirmed that she had arrived. After nearly a decade on the grind, Miane was recognized globally as a force to be reckoned with. Even when COVID knee-capped the industry, she continued to make landmark achievements. 



The release of “Who Are You?” marked a major turning point for the producer. Chris Lake was already teasing his remix of the song in his sets, and house heads everywhere hung in anticipation of its release. It has all the hallmarks of her previous work, with a touch of refinement. The lilting vocal echoes over stark syncopated beats and a deep rumbling bassline. “Who Are You?” has a sense of longing, emotional and driving. Released on Chris Lakes Black Book, it was her most successful track. Lake’s remix followed and garnered over four million streams. 

“I love this song,” she says. “I really enjoyed making it and I had a feeling that something good was going to come later, it was one of the productions that lifted me more than once from the studio’s chair.”



While the vocals for “Who Are You?” aren’t hers, she has at times injected a bit of her voice into her music. She says she’d like to continue doing so. “It's true that sometimes I recorded and added parts of myself but not how I really would like,” she admits. She laughs as she continues, “for that I have to improve my English.”

How would you describe the type of music you create?

Victor: It is difficult to define the music we make, because we like to produce different branches of electronics, perhaps our favorite is the "Tech House" and I would define it as Fun and Youthful.

Can you point to when you fell in love with dance music?/Made the transition from playing more commercial styles into house music? 

Jesús: Really since I was little I liked it, well we both liked it, we have always been fans of older House music, our parents listened to dance music and rhythms from the 80s. Although we started out as more commercial music DJs and played other genres, we have always been fans of vocals and more electronic rhythms, that is why songs of this type were never lacking in our most commercial sessions.


What do you remember about your first gig together?

Victor: Well, I don't really remember it well, because we had many before forming "Disaia" together, I would say it was in a disco in our town, which if I remember better was our first performance as Disaia, in Extremadura, Spain, it was a party organized by a friend, we were happy to be there because we had been a duo for a relatively short time and we were hardly known, we acted as the first, there were not many people but you could see the support of our friends.

How do you try to stand out within the house music scene?

Jesús: It is very difficult, more and more, to try to stand out among such good Artists and such worked music, it is a sacrifice, but we really do not think about that, we simply produce the music that we would like to hear at Festivals and Clubs, that are powerful but with vocals to be sung, and as for our sessions we only think of enjoying with the public and making them dance.

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

Victor: It is impossible to stay with one, we cannot choose... But every artist would like to be able to play at big festivals, parties or venues such as: Tomorrowland, Dreambeach, Aquasella, Ushüaia, Fabrik ... etc.

Can you tell us about the years prior to forming your project Disaia? 

Jesús: We are two young people born in the southwest of Spain, in an Extremaduran town called Burguillos del cerro, we have known each other for a long time but we did not become friends until once Victor invited me to play for his club. From that moment on we began to share all the music that the two of us had, we began to play together and share common passions, we went there individually but we helped each other a lot.
We played in venues in our town, and little by little we went to other towns around us, playing at parties. Thanks to mutual friends we discovered that there were music editing and creation programs, we both immediately began to investigate since music is our passion. We never thought that we would become DJs and that that would be our profession, we did it for fun.
Little by little we were producing our own songs and signing on the first labels, but one day Victor and I were playing sports when we talked about joining as a duo, we both wanted the same thing and we liked the same thing, we understood it when we put our minds together they were more creative, they came out better tracks and two people could produce and work much more than if we did it individually.
It was at that moment when we decided to form "Disaia".


You guys founded a label, Siena, pretty soon after starting your project together. What prompted you to start a label so early in your career?

Victor:  We produce a lot of music, and when you are new, there are few opportunities that the big labels give you, it was difficult for us to sign the tracks, but we didn't want to throw away our music, we trusted it a lot, that's why we created SIENA to release music that we couldn't sign. , so that it was heard on all platforms and reached the whole world.
It is true that our music that we created at the beginning does not have the sound quality that it has now, we have been improving a lot and now we understand that the labels will not like much of our music, but we decided to continue with SIENA with the same purpose, SIENA is made to give artists the opportunity to share their music with the world, no matter if you are known, or if you have just started, it does not matter if you are young or old, only the music matters, at SIENA anyone who their music can sign make us feel special, regardless of gender.
That is our idea and we have maintained it for years. And yes, it is a challenge to combine both, because both involve a lot of sacrifice and above all time. But hey, little by little we are growing as artists and as a record label.


Although Ibiza is one of the most popular party destinations in the world, it seems like most people are not fully aware of the house/techno scene that exists in Spain. What do you guys think about the scene in Spain, are there any cities that fly under the radar and are there certain styles of music that you think are unique to Spain?

Jesús: It is a very good question, the truth is that Ibiza is worldwide, it is the island of our industry. But in Spain believe me that there are very good discos, parties, pubs and good promoters, every year the audience of the Underground scene grows more. Not to mention the great party and festival brands out there. But perhaps in Spain governments and communities make it difficult to survive and work in this world unlike other countries.
That is why the large cities of Spain such as Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza or communities such as Andalusia or Valencia stand out much more, but believe me that Spain is a country to exploit when it comes to the Underground scene.
But as in the whole world, there are other types of more commercial musical genres that are better known.


You had your first release with Hot Creations in February of this year. What does it mean to sign tracks to such an iconic label and what was the process behind getting this track signed with Jamie?

Victor: It means fulfilling our dream in record time. We still have a hard time believing that Jamie Jones & Lee foss trusted our music for one of the best record labels in the world of electronic music.
It was very very difficult, we did not have their contact to send them the demos, there were a lot of fake emails on the internet, and we sent it to everyone to see if they were lucky. We had already been making good music and putting out on well-known labels, but one day we got an email from Jamie Jones saying that he liked our tracks.
But we didn't sign anything, yet we were excited because at least we knew that he was listening to us and that our name had come to him.
Jesus: It was later when we sent more tracks and suddenly he wrote to us again and said, Guys, I like "Cubbe" for Hot Creations, do you have more tracks for the B-side? I still remember it, I was in bed, it was 4:30 in the morning, I jumped out of bed very quickly and called Victor quickly to break the news.
Victor: And then it started to be even more difficult, because we spent months and months sending emails with tracks without being answered, we understood that they did not like them, so we produced and produced tracks like crazy ... a whole summer working in the studio , until we finally accepted two more tracks for the EP.


Since then you’ve released in this year alone with CR2, Sweat it Out and Club Sweat. Did you feel that the Hot Creations release was a breakthrough for you or did you sense the momentum building already?

Jesús: We have signed on many more labels, but as you know, releases take a long time to go on sale. And of course that has also been thanks to Hot Creations, I think it has been the first year that we have run out of tracks to send.
We have noticed a lot, labels that before did not want, now they write to us to send them music. Hot Creations has been a great showcase in every way.


You guys manage to hit a wide range of styles with your productions.The Don’t Go Remix is uplifting, tracks like Cubbe have a more low end tech house sound to them, Yeke Yeke hits afro/latin house. When you’re in the studio do you have intentional plans on different directions or is the style just dependent on what you are feeling that day?

Victor: Both things, when you have to make music for a label it is more the first thing, think well what you want to do, have an idea, or simply educate yourself for where you want your style to go.
But we have been most of the time the second option hahaha, get to the studio and let yourself go. We like everything, really, we are lovers of all kinds of genres, we feel comfortable in what we do, we just try to give our touch and our focus to each track, and so far we have done well.


What is next for Disaia? Are there labels you hope to sign with? Stages you hope to play on? What would the ideal next twelve months look like? 

Jesús: We honestly do not know, in our mind it is only that we want to continue producing music and give everything in our concerts. We feel this is just a small part of everything we can offer. We hope to continue growing and signing with new labels that we also like, collaborating with artists we admire and making the public dance to our music.
Our ideal next 12 months would be to be performing every weekend, due to the pandemic, we have been forced to stop in every way, 90% of the concerts were canceled and we have been almost 2 years without great performances, we would like to be able to work and continue to grow on stage.

Bulgarian DJ and producer Pavel Petrov grew up at a pivotal time in his nation’s history. As socialism faded into the periphery, the youth culture of dance music had space to take root. The Bulgarian scene in the ‘90s rivaled that of any European nation, they even had their version of the Love Parade. Petrov’s music is informed by this deep-seated history. He wouldn’t attend his first event until years later, yet the increasing availability of music and influx of varying cultural influences paved the way for him to be one of Bulgaria's leading figures.

He says because he was born in 1987, he didn’t quite feel the sting of socialism's many suppressions. His parents, however, always made sure he understood how much harder it was for them. “My parents, for example, they explained to me about the music. How is [sic] very hard to find a vinyl or even to listen [to] any kind of music anywhere.” Most music was contraband unless it was Russian or Bulgarian, and state-controlled. Even when Petrov was a young child listening to Michael Jackson, getting a hold of proper high-quality copies of American albums was difficult.

It wasn’t until he was 19 that he fell in love with dance music. Until that point, he—like many other kids in the early aughts—latched on to Nu Metal. Its aggressive nature couldn’t be further from the upbeat positivity of house and techno. But his boss at a clothing store in Sofia, Bulgaria insisted on only playing dance music. At first, Petrov was resistant but his conversion to the church of house music was quick.

“I didn't like that type of music. But he introduced it to me in the best way. So, just for [sic] two weeks, I fell in love with that. And he brought me to one of my first parties. And man, I was like, wow, I'm gonna love this for all my life.”

With his eyes wide open to the wonderous expanse of dance music, he attended parties as often as possible. Sometimes even by himself, using his last bit of cash to get in and buy a beer. He stood directly in front of the DJ and soaked everything up. “There was no backstage for me during that time,” he remembers, “I really enjoyed every single minute.”

It wasn’t long until he convinced his friend, Chafta,  to teach him to DJ. The quick progression from enjoying parties on his own to controlling the dancefloor with his music comes as no surprise. While he may not have envisioned himself as a musician, he always knew he was destined for greatness. He remembers a conversation he recently had with a friend. They were discussing what they thought they’d do for a living as children. Petrov says that his ambitions were simple, “I always knew since I was very, very young. I'm going to be a boss.”

He sits at the helm of one of Bulgaria’s top event production companies. EXE was born because he says, “there was no great place for us where we can go to have a proper party.” So he created one himself. EXE grew from one-off events into a 1000 capacity nightclub in Sofia that in 2019 hosted the first Elrow party in Bulgaria.

During the pandemic, The Boss took on a new venture, the EXE Beach Club, just over 250 miles from Sofia on the shores of the Black Sea. It seems like a risky venture to get into with the uncertainty of club life, but Petrov says he believes that anything he does should be in line with his values.

“The best thing we can do. We can entertain people. We can make people have fun, have a good time have a great memories,” he explains. The pandemic drove many in music into crypto. Petrov tells me he has no interest in it, opting instead to dive further into music. “I can't do it. So what I believe is that when you do something without your heart it's doomed You know? And of course the opposite when you do it with your heart and soul, it's a matter of time when you're going to reach success, but you always reach success.”

The pandemic also allowed him to toy with new styles of music. He’s going back into the roots of house music and giving it a modern spin with his next batch of releases. He says it's an amalgamation of his own deep funky style and what tech house used to be nearly a decade ago. 

"So expect something more different and groovy and dirty and sexy. For from my next production.”

Westend—aka Tyler Morris—is part of a cohort of stateside producers whose arrival signaled a dramatic shift in the prevailing sound of house music. When future house exploded, they swerved left and took on an aesthetic brimming with the soulful swagger of classic New York house, bubbling notes of a bass-forward UK aesthetic, and a touch of West Coast wonky weird. As tech-house eclipsed EDM as the sound-of-the mainstage, Morris found himself at the forefront of a movement that brings house music full circle. American producers are once again at the helm of the culture. And his ever-expanding sonic footprint is the blueprint for a new generation of producers.


He now boasts releases on Insomniac Records, Sink or Swim, Solotoko, and Repopulate Mars. He's among the top-selling tech-house artists on Beatport. Yet, even his early releases on the now-defunct Audiophile imprint, an incubator for innovative artists like Dillon Nathaniel, J Worra, Black V Neck, and Steve Darko, were a strong indication of his future status. They showed signs of his trademark polish and ability to channel classic sensibilities into a modern context. 



There are no childhood dreams of stardom in his past, though. He only considered himself a casual listener until high school, his taste shifting from East Coast hip hop to rock and pop.


"I never played an instrument or anything. I was never listening to music all the time," he explains. "It was more in the car, on the bus to school. I didn't go to many concerts when I was very young.”


In the late aughts, the internet and dance music created a perfect storm that became a vector for the rise of dance music in the US. The blog house era found the union between the slinky funk of house and the brash fuck it all attitude of punk rock. And as the internet eclipsed radio as a medium for discovery, a new generation was initiated into the eclectic spirit that birthed house music in the 80s.


“Justice was really big for me. I listened to their album Cross front to back and I was like, this is bad ass because it kind of has like that rock and roll to it. But it's pretty much all electronic.." 



His iPod overflowed with tracks from MSTRKRFT, Crookers, Bart B More, and the Bloody Beetroots downloaded from Limewire, the peer-to-peer music sharing site. He even admits that he owned a replica of the iconic Bloody Beetroots mask.


As luck would have it, Morris went to the Bronx High School of Science, alma matter of famed synth engineer and inventor Robert Moog. The digital music lab donated by Moog's family introduced him to the tools for production. And the unique way New York City kids throw a high school rager drew out the performer hidden within.


Kids in the suburbs throw parties at home when their parents leave for the weekend (or so the movies say). When you share walls with your neighbors, you have no such luxury. City kids used fake IDs to secure venues for micro-raves. They hire their adolescent friends with DJ controllers to soundtrack the night.



“I had a friend that was a DJ. And I was like, I want to do that, I want to be the one behind the decks kind of controlling energy, the room.” So, he went and got a $150 Vestax controller.


His love for the culture truly blossomed when he went to Terminal Five in NYC. He was lucky enough to catch Gessafelstein’s first US appearance in 2014.


“That was the first time that I got like, obsessed with music. When it wasn't just listening to music in the car. I was like this is gonna be my personality.”


Morriss went off to college at Duke University and returned home to start a job in tech. All the while plugging away at music and gigs here and there to keep the fires burning.


“I think the big turning point for me," he begins. "I was getting a lot of support from other DJs like Justin Martin was playing a lot of my music, I just had signed to Dirtybird. I just felt like there was this real kind of momentum there. I really believed that I could make this project bigger and turn this momentum into something bigger.”



The sense of clarity that comes with devoting your life to art comes with pervasive uncertainty. Those who succeed do so with either the power of belief or confidence that makes failure impossible. 


“I'm not a very physical verbal manifester,” he admits, “but I do have a confidence.”


"Yeah, you kind of can manifest it, if you if you really do believe. For me, it's a little bit more subtle. I'm not doing these chants every morning. I don't have a whiteboard." He takes a practical approach to his success, he says. 


"You know, if I ever—and this happens all the time—get down, get like a little imposter syndrome. The little devil on your shoulder is like, 'yeah, you're a fraud.' " 


He continues, "You kind of feel like, no, I've done X, Y, Z to get to this point, and I'm gonna do X, Y, Z more to get to the next point.”


His practical positivity shines through in everything he tells me. Even when he talks about how he turned the pandemic into an opportunity for himself and others. 

He started receiving messages from producers asking for tips and lessons. When he was touring, he never considered teaching an option. But with the extra time on his hands, he decided to take on a few students. He now leads a community of producers who depend on each other for feedback and advice. 


He prides himself on being a source of goodwill and encouragement for the community. “I kind of fell in love and got a passion for just teaching other people and, you know, helping other people and really seeing them take in things and improve. It's a great feeling.”


It's not all about production tips. He has some practical advice for producers. 


"When you're a[n] up and coming artists, and you start to have some success, there's a temptation to repeat the formula over and over again." It's a trap he fell into after he signed "Ambidextrous" to Dirtybird. 


"I was thinking too much about making this song for this one moment in the set." 


His output over the last year has more range. It's intentional, he tells me. "If you're playing basketball and you're just shooting three-pointers all the time, yeah, there are players like that that serve like one role. But that's not who I want to be. I want to be able to make music that you want to listen to on a road trip, and that you want to listen to in a club."

Luzi Tudor’s entré to the world of melodic techno can only be described as remarkable. Her recent release, “Warrior”  is a slithering five-minute journey punctuated by stuttering strings, glowing synths, and thoughtful composition that firmly establishes her dynamic storytelling prowess.  It’s only her second official release and it’s signed to Lane 8’s incredible This Never Happened imprint. A cosign this large, this early in a career is rare.
It makes perfect sense. The ethos of TNH and Luzi's life mission synchronize harmoniously “to create experiences that connect(s) humans and humanity in an impactful way.”


"Music, right, it's frequencies running through your body. And there's even science now that tells us that those things have an impact on your state of mind,” she explains. 



Gifting peak dancefloor experiences are her way of reciprocating the love and understanding she felt when she first discovered warehouse parties in Seattle as a teenager.

“I think music has the ability to do that,” she continues. “Being able to reach an audience in a closed room for that moment where we're all having the shared experience. It's either going to enhance the relationships and the friendships or the romantic encounters that people are having  in that space. Or it's going to give them a way to escape from whatever struggles they're having. And I think knowing that that's the type of thing that I can create, co-create really, with the audience falls right in line with my life's mission.”

She’s deeply connected to those who seek to escape. “Music throughout my whole life has been a solace from all of life's challenges.”

She was born in communist Romania. At the time, it was nearly impossible to get creative content. She fondly remembers huddling around a TV with her neighbors and family to watch movies from America. 



“I remember whenever the Lions Gate thing came on everyone would get excited! Like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a movie from America! And it’s going to be super special.' And it was like that with music too.”

She also remembers Michael Jackson's, "Thriller" on repeat. It was one of the only pieces of American media that made it through.

Her earliest musical memories are of her father. In college, he played the piano for a SNLesque sketch show. His political comedy was relegated to basements in communist Romania. He taught Luzi about the intersection of music and activism.

She escaped Romania with her family at five, after the revolution. Despite living through such a tumultuous time, her father knew things weren't getting any better, and he needed to get his family somewhere with a more certain future. By the time she landed in Seattle six years later lived in 17 cities and four countries.

“I was trying, like any young person does, to fit in,” she says about the constant movement. “I was trying to assimilate to certain cultures. And so, I would pick up what was the musical experience in those different areas.”

She’s part of a small community of people who grew up in more than one country during their developmental years, third culture kids. Her fascination with world music and cross-cultural competency overflow into her process for building DJ sets.

“I will actually sometimes go out and look up a country when I'm looking on a platform for music to see what is popping up in an obscure different country that typically, people might not give a voice to. And I'll download and explore that music because I want to bring all the different voices from the world together.”

She began to immerse herself in dance music culture at warehouse parties in long-forgotten venues of Seattle’s past. The pain of her past struggles melted away on the dance floor. So, she started to produce her own parties to spread that feeling. And while music was the central focus, it took some major life events to realize her creative potential.


“I always thought about how I would want to DJ and produce. And I had to get over some inner struggles in order to get to the point where I had to meet my authentic self and start producing and performing.”

Luzi just celebrated seven years in recovery from addiction and substance abuse disorder. She realized that her life needed to redirect. And she found the courage to dedicate herself to do what she loved in the process. Recovery was (and is) a source of strength and clarity.

“What that really meant for me was meeting the darkest parts of myself. The parts of myself that I hadn't loved yet. I set everything else aside - expectations of myself, other people out of me and just hunker down and focus on getting into recovery, and rediscovering who I really am on the inside.”

It’s a journey that she’s open and honest about because she wants those who struggle to know that they come out on the other side and experience even deeper realms of creativity.


“That started building self-love and confidence. And it really uncovered the inner courage that I had to just do things because I love them without any expectation. And that's the thing, I started DJing and producing out of love for it. And because it felt therapeutic. And it's the only time in my life where the chatter in my head really quiets down and I'm just able to focus on this. And that's been an incredible experience … It started because I wanted to do something that I loved by myself in my apartment, and with a few close people in my life that that I asked to mentor me.”



She also learned to take things as they are, at the moment. She escaped many of the mental traps that new producers face as they try and find their sound and wonder how they’ll ever break through the noise.

“I think this goes back to my healing and recovery journey, which teaches you to do things despite fear and concern, and not future trip too much.”

It all leads back to her mission statement. An ethos that music can and should be transformative. And the values her father passed on to her that music can also be activism.


“What I'm seeing in society, and while it's changing through the work that's being done is that there's still this discrepancy between people understanding that mental health is physical health. They are actually synonymous, intertwined. There's treatments, I mean, from all facets of it, mental health and physical health are on the same plane. But there's been such a stigma around mental health. And so, I see the ability to be in dance music and talk about my experience that other people will relate. And just realize that, you know, it's something you can get easily support for, just like you would go to a doctor's appointment for a fractured leg. It's something that people should be comfortable doing and talking about. I believe music as a form of therapy in its own right. And I think being able to use my voice and my music to inspire people to get help and feel supported, and also see that people that have gone through this are doing things that they want to be doing to inspire them to pursue their dreams is part of why I'm so passionate about the work.”

“A lot of artists were worried about releasing. For me, all I was doing was making music. I know people are still listening to music, maybe certain sounds in tech house are suited to club times but there are other sounds and styles you can release that people will want. You have to be in people’s faces reminding them that you exist all the time. For me, releasing music is the best way to do that. You have to be consistent with it.” 

For Luke Jones, aka Biscits, the global pandemic shutdown represented an opportunity to hone in on the sounds and styles of house music that he is passionate about. Growing up in Southampton, electronic music and DJing has been in Luke’s life for a long time. It was not always about tech house though, with forays into dubstep and long periods of experimentation and self-reflection. 

“When I went to University, me and all my friends were into Electro. Daft Punk, Justice, everything French. We put on our own gig in the student union. We just had a tiny mixer. Complete shambles, we had no idea what we were doing but it was a good time... We all got into dubstep when that kicked off as well as trap music. My first proper gig doing that [dubstep] music was actually in Russia. I can’t believe that even happened. I just flew to Russia by myself and was just hoping someone was there.”

Although his early days were marked by experimentation in the world of dubstep, growing up in the UK inherently put Luke at the center of the world of house music. Coming up as a DJ in the UK means loads of opportunities, but also an equal amount of competition. Not only do you need to be skilled in order to stand out amongst your peers, you have to impress a knowledgeable fan base.

“Some of the crowds can be quite critical. You have to know what you’re doing, know who’s songs are who’s. Play the right song or the crowd will know you don't know what you're doing. It’s nerve-wracking in that sense but if you do well, people have a ton of respect for you and it can help get your name out early.”

Luke is now one of the hottest names in tech house, releasing with major labels like Solotoko, Black Book, and Higher Ground to name a few. He recently signed a publishing deal with the legendary Ultra Records, a true sign that his future is bright. That being said, his recent success came out of dark times.

Stuck in an office job for years, Luke’s life hit a turning point when he had a near-death experience. 

“We went to Vegas for a bachelor party for my friend. On the way home, as the plane was taking off the engine exploded. I can laugh now but at the time it was crazy scary. The whole thing was on fire, we had to evacuate. After that, I was feeling off for a few weeks and knew I had to evaluate what I was doing. I loved music and hated my job. When I started doing music again, the bass house sound was popping up and was pretty new. I thought what Jauz and Night Bass was doing was amazing and with my dub background it just made sense.” 

After a few years of experimenting in this style, Luke had another life-changing moment during a night out in Southampton. He went to a local club called Switch to see Solardo play. 

“Seeing the crowd and the way they reacted, I felt like I finally understood what tech house was about. It inspired me to go deeper and more housey. I quit my job and moved in with my brother, sleeping on his sofa. I had some money saved up and knew that I just had to try and go for it.”

In 2018, as the money was running out for Luke and his hopes of a music career were dwindling, he booked the gig of a lifetime, sharing the decks with the hottest rising name in house music at the time, Fisher. The gig gave Luke a spark both internally and commercially, and soon after, Sonny Fodera supported and released one of his tracks. embed

Everything seemed to kick off from that point. He has become a mainstay on Sonny’s label, and has gone on to become one of the most sought-after rising DJs in the world of tech house. Although he has now taken the leap into legitimacy, Luke’s journey has really just begun. 

“I know that in tech house you can’t be one dimensional. Having the opportunity to try out other sounds during the pandemic helped me a lot and subsequently gave me the catalogue for a label like Ultra to see that I can make more vocal tracks.” 

Luke will be bringing his unique blend of big room tech house stateside in October. With a slate of massive shows ready, and unreleased tracks up his sleeve, he is one to watch.

In 2018 Artche floored melodic house fans with his stunning vocals for Christoph’s “Voice of Silence.”  His silky voice and heart-piercing lyrics melted over Christoph’s emotive sonics. The two Newcastle, UK artists formed a firm bond and continue to flex the boundaries of their combined talents with releases like “The World You See,” featuring the talents of Franky Wah. Remarkably, Artche never struck out to become a vocalist. It was a hidden talent realized in frustration. 

“It was born out of impatience for getting other singers to sing on the tracks and like, trying to find good ones. And the hardest bit is trying to find a good writer,” he tells me. The process of honing talent out of a sense of immediacy is one that Burn has mastered.

He prefers to work quickly. So in a moment of frustration, he recorded vocals for a demo purely as a placeholder and sent it to his manager. He thought it was rubbish, but his manager convinced him that there was potential. 

It’s not just his velvety voice that compels listeners to stream his tracks in the millions. He is a talented writer as well. The introspective lyrics from the 2021 chart smasher on Pryda Recordings, “The World You See,” illuminate the painful aftermath of a break-up.

“Rub the tears from my face. Scratch my eyes more than I take. One mistake. Share my heart, you watch it beat. I feel the pain, knock me off my feet, I'm on my knees.”

He’s humble when I ask where the talent to write reflective and relatable prose stems from. “This is another thing that was born out of desperation. I'm just winging it the whole time.”

He tells me, “The World You See,” is one of his most personal and meaningful songs. “I’d literally just broken up with my ex like two weeks before making [it]. I moved from Manchester because it was already locked down. So, I had to move back in my parent’s. So, I'm moving on studio in the spare room. And yeah, just kind of like used that experience to write about that.”

It came out surprisingly quickly for a song on a label as large as Pryda. While he's used to waiting for up to two years for songs to release, “The World You See” was written and released in less than a year. It’s a powerful COVID age anthem and its impact was monumental. “I think the most emotional ones are though,” he explains. “I think that one kind of resonated with a lot of people.”

When the conversation turns to his musical background, it becomes clear how he harnesses the power of melody so readily. He admits that he’s loved every musical style. From his early love of pop-punk to the first time he heard Snoop Dogg’s seminal “Gin and Juice,” he’s always been captivated by good storytelling. He learned to DJ with hip hop records on a pair of shitty belt drive turntables, just like so many DJs did in the late ’90s and early aughts.

His life changed when he heard a recording of Tiesto at Dutch Dimensions 2002. Halfway through the six-hour mix, Tiesto drops “Voyage” by Yahel and Eyal Barkhan. Artche became an instant trance fan. He's DJed and produced many forms of dance music, but trance holds a special place in his heart.

“I think that I still have those kinds of influences in my music, right with the melodies and stuff.” 

He’s happy that progressive and trance have made their way back to the forefront of dance music. After ten years, he’s found his way back to his roots.

He tells me that he doesn’t necessarily have a clear-cut lane. “I've liked all different kinds of music, always make every every kind of music,” he says. His surplus of beats and lengthy release cycles of other labels led him to launch his own imprint Yusual. In a given week, he’ll go from writing hard techno to elegant breaks. Yusual is an outlet for his usual style but in some unusual ways. It also means tracks come out on his schedule and with his visual aesthetic intact.

His recently released track “Waves” is a great example. Snappy breaks beautifully undercut its sophisticated undulating synths. Releasing it on his label meant he had complete creative control. The simple yet compelling music video features dancer Carly Jo Naylor performing an impassioned contemporary solo. Shot, directed, and produced by Burn "Waves" is further evidence of his homespun talent. 

Yusual is becoming more than a self-release platform. He's even more excited at the opportunity to push the talents of other artists. 

“So the next release will be somebody else called Emiliano DeMarco. That's the first guy I've actually signed… [Yusual] was initially just for my own music. But I always get amazing promos. So I just thought, you know what, I'll put out that I'm accepting demos. The one that Emiliano sent me wasn't actually a demo. So he just sent it to my promo address. But I was like, ‘I need this track!'"

Artche is the consummate creative. As he continues to add artistic endeavors to his portfolio, it’s evident that he encompasses a founding tenant of dance music culture. The fierce DIY spirit that propelled the architects of techno and house to create a sub-culture from discarded drum machines and inside abandoned warehouses lives on in Artche’s multi-talented efforts.

Artist Spotlights