Dannic

Dannic “slash” DJ, producer and mash-up maestro from Breda in the Netherlands — the hometown of Tiësto, Funkerman & Hardwell (something in the water, perhaps?) This talented fellow won fans early in his career thanks to a series of amazing mash-ups. Bootlegs like Axwell vs. Julie McKnight — How Soon is Glory, Tim Mason & Laidback Luke vs. Adele — The Moment Is Rolling In God’s Air (Funkadelic Bootleg), Feel So Close 2 Unite Us (Dannic Bootleg) and My Feelings For Hells Bells (Dannic MashUp). These tracks remain a staple in the sets of Tiësto, Avicii, Hardwell, Nicky Romero and Bingo Players to name a few.

Daan Romers (in real life) won the Dancetour DJ contest in 2009 and a slot playing his productions to an audience of 10,000 people. The following year his remix of Funkerman’s Automatic won the Funkerman remix contest and got himself added to Hardwell’s new label Revealed Recordings. Those in the know already knew he was one to watch, but to a wider audience, Dannic had arrived.

Dannic’s first solo track on Revealed Recordings was called “Doster”, heavily supported by Nicky Romero, Hardwell and Nari & Milani. More recently the Dutch Riverdance Festival selected his track WOP to be the festival’s official anthem — a huge honour. This was followed by another accolade when Pipeline, heavily supported by Tiësto, was made the lead track on Cr2’s 2012 Ibiza compilation. This track went to number 18 in the Beatport progressive house chart.

Dannic went on to release multiple records with Cr2 and Black Hole Recordings before catching the attention of the major labels. Major remixes are in the works for Atlantic Records, Ultra, Armada Music, Ministry of Sound and One Love for big names by the likes of R3hab, Nicky Romero, Chuckie, Example, Arty, Nadia Ali, Helena, Sean Paul. His remix for Helena has just become #1 in the Australian Dance Chart.

Tombo – released on Hardwell’s label Revealed Recordings — is another Dannic track making waves — peep into the bags of Erick Morillo, Chuckie, Fedde Le Grand, Bingo Players, Hardwell, Thomas Gold, Eddie Halliwell and Alex Gaudino and you’re certain to see it there.

At the beginning of 2012 Dannic collaborated with Hardwell on a track called Kontiki (Revealed Recordings). That track stormed the Beatport Top 10 and went seriously viral, racking up more than one million views. The pair is already working on a follow-up, so watch this space!

Dannic and Hardwell also served up an official remix for UK superstar Example. Their spin on Say Nothing is out on September 16 and is already a cool number one in the Cool Cuts chart. Dannic also has a collaboration with Jordy Dazz in the works. Hardwell, always an ardent supporter, has played it in almost every single one of his sets this summer.

From mash-ups to high-profile collaborations to tours and residencies in some of the world’s hottest venues, there is plenty going on in Dannic’s universe. But whatever he turns his hand to next, you can be sure he’ll bring his trademark technical excellence and propensity for catchiness to the table.

DROOG is the DJ collective of Andrei Osyka, Brett Griffin and Justin Sloe. From their start 7 years ago, DROOG has steadily built a reputation as one of the leading purveyors of forward thinking dance music, in Los Angeles and beyond.

The collective have become known for their respected parties that through the years featured leading international house and techno talent, from Magda, Jamie Jones, Steve Bug and Martin Buttrich to Dixon, all four memebers of Visionquest, Nicolas Jaar, Dyed Soundorom, Shonky and beyond. Droog have also masterminded showcase parties at WMC, DEMF, BPM and Sonar festivals. Between 2007 and 2011, Droog had held down a residency at Avalon Hollywood, one of the biggest clubs in the US. At Avalon,they have had the chance to play alongside influences such as Richie Hawtin, Lee Burridge, Steve Lawler, Damian Lazarus, Tiefschwarz, Mr. C, Booka Shade, MANDY, Matthew Dear.

In 2009 the trio made a leap into a new territory by launching an LA-based record label, Culprit, which has built steady momentum with successful releases from Matt Tolfrey & Inxec, Hot Natured, Lee Foss, SECT (Soul Clap, Tanner Ross & Sergio Santos), Subb-an, M A N I K and others and joining the ranks of the leaders of the new school of underground dance music. Having toured the US and Mexico extensively, Droog have since expanded with European and South American shows. In October of 2010, Droog made a Fabric debut and since then have covered the globe, from Moscow to Lima, Ibiza to Costa Rica, Berlin and Paris. Recent new DJ debuts included Brazil, Tunisia and Portugal.

More recently the Los Angeles collective has been focusing on production work, with original material for Crosstown Rebels (released in September 2011 to wide acclaim) and Supernature, remixes for Culprit, NOICE, Murmur, My Favorite Robot , Adjunct Audio, Noir Music and Get Physical Other high profile projects include mixing the second installment of the Rebel Rave mix CD for Crosstown Rebels, released in November 2011 and Droog’s first appearance at the premier US dance music festival, Movement Detroit in 2012.

Even though he no longer lives in the country, it’s hard to imagine what London’s musical landscape would look like without the influence of Scuba, born Paul Rose. The Hotflush label head, DJ, producer and promoter cut his teeth with jungle and techno equally in London, eventually becoming involved with local pirate radio and some of the formative club nights in dubstep. Rose and his label’s early activity in the London scene led to a long-standing association with the genre, but he quickly proved versatile as his own productions (and Hotflush releases) began to extend into the wider realm of electronic music.

Wanting to get in touch with his techno roots, Rose made the now-standard move from London to Berlin in 2007. The city’s cold winters and post-industrial landscape easily matched Scuba’s own distinctive production aesthetic, which he showed off on his first two albums recorded in the German capital, A Mutual Antipathy and Triangulation in 2008 and 2010 respectively. These two records showed the nubile Berliner increasingly incorporating techno influences into a bass-heavy, multi-genre sound, met with almost universal critical acclaim. During the same period, Rose’s successful DJ career reached new heights, even playing Berlin’s legendary techno temple Berghain, home to DJs like Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock.

Rose’s infiltration into Berghain soon took on unprecedented prominence, landing a Friday night residency with his own quarterly SUB:STANCE night, which has not only featured some of the biggest names in bass music but also resulted in an eponymous mix CD on the club’s influential techno label, the first and still only one of its kind. It wouldn’t be any exaggeration to say that Rose’s DJing has become as celebrated as his music, with his speedy but careful style cutting through genre barriers with remarkable ease. Recording and DJing techno under his SCB guise, Rose has become known as a techno DJ as much as a “bass music” DJ. His 2011 DJ-KiCKS installment showed off his mastery of all dance music genres, and received plaudits from all angles. Audience reception has been just as vocal, with Scuba occupying the #25 spot in the readership-voted Resident Advisor Top DJ poll for 2010 and 2011.

All the while his Hotflush Recordings label has blossomed into a veritable juggernaut in underground electronic music, releasing everything from techno (Sigha, George FitzGerald) to some of the most experimental and important music of the past few years by artists like Joy Orbison, Untold, Mount Kimbie, and Sepalcure. One of the label’s most recent triumphs was also Rose’s himself, in the form of the third Scuba album Personality. Following on the promise of his controversial-but-ubiquitous trance-baiting single “Adrenalin” in 2011, Personality showed off a vibrant new world for Scuba, stretching his legs out into everything from prog house to drum & bass to techno with an arsenal of rich synths and melodies. An album that Pitchfork called “stylishly retro, all coated in a futuristic 2012 sheen.” It’s his most accessible and high-profile release yet, and represents a new chapter in Scuba’s continued climb to the highest echelons of electronic music.

Cassy is Catherine Britton, born in Kingston Upon-Thames to a Caribbean Father and an Austrian mother. At a young age, she moved to Austria and attended school in Vienna. Already accustomed to the life of an entertainer as both a singer and actress, Cassy was ready when she was introduced to DJ’ing in Vienna. Cassy would tag along with an older female DJ, Electric Indigo, to gigs and it was decided that Cassy should learn in order to not pay for her trips. Cassy eventually ended up in Geneva where she was introduced to Luciano at a friend’s studio in 2003. Cassy soon moved to Berlin where she was offered a residency at the legendary Panoramabar in Berghain after she DJ’ed for Luciano’s Cadenza party.

Since then, Cassy has grown into an internationally recognized DJ and producer. Her production credits include collaborations with Steve Bug, Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, DJ Elin, Dave The Hustler, Mathew Jonson and Swayzak. She has a diverse body of work on such highly-regarded labels as Playhouse, Perlon, Ostgut Ton and Cocoon. Cassy also runs her own self-titled label as an outlet for her unique sound. In addition to her work as a producer, Cassy provides vocals for many of her tracks. In 2011, along with her recurring presence at Panoramabar, Cassy has additional residencies at Rex in Paris and Trouw in Amsterdam, the city in which she currently resides.

When it comes to her DJ sets, Cassy doesn’t subscribe to any certain genre, instead she embraces all sounds from house to techno. Her approach to any dancefloor, whether it be for 30 or 3000 people, is about creating a distinctive drive balanced with a sense of warmth and soul. Cassy entices her audience to the dancefloor with a groove and then, with each new track, she gently guides the listener into the present moment. For Cassy, DJing is about presenting herself through her mixes and track selection, to intuit her environment and go with the flow of the changing energy in a room. It’s why crowds all across the world now recognize Cassy as a truly special talent.

Santa Barbara natives Ethan and Josie aka CANDYLAND began producing their own original songs back in April of 2012. After becoming the first act to win back-to-back Beatport remix contests (Skrillex “Make it Bun Dem” & Bingo Players “Rattle”) and racking up over 1.3 Million Soundcloud plays, they released their debut album “Bring the Rain” on SPINNIN RECORDS (Jan 21st 2013) which charted: #3 on the Beatport Overall Top 100, #1 on Dubstep Top 100, #1 on Electro House Top 100, #1 on Drum N Bass Top 100, as well as #1 on the Glitch Hop Top 100. Candyland continues to pave their own lane bridging the gap between trap, dubstep, and house music with every original/remix they release.

Though NYC club-killer Harry Rodrigues aka Baauer hasn’t been on the scene long, the amount of buzz the 24-year-old has been able to build in such a short period of time is second to none, going from SoundCloud’s best kept secret to the world’s new posterboy for menacing sub-bass styl- ings almost overnight. As a producer, Baauer’s impeccable track record has propelled him to become one of the most glorified and respected in his field, cultivating a supremely authentic style and sound that yields stadi- um-sized responses throughout the globe. With a focus on sensationalizing the seemingly insignificant, Baauer melds dance floor traditions with hip- hop tendencies, finding a creative sweet spot between the two that gets redefined with each new track he creates.

Baauer’s debut came in May of 2012 on Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint Jeffree’s with the world-smashing hit “Harlem Shake”. The song, which gained Pitchfork “Best New Track” acco- lades at the time of its release, made its reign initially as a dance floor anthem, clocking in plays across the world and obtaining monumental support from DJ’s and fans alike. But in February of 2013, the song would go on to create an even bigger cultural impact, becoming the catalyst for a Youtube and Internet phenomenon that would catapult “Harlem Shake” into charting at the num- ber one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks.

Summer of 2012 saw Baauer align himself with Glasgow’s impossibly pioneering LuckyMe label (Hudson Mohawke, Lunice, Rustie), debuting a limited edition 12″ white label on the Scottish im- print late last year with promise of a full-length EP soon to come. More recently, a co-headlinig tour sparked a collaboration and friendship between Baauer and Grammy Award Winning hip- hop superproducer Just Blaze, resulting in the duo’s first creation “Higher”, which in just three months has racked up over a million streams on SoundCloud and is set to see a release later this year. In addition to his own projects, Baauer’s kept impressively busy with superlative remix work for some of the world’s most highly-alluded artists, including The Prodigy, No Doubt, Disclosure, AlunaGeorge, and more. So early into his career, the young artist is only just now starting to gain momentum, and if his superb output thus far is any testament, Baauer looks poised to be re- membered as one of the most exciting producers of our time.

When he’s not in the studio, Baauer plies his trade as one of the best up and coming DJ’s in the game. His first full year as a touring artist saw him headline gigs across North America, Europe, and Australia, gaining him recognition as one of the Top 100 U.S. DJ’s by the DJ List (#9 in his hometown of NYC). Baauer’s high-powered performances breed a kaleidoscope of sub-bass and future crunk soundscapes, using his distinctive sound to recontextualize overarching themes and create entirely new experiences with each record he plays. Whether it’s a 20,000 person festival tent or a intimate 300 person club, Baauer brings an unrivaled energy to the live space that can only be fully realized when witnessed in person.

Oliver have found the beating heart inside the dance machine. Whether moving bodies at the world’s biggest electronic festivals, or hand-crafting digital gems in the studio, the producer / DJ duo of U-Tern and Oligee are responsible for some of the funkiest, toughest, and most diverse dance music today.

After spending years writing, producing, DJing and digging for vinyl, U-Tern and Oligee linked up in LA to forge something groundbreaking. They took their shared ’80s baby tastes – relentlessly groovy R&B, boombox worthy hip-hop, soaring electropop hooks – and mashed them together in remixes for everyone from Chromeo and Foster The People to Breakbot and techno godfather Juan Atkins. Original jams like “All Night” and “Dirty Talk” (supported by dance music luminaries like Alan Braxe and Busy P) took Oliver’s back-to-the-future sound even further, while high-powered collaborations with A-Trak (“Disco Nap”) and Destructo (“LA Funky”) brought the duo to the festival circuit, where they kept hands in the air all summer.

With the release of their Fool’s Gold EP Mechanical, Oliver push their hybrid sound to even funkier new horizons. The stadium worthy opener “MYB” perfectly segues into the moody strut of “Night Is On My Mind,” before shifting gears with the hands-in-the-air ecstasy of “Control” and riding off into the sunset on the title track’s cinematic pulse. With non-stop DJ sets on deck (complete with Oligee’s live keyboard riffs) and even more new music, there’s no telling where the beats will take them next. “Oliver is all over the map,” says U-Tern. “But we’re going to have a good time no matter what.”

Zedd started with music in his daily routine from early childhood on. Born Anton Zaslavski, Zedd was raised in Kaiserslautern, Germany by two classically trained musicians, he began playing the piano at the age of four and built up his knowledge of the Classical repertoire throughout his childhood, at times writing a song a day. At age twelve, Anton learned to play the drums and, soon after he began performing with the post-hardcore/metal trio Dioramic. As a preteen he was already composing and producing numerous rock songs in his band’s own studio. As the aughts progressed, Anton’s awareness of other genres widened, and in 2009 his interest in producing electronic music was piqued after hearing the French electronic duo Justice. With his gift for musicality and background in instrumentation, composition and production, the move into the realm of electronic dance music was seamless.

2009 proved to be a watershed year for Zedd. It was during this year that he began producing electronic music, and within an incredibly short period of time amassed widespread critical and audience acclaim. Within a few months of beginning his production work, Zedd won two Beatport remix contests, the “Armand Van Helden / Strictly Rhythm Remix Contest” and the “Fatboy Slim / Skint Remix Contest”. These critical wins gave the budding artists the notoriety and clout to catch the interest of Skrillex who essentially found him on the net and signed him to his new OWSLA label. He caught the ear of Interscope A&R Dave Rene and Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine and successfully released several official remixes for powerhouse artists such as Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, P. Diddy, Swedish House Mafia and Skrillex on labels including mau5trap, Interscope, and EMI.

In the realm of his original compositions, Zedd’s hit singles ‘Shave It’ and ‘Slam The Door’ (out through OWLSA) both held the top spot on Beatport’s charts for multiple weeks at a time. In the same year, his remix of Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” appeared on the deluxe edition of the superstar’s latest album Born This Way and his remix of “Born This Way” appeared on Born This Way: The Remix. In addition to his own compositions and reworkings of others’ songs, Zedd has had other electro heavyweights take their turn at his tracks, including Armin Van Buuren, Kaskade, Knife Party and more.

Zedd’s stellar development is undoubtedly linked to his unique and highly recognizable style of composition. It stands out in a crowded field as meticulously detailed and carefully produced, very playful and at the same time remarkably catchy despite the complex musicality drafting it up. Drawing from his diverse musical background spanning from classical to post-hardcore/metal to electro house Zedd’s music not only draws from uncommon sources but also has the ability to appeal to an audience outside the realm EDM.

Zedd signed with Interscope records in 2012 and released his debut LP Clarity in October to much critical acclaim. The album’s first single, “Spectrum,” featuring singer/songwriter Matthew Koma, garnered massive global attention climbing into the the Top 10 on the iTunes dance chart and holding on to the #1 spot on Beatport Worldwide for almost three weeks. The track then soared to #1 on the Billboard Dance Club Song chart and was ultimately named their Dance Club Song of the year as well as iTunes “Breakthrough Album of the Year (Dance) for 2012.

In addition to racking up original production credits for artists including Eva Simons’ “I Don’t Like You” and Justin Bieber’s “Beauty And A Beat,” Rolling Stone named Zedd an “Artist to Watch” for 2012, and more recently, MTV deemed him an “Artist to Watch” for 2013. Zedd has performed at major festivals, including Ultra, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Nocturnal and in 2012, he performed at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Hard Summer in Los Angeles, and Electric Zoo in New York. Zedd made his national television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman in October where he turned his signature style upside down performing a stripped down version of his new single “Clarity” -showcasing his classical training by playing piano alongside a string quartet and vox from Foxes. The performance is a prime example of Zedd’s true musicianship beyond the realm of EDM. Zedd was also chosen to be the only opening act for the Asian leg of Lady Gaga’s world stadium-tour “The Born This Was Ball”, and will rejoin her for the American leg in the spring of 2013.

A musical prodigy from the start, Zedd is already a powerhouse beyond the EDM realm. His originality and momentum will unquestionably propel him into the ranks of superstars.

Love is in the air when Brodinski starts talking about music. Making music, playing music, sharing music, finding music, promoting music… it’s all about L-U-V, as The Shangri-La’s used to say. Ever since young Louis Rogé decided to flunk university and turn Brodinksi into a full time operation, it was his passion for unearthing and creating exciting new tunes that drove him forward. No surprise then, when Brodi unveils his newest enterprise, it turns out to be another amorously inspired scheme: the aptly named Bromance is a music label devoted ‘people we love’, according to its main creator and A&R man.

Brodinski: “I’ve always loved collaborating with other people, ’cause I get bored too easily. When working together, my head gets fed all the time, new ideas come flying from all directions. The more projects I’m involved in, the better! With Bromance I’m taking that feeling to the next level”.

Indeed, evidence of Brodi’s knack for joining forces with friends and allies can be found in previous releases such as Peanuts Club (together with Noob, on Turbo) and Eurostarr (with Mumdance, on Southern Friend), and The Krays, his alliance with Yuksek. Also, last year Brodi teamed up with his pal DJ Orgasmic for the hiphop- and rap inspired A-side of his free mixtape The Best Of Everything.

One of Bromance’s first offerings will be another, similarly flavoured freebie:Stoned Beats Vol. 1, dedicated to the blunted rhythms and juiced up rhymes of southern hiphop, shopped and skrewed by Gucci Vump — more on them later…

The debut physical release of Bromance is a split EP between Brodinski and fellow French producer plus current touring partner Gesaffelstein. ‘He’s such a nice guy! I love him, we connect personally and musically on so many levels — and, importantly, we’re not just friends, but also fans of each other. We push each other in the right direction’.

Exactly the amiable spirit Bromance vouches for. ‘It’s all about giving love to people’, says Brodinski. ‘That’s what you do when you make a living from your passion’.

Ever since Brodi was the new kid on the block — the freshest thing coming from France since Pernod on the rocks, as they say — championed at a tender age by such heavyweights as Busy P., 2manydjs, Tiga (who baptised him ‘the dj’s dj’) and Erol Alkan, he made it his mission to share a healthy obsession with quality dance music with as much people possible. With the newest instalment in the Fabric Live-series under his belt, he made an important step fulfilling that wish.

‘I’ve always wanted to do a mix for Fabric, and apparently they wanted me too!’, he laughs.

‘It’s been an emotional ride. First, because I was granted the chance to dedicate it to my late friend Mehdi, and second because I really wanted to make a statement. To push my ideas and vision of what I love in current music, and take risks while doing it. It’s my firm belief that a good DJ is at its best when he or she is not doing what people expect’.

‘I am a DJ first, always have been, always will’, continues the new label boss. ‘I’m not a musician. That’s why I teamed up with Guillaume from The Shoes for Gucci Vump’.

Aha, Gucci Vump! Another, much whispered about Brodi-collaboration that will soon see the light of day on Bromance.

Yep, Brodi means serious business with his new venture. ‘I realise the record label business is in a messy state right now. But I want to build something solid, something that people won’t give up on after two weeks. I’ve got a lot of passion to pour into this thing’.

It’s going to be a fine romance, as Frank Sinatra used to say. A fine bromance, my friend this is!