Adam Beyer
In 1990 he bought his first set of turntables and started spinning a wide range of hiphop, hiphouse, acid and techno at local parties and clubs. Beyer soon learned how to blend his sets in a thoughtful and highly focused way, a talent that has now developed into his trademark style. In 92 Fellow school friend Peter Benisch introduced Beyer to the sampler , a year later they got their first record deal with New York based Direct Drive. After finishing school in 1995, Beyer started work at the Planet Rhythm record store while releasing some tracks under a variety of names and continually djing all over Scandinavia.
Adam Beyer sites Drumcodes 1 (Planet Rhythm 1995) as the first record to define his style; hard, percussive and loop oriented. This 12" names Beyer´s future label and was soon followed by his critically acclaimed debut album Decoded (Planet Rhythm 1996). His need to create the perfect dj tool gave rise to the launch of the Drumcode label allowing him total musical freedom. The label´s strong concept and high production levels meant it enjoyed immediate success. After six releases Beyer launched his second label Code Red focusing on a slightly softer side of techno. Code Red finished with its 10 th and final release Stand Down (Code Red 1999) which was a compilation of remixes from various international artists.
His production skills soon brought Beyer to the attention of djs worldwide and global bookings soon followed. His meteoric rise has been cited as one of the catalysts for Swedish techno´s current influence. He pinpoints the Stockholm sound as being closely linked to his network of friends in the city as well as the triumvirate of himself, Joel Mull and Cari Lekebusch. After many releases and remixes on various labels he launched the second album Protechtion (Drumcode 1999). While the market was being flooded with monoton loop oriented techno Beyer worked on strengthening the arrangements that characterised his earlier works, as well as adding melodic strings. Still with a clear focus on the dance floor.
The same year Adam Beyer and Cari Lekebusch linked up to create a stunning live act first witnessed in London to instant acclaim. The act created the intense feeling of a creative dj set while the duo played back to back mixing their production styles.
Michel De Hey
His reputation in Holland was founded in August 1995 with his club night 'Future' in Nighttown Rotterdam. It developed into a respected club night functioning as a musical indicator for the Dutch club scene. Since the beginning of “Future” Michel invited many national and international artists, introducing the crowd to high quality of techno and house music resulting in five national award nominations over the past years. His star slowly rises as one of the best house/techno dj’s of the Netherlands. Sadly, because of his busy schedule, Michel had to stop the club night after 7,5 years.
Michel founded various record labels such as EC, CC, Brave New World and Miracle Records, overall called Immaculate Music. EC Records delivered several floor fillers and chart hits over the years. Although it was not Michel’s main objective to aim for chart hits when he founded Immaculate Music still till today the labels are primarily respected throughout the club scene and are musically considered to be leading record labels in the Netherlands.
For his labels Michel has made several solo productions and releases in cooperation with Literon aka Gert-Jan Bijl, Secret cinema aka Grooveyard aka Jeroen Verheij and Mirko van Dommelen. Apart from his own labels Michel has also made music for 070 records, Artform, Lupp and Plink Plonk. Next to these Labels Michel has started a new label called HEY!, The response has been great. The records are played by a whole bunch of dj’s from Josh Wink to Carl Cox, from John Digweed to Adam Beyer and the list goes on and on…. Release number six is out for 2006 and there are more to follow.
In the summer of 2005 Michel has also mixed a double cd called 'Two Faces'. This cd is again a good showcase for Michel’s dj skills. The first cd represents Michel when he is playing in a small club. The second cd is Michel playing his festival or big room set. The release was a major success. A world tour followed.
Since the beginning of 2003 he started to work together with the former Cosmack Management in London, now called Litheum. They are responsible for all his dj activities outside the Benelux. Besides Michel they also take care of dj’s like Carl Cox, John Digweed.
Over the years Michel has been playing all major festivals in and outside of Holland. Playing gigs in: Japan, Columbia, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Romania, America, Singapore, Indonesia. Argentina, Peru etc. Many times he has been asked for highlights of his career. There is not just one highlight, every year new highlights arise. From Creamfields in Argentina to the world biggest indoor festival called Sensation and of course the annual Dance Valley. During this summer Michel played some great sets at Circo Loco and Space in Ibiza. Beside all his gigs Michel also produces the annual anthem for the Dutch Love Parade (Fast Forward Dance Parade). He has been ambassador for each edition and he has seen the Parade grow to one of the biggest parades worldwide. In 2004 and 2005 Michel played a marvellous 12 hour set at the city beach in his hometown Rotterdam and last but not least his annual Birthday Bash! Rotterdam’s finest Birthday party in one of the best venues Rotterdam has to offer! Finally Michel has reached the DJ MAG top 100 for the second time, this year he climbed up to number 62. |
