DJ MAG ASEAN ISSUE 006 by DJ MAG ASEAN

FEDDE LE GRAND GOES FURTHER SPECIAL TOP 100 DJS BREAKDOWN RAVE OF THRONES NOTHING’S STOPPING VICETONE FASHION JUNKIE FESTIVAL APPAREL CLUB KYO RELOADED + RECHARGED UMEK TAPS INTO HIS DARK SIDE SYNDICATE SINGAPORE

THE ROMERO EMPIRE

HEADPHONES CAN BE YOUR HOTTEST ACCESSORY THE SEXIEST ROLLS-ROYCE EVER BUILT

PLUS

RM 15.00

#006

ALL THE SCOOP ON FESTIVALS COMING YOUR WAY THIS SEASON. PP 18496/052014 ( 033873)

D J M A G A S E A N / J U N E 2 0 1 5J

JUNE 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITORIAL EDITOR

AUDREY RAJ

editor@djmagasean.com MUSIC WRITER

LYDIA LOHSHINI (MALAYSIA) lydia@djmagasean.com WRITER

DERISHA ARYAWAN (INDONESIA) derisha@djmagasean.com

PAT SANTOS (PHILIPPINES) pat@djmagasean.com CONTRIBUTOR

IKHSAN BIMOSENO (SINDHÈN) JUNIOR ART DIRECTOR

IZUAN SOBRI

izuan@djmagasean.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER

WAN IZZATUR ASYRAF asyraf@djmagasean.com EDITORIAL COORDINATOR

JULIEANA

julieana@djmagasean.com ADMIN EXECUTIVE

SHARIFAH MASTURA

mastura@djmagasean.com

IT’S BACK

So the Top 100 results are in once again, and we’ve produced this bumper issue to give you a detailed breakdown and analysis of what it means. As usual, the results have caused their fair share of controversy – but still make for fascinating reading. Those who consistently slag oﬀ the dominance of big room EDM in the poll should ask themselves this: who is it who regularly sells out arenas, if not stadiums? It’s the big Top 20 EDM boys, not an underground guy like Damian Lazarus or whoever. That’s why EDM DJs dominate. The poll is a popularity poll, voted for by close to a million dance music fans the world over. It isn’t a chart of DJ Mag favourites — it’s the DJs most voted for by worldwide clubbers.

ADVERTISING SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE (MALAYSIA)

ERNEST NG

ernestng@djmagasean.com CONTENT STRATEGIST

SHAHEILA AZMI

shaheila@djmagasean.com

MANAGERIAL CHAIRMAN

ISKANDAR OTHMAN CO-CHAIRMAN

Yes, those who campaign get more votes — but that’s just the nature of polls or elections. That said, it would be better if all areas of our scene were better represented in the poll. If some of the more underground DJs who’ve placed in the Next 50 — Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler etc — just did one self-deprecating ‘Vote for me’ Facebook post during the voting period, they may well get into the Top 100. It’s understandable people not wanting to engage with the poll, but maybe they shouldn’t moan about it if they don’t participate at all? The rest of the year we cover the whole spectrum of the scene, but as it stands this issue is EDM-heavy (although there is plenty of other stuﬀ too). So feast your eyes on all the profiles/interviews inside of all the biggest DJs in the world right now. Thanks for all your votes – nearly a million this year.

CARL LOBEN EDITOR DJ MAG

YAM TENGKU SHAHRAIN DIRECTOR

NORAZILAWATI CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

NICHOLAS DANIEL RAJ EVENT MANAGER

FAIZAL BABA PUBLISHED BY REGAL GATES SDN BHD (1134948-D) A-22-13, MENARA UOA BANGSAR, NO.5 JALA N BANGSAR UTAMA 1, BANGSAR 59000, KL, MALA YSIA. PRINTED BY PERCETAKAN OSACAR SDN BHD LOT 11, JALAN 4/37 A TAMAN BUKIT MALURI, INDUSTRIAL AREA KEPONG, 52100 KUALA LUMPUR. DISTRIBUTED BY MPH DISTRIBUTOR SDN BHD THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF INDIVIDUALS AND NOT NECESSARILY SHARED BY DJ MAGAZINE

[NOVEMBER 2015 ]

CONTENTS

THE ROMERO EMPIRE

Nicky Romero is one of dance music’s fastest rising stars, as very few artists have ascended to fame quite as quickly as he has.

FASHION

Emporio Armani Loves Calvin harris

FEATURES 62 Nothing’s Stopping Vicetone 64 Umek Taps Into His Dark Side

HIGHLIGHTS 09 Welcome To Razer Music Steve Angello Prepares For The Drop 10 Start Your Revealed Collection Now Deadmau5 , Kygo and DJ Snake Spin at the 2016 X Games

18 60

FEDDE GOES FURTHER

His beats, melodies and rhythms put him in a league of his own as he curates’ grand experiences for his fans

FESTIVALS FRENZY

Southeast Asia is now fueled with various festivals and events all throughout the year with headlining electronic acts but has also been a pedestal for up and coming DJs and Producers to showcase their talent to a diverse crowd of fans.

DJ MAG ASEAN / OCTOBER 2015

TOP 100 DJ’S 2015

What do this year’s Top 100 DJs poll results mean for our beloved international scene? We drill down into the nitty-gritty of the 2015 placings, and congratulate this year’s new No.1 act...

THE SEXIEST ROLLS ROYCE EVER BUILT

The new Dawn has a bold attitude with a striking yet chic exterior design with the classic Rolls-Royce appearance and presence. It is the most vibrant Rolls-Royce yet with charming and alluring qualities that brings a new level of finesse, sophistication and refinement.

BEST OF THE REGION 30 32 34 36 38 46 48

DJ Chukiess & Whackboi DJ Ghetto DJ Martin Lugtu DJ Archie BEST OF THE FEST Double The Fun At Duplex Ultra Beach Bali

REGULARS Editor’s Note Fresh From The Decks Quicktakes Fashion Feature Story Cover Story Best Of The Region 68 Red By DJ MAG ASEAN 79 Top 100 DJ’S 2015

02 06 08 14 18 22 29

OCTOBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

KYO : RELOADED + RECHARGED

The Lion City is set to keep all you party animals roaring through the night especially at the new and improved Club Kyo. Deep in a skyscraper’s basement sits one of Singapore’s famed night spots, an underground night club that draws you into its ever so alluring abyss of elemental music and visionary art.

QUOTES

DECK

FRESH FROM THE

“

IT’S JUST AMAZING TO SEE FANS NOW BRINGING THE MASKS TO FESTIVALS AND GIGS AND IT IS SUCH A VISUAL REMINDER OF THE LOVE AND SUPPORT I GET FROM MY FANS ON A DAILY BASIS. SEE PAGE 22

”

DJ MAG ASEAN / JUNE 2015

“

[ FEDDE LE GRAND ] I REALLY ENJOY THOSE OUT OF THE ORDINARY THINGS EVERY NOW AND THEN, AND I MEAN, PLAYING THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, ACTUALLY WATCHING THE SUN COME UP WHILE YOU’RE PLAYING, IT’S KIND OF AMAZING. SEE PAGE 60

”

JUNE 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

“

[ UMEK ] THESE OSCILLATIONS IN MY SOUND HAPPEN TOTALLY UNPLANNED; I JUST FOLLOW THE INSPIRATION AND THE SOUNDS THAT KEEP ME EXCITED. SO NOW I’M FOLLOWING THE DARK SIDE AGAIN AS I’VE HEARD THEY HAVE COOKIES FOR ME. SEE PAGE 64

”

“

[ VICETONE ] PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE AND THE MUSIC THAT YOU MAKE SO DON’T FOLLOW THE TREND, BUT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE AS AN ARTIST. SEE PAGE 62

”

QUICKTAKE

[GAME]

AVICII UNVEILS ADDICTIVE INSTAGRAM GAME

An innovative and addictive game was recently released to promote Avicii’s second studio album, “Stories”. We expect this new marketing campaign on Instagram to set a massive new trend in the era of mobile-marketing orientation, so this is a prodigy! This click-through interactive game starts on the @avicii_begins Instagram account and fans will get a shocking surprise at the end of the game, depending on which path you personally choose. The game begins - “After enslaving the human race, Dr. Hush has banned all music and brainwashed the population into mindless zombies. You are Avicii, and your mission is to infiltrate Dr. Hush’s broadcasting station, and play the last remaining song in the world to awaken the people…”. Whatever happens next is up to you, so give it a go!

[EVENT]

DECIBELS MUSIC FESTIVAL Decibels Music Festival is the Top Ten Group’s first foray into the world of large scale productions, so do lookout for this brand new music festival happening on December 9th. The exciting indoor music festival is set to host around 3,000 party-goers with R3HAB headlining the event and two of the most popular female deejays in Indonesia, DJ Princess Joana and DJ Yasmin as supporting acts. Local resident DJs - DJ Leo, DJ William, DJ Onee, DJ Aldee and DJ Ardian are also part of the line-up, so the crowd can feel the love of their hometown partying scene.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

WELCOME TO RAZER MUSIC

[TECH]

One of the pioneer names in gaming and electronics, Razer has now launched Razer Music, the ultimate resource for digital music creation and performance. This new music platform works with producers and creators, providing an easy-to-use location to share content, trade secrets and tips on digital music production and performance. Razer, who are known for their top quality laptops and digital products, have also teamed up with FL Studio to give users a better experience

[EVENT]

SONIC CARNIVAL

Fearless Productions Inc. has announced Sonic Carnival, an outdoor round-the-clock music festival set for December 7th at the Block 22, SM Moa Grounds. This music festival will bring together the best local rock bands, club DJs and lastly, iconic names in the electro dance music scene, so you can enjoy the festival no matter what your mood is. There’s surely something for everyone.

STEVE ANGELLO [MUSIC] PREPARES FOR THE DROP Keeping up with The Kardashians, America’s Next Top Model, Masterchef, Million Dollar Listings; you think you’ve seen it all on TV? Well, wait for The Drop – a dance music drama series – which is coming to The CW. The network has put the show in development with the help of Nashville executive producer R.J. Cutler, DJ Steve Angello, CBS TV Studios and studio-based Kennedy/Marshall Company. According to Deadline, The Drop is set in the sexy, nonstop world of Miami’s electronic dance music scene, and centres around a DJ teetering on the edge of ruin, who finds hope (and more) in a gifted protégé - a female African-American, both rarities in the EDM world. Writer-musician Kyle Jarrow is penning the script, with Cutler set to direct.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

QUICKTAKE

DEADMAU5, KYGO & DJ SNAKE SPIN AT THE 2016 X GAMES [MUSIC] One of Colorado’s most popular sporting events is the winter X games, which is coming up pretty soon. This time, Skrillex, DJ Snake and Kygo will be entertaining the crowd as they witness some of the best extreme sports. While the mountain sports competitions are free for spectators, fans will have to pay a modest price to partake in the festival-like concerts. Both the Winter and Summer X Games have been elevating their music oﬀerings in the past few years, so keep an eye-out for the Summer entertainment line-up.

[FASHION]

START YOUR REVEALED COLLECTION NOW Back in 2010, Dutch DJ/producer Hardwell presented his very own imprint - Revealed Recordings. The oﬃcial Revealed store went live last month, and is now available at www.revealedstore.com. This Hardwell inspired collection features t-shirts, hoodies, caps and even CDs and vinyls. With Christmas around the corner, this is perfect for a Hardwell superfan as the most popular items include a Call Me A Spaceman T-Shirt, a Leather Look Snapback, a Revealed Boxy Top and a Revealed Hooded sweater.

WORLDS BIGGEST VINYL DATABASE GOES MOBILE [TECH] Analog lovers are in for a treat when they get the new mobile app for Discogs, the world’s most comprehensive vinyl database and marketplace. The new app will be displayed on the MilkCrate platform and share similar features, including the ability to catalogue collections, view marketplace pricing, add to waitlists and search the database for music. However, The Vinyl Factory confirms that contacting sellers and purchasing records may not be incorporated when it launches. Still excited? So are we.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

‘NETFLIX AND CHILL’ IN STYLE

[FASHION]

This is not your usual high fashion editorial spread! New York’s Opening Ceremony has created a fashion editorial that portrays a millennia’s real life – full of binge watching (Netflix) and getting cosy on the couch while still keeping it stylish in Dries Van Noten, Issey Miyake, Acne Studios and more. The ‘Netflix and Chill’ clothing line, combines the art of fashion with the act of relaxing, which is aimed directly at the convenience-focused generation. So you can now literally ‘Netflix and Chill’, if you get what we mean!

A TOUCH OF TOBACCO

[BEAUTY]

Molton Brown is introducing a charming new fragrance collection that shouts masculinity. Developed by Elsa Chabert, this fragrance mimics a complex, warm combination of woods and mature tobacco absolute, lifted by a subtle yet decisive hint of citrus. This marvellous range consists of a shower gel, deodorant and fragrance spray that complement each other nicely – just so you can keep that masculine momentum throughout the day.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

QUICKTAKE Mo’ Grooming for

BADLAB FOR REAL BAD BOYS Manufactured in Malaysia and man-gineered for the man who’s all walk and little talk, BadLab encourages men to wash like a man and not like a girl. This line of men’s personal care products comes nicely packed in caveman inspired bottles and containers with masculine cosmetic names. With a wide variety of products such as the Call To Arms Anti-Bacterial & Deodorising Fragrance, the Caveman Cleaner 3-in-1 Hair, Face and Body Cleaner, and the Baby-Faced Assassin Energizing Facial Cleaner, now men can get excited about self-grooming throughout the year. The month of Movember is the perfect time to start improving your grooming game. Dirty, Sexy, Filthy, Clean. And Quick.

TRY A VINTAGE BARBERSHOP Men in Jakarta seem to understand the importance of keeping themselves groomed, so barbershops seem to be popping up everywhere recently. Since it’s Movember, go spoil yourself to a good ol’ barber shop experience, instead of that basic DIY shave you struggle with every other day. Batavia Barber Shop oﬀers the customers a true vintage experience. This barber presents a pleasurable, comfortable and cosy feel, supported by vintage-inspired ornaments and properties with a unique story behind every piece.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

SHAVE LIKE A SULTAN Fancy a royal shave? Head on over to Sultans of Shave, located on North Canal Road in Singapore. Here, they have specially handpicked from numerous brands available and established a stable of products that they are awfully proud of. Their barbers are experienced, professional and buy into their philosophy of producing the finest barbering experience. This barber shop is fit for the true gentleman, who is aware of the importance of classy grooming yet still keeps a macho-edge. This place also includes a posh lounge area, lockers and even a bar for its male regulars. You will truly feel like a Sultan in this place!

CARLSBERG COMES CLEAN Men love beer, and they should! Not so long ago, Copenhagen-based brewery, Carlsberg created a series of male grooming products made from real Carlsberg beer to give beer-loving men a manly route to handsomeness. In fact, beer has actually been proven to contain certain vitamins that can regenerate the skin and have a positive impact on pigmentation. Your skin becomes smoother and elastic. The vitamins and minerals can make blunt and dull hair shine again and the strength of the malt gives the hair fullness and firming support. So if you love beer, this range will be your new favourite tools in the shower. A great Movember gift idea for any beer lover indeed. #beerlover

24K GOLD RAZOR SET Grooming at home just gets better as men become aware of the importance of beauty – it’s even become a part of pop culture! Even maintaining that clean shave gets luxurious with this new golden baby. American designer Thom Browne has partnered-up with Harry’s to unveil a new collection of limited edition razors that will be sold exclusively at Barneys. The set includes a first-class leather carrying case that is lined with suede, and is complete with the iconic Thom Browne red, white and navy striped logo and a Harry’s ergonomic handle.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

[INTERVIEW]

FLORIAN PICASSO

With his name already associated with one of the most famous artists in history, it comes as no surprise that Florian Picasso has massive talent up his sleeves. This up and comer is shaking things up and making waves as he ascends to EDM superstardom. DJ Mag ASEAN caught up with him to get to know the man behind the famed name. Hi there! Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey towards becoming a DJ. I was born in Vietnam, raised in France and live in Paris (I’m adopted). I’ve always wanted to do something related to art and music was a big deal in my life - from hip hop to electronic music. I had this need to be the centre of attention, and back in the early 2000s, the DJ was always the cool guy having fun and making people dance (with a hat and some chains, what a stereotype...). Then my mother got me some turntables and a mixer (Gemini and Numark) for my 13th birthday. I rocked them hard. It was firstly scratching and finding out the art of deejaying, then electronic music became more trendy and at high school I just wanted to try something diﬀerent. Was there a specific DJ or track that made you realize this was the industry for you? I guess it just came naturally, I was fascinated by scratching - Jazzy Jeﬀ, DJ AM and QBert were icons to me. How would you describe your sound to someone who has yet to hear it? Versatile with some balls You and Steve Aoki seem to have a very close relationship. Tell us how that came to be? Steve and I met in Switzerland when we both were playing at a festival. He is very humble and down to earth so I just went to his green room and talked to him, and he asked me to remix his single. Later on he invited me to some shows in Vegas, Miami and France and called me up on stage to play the remix. And here we are, simple as that.

What has been the best advice you have gotten from Steve Aoki? He’s not the type of guy to give advice if he is not asked to since he’s very humble, but once I asked him how to make it to the top. What was his strategy? Crazy Steve advised me to flood the market with a lot of music at first. We heard you are working very closely with Dim Mak Records. What does the partnership have in store? Well I have two singles on Dim Mak (solo) and something with Steve that I can’t speak about yet, and two remixes so there’s a lot in the pipeline. You are working on remixes with Nervo and Nile Rogers - tell us more about that? This remix was challenging since the original track was very pop and disco at the same time. I’ve turned the tune into something really cool - the drop is very straight forward and simple but it bangs hard! Bigger things seem to be in store for you. What else is in the pipeline for the near future? I’m working on an origami follow-up and a new single for protocol - this two will be big! I have a lot of stuﬀ that I want to do including some new projects and a music label but I’m taking them step by step. That doesn’t mean it’s coming in a week or in a year, I really don’t know, but I’m considering it. You’ve opened for the likes of Benny Bennasi and Aoki and have played at TomorrowWorld, Pacha and Amnesia to name a few. What has been your most memorable show? Inox Park in Paris was sick. First time in my home country doing main stage and it was packed! If you were a gladiator about to enter an arena for a fight, which track would be playing as you enter the arena? Steve Aoki & Flux Pavillon - Get me outta here (Florian Picasso Remix) What would be your go to track this Halloween? My upcoming release, “The Shape (Steve Aoki Edit)”. This is a true banger, very diﬀerent from Origami, but it has a terror feeling in it.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

FASHION

FA SHION NE WS!

2 4

EMPORIO ARMANI LOVES CALVIN HARRIS After starring in Emporio Armani’s Spring Summer 2015 campaign last season, Calvin Harris is back for the Fall Winter campaign and we are loving it again. In this seductive campaign, we get to see the Scottish DJ and producer modelling not only Armani underwear, but also clothing, watches, and eyewear. Previously, the Italian fashion house – founded by Giorgio Armani –teamed up with David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo for their campaigns, so we are more than certain that dance music fans will be extra excited to catch this collection. www.armani.com

VALENTINO INKED MODELS ARE IN Anyone who says tattoos aren’t classy, obviously hasn’t seen the latest Valentino lookbook. Valentino has partnered up with American photographer Terry Richardson to create the Fall Winter 2015 edition, and Richardson was able to capture the Italian fashion brand’s line of accessories using tattooed models. Throughout history, Valentino has been symbolic to classic elegance, but this time Valentino pushes boundaries in an attempt to appeal to the younger demographic. By using a male arm to hold a feminine backpack, the luxury label pushes visual boundaries and promotes focus on genderless styling. Nice one Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani!

A U G U S T 2 0 1 5 / DNJ OMVAE G M BAES RE A2 N 015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

THE BLONDE SALAD’S FALL COLLECTION Chiara Ferragni is a young fashion brand born in 2010 with Chiara Ferragni herself as Creative Director. She also founded TheBlondeSalad.com, a blog that’s a real source of inspiration and style for millions of people in Italy and around the world. Chiara describes her Fall Winter shoe collection as “undoubtedly, the one that motivates me the most and the one that is dearest to me”, and we can certainly see why. Seems like every fashionista has been head-over-heels to see what’s next for this Italian style icon after the big hit with her iconic “flirting” glitter slippers. For Fall, Chiara has created a more expressive collection that includes emojis and monsters on footwear. www.chiaraferragnicollection.com

FASHION

FASHION JUNKIE

ressing up for a music festival is like freedom for a day - you get to wear whatever colour, style and graphics you feel shouts your true style. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s totally up to you! Just go for what you think looks eye-catching, yet super comfy to last you through day and night, even while you flaunt your latest dance moves. For both guys and girls, festival fashion can be as simple as 1, 2, 3 with a top, shorts and sneakers, or as outrageous as you see in your favourite music videos. Enjoy the freedom of expression when dressing up, but here are a few festival picks we think will get heads turning this season.

FOR HER

1. Sober is Sexy The Only Coke I Do is Diet tank top, $32.00, www.soberissexy.com m 2. ASOS Crop Top with Contrast Embroidery and Embellished Fringing, $45.00, www.asos.com 3. H&M V-neck Jumpsuit, $29.00, www.hm.com 4. Topshop Poppy Garden Print Bardot Top, $39.40, www.topshop.com 5. Topshop High-Waisted Lace Trim Shorts, $36.40, www.topshop.com 6. Chiara Ferragni Flirting Slip-ons, $323.00, www.chiaraferragnicollection.com 7. TOMS Zebra Printed Calf Hair Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Avalon Slip-ons, $95.00, www.toms.com

D J M A G A S E A N /D N J OMVAEGM A BE SE R A2N0 1/ 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5

FESTIVAL APPAREL 3 2

FOR HIM

AU N OG VU EM S TB E2 R0 1250 /1 5D /J D MJA G M AAGS EAASNE A N

1. Sober is Sexy Unisex Crack Kills Hat, $28,00, www.soberissexy.com 2. Bershka Palm tree print sleeveless top, $18.00, www.bershka.com 3. Cotton On Tie Die Muscle Tank, $19.95, www.cottonon.com 4. Sober is Sexy Make Love Not Meth black shirt, $32.00, www.soberissexy.com 5. Topman Black Ankle Sports Boot, $56.00, www.topman.com 6. Kenzo Multicolot Flying Tiger Slip-on Shoe, $157, www.farfetch.com 7. Bershka Geometric Print Denim Bermudas, $32.00, www.bershka.com

11 6 7

ISSUE FEATURE

FESTIVAL FRENZY

t’s no surprise that electronica has found its way into the deep realms of Asia, and we’re quickly becoming the next hub for dance music revelers across the world. We are truly in the heart of it all with various festival giants expanding into the region. We have long left behind the days where ZoukOut Singapore was the flag bearer of dance music in the region. Recently, Asia has grown to show potential in becoming the new global dance music hub, with Diplo, Skrillex and Hardwell leading the way with their Asian tours, and it’s about time event organizers and EDM giants pour in. Southeast Asia is now fueled with various festivals and events all throughout the year with headlining electronic acts but has also been a pedestal for up and coming DJs and Producers to showcase their talent to a diverse crowd of fans. These upcoming months will hold your wallets and hearts ransom as they’re jam packed with festivals to soothe all your dance music needs.

DJAKARTA WAREHOUSE PROJECT This festival needs little to no introduction, especially with the line-ups they’ve been boasting for years. This year, the two-day festival is set to give other festivals in the region a run for their money with Armin, Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Dillon Francis, DJ Snake, DVBBS, Major Lazer and a whole lot more! This extravagant festival will definitely knock our socks oﬀ again, this year Tickets: $64 - $720 USD Date: December 11th & 12th Venue: Jiexpo Kemayoran, Jakarta Highlight: How much more convincing do you need?

ZOUKOUT SINGAPORE ZoukOut has garnered a name for itself here in Asia as they rake in large crowds year after year. Their lineup this year flaunts DJ Snake, Kaskade, Porter Robinson, Jamie Jones, Nervo and loads more. With over 50,000 revelers last year, this is one you shouldn’t miss! Tickets: $158 -$198 USD Date: December 11th and 12th Venue: Siloso Beach, Singapore Highlight: Dipping your toes in the sand amongst a sea of people and dancing to your fave DJ!

BIA SAIGON HYPERSONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL Vietnam is starting to boom with a slew of electronica festivals and Bia Saigon’s Hypersonic Music Festival joins the list. This new festival is definitely starting out with a bang as its debut event is headlined by DJ Mag’s #2 Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike! The full lineup is yet to be released but it’s looking like Hypersonic is going to be a good one folks. Tickets: N/A Date: November 27th Venue: Military Zone 7 Stadium, Ho Chih Mihn City Vietnam Highlight: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike for sure

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

IT’S THE SHIP It’s The Ship sails back again this year as The Livescape Group hosts the floating festival for yet another year. The wild threeday sea voyage lets you rub shoulders with your favorite local and international acts. On the line up this year is Kaskade, Showtek, Carnage, HeadHunterz, Will Sparks and a slew of other DJs. The second installment of IT’S THE SHIP takes place aboard the luxurious 70,000 tonne Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of The Seas, from 20 – 23 November with a pit stop in Langkawi for a show-stopping private beach party to remember. Tickets: $412 - $4888 USD Dates: November 20th -23rd Venue: Mariner of The Seas (Singapore-Melaka-Singapore) Highlight: The lineup, the parties, the ship itself and just about everything else!

808 FESTIVAL 808 Fest is coming back for a third year in a row after two explosive events in 2013 and 2014. This one-day festival is looking like it’s preparing for a massive star studded line up. As of now, they have announced Armin Van Buuren as one of their major headliners and are in the midst of announcing more. Thailand, prepare yourself. Tickets: N/A Date: December 9th Venue: N/A Highlight: The past two years have been massive, so we can’t miss this year!

WATERZONIC THAILAND We suggest you pack up and head on over to Thailand this November 28th for the Ultimate Water Festival Experience. Waterzonic 2015 is heading our way once again and this time, be ready to experience “Utopia” as dance music hard hitters Dimitri Vegad & Like Mike headline the event, alongside W&W, Dannic and Goldfish & Blink. And mind you, they have yet to announce their Phase 2 line up, so we’ve already started hyperventilating. Tickets: $62 – 106 USD Date: November 28th Venue: SCG Stadium, Muangthong Thani, Thailand Highlight: The wet and wild fun of course.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

SONIC CARNIVAL 2015 Southeast Asia is looking like THE place to be this year end. Sonic Carnival and The Palace Manila are throwing you a dance music carnival headlined by none other than Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Nervo and Oliver Heldens, and a slew of other international and local acts that are yet to be announced. These folks really know how to throw a party with beach events at Boracay and many others, so you don’t want to miss this! Tickets: N/A Date:December 13th Venue: Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, Philippines Highlight: Axwell ^ Ingrosso!

SHIPSOMNIA Shipsomnia is Asia’s second sea voyage festival and is set to sail on its maiden voyage next year. The Steampunk themed Italian liner is set to be jam packed with international and local headliners and acts. We’ve seen what the folks behind Shipsomnia are cooking up for you and you best get them tickets before it’s too late. Tickets: $799 - $1299 USD Date: January 2nd – 6th Venue: Singapore-Phuket-Langkawi-Singapore Highlight: Pete Tong, Armand Van Helden, Zeds Dead, Mat Zo, and so many more!

UNLEASHED 6 Weedoo Entertainment are going big this year as they bring you Dada Life and MAKJ for another installment of their Unleashed events. The folks at Weedoo are no new comers to the event industry - they’ve made waves in the past few years. This time, they’ve decided to throw you revelers out there a bigger and better party headlined by DJ Mag’s #52 Dada Life. And get this, they’re also executing a Zombie themed slumber pre-party, dubbed “The Sleeping Dead”! How cool is that? Weedoo could definitely outdo themselves this year. Tickets: $6 - $38 USD Date: November 14th Venue: Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, Philippines Highlight: Dada Life, MAKJ and their Zombie Slumber Party of course!

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DJ D MJA G M AAGS EAASNE A/ NN /O V AE UM GB U ES R T 2015

SUNBURN Dubbed as one of Asia’s biggest music festivals, Sunburn Goa is a four-day festival set to rock the shores of Goa from the 27th to the 30th of December. The organizers don’t hold back with their lineups, so we already predict this to be one of the most anticipated electronic music festivals this year! Tickets: $100 -$250 USD Date: December 27th - 31st Venue: Vatagor, Goa Highlight: The impending and no doubt amazing lineup!

QUEST FESTIVAL, VIETNAM Quest returns to Vietnam with its fifth installment and its biggest event to date. With headliners such as Mighty Mouse, Belitu, Coran, Ikono, DJ Instinct, DJ Jase and 70 other local and international acts, Quest will definitely be an experience you don’t want to miss. The cross cultural festival aims to bring together revelers the world over for a celebration of art, music, dance, adventure and freedom of expression. The theme for this year is “Monster Quest”, and attendees are encouraged to come in their weirdest and wackiest attire. Tickets: $22 -$40 USD Dates: November 6th to 8th Venue: Son Tinh Camp, Vietnam Highlight: Camping ground available and a chance to win the “Golden Ticket”

WONDERFRUIT Wonderfruit comes back again this year and they have upped their three-day festival to a four-day extravaganza. Likened to the Glastonbury and Burning Man of Asia, you should grab your chance to attend this Thai-infused cultural and music event. The lineup includes Dapayk Solo, Howie B, Jon Hopkins, Chris Levine, Mikail and many more. Tickets: $22 – $153 USD Date: December 17th – 21st Venue: Pattaya, Thailand Highlight: 4 whole days of arts, music and fun!

ARCADIA THAILAND This sensory-blasting, boundary-breaking and immersive experience is set to take over Thailand in January. The spectacular festival features anarchic metal monsters and blazing beats, so there’s nothing much we have to say to convince you not to miss this. Tickets: N/A Date: January 23rd Venue: Bangkok, Thailand Highlight: Them metal monsters and banging beats for sure!

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

THE ROMERO EMPIRE

COVER STORY

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

his DJ landed on the dance music scene with a force, and has since been making hits to pave the way for a dance music revolution. The ferocious yet level headed Dutch DJ has been conquering club circuits, festival mainstages, and charts the world over, as he gets ready for world domination with his Romero empire. Nicky Romero is one of dance music’s fastest rising stars, as very few artists have ascended to fame quite as quickly as he has. Although he time and time again attributes his success to his steadfast team, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this 26-year-old has talent beyond his age and is proving to shape the new electronica scene. His unique sound puts him in a league of his own, as he refuses to be put in a box. Ever changing and diverse, Romero has released a spectrum of tracks, from hard hitting electro to progressive house, notably being a chameleon in this erratic industry. Before exploding onto the scene in 2012, Nick Rotteveel van Gotum was born and raised in Amerongen, Netherlands, a country that’s renowned for churning out some of the industry’s most talented DJs. But for Nicky Romero, becoming a DJ wasn’t a lifelong dream; it was something he stumbled onto, only to realise that commanding the attention of a crowd was something he had a knack for. Nicky was initially a drummer, picking up his first drumsticks at the age of six with his snare drums. From a hobby, this soon evolved into an inevitable talent, as he was soon asked to play in groups who had acts on the streets and big events. By the age of 12, Nicky earned himself his first set of drums, but after relentlessly practicing his skills, swapped the drums for a turntable. Nicky Romero first explored the idea of becoming a DJ while he worked at a bar called Scoop, and out of sheer luck found himself DJing his first ever set one fine night. Because of his exposure to music at a very young age, Romero was quick to hone his talent and master the workings of electronic dance music. He then started producing music on his own and was quickly signed to Once Records, where he went on to release “Privilege” and “Qwerty”. Soon after “Funktion One” was released, and Romero was pushing on boundaries with his trademark style. But his break came when he released “My Friend” on Spinnin Records in 2010, which featured a sample from the famed Groove Armada track of the same name. The track catapulted Nicky Romero into electronica stardom as dance music giants, Tiesto, Axwell, Fedde Le Grand, Sander Van Doorn and a slew of others supported the track. This landed the track at #4 on the Beatport Top100, and various other DJ charts. The following years proved just how much Nicky Romero’s trail blazing talent impacted the industry, for 2011 saw the Dutchman release remixes and produce tracks for David Guetta, Alex Gaudino, Kelly Rowland, Erick Morillo, Rihanna and many more. Then in 2012, he hit a home run and joined his top tier peers with the huge success of “Toulouse”, as the track established Romero as one of the industry’s most prominent artists. The track was a mainstay on charts, playlists and DJ sets the world over. That very year, his talent was recognized as he was crowned MTV’s EDM artist to watch, which was indeed what the industry did. Ibiza, dance music’s mecca gave him a joint residency with David Guetta that summer. 2012 proved to be an amazing year for Romero as he became DJ Mag’s highest entry onto the Top 100 poll. The mask-loving DJ continued to impress fans and artists, and soon found himself managing an intense touring schedule, featuring festival appearances and helming decks at major clubs around the world. One of Romero’s stand out performances played out at Tomorrowland 2013 where he became the first DJ to spin equipped with Google Glass. Since that floor shaking set, Romero has been an unstoppable force. photos by : RUDGR

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

COVER STORY

His unbeatable blend of beats and limitless talent saw hard hitters like Avicii approach the talented newcomer to collaborate on the highly successful track “I Could Be The One”. To no one’s surprise, the track climbed charts and became the duo’s first chart topper in the UK, debuting at #1. The DJ and Producer evidently mastered his sound when he released his long awaited single “Symphonica” that clocked huge success as it reached #1 on the overall Beatport Top 100 chart. His following tracks like “Legacy” with Krewella and “S.O.T.U” with Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano all garnered the attention and recognition that it deserved. Apart from releasing major hits and collaborating with big names, Nicky Romero found the time to expand his empire with Protocol Recordings, his very own music label. Founded on the basis of releasing his own tracks alongside discovering new talent, Protocol has been doing well for itself. The label aims to help new and upcoming DJs and producers release tracks with the guidance and oversight of Romero himself. The DJ says “It feels great being involved in the growth of the

business besides making music.” Since its inception, the label has signed various industry hard-hitters onto its roster, from the likes of NERVO, Blasterjaxx, Vicetone, Tritonal, and new comers such as Ansolo and Deniz Koyu. The Protocol brand has also expanded into a podcast called Protocol Radio, which airs weekly for an hour, hosted by the head honcho himself. The show, which is recorded and produced by Romero features a slew of new tracks and a “Weekly Top 3”. His brand has become the “go-to outlet for forward thinking dance music” and follows the aim of his record label closely, which is to champion up and coming artists. The Romero Empire has grown into a worldwide brand, with Protocol Records, Protocol Management, Protocol Events, Protocol Radio, Protocol Flight and many more branches that are all under the house brand of Protocol Family. This former up and comer appears to have an endless stream of ideas and workings streaming out his sleeves and seems to be juggling them quite well. It’s become clear that the time spent founding Protocol has been fruitful and continues to grow at a rapid rate. Regardless of his status as an EDM shining star, Nicky Romero hopes to pay it forward and extend as much of his influence as

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

possible. This has become even more evident as he reaches out beyond the realms of the music industry to lend a hand to various charitable organisations. Romero has been noted as one of EDM’s more generous figures as he donates large sums to various foundations, more notably to the Philippines during the Haiyan typhoon, to taking time oﬀ from busy schedule to spend time with the elderly at a home in Amsterdam and aiding in replenishing works in collaboration with 10,000 hours foundation alongside designing Nicky Romero merchandise with Electric family. Other than having larger than life talent, this DJ also has a heart of gold. Nicky Romero has undoubtedly established himself as one of the industry’s most hardworking and impressive talents. In a scene saturated with similar sounds, Romero is a breath of fresh air as his tenacity behind the decks is unrivaled, and this coupled with his fervent work ethics, has seen the Dutchman seal himself a seat amongst his peers in the higher echelons of the electronica industry.

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As this Dutchman’s star continues to burn brighter, DJ MAG ASEAN decided that it was about time we caught up with this man on a mission to talk about what jump-started his career and how he’s expanding his empire. Hi Nicky! Tell us about your journey to stardom. How did you go from playing drums to helming turntables? It all started when I was working in a bar called Scoop in my hometown in Holland. I was working there doing random jobs like picking up glasses, and working at the cloakroom but I always envied the resident DJ as I thought it was so awesome how he managed to work the crowd! He caught on to this, and one night gave me 30 minutes out of his set time! I absolutely loved it and to be honest it was that moment when I knew I wanted to become a DJ myself. I started working really hard at home creating my own beats and getting my music out there. It all happened really quickly and I was really lucky to have gained support from some massive names in the game. Who or what were your biggest influences or motivators when you first started out in the industry?

COVER STORY

David Guetta was obviously a massive support and mentor to me as he invested a lot of time showing me the ropes and helping me get my music heard! How has your musical background helped with the production side of things over the years? It’s only natural that if you have a musical background it’s going to help you to an extent when you’re in the studio, creating new sounds and just having a general understanding of what goes into making and producing a song. You were born and bred in The Netherlands, a country that churns out a large number of famed DJs year after year. Do you think that Holland’s tight connections with electronic music nudged your involvement in the industry? Probably! As you say, The Netherlands is renowned for electronic music and we have a lot of great DJs coming from here. I suppose being born in a country that has such an amazing dance music culture influenced me on a subconscious level. You’re the head honcho of Protocol Recordings and also have

a weekly radio show, Protocol Radio. What made you decide to start up the record label and the radio show? What sets Protocol Records apart from the other labels in the industry? I have been so lucky to be able to fulfill my dreams as an international DJ and I want to be able to oﬀer other people that chance. Setting up Protocol Recordings was always a huge ambition of mine and I’m so proud of how far we’ve come with it. We also made the decision early on that we wanted to focus heavily on quality and not quantity so we only release one single a month that we really believe in and can focus all our eﬀorts on. As for the radio, again that was another dream of mine. We recently celebrated the 150th episode with a live show, which was really nerve-wracking but a lot of fun. I’d love to try and do more of them if we can! How has owning a label changed your perspective on music and the industry? To an extent, I suppose it has. Obviously you have to approach it with a very business minded attitude, more so than turning up to an event and playing a set. I’m lucky to have a fantastic team that live and breathe the label with me. We now get hundreds

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even have your own video game. What is your secret to success? I’d have to say a great team - I wouldn’t be where I was today without the awesome team that I have with me. Speaking about your video game, we see that you’re quite a Call of Duty and Fifa fan but what made you want to create Play Nicky? Do you see yourself becoming more involved in the gaming industry? FIFA is my favourite. It was just something that we’d been talking about for some time and we thought it would be a fun thing to do for the DJ Mag campaign this year. We just released the full version so you can now play it on your mobile too. It’s available in the Apple Store & Google Play Store now. The Nicky Romero name is largely associated with the Guy Fawkes mask. You’ve said that it started out as a way to stand out in the crowd but it has grown into something bigger than that. What does the mask symbolise to you now? It’s just amazing to see fans now bringing the masks to festivals and gigs and it is such a visual reminder of the love and support I get from my fans on a daily basis. I recently played my first ever gig in Japan at Ultra Japan and the amount of people that turned up with the masks was truly overwhelming. I’ve never seen anything like it before. You pretty much have your hands full with touring and producing and heading a record label. What do you do in your downtime? How do you relax? FIFA of course! We even had it set up backstage for people to play at my gig in Amsterdam last week. Jokes aside, I try to spend time with my friends and family as much as possible.

photos by : RUDGR of demos every week and we go through each and every one of them. It can be a lot to handle but it’s exciting as you never know when you’re going to uncover the ‘next big thing’ - I love that element of the job. Do you see the Protocol label expanding further into various new ventures? It’s certainly possible! We’re currently expanding our Protocol label nights and have done some major events around the world, including Miami, London, New York and just had another really successful sold-out show at this year’s ADE. Alongside the label and radio show, you also have Protocol Flight - a Youtube series that follows you on your travels and your tour antics. Did you ever think of turning it into a reality show? Haha, that has never crossed my mind actually, but could be a good one. Would you guys want to watch that?!! At 26, you’ve managed to become a chart topping DJ, a mainstage mainstay, record label owner, DJ Mag ranker and

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You recently made a trip down to Asia for Ultra Japan and Singapore. How did you like the region? Will we be seeing you here more often? As I mentioned, I couldn’t believe the response that I got from the fans in Japan and in Singapore. It’s an incredible part of the world and I can’t wait to come back again, hopefully for longer this time! We saw your acting debut in “We Are Your Friends”. Do you see yourself pursuing or dabbling in the film industry in the future? ‘We Are Your Friends’ was great fun to be a part of and who knows what will happen in the future! You have quite a prominent and influential role in the dance music industry. In your opinion, which up and coming DJ should we look out for? I’d have to say the duo Volt & State. They just remixed the new Protocol x ADE Compilation and absolutely tore up the decks at Melkweg in Amsterdam for our ADE opening party. If you haven’t heard of them, get to know them! Also, Arno Cost is absolutely killing it right now! What is Nicky Romero’s guilty pleasure? Burgers!

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BEST OF THE REGION [ MALAYSIA ] CHUCKIESS & WHACKBOII [ PHILIPPINES] MARTIN LUGTU

[ SINGAPORE] DJ GHETTO

[ INDONESIA ] ARCHIE

BEST OF THE REGION

MALAYSIA

CHUKIESS & WHACKBOI 30

MALAYSIAN DJ DUO, CHUKIESS & WHACKBOI ARE SENDING RIPPLES THROUGH THE DANCE MUSIC COMMUNITY. DRIVEN PURELY BY THEIR PASSION AND LOVE FOR MUSIC, THIS DUO IS READY TO SPREAD THEIR GOOD VIBES AND SIGNATURE STYLE OF ELECTRONIC GROOVES TO PARTIES THE WORLD OVER. SET TO TAKE THEIR MUSIC TO HIGHER LEVELS, DJ MAG ASEAN HAD A QUICK CHAT WITH CHUCKIESS & WHACKBOI TO TALK ABOUT SAVING THE RAVE AND HOW THEIR ELECTRONICA JOURNEY HAS BEEN THUS FAR.

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understand and who doesn’t love music? We grew up listening to Electronic Music and Electronic Music is in our blood. That’s why we’re trying to do something to show our love by sharing & playing Electronic Music for the people. Shout out to DJ MAG ASEAN, you guys contribute a lot to saving to the scene too. #PLUR What have been your achievements thus far and how have they changed your career? C&W: Wow, yeah we’ve achieved most of our goals lately but there’s still a lot that we need to achieve to reach that ‘level’. Hard work and teamwork is highly needed to reach those goals. It’s all been life changing so far and we are very thankful for that. It is truly a blessing from our supporters, family & friends. We would love to say thank you to those who’ve been there and always supported us . You guys rock!

Hi there! How did the two of you meet and how did Chukiess & Whackboi come to be? C&W: Hello DJ MAG ASEAN! Thank you for having us for this interview. Okay let’s do this. C: How did Chukiess & Whackboi come to be? Well, we were performing solo before we partnered up and became a DJ Duo. I’m a Producer & DJ based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia while Whackboi is also a Producer & DJ based in Sabah, Malaysia. W: We met through the social network, when I (Whackboi) used to do my daily routine by sending my demo tracks to several DJs, and one of the track receivers was Chukiess. Chukiess was impressed by my production. Then we decided to meet up and collaborate on a track. From that point, we found our ‘Chemistry’ in the way we work and we decided to be partners with ‘Chukiess & Whackboi’ as our oﬃcial stage name. How did you decide on your stage names? C: I was active in dancing before I started my career as a DJ. People used to call me Chukie. What’s with that double ‘S’? I got it from my dance crew’s initial ‘Spoiler

S EOPVTEEMMBBEERR 22001 155 // DDJJ MMAAGG AASSEEAANN N

Shuﬄer’, ‘SS’. W: Yes, I admit that is a weird stage name for a DJ. I got my name from my personality. When you translate Whackboy into the Malay language, it means ‘Budak Gila’ or ‘Crazy guy’ in English. C: You can see his style & attitude while performing on stage. He’s crazy! How would you guys describe your sound? C&W: We like to describe our sound as an energetic dance-floor driven fist-pumping sound. Our sound is a mix of energetic Electro-House with some nice blends of Progressive-House flavor with sprinkles of banger Trance tracks. We really love to surprise the crowd by playing unexpected genres to close our set, for example Hardstyle, Psychedelic-Trance, etc. Chukiess & Whackboi’s motto is #savetherave. Why is that so and how do you think we can save the scene in our region? C&W: The rave scene in Malaysia is really small and we’re trying to connect and unite people with music especially Electronic Dance Music listeners, because music is the universal language that people

What sets you apart from other DJs out there? C&W: It is definitely the quality of our music, performance and our profile. We give 100% in our honest energetic performance, and we deliver only and strictly the best, just for you guys. Talk to us about your most memorable experience as a DJ? C&W: Actually, every gig that we play becomes memorable experiences for us, but nothing is more memorable than when you see people from different races, different religions and different political views unite as one in the name of music. It is pure satisfaction to experience wonderful magic like that! 2015 has been a busy year for you guys; tell us what do you have in store for 2016? C&W: We’ve got unreleased tracks in collaborations with few well-known Producers and DJs that will be released next year, and we’ve got gigs outside of Malaysia on our schedule. 2016 is going to be an interesting year. If you could stage a rave anywhere in the world, where would it be? C&W: The world is our stage, the stage is our world. But first, work smart, work hard and in the end, it’ll pay.

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BEST OF THE REGION

[VIETNAM]

SINGAPORE

DJ GHETTO

WITH HIS SICK BEATS AND ERUPTIONS OF SOUND, THIS DJ IS SET TO TAKE OVER THE DANCE MUSIC MOVEMENT IN THE REGION. DJ GHETTO IS STEALING SHOWS WITH HIS TRADEMARK STYLE AND LARGER THAN LIFE PERSONALITY AS HE FANS TAKE OVER THE DANCE FLOOR. WE CAUGHT UP WITH THIS DJ WHO IS CLOCKING HUGE SUCCESS IN HIS CITY TO TALK ALL THINGS DJING AND TEASE.

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Hi DJ Ghetto! Tell us about your journey in this industry. How did it all start out? I chanced upon a documentary “Skratch”, which was about turntablism and was very curious about the sound when you moved the vinyl back and forth. I was amazed that it could become an instrument to produce sick sounds. It was then I saved up my hard earned money to buy my first pair of turntables. I began picking up the art. The rest was history. What is the story behind your stage name DJ Ghetto? I come from a humble background, not born with a silver spoon. I had a tough childhood and mixed around with “bad” company thus, the name Ghetto (a.k.a back from the hood). You are a two time DMC World DJ Champion. Tell us about that experience. How has your life changed since then? Hahahah, sorry! I wasn’t the world champion; it was only the Singapore DMC competition that I came up first. Initially, my mom was against the idea, thinking that this DJing thing had not much of a future. But it was then I wanted

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to prove her wrong. So I carried on doing what I believed in. My mom unfortunately, was diagnosed with late stage cancer on the week of the competition. It was a tough experience but I had to do what I had to do and just proceeded with the competition. With a heavy heart, I gave the competition my all and it turned out well. After winning my first competition, I was given the opportunity to be a resident DJ at Zouk (Singapore). It was a life changing experience as I never expected myself to land a place at the best nightspot in Singapore. It was every DJ’s dream to spin there. Being a two-time Champion, what advice would you give young up and comers? Do what you love and love what you do. Don’t do it for the sake of doing. Do something that you are passionate about and you will never work a day in your life. What made you want to launch TEASE CD? It was an initiative by ZOUK along with UNIVERSAL MUSIC Singapore to launch our defunct night, Tease which featured myself and our former resident DJ, Eclipse.

It was a fun experience. What is your take on Asia’s electronic music scene? Currently, the EDM scene is here to stay. It has grown into something so massive that even radio stations begin to broadcast songs by well-known producers of the EDM scene. The EDM scene will constantly evolve and we as DJs have to adapt to the crowd while trying to “educate” them on what’s new and upcoming. What’s in the works for you in the coming year? What can fans look forward to? Currently, looking forward to a better and ever lasting TGIW. As Zouk is now moving to a new location, I hope I can build a crowd that will speak of the “TGIW” experience. Three things DJ Ghetto can’t live without? Music, Handphone and Beer (Hahahah!). What is your ‘never fail’ track? David Guetta feat. Sia - Titanium

BEST OF THE REGION INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

MARTIN LUGTU

MARTIN LUGTU, THE MULTI-TALENTED RESIDENT DJ OF TIME MANILA TALKS TO US ABOUT HIS DREAM LINE-UP AND REGULAR RADIO SHOWS ON FRISKY RADIO. HE CLAIMS ‘NO MUSIC, NO LIFE’, SO READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS MANILA-BASED DJ.

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The rave that had the biggest impact on me was Monster Massive in 2000. Seeing Armand Van Helden play House to thousands of dancing freaks was pretty wicked. Also getting lost in Miami for a couple of days during WMC was quite and experience. Who are your international and local influences, and how did they inspire you? Internationally, I was influenced by Deep Dish, Steve Lawler, Danny Howells, Creamer and K, Satoshi Tomiie, SOS, just to name a few. Their music connected to me at that time. Locally, Manolet Dario has always been one of the people that I’ve looked up to in this industry. What is your trademark as a DJ and producer? What is your music philosophy? I wouldn’t really call myself a producer. I gave it a shot a couple years ago and let’s just say, I’ll leave that up to the pros! As a DJ, my trademark is I don’t smile too often. Kidding! I don’t have a trademark. I play what I feel is right at the moment. I don’t like long breakdowns and build ups. I like keeping things moving. I play a song for 2 minutes and change it up. I like keeping my sets deep, dark and dirty. My music philosophy is: No music, no life.

You were already drawn to music by the age of 3 and it progressed when you got older. Tell us the story about how you got into Deep House, House, and Techno music? I was a kid of the 80’s and 90’s. I was heavily influenced by new wave and hip-hop. They were synth heavy, repetitive, analogue and had attitude. It was in the late 90’s that I got my first electronic CD, which was Sasha and Digweed’s Northern Exposure, and it blew my mind. Living in LA back in the early 2000’s, having friends working in record stores and throwing parties every week got me exposed to House and Techno. I guess I favor these genres because its foundation has been a part of my musical background. You’ve been around Los Angeles, Florida, London, and Manila. Any particular special memory that was pivotal to you as an artist? Too much to mention, and some not safe to mention, LOL. I started out as a Trance DJ. It was one evening back in 2001 that I walked into Giant, one of the bigger clubs in LA and saw Deep Dish rocking the mainroom. Their set absolutely blew my mind. At that time, I’d never heard of anything like it. It was deep, dark, bouncy and very edgy. It had some fine touches of Trance, and it was rocking! That would probably be my most pivotal moment as an artist. That night changed my life. You’ve exposed yourself to a lot of festivals. Which festival was the most memorable and made the biggest impact to you and how?

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Tell us about Manila Underground and Mood Swings on Friskyradio? Manila Underground is the brainchild of Alinep, my co-resident DJ in TIME. We’re basically a group of weirdos from Manila who share the same passion for underground dance music. Mood Swings is a radio show which I host on Friskyradio. It’s a 2-hour show of my very moody mixes. It’s Mood Swings because you’ll never know what to expect from every episode. www.friskyradio. com/show/mood_swings What are your thoughts on the local music scene in the Philippines and Southeast Asia? Currently, the only exposure I have to the local scene is what we host at TIME, and I am very happy with it. We get to play the music that we believe in to some of the most open minded and very responsive people. Everything else outside of that venue doesn’t really catch my attention. As far as Southeast Asia, I have very minimal exposure to the scene at the moment. I saw Loco Dice in Hong Kong last year, and that was lots of fun! If you were to create your own event, who would be your dream lineup, and where would your dream location be? My dream line up would be too many to mention. It would have to be a 3-day party of some sort, LOL. Marco Carola B3B Loco Dice, also Davide Squillace B2B Matthis Tanzmann would be a dream to watch, though. As for location, somewhere close to the ocean is always a good venue. Name 3 tracks you find that captures you as a person / DJ? Orbital – Halcyon On and On Chab – The Dub Sessions (Cooler Dub) Carlo Lio – Coppa

BEST OF THE REGION

INDONESIA

ARCHIE 3366

BEING A CONTRIBUTOR TO JAKARTA’S NIGHTLIFE SINCE 2011, HE HAS SHARED THE STAGE WITH PROMINENT FIGURES IN THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE SCENE SUCH AS DETROIT SWINDLE, SAN SODA AND SOULECTION’S SOSUPERSAM. WITH A VERSATILE STYLE, HIS SETS AND SOUNDS SPREAD ALL OVER FROM HIP-HOP, FUTURE SOUL, BOOGIE, D&B, TRAP, HOUSE, TECHNO AND UK BASS. IN 2012, ARCHIE STARTED THE TRIMONTHLY KETOPRAK MALEM NIGHT AT TREEHOUSE, WHERE HE PROVIDED A PLATFORM FOR DJS TO PLAY WHATEVER GENRES THEIR RESIDENCES WOULDN’T ALLOW AND WERE RARELY FOUND IN THE BIGGER CLUBS AROUND THE CITY.

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How did you get into all of this? It all started in 2008. I’ve always loved collecting vinyls since 2004 but I didn’t even have a record player! Then when I was studying in Malaysia, there was a deal in the music store I went to – 2 Numark decks and a mixer for around $400 USD? My roommate then was also a vinyl collector so we split the equipment like “Ok, the left deck is mine, the right deck is yours we keep the mixer in the middle”! Then I learned how to mix. It wasn’t really beat matching technically because I was collecting all kinds of music on vinyl but it definitely helped shaped my sound because I play a vast range of genres now and that early stage helped me learn how to jump genres in a cohesive way regardless of tempo and BPM. What kind of music were you collecting? Anything man. As long as my ears say yes, then it’s a go. What are your influences like? I was into Jazz, D&B and Hip Hop. D&B and Hip Hop actually have a really thin line between them and similar tempos so you can jump back on forth quite easily between the two. I mean the vibe is obviously different but you can always bridge between the two with the right kind of selection. The thing is that they’re just categorized in different genres. I hate that word… “Genre”. Speaking on mixing genres together, tell us about your monthly night Ketoprak Malem at Tree House? All the DJs playing were bringing something different to the table.

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We had House, Disco, Jungle, Juke, Footwork and I was playing chill Trap so we decided to just call it Ketoprak Malem. Like, when you’re starving in the middle of the night and you’re looking for Ketoprak (a common Indonesian street food) to eat and you randomly come across the guy selling it by accident, it’s always gonna taste good right? And if you’re eating it in front of the dude who made it for you- even if it tastes like crap you still have to smile and pretend like you’re enjoying it, hahahh! How long has the night been going on? Ever since I came back after University, so the first show was probably sometime in 2012. Why do you prefer to play Vinyl over CDJs and Serato? Because it’s right there in my hands, it’s timeless. It’s like a physical representation of the music and I can pass it on to my children and they can be like “Damn, my dad’s been playing this since ages ago”. That’s the goal anyway. So it’s like a legacy thing. Yeah yeah yeah. Any upcoming projects in the works? I’m doing a collab with my friend Bayu who’s based in Australia, called Naughty by Mature. We’re gonna do a vinyl only, no digital release. We’ve got like an Italo sound on the A side and proper Techno vibes on the B-side. Just wait for that one man.

BEST OF THE REGION

QUEST THROUGH VIETNAM

Vietnam’s Quest Festival returns for its fifth edition, this time bigger and better than ever before. The cross cultural camping festival brings together thousands of revelers for a celebration of art, music, dance, adventure and freedom of expression. Located at Son Tinh Camp, the tranquil site will host a three-day festival that will feature headlining acts like Mighty Mouse (UK), Belitu(HR), Coran (AUS), DJ Instinct and over 70 other bands and DJs. Festival revelers can look forward not only to their intense lineup but amazing visuals, interactive performances, engaging workshops as well as various adventures. This year’s festival is themed “Monster Quest”, a playful celebration of all things ghastly and ghoulish. Cop your tickets to Vietnam’s dance music and cultural festival before it’s too late! https://www.questfestival.net/

UNLEASHING BEATS

The craziest party series is back for its 6th instalment! UNLEASHED 6! Headlined by two of the world’s best international DJ acts Dada Life and Makj! U6 will also feature the talents of local superstar DJs Katsy Lee, Kat DJ, Ace Ramos, Mars Miranda, Nix Damn P, Carlo Atendido, Marc Marasigan and Travis Monsod. UNLEASHED 6 has also partnered up with the Guinness World Book of Records as the event goes for the record of world’s largest pillow party ever! They’re throwing a “The Sleeping Dead”, Zombie themed slumber pre-party! How cool is that? Honestly, Weedoo are definitely outdoing themselves this year. Set to take place on November 14 at the Mall of Asia, we definitely think you should cop your tickets and unleash the party animal in you!

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

HYPED FOR HYPERSONIC

Vietnam has another addition to its list of burgeoning dance music festivals. Bia Saigon’s Hypersonic is set to debut this year and is definitely starting out with a bang as it’s being headlined by DJ Mag’s #2 Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike! The full lineup is yet to be released but it’s looking like Hypersonic is going to be a good one folks. Taking place at Military Zone 7 Stadium on November 27, Hypersonic would be the perfect way to end the month.

WET & WILD IN UTOPIA

We suggest you pack on up and head over to Thailand this November 28th for the Ultimate Water Festival Experience. Waterzonic 2015 is heading our way once again and this time, be ready to experience “Utopia”- created for you to fully immerse in your imagination and go beyond your senses. This year the folks behind Waterzonic are bringing you dance music’s hardhitters - Dimitri Vegad & Like Mike as headline alongside W&W, Dannic, Goldfish & Blink, and mind you they have yet to announce their Phase 2 line up and we’re already hyperventilating. So get your hands on those tickets fast before you miss out on a wet and wild weekend at SCG Stadium, Thailand. http://waterzonic.com/

ELECTRIFYING RUN!

SEA-RIFFIC TIME ON IT’S THE SHIP

It’s The Ship sails back again this year as The Livescape Group hosts the floating festival for yet another year. The three-day sea voyage festival sets sail from Singapore into the straits of Malacca towards Malaysia and back again as your rub shoulders with the who’s who of the dance music scene. This year we’ve got Kaskade, Showtek, Far East Movement, Doorly, Ferry Corsten, Thomas Newson and Marco V with additional names yet to be announced. It’s already looking to be a sea-riﬃc time on board. The second installment of IT’S THE SHIP takes place aboard the luxurious 70,000 tonne Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner Of The Seas from November 20 – 23 with a pit stop in Langkawi for a show-stopping private beach party to remember. You can bet we’ve got our swimwear packed and ready, and we’ll see you there! http://www.itstheship.com/

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

ELECTRIFYING RUN!

BEST OF THE REGION

KYO : RELOADED + RECHARGED

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DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

he Lion City is set to keep all you party animals roaring through the night especially at the new and improved Club Kyo. Deep in a skyscraper’s basement sits one of Singapore’s famed night spots, an underground night club that draws you into its ever so alluring abyss of elemental music and visionary art. Tucked away in Keck Seng Tower, Kyo has built itself quite a reputation amongst locals and tourists for being a hideaway from the bustling city. They’ve honed the art of escapism, creating a space where patrons are able to have a night out away amidst a minimalistic and relaxed ambience. What was formerly a bank, the space was revamped into accommodating over 200 patrons seeking a hideaway from the dreaded workings of the day. Founded by Godwin P. and Ross Glasscoe, kyo first opened in 2013 at a cost of S$1.8 million, featuring a restaurant and club. As time passed, kyo became increasingly popular as a club. The folks behind the establishment took on a week-long S$400,000 facelift to transform and reinforce kyo as Singapore’s new and improved clubbing destination. The facelift, at what is now known to be kyo 2.0 is sexier, sharper and sleeker with a spanking new pimped-out dance floor boasting dark woods, adding to the feel good vibes of the venue. Inspired by escapism from the busy streets above, the new kyo is adorned with earthy tones, wood furniture, and bronze wall panels exuberating a contemporary Japanese feel. kyo also features a new bigger and better DJ booth allowing your favorite DJ’s to spin all your jams as the beats reverberate through you. The journey into this underground realm begins at street level as its larger than life doors welcome you into a realm of carefree vibes and eclectic rhythms. As you descend down the stairs towards the pulsing beats, you will be able to see the gradual transition into the sexier and sleek adorning’s of this adult playground. Visual artwork from local and foreign artists adorn the walls of kyo, adding life to the minimalistic interior of the establishment. The folks behind this underground hub have also commissioned Singapore-based British artist Lucas Burrows to feature his series of works, some of which are in collaboration with Heineken. The establishment also boasts the city’s longest bar measuring 24m that is stocked with spirits, fine wines, and beers alongside an impressive list of Japanese whisky and decadent sakes. Patrons get to be spoiled for choice when seeking to get inebriated before you shimmy on your way onto the massive dance floor. And get this; the club aims to produce at least one drink per minute! kyo stays true to its founding spirit and remains the only dance club in its vicinity that regularly features musically progressive artists both local and international, becoming a music hub for fans seeking out quality electronica. And to cater to this, during their facelift this year, the folks at kyo introduced the innovative American built EAW sound system, adding four more EAW subwoof-

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

BEST OF THE REGION

ers to its existing set-up, additional top speakers, and amplifiers that beef up sound and power. The revamp has enhanced the electro acoustics at kyo allowing acts to deliver high performance audio. kyo’s founder Godwin Pereira says “We would achieve a better ambience and mood settings in the venue and on the dance floor. Some software updates for the lighting controls and two new lights.” Since its inception, kyo has brought in a string of talented acts and music greats such as Ian Pooley, Robert Owens and Darren Emerson alongside various emerging acts onto their roster. The establishment has four new residents, Haan, Zig Zach,

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Michael, and Titus who have joined four other long time names bringing it to a total of eight resident DJs pumping out hits. The kyo homeboys are Andrew Chow, Godwin P, Norman C, Shigeki who all have years of experience in the electronica scene. Unlike various other clubs, kyo plays a spectrum of music that keeps the crowd happy. There are four new nights at the basement - first oﬀ, is Tropic Lab that features Haan and Jamie React who spin house, minimal, funk and techno beats. Blackout is helmed by Zig Zach and Danny Fry who spin tech house. weelikeme and KiDG host Poptart, that churns out indie tunes and is a monthly potent dose of pop, punk, alternative, postrock, twee, electro, rock and Britpop. The last addition is Footwork, hosted by Ramesh K and Godwin P, who spin house music rhythms aimed at your dancing feet. Plus, a new Wednesday sound Tune, catered for mainstream audiences. This is on top of its existing seven independent music nights. All in all, the basement club will feature a total of five new programmes to a total of 15 music nights, from Wednesdays to Saturdays. kyo was a finalist for the Best Nightspot

Where The PArTY COMeS ALIVe

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

PArTY ON!

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

Experience in the Singapore Experience Awards 2014 and is also recognized as a world class clubbing venue recognized by various publications. kyo’s founder Godwin Pereira, who is behind its concept, says: “The V2.0 of kyo signals an important phase for the brand and for the team, who brought kyo to where it is today. kyo was conceived and born in a time where commercial music was at its peak in clubland Singapore. It was the underdog, one that went against the grain of mainstream music trends. Our belief in delivering quality electronic music to the masses persevered and kyo’s success has a lot to do with that.” He adds: “Music aside, we also believe in oﬀering a good atmosphere and experience at kyo. We study, analyse consumers’ behaviour, trends and preferences. We engage them on a regular basis in the process of improving kyo for their enjoyment. That plays an important part in fine-tuning kyo and this is an ongoing process for the management and team.” Pereira adds that kyo’s rebirth in Singapore also paves the way for the brand’s expansion. Limited Edition Concepts, which runs kyo Singapore is said to be hashing out plans to open its second venue in Kuala Lumpur. Preparations are said to be underway for this basement club in Malaysia.

BEST OF THE REGION KYO 2.0

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reLOADeD + reChArGeD

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

BEST OF THE REGION

revelry

DOUBLE THE FUN AT DUPLEX

If you’re in Cambodia and looking to check out the nightlife, then we suggest you hit Duplex over at Wat Langka. The two floor entertainment venue houses a restaurant, bar, lounge and even a club. The Duplex restaurant welcomes guests with its vintage and modern architecture and décor. The folks behind this establishment had the key intention of creating a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere. The restaurant oﬀers a variety of food and drink options. Once the sun sets, the restaurant turns into a dimly lit lounge for you to sit back and take in the night ahead. If you’re looking for a wild night out, then all you’ve got to do is just head on up to the first floor and party it on up at D-Club - a stylish club featuring a fully stocked bar with a wide selection of cocktails and spirits. Open daily from 9pm to 2.30am, this establishment boasts an eclectic blend of music spun by some of Phnom Penh’s best DJs as well as special appearances by international acts ever so often. The club’s philosophy is simple, they play the best if everything, from Rock to Electro. Oozing good vibes and high energy levels, Duplex is the next entertainment venue to love. And get this, they even have special Salsa nights where they teach you some swanky new moves!

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Address: N°3, Street 278. Wat Langka. BKK 1. Phnom Penh. Cambodia. http://www.duplex.com.kh/

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

LUSH SAIGON

For more than 10 years, Lush has been on the top tier of Saigon’s nightlife establishments. Its contemporary structural design alongside its spectrum of music selections, and exquisite oﬀerings make it one of the must visit clubs in Ho Chi Minh City. Lush’s interior design sets it apart from the various other clubs in the vicinity, with three distinctive areas catered to the needs of its various patrons. Its sophisticated and modern front garden is a quiet area to have a delightful dinner with friends or family. The back garden flaunts a bustling bar where trendy urbanites both local and foreign mingle in the moonlight. Meanwhile the main attraction is Lush’s buzzing and electric interior, where stylish graphics adorn walls, comfortable lounge seating attracts guests, and an exciting bar area for patrons to choose their poison make up the vibrant atmosphere of the establishment 7 days a week. Lush’s feature design is its iconic and exciting motif inspired novels and manga’s. The club is also full of jaw dropping graphics that contribute to its electrifying atmosphere. One of the main focuses of the Lush experience is of course the music. Lush has long been a trend-setter in Saigon, bringing a great selection of music everyday as they introduce new styles and genres to the local nightlife scene. The establishment’s resident DJs and musical acts play the very latest sounds from hip hop to house over their unbeatable sound system that ensures patrons will feel the rhythm in their bones. Lush manages to retain a unique Vietnam vibe through it all, so we suggest you hit up Lush on your next trip to Saigon.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

LUSH SAIGON | 2 Ly Tu Trong, Dist. 1 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam http://www.lush.vn/

BEST OF THE REGION

ULTRA BEACH BALI

aking good on their promise of a ‘Ultra Worldwide Takeover’, the Miami based festival expanded their reach to South East Asia covering dates in Korea, Thailand, Japan, Macau and of course Indonesia. Taking two dates on the 24th and 25th of September 2015, Ultra Bali took place at the Potato Head Beach Club and the W Hotel. As expected, the much sought after and highly demanded festival sold out its pre-sale tickets quickly and a sweaty crowd of well over 10,000 “Ultranauts” got down to the backdrop of Bali’s breathtaking blue sky and beach. The first day brought down House giants Alesso and Kygo who really need no introduction after the stellar year they’ve had churning out non-stop hits. As if that wasn’t enough, they received support from Ansolo, House veteran Fedde Le Grand, along with Deep House darlings Gorgon City and Vicetone. The second day’s lineup showed no sign of losing momentum either. Skrillex finally made it down to Indonesia! The genre-jumping producer was given a warmest of welcomes by his adoring fan base and received support from fellow Dubstep duo Zeds Dead along with A-Trak , Sasha and Mija. You know when A-Trak is listed as a “supporting” artist that it’s gonna be a good night and Ultra Bali did not disappoint.

PICTURE : Barrie Martelle

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NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

BEST OF THE REGION

ROAD TO ,ULTRA , PHILIPPINES HYDRO MANILA

PICTURE : Barrie Martelle

ast September 26, 12,000 dance music enthusiasts made there way to Road to Ultra: Philippines held in the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. Headlined by Skrillex; W&W, Zeds Dead, A-Trak, Fedde Le Grand, Mija, Vicetone and Justin Oh were part of the international lineup. To match these stellar performers, the local lineup is some of Manila’s best, namely Ace Ramos. Tom Taus, Nix Damn P, KBH (Keith Haw), Knoxville (John Monreal) and MC Pao. Road to Ultra is from the same producers of Ultra Worldwide, the colossal music festival that originated from Miami. The country series of Road to Ultra are Thailand, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

BEST OF THE REGION

party

SKRILLEX, KL LIVE VENUE: KL LIVE ADDRESS: Jalan Sultan Ismail , KL CITY: Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

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ILAN BLUESTONE ANJUNA BEATS WORLWIDE TOUR 2015 VENUE: Colosseum Jakarta ADDRESS: Jl.Kunir No 7 West Jakarta CITY: Jakarta , Indonesia

N AO UG VE UM S TB E2R0 1250 1/ 5D /J DMJA M G AAGS EAAS N EAN

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BEST OF THE REGION

party

MORGAN PAGE VENUE: PLAY CLUB ADDRESS: Sky Level 1First Avenue Bandar Utama CITY: Kuala Lumpur

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DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

ELECTRO FREAK SHOW VENUE: Circuit Makati ADDRESS: Global circuit event grounds CITY: Makati City

PICTURE : ARAFILES

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

BEST OF THE REGION

LABEL Syndicate is Singapore’s foremost forward-thinking audiovisual collective and independent record label. As the country’s revolutionary transmitter of beats and visuals culture through the nation, Syndicate represents a spectrum of audio and visuals experimentation from the likes of bass bins, beats baskets & image banks of its audio-visual super collective. The label is driven by its ethos that focuses on experimentation and self-expression. What initially started out as a monthly night at Home Club to redefine the club experience in Lion City, Syndicate insists on challenging their status quo. The independent label’s artist have presented a versatile range of works – from live electronic music showcases to architectural projection mapping, art installations and photography. Since its initiation in 2010, the collective has represented the sunny island in the US and Europe, playing capacity crowds in intimate clubs and international music festivals. SYNDICATE has had various highlights in the five years in the industry, some of which include their Collaborative showcase with Brainfeeder LA VS SG at The Institute for Cinema Studies, Los Angeles in 2011 that featured Kiat, Cherry Chan, Max Lane and Brandon Tay. In that same year, they were the opening international act at Giles

Peterson’s Worldwide Festival in France that showcased Kiat, Vandetta, Cherry Chan, Max Lane and Brandon Tay as well. In 2011, the label also had Kiat and Cherry Chan as the opening act for Photek for the Low End Theory in Los Angeles. One year prior to that, Cherry Chan was the supporting act for Hudson Mohawke at the Red Bull Academy X A Taste of Sonar in London. This December, SYNDICATE will be performing at the Singapore Inside Out Festival. Set to take place on December 4th and 5th, the showcase features artists such as .gif who strive to make electronic music that combines lush soundscapes with lyrics that are intensely personal and hopefully, meaningful. The show will also feature a musical set by NADA, Octover, Cherry Chan, Kiat and many others. The collective is set to deconstruct and reassemble sound concepts & visual ideas with live performances and installations set in various spaces and contexts so we suggest you keep close tabs on them on social media for all the updates. syndicate.sg syndicatesg.bandcamp.com soundcloud.com/syndicatesg facebook.com/syndicatesg

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

WWW.DJMAGASEAN.COM

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[UMEK]

#35 [FEDDE LE GRAND]

#50

[VICETONE]

WWW.DJMAGASEAN.COM

FEDDE GOES FURTHER

edde Le Grand has quickly become one of the most prominent figures in the fast paced world of dance music. His beats, melodies and rhythms put him in a league of his own as he curates’ grand experiences for his fans. It’s no doubt then that he’s remixed for the likes of Coldplay and Madonna. DJ Mag ASEAN caught up with this dance music dynamite after his explosive set at Ultra Beach Bali to talk about his continuous success in the industry. Hi Fedde! How was your trip to Asia? Did you enjoy yourself at Ultra Beach Bali? Yes, loved every minute of it. My Bali show was certainly a highlight as well. The fans really blew me away, especially because for some this was their first experience of an electronic festival the size of Ultra. Tell us about what made you start out in the industry? I don’t really think it has ever been a very conscious decision for me. I’ve just always been so crazy about music that it was all I did. I started out with a drive-in show when

I was really young and things developed on from there; buying and collecting records, downloading cheap music production software and trying to find my sound. I guess it wasn’t until I released ‘Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit’ that I really thought I had ‘broken’ into the industry. But even then I couldn’t have predicted that I’d still be playing festivals around the world and releasing music almost ten years on! It really has been a crazy journey. Who or what have been your biggest influences in the dance music scene? I used to be a big fan of funk artists like Old Parliament and George Clinton who definitely had an influence on my music at an early stage. In terms of electronic artists, I’d say that no one does it better than Jamiroquai - his music blends electronic dance music with old school funk in incredible ways. Eric Prydz also deserves a shout out along with Carl Cox and legends of his liking. It’s a fast-changing world and seeing all-time heroes like them stand the test of time is great.

Talk to us about your 6-hour sets in Bulgaria? It’s actually a returning highlight of my summer. Extremely challenging but extremely cool at the same time. I really enjoy those out of the ordinary things every now and then, and I mean, playing throughout the night, actually watching the sun come up while you’re playing, it’s kind of amazing. Here is my set in 2013: https://soundcloud.com/ feddelegrand/flg-tmfbfans-6hrsliveset You have your own weekly radio show called Darklight Sessions. What brought about the idea to start this up? I actually wanted my own radio show for quite a while as it’s an amazing way to reach out to fans across the globe since you simply can’t be everywhere at once. And at the same time, it’s actually also a great way for me to monitor response on certain tracks and provides the opportunity to every now and then showcase a few tracks I might not always be able to feature in my live sets. You’re working on your Grand Show for 2016. Tell us about what goes on behind the making of the show and what inspired you

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

#35 to create it? GRAND has certainly been the biggest project I have ever undertaken because there was so much to prepare and organize, it wasn’t just any ordinary DJ set! I had thirty Dutch Show ballerinas, live trapeze acts and a load of break-dancers all performing to my music which is something that hasn’t really happened before in dance music so we didn’t know what people would make of it. But I got such great feedback that I thought that it would be stupid not to do it all again a year later! This time though we’re taking it to the Ziggo Dome, which seats over 15,000 people so expect even bigger things. What is it like playing at Cyprus? You have mentioned that there is no other place like Cyprus. Ha, yes! Cyprus, or actually Guaba as the venue is called, is absolutely crazy. I mean it’s certainly not the only place I would recommend, but definitely one of them. Check out this funny video they created a few years back and you’ll know - https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs95ZRNsjjQ Talk to us about your upcoming album, what can fans look forward to? Well, all I can say is that it’s been a long time in the making but is almost finished! Got another two tracks to polish off and then I think I’m ready to present it to the world. Fans can expect some unreleased material as well as some tracks they certainly will recognise, such as Cinematic (with Denny White) which was released earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=6c1q2rVlsWU I’m also trying to take listeners on a journey through different sounds and textures in dance music and I hope that will be reflected in the end product. What are the three most important things a producer needs to possess? Originality, creativity and passion. What is the craziest thing on your rider? Haha, I’ve never really seen the point in asking for mountains of food and drink that you and your team never end up finishing anyway. I just need some cocos water and a definite must is a fan in the booth (meaning a blower!) as I’m always jumping around like crazy and there is nothing more annoying than being thrown off my game because of a sticky t-shirt or whatever! If you were a gladiator, what track would be playing as you enter into the arena? Good question. I think I’d have to go for Insomnia – Faithless because you need a track with epic qualities when walking into that sort of arena, which the track has plenty of... I used to actually practice Pencak Silat at quite a high level, but it’s been so long since I really had the time, would be quite a cliff-hanger to see how I’d go about as a gladiator now! Check out my remix of Insomnia here https://soundcloud.com/feddelegrand/faithless-insomniaflgremix

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

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NOTHING’S STOPPING VICETONE

icetone has seen a rapid ascent into the dance music scene. From remixing for Dim Mak head honcho to releasing tracks on the famed label, Ruben Den Boer and Victor Pool are accomplished DJs at such a young age. This year, the duo’s track “Follow Me” became the anthem for Ultra Miami. DJ Mag ASEAN caught up with the duo to explore all things dance music and cheesy euro-dance. Hi guys! Tell us about how Vicetone came to be. Was it your dream all along to become DJ’s? Yes, our dream was to produce the music that we loved and we started doing that around 3 years ago. After making the first few tracks, our collaboration felt really natural, so we decided to give it a shot and completely focus on music. After a while we started having our first bookings to play shows and that’s where our career as DJs started. We started working even harder from that point on and we feel so blessed that we are still able to make music for a living. For us, it’s the best job in the world.

How would you guys describe your sound to someone who has yet to hear your tracks? Melodic dance music. You just released your track “Catch Me”. What is the story behind the song? This one actually started diﬀerently than our other songs. We were trying to find inspiration from other angles so Victor asked his dad to give him some old CDs that he used to listen to back in the day. On that CD we found a random old song that felt groovy, and that’s where the inspiration started! Ruben already made the bassy drop sound in another idea he had, so we combined it and it worked out perfectly. It sounded massive when we played it out live! Vicetone was recently on an Asia Tour. How was it? Will we be seeing more of Vicetone here in the future? We absolutely loved it! Asia is such an amazing market for dance music right now and we are really happy to be part of this progression. Meeting all the fans on this tour felt great and we cannot wait to be back

there. It’s always an absolute joy for us to tour through all these Asian countries and experience their cultures. And the crowds are fantastic as well! How is it working as a duo? Do you guys have separate tasks when producing or is it a combined eﬀort? Working together on songs is still one of the most eﬀective and fun ways to progress a track, and how we started making music. When we get to a point that a track is almost and it’s only mixdown and detail work that has to be done, we often finish it separately in our own studios. We currently have a house with 2 studios in Los Angeles so we can easily work both separately and together, but the bulk of the work is done together. This year marked the first year you guys conquered the Tomorrowland stage. What was the experience like? It was everything we’d hoped for and more! People from all over the world came to watch our show and the atmosphere throughout the entire set was great. It’s amazing to see how

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

#50 big festivals like these unite music lovers from all over the world, and to be part of that is just such a blessing. There has been much talk about designated set times at festivals being too short. In your opinion how long should a set be for fans to truly have the ultimate Vicetoneexperience? It really depends on the setting and the vibe of the show. The thing with festivals is that there are often many DJs booked on the same stage, so they get a shorter amount of time to play and it might feel rushed to the fans that came out for their favourite DJ. Our sets are energetic from the start so we often like our sets to be around 90 minutes. This way we can play out most of our songs and still get a nice build up and ending to our set. One hour is often good too, depending on the festival.

Bigger things seem to be in store for you guys. What do you have planned in the near future? What can your fans look forward to? There is a lot of exciting stuﬀ coming up! We actually have a lot of tracks finished that we are looking at other ways to get our songs out. We have a remix coming up for two of the biggest DJs on the planet right now. There’s also a big project EP coming up in the near future where we include some very new sounding Vicetone tracks which we are really proud of. Also, some big collaborations and free releases coming up soon, so stay tuned! What is the best advice you have received thus far in the industry? Always stay true to yourself as an artist. People follow you for who you are and the music that you make so don’t follow the trend, but what you really want to make as an artist. What are your guilty pleasures? We love listening to the old cheesy euro-dance from 10 years ago. It’s what we grew up with when we were still in elementary school and we’ve never stopped loving it. It’s classic! What are three things Vicetone can’t live without whilst on tour? We just bought ourselves brand new laptops that are so much faster and lighter than our previous ones! Also, our RME babyface soundcard is a must for music production on the road. Also can’t live without our portable Anker charger - that thing is a lifesaver when you’re out of battery and can’t find a charging station. Cannot be missed when we go on tour!

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

WWW.DJMAGASEAN.COM

UMEK TAPS INTO HIS DARK SIDE

lovenian producer Umek has been in the dance music industry for over two decades and is still going strong. His journey to international stardom from living in a place with an almost non-existant dance music scene is quite a remarkable tale. He continues to push boundaries and create unbeatable blends of music for fans the world over. It was a privilage for us at DJ Mag ASEAN to catch up with this legend and talk about his journey and what he has in store for us. How would you describe your sound? After a period of happier uplifting music, with quite a lot of vocals, I’m leaning again to a bit darker, tougher sounds right now. In the last couple of years, I’ve transitioned from techno to tech-house and even house but now the music is taking me back to techno with a pinch of electro. These oscillations in my sound happen totally unplanned; I just follow the inspiration and the sounds that keep me excited. So now I’m following the dark side again as I’ve heard they have cookies for me.

You are noted as one of the pioneers of dance music in Slovenia. How would you describe the dance music scene when you first began in the industry? It all started in the early 90s. Try to imagine living in an environment without normal event managements, modern radios or other mass media building and supporting the concert and party scene - not even a single decent record shop or magazines covering the latest trends in pop culture. And all this happened at a time, when there was no Internet yet, satellite TV and radio was a rare emerging novelty and we just abandoned the system in which the state controlled everything. In the beginning, it was really hard for me to be in touch with electronic music as the scene in Slovenia was literally non-existent. In the early 90s, I discovered Cool Nights show hosted by Aldo Ivancic, MC Brane and Primoz Pecovnik on a students’ union operated Radio Student. They played all kind of electronic music, from trance, rave, techno, EBM, some really dark stuﬀ … and soon after that they started their nights in the

students’ union club K4. I became a regular and after a while I got introduced to artists such as Jure Havlicek (Anna Lies, Moob, Sare Muratore, now successfully working in the indie-disco scene under a moniker Sare Havlicek) who invited me into his studio and showed me how this music is done. In that time, I was doing my first steps as a producer with two of my colleagues, using an 8-bit Screen Tracker with 4 mono channels, and we sampled our sound from tracks recorded from the radio on tape cassettes. It was far from being professional but we spent all our time doing music. And when Jure showed me his Rolands 808 and 909 and all other legendary machines I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do in my life. As there was no copyright legislature in Slovenia at that time, I started selling pirate cassettes for a local pirate recording label with my friends and soon gathered enough money to buy the first proper sampler from the guys behind the Random Logic project, and Gregor Zemljic - half of this group and now internationally acclaimed guru of studio

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

#70

production - taught me a lot about the music and production later in my career. You started out DJing in your teens, how do you think you have evolved since then? The easiest way to make your own opinion about this is to go online and listen to my early and latest releases or my earliest and currents sets. And if you took time to listen to stuﬀ in between as well, you can see the curve of the evolution of my sound through time. In 22 years of my professional career, practically everything changed: from the tools and techniques for music production, to the hardware and software we use, the sound, light and designs of clubs and other venues we perform at, megalomaniac stages and heavily produced shows at major festivals. Everything is hi-tech now, the way people discover and consume new music has changed… everything changed. For me music was always the first thing in this whole experience and I believe it still is. It’s just that now it’s played in an environment that is upgrading the experience with stimulus for all senses. But without good music all this massive stages and hi tech production don’t work. Music is still the dynamo of the scene and I can’t imagine the day anything else would be more important for a good party. With over two decades of experience being in the industry, what would you say are the three things DJs and Producers need to pay attention to in terms of creating good music? First of all, you need to really know how to use all the hardware and software that is available to you, so that you are aware of

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

everything the tools allow you to do. Then you can make a plan for what you want to achieve and how you are going to do that. That’s where hard work and dedication starts and from that point on you have to be patient and persistent on your path. It’s fair to compliment yourself for what you achieve, but use that mostly as additional motivation to work even harder as the competition is real tough and you should never sleep on your laurels. Creating your own sound is something that every producer should focus on. It’s hard due to a big rivalry and as almost everything has been done already. But now and then an artist still breaks through with a sound that people connect to. It doesn’t even need to be really new - just enough to sound fresh to the current generation of deejays and people who listen to music. What might sound as a recycled sound for me being part of the scene for over two decades, might be much more exciting for somebody that’s new to the scene and didn’t grow up with the music of 80s, 90s and 2000s. You are an award winning, chart topping, globetrotting DJ/Producer/Label Owner with decades of experience under your belt. What is your secret to success? You forgot to list ‘and radio show host!’… Joking. I’d say I’m where I am today mostly because I was really dedicated and persistent. And obviously I would not make it on my own. Nothing happens instantly, overnight and you can’t succeed in this business on your own, as running a decent career in music becomes very complex work. This is why I’m touring the world, producing, running a label, hosting my own radio show.

I’m present on over a dozen social networks, I follow technical development and I’m always looking for a new way to produce and serve my music. As I’ve always pointed out, everything stands on good music. Content is king! What’s keeping you busy for the rest of 2015? Can fans in Asia expect an appearance? I’m not sure I’ll be coming to Asia this year but never say never! I enjoy playing all over the world, as a futuristic and technology obsessed man I’ve always enjoyed visiting Japan especially, and other parts of Asia are becoming more and more exciting as well. Every country is a bit diﬀerent. They have local culture that make them special, but what I can say about Asian fans in general is that they are very excited and passionate about music. In some parts of Asia, the whole electronic culture is booming right now, so I can feel lots of energy like that of early raves in Europe, that is maybe a bit lost after 25 years of this culture in my home turf. I’ve just finished another tour in the Americas, where the scene is also very fresh, so I enjoy playing there as well. I’ll spend most of the following months touring Europe and working in the studio on new music and I’ll be releasing some singles and EPs on my 1605 label. Expect some new Umek tracks, as well as new Zeta Reticula projects and even a follow up of my third moniker Alba Patera. If you developed the ability to fly, what song would you choose to play in the background on your maiden flight? This is a nice and original question. I’d choose Zeta Reticula’s ‘Fonon’ – a track I released this year on my 1605 label. Because it’s a great track and as Fonon is the smallest particle of sound, it flows smoothly through the air.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

RED B Y

D J

M AG

A S E A N

Rolling out the carpet for the modern, stylish and discerning music lover, RED brings you the latest handpicked premium lifestyle must haves from around the globe. Indulge in the finest that fashion can get you in TailoRED, fix your spirits with StirRED, check out the best rides (on and oďŹ&#x20AC; the road) in EngineeRED, and get jacked to the top-class tech and gadgets around town in GeaRED.

[ TA I LO R E D] [PREFERRED ] [STIRRED] [ENGINEERED] [GEARED]

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

p. 68 p. 70 p. 72 p. 74 p. 76

[ TA I LO

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EYE-WEAR INSPIRED BY EXOTIC ORCHIDS Still obsessed with Fendi’s leather flower beautifying the ponytails on their Spring Summer runway? You better try these sassy sunglasses that are part of the same collection - The Orchidea sunglasses. Inspired by the exotic orchids embroidered on the new, ready-to-wear and accessory collection, these sunglasses are a declaration of femininity and sensuality. Oh yes, Karl Lagerfeld has made orchids look more stunning than ever. The palette includes a beautiful combination of transparent and vivid shades, recalling the colours of subtle orchids – Fendi’s new iconic décor. We are particularly obsessed with the geometric lines as well as the chic cat-eye frame. This collection is available at FENDI boutiques and selected highend opticians worldwide. It also set the scene for the opening of the first FENDI boutique – a handbag shop and fur workshop. It’s crazy to think that Fendi’s collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld began in 1965, and continues till today – but we

can see why. Today FENDI is synonymous with quality, tradition, experimentation and creativity, making this line of sunglasses one of the best of 2015.

Orchidea sunglasses Fendi’s Spring Summer 2015

ULTRA LUXURIOUS EDITION OF GIORGIO ARMANI Si FRAGRANCE If you loved Giorgio Armani’s “Si” fragrance, this new

edition will take you to cloud 9 in just a few sprays. To honour the outstanding 40th anniversary of Giorgio Armani’s “Si” fragrance, an exclusive limited edition version has been unveiled – the “Si Edition Murano”. This fine piece of art comes delicately cased in a Murano glass bottle, with an Atelier Salvati created pale pink teardrop sitting on top of a crystal prism. The bottle is also decorated with a fine layer of 24-karat gold leaf. The crystal stopper is decorated throughout with a constellation of golden particles. Similarly to “Si Eau de Parfum Intense”, the limited edition fragrance consists of roughly the same notes; a chypre-based fragrance combined with notes of vanilla, dark wood and amber resin. Accords of cassis jungle essence, bergamot, mandarin, freesia, May rose and neroli absolute follow, with a base of vanilla absolute, gold benzoin, vanilla jungle essence and patchouli. Available from December 1st at $6000 (approximately RM19,300) for a 30 ml bottle, this posh perfume is surely on our most wanted list..

Si Edition Murano

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

DROOLING OVER DENIM Some say denim is forever, and we couldn’t agree

more. Moschino’s Fall 2015 Ready-to-wear and Menswear looks were full of joy as Denim played a dominant role on both runways. From washed-denim, patchwork-denim to even denim caps, we fell in love with the way Jeremy Scott invited us all to go on a denim obsession. We even saw Jeremy in a multicoloured patchwork jumper and acid wash denim pants in the Menswear runway show. During the Ready-to-wear show, we were first reminded about our childhood with Looney Tunes inspired apparel on the models and also a touch of teddy bears. Moving on, this collection unveiled an elevated take on 90’s street fashion with denim and bling-bling accessories taking over (the bling was big and bad indeed!). Moschino ended the RTW show with modern vintage gowns that dazzled us all. It was great to see Gigi Hadid walk the final look like a true pop-princess just before Jeremy Scott popped out with a “Moschino ready to Bear” shirt with a bear on it. Menswear was just as intense. In fact, it felt even

more intense with a setting that reminded us of how winter really feels. Playful patchworks and acid-wash denim was featured in this collection giving us more reasons to love denim. The acid-wash denims really reminded us of a cold icy day during the winter months. Another awesome line by Moschino that makes us totally drool over denim, cos denim never dies.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

[PREFER

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STAY SMART WITH THE NEW TAG HEUER SMARTWATCH

martwatches seem to be high in demand these days, but The Carrera Wearable 01 will be the first smartwatch to pack an Intel processor, and oﬀer functions and features over and above what’s already out there. TAG Heuer, Google, and Intel have partnered to launch a Swiss smartwatch powered by Intel technology and Android Wear, and this is definitely something to be excited about! This partnership indicates a new era of collaboration between Swiss watchmakers and Silicon Valley, bringing together each company’s respective expertise in luxury watchmaking, software and hardware. The collaboration was made oﬃcial at Baselworld, during a press conference held on Thursday, March 19th at the TAG Heuer booth. Jean-Claude Biver, President of the Watch Division LVMH Group and CEO of TAG Heuer, David Singleton, Director of Engineering for Android Wear, and Michael Bell, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s New Devices Group, joined each other on stage.

“By fusing beauty with technology, the Swiss watch has inspired generations of artists and engineers alike—including us at Google. So we’re thrilled to be working with TAG Heuer and Intel to bring a unique blend of emotion and innovation to the luxury market. Together, and using the Android Wear platform, we can imagine a better, beautiful, smarter watch.” -- David Singleton

The Carrera Heuer 01 is both luxurious, and seamlessly connected to its wearer’s daily life. This smartwatch however will only make its debut at a special event in New York on November 9th.

“As we work to enable technology experiences that provide greater utility and value to people, Intel is confident that a collective approach will inspire new innovation in wearable technology. The collaboration with TAG Heuer and Google brings us closer to realising the vision of wearable technology with a distinctive smartwatch that elevates the category,” - Michael Bell.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

INSPIRED BY CALLIGRAPHY, MONTBLANC LEGEND FRAGRANCE GETS A MAKEOVER

riting instruments and calligraphy lie at the heart of Montblanc’s DNA. These elements were a source of inspiration for the design of a new limited edition fragrance from the luxury brand called Montblanc Legend Calligraphy. For the special edition, the Montblanc label chose to decorate the bottle of its iconic men’s fragrance with a cursive Englishstyle typography, drawn in white letters on a dark background. The design of this collector’s bottle features three bands, a signature motif important to the luxury brand. Resembling a signature as if handwritten, the word “Montblanc” in round and arabesque letters is drawn onto the bottle. Inside, the original fragrance remains unchanged. Created by Olivier Pescheux, master perfumer of scents like Lanvin Arpège Pour Homme, 1 Million by Paco Rabanne and Balmain Homme, the fragrance opens on notes of bergamot, exotic verbena, lavender and pineapple leaves associated with jasmine accords, white cedar and rose. The base combines oak moss notes, sandalwood and tonka seed. Montblanc Legend Calligraphy is available starting this month, in limited edition. Price: €73 (approximately RM360) for 100 ml. — AFP-Relaxnews

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

[STIR

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LICENSED TO SWILL: 007 SET TO BOOST VODKA SALES London (AFP) - A vodka brand is set for a likely sales boost after receiving the endorsement of hard-drinking high priest of cool James Bond, according to a study published Tuesday. The British spy is set for his 24th silver-screen outing next month with the release of “Spectre”, but it appears that the 007 agent has another type of spirit on his mind. Belvedere vodka has launched a TV advertising campaign marking its partnership with the film, so cinema-goers can expect to see Bond knocking back plenty of his favourite vodka martini cocktails. The iconic character has increasingly been knocking back the hard stuﬀ, with latest incarnation Daniel Craig judged by far the booziest Bond. He has drunk an average of 20 units of alcohol per film since his debut in 2006’s Casino Royale, according to a study by

British food and drink trade magazine The Grocer. That compares with an average 12 units for Pierce Brosnan, 11 units for Sean Connery and just four or five units per film for Timothy Dalton. The study even linked rising gin sales to a tie-up with the world’s most powerful film franchise. “It’s no coincidence that gin’s revival began around about the time Craig first came bounding out of the sea in those too-tight trolleys (swimming trunks) in ‘Casino Royale’,” it said. “In that film Bond did away with his usual Vodka Martini and knocked back three Vesper Martinis (gin, vodka, vermouth) instead. In the following ‘Quantum of Solace’ he chewed through another six. Craig helped make gin cool again. “With Bond on the Belvedere in Spectre, it looks like voddy is next for the big revival.” Spectre will be Craig’s fourth performance and

will feature Django Unchained actor Christoph Waltz as his arch rival. It is scheduled for worldwide release on November 6. An oﬀbeat study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in December 2013 analysed Bond’s drinking habits, as described in the original Ian Fleming novels. On the days when he was neither incarcerated nor in hospital, 007 glugged down an average 92 units of alcohol a week -- four times the recommended amount. “James Bond’s level of alcohol intake puts him at high risk of multiple alcohol-related diseases and an early death,” the tongue-in-cheek investigation said. It added sardonically: “James Bond was unlikely to be able to stir his drinks, even if he would have wanted to, because of likely alcoholinduced tremor.”

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

MEET MOËT & CHANDON’S ULTRAPREMIUM MCIII CHAMPAGNE

As the world’s most desired champagne, Moët & Chandon needs no introduction, and the French champagne house is now proud to introduce the Moët & Chandon ultra-premium MCIII champagne. According to Moët’s Chef de Cave, Benoît Gouez, MCIII is not only delicious but “pioneering and innovative.” By this, he describes how it blends Grand Cru vintage Champagne into still wines – which is relatively rare. This luxurious alcoholic beverage is showcased in a truly unique champagne bottle that is inspired by the power of three. Moët & Chandon have created a deluxe and eye-catching bottle that intertwines glass, metal, and wood to reflect the groundbreaking maturation process. MCIII is only available in 16 cities around the world (from Sydney to Milan, Barcelona to Miami), with 3,500 of the total 25,000 bottles produced being sold in the UK. Moet maniacs can head over to the UK to grab a bottle!

BYE BEER BONG, CHAMBONG IS HERE Chugging down beer is fun at frat parties and stuﬀ, and with the Chambong, drinking champagne can be just as quirky and fun while you stay classy. Think of it as the sophisticated substitute to the wellknown beer bong. The Chambong – also known as The “Champagne Bong” – is a cheeky new innovation that is aimed at speeding up the process of drinking sparkling wine. ‘America’s newest pastime’ has a four ounce capacity, is made of a dishwasher-safe, high borosilicate glass, and is a great addition to your barware collection. The sleek traditional flute shape looks sexy and is really easy to use. Just tilt the Chambong at an angle until it makes a “V” shape, then pour some champagne slowly and do not let it overfill. Leave 1 inch empty on both ends before you put your mouth over the stem and slowly lift and drink until empty. Have fun and always Chambong responsibly.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

[ENGINEE

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THE SEXIEST ROLLS-ROYCE EVER BUILT

ince 1904, Rolls-Royce has created instantly recognisable motor cars that have made the marque an enduring icon all over the world. We have understood the true elegance ever since, and have never been disappointed. Indeed the company continues to live by the clarion cry of co-founder Sir Henry Royce to “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough.” This has directed the Rolls-Royce design and engineering teams as they worked to pledge a new age for open-top, super-luxury motoring – the brand new Rolls-Royce Dawn, the world’s only true modern four-seat super-luxury Drophead. While the Dawn may seem similar to the 2013 Wraith, the design is almost completely new. Over 80% of exterior body panels on the new Dawn are newly designed to accommodate an evolution of Rolls-Royce’s design language and to encapsulate highly contemporary, four-seat super-luxury Drophead architecture. The only similar exterior parts from the Wraith are the doors and the grille surround. For the real inspiration, the renowned British car-manufacturer looked to the 1952 Silver Dawn Drophead, the last Coachbuilt Rolls. The brand’s design chief, Giles Taylor, set out to create a one of a kind car that was as beautiful with the roof up as it was down, with the main goal of producing “two cars in one”. The primary aim was clear. As you may have guessed by now, the engineering highlight of the new Rolls-Royce Dawn is the new roof. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

ENGINE Engine: cylinders / valves V / 12 / 48 Max power: 563bhp / 420kW / 570PS @ 5250rpm Max torque: 780Nm / 575lb ft @ 1500rpm Fuel type: 10:1 / Premium unleaded1 Top speed: 250kmh / 155mph (governed) Acceleration: 0 - 100km/h4.9sec²

DIMENSIONS Vehicle length: 5285mm / 17.34ft Vehicle width: 1947mm / 6.39ft Vehicle height: 1502mm / 4.93ft Wheelbase: 3112mm / 10.21ft 1 Turning circle: 12.7m / 41.7ft Boot Volume (DIN): 244ltr - 295ltr / 8.6 ft3 10.4 ft3 Weight: 2560kg / 5644lb

The uber-talented engineering team even went so far as to invent a phrase for what they wished to achieve with the roof mechanism. The Silent Ballet. Operating in complete silence in just 22 seconds, and at cruising speeds of up to 50km/h, this ‘Silent Ballet’ engages the majority of one’s senses as silence and seclusion are exchanged for the sounds, light and aromas of the outside world. As if opening an airlock, Dawn lifts the lid on the outside world and its cabin becomes a wider part of the owner’s social space. The most recent developments in LED lighting technology have also been applied to the Rolls-Royce Dawn. The way this light is managed is significantly enhanced by adaptive technology. Electronically controlled reflectors move in the direction of travel in response to wheel turns to give a greater depth of vision when cornering and a whiter, brighter light ensures eﬀortless and safe driving on dark roads whilst helping reduce driver tiredness.

gives it a sensuous yet edgy, almost masculine look whilst the bold sweeping shoulder line becomes more sensuous as it flows over the swell of the rear wheels, accommodating a wider track. The car doors are extraordinary and graceful. The doors complement the long front wings and relaxed waft line, creating a long body profile and a cosseted cabin. This new Rolls-Royce embodies dynamic and social qualities that will attract a broader, younger and more sociallyaware audience around the world. As luxury rides become a part of the young, rich and fabulous’ lifestyle, this would be any young millionaire’s dream ride. What a way to stroll down the city, in this sexy beast.

““Our new Rolls-Royce Dawn promises a striking, seductive encounter like no other Rolls-Royce to date, and begins a new age of open-top, super-luxury motoring. Dawn is a beautiful new motor car that oﬀers the most uncompromised opentop motoring experience in the world. It will be the most social of super-luxury drophead motor cars for those who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s most exclusive social hotspots.” – Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars “Dawn is a Rolls-Royce that feels completely at home on the Route Napoleon. It is a contemporary homage to a life on the Côte d’Azur. The car is a contemporary take on the ‘Casino’ lifestyle. Perhaps seen as cavalier in character it is intended to attract people who relish both freedom and sophistication,” – Giles Taylor, Director of Design.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

[GEA

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NTRODUCING MICROSOFT’S SURFACE BOOK LAPTOP

Microsoft recently launched a killer new product which they described as “the most powerful laptop on the planet.” Even though this is the first ever laptop released by Microsoft, many believe it is the ultimate rival to the current Macbook Pro. After Microsoft’s announcement, the most expensive version quickly sold out on the company’s online store. Now,

every variant is unavailable on the online Microsoft store in the United States, so eager consumers will have to wait until it is oﬃcially available from October 26th, with prices starting at $1,499. The new Microsoft Surface Book is a powerful, high-performance laptop with stunning craftsmanship and incredibly accurate and responsive pen and touch support. Ultrathin, the Surface Book combines the impressive power of 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 processors with up to 12 hours of battery life4. The 13.5-inch optically bonded PixelSense Display delivers a highcontrast 267 dpi display with improved latency and parallax, making it not just

beautiful to look at but natural and fluid to write on. The screen also detaches, so it can be used like a clipboard to sketch, take notes and benefit from Windows programs like Microsoft Edge. An optional discrete GPU allows Surface Book to harness the full power of hardwareaccelerated graphics for seamless video editing, fast rendering or immersive gaming. In a nutshell, with the new Surface book, you now have the choice of using it as a powerful laptop, a portable clipboard or a creative canvas. However you intend to use it, you will still be trendy, as it doesn’t lack in its aesthetics either. Go on, go try out this trendy yet powerful laptop!!

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

EADPHONES CAN BE YOUR HOTTEST ACCESSORY

Gold, Rose Gold & Dark Grey and Carbon Marsala Carbon Fiber and comes with a choice of headbands and buckles so you can choose as you please.

Wearable tech hasn’t always been as fashionable as we hoped. These Pryma headphones however have been raved about by so many fashion bloggers, as it features Italian leather from one of the country’s most exclusive suppliers and gives these headphones the fashion edge it needs. And when fashion bloggers talk, we listen! Made from the same finest leather used by high-end fashion house Bottega Veneta and developed by sound tech experts Sonus Faber, the Pryma headphones will complement your luxury lifestyle as an additional accessory to your sunglasses, handbag, jewellery and other fancy bits and bops. Pryma’s latest collection of fashionable headphones was uniquely inspired by handbags and belts that include delicate detailing of a belt-like buckle to connect the headband to the headphones itself. So stay in style and treat yourself to these luxurious pair of headphones. The collection is available in five designs; Coﬀee & Cream, Pure Black, Heavy

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

4th year in a row: THANK YOU ! WWW . QUENTINMOSIMANN . COM

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

ALL CHANGE AT THE TOP

t’s the poll everybody in dance music is still talking about. Love it or loathe it, DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs awards are still the go-to marker for the international trends in our beloved electronic music scene. The poll has grown organically over the past 20+ years, and has increased in importance exponentially over time because it’s the one set of dance music awards exclusively voted for by clubbers. Worldwide. From every conceivable country you can think of. This year we received almost a million verified votes. There are 20 new entries into the Top 100 DJs poll this year, four re-entries and seven non-movers. 30% of the DJs in the Top 100 – 30, to be exact – are from Holland, reflecting the small European country’s continued dominance of the global dance scene. The US isn’t too far behind them now, with a smattering of DJs also from Germany, Belgium, Sweden, France, Italy and the UK. Otherwise there are DJs from Russia, Australia, Switzerland, Ukraine, central America, Malta, Slovenia, Israel, Portugal, Spain, India, Poland, Brazil, Egypt, Moldova and Canada also represented in the Top 100. And yes, it’s all change at the top — there’s a new No.1 for 2015, and anybody who tuned into the awards show on Friday 16th October in Amsterdam — or indeed has already glanced at the front cover of this magazine — will already know the identity of the new No.1 act. So it’s a massive congratulations to Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike — the new No.1 DJ act in the world. The Belgian brothers have knocked Hardwell off the top spot, denying him the chance to emulate his mentor Tiesto by winning the crown three years in a row. But maybe Hardwell will be back on top next year — who knows? Dimi and Mike are proper party DJs. They know what it takes to rock a party, and they like to party along with the crowd too. They’re also, obviously, the Highest Duo in the poll again, and rocked it at the awards during ADE, our Top 100 DJs party in London the following night, and then at their own sold out Brixton Academy show in London a week later. Read all about them overleaf on page 34, and download a set from them using the card attached to page 163 later in this mag. Immediately behind DV&LM in the list are four

What do this year’s Top 100 DJs poll results mean for our beloved international scene? We drill down into the nittygritty of the 2015 placings, and congratulate this year’s new No.1 act... big-name Dutch DJs. Hardwell is No.2, teenage sensation Martin Garrix rises to No.3, and former Top 100 winner Armin van Buuren — also the Highest Trance DJ — slips one place to No.4. Tiesto, the enigmatic big room Dutchman, stays at No.5, and David Guetta — another former poll winner — leapfrogs Avicii to place at No.6. Afrojack has had a good year, climbing four places to jump back into the top ten, and he’s closely followed by Skrillex, Steve Aoki and Calvin Harris — all of whom place in exactly the same positions as last year. Indeed, the Top 20 is mostly the same big names as last year, but in a different order. Shuffled. These are the biggest names in the world, the DJs who’ve been headlining festivals and arena shows all year. The exceptions are Oliver Heldens, the future house pioneer who is up 22 massive places to No.12 — also coming in as the Highest House DJ — and Diplo, who jumps 12 places into the Top 20. Considering that the Mad Decent man also comes in at No.45 with his Jack U pairing with Skrillex, and as part of Major Lazer in at No.54, it’s obviously been a big year for him.

INDIA The Highest New Entry, straight in at No.23, is KSHMR (pronounced ‘Kashmir’), the California producer formerly in hip-hop act The Cataracs. He was anonymous at first, when his tunes started smashing the Beatport charts, before Tiesto revealed his identity at Ultra Miami 2015 by introducing him onto the stage. KSHMR, signed to EDM giant Spinnin’, has been name-checked by many of the Top 100 in their profiles as being the breakthrough DJ of the year. It’s quite an achievement for someone who’s only been making EDM for two or three years — and has only so far done one show. It’s testament to his raft of Beatport No.1s, and how important production is to a DJ’s success these days. KSHMR is named in partial homage to his Indian heritage, but somebody who is really opening up the Asian sub-continent is DJ Chetas from Mumbai, India. Mashing up Bollywood sounds with EDM, and with nearly a million Facebook likes, the first Indian DJ to make the Top 100 is helping to open up this new market to the global dance scene. He debuts in the chart at No.59. Other big new entries into the top 50 are Nor-

wegian tropical house man Kygo; Dutch EDMers Bassjackers in at No.39; Alok from Brazil, in at No.44; and Tom Swoon from Poland, in at No.46. Additional European new entries include Spanish house newcomer Danny Avila, French future house star Tchami, big room German DJ Tujamo, and Dutch future house Highest Climber Don Diablo and electro-bass fiends Yellow Claw. And at last, Disclosure, the UK brothers who have just sold out Madison Square Garden in NYC, finally break into the 100 — smashing in at No.65. Another Brit, Flux Pavilion also zooms into the chart — the bass music man debuts at No.86. The re-entries into the poll also make for fascinating reading. After a good year during which he’s reverted to longer DJ sets, Chuckie zips back into the poll at No.77, while there are also re-entries for drum & bass stalwarts Netsky and Andy C. The latter has featured in the Top 100 for most of the past 15 years, usually as the Highest Drum & Bass DJ, and his reappearance suggests that the new generation of drum & bass fans are starting to reconnect with the poll. And that The Executioner has scored a slew of new fans Stateside in recent times.

BIG ROOM EDM obviously still dominates the poll. There is some confusion, though — as evidenced by the answers of various DJs to the question ‘Is the future still bright for EDM?’ — as to what EDM is. Does it mean the whole of electronic dance music, including all styles, or does it refer exclusively to the style of big room electro-house played by Hardwell, Tiesto et al? This confusion — about whether ‘EDM’ means the whole of electronic dance music, or is a genre itself within dance music — has led several DJs to start categorising their style as ‘big room’. Other award winners in the poll this year include DJ Snake, who is the Highest Trap DJ at No.32; we’ve given Axwell & Ingrosso the Highest Collaboration award, as they’ve both obviously been in the poll for a number of years — both individually and as part of the Swedish House Mafia — but are now very much a firm pairing; and Angerfist is again the Highest Hard DJ, although a few of his hardstyle contemporaries — Headhunterz, Brennan Heart, Radical Redemption etc

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

— have slipped in the poll, suggesting that maybe hardstyle doesn’t translate to all dancefloors the world over.

all in the next 50 – despite not campaigning for votes whatsoever, as far as we’re aware.

Richie Hawtin has had a great year with his ENTER. night at Space in Ibiza, and this is reflected by a massive jump of 39 places to No.51 in the 2015 poll — making him the Highest Techno DJ, the accolade mostly won by the evergreen Carl Cox in recent years. Coxy, who also had a great year in Ibiza, holds steady in the chart, while Slovenian techno stalwart Umek has had a good year too — he’s up five places. The Next 50 DJs, the jocks who’ve placed between positions 101-150 in the poll this year, make for interesting reading too. Jamie Jones, Maceo Plex, Marco Carola, Sasha, Paul Kalkbrenner, Loco Dice, Flosstradamus, Seth Troxler and Fatboy Slim are

Once again, women are under-represented in the poll this year. Despite there being hundreds of great women DJs out there, only three appear in this year’s Top 100 — NERVO, Krewella and Miss K8, the hardcore techno spinner from Ukraine. If it was up to the DJ Mag staff, many more female DJs would appear in the poll, but because it is 100% a public vote we have to print what the clubbers decide. The under-representation of women does beg the question: is clubland inherently sexist? To start delving into this issue a bit, we asked all the DJs in the 100 ‘Why aren’t there more women DJs in the Top 100 DJs poll?’ Most expressed disap-

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

WOMEN

pointment that there isn’t, but a few EDM chumps suggested that ‘maybe women spend too much time in the make-up shop’ or ‘women aren’t trying hard enough’. It’s sexist attitudes such as these that are part of the problem, and there should be no place for it in our international scene. Over the next one hundred or so pages, we profile all of the 2015 Top 100 DJs in detail. The set questions we asked everybody we could get hold of were a bit spikier this year, yielding some interesting answers. And just the positions everybody has been voted into this year make for fascinating reading. Who’s up, who’s down, who’s in and who’s out? Read on for all the info you need about the most popular DJs in the world in 2015. CARL LOBEN

DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE

From: “Tomorrowland.” Style: “Whatever we want to play.” Best known for: “Smashin’ The House.” Tune of 2015: “Major Lazer ‘Lean On’.” Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2015: “Lost Frequencies.”

HIGHEST DUO

DIMITRI Vegas & Like Mike’ s ascent to the top of the Top 100 DJs poll will be forever intertwined with their role at their country’ s Tomorrowland Festival. The iconic Belgian party has itself grown over the past decade to become one of the world’ s most popular events, though it was in 2010 when brothers Dimitri and Michael Thivaios were first selected to pen the festival’ s anthem. World domination slowly but surely followed, for both the brothers and the festival. “Tomorrowland is for sure the biggest pillar of our success,” says Dimitri, speaking to DJ Mag just after returning from the festival’ s North American cousin TomorrowWorld, where they’ d played to jubilant vibes on Saturday prior to it notoriously being washed out by rainy weather. “Even in the early days it was a local legend, it was huge in Belgium and the countries around it. I mean, we grew up just a few hundred meters from the site where it takes place! It’ s been amazing to watch it turn into such an international phenomenon.”Both DV and LM have roots in dance music that stretches back to their teens, when they both made the pilgrimage to live and work in Ibiza; first Dimitri, followed by his younger bother Mike, and both effectively changed forever by Erick Morillo’ s Subliminal residency at Pacha (“You come to this island where everything is about love and peace... For us it was such a game-changer”). Returning to Belgium around a decade ago to launch their musical partnership (“I said to Dimitri, move in with me and my girlfriend, we’ ll build a studio in one of the rooms and you can sleep in the studio,” Mike laughs), their first big break came when their remix of ‘ Work That Body’ caught the attention of Axwell. However, it was their role in shaping the soundtrack for the 2011 Tomorrowland after-movie that really marked the turning point for Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. “We spent weeks making the perfect soundtrack,” Dimitri tells DJ Mag. “We all sat together with the team of Tomorrowland and said, ‘ OK, this year we’ re gonna do something next level’ .”The extra effort paid off, as the after-movie chronicling the extravagant spectacle of the three-day festival was magnificently producer — enough to attract the world’ s attention. All those sweeping aerial shots, the ecstatic punters, the insane stage designs, the emotion and excitement. It represented somewhat of a dance zeitgeist moment, racking up over 70 million YouTube views to date. The pair had several of their tracks featured on the after-movie, and their party-ready sets have since become synonymous with Tomorrowland’ s main stage bombast. Mike hyping the crowd on the mic, spraying champagne from the stage, and this year stopping the music to part tens of thousands of punters in the amphitheatre, before drawing them together into a heaving moshpit.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

HARDWELL 01

Style: “Hardwell music.” Best known for: “My DJ sets, productions, Revealed Recordings, Hardwell On Air radio show.” Tune of 2015: “Tiësto & KSHMR feat Vassy ‘Secrets’.” Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2015: “Kill The Buzz, Wiwek and Tom & Jame.”

HE may have been dethroned after two years at the top of the poll but Hardwell’s bigger than ever. Robbert van de Corput’s 2015 was a very good year even by his bombastic standards. His debut album ‘United We Are’ was released in January, while a residency at Ibiza’s swish Ushuaia, Hardwell’s Carnival, saw the EDM star slay all contenders for sheer chutzpah. NO stranger to collaborations, Hardwell hooked up with several artists this year, including rising artist Wiwek, whose brand of EDM ‘jungle terror’ has been getting him a lot of attention of late. Robbert loves working with others, suggesting that when it’s right, magic can happen. “THE magic that comes out of working with somebody else is always unpredictable,” he says. “I really enjoy working on my own in the studio but from time-totime it’s a refreshing change to actually jump in the studio and just see what happens. I’ve done a lot of collaborations over the years, and not all of them have been released. Sometimes the magic isn’t there, but when you get it right it’s really special. I’m always searching for that wow factor when making a record.” Of course, his biggest collabo in 2015 was with Armin van Buuren for the electro zap of ‘Off The Hook’, an opportunity to work with another of his heroes.

MARTIN GARRIX

From: Holland Style: Big room Best known for: ‘Animals’.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

IT’S incredible to think that Martin Garrix isn’t legally allowed to drink alcohol at the EDM festivals he’s been a fixture at the past few years. Garrix, who’s aged 19, wouldn’t even have been old enough to get into most nightclubs when he charted at No.40 on the DJ Mag Top 100 for the first time in 2013. But his relative youth, compared to the rest of the DJs who have made this year’s top 10, has not held him back — if anything it’s probably aided his remarkable rise. GARRIX’S success rests partly on being an EDM everyman. He looks like he could have been picked out entirely at random from the crowd at TomorrowWorld. In a parallel universe he might have been a YouTube vlogger in the mould of Alfie Deyes. Tiësto described Garrix as an “inspiration” in 2013. He’s right: in a way, Garrix is an inspiration precisely because he’s an ordinary and unremarkable 19-year-old in a lot of respects.

04 ARMIN VAN BUUREN From: Holland Style: “Trance.” Best known for: “A State Of Trance.” Tune of 2015: “Armin van Buuren feat. Mr Probz ‘Another You’.” Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2015: “KhoMha.”

05 From: Breda, Holland Style: EDM, big room house

TIESTO NON - MOVER

IT’LL come as no surprise to any Armin fan that the industry champ crafts his own tunes. He’s been releasing music for nigh-on two decades through his imprint Armada and radio show/label, A State Of Trance. It’s not just with his tunes that Armin has garnered fans worldwide — he’s adored for his spectacular stage shows too. His 2014 Armin Only tour took 35 people on the road, including a theatre director, trapeze artists, dancers, singers and musicians, with this year’s Intense tour going even bigger. ARMIN’S Intense tour crossed the globe from corner to corner, with the DJ visiting the Ukraine, India, Russia, the USA, South Africa and Australia — phew! As if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Armin also held down his usual residency in Ibiza this year, spinning every Thursday to his loyal legion of White Isle trancers. “Ibiza is always fun, this year was really excellent. It feels like a home-coming when I play there,” he says of lush Ibiza venue Ushuaia, which he moved to following many seasons at Privilege.

IT’S been yet another year of chart-topping and globe-trotting for Dutchman TIJS VERWEST, BETTER KNOWN TO the world as Tiësto. For the man who has been going strong in the EDM scene since before such a genre classification existed (fellow ‘90s ravers, we know you remember the days), life appears to be a continuous whirlwind of success. From his residency at Vegas super-club Hakkasan to headlining the biggest festivals on the planet, to his popular Club Life radio show and compilation album, the superstar DJ/ producer holds steady in the upper echelons of the DJ Mag Top 100. Tiësto’s sound has evolved along with the scene as he replaced the fast-paced, euphoric trance that he made his name on with a decidedly more mainstream, pop-EDM sound — but his popularity keeps growing, year after year, despite the stark shift in fan-base. 2015 has seen the superstar collaborating with plenty of other superstars, such as Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers, and Don Diablo. While this year didn’t see an artist LP release, Tiësto kept fans satiated by delivering another mixed compilation album in May. ‘Club Life: Volume Four New York City’ is the fourth installment of his successful ‘Club Life’ compilation series and reached the #2 spot on Billboard’s US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

06 DAVID GUETTA 07 01

IT’S not easy tracking down David Guetta for his Top 100 DJs interview this year. It’s not that he’s fallen out of love with the poll that crowned him No.1 DJ in 2012 — we cannot imagine Mr Guetta has eaten a single sour grape his entire life — or that he’s too busy or can’t be bothered. NO, David currently has a far graver issue on his mind. In September of this year, his production manager (ex-Cream employee) Alan Green passed away tragically. “Respects to him and love to his family; he helped change the GAME AND BUILT #TEAMGUETTA WHICH continues in his memory. RIP mate,” he eventually tells DJ Mag in an email.

AVICII

AFROJACK

IF you were to accuse Afrojack of anything, it couldn’t be of using a ghost producer. The Dutch DJ is in the studio when we call, prompting a load of back and forth texting to schedule the interview, and at one point accidentally starts blaring out a track he’s been working on, causing our waveform to go a bit haywire. On reflection, Afrojack has little to prove. He’s been having a pretty good year. ‘Hey Mama’, his recent track with Nicki Minaj and David Guetta, hit the Top 10 all over the world. He’s been delivering his bouncy brand of hyperactive house to Ultra Peru, TomorrowWorld, Taiwan and Japan. He’s working on stuff for Rihanna.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

2015 has been a year of METAMORPHOSIS FOR AVICII. STILL RIDING high from 2013’s stratospherically successful LP ‘True’, which included global country-cum-EDM anthem ‘Wake Me Up’, the producer (known to his mates as simply Tim Bergling) has kept quieter in the last twelve months, slowing down to focus on his next album. THE hotly anticipated ‘Stories’ arrived at the start of October in a blaze of pop/ dance glory, with DJ Mag awarding it an impressive 8/10. It’s a masterful follow-up for the Swede, whose debut ‘True’ dropped at No.5 ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS whilst ‘Wake Me Up’ hit the No.1 spot in 63 countries.

SKRILLEX

NON-MOVER FORGET collaborations with the likes of Usher and Bieber. Forget the six Grammys and THE 19 MILLION FACEBOOK fans. You know you’ve infiltrated pop music’s front lines when dads are shimmying their shoulders to your beats while driving their pre-teens to football practice. Sonny Moore, the California native who has brought bass music to both festival stages and fathers in minivans under his musical moniker Skrillex, is a force to be reckoned with. Like his sound or not, there’s no denying that he is among the most influential artists in music today. And whether Skrill likes it or not, his inherently noncommercial productions now sit squarely in the mainstream.

NON-MOVER 85

STEVE AOKI

NON-MOVER Tracing his roots back to DFA and LCD Soundsystem, it was the dawn of Ed Banger that heralded Dim Mak’s natural disposition towards distorted big-room sounds. However, it was a tipping point reached two years ago that prompted EDM DJs/producers to sprout out into different directions, he says. “Sounds became about, ‘How much bigger can you get?’. ‘How much louder can you get without it becoming too distorted, too saturated or whatever?’ And we got answers to those questions

OLIVER HELDENS

THE ushering in of ‘future house’ as the “saviour of EDM” last year felt a little premature, but a 22-place climb for Oliver Heldens (Highest House DJ) following his Top 40 new entry placement in 2014 suggests that the future is, in fact, bright for EDM. The larger-than-life sounds of DV&LM might have taken the crown this year, but the sight of Heldens flirting with the Top 10 (and Aoki dropping tech house) is a sign that mainstream EDM is no closed shop.

CALVIN HARRIS

IT could be said that 2015 marked the year when Calvin Harris gave up on the EDM sound that brought a young producer from Dumfries, Scotland to the top of dance music. Having release four immensely successful studio albums —‘I Created Disco’, ‘Ready For The Weekend’, ’18 Months’ and ‘Motion’— it was actually a collaboration, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, with high-flying deep house trio Disciples that brought Calvin Harris even more chart success in 2015. The single has been riding high in the UK top 10 for the last three months.

ALESSO

02 IF Alesso put as much time and effort into his ideas as he does his hair, the EDM world would have worthwhile hope of evolution. Even his mentors — Steve Angello and the now-paired Ingrosso & Axwell — can claim to have half a foot in the past — within dance music’s underground roots — while embracing pop modernity to move forward. Perhaps it’s an age thing, but for Alesso — considered the protege of Swedish House Mafia — it’s about hits, plain and simple.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

14 W&W 04

Willem van Hanegem and Ward van der Harst’s mix-up of trance, electro and progressive house elements have seen them reach out and connect to a wide audience of dance music fans across the world. “There are not a lot of people who mix different genres the way that we do,” they tell DJ Mag, before modestly adding “we can imagine that for someone who isn’t into dance music so much it sounds similar to other artists’ music, but then again that goes for any artist in any genre.”As well as having a fierce live DJing reputation, the duo also host their own popular radio show. “Our radio show and our live sets are two completely different worlds,” they explain.

16 DVBBS 04

BEFORE trying their hand at dance music, Canadian duo DVBBS (pronounced ‘Dubs’), made up of brothers Alexandre and Christopher van den Hoef, were members of a local rock band. During their formative years, the two had been part of Ontario’s underground punk scene. At the age of 16 and 17 respectively, the van den Hoefs started making electronic music after having a dance music revelation prompted by seeing Dutch hardstyle act Showtek perform, who also happen to be brothers. In 2013, the brothers finally broke through on an international level with the release of ‘Tsunami’.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

DASH BERLIN

DASH BERLIN have been everywhere this past year. DJ Jeffrey Sutorius, the Dutch trio’s frontman, has had one heck of a packed touring schedule with dates in Chile, Japan, Las Vegas, Paraguay, Peru, Canada and London over the last few months. “I’ve had a lot of memorable gigs all over the planet, which makes me realise every time, what a privilege it is to be a DJ,” he tells DJ Mag. As well as DJing, Sutorius performs another particularly important role in the three-man group, which also includes Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn: testing out material with audiences and relaying feedback to his studio-based colleagues.

AXWELL^ INGROSSO NON-MOVER

IT’S official, Axwell and Ingrosso are married. Not legally of course — even if civil partnerships (unlike some US States) are accepted in Sweden. No, the marriage of these two ex-members of the Swedish House Mafia is purely of creative convenience. Not just so they can double up on votes, enter the Top 20 and score an award for Highest Collaboration in the process.Instead, the Axwell ‘n Ingrosso axis is one hinged on amalgamation; dedication to a cause, they say. “The big difference now,” says Axwell, “is that when we did Swedish House Mafia, everyone was also being individuals and doing their own thing. But now we buried our own things a bit. It’s more of a commitment.

NICKY ROMERO

FOR Nicky Romero, 2015 was another typically hectic year. Playing at all the biggest festivals across the world, including Ultra Miami, Europe and Japan, at EDC Las Vegas and Tomorrowland in Brazil and Belgium, the DJ/ producer still found time to drop the first installment in his new ‘Lighthouse’ trilogy of productions. Nicky also knuckled down to get his Protocol label bubbling more than ever before.

20 DIPLO 12 LIKE the prom queen that snubs her most persistent suitor year after year, Diplo has declined DJ Mag’s gracious advances yet again, opting instead to let us speculate on his feelings about making the Top 100 DJs poll and his ongoings for 2015. With regard to the former, we refer readers to Twitter, where Wesley Pentz’s rants under his Diplo alias are immortalized for all eternity. With regard to the latter, it’s hard to deny that his efforts warrant him a seat among the world’s DJ elite. The Mad Decent label boss has been busy making music and signing names — such as bold new trio Bad Royale.

BLASTERJAXX

10 “TURBULENT” is Blasterjaxx’s adjective of choice to describe their year, speaking to DJ Mag all the way from Shanghai. “But we’re very happy to look back and say that we’ve really established our place in the dance scene.” Debuting in the Top 100 in 2013, Thom Jongkind and Idir Makhlaf met at the gym and, since that fateful workout, haven’t once looked back. Treating their fans (or “Blastersoldiers”) to their ‘Maxximize On Air’ podcast and an array of festival appearances (Tomorrowland, Ultra, Sziget) this year, the pair prove they’re still going strong.

R3HAB

02 FADIL El Ghoul, aka R3HAB, has been on a quick ascent to join his EDM colleagues at the festival main stages, and for proof of his studio prowess, you only need to glance at the tracklist for his recent ‘Inspired’ mix for Ministry Of Sound. The upfront disc contains no less than 12 of the singles, remixes and collaborations that he’s put his name to this year. “The past 12 months have been an absolute whirlwind,” he told DJ Mag. “The most memorable personal highlight for me was playing Coachella. Two weekends with 25,000 people per show, and we even had Ciara come out and do two songs. It is something that you dream about as an artist, and it could not have been better.”

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

ZEDD

KSHMR

NON-MOVER

NEW-ENTRY

WE think Zedd must have been destined for success from an early age; born to a guitarist father and pianist mother, young Anton was classically trained in several instruments. Last year, dance-pop poster boy Zedd — real name Anton Zaslavski — clocked in at No.22 in our poll, but had decided to shut himself off from the musical world (it is a job after all) and couldn’t answer our questions. Now charting again, DJ Mag were hoping to hear from the RussianGerman producer, but alas, this year he’s in similar predicament — although for a contrasting reason.

WITH releases on Dutch imprint Spinin’ Records, remixes for the likes of Avicii, and a huge collaboration alongside Tiësto, American EDM producer and DJ KSHMR has had quite a productive 2015 to say the least. His ascension to the top is even more impressive considering Niles Hollowell-Dhar has only been releasing music under his KSHMR alias since 2014. 2015 finally saw the LA-based producer breakout from his hip-hop roots and into the world of EDM, and it was his collaboration, ‘Secrets’, alongside Dutch heavyweight Tiësto that was the catalyst to putting his new alias on the map.

24 NERVO

AUSTRALIAN sisters NERVO are big news. While some have questioned the lack of women in the Top 100 DJs poll, these DJ and production siblings have consistently placed in the upper reaches. Starting out as songwriters for everyone from Britney Spears to Kelly Rowland and Armin van Buuren, they’ve a natural knack for well-placed hooks, which pepper their productions. In July 2015, they finally released their debut album ‘Collateral’, which features music royalty of the calibre of Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Kylie Minogue just for starters.

KNOWN as much for his personality both online and onstage as he is for his massively successful productions, Toronto native Joel Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5, maintains his place in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll for another year. Deadmau5 continues to showcase his endless musical versatility, tantalizing fans with previews on his Soundcloud account, like the melodic rework of last year’s hip-hop track ‘Are You Not Afraid’ and a powerful ballad of slowly building synths in a yet-to-be-released collaboration with Grabbitz called ‘Blood For the Bloodgoat’.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

DEADMAU5

26 DANNIC 04

NON-MOVER

DANNIC is an artist who needs little introduction. One of the Dutch crop of EDM stadium-fillers, the DJ/producer has been playing out for over a decade now, and just recently collaborated with 2014’s No.1 DJ, Hardwell, on ‘Survivors’. His saccharine synthfilled tunes have been scaling the lofty heights of the Beatport charts, girls are getting his lyrics tattooed on their backs, and the producer seems to be constantly hanging out by a pool.

DEORRO

04 DEORRO, born Erick Orrosquieta, started out DJing when he was just 14. Keen to encourage his interest in music, his father — also a DJ — bought him a copy of DAW Cakewalk Sonar aged 17, and he’s been producing ever since. The LA-based producer and DJ’s breakthrough moment came in 2012 when he was asked to remix Chuckie’s ‘Make Some Noise’ — the resulting track reached the Beatport Top 50. Orrosquieta has since gone on to release singles on Hardwell’s label Revealed Recordings and collaborate with Steve Aoki, Diplo and R3hab.

27 DYRO THIS year, Dyro (real name Jordy Van Egmond) has gone big. He started his own imprint, WOLV, that’s allowed him to expand his own catalogue, saying, “We went down on the BPMs as I was getting bored of 127/128 bpm, I wanted to show another side to myself and the label”. In fact, keeping things fresh is very important to the Dutch EDM don — that’s why he started his imprint in the first place.

29 ABOVE& BEYOND 04

ONCE the mainstay of our Top 10, trance is no longer the dominant sound of the world’s big-room clubs. Of course, EDM is today the world’s mainstream sound du jour, which even Tiësto is now embracing — however, that hasn’t stopped this London trio sticking to their guns. While the Anjunabeats bosses have delved deeper into house territory with their ‘deep’ spin-off, they’ve continued to stay true to the high-tempo melodica of their DJ sets in 2015.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

DON DIABLO

THE dawn of ‘future house’ last year heralded a new age for EDM, it seemed. By many, it was considered the sound to nudge the continuum away from garish stadium noise towards the (relatively) deeper sound of classic house reimagined through EDM eyes, they said. And thus, after polling at 82 last year, Don Diablo is this year’s Highest Climber. After starting out making trance and hardcore in the late ‘90s, he released his first album in 2004.

DJ SNAKE

STEVE ANGELLO

FLYING solo and loving it, former Swedish House Mafia man Steve Angello has mostly positive things to say about the state of the scene as he sees it. He’s particularly glad of the mainstream’s shift away from panel-beating big room sounds towards something more rhythmic. “The whole movement right now is shifting in the right direction — which makes me happy,” Steve says. “Loads of new stuff is getting played, and yes, I am trying to play groovier house stuff.”

KYGO

NEW-ENTRY TROPICAL beats? Sure, Kygo’s got some. Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, our high new entry from Bergen, Norway — a beautiful city that sparkles with cold, glacial fjords and snow atop its windswept peaks — has been busy warming up house music in 2015 with his beach-ready vibes. Hailed by fans and peers alike as the harbinger of change to an electronic music scene in need of new life, the young artist makes his DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll debut in his biggest year to date... with no signs of slowing down.

FOR a new entrant into the Top 100 last year, DJ Snake’s had a pretty wild year. Born William Grigahcine in Paris, the viral hitmaker cites arty French film La Haine as an influence on his sound as well as Cypress Hill and KRSOne, and earned the name ‘Snake’ due to his effectiveness at hiding from the police after graffiting the Parisian ghetto. Nominated for a Grammy as part of his productions on Lady Gaga’s album, the producer’s name blasted into the minds of the public after his 2014 track with Lil Jon, ‘Turn Down For What’, meant that you could barely step onto a dancefloor without hearing it.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

YVES V

A Belgium EDM hitmaker with a close link to newly crowned Top 100 kings Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and their Smash The House label, Yves V kept the hits coming in 2015. In addition to the turbocharged main stage thrills of ‘Memories Will Fade’ earlier this year and his new single ‘Octagon’, he’s penned collaborations with the likes of Sidney Samson and Don Diablo. He’s continued his residency at his country’s goliath Tomorrowland Festival, with his V Sessions Sound brand regularly hosting arenas at the threeday party in addition to his main stage performances, and he also took the brand to SupermartXe in Ibiza this year.

36 03

UMMET OZCAN

OZCAN’S techno-influenced trance made something of a seamless transition to gain huge popularity amongst EDM fans, but that’s come as no surprise to the man himself. “I am not bound to any musical conventions, I just produce whatever I like. People tend to put things in boxes. I personally don’t do that,” Ummet tells DJ Mag. Of course, not every DJ or producer actually has a hand in creating the things that make the actual noises that are used to create tracks either, but Ummet is famous for providing softsynth and soundbank designs for some of the biggest music software houses too.

FEDDE LE GRAND

NON-MOVER “I’VE been incredibly lucky to have been able to make a career out of music,” Fedde Le Grand tells us, humbly. “It has taken me around the world and allowed me to showcase my music to thousands.” Best known for catchy dance track ‘Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit’, Fedde Le Grand is currently in the studio crafting a brand new set of chart-toppers — his new LP is out early next year. crossed the globe from corner

SHOWTEK

THE past 12 months have seen brothers Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen, aka Showtek, capitalising on their hard work over the past few years, as they transitioned from their early dominance in the hardstyle scene into a broader main stage EDM act. They’ve now worked with some of the industry’s biggest names, including their collaboration with David Guetta this year ‘Sun Goes Down’. They point to the launch of their ‘Crazy Collabs’ project a few years ago as the start of what pushed them towards where they are today. “We started ‘Crazy Collabs’ back in 2012, because it was a great way to work with other artists from different genres in the studio,” they say.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

ANGERFIST

BASSJACKERS

NEW-ENTRY

ANGERFIST makes music that matches his name. Known for crafting fast, brutal and, well, angry beats, Angerfist’s music sits somewhere between hardcore, raw-edged techno and old school gabba. He released his fourth LP ‘The Deadfaced Dimension’ at the close of 2014, and has spent much of 2015 working on his upcoming world tour for his popular Raise & Revolt event series, where he’ll debut a bunch of new slammers and collabs, plus some new visuals. 2015 has been a sensational year for fun-loving Dutch duo, Bassjackers. They’ve toured the globe, released Beatport number ones and even indulged in philanthropy; the duo support The Zoëzo Foundation who help children suffering with Leukaemia. Music-wise they’ve collaborated with EDM heavyweights like Afrojack and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, plus hot-tipped up-and-comer KSHMR. They’ve also teamed up with the best EDM imprints on the block — cue Spinnin’, Ministry Of Sound, Revealed and more.

40 ANDREW RAYEL

TRANCE might have lost its grip on the top-end of the poll to EDM, but nobody can deny the ongoing tenacity of its following. This enthusiasm, of course, is helped in no small part by the DJs and producers who’ve also stayed loyal to the sound — and Andrew Rayel is one of those leaders. Speaking of (and at) Armin van Buuren’s label and festival in Utrecht earlier this year, he said,:“A State Of Trance, to me, is like my second family.” And while his music — as witnessed on his recent collaboration with Jonny Rose (‘Daylight’) — is increasingly taking on a harder, EDM-influenced “progressive” edge with pop vocals, there’s no escaping the classic trance backbone running through its core.

THIS year, Paul van Dyk released the third in his popular ‘Politics Of Dancing’ LP series. A risky move, considering number two came out way back in ‘05, but van Dyk is actually stronger than ever over a decade later. “A great number of things had changed,” says Paul, about the gap between then and now. “The way we make and produce music, how we promote and release music and, of course, how we consume it,” he says.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

PAUL VAN DYK

ALY & FILA

14 IN September, Aly & Fila made history. They performed a show within the grounds of one of the last-standing wonders of the ancient world, The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Only a small list of select names, including Sting and Kyle Minogue, had previously had the honour. And what a fitting venue it was! The Egyptian duo who created a sub-genre of trance dedicated to their homeland have had another storming year. They’ve celebrated 400 episodes of their Future Sound Of Egypt (FSOE) radio show with eight big gigs — including that one in Giza — and played everywhere from Canada to China.

43 VINAI

ALOK

DESPITE only forming in 2011, VINAI are a duo very much setting the EDM world on fire right now. Setting their stall out early with a series of club-ready cuts such as the ubiquitous EDM hit ‘Raveology’, these Italian brothers have seen their stock soar over the past year thanks to a reciprocal relationship with the all-conquering Dutch label, Spinnin’. Collaborations with the likes of DVBBS, R3hab and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike prove that they’re not afraid of mixing it alongside their big-name peers either.

45 JACK U

NEW-ENTRY

ALOK is a poster boy for Brazil’s love of deep midtempo forms of house and techno — albeit with a pop twist. It’s a subcultural penchant often outshone by the garish lights of EDM. Son of the founders of Universo Paralello, a huge dance festival set within the Brazilian mountains 15 years ago, electronic music exists in Alok’s DNA. And in 2015, there’s a sense his life-long aspirations are finally getting fulfilled.

WHAT do you get when you lock Skrillex and Diplo in a studio together? A wildly successful bass child, apparently. Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock — with a very good set of earplugs — you’ve probably heard at least one of their productions as the duo Jack Ü, whether you wanted to or not. Their debut ten-track LP, ‘Skrillex & Diplo Present Jack Ü’, was a co-release between their respective OWSLA and Mad Decent labels that smashed the streams earlier this year, peaking at the #1 spot on Billboard’s US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

46 TOM SWOON 47 NEW-ENTRY TOM Swoon only discovered Deadmau5 and Daft Punk around five years ago but his early efforts at unofficial remixes soon led to his bootleg of David Guetta & Avicii vs. Laidback Luke ‘Till Sunshine’ achieving around 15 million views on YouTube. The official remixes, original tracks and massive tours that swiftly followed mean that the 22-year-old is now firmly established in his own right, as his showing in this year’s Top 100 DJs poll confirms. “I sincerely feel that bootlegs have lost a bit of the magic they had when I started... but a good bootleg always gets plays, and therefore I still think it is a great tool to get noticed,” Tom tells us.

SHOGUN

NEW-ENTRY

WHAT sets Shogun apart from other US DJs is his work ethic; Andrew Chen is known to spend 12 hours a day in his studio, and that hard work and dedication brought him to the attention of some of trance’s biggest names including Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk, Markus Schulz and Nadia Ali. Despite falling in love with the industrial sounds of Nine Inch Nails, Filter, The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, Chen was eventually drawn to the epic melodies of Armin van Buuren and Gouryella in the early 2000s.

48 HEADHUNTERZ 49 COONE 08 WILLEM Rebergen, better known by his stage name Headhunterz, is yet another Dutch DJ to make waves in the Top 100. A regular at all the top EDM festivals, Headhunterz has wowed his fans across the world with sets at genredefining festivals such as TomorrowLand, Electric Daisy Carnival, Mysteryland and more. Another to benefit from a stint at Ultra Music, he now runs his own label, HARDwithSTYLE — a task he’s fulfilling with great gusto. While he might have switched style recently, it’s testament to his enduring appeal that he’s once again a prominent feature in our list.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

01 KOEN Bauweraerts, better known as Belgian producer Coone, is one of the elder statesmen of hardstyle. It’s been over a decade since Bauweraerts put out his first single, ‘Protect The Innocent’ on Hardball Records, making him one of the longestrunning DJs in the scene. In 2006, Bauweraerts launched label Dirty Workz, which has since become one of the foremost outlets for jumpstyle and hardstyle in Europe. By the age of 24, he was already commanding a devoted following in his home country, drawing a crowd of several thousand fans to his Coone & The Gang events.

50 VICETONE 14

THE duo of Ruben Den Boer and Victor Pool, aka Vicetone, inject a strong affinity with melody into their main stage EDM productions, and describe the past year as the “biggest in our short career so far”. While they’ve been responsible for several polished hits on goliath stables like Spinnin’, Ultra and Dim Mak, their landmark achievement since they placed in last year’s Top 100 DJs poll was producing the rather epic and emotional soundtrack for the Ultra Music Festival 2014 after-movie, the rather epic and emotive 15-minute ‘United We Dance’.

WOLFPACK

2015 has been a big one for Steve and Ruben, aka the notorious Wolfpack. Not only did the Belgian duo tour Asia for the first time — an experience they describe as “very cool” — but also happened to score two massive hits. Firstly, back in August, Wolfpack teamed up with Funk D and the don dada of booming vocals, Fatman Scoop, for the huge ‘Drop The Smiley’. Then the following month, ‘Ocarina’ — the pair’s beloved Tomorrowland Anthem collaboration with fellow Antwerpians, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike — got the remix treatment from Klaas & Mazza.

RICHIE HAWTIN

FROM the moment Richie Hawtin crossed the river from Windsor, Ontario, to the techno heartland of Detroit, Michigan, the techno savant set in motion a journey that would see the British-born producer rise to the top of his field and become one of the most respected artists in electronic music. Whether it’s at his ENTER. residency at Space Ibiza that truly offers something different to the brash, bright lights of Ushuaïa et al, or bringing his love of Japanese sake to the dancefloors of the world — Hawtin has become something of a cultural vanguard in electronic music. Where he goes others tend to follow.

BRENNAN HEART

DUTCH hardstyle producer Brennan Heart has had one of those years. “I thought 2014 was madness, but 2015 topped it... crazy”, he sighs. “At the beginning of the year I took one and a half months break in Bali... to recharge myself, regarding my future, plans and ambitions.”That rest was warranted, surely. In between broadcasting his radio show on SlamFM (‘WE R Hardstyle’) and manning stages at EDC and Defqon.1, the producer’s been heading up his own WE R Music label, and is revered by his fans for arena smashers such as ‘Follow The Light’ and ‘FIFO’ (standing for “fit in or fuck off”).

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

54 MAJOR LAZER 55 NEW-ENTRY

WHILE at one time Major Lazer seemed destined to be a Diplo sideproject devoted to futuristic versions of Jamaican dancehall, made alongside UK producer Switch, it’s become very much the Mad Decent founder’s primary concern these days. Three albums deep, the most recent of which ‘Peace Is The Mission’ dropped this year, Major Lazer may have lost Switch along the way but have since become a fullyfledged band, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire now permanent fixtures.

56 MARKUS SCHULZ 12

FOR Markus Schulz, life imitates art. Or rather, fantasy. The self-styled unicorn-slayer of trance has found his moniker and presented some surreal encounters in recent years. “Now it’s gotten so big, I don’t know where it’s going to end. I played a show at Avalon in Los Angeles a few years ago and they had a full life-size unicorn statue at the front of the club!” In 2015 he’s focused on his City Series project, making a track a month dedicated to his favourite worldwide clubs or festivals.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

PORTER ROBINSON

INSPIRED as much by video games as he is the sounds of Wolfgang Gartner, it’s delightful how Porter Robinson has captured the imagination of the EDM community. Unlike the hoards of mindless big roombaiting pretenders jumping on the bandwagon, his attempt to genuinely craft something creative within the mainstream electronic world, for many at least, is a sound for sore ears.Bursting onto the electro-house scene in 2010, he later became poster boy for a progressive wave of EDM with a series of huge electro hits, coining the term ‘complextro’ to describe an intricate approach to constructing tunes layered with multiple hooks and melodies.

ERIC PRYDZ

03 SWEDISH producer Eric Prydz is a chameleon. Whether he’s dipping his toes in the underground as Cirez D, or entertaining the main room masses with his Eric Prydz moniker, the Swede has captured the hearts of dance fans worldwide. It’s with his recent show EPIC that he’s won the minds of the US market — the touring show featured the globe’s biggest hologram, stunning stage production (including an impressive 32 lasers), plus a slew of big room tracks penned by Prydz himself. Since he took over NYC’s Madison Square Garden with the show last September, the veteran DJ/producer hasn’t stopped — next up he’ll play LA’s Escape festival and EDC in Orlando, before a headline set at Space in Miami.

58 12

DIEGO MIRANDA

“I wish I had more time to do everything I have in my mind. I wish the days had 48 hours,” Diego Miranda tells DJ Mag. It’s not surprising to hear that the Portuguese DJ is hard-pressed for time. He’s been much in-demand, not just in his home country but also in Brazil which he considers his “second home”, playing there — and across South America — several times a year. What free time Miranda’s had in the past year, he’s spent in the studio.

60 DANNY AVILA NEW-ENTRY

DANNY Avila is a DJ who proves that age really is just a number. Having first whet his appetite for dance music in Marbella, at the club his father owned, it wasn’t until he suffered a wakeboarding accident aged 14 that he truly had time to sit down and learn his craft. Now, having racked up close to 80k Instagram followers, he treks relentlessly round the world’s biggest clubs, and the 20-year old explains he’s had “a year of innovations and lots of moments of joy! I feel blessed to have had the chance to visit so many countries.”

59 DJ CHETAS

NEW-ENTRY IT’S not only America that’s currently experiencing a dance music epiphany. India — and its population of 1.25 billion people — is beginning to demand the world’s biggest DJs, and Mumbai’s DJ Chetas has been riding this cultural explosion since 2012. What makes Indian dance music — and DJ Chetas’ music in particular — an interesting proposition is that it’s a cross-pollination of traditional Indian music with western club culture. And that’s where DJ Chetas has built his huge following — by incorporating the best of Bollywood vocals into big-room mash-ups that have been a huge hit in his native India.

KURA

IT’S been business as usual for Kura (aka Rúben de Almeida Barbeiro) in 2015, having placed 42nd in last year’s DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll. Despite a slide in the rankings this year, the Portuguese electro-house producer has cemented his position as one of the most in-demand EDM producers in Europe with a raft of new tracks and collaborations.2015 saw Kura release stadium-sized cuts, ‘Oxygen’ and ‘Collide’, on Dutch imprint Spinnin’ Records, collaborated with Dutch producer Tony Junior for a huge track ‘King Kong’, which is being released on Afrojack’s Wall Recordings this month, and he still found time to tour all over the world.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

TCHAMI

NEW-ENTRY

CARL COX

EDM takes many of its cues from the ‘French touch’ electro sound that preceded it, so the only surprise in Tchami’s dramatic newentry position this year is that there aren’t more like him. Bloody Beetroots and Germany’s Boys Noize might have represented Gallic-inspired big-room in this poll over the years and subsequently dropped out, however it’s as part of EDM’s new wave that this hip Parisian finds himself rubbing shoulders with the big guns.

WITH even a periphery knowledge of dance music, you’d be strapped to find a keen clubber who’d never heard the name Carl Cox. Adored by loyal fans the globe over, Cox has been a guiding light in the underground for over two decades, headlining Space in Ibiza every year for as long as anyone would care to remember. But all that’s about to change. “Next year will be my last year at Space Ibiza, so please do not miss a single night if you can, very special line-ups for 15 weeks,” he tells us when we talk Top100.

64 LAIDBACK LUKE

DISCLOSURE

NEW-ENTRY

HE’S been sliding around the Top 100 for some time now, but Laidback Luke wasn’t about to let himself be phased by last year’s results. “Funnily enough, after dropping to position 50 last year, this year seemed to be my busiest year ever,” recalls the big room house producer — Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, as he’s known off-stage.He’s been on more than one of those this summer — Tomorrowland, Ultra, EDC, to name a few — and produces incessantly for labels like Size, Fool’s Gold as well as his own Mixmash. WE know what you’re going to say: ‘Disclosure aren’t real DJs’. While they are predominantly a live outfit, they do DJ a lot, especially at their Wild Life shows, and considering DJing is generally pressing a succession of buttons these days, no one can accuse Disclosure of not pressing buttons — given the size and complexity of their live shows.2015 has been a busy year for the Lawrence brothers; they scored a No.1 album with ‘Caracal’, a collaborative album that saw old faces like Sam Smith rub shoulders with new artists like Lion Babe.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

FIREBEATZ

THIS year’s Top 100 is filled to the brim with duos, but among the most exciting to have emerged in recent times is Firebeatz. An all-Dutch duo consisting of good friends and musical sparring partners, Tim Benjamin Smulders and Jurre van Doeselaar, the boys have left their mark on the EDM scene thanks to heavily endorsed hits such as ‘Dear New York’, ‘Here We F*cking Go’ and ‘Helicopter’. As prolific in the studio as they are on the decks, the past 12 months have also seen them team up with everyone from Martin Garrix to Tiësto to Calvin Harris.

BORGORE

27 ASAF Borger, aka Borgore, is something of a musical chameleon. He started his music career young, first becoming a classically trained musician — he frequently lists Bach, half-jokingly, as one of his favourite musicians of all time — before joining deathcore band Shabira in his formative years. In videos of the band performing he looks out of place, a gawky, shaved-headed figure in a group of bearded, longhaired rockers. While he might have since left the band and moved from his hometown of Tel Aviv to the US, elements of his heavier musical past have remained a feature of his productions.

100

67 DILLON FRANCIS DILLON Francis chooses not to talk to us when we try and get in touch, something we can only attribute to him being too busy. Credited with bringing moombahton to the masses, the Mad Decent, Dim Mak and Fool’s Gold affiliate got crowds feeling the effects of excess gravity last year with his DJ Snake collaboration, ‘Get Low’. When he’s not operating under one of his aliases (DJ Hanzel, DJ RichAF, Becky, Rave Dad, Greg, Fetty Hat) or dressing up as a giant iced doughnut, he’s in the studio working on new productions, often with other EDM heavyweights.

69 DAFT PUNK 26

EVERY year Daft Punk are voted into the Top 100 DJs poll, and every year we have to write a profile for a duo that haven’t DJ’d properly since 2001 at London’s Fabric.But rather than trundle through the endless rumours of their imminent return, we thought we’d share with you a story from Eats Everything who recalls when he saw Thomas Bangalter DJ at Space, Ibiza. “I saw Thomas Bangalter play the best DJ set I’d ever seen in my life on the Terrazza at Space,” explains the Bristol-based producer.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

70 UMEK 05

TENISHIA

WHEN he first emerged in the mid-’90s, Umek was associated with the loop techno sound. Nowadays he’s far more visible as a key resident at Carl Cox’s Space Ibiza Revolution parties, and as a headliner at countless gigs and festivals across the world. Accordingly, there’s a house music timbre to his sets nowadays. Still, Umek remains an anomaly in the Top 100, one of the last bastions standing strong against the EDM tide. He claims he’s returned to his techno roots this year.

A Maltese duo who juggle the emotive thrills of trance with their love for chillout vibes, Cyprian Cassar and Joven Grech have been working together as Tenishia for over a decade, taking their career to the next level when they were signed a few years ago by Armada Music. They subsequently released their records across several of its sub-labels like Coldharbour and A State Of Trance.“The past year for us has been the best year of our career,” says Grech. “We really have been so fortunate to have played in so many countries and at some of the world’s best festivals. The highlight was probably playing Tomorrowland for the third time in four years.”

RADICAL REDEMPTION

HARDSTYLE has never been more popular than it is right now. One man who’s helped bring the genre to unforeseen heights is the inventively named Radical Redemption. Still only 25 years old, 2015 is the second year in a row the burgeoning Dutchman has made the Top 100. With his own show coming up in November at Amsterdam’s infamous Heineken Music Hall, it seems the only way is up for the ‘Prostitute’ producer.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

FRONTLINER

25 THIS summer, Frontliner did a project called Summer Of Frontliner and worked on remixes for two of his alltime heroes, he tells DJ Mag before launching into a rant about the Top 100. Unlike the vast majority of DJs on this list, he says, Frontliner is a man who plays by his own rules. This is evident in the fact that he never campaigns for votes in the poll. Even so, he’s a feature in the list again this year.

101

BORGEOUS

YELLOW CLAW

NEW-ENTRY

TOGETHER Bizzey (Leonardo Roelandschap), Nizzle (Nils Rondhuis) and Jim Aasgier make up Yellow Claw, a grouping whose sonic output is a diverse reflection of the trio’s own personalities. However, their method of working doesn’t always see them agree on issues of musical taste, but fortunately they have a simple way of reaching a final decision — “paper/ rock/scissors get you through a lot,” they tell DJ Mag.

102

NETSKY

RE-ENTRY

BY now you’ll know the singular synth strokes of ‘Tsunami’, a UK No.1 and the reason its producer shot to fame in 2013. The Miamiborn, now LA-based John Borger (or Borgeous as he’s known to his two million and counting Facebook fans) made his debut mark on the Top 100 last year and could well be here to stay. The American producer’s proved he’s not a one-hit wonder since that worldwide chart smasher, with tracks like ‘They Don’t Know Us’, ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Voodoo’ (another collaboration with DVBBS) granted major airtime by key tastemakers.

APPARENTLY Netsky, or Boris Daenen, was too busy for DJ Mag’s interview. He’s certainly been keeping active in 2015, with gigs at Amnesia, Ibiza (for Together), at UMF in Miami and Tomorrowland Brazil just for starters. He’s also had the honour of remixing Jack Ü’s mega hit ‘Take Ü There’, and recently unleashed new single ‘Rio’ featuring the improbably named Digital Farm Animals. His glossy, ultra-clean take on drum & bass has made him an unlikely regular appearance in the Top 100 DJs poll.

CHUCKIE

RE-ENTRY

DUTCH house titan and last month’s DJ Mag cover star Chuckie is going through something of a reinvention. The Dirty Dutch superstar, real name Clyde Sergio Narain, has recently been dabbling in ‘traphall’, aka trap x dancehall — the genre he’s now spearheading. Speaking about the last 12 months, Chuckie reveals he’s had an amazing year. “I travelled around the world many times and played some of the biggest festivals in the world,” he says.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

WILL SPARKS

NEW-ENTRY

WILL Sparks is a truly passionate guy. He’s passionate about his city, about his music and most of all, about his fans. His dream is simply to see them happy, and, as Will confesses to DJ Mag, he’s living that dream everyday. Rising all the way from No.126 in last year’s poll, it’s obvious Will is doing something right, but there’s evidence elsewhere too. His massive 2014 collaboration with Wiley and Elen Levon, ‘Ah Yeah So What’, has clocked up over 4.5million YouTube plays to date; whilst his latest single, ‘Sick Like That’, has already picked up over 250,000 plays on SoundCloud.

80 QUINTINO 06 THE Dutch DJ, real name Quinten van den Berg, has climbed a further six places in the Top 100 DJs poll this year. “It really made me happy when I heard the news that I was in the Top 100 again,” he tells DJ Mag when we contact him for his interview. “Even though music speaks for itself, it’s great when it gets recognized.”Signed to giant Dutch behemoth Spinnin’, his latest release is a huge EDM update of the Nomad house classic ‘Devotion’, while earlier in the year he again teamed with his ‘Epic’ cohort Sandro Silva for ‘Aftermath’, a release supported by DV&LM, Hardwell, Garrix, Showtek et al. “

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

DA TWEEKAZ

DA Tweekaz have had quite a year. The Norwegian duo, made up of Kenth Kvien and Marcus Nordli, have long wanted to DJ in the US and, after many years on the hardstyle circuit in Europe, they finally got their wish in June, playing at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. Back home, the size and stature of their bookings have also been growing. In the past year, the pair have appeared at Kings Of Hardstyle and Defqon.1 Festival.

KREWELLA

46 “THERE is no bigger compliment than to have our amazing support system, our KREW, vote for us without even being asked to do so. THAT is real love.” So says Krewella — and to give the guys their dues, apart from Nervo, you would indeed be hard pressed to find a more loved female duo in the EDM world right now. Consisting of sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf, this all-conquering pair have a style that’s very much their own.

103

ATB

KASKADE

38 LAST year, Kaskade’s management made a song and dance about him answering a few simple questions for our poll. This year, they went one step further — insisting the main man was too busy on tour to answer the questions we put his way. He’s not the only one, but all things considered this LA-based DJ/producer is fast becoming as notorious for his potty-mouth as he is his musical output. Last year, for example, he famously told us that “Anyone over the age of 30 is suspect in a nightclub” (Kaskade is 44), while this year he’s been taking popshots at rock royalty in the shape of Sir Paul McCartney.

104

MAKJ

ANDRE Tanneberger, aka ATB, has come a long way since his UK No.1, ‘9PM (Till I Come)’. In the almost 20 years since the smash hit, that additionally found fame after being featured in cult Ibiza rave flick Kevin & Perry Go Large, the German producer has repackaged himself as a big room killer, playing sets like Ultra USA and Europe, EDC and Tomorrowland. His productions have undergone a similar metamorphosis, though he’s still staying true to the excellent studio standards that first helped garner him respect in the early noughties.

MAKJ is the alias of US DJ/producer Mackenzie Johnson. Famed for his take on all things electro-house, this prolific producer has also worked alongside a varied crew of musicians, with everyone from Hardwell to Lil’ Jon to M35 rubbing shoulders with the Tomorrowland main-stager. Another on this list who’s signed his music to the likes of Spinnin’ and Ultra, MAKJ is also a talented DJ and by no means simply a talented producer — which is no real surprise, considering he got his first pair of Technics at the tender age of 15.

FERRY 06 CORSTEN

FROM his early UK chart success with ‘Out Of The Blue’ under his System F alias to creating a raft of timeless trance anthems alongside Tiësto as Gouryella, Rotterdam’s Ferry Corsten has been around in one guise or another for 26 years. During his impressively long career Corsten has released four studio albums — including the excellent ‘Fire’ which saw the trance DJ experiment with more hardedged electro influences including an excellent collaboration alongside Gangstarr’s Guru, for ‘Junk’.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

FLUX PAVILION

NEW-ENTRY

REPPING bass music hard for the UK, Flux Pavilion is the only British producer to hit the Top 100 with a passion for those low-end frequencies. Nowadays, bar the likes of Skrillex, there are few superstar DJs dedicated to the “genre formerly known as dubstep”, but Flux Pavilion and his Circus crew have tapped a rich seam of fizzy EDM melody and hard, brutal mid-range bass that seems to hit the sweet spot for a lot of people.

CARNAGE

OVER the past few years, the world of EDM and hip-hop have grown ever closer. Waka Flocka Flame and Lil John have featured on singles produced by Steve Aoki, Borgore and DJ Snake; while duo TNGHT, a collaboration between producers Hudson Mohawke and Lunice, inspired a whole sub-genre with their super-charged hip-hop productions. But few have enjoyed the fruits of this cross-over more than Diamante Blackmon, better known as DJ Carnage.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

ZATOX

“IT was a very busy year,” Zatox tells DJ Mag, but from what we can see, that’s a big understatement. The Italian hardstyle don — real name Gerardo Roschini — has been globetrotting throughout 2015, celebrating his debut long-player, New World Order, which dropped via Holland’s Q-Dance imprint this time last year. Taking the album tour to down under at Easter, Roschini (and partners in crime, Audiofreq, Toneshifterz and Kronos) brought his musical revolution to the likes of Sydney and Melbourne, before heading home to tear up more European festivals than you could shake a glowstick at.

ROBIN SCHULZ

NEW-ENTRY GERMAN crowd-pleaser Robin Schulz enjoyed an absolutely huge 2015 that’s catapulted him into the Top 100 DJs poll and transformed him into a genuine crossover house music star, with the rich vocal house appeal of both ‘Sugar’ and ‘Headlights’ translating into highlyaddictive pop hits that were propelled into the charts of more than 30 countries around the world. “They even reached #1 in some countries,” Schulz says of the hits, which came off the back of a Grammy nomination earlier in the year for his breakthrough remix of Mr Probz ‘Waves’.

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90 39

SANDER VAN DOORN

“MAYBE you won’t believe it, but it’s my 10-year anniversary in the DJ Mag Top 100!” gushes Sander van Doorn. We can believe it alright. Sander is worldlywise. While some of his contemporaries get stuck in a rut musically, van Doorn knows just when to switch it up. Never content with one genre, he’s made a name for a shape-shifting sound that flits between big room electro-house and trance, collaborated with such diverse names as Underworld, Robbie Williams, Mark Knight, The Pet Shop Boys and Martin Garrix, and had a prolific hit-rate with his label DOORN, as well as with many other imprints.

ANDY C

RE-ENTRY SINCE bursting onto the scene as a young teenager with the epic hardcore tune ‘Valley Of The Shadows’ under the name Origin Unknown in the early ‘90s, Andrew Clarke has been immersed in breakbeat science. He started RAM Records in 1992 after borrowing £1000 from his uncle, and Ram 004 — ‘Shadows’ — contained the moon landing-sampling “31 seconds” snip and the “long dark tunnel” phrase culled from a BBC documentary about near-death experiences.

106

MARLO

NEW-ENTRY MARLO sums up his sound when he tells DJ Mag that it is “basically tech-driven chunky beats with plenty of hands-in-the-air moments.” It’s this down-to-earth and refreshingly honest crowdpleasing approach that has won him so many fans. “This year was better than last year in almost every way, I’m really happy and am blown away with the support I’ve received and the incredible shows and opportunities I’ve been given this past year,” he says. However, it’s not all about the noise for MaRLo, as his trip to play in Canada this year had some unexpected surprises.

93 22

QUENTIN MOSIMANN

QUENTIN Mosimann’s personal highlights of the year include officially remixing David Guetta and Bob Sinclar and making his debut at Tomorrowland. But when he tells DJ Mag, “I intend to do this job for the next 20 years at least, I’m not looking for my 15 minutes of fame”, it sums up his grounded and humble approach that has won him so many friends and fans across the world. Mosimann also happens to be one of the few DJs to have attained true ‘household name’ status, having been a coach on ‘The Voice Belgium’.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

94 MISS K8

95 TUJAMO

NEW-ENTRY

THERE aren’t many female DJs in the Top 100 — and there aren’t many Ukrainians for that matter, either. One such woman clearly keen to ruffle a few feathers and do things a bit differently, however, is Miss K8. A native of Kiev, this hardcore technoloving temptress is more than capable of mixing it with the best in the business. The so-called ‘Goddess Of Hardcore’ has had a pretty spellbinding year too — as is evidenced by performances on influential hardcore techno stages at events such as Masters Of Hardcore, Dominator, Syndicate and Defqon.

TUJAMO has the rare distinction of actually having commercial chart success with his productions in the UK, Germany and Holland, something not a lot of dance artists can say. DJing since 2006, Tujamo — real name Matthias Richter — got his break by winning a DJ competition, which then saw him cut his teeth as resident DJ at Schuttorf club, Index. But it was his chart-topping success with sleeper hit ‘Dr Who’ – which grew from a Miami Winter Music Conference hit in 2012 to a chart-topping hit in 2014 — alongside Plastic Funk, and featuring grime vocal

MIKE CANDYS

SWANKY TUNES

NEW-ENTRY

AT only 34 years old, Mike Candys is positioned as one of the globe’s most renowned purveyors of big room progressive and electro vibes. The Swiss native burst onto the scene a couple of years back courtesy of his track ‘La Serenissima’, and it’s safe to say he hasn’t looked back since. Indeed, 2015 sees Candys feature in the Top 100 for an impressive fourth year in a row.

ANOTHER new entry into the Top 100 this year, Russian trio Swanky Tunes have been producing together for a decade, collaborating for years with heavyweights like Afrojack and Kaskade. However, they’ve achieved plenty in the past 12 months to warrant the extra attention, and they don’t need much prompting to start rattling off their achievements.“The past 12 months have been the most busy and successful year of our artist life and music career,” they say. “Firstly, we hit the charts in Russia with our single ‘Fox Me’, which also became a real crossover international radio and club hit in the UK and the rest of Europe.

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

107

GALANTIS

NEW-ENTRY

SOMETIMES it’s hard to know if an artist’s ‘people’ are making the decisions on their behalf, or if they choose for themselves to keep a distance from their fans. In either case it’s an outdated approach for an interconnected world in which communication of all types is more vital to an artist than ever before. Whoever is responsible for making the choice here, the upshot is that Galantis have declined DJ Mag’s invitation to answer our questions or talk to us about their inclusion in this year’s Top 100 DJs Poll.

COSMIC GATE

EVERY year, someone, somewhere declares the death of trance music, and every year they’re proved wrong — trance is in just as rude health in 2015 as it was in 1999. Trance’s ability to survive is testament to its passionate fans, and the scene’s biggest players — like German veterans Cosmic Gate — staying true to the trance sound, whilst others have jumped ship (yes, we’re talking about you, Tiesto). German trance duo Cosmic Gate have been plying their melodious trade for well over two decades, and have featured in the Top 100 DJs poll numerous times.

100 KNIFE PARTY 47

108

KNIFE Party don’t do interviews. It’s their thing... well, along with Daft Punk and, err, Burial. So we’re still in the dark as to what their top track of 2015 was, or why they think there aren’t more women in the Top 100 DJs list. But fair play to them, they’re busy guys. The duo, made up of ex-Pendulum alumni Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, dropped their first EP as Knife Party (the name comes from a Deftones track, they’re not actually knife crime advocates) back in 2011 after leaving their strictly drum & bass days behind, and have since been dropping growling 140bpm beats for headbangers to lose their shit to.

DJ MAG ASEAN / NOVEMBER 2015

101-150 101 TWOLOUD

126 3LAU

102 3 ARE LEGEND

127 TJR

103 DJ FEEL

128 OMNIA

104 BOBINA

129 DUBVISION

105 RAN D

130 JULIAN JORDAN

106 ZOMBOY

131 ORJAN NILSEN

107 NOISECONTROLLERS

132 E-FORCE

108 KRYDER

133 HEATBEAT

109 CARL NUNES

134 ANGGER DIMAS

110 ADARO

135 ARTY

111 DJS FROM MARS

136 JAY HARDWAY

112 INFECTED MUSHROOM

137 MARCO CAROLA

113 ATMOZFEARS

138 DZEKO & TORRES

114 FLUME

139 DADA LIFE

115 MERK & KREMONT

140 PSYKO PUNKZ

116 FTAMPA

141 SASHA

117 MOTI

142 PAUL KALKBRENNER

118 VINTAGE CULTURE

143 BOBBY PUMA

119 TONY JUNIOR

144 FATBOY SLIM

120 ALVARO

145 GUNZ 4 HIRE

121 CHAINSMOKERS

146 LOCO DICE

122 JAMIE JONES

147 KORSAKOFF

123 MACEO PLEX

148 SETH TROXLER

124 FELGUK

149 JOEY DALE

125 WASTED PENGUINZ

150 FLOSSTRADAMUS

NOVEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

109

THROUGH THE LENS

Just snapped a cool picture? Send it to info@djmagasean.com with ‘Picture Perfect’ in the subject line

Born and bred in Selangor, Malaysia, EDM and nightlife photographer Jonathan Yip has been creating a buzz in the UK with his photography brand, SHOT BY YKT while pursuing his postgraduate degree. Rated as one of the top nightlife photographers in Hertfordshire at the tender age of 21, Jonathan has also photographed oﬃcially for various EDM artists from the likes of Swedish House Mafia to DVBBS and Steve Aoki whilst in Malaysia. He now holds club residency in Hertfordshire’s top nightlife venue and photographs a wider spectrum of international artists on a regular basis while expanding his brand at the same time.

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TO SEE MORE OF JONATHAN’S WORK INSTAGRAM:@JONYKT FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/ SHOT BY YKT TWITTER: @JONYKT

DJ MAG ASEAN /NOVEMBER 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 / DJ MAG ASEAN

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DJ MAG ASEAN /NOVEMBER 2015