We introduce part two of our top DJs feature to celebrate the finals this weekend of the foremost DJ battle in the world, Red Bull Thre3style…
David Guetta
If you’re voted as number one in the Djmag Top 100, you must be doing something right. Frenchman David Guetta is largely credited as a producer with reintroducing dance music to the USA masses with tracks like Sexy Bitch, but despite his phenomenal success, his first love is still spinning records. “As much as I want to speak to a wider audience, I still want to speak to my original audience – the clubbers, party people and the DJs – those who encouraged me, and are my roots," he says.
Armin van Buuren
For trance DJ/producer Armin van Buuren, 2011 has been about ‘all the fives’. To celebrate the 500th edition of the Dutchman’s A State of Trance podcasts, he did five sellout ‘ASOT500’ gigs over five weeks, in Johannesburg, Miami, Buenos Aires, Den Bosch and Sydney. Not that he’s stopped there, taking his Armin Only marathon DJ set extravaganza all over the globe, and next year sees (what else?) the ASOT550 tour, including stops in Belgrade, Moscow, Kiev, Los Angeles. The icing on the cake this year, though, has been the birth of his first child, a daughter. “All the clichés are true – it's the best thing that can happen to you!" he exclaimed to DJmag.
Tiësto
It’s hard to believe that it’s a decade since Tiësto, aka Tijs Michiel Verwest, released his debut solo album In My Memory – and he’d been out there seven years already even by that point. Since 2011, the Dutchman has remained at the forefront of electronic music. He played at the 2004 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Athens, his third album Elements of Life was Grammy-nominated in 2008 and his 2010 Kaleidoscope world tour took in 175 gigs on six continents and was enjoyed by more than a million people.
Skrillex
Skrillex, aka Sonny Moore, is celebrating some record-breaking Grammy nominations, received last week for Best New Artist, Best Dance Recording, Best Dance/Electronica Album, Best Remixed Recording (Non-Classical) and Best Short-Form Music Video. He spoke to Kate Hutchinson for redbull.com earlier in the year about his style and whether or not he really was even a dubstep star: “People are talking about me as ‘America’s dubstep artist’, but if you listen to my sets, I’m not a dubstep artist. I don’t just play dubstep, I play everything from dancehall to moombahton, to hip-hop and electro to drum ’n’ bass, the hard stuff to the sexy stuff – I play it all.”
Steve Aoki
As the founder of Dim Mak Records, Bloc Party, Klaxons and Mystery Jets, among many others, can thank Steve Aoki for giving them their career launchpads, but Aoki is no slouch himself when it comes to making music, his recent release with Tiësto, Tornado, a recent highlight, as well as remixes for artists as diverse as Michael Jackson, The Killers and Weezer. He even boasts a fashion range in collaboration with his sister. And then there’s the DJing, Steve playing gigs in Colombia, Brazil, Poland and Italy in the next week alone! Oh, and he’s handy at skydiving too (see below video)…
Disagree with our selection? Leave a comment below!
Want more?
Kommentarer
Legg inn en kommentar