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THRILLSEEKERS
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Over the last 10 years The Thrillseekers have stood at the forefront
of both club and electronic dance music culture. From his debut Top 20
hit 'Synaesthesia' through to latter club anthems 'By Your Side',
'Waiting Here For You' & his latest epic 'The Last Time', Steve
Helstrip’s music ranks as some of the most affecting, inspiring ever
made. With artisan mixing skills and an innate, individualistic music
selection, he’s conquered clubs around the planet, playing across 70+
countries and notching up over 500 gigs in his career. To date he’s
been placed in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs chart 4 times, reaching No. 45 in
2008. He’s worked with electronic pioneers like Trevor Horn, shared
co-production credits with Chicane and co-written on Ferry Corsten’s
Grammy nominated ‘Right of Way’ album, notching up over 60
club-stomping productions and remixes in the process. He’s reworked
Tiësto and Armin, amongst a host of others, and rewired Sonique’s
‘Feels So Good’ into a worldwide No.1 record. Through the
now-legendary ‘NightMusic’ albums and supporting tours, he has also
sold in excess of 50,000 compilation units and smashed 150 NightMusic
branded events worldwide.
The Thrillseekers chronicles start back in 1999, where, on a
comparatively basic home studio set-up Steve constructed the seminal,
melodic trance milestone ‘Synaesthesia’. Initially released on Neo
Records, at the height of trance’s first wave, it has gone on to sell
a staggering 1 million copies across its numerous worldwide outings.
After Neo’s collapse in 2003, Steve took charge of The Thrillseekers’
catalogue with the launch of his own label, Adjusted Music. With
demand sky high for 'Synaesthesia' and ‘Affinity’, both tracks were
brought back around in 2004 to a huge reception. From there Adjusted
continued to build the pressure with a procession of releases
including ‘NewLife’, ‘The Last Time’ & ‘By Your Side’, that all
demonstrated new angles and shades to Steve’s sound. The latter was
championed by Pete Tong, being marked up, quite simply, as
“Brilliant”!
Steve is now as well-known as a DJ as he is a producer, having quickly
risen through the ranks captivating crowds the world over with his
tough, forward-looking sets. His spinning career took off with such
speed, that just 12 months after he first put needle to vinyl, he was
invited to play at Paul van Dyk's Birthday party.
In 2005 The Thrillseekers moved into compilation territory, with the
release of ‘NightMusic Vol 1’. The CD and 30 date world tour that
followed were an instant smash generating Stateside and Russian
releases of the comp. Volumes 2 & 3 followed in 2007 & 2008 and the
tours and albums have rapidly established themselves as a yearly
staple for forward-thinking dance fans’ gig diaries and music
collections.
In September 2008 The Thrillseekers delivered the first NightMusic
Podcast. Presented monthly by Steve, it holds a mirror up to the
ever-evolving worlds of cutting edge dance music. Heavily backed by
iTunes, it became in instant download hit, while the radio version has
rapidly expanded into one of the most popular FM & internet shows in
production.
Artist collaborations have played an important part in Steve’s
production career. Immediately following the success of ‘Synaesthesia’
Steve went on to launch a new moniker for M.O.S. subsidiary,
Incentive. En-Motion was born with ‘Truth’ in 2000 and ‘Getting Away
with It’ following in 2002. In the adjoining years he also pushed
forward, partnering collaborations with Andy „Pulser? Perring as
Insigma (‘Insigma’/’Open Our Eyes’/’Avalon’) and with ATCR owner Tim
Stark under the name Rapid Eye ('Never Going
Back'/’Circa-Forever’/’Stealing Beauty’/'Santa Cruz'/'Absolut').
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D:FUSE
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D:Fuse broke onto the Texan dance scene ten years ago performing
industrial music under the name Culture Industry but soon turned his
energies to full time DJing, spinning progressive music. D:Fuse’s
primary musical influences then included Renegade Sound Wave, Jerry
Bonham, Paul Oakenfold, BT, John Graham (Quivver), Paul van Dyk, The
Chameleons, The Orb and Future Sound of London. D:Fuse’s love and
enthusiasm for live performances means that he will definitely be
returning to the live circuit soon, probably next summer.
As his DJ reputation grew D:Fuse began spinning all over the USA,
Canada and Mexico. His skills soon came to the attention of dance
music pioneer Steve Levy, of LA-based Moonshine Music. “Psychotrance
2000”was released in September, 1999 and was followed-up with
“Psychotrance 2001”.
D:Fuse is one half of EXPANSION with writer and producer, SHANE
HOWARD, and Expansion’s style has caught the attention of many world
class DJs and also records with LA-based musician and producer KEN
HANKINS (aka JOY).
D:Fuse has collaborated with renowned British musician and engineer,
MARK HORWOOD. Their debut, a remix of Deep Architecture’s haunting
track “The Realm (Sunday AM)” on Niche Records, has left dance floors
stunned. D:Fuse has also collaborated with another emerging young
talent from England, RYAN MAUNDER. Their debut work, “Technique” , has
just been released on Perfecto’s “Underground Sound of USA” EP.
D:Fuse’s efforts with all production partners have displayed unique
blends of deeply progressive house rhythms tinged with funky trance: a
potent combination! D:Fuse’s first solo release on Moonshine,
“Bodyshock”, is being well received by DJs and on dancefloors. Yes -
that’s D:Fuse on vocals, too!
D:Fuse has worked hard to earn his place as a well-respected pioneer
of progressive music, and his fame has grown rapidly. When D:Fuse’s
skills came to the attention of Paul Oakenfold, Oakey liked what he
heard so much that he offered D:Fuse the opening DJ slot on his North
American Perfecto tours. Their third and fourth tours are currently
being planned, as well as more shows together in the US, UK and
elsewhere.
"Music is about life; music is about people. It is my life dream to
bring music to the people. If I can make just one person lose
themselves in the music, then I feel I'm giving something special
back... from something I've been given." -D:Fuse
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MATTI FOLKS
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Washington DC's own Matti Folks began his DJ career in March of 2002,
after his first visit to now legenadary DC night spot Nation. Dave
Seaman was spinning at Buzz and his life was changed forever. Matti
sold his heavy metal CDs and bought a pair of Tech-1200s, for the lure
of the massive club system was impossible to ignore. Already a working
sound engineer, Matti focussed all his energies on digging deeper and
deeper into DJing and the club culture in general.
Fast forward now to 2009 and the mighty Ibiza Superclub is rocking
hard into its second year of operation. Three rooms of sound and a
rooftop cabaret with an epic main room sound system to rival the best
in the world. You can find Matti in the main DJ booth, warming up the
speakers in anticipation of the worlds biggest DJs spinning every
Saturday night. He is the man behind the man, making the room go BOOM,
always with that first epic night at Buzz not far from his thoughts.
The look on his face is one of pure joy and concentration on a
singular task...to ROCK!
Matti blends Techno, House, Progressive, and Tribal fluently when he
is performing, with technical proficiency that is off the charts. The
frequencies reflect and recombine throughout the room and only a hint
of the former structure remains in the music he plays...where once two
or three tracks once stood, now a unique sonic experience is on
display. He is forever resetting the standards of energy and thunder.
He is a DJs DJ..."that guy" who is not afraid to turn it up to 11 and
let the bodies of exhausted dancers fall where they may.
Looking to the future, 2009 will be described as the year that Matti
announced to the world what most of DC already knew...that Matti Folks
is the complete performer, the consumate professional, and a force to
be reckoned with for years to come!
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Originally Posted by Catalyst
