Aiden is a Rotterdam-based DJ/Producer who steadfastly avoids producing music with certain genres or formulas in mind, preferring to blend a unique variety of sounds and textures into his work. His adventurous debut artist album (‘Gebruikerssporen’) defies simple pigeonholing, which is what makes his music so interesting. When an artist has a creative palette that ranges from psychedelic overtones, through leftfield electronics, to limitless organic textures and irresistible percussion, Progressive-Astronaut thinks its time to find out more about the man behind the music… Let’s go back to the beginning… When was the first time you stumbled on electronic music? The first time I really got into electronic music was in the late 90's when the Hardcore/Gabber culture got really big in the Netherlands. In this period of time I saw the first records being spun by a DJ and live performances with synths and drum machines (on TV as I was too young to go to parties) and I instantly

Hey Guys, thanks for joining us today, how are you and where abouts in the world are you today? Yeah, we’re fine. At the moment we are in our studio finishing a new EP for Bedrock. For those who don't know you are real life brothers so walk us through how Monkey Safari came to be? Were you guys producing solo at any time in your career? We started djing around 15 years ago, when we bought two 1210s and a mixer. We never played together, because Sven was more into UK Garage/Big Beat and Electronic Music and I came from the Hip Hop and Soul music side of things. After a couple of years we founded our first label together with some friends and that was the starting point of Monkey Safari. The whole music production thing started at this point. We never produced any solo records alone. The name Monkey Safari is something that you instantly remember when hearing it, how did you eventually settle on that as an artist moniker? We'd tell you, but we'd have to kill you. Do you

First off al im really curious how it all started for you? JAM: I had a couple of synths and my cousin introduced me to some DJs who wanted to start recording so we teamed up and this is how Jam & Spoon and Dance 2 Trance started. Can you tell us one achievement you are realy proud of? JAM: I am never proud of something but I am happy over some work, yes. When I see young DJs still playing The Age Of Love Remix, then I am really happy about that. What's your oppinion on genres and artist arround the certain genres? for example if the artist is only connected to techno like Adam Bayer and if he were to play Deep house - Progressive set do yu think his audience would love it or hate it? what's your oppinion on limiting yourself to a certain genre? JAM: When I started with music a DJ usually played all kinds of styles. Obviously this has changed. I think its great that we can concentrate on certain styles. As a DJ you are able to follow your personal preferences and yo

Hi Alex, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today, where are you living now and how long have you been producing and DJing? Hey Guys, thank you for having me. I am living in São Paulo, Brasil at the moment and have been DJing for a little over 12 years and making music for around 10 years or so. So you were born in Brazil but now have German Citizenship, how did that come to be? I’ve always had a German Citizenship actually. I was born in Brazil but my family moved to Germany when I was only a few months old and I grew up there until I was 6, before returning to Brazil. That’s how I got to have dual Citizenship and speak both languages. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living and working between such diverse continents? Well, first and most obviously the dual citizenship is a big advantage. I can come and go into Europe as I wish and stay as long as I want. For me that is one of the best things about it. As both Germany and Brazil are countries

We are lucky enough to have one of Brazil’s top DJ’s and producers with us before his gig in Croatia this weekend for Ultra’s world renowned Resistance stage. Currently living in Barcelona, his style of music has a very distinct sound, loved by many industry heads, which has lead him to have a string of successful releases on labels including Systematic Recordings, Tronic, Bedrock and Drumcode. We find out what he’s got going on for the next few months along with an exclusive new mix showcasing some of his latest projects.   South America has one of the strongest techno scenes in the world, and Brazil is very interesting place. What do you like about the scene there and can you describe your beginnings in music? Where did you find inspiration? I think the scene in Brazil is going through some quick and important changes recently, it became so much bigger in the past couple of years. Just as I moved to Spain things started to change so fast it was hard to keep tr

Hi Robert, nice to catch you, i know you are very busy, so thanks for taking few minutes to answer some of our questions! We have a pleasure to do a premiere for your upcoming release on Bedrock, can you tell us something about that? Thank you very much for your support, this track is like a mixture of Acid and Grace Jones having a glass of sparkling wine. Curious what are you doing at the moment? Spending time in studio, doing tutorials or perhaps touring, or all of the above? Just woke up in Bali/Indonesia. Had a wonderful tour in Australia, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia, and now Bali. Sharing the Babiczstyle sounds :) I saw you constantly making new music (from your SoundCloud snippets and ideas) - any info on your upcoming stuff and what the feedback is from other DJs/artists on your music? Ohh there is a lot to come, did a full new ambient album for TRAUM, and also new tunes for my own label. Also will start to work on my next album for Systematic. From your Instagra

How did you decide on your name SQL does it have something to do with Structured Query Language? :D It does actually! I was doing freelance web design and development before I started with music. A friend told me SQL was actually pronounced as Sequel, and I though this had a nice ring to it. Although no one ever seems to pronounce it that way, people mostly just say SQL.   Do you do music full time or is just hobby  I’m not in the studio and touring all the time. I’m a mix engineer and I’m a personal Ableton teacher. My own music isn’t my only source of income which gives me total creative freedom to make the music I like without focussing on the money. I would not call it a hobby though, it’s my life.   how did you enter the world of electronic music? and how did you decided is something you want to do, how did you end up producing / djing? I came from a rock background, also playing in bands during my early teens. My introduction to electron

We had a pleasure to catch up and chat with one of the techno scene heavy weights Christian Smith, hope you enjoy the interview! You have been in the scene for over two decades, and it’s hard to imagine a list of successful producers and DJ’s without your name being at the top. What do you personally think are the biggest turning points during your artistic career? I don't really think that there has been a big turning point specifically, but it has been more consistent over the years. I have been producing and DJ’ing for so many years and have been lucky do have an exciting and successful career from this. Music has long been a significant part of your lie. Did anything change your view of the music and the music scene through the last few years and what do you think about it today? The whole industry has changed a lot since I started out all those years ago. Back then, there were very few international DJ’s and when you produced a record, if it was successful –

Can you tell us how you guys got your stage name ‘ARTBAT’? It’s a combination of our names Artur and Batish. Tell us about what’s in the pipeline, Future releases, Shows? Our most waiting release «Uplift» will out 17th March on Diynamic Music. Also in May and July we have two upcoming techno releases on Eklektisch Label. Of course we a working a lot now on a new productions and will announce them soon. Future performances that we are looking forward to is a set after Richie Hawtin on Platforma that will be 12.05, also waiting a summer to return to Ibiza this season for a few gigs in Destino Tox. In end of June we are playing on the best Ukrainian electronic music festival OSTROV with Ben Klock, Mano Le Tough, Rodhad and many amazing producers. A lot of local gigs in Ukrainian cities and foreign countries are coming too. How is the nightlife in Ukraine what experiences have you had so far? Nightlife in Ukraine is going better and better every year now. Of course ther

How did you decide upon the name “Acumen”? I found my artist name in the English dictionary. I was looking for a name that sounded good. And I came across this one. We can say that I was quite lazy I did not even arrive at the "b"   Where did your love of music come from and how old were you when you first realised you wanted to work in the music industry?` Often music is a family affair. For example my wife has only musicians in my family. Father bassist, mother vilonist, brother drummer ... me this is absolutely not the case. But I listened to music very young with always my own tastes very asserted. I listened to a lot of rock and punk! My passion for electronic music came with clubbing. But to finish my studies as a pharmacist I had to go out less. I decided to build a label with the knowledge I had and people I knew. This is why Time Has Changed was born in 2007.   What’s more important, luck or design? I think very honestly that it takes a bi