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Playlist: Wheats Shares 6 United States Inspired Tracks

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Led by its founder, DJ, and GRAMMY-nominated producer Mark Knight, Toolroom Stateside continues its club takeovers this November. After a summer that saw the authoritative dance music label make its triumphant return to Ibiza for seventeen successful weeks at Eden Ibiza, Toolroom heads back to the west coast at Exchange LA, celebrating its 9th anniversary, on Saturday, November 23. With earlier tour stops including sold-out New York and San Francisco takeovers, label head Mark Knight returns for his first LA appearance in nearly a year with Toolroom’s latest rising stars, as both DJ Mag favorites Leftwing : Kody and tastemaker Danny Howard join Mixmag’s “New Artist To Watch” Wheats to round up the lineup. A driving force of the underground sound, attendees can expect to hear its trademark sound on the road.

With an illustrious career spanning nearly two decades, Mark Knight is one of dance music’s most respected and accomplished artists. As one of Beatport’s highest selling artists overall and a fixture on the international club and festival circuit with appearances at The BPM Festival, Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, and much more, the Toolroom label head has been a guiding light in dance music. A heavyweight favorite amongst US dance music fans, Mark Knight brings UK duo Leftwing : Kody, whose track “I Feel It” became one of the summer’s biggest house records, and new rising talent Wheats. Newly relaunching his imprint Nothing Else Matters, and joining up for the LA stop of Toolroom Stateside, DJ/producer Danny Howard has been an influential figure on the BBC Radio 1 airwaves since 2011 and continues to be a highly regarded selector as a new addition to the station’s Friday night lineup alongside Annie Mac and Pete Tong.

Recently celebrating the 500th episode of Toolroom Radio and its fifteen-year anniversary with a world tour in 2018, Toolroom has continued its dominance well into 2019. Boasting the title of Beatport’s ‘highest selling label of 2018,’ the label continues to be an influential outlet in dance music with recent releases including Kevin Knapp and Hannnah Wants chart-topping collaboration “Call Me,” Wheats’ “By Myself” and Mark Knight’s newest edit for C.O.T’s “Let It Go.” With 2019 shaping up to be another landmark year, Toolroom continues to push its roster of leading dance music producers with names including Jack Back, Eli Brown, Friend Within, Illyus & Barrientos and much more.

Bringing an authentic dance music experience to Exchange for its 9th anniversary celebrations, attendees of the Los Angeles stop can look forward to hearing the current sound from one of the world’s leading house and tech-house labels.

Ahead of the show, we asked Wheats to share six United States-inspired tracks with our readers

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Vridian’s Top 5 Indian House and Techno Records

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India’s Qilla Records strike out with a superb new EP from Vridian which finds the Delhi-based producer exploring the sounds of darker disco and indie dance.

Vridian has been crafting melancholic melodies and driving grooves both as a DJ and producer for some time. He spent a brief stint as a resident at Vancouver’s acclaimed after-hours nightclub Gorg-O-Mish, and with releases on international imprints such as Manjumasi, Traum Schallplatten and Nie Wieder Schlafen he is picking up a deserved international profile.

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Siege: “Great Vocal Hooks Can Lift a Record to Another Level”

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From its trail-blazing ’90s rave-days to giving birth to the world-conquering Tomorrowland, Belgium has long punched above its modest size in the world of electronic music. Now rising star Siege, whose techy take on house has graced labels from Toolroom and Saved to Yousef’s Circus, Alan Fitzpatrick’s We Are The Braze and Big Beat in the US, can add his name to the influential acts that Belgium has gifted the world.

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Playlist: 747 Shares 10 Key Tracks Released on His Birth Year (1993)

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This week Ryan Chan aka 747 returned to Canadian imprint Aquaregia Records with his debut full-length album titled The Gate of Life. 

Following the critically acclaimed Paleo series of EPs, Vancouver DJ and producer 747 continues to push boundaries with this debut studio album. The album, which came out earlier this week on November 4th, was released on Aquaregia where 747 signed his first record and has since helped spearhead the hypnotic sonic pathway that the label is known for. Written over the past year with predominately analog hardware in Vancouver and Berlin, the album draws influences from both cities as it flows between serene soundscapes, techno, and acid to form an introspective collection of music. Over the same period, the tracks have been tried and tested during 747’s bustling live schedule which saw him at some of techno’s highest regarded clubs including Fabric in London and Rex Club in Paris.

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Juliet Fox Shares Her 10 Favorite Drumcode Tracks

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One of the most multi-talented up and coming electronic music artists on the scene, Juliet Fox is making her mark as both a DJ and producer for all to see, gaining attention and support from fans and peers alike.

Juliet has become a Drumcode mainstay with several releases now on the label, the latest being her contribution to Drumcode’s A-Sides Vol. 8 Compilation, with 25 tracks hand-picked by Adam Beyer. That track, “Was Beautiful,” was played by too many DJs to mention this year, but that was not all for Juliet. This year she’s had tracks out on Octopus Records, NOIR and Kraftek, and has been playing a string of high-profile events throughout the globe. These have included Drumcode’s takeover at Tobacco Docks in London as well as several upcoming Drumcode-curated events in the United States this month.

This weekend alone, she is playing a dedicated stage at EDC Orlando and a label take-over at Avant Gardner in New York City. Tickets and info for all her upcoming Drumcode events can be found here.

Given Juliet’s incredible year, we asked her to share her 10 favorite Drumcode tracks with us. Enjoy the playlist below.

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Playlist: Sam Young aka Vanilla Ace Shares His Favorite Obscure Records to Sample

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You may know Sam Young as Vanilla ACE, the alias he began in 2012 which has been responsible for a string of Beatport Number 1 tracks such as “Bring It Back” on OFF Recordings and “The Gee” on Club Sweat. Beyond those, Sam has released as Vanilla Ace on various esteemed labels such as Toolroom, Suara, Nervous, Hot Boi, and Kittball, just to name a few.

Last year Sam also launched a new alias, Sammy Deuce which focussed on his love for proper house music with influences of disco, soul and jackin, sampling obscure records and putting out music on Glasgow Underground and Nurvous.

Finally, Sam recently launched his own label Wyldcard on which he’ll be putting out music from some of his favourite under-appreciated artists over the coming months. Needless to say, he has been busy and it’s easy to see why with plenty of talent both in the studio and behind the decks.

Anyone familiar with Sam knows he is keen on sampling, often drawing inspiration from obscure records to produce hits that get dance floors moving.

Below, he shares some of the best obscure tracks he has sampled in his career.

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Playlist: Jason Burns’ 10 Favorite Breaks/Broken Beat Records

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Jason Burns yet again states his claim as one of the most talented producers in the game with a gorgeous, breaks-laden EP complete with remix from Mad Villains.

As a veteran DJ and producer with releases on Toolroom, Nervous Records, Anabatic, Symbols, Love&Other, and RAM Recordings, Jason Burns has a reputation for defying genre conventions. Drawing from a wide array of influences including disco, classic house, garage, R&B, soul, pop, and acid house, he has moulded a unique sound that doesn’t fit neatly into any box.

Following his Once Again EP on SOUP NYC earlier this year, Jason returns to the groundbreaking label with The Power EP, a melodic, breaks-laden two-tracker accompanied by a huge remix from fellow SOUP affiliate Mad Villains.

Clearly a fan of breas and broken beat tracks, we asked Jason to share his all-time favorite 10 with us:

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Roland Leesker: Top 5 Favourite Remixes Of All Time

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Get Physical’s creative director Roland Leesker makes a welcome artistic return to the label with a fantastic new release featuring tracks from the ACID LOVE Vol. 2 album, including a DJ Pierre remix.

Leesker has only put out a few releases over the last 15 years—both solo and as DJ Carrera and R&R with none other than Ricardo Villalobos—but has a fully-formed sound. His last most recent singles ‘Bones’ and ‘Believe’ received broad critical acclaim and DJ support and that is sure to continue with this superb new track.

‘Music Is Here’, is a vibrant and busy acid house cut with warped bass, prickly percussion and teased out 303 lines that cut up the refracted vocal. It’s pure energy for the dance floor and after an instrumental version that is even more direct, acid legend DJ Pierre remixes.

In honor of the release and DJ Pierre’s remix, which you can find HERE, we asked Roland to share 5 of his favorite remixes of all time.

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Subjected: 10 Ambient Selections

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Intimate Silence return this August with an album from Vault Series founder Subjected featuring eight ambient cuts entitled ‘Opera Scenes’, from which ourselves premiered the brilliant “Opera Scene VII (The Origin of Life)”.

Subjected has been an important figure within Berlin’s techno community in the last ten years with his Vault Series and Subjected System imprints playing host to some of the genres most exciting names. His recent releases on ARTS, Stoor, Vault Series and self-titled label showcases his vast exploration into the realms of ambient soundscapes and atmospheric techno with a hint of post-industrial influence. ‘Opera Scenes’ sees Subjected serve up his third LP to date joining Silent-One’s Intimate Silence label following the likes of GƂós, Thomas Hessler, KAS:ST, PVNV, Dold and Pär Grindvik.

We recently asked Subjected to share 10 of his key ambient selections with us, and to explain the reasoning behind each of his choice.

Boards of Canada – Amo Bishop Roden

One of the most beautiful tracks in the world. BOC 4 EVER!

Blind old Freak / Alessandro Cortini – Everything ends here

Alessandro Cortini is one of my heroes since day one. HeÂŽs the influence why I produced PICTURES FROM THE AFTERMATH. This collaboration with synth guru Don Buchla is a true masterpiece.

Pictures from the Aftermath – Opera Scene II (Losing our unconsciousness)

The first track, which I produced for the opus. The initial point of no return. At this point I realized that I have to do a whole LP and PICTURES FROM THE AFTERMATH was born.

Max Richter – Landscape with figure (1922)

The neoklassik / post minimalism is strongly connected to me with ambient and other electronica. What Max Richter is doing is the best example. Goosebumps.

Clin Mansell – The last man

No more words to say.

Dustin OÂŽHalloran – We move slightly

OÂŽHalloran shows us how a piano has to sound. Neoklassik, ambient, post minimalism? We donÂŽt know.

SPDJ x SBJCTD – stds_15_v2

This one I produced with techno mastermind Speedy J. One SH-101 sequenced a Prophet 5, one wogglebugged modular systems, some field recordings of a dutch kindergarten and Speedy J + Subjected on the knobs. ThatÂŽs it.

Deadmau5 – Bleed

A very popular and successful EDM artist, who claims for itself, that he has no musical theory skills, but his ambient and piano tracks are out from this world. HereÂŽs one example:

TrentmĂžller – Miss you

MASTERPIECE

Aphex Twin – Aisatsana [102]

Last but not least. AFX can still do some ambient / piano tracks. This one is wonderful.

Cover photo by: Billy Roberts

Subjected presents Pictures From The Aftermath Opera Scenes is out on Intimate Silence

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