Your Ad Here

Menno De Jong

Posted by iloveprogressive On April - 1 - 2009

Master of numerous music industry disciplines, Menno de Jong has already carved enough notches on the dance tree for someone twice his age. His production & remix career has seen him record for some of Europe’s biggest trance labels and he’s the owner of lauded Dutch independent Intuition Recordings. A bona-fide Podcast pioneer, he’s produced and presented the much respected and widely-syndicated Intuition Radio show for the last 3 years. As a DJ he’s closed gigs for Tiësto & Paul van Dyk, is currently ranked at No. 48 in DJ Magazine’s Top 100 Chart and has spun in over 25 countries. At just 24 years old, he’s is without question the next challenger to the Dutch trance throne!

Born into a musical family, it took very little time for Menno to start experimenting with the array of synths corralled in his father’s studio. His production career started in auspicious fashion in 2004 when ‘Guanxi’, his debut production was signed to Anjunabeats. The consummate music workaholic, Menno has continued to conjure one magical, melodic feat after another. Double-header ‘Magma’/‘Momentum’ and ‘Sjamaan’ were released on Fundamental (in 2005 & 2007 respectively), while ‘Tundra’ (2005) and ‘Nolthando’/ ‘Solid State’ (2007) appeared on his own Intuition label. Remix-wise, he has re-scripted tracks for The Thrillseekers, Karen Overton & Mark Otten, amongst others and to ever-increasing acclaim.

As with studio production Menno also dabbled in DJing from an early age. At 17 he progressed from school discos & friends parties to a two year residency at an underground club in Eindhoven. Further charged by the reception ‘Guanxi’ received from DJs and still aged just 20 years old he threw himself into music nearly full-time, juggling his busy schedule with his studies at university. In the last three years he has successfully catapulted himself into the upper echelons of the trance DJ hierarchy. Having now spun in over 25 countries, Menno has played at clubs and events that are themselves the virtual synonyms of trance. Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Creamfields, Trance Energy, Sensation White, Mysteryland, Amnesia Ibiza, Love Parade, Berlin, The Gaudi Arena in Moscow & WMC in Miami have all hosted his pin-point perfect tune selection and sophisticated mixing style. Alongside that he has DJed with some of the biggest names in the scene, including trail-blazers such as Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, The Prodigy, Paul van Dyk, Marco V and Markus Schulz. With his non-stop smile, energetic dancing and ever-present contact with the audience, he continues to share his passion for evocative melodies and dance-floor rocking beats.

Menno’s rise through the deck-spinning ranks has been suitably reflected in DJ Magazine’s annual Top 100 poll. He debuted at 72 in 2006 before rising 10 places to 62 a year later, and a staggering 14 places to 48 in 2008. He is also ranked at No. 11 in Trance Addict’s annual top 100 Trance DJs poll.

Following an inspiring tour of Africa, Menno broke into the compilation market in mid-2007. Mixing the first in a projected series of country-themed albums, Intuition Sessions Vol. 1: South Africa gathered together the cream of the label’s highly recognizable crop.

De Jong was also at the leading-edge of the internet radio and podcasting phenomenon, launching his Intuition Radio show in 2005. The weekly episodes rapidly became required listening for the internet’s trance-hungry hoards, with Menno showcasing the very best in EDM. The show has now gone monthly and progressed onto the airwaves of XM Radio, Dutch national Slam FM & Worldspace with tens of thousands of listeners tuning in each week. The Intuition Podcast is also available as a download via iTunes.

Tim Stark – DJ Magazine

::. Taken from MennoDeJong.commenno

Ferry Corsten

Posted by iloveprogressive On March - 29 - 2009

The Dutch superstar has consistently been voted one of the top 10 DJs in the world (according to DJ magazine’s definitive Top 100 DJ chart) for five years. He’s played for hundreds of thousands of fans – sometimes at once – in amphitheaters, fields and nightclubs from Australia to Russia to white-hot Ibiza. He took the party island’s “Best Trance DJ” prize at the annual DJ Awards ceremony this year and two years ago; got tailed by some road-tripping fans on a Southern Comfort-sponsored, 26-city bus tour of America; and had his life’s work interpreted in music, video and décor at his annual Masquerade event “Full on Ferry”, at 12,000-capacity arena Ahoy in his hometown, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

It’s all in a year’s work for the man who’s been called the “architect, pioneer, and instigator” of trance music’s global dominance.ferrycorsten
But within the close-knit international DJ community, Corsten’s regarded as something else too: A studio auteur with a fierce sense of sonic rightness; a real-deal producer who works solo, sans engineer, and creates the most complete, energetic, melodic records in dance music. His style is so singular that synthesizer manufacturer Roland commissioned a Corsten sound bank for their new SP-555 sampling unit. But it’s so broad that it could meld with Public Enemy’s classic cut “Bring The Noise,” on a Corsten remix that Chuck D himself called “the ultimate concoction of space, energy and lyrics.”

The world first experienced Corsten’s dance floor wallop in 1999, when the young and hungry artist created aptly named track “Out Of The Blue” (recorded under his System F moniker). It was the first of his eight Dutch gold records, and 10 U.K. Top 40 hits, the most ever by a trance producer. He released his debut album, “Right Of Way,” in 2003; and the groundbreaking “L.E.F.” – containing Duran Duran collaboration “Fire” – in 2006, which debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes dance chart.

A keen sonic curator, Corsten serves as the head honcho for his record labels, Flashover Recordings, Aleph, Boom tssjak, and Levare.On his new XM Radio show, “Corsten’s Countdown,” he debuts new tracks every week and lets his faithful listeners – on the radio, and online – vote on their favorites for the month’s final chart. The show is the first of its kind to engage fans worldwide, and give them a direct hand in predicting and creating hits.

Corsten has also used his high profile for good, serving as an ambassador for the KidsRights Foundation, which increases awareness of the plight of disadvantaged children worldwide. He boasts his own clothing line, Signature F, via Washington, D.C.-based iKY Clothing.

Is Ferry Corsten a globe-trotting, club-packing, beat-dropping superstar DJ? Most definitely. But that’s just the beginning of the story…one that’s still being written.

::. Taken from Ferry Corsten.com