Space, the final frontier. As the smartest club in Ibiza opens its doors to welcome in their shiny new resident, James Zabiela just smiles and blinks a little. See, the ride here has been kinda fast. And while its been a relatively bump-free trip to acceptance and ubiquity, it’s still blinkin’ quick. Two years ago, James Zabiela popped his Balearic cherry by warming up for Sasha at the place the island calls Inside At Space. Wowing the crowd – and We Love boss Darren Hughes – with two hours of snappy, synth-fixated, breakbeat action – it was a defining moment in his DJ career. Two years later, he’s now the club’s new bi-weekly resident. It’s official. Now “that’s” what I call progression.

Knowing what a great track should sound like – and the place it can be taken by warping and twisting it – is James Zabiela’s forte. Layering different sounds with the aid of two Pioneer CDJ1000s, a Pioneer DJM600 and a pair of trusty Technics 1210s, his hands and ears don’t let up for a second, leaving any punters feet a-moving and mouth a-gap. And his demands for such kit wherever he spins is a reminder that he’s one of the scant few DJs who’s pushing things forward in 03. James’s style is trippy, bleepy and deeply – nay, downright – groovy. Oh, and watch out for a few gnarly basslines along the way. Those nasty, dirty sounds are a part of Jay-Z’s signature sound now. Scratches, loops, fluttering chord changes and are all par for the course in a Zabiela set. No wonder childhood idols Depeche Mode remain his heroes – like fellow tech-house don Mathew Bushwacka!, they all understand that the best electronic music moves both heart and feet. And if the magic’s there, the spirit will fly as well. And boy does this boy soar.

“Entertainment and education are the key,” nods James sagely. “It’s all about finding the balance. People have paid good money to have a party but you still need a balance.” Which is why his FX unit is so crucial to his performance. “Anyone can mix two records to a degree,” he grins, while still admitting to the odd bout of nervousness during radio interviews, if not behind the decks. “But I’m a hundred times more confident than I used to be. DJing has definitely helped my confidence as a person.” Watching him play, its easy to forget that making things look easy takes time to perfect. But then he’s crossed a few bridges – and a few national boundaries – along the way. “I haven’t worked it all out yet,” he adds. “But I do wish I could grow an extra arm sometimes!” (Fact One: talking of three deck wizards, on a recent hometown gig in Southampton, a certain Carl Cox came down to pay some respect, if not the door tab. High praise indeed…)

James’ career so far has been stratospheric to say the least. After winning Muzik Magazine’s Bedroom Bedlam competition with a string of well-placed mix tapes in 2000, he went on to win the award for Best Bedroom Bedlam DJ at The Muzik Awards one year later. Swiftly snapped up by Sasha’s Excession agency a few weeks later, he spent the next year taking on Eastern Europe, Australia, South America and the US of A (“more fanatical than anywhere else in the world”) while still finding time to record well-received CDs for Groovetech, Hooj and unleash a string of fine remixes along the way. Royksopp, Virgin Souls and End Recordings artist Dave Breannan have all been under the Zabiela scalpel – and more are on their way. (Fact Two: Sunday Best boss Rob Da Bank declared Jay-Z’s work on ‘Remind Me’ to be his favourite re-rub of the year… aside from the factor five on Salinas Beach that one time of course.)

Still only 24, still pushing the envelope and still learning to cope with a real-life fanbase and life on the other side of the record counter, its unlikely that James Zabiela will be taking a breather anytime soon. There are further late niteries like Tribal Sessions and The End to entertain and regular slots in Romania and Budapest to attend to. (I get to play whatever I want,” he smiles). On a recent trip to Australia he played a five hour set in front of 3,000 screaming punters at The Art House in Sydney. No wonder Sasha refers to James as the guv’nor, This is just the beginning.

James Zabiela.co.uk

Having released his eighth album Xport, and solidified his spot in the DJ Magazine top 100 yet again, Yahel has carved out a place for himself in the Trance and Club scenes of Electronic music. Streaming a diverse blend of global and ethnic influences through his pulsing trademark trance groove, ‘Xport’ begins with Yahel’s uplifting interpretation on Iron Maiden’s dad metal anthem ‘Fear Of The Dark’. Yet unlike many of his compatriots, it’s not unknown for Yahel’s soaring compositions to find their way into the boxes of Ferry, Tisto, PvD and Armin, with his 2000 epic ‘Voyage’ famously snapped up by the In Trance We Trust label. As evident from his solid standing on the DJ List, Yahel’s fans worldwide consistently support him, and Yahel knows just how much that means.

Yahel is widely respected, and has found success with major labels like Sony/BMG. He has also collaborated with Konami and Namco liscensing his music for a variety of their video games. Recently Yahel released an album through England’s Aardvark Records. “We were so excited to work with a guy of Yahel’s caliber.” Says label head Andy Reeve. Some of the other labels he has been involved with are Black Hole, Cyber, Tsunami, and Fundamental (with many more to follow.)

Yahel continues to make a mark on the Worldwide trance scene with regular sets in the UK, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. He also transported his washing melodies to Korea for the first time this year. But for Yahel there’s still no place like home. “Most people might not see Israel as a party place but for me there’s no better place to play and party in the world, It’s a way of life for us.”

Playing all over the globe Yahel is always traveling, always working, and always making time for his fans and family. Keep checking back, 2009 is going to be huge.

With Fatboy Slim albums, the clue is always in the title, and Norman Cook’s third outing is no exception. While “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” was one long whoop of triumph, “Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars” is the sound of a person taking stock of their life.

Norman was staying at LA’s Chateau Marmont hotel, when the title came to him. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had come along to see him DJ the night before, Bill Murray said hello in the lobby and the pop star life was his for the taking. But as for Norman himself?

“I was wandering around sweating and shaking, not having been to bed for about two days,” he remembers with a wry grin. “And I was thinking, ‘You can take the boy out of the gutter but you can’t take the gutter out of the boy’.”

When you remember that the whole Fatboy Slim alias started out as a fun side project to help launch the hip UK label, Skint, and have a laugh making party records to DJ with, no wonder Norman has found the last couple of years surreal. “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby” wasn’t just a great record – it was a pop phenomenon that made him the world’s biggest dance artist and redefined the concept of the superstar DJ. He was the biggest British artist in the US last year.

During those two rollercoaster years, everyone from Madonna to Robbie Williams was bidding for his remixing talents, his kitchen shelf groaned with trophies and virtually every weekend found him jetting off to major DJ gigs and award ceremonies. In the midst of all this, he fell in love with, and married British television and radio personality, Zoe Ball. A personal high, but one that made the couple reluctant tabloid material.

“I’m not moaning about it but I definitely had pop star fatigue,” he reflects. “The pressure of being in the limelight all the time was beginning to take its toll. For about three months my job was to go to awards ceremonies. When that was all I did, and I wasn’t making any music I was getting hacked off with what my life had become. I’m not very good at being a celebrity.”

In 1999 he played two defining events – the boxing-themed face-off with Armand Van Helden at London’s Brixton Academy, and a legendary show with The Chemical Brothers at Red Rocks, Colorado (the first time these superstar artists performed together in America) – which effectively closed a chapter in his career. Time to move on.

As the new year dawned Norman ventured back into his home studio in Brighton, England to make the most emotional, innovative album of his career. Norman explains the progression by pointing out that “The Rockafeller Skank” was the first track he recorded for his last album, and “Right Here Right Now” was the last.

“I thought, ‘Actually maybe I can do something with a bit more power and soul rather than just thrills and spills’. When I started this album I just sat there for about a month thinking what I didn’t want it to sound like. It took ages to work out what I did want it to sound like.”

Helpful advice came from longstanding friends The Chemical Brothers, who suggested he work with guest vocalists. Reluctant at first, Norman drew up a wish list of possible collaborators and the first name on it was charismatic soul diva Macy Gray.

They recorded two songs together in LA at the beginning of the year: the hormonal funk of ‘Love Life’ and the glorious breakbeat gospel of ‘Demons’, which Norman describes as the album’s pivotal track. Macy, meanwhile, calls it the best thing she’s ever done and she’s right, too.

“She was lovely,” Norman reports. “She’s very eccentric but really beautiful. And she smells great. That was the first thing I noticed when I met her!”

After that the album had found its heart and everything else fell into place. The first UK single, ‘Sunset (Bird Of Prey)’ is adapted from an ambient track that Norman wrote several years ago. It takes one of the less pretentious moments from Jim Morrison’s “American Prayer” poetry album and blazes into the stratosphere, borne aloft on whirling beats and soaring chords.

Another key track is “Song For Shelter,” a heady hymn to house music with preacher man vocals from Urban Soul’s Roland Clarke (the voice behind Armand Van Helden’s hit “Flowerz”). Norman debuted it to a rapturous response at Glastonbury 2000 and describes it as going back to his roots in club culture.

“Sometimes over the last two years I’ve found myself doing things I don’t really enjoy and forget why I’m doing this,” he explains. “And I’m normally in a nightclub when I remember why. Every foray I’ve had into the pop world has been based on support and respect from the dance community. I didn’t want to end up just pop.”

Thus, the thunderous “Star 69″ has the kind of crunching dancefloor momentum you’ll recognize from Norman’s remixes of Underworld and Groove Armada’s “I See You Baby” (his only recent remixing jobs), while “Ya Mama” and “Mad Flava” are deliberately “old skool Fatboy” floor-fillers. “I was allowed to have a couple,” he jokes. “Because most people have dropped the big beat thing it’s long enough ago that people are nostalgic.”

There are four more tracks, including the sublime bluesy opener, “Talking ’bout My Baby”, as well as a collaboration with P-Funk legend Bootsy Collins on “Weapon Of Choice”. None of them sound quite like you’d expect, but all of them sound as good as you’d hope.

If “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” jumped and shouted with manic glee, its successor sounds no less happy but a lot more content. When Norman first asked friends for feedback they used words like “loved up”, “soulful” and “uplifting”. It’s a work of widescreen emotion, psychedelic soul and the best dance music you’ve heard all year.

So Norman Cook’s back, but he doesn’t want to get any bigger, just better. He’s ignored any pressure to repeat himself and instead made the album he wanted to make, with fresh ideas and pinpoint production values that outclass anything he’s done before.

He’s halfway between the gutter and the stars and that’s just the way he likes it.

Darude (Finnish artist/producer/dj Ville Virtanen) found dance music while he was still in school. He practically gave himself carpal tunnel syndrome by constantly holding his finger on the pause button of a tape deck trying to catch the latest tunes on his favorite radio show. Darude says his “education” and broad taste in music dates back to those active radio-listening years. He says he gets inspired by other people’s great music among other things and I think it’s fair to say that he’s probably inspired a fair share of aspiring djs and electronic musicians himself, too.

It actually took quite a long time for him to realize that he could one day make music of his own. After a friend showed him what could be done with a regular PC and a simple tracker program his studies started going downhill and time spent next to the computer increasing exponentially. He soon moved on to sound modules and samplers in need of better sounds and more variety. These days he’s combining the best of both hardware and software tools in making music and performing live. He’s considered somewhat of a tech freak wanting to try out the new stuff as soon as he gets his hands on them.

The name Darude developed gradually during a long period of time. Ville played one particular song several times in a row at a pre-party at his friend’s house: ‘Rude Boy’ by Swedish artist Leila K. Friends started to call him ‘Rude Boy’ which developed to ‘The Rude’, ‘Da Rude’ and finally Darude.

Darude’s career got started after slipping a demo cd to one of his idols, acclaimed Finnish dance producer Jaakko ‘JS16’ Salovaara who got interested in what he heard and signed Darude to his label 16 Inch Records and produced a track called ‘Sandstorm’ in co-operation with Ville.

‘Sandstorm’ went directly to #1 position on the Finnish Dance Chart and dominated that spot for 17 weeks. The song found its way to UK via Internet, was signed by Neo Records and in June 2000 Darude became the first Finnish artist ever to reach top 3 positions on the UK single chart.

‘Sandstorm’ sold platinum in Scandinavia and Ireland and gold in the UK and Germany. The worldwide sales of ‘Sandstorm’ is about 1,5 – 2 million units. The single was also the world’s best selling 12″ vinyl in 2000.

The second single ‘Feel The Beat’ went to #1 on the Finnish Dance Chart, the UK Club Chart, Mixology Dance Chart UK and the Australian Dance Chart. Altogether it conquered the Top3 in ten countries. Darude’s debut album ‘Before The Storm’ sold double platinum in Finland and gold in Canada. The worldwide sales are about 600.000 – 800.000 units.

Darude’s success around the world kept him on the road performing live for a total of nine months in 2001. In the spring of 2002 Darude finished his seven week Tour de Trance in the USA until taking some well deserved vacation.

By summer 2003 Darude had finished working on his second album ‘Rush’. The first single from the album is simply entitled ‘Music’. The track conquered the #1 position on the Finnish Singles Chart, the Finnish Dance Chart and for eg. on the Polish Dance Chart. The second single ‘Next To You’ followed its success by taking the #1 position on the Finnish Singles Chart on release. Both singles got supported by some of the biggest names in the dj world (Tiesto, Ferry Corsten…) and were play listed on several dance radio stations all over the world. Again after the album release Darude did a lot of live shows around the globe.

In addition to records, clubs and radios you can hear Darude’s music in Hollywood movies, (‘Ballistic, Ecks vs. Sever’, ‘Like Mike’), Playstation games, mobile ring tones and in big sports broadcasts like the Olympics and Ice Hockey World Championships.

In 2004 the world saw Darude taking another step in his career: In addition to the live performances he also started officially touring as a dj which quickly turned out to be something he really loves, too and now is a inseparable part of his career. His style is a mix of progressive and uplifting melodic trance but he’s not too shy to throw in some tech, breaks and house flavor and occasionally even heavy metal samples. His energetic sets have clearly proven people that there’s a lot more to Darude than his signature track Sandstorm since only after one year of spinning he was voted #97 on DJ Magazine’s Top100 list.

Darude.com
Popgram Finland
Byassn Inc
16 Inch Records
Pioneer Pro DJ
Apple

Sharam Tayebi mans the turntables as one half of the Grammy award winning DJ/production duo Deep Dish. Characterized by a harder style than his partner Ali “Dubfire” Shirazinia, Sharam performs as Deep Dish featuring Sharam, when he takes to the road to deliver his signature half of the distinct Deep Dish sound.

Having recently completed a solo tour of Canada, Sharam was met by packed houses at some of the country’s top clubs, including The One Lounge in Victoria, The Plaza in Vancouver, Barrymore’s Music Hall in Ottawa, Stereo Club in Montreal, and Revolution in Kitchner. This highly successful tour just goes to show that whether performing together or solo, fans everywhere crave a dance floor-inspiring slice of Deep Dish.

Aside from his DJ/production duties, Sharam stays busy as co-owner, along with Ali, of Deep Dish Records, Yoshitoshi Recordings, and Shinichi Recordings. Collectively, the three labels are known for carrying some of the very best dance music in the world. The two also own the Yoshitoshi shop, Washington D.C.’s premiere electronic dance music record store.