ONE TO WATCH IN 2010!

 

While many would know him better for his peak time bleeped out electro sound, Dan Aux  started life as a breaks aficionado living in the suburbs of Newcastle, Australia. Fast track through hours of studio time, a bunch of local gigs and a change in location (a move to New Zealand), and you've got yourself one of the fastest rising and most in demand DJ's around.

Having already signed to Tommie Sunshine's New York imprint 'Brooklyn Fire', Mr Aux has already racked up a very impressive discography! With remixes for the likes of The Cheerz and Breakdown and collaborations with Mr Sunshine, it's pretty tough to venture into the blogosphere and not get a fresh dose of his pumped up sound. "The easiest way to describe my sound is dutch house with a twist" he says, concluding that "for the past year or so I have been heavily influenced by the dutch sound. There is something simple and sexy about the style that makes it so fresh!". We were more than happy to agree with his statements, and were curious to find out how the New Zealand crowds faired with his musical preferences, with Dan explaining "It's good in NZ, the crowds really don't mind what I play so I don't have to go all commercial". 

Like most modern artists, assisted fame for the Dan Aux alter-ego came from good quality peer to peer media, with blogs going nuts over his crazy sound. Speaking on the topic, he reflected "Its great for the profile, with a lot of producers touring purely based on their popularity which has spread from blogs, especially given that everyone owns their tunes and they are highly accessible". Despite this, its obvious he can see the correlation between lowered artists profits and increases in file sharing, stating that "its getting harder and harder for artists to make money given the increasing in blogs and file sharing on the web". Aside from this, Dan Aux admits that it's every artists goal to have a permanent place where people worldwide can access your music, "...whether it be a Speedyshare link uploaded by some kid in Russia that's been downloaded millions of times or the official Beatport link, if someone loves the track enough they will be happy to pay their $2.00 for it". 

Stakker - Humanoid (Dan Aux's 2010 Mix)

Jolyon Petch & Sam Hill - Bliss (Dan Aux Remix)

Breakdown - Feels Like (Dan Aux Remix)

In terms of his musical brilliance, this post accompanies a number of Dan Aux goodies for the crowds to devour. Whether it be his latest release 'Mosquito' or his insanely addictive party mashups and edits, your bound to find an addiction somewhere in here. We can also tell you that his recent remix for Breakdown's new "Feels Like" EP is absolutely massive. We've also thrown in a few complimentary party edits for you to get things started during your own sets. Appreciate these suckers, they come from the best!

S&H - Back 2 Whoomp (Dan Aux Edit)

Calvin Harris/Peace Treaty - I'm Not Alone In Da Ganja (Dan Aux VIP Party Edit)

We could write a summary for this article, but Dan Aux seemed to do it pretty damn well - "The real reward comes when I get to rock a crowd with my own productions and see them go absolutely ape shit!". Oh, and as Tommie Sunshine has already said, "Dan Aux will save the world". Get on it peeps!

Hangin' With Ho-Ju : Episode 4

So here at Ho-Ju Headquarters, the last couple of months have been full up of chaos and mayhem. I have had such a busy start to the new decade that this is the first chance I have had to write a rant for all you wonderful Fridgejet followers.

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your wonderful support of the label over the last 12 months. I garuntee that if you like what we have released so far, hang on to your nuts, cause we have some absolute bangers coming your way. In the next two weeks alone, we have tracks n remixes by Dan Aux, Koochie, WoNK, Kick-Oh, Bass Kicka, Wat? The Funk, Kaysh, The Dutch Rudder, Analogue, Daniel Farley & That Girl DJ... so you guys have lots to look forward to over the next 12 months! Now I would like to dedicate this rant to the producers who are, in my opinion, smashing it out of the park every time they get into the studio. I am a big fan of producers who make a variety of sounds for us all to get down to and don't get too concerned about genres. So here is the first Ho-Ju chart for 2010, including my top 10 favourite producers... in no particular order.

1. Dan Aux (No great surprise here, this man is absolutely killing it big time right now)

2. Tom Piper (Once again, no great suprise, just top quality shit!)

3. Koochie (My favorite female producer who is making huge noise with dj sets and tunes)

4. Wongo (The tunes this dude makes are always a firm fave with us at Ho-Ju)

5. Nom De Strip (This guy is absolutely smashing the scene apart now, huge tunes!)

6. Lazy Rich (Fast becoming the go to guy when you need a hit remix)

7. Kick-OH (From 'Black Celebration' to 'Stompin' to his upcoming Ho-Ju EP, he kills!)

8. Punk Rolla (My main man Phil from Bass Weazal, showing us all how he rolls)

9. Afrojack (How can you have a best producer list without this guy!?)

10. Doorly (Whether its dub or electro you need, this man is sure to deliver. Currently doing AUS tour)

Hangin' With Ho-Ju :: Episode 1.

Well, where to start... It's been a crazy old month here at Ho-Ju HQ... With many releases due out soon and my first remix coming up ( a tasty collab with FRIDGEJET fav. WoNK... , I have been kept busy with lots of label duties..... We are just putting the finishing touches to our upcoming DISCO BALLISTIC REMIX EP ....Following on from the success of the original EP from LAZY RICH ( Reached #12 on BEATPORT... ) With remixes by JAY ROBINSON & SUPABEATZ, THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, AQUILAGANJA & DIRTY POLITICS...This is already garnering big big support from around the globe from superstar dj's such as FAKE BLOOD, ANDY GEORGE & JAYMO ( RADIO 1 ), KEEN? (Local Hero's), DAN AUX, ONE FISH 2 FISH, DETBOI, ANIKI and many more....to hear a preview go here... Finally we have a huge EP coming up from THE SHOPLIFTA'S... this one features some amazing remixes from That Girl DJ, The CHeerz & your's truly with WoNK.... Stay tuned cause FRIDGEJET will be getting an exclusive sneak peek as the release date grows near...;)

Now, one of the questions i get asked all the time is... CAN I PLEASE SEND U A DEMO FOR YOUR LABEL...Now obviously this is a daily occurrence for me @ Ho-Ju. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about it...So i thought i would end this months write-up with the right way to do it.. ( or at least the way i like it done )

3 EASY STEPS TO PROPERLY SUBMITTING A DEMO FOR SIGNING...

1. Make sure the track is as close to finished as possible ( the amount of demos i get that are unfinished, unmastered, dodgy sounding bits of music is unbelievable.. DON'T SEND IT OUT TO LABELS UNTIL ITS FINISHED...)
2. Enclose some sort of BIO / INFO on who u r and previous tracks/remixes u have done ( not only does this look professional, but it also gives the label an idea of who they are dealing with...
3. If your track/s do not get signed , please resist the urge to tell them they wouldn't know a good tune when they hear one, and hope they fuckin die... ( As believe it or not i had once.. Dodgy Italian Producer with the initials ALEX P haha )... Chances are they may be interested in one of your future tunes...So thank them and always ask for feedback about your tune... It may help when submitting another tune.....

Til next month...