The Spotlight: Danny Avila

This guy, at 18, has played in every big club in Ibiza you can possibly think of, has a North American tour coming up and has already toured europe. Garnering support from the likes of Fedde Le Grand and Hardwell. I can tell you now, having seen Danny live at the Ministry of Sound, it was apparent that he was going to be big. His knowledge of music for an 18 year old guy was mindblowing, playing one of the most diverse sets I have ever heard, as well as digging back to tracks from the 90's/2000's, pretty impressive if you ask me.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he's the best up and comer (yes, I think he's better than Madeon). If you wanna know more about the youngster, he was also the 2nd best wakeboarder in the world for his age division, and then decided to do it as a hobby to pursue his DJ'ing career. His father was an interior designer for nightclubs in Ibiza, which is how he got into the scene, being let into clubs at 14 he quickly learnt the business and how to DJ. Fedde Le Grand then saw him as somewhat as a prodigy, so he decided to take him under his wing to teach him producing and let him play over his whole European takeover.

I have a lot to say for this guy, and I tell you now it's all for good reason. Check the most recent mix he just made for DJ Mag! The first song of the mix is his unreleased track entitled 'Breaking Your Fall'.

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The Spotlight: Thomas Gold

Sorry to be so late on The Spotlight lately but finally here it is, this segment's artist is the German powerhouse known to us as Thomas  Gold, exploding onto the scene at around 2009/2010, although he's been around for a while he's only been getting the recognition he deserves from the majority of people now. Holding numerous Beatport chart toppers under his belts, such as Sing2Me, Silence (Niles Van Gogh & Thomas Gold Remix) and his ever so popular remix to Adele's 'Set Fire To The Rain. Thomas Gold already has a great repertoire of tracks, but the thing is he's nowhere near from slowing down, with his new album out consisting of new tracks and edits it seems like he's just getting started.

Here are my favorite, and maybe not so well known tracks by him!

We Want Your Soul (Thomas Gold Remix) 
A progressive masterpiece, probably my favorite track by the producer and it's definitely what got me listening to his stuff a lot more!!!


Thomas Gold vs. Red Carpet - Sing2Me Alright (Ben Dooks Reboot) 
Already epic on it's own, Thomas Gold adds Red Carpet's vocals of the house classic 'Alright'. I couldn't find his version but this one is identical. Epic is an understatement when describing this track, it shows that you don't need hard synths or big bass to give a track an epic feel.


Thomas Gold & Dirty South ft. Kate Elsworth - Alive (Alesso Remix) 
Thomas Gold prefers playing the Tommy Trash remix but this would have to be my favorite one, still keeping the original elements to the song, Alesso adds a little bit of synth here and there to make it so much better!

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The Spotlight: Third Party

The up and coming duo hailing out of the UK have definitely made a huge imprint within the scene over the past few months, so I thought it was only fitting to do a spotlight on them. With their recent release called 'Feel' now being one of the biggest festival anthems around, as well as their new single with Loleatta Holloway called 'Thank You' which Steve Angello debuted in his most recent set at EDC.  Known for their euphoric synth play these guys never fail to impress! This duo is definitely going places and if you haven't heard of them before it's about time that you finally have. Here are a bunch of tracks by them! Enjoy!

Here are 4 of my favorite tracks from them, blissful house!

Third Party feat. Loleatta Holloway - Thank You 
Their most recent single entitled 'Thank You' is probably the best they've released so far, following blissful synth play and great vocals, this could well be one of the festival summer anthems.


Third Party vs. Cicada - Feel 
As I said, now one of the biggest songs on the festival circuit, garnering support from the likes of the Swedish House Mafia, euphoric vocals and synths can never go wrong. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside (Third Party Remix)
In my opinion the greatest remix of the anthemic song, powerful synth play and a blasting drop compliment the song perfectly. Love this track, this is what got them on the radar. 

Wynter Gordon - Still Getting Younger (Third Party Remix) 
Included on one of my weekend packages not long ago, Wynter Gordon's vocals tracks plus the instrumentals created by Third Party result to absolute bliss!!!

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The Spotlight: Swedish House Mafia

You may be thinking this is an extremely obvious feature to do and all their songs are so well known already as it is so what’s the point in doing this. I’m going to be writing about the less obvious things and that you probably don’t know about the biggest act in dance music as well as a few tracks from each of the individual members that you may not have heard.

Consisting of Seb Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Axwell. Three of whom are head honcho’s of their own respective music labels called SIZE, Axtone and Refune Records. Now spitting out some of the biggest artists in the industry. Steve started off as a Hip- Hop DJ, Seb’s first gig was in a pizzeria (although his dad owned 2 record labels) and Axwell was a producer trying to get his tracks out. They each have flourishing individual careers and together they became even bigger. What people don’t understand is that Swedish House Mafia was never a planned thing or group. It was actually used as an insult against the group in Stockholm, parading around the city as if they could do what they liked, thinking they were all that, hence the word ‘Mafia’. What started off as a group of friends asking each other for tips and opinions slowly evolved to the 3 of them DJ’ing together as a group, and that’s when they decided to call themselves the Swedish House Mafia.

What I bet you didn’t know was that there were 4 members of the group until around 2005, Eric Prydz was actually the 4th member but decided to leave the group because he was going in a different direction with his music (a more underground side of house). 

Here are a bunch of tracks by the trio which you may not have heard! 


Axwell ft. Sebastian Ingrosso - Together

Skip to 2:50


Swedish House Mafia - Save The World (Alesso Remix) 


Swedish House Mafia - Greyhound
One of the biggest tracks of the Miami 2012 season!

Sebastain Ingrosso - Kidsos Vs. We Are Your Friends 


Axwell Ft. Errol Reid - Nothing But Love For You (Axwell's Remode)

Swedish House Mafia ft. Laidback Luke - Leave The World Behind 
The first ever big SHM track to hit the scene!

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The Spotlight: Zedd

At 23 years old, German producer zedd is taking the world by storm, with his innovative songs and sampling (Slam the Door was sampled off a youtube video) he is already headlining huge festivals at such a young age with people as old as Tiesto.

I'm not usually into huge electro beats that hit ridiculously hard unless I'm out or in a certain mood but for some reason Zedd is the only exception, his music has so much energy and this reflects in his DJ sets. So much so that he almost apparently stole the show at Cosmic Opera from Fedde Le Grand, not an easy thing to achieve!

Here are a few tracks that have reached my library from him.  Just a little warning, this kind of music is very different to my past features, but still very good nonetheless! Just trying to diversify into the world of electronic music.

Stars Come Out (Original Mix) 
Probably one of his best productions to date, the heavy beats and Heather Bright's vocals that come in at around 0:45 are just amazing, I'll let the song do the rest of the talking. I've also added the Tim Mason remix which has a more progressive feel to it just in case this one isn't your cup of tea.



Slam The Door (Original Mix) 
The voice being sampled from a youtube video that was posted a few years ago, Zedd continues to show his creativity while sticking to his signature sound. A very gritty track with an even dirtier second drop.


Shave It (Original Mix) 
Although more listener friendly, Shave it is a similar track to Slam the Door, only difference is, what I said in the beginning, It's more tailored for the mainstream compared to Slam The door, in my opinion one of his best productions.

Zedd - Shotgun 
Dark and heavy, starts to get interesting at 1:00 so skip there, this is song is a dark, big room track. It's one of those songs that the louder and better the speakers are, the better this song becomes. This is what I think to be the heaviest track he's ever made. The drop is just pure bass! Even though still a quality track!


Skrillex - Breaking A Sweat (Zedd Remix) 
Saving the best for last, Zedd's remix of Skrillex's 'Breakin' A Sweat' is absolutely incredible, retaining the energy you would expect from him and incorporating all the great parts of Skrillex's song and meshing them with his sound. How a great remix should sound

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The Spotlight: Dirty South

One of the most underrated artists in the scene at the moment, Dragan Roganović AKA Dirty South has created numerous anthems and big hits yet he hasnt even cracked the top 50 of the DJ mag. The biggest Australian producer around right now (Tommy Trash would come in second). He also owns a record label called 'Phazing Records'

He has collaborations with people like Thomas Gold and Axwell, he's been churning out bangers for a while now. He also created one of the biggest anthems of 2011 called 'Walking Alone', an anthemic feel good track that received huge support from the biggest artists on the scene at the moment, the Swedish House Mafia.

Here are a load of tracks by him with a few of my personal favorites. Be sure to check them out! This guy is incredible! 

Dirty South - Phazing (Original Mix) and Tiesto Remix

You may wanna skip ahead a bit through the intro. 

Phazing is when i first heard of Dirty South and in my opinion it's still one of his biggest songs, the catchy vocals and feel good house is always a recipe for success. I've also added the tiesto remix which incorporates a more big room sound to the song.

Phazing (Tiesto Remix):


Walking  Alone (Original Mix) 
As mentioned above, this was one of the biggest tracks of 2011, the track speaks for itself so i'll just leave you to have a listen.


Dirty South, Thomas Gold ft. Kate Elsworth - Eyes Wide Open (Original Mix)
With the summer festival circuit fast approaching this has the potential to be one of the staple songs in DJ's set, Dirty South and Thomas Gold have unbelievable chemistry when they sit down to make tracks, and this great, emotional house track is a great testament to this.

Skylar Grey - Invisible (Dirty South Remix) 
Skylar Grey's catchy vocals from the chart hit are given a synth makeover to create a great progressive track, one of my all time favorites from the producer.

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The Spotlight: Fedde Le Grand

A feature that I plan on having every week or two. Read on for the full article as well as tracks by the artist!

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