Dutch Dance Agenda: July

Do you want to know when your favorite DJ will be playing some tracks, or are you curious about new Dutch voices in town? In our #DutchDanceAgenda, we will post monthly updates on who is playing when and where, and highlight different Dutch DJs that are spinning their decks in the US at the moment.

Let’s face it: the best party is a Dutch party. As a brand, a passion, and a movement, “Dutch Dance” has been dominating the international dance scene for years. Many Dutch DJs have gathered a worldwide following, and fly all around the globe to move from one enthusiastic crowd to the other. Proving that established dance icons and fresh talent do not need to stand in each other’s way, Dutch legends like Tiësto and Hardwell have been taking the new generation underneath their wings.

From underground talent to household names, the Netherlands’ party scene has built the reputation for harboring everyone’s kind of DJ. However, with so many successful and famous DJs from such a small dot on the map, it is almost impossible to keep track of all the Dutch DJs that are performing in the United States. So for the latest updates tune in on our Twitter page!

Monthly Features

The #DutchDanceAgenda is more than only an overview of Dutch DJs playing in the States each month. We also interview some of them about their development as DJs, their experiences in the US, and new releases. This month’s featured artist is Dannic, a common face in American rave culture!

Dannic

Unfortunately Dannic’s show in New York last May was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Luckily, we could still sit down with Daan (Dannic), and looked with him to the past, present, and future of his music in the US!

Dannic’s big breakthrough was on Dancetour festival 2012 in his hometown Breda. Working alongside fellow Breda-based DJ Hardwell, his career would soon skyrocketed and get him to travel the Atlantic to show his skills in the US. Now, about 6 years later, he is still touring the States on a regular basis.

‘The first time I was playing in the US must have been in late 2012, and it was like a completely different world opened up in front of me,’ Daan says. ‘It was all hot and happening, and the audience would go completely wild’. His very first ever US gig was in Vegas, where he would be warming up for Hardwell. He immediately sensed the crowd’s enthusiasm towards him – which, he told us, was quite of a surprise coming from the Netherlands. Shortly after that, he would embark on his legendary Revealed Recordings North-American bus tours together with Hardwell and Dyro, during which he took that his groovy big room sound on the road.

Daan’s uses his label, Fonk Recordings, as a platform for like-minded and similar sounding producers, with a focus on his idiosyncratic “groovy big room”. For Fonk he has fresh talents releasing records, while he also helps them out on juridical matters and career advice. A Dutch duo to keep an eye on, according to Daan, is Holl & Rush.

In comparing the US and European dance scene, ‘the biggest difference is the fact that the audience here [in the US] goes really wild, whereas in the Netherlands people would just come for a fun night out.’ Daan continues: ‘People really come to a club or festival to see their favorite DJ, back at home it would all be a lot more colloquial.’

In Daan’s opinion, (Dutch) dance climaxed in the US around 2013-2014, after which the artistic supply was saturated for quite a while. Its popularity stagnated when commerce took over, causing an abundance of festivals to affect the club scene. ‘People would rather buy one ticket to see ten DJs play on a festival, than that they would pay to see their favorite DJ in a similar [club] setting each time.’ Hence touring on weekdays had become a bit of a rarity.

Nevertheless, Daan remains optimistic about his future in the US. ‘I will definitely return every so often and stay active in this scene. Even though other kinds of music might be more popular right now, I don’t think that club sound will ever fully disappear’ As long as Dannic will be doing his thing – playing sets that include at least 90% of own music – we are not worried that it will. This month, the grandmaster of groovy big room has one promising show coming up in New York City, check it out via the link below!

• July 6 | Marquee | New York, NY

16 Bit Lolitas

Afrojack

Nick van de Wall, better known as Afrojack, started his career at the age of 14, as he performed at local pubs and clubs, and earning additional income with designing websites for fellow musicians. In 2007 he released “In Your Face”, the first recording under the Afrojack name. He received international success with the song “Take Over Control” featuring Eva Simons, which charted in 10 different countries. He took part in Episode 2 of ‘Behind The Speedo’, which is a comedy series by Redfoo. Currently, Afrojack is listed as number ten in the DJ Mag Top 100.

• July 21 | Intrigue Nightclub | Las Vegas, NV
• July 22 | XS Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV

Bassjackers

Best friends since high school, DJ, Marlon Flohr, and producer, Ralph van Hilst came together in 2007 to create the Dutch duo known as Bassjackers. The duo exploded onto the scene and in 2011 their dancefloor bomb “Mush Mush” was picked up by Tiësto and released on his label Musical Freedom. 

Since then, Bassjackers have reached massive new heights in their career with numerous chart-topping bangers and hit collaborations with the likes of Martin Garrix, Afrojack, KSHMR, and Showtek, to name a few, as well as remixes for A-list artists including Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias, and Ne-Yo.

• July 13 | NOTO | Philadelphia, PA
• July 15 | Coney Art Walls | Brooklyn, NY

Eelke Kleijn

Eelke Kleijn is a rare talent. With work stretching across movie trailer scores, deep live shows, and incredibly well-formed production, he crosses a boundary between electronic producer and into a true modern-day composer. With peers and tastemakers standing up for this unmistakable imagination, the Rotterdam-based music maker’s potential has no bounds. With 2 artist albums delivered, an array of originals and first class remixes what he has achieved thus far would be any DJ’s reverie. Ultra to EMI, Global Underground to Eskimo Recordings and Spinnin’ to Suara have seen the young Dutchman’s vision in productions become world heard. 

• July 14 | Audio SF | San Francisco, CA
• July 28 | Avalon Hollywood | Los Angeles, CA

Quintino

Quintino is one of the true DJ’s with a lifelong passion for dance music and on the verge of becoming one of the leading forces in the global music scene today. His high profile work with the likes of Tiësto and Afrojack has made him a household name and his excellent DJ sets across the globe have made his position a highly respected name in the scene. Discovered by Laidback Luke at the age of 18, Quintino started to take his stature as a DJ and producer beyond the normal club scene, playing landmark gigs and high profile festivals. In between producing and releasing songs, Quintino keeps performing worldwide with an estimate of 250 gigs a year. 

• July 1 | Coney Art Walls | Brooklyn, NY

R3hab

Performing and recording under the name R3hab, EDM artist Fadil El Ghoul started his career in 2008 producing the track “Mrkrstft” for Hardwell. He teamed up with Hardwell once again in 2009 on the single “Blue Magic,” and worked with Afrojack in 2011 on “Aces High (Prutata).” 

He subsequently garnered prestigious 2014 slots at Tomorrowland, Future Music, Creamfields, and Summerburst, and that same year he put out the 12″ “Androids,” “Flashlight” with Deorro, and “Ready for the Weekend,” which were among some of his biggest-selling singles. 

He also landed a featured spot on Calvin Harris’ 2014 album Motion, and a DJ set at the Coachella Music Festival followed in 2015. In 2016, he teamed with the R&B vocalist Ciara for the single “Get Up.”

• July 13 | Prysm Nightclub | Chicago, IL
• July 14 | Marquee | New York, NY
• July 21 | Haven Nightclub | Atlantic City, NJ

Sam Feldt

While only in his early twenties, Dutchman Sam Feldt has become quite the deep house tastemaker of his day. With amazing remix work as well as solid hits like the early 2015 release ‘Show Me Love’, which proved to be his definite claim to fame, he’s one of the DJs to watch when it comes to a new sound flooding the scene. Sam Feldt is definitely not a stranger to the house music scene. After working behind the scenes as a producer for a long time, perfecting his musical talents, he decides to show the world what he’s capable of by uploading his first tunes by the end of summer ‘13. Within a year Sam signs with Spinnin’ Records and releases his first track on the label.

It doesn’t take long for the young producer to get sensed by international dance media as part of a new exciting wave of melodic deep house. With almost two million plays on SoundCloud and 250.000 plays in one week as well as a #1 Hypem spot for his remix of the Sander van Doorn & Firebeatz release ‘Guitar Track’, Sam established himself in the scene.

• July 4 | The Highline Ballroom | Los Angeles, CA
• July 6 | Forward Day & Nightclub | Cleveland, OH
• July 8 | Shephards Beach Club | Clearwater, FL

Spag Heddy

Straight from the kitchens of Pastanistan, Spag Heddy delivers your daily need for tomato bass. Releases like Oh My! [Never Say Die], OG Meatball EP [Buygore] and the official remix for platinum hit Don’t Let Me Down (The Chainsmokers ft. Daya) made waves in the world of bass music, and have secured him a spot amongst the bass lords.

Spag gained fame in the bass market giant USA with several headlined tours, from festival main stages to intimate and raw spots, leaving every witness destroyed with a snapped neck. Don’t miss out and be embraced by his noodly appendage

• July 18 | Soundcheck | Washington, DC
• July 19 | Higher Ground | South Burlington, VT
• July 21 | Bassrush Massive | San Bernardino, CA
• July 27 | Effex | Albuquerque, NM

Tiësto

Highly regarded by both DJ Magazine and fans of electronic dance music, Tiësto launched his career as one of the world’s foremost trance DJs, due in part to his legendary six-hour live sets, and went on to embrace a more pop-oriented EDM approach. 

The fifth Tiësto studio album, A Town Called Paradise, appeared in 2014 on Casablanca. It featured the most pop-oriented productions of his career and a slew of guest vocalists who included Ladyhawke and Icona Pop. Tiësto appeared on DJ Mag Top 100 2016 as number 5.

• July 14 | Hakkasan Nightclub | Las Vegas, NV
• July 21 | Global Dance Festival | Denver, CO
• July 21 | Hakkasan Nightclub | Las Vegas, NV
• July 22 | Wet Republic Ultra Pool | Las Vegas, NV
• July 28 | Hakkasan Nightclub | Las Vegas, NV
• July 29 | Wet Republic Ultra Pool | Las Vegas, NV

Ummet Ozcan

In an age where very few Artists break the mold and truly shine through as unique and innovative, Dutch/Turkish star Ummet Ozcan raises the bar and continues to surge in popularity worldwide.
Continuously garnering huge support from a broad array of the world’s top jocks like Tiesto, Hardwell, David Guetta, Avicii, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and many many more, Ummet Ozcan is firming his position at the forefront of the next generation of brilliant Dance Music Producers. With an unprecedented amount of artists seeking the formula for club-­‐friendly absolution, Ummet continues to deliver dancefloor- and festival essentials with each unique release and can frequently be found in the highest regions of the global charts. Ummet is also known for his softsynth and soundbank design for well-established music software houses like Rob Papen (Albino, Predator) and Acces Music (Virus). 

• July 14 | Lavo | New York, NY

Yellow Claw

Yellow Claw may not be a household name outside of the Netherlands but have a look at their YouTube channel and you’ll be hard-pressed to find one of their singles with less than 2,000,000 views. They take the newest sounds from the club and drive them off a cliff.

Hailing from Amsterdam, the trio first exploded into the scene after founding the Yellow Claw Thursday night party at the Jimmy Woo, which quickly gained a reputation as being one of the wildest and most unique parties in the city.

• July 12 | XS Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV
• July 13 | XS Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV