My Year In Hard Dance
Kutski
2007 has been a strong year for hard dance in general. As all music scenes, UK hard dance has moved through the cycle of popularity and decline since the hard house boom at the start of the decade, but 2007 has been the year of innovation where the scene has reinvented itself and has so many exciting new sounds and experimental sub genres. New producers seemed to be popping up weekly with killer tracks that where as creative as they where tightly produced. The events have also been second to none, from the sublime production of Tidy Weekenders to the underground rave in a field that was Kiddstock, clubbers turned out in their thousands and proved that hard dance as a collective term is just as much a valid presence in club culture as house or trance.
For me personally, its been a year full of achievements too. I've been hectically driving around the UK every weekend covering what feels like every inch of it as well as international dates that have taken me as far and wide as Australia and South Africa. In the second half of the year i was drafted to write the hardcore reviews page for M8 magazine, and throughout the year my show on Radio One has moved from strength to strength covering the full range of hard dance and hardcore, featuring guests from Vinylgroover to Mark EG, and Gammer to the Ratpack to name a few! Production has been hot with solo tracks and collaborations with BK, Storm, Technikal, Slipmatt, Jon Doe and Cortez, getting support form all the major players such as Anne Savage and Yoji!!! Another personal achievement was to get my first commercial mix album, that was released by Ministry Of Sound, which not only did i get complete creative control over, but i got to A&R the tracks and commission remixes which was an amazing (if not stressful) experience!
I feel 2008 will be another strong year for hard dance as a whole. All the artist will build on the foundations they have laid this year, the clubbers will be hungry for the new music, giving the promoters opportunity to put on bigger and more impressive events! Personally, my first goal of 2008 will be a big one as i have been asked to stand in for legend Dave Pearce hosting the infamous Dance Anthems show. From then i need to get my much delayed website live, and then hopefully press on with more production whistle making sure not to compromise any of my current commitments. Other than that i'll just play it by ear! So many amazing opportunities came to me in 2007 that i never wound have predicted at the start of the year so I'm just looking forward to the challenges 2008 throws at me :)
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