The interview is pretty lengthy so be sure to click Continue Reading button to read it in full version! Happy reading. Also, the interview is done by Lucy from CheersEars; this is just a repost ;)

Back in the mists of time (ok, 2010), something big started to happen on the world wide web. A small group of intrepid progressive house lovers based in Europe had bonded over their shared love of magnificent melodies, warm basslines and epic emotional hooks, and together they decided to start a new chapter in their appreciation for this musical manna from heaven. And lo, in a blaze of inspiration and eagerly typed reviews, Progressive House Worldwidewas born!

Since then the site has gone from strength to strength, as the PHW crew grew, diversified and found new ways to promote, spread and support the music, artists and labels that they loved – everything from interviewing some of the biggest stars of the progressive house scene and dedicating themselves to daily reviews of all the latest releases and juicy promos to skilfully crafting weekly promo mixes and putting on aural extravaganzas in 2011 and 2012 in conjunction with Pure.FM.

They say that time flies when you’re having fun, and so it has proved for the PHW crew, because today they’re celebrating the momentous milestone that is their 2nd birthday and, I hope, revelling in the deserved accolade of having established themselves as the best progressive house website around. What’s more, the PHW crew have always been nothing but 100% supportive of Cheers Ears and I admire them hugely for what they do – so when I got the opportunity to interview the guys to celebrate their birthday, I jumped at it! What follows is an in-depth, insightful account from Freddie, Milo, Alex and Max of the history of PHW, the future, and all the progressive house you could possibly wish for in between.

Well everyone we are extremely excited to bring you yet another review, this time with one of progressive house’s most admirable rising stars as well as one of the youngest to date. Ladies and gentleman we bring you the young progressive house star David Cknsk…better known to the progressive community as “Mike Duz” as well as his new alias “Matt Fax”. Let’s see what this talented young producer has to say about life, music, his two aliases and his future in the EDM industry.

PHW: Hello there David!! Let me start off by saying what huge fans we are of your work here at PHW. You have a real knack for pumping out some incredible tunes. So to kick this interview off why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Who is David Cknsk and where did this alias Mike Duz come from? Also some people may have noticed that you have been doing work under a new alias called Matt Fax…care to tell us about that alias and what the differences are between these two incredible aliases?

Mike Duz: So yeah basically it’s not Cknsk, just shorted my name on Facebook so they won’t sell my informations, or they will sell false informations ahah! So Mike Duz came from Mike Dub, but as it was already taken, I replaced the ‘d’ by a ‘z’ and that’s why Duz! For Matt Fax, Matt is taken from Mat Zo, add a second ‘t’, and Fax as a wink to Jeremy Olander’s track ‘Fairfax’, that i was listening while trying to find a new name. It’s basically for Progressive and Tech Progressive stuff. Mike Duz is more Electro and Big-Room now.

PHW: So where does your story in music start? Do you have any main inspirations? What drove you to decide to become a producer?

Mike Duz: I started first as a DJ. At my home, on Virtual DJ. It was quite shit i must say. But one day, I discovered the french DJ Joachim Garraud, and then I bought his Invasion album in 2008, with the DVD. In that one, there was some production tips, so I saw what he did, how he proceeded to make this sound, that drums… Then, I said ‘yeah, I want to produce, that seems cool’. So after I ‘bought’ Ableton (big up to my good friend BitTorrent haha) , and started to work. Then bought my DJ set-up too. My main inspiration is Eric Prydz for Progressive/Techno, and Hardwell and Nicky Romero for Electro-House/Big-room among others.

PHW: How would you describe your sound as an artist? What truly inspires you to make the incredible music that you do? Is there any immediate source of inspiration that you feed off of regularly such as family, friends or spouse?

Well everyone we are extremely excited to bring you yet another review, this time with one of progressive house’s most sought out producers at this time. Ladies and gentleman we bring you the progressive house king of Liverpool…Jay Ardrey…better known to the progressive community as “Mindset”. Let’s hear what this progressive genius has to say about his producing title, his methods of production, where his story started in music and a slew of technical and random questions that any fan will be interested in hearing about.

1.) Hello there Jay!! First off let me say what an immense pleasure it is to have you on board for this interview, we have been vying to get you interviewed for months under high demand and are ecstatic to finally have you. So to kick this interview off why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Who is Jay Ardrey and where did this alias Mindset originate from? You previously were doing productions under the alias Soso, what caused you to have a change of heart and to go with the Mindset alias?

Hi! I love PHWW and they have always supported me and I am more than happy :)
I am possibly the most boring person you will ever meet sadly! I don’t drink or smoke and spend most days with my girlfriend, writing music or hanging out with friends. I keep my circle of friends very small and to people I trust, but online I seem to have made hundreds of friends through music, it’s quite surreal. One online friend I have made is a guy called Kevin from Canada who produces music under the name Lessov and he was the one who came up with the Mindset name. I did start progressive house music under the name Soso but when my first tracks were picked up by Macarize I discovered a rapper called Soso already had a position on beatport and could cause some confusion, so Macarize thought it would be easier if I changed my name before releasing any music, which I immediately did. The new ideas sucked though, so I asked Kevin to brainstorm and Mindset was in the list he gave me and it stood out. No meaning behind it, I just like it.

2.) So where does your story in music start? Do you have any main inspirations? What drove you to decide on having progressive house be your go to genre in production?

When I was around 13 my dad bought a new home computer and I quickly turned it into my own after never really using a computer and spending my childhood playing outside or staring at a TV playing a PlayStation. After about a year I somehow got talking to a guy from Scotland who made edits of tracks and I didn’t understand any of it. He sent me a cracked version of FL studio 6 and told me to just experiment, which I did. Within a month I had written a song. It had no melody, a flat bass line and consisted of only a couple of drums, but it was 4 minutes long and it was, in some ways, music. I gradually picked things up just playing around more and more and got more confident. After 2 years I finally got a good ear for pitch and could then write melodies and chord progressions. They sucked, but I could do it. I got bored of producing at one point around 2009 and didn’t really enjoy it because I felt I had hit a wall and had no idea what I wanted to make. A guy asked me if I had heard of progressive house, so I checked it out. I instantly fell in love with the complex melodies and harmonies that just sounded so warm yet so energetic. Everything sounded deep and I had no idea how any of the sounds were made but I wanted in. I made a couple of terrible tracks but kept at it and after a year, Macarize signed my first EP and less than a year after my first signing, I’m doing interviews and remixing for Ad Brown and other big trance artists, I honestly can’t describe it but it feels good.

3.) How would you describe your sound as an artist? What truly inspires you to make the incredible music that you do? Is there any immediate source of inspiration that you feed off of regularly such as family, friends or spouse?

My sound changes a lot. It bugs me, but other people seem to like it as every new track I make is a surprise. As for inspiration, I don’t know how to answer this as I never write music with something in mind; I just draw in notes and let whatever happens, happen. I suppose if I’m in a happy mood, I will write a track with a good vibe and uplifting feel to it, and if I’m worried or stressed I will write something a little darker or deeper, but that is subconscious and not something I aim for or do on purpose. I learned very early on that if you force something to happen, it won’t happen. So I just let it flow and see what comes out at the end.

4.) Now for some technical questions for other producers out there as well as fans who are generally interested in your setup. What do you use for your productions as far as software? Do you use any hardware? Are there any specific plug-ins or interfaces that you particularly like and tend to use?

PC and set up is pretty basic. Quadcore with 4 GB ram running a patched 32bit Windows 7. KRK rokit 8 monitors and an M audio FTP interface.
As for software, I was writing on FL studio up until around September 2011 and now I use Ableton which in many ways I prefer and sometimes wish I had changed to earlier. I still have massive love for FL and don’t intend to discredit it in any way; I just prefer Ableton’s layout and workflow.  I mainly use Sylenth for everything, the only other plug in I use is nexus for bells and piano sounds, everything else is Sylenth. As many people say, it’s not what you have; it’s how you use it.

5.) Give us a quick idea of what you do when creating a new track. What are the processes you take and in what order do you usually work when finding new ideas and inspiration?

Some tracks are based upon MIDI files that I wrote years ago. The chords for “Yuu” I wrote about 3 years ago. Same for “Olympus”, “California” and “Lyva.” Others I make up as I go. My technique in the past was to write a chord progression, then a bass line and then build melodies into it but I started to find it turning out very poor 50% of the time. Now I start with a hook line or melody first, something nice that even on its own can be very nice to listen to. This also sets the scale of the track and makes it very easy to work around. Then I’ll add a bass line, making it harmonic and warming as possible to the melody. After that I use the bass line notes for the bottom notes of the chord progression and just build notes upon it until it is something I can turn into a track. Once I have that and a nice flow going, I will add drums, FX and then more synths such as plucks and random notes to add some warmth.
I mix down my projects as I go and usually set the arrangement up first, do some basic mastering, set the automation points and then re-tweak the master. If I’m feeling creative, I can do all this and finish a track in around 4 hours. (I’m pretty bad at procrastinating, so it usually takes me a couple of days!)

6.) What is a normal day in the life of James Ardrey like? Are there any hobbies or sports you are into that tend to peel you away from the computer screen on a regular basis?

I used to go to the gym and play squash about 3-4 times a week. It kept me very fit but around October my car insurance was due and I couldn’t afford it, leaving me without wheels and being too lazy to walk to the gym, I have stripped muscle and put on some weight since then. I keep trying to motivate myself to jog more or eat better but I just don’t seem to be able to do it. I only spend time on my music 3 or 4 days a week, the rest I spend with my girlfriend who doesn’t like me sitting in front of a PC all day being loud so if we have money we go out, we shop, we go for food, we have a nice time. If we don’t have money we sit in and watch movies, so I’m not always in front of a PC, but I really should get out more!

7.) For the short amount of time that you have been in the music industry you have really made some headway with your productions and have attained a good name for yourself so far. What can we expect from you in the near future?

Things happen so fast that I can’t really predict anything. I have just finished a remix for Ad Brown and a Dutch DJ who supports my tracks often who I am really happy about working for, but all this happens randomly and I’m confident I will grow, but I have no idea what will happen.

8.) If you had to choose 5 different DJ’s that you admire and respect the most, who would they be?

1. Eric Prydz. He is one of my favorite artists and his live sets are full of different genres and masses of unreleased tracks from himself purely made for him to use as dance floor weapons.

2. Deadmau5. I’m not a fan of his music anymore since he changed his style but he aims to put on a good show for his fans and he seems to do a pretty epic job at it and from what I know all of his live set up is paid for out of his own pocket!

3. Sadly this is where the list runs out as I don’t really follow the DJ scene much and don’t listen to much electronic music! When I see people starting off in house music there are so many DJ’s that they all just blend in together and everything is emotionless. These DJ’s are simply trying to choose the cheesiest tracks to fill the dance floors, which understandably is a lot of a DJ’s job. In progressive though, a lot of DJ’s go into a lot of depth with their sets and it becomes more about playing what they enjoy and love, blending genres and creating something unique rather than just aiming to please people. It mainly is people who focus on DJing over production that truly stand out to me, and the main two that immediately come to mind for me are Max Dillon from the USA and a Croatian guy called Denis Horvat. They really put a lot of heart into their sets and always aim to find new producers; I know they definitely gave me support when I was very new and I have always appreciated that.

9.) Now the same question but pertaining to producers this time, who would they be?

1. Matt Lange, as his music is just perfection. Whatever it is, it always finds a way to connect with you.

2. PROFF

3. Prydz as Pryda. This goes without saying really.

4. Michael Cassette is my favorite duo by far. Everything they touch turns to gold!

5.  David Folkebrant because his sound is always reliable for something that can fit into any set and just carries so much energy.

10.) What are the top 5 tracks that you are truly enjoying right now?

1. Aleksey Yakolev ‘Space Odyssey’

2. Aleksey Yakolev & Kristoffer Ljungberg ‘Reverie’

3. Lessov ‘Komodo’

4. Beeloved ‘Shoegaze’

5. High Society ‘Frequency’ Aduro Remix. A friend who lives near me that started producing. It seems bias but I really enjoy the track.

11.) As many of us already know you also are a DJ as well as a producer. You have a radio show on Pure.FM titled “Mindset Midnight”, could you tell us more about the show and what direction you have for it?

I got into Djing a few years ago, but got tired of it as the club scene is very poor in the UK. I got offered my own show around September last year and jumped at the chance. I’m not a big DJ myself, so I give my second hour to another DJ as a guest mix and chance to showcase their own music or show what they’re loving right now. I don’t plan much for it other than to keep it going and hopefully keep playing some good music!

12.) If you were given a glimpse into the not so distant future, where would you see yourself? What accomplishments would you like to see if given this glimpse of yourself?

Well in Just 10 months I went from releasing my first EP, to remixing for Ad Brown. I have thought about this and it is impossible for me to answer as things move so quickly for me it just leaves me blown away. I’m confident things will change for the better but I really do have no idea and I would probably jinx it!

13.) Well that about wraps things up here, we truly appreciate your time in completing this interview with us. Are there any final words you would like to say to all of the fans at PHW?

Thank you for supporting me and supporting progressive as a whole. It really is the best scene I could imagine and the fans keep the scene going just as much as the producers and the dj’s with what they do…thank you ALL.

Once again thank you so much for this amazing opportunity to do this interview, we wish you the very best of luck in all of your upcoming goals and accomplishments and we will be behind you every step of the way!!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mindset’s work check out the player below for some amazing selections that are available now!!

Described as ‘England’s finest progressive house export’, DJ, producer and remixer Ben Coda has now firmly established himself as one of the most exciting talents in the UK dance music scene. Since his first release at the end of 2008, Ben’s unique blend of tech and progressive house has picked up massive support worldwide.

Ben has worked with some of the most influential and well-known labels around, including Unreleased Digital, Black Hole, Baroque, Whartone, Weekend Music, Lowbit, Enormous Tunes, MC/Groove and Inkfish. The list of DJ’s supporting Ben’s tunes reads like a who’s who of dance music – Funkagenda, Dave Seaman, Paul Oakenfold, Nick Warren, Roger Sanchez, Hybrid, Sonny Wharton, Daniel Portman, Chris Reece, EDX, Cid Inc and many more…

Ben’s tech-prog sound crosses boundaries – tough beats and rolling basslines contrast with soaring melodies, fusing his love of the tougher sounds of techno and tech house with classic progressive house.

Ben’s tight, energetic DJ sets have rocked crowds worldwide. As well as being a regular in clubs across London and the UK, including the Ministry of Sound, he has DJ’d in a growing list of international destinations. Ben also co-promotes ‘Motek’ one of London’s most exciting new club nights, and has a monthly show on Proton radio, called ‘Connected’.

With an outstanding list of releases behind him, Ben Coda is bound to capture your ear this year… Make sure you don’t miss it!

We are PHW are very pleased to have Ben Coda on board for the second time. So let’s hear whats new!

PHW: Hi there Ben. It’s a pleasure for us here at PHW to have you on board once again. It’s been a while since our last chat. As we carefully follow your work, we saw some cool thing happened in the meanwhile and that’s the reason to have you here once again. To kick off, can you tell us how are things going? What you’ve been doing for the last few months?

Ben Coda: Things are going really well thanks! The past few months have been really busy. As well as London gigs, I’ve been travelling a lot, including gigs in the USA, Canada, France and Jordan, which were all great. Studio-wise, I’ve been really busyworking on loads of new tracks(see question 2 below).

My show on Proton Radio, called ‘Connected’, has been going great, andI’m co-promoting a night in London, called Motek – we hold events every couple of months, we’ve had some crazy parties.

PHW: You’ve been kicking out some really hot remixes lately. You did a really great jobwith “Deliver”, “Sticky” and Aleksey Sonar’s “Flashback”. Can you tell us whats cookin in BenCoda’s digital kitchen atm? Are there any new releases in the pipeline? [Click Continue Reading to Continue Reading]

As you all know, we from time to time try and hook up interesting people from the music industry for interviews to get to know them a bit better. Today it is time again and we turn once again to one of the biggest countries around our planet, Russia.

Today you will meet up with one of the fastest climbing producers on the market, having in less than a year got the attention from leading labels such as Arrival, Swedish giant Macarize, Terminal 4, Nueva Digital and the great Silk Digital label were he was voted as a winner for the Shingo Nakamura remix competition for the track “Move On” and was awarded with a release on the label.  Of course we talk about the very talanted producer with the alis of Matao.

Here you will get under his skin and find out interesting things about him, what is to come and of course how he is doing it while producing!

We hope you will enjoy it!

Hi Marat!

First of all, we are very happy to have you with us for an interview, we are true followers of your music and we are happy to see you’re gettingas much support as you do, it is well deserved.

1. Could you please give is a small brief about, who is Matao and how did you end up on the electronic dance music scene and the progressive house/trance scene?

Hello, my friends! First of all, I’m grateful to PHW portal for constant support of my work and warm words.  No doubt, praise always makes us stronger and gives energy to every creator.  J.

Matao appeared not long ago, in 2010, when my first work Ethnotronica II was released on Nellie Recordings. But a lot happened even before that. I love music because my father has always been a great music lover! As a kid I used to listen to reel-to-reel recorder, we had a turntable with lots of records and an acoustic guitar. I have always been into different music, but I really admired the records of the Latvian band  «Zodiac», and much later I heard about the band  «Space», Jean-Michel Jarre and other electronic music. By the way, I still find “Zodiac” very impressive! Since my childhood I’ve been a gearhead, I’ve been especially crazy about musical equipment and computers. It was accompaniment workstation Yamaha PSS standing at school that I first saw in my life. It was just amazing! All possible sounds from drums and piano to patter of rain and hoofbeat were in there. Resources of new instruments were a magic for kid’s imagination.  Time has gone by, evolution of instruments influenced the ways of making music, the music itself, now the musician has everything he could just dream of. Now, possessing modern instruments, I cannot but produce music.

As I have already said, I have always been especially interested in electronic music but I understood what electronic dance music was only some time ago. All my ideas of music and its energy fully changed in 2007, when I first went to a big rave-party «FortDance 2007» in Saint-Petersburg, that night just sank into my heart. I realized there that real emotions were only where the dance was. I love dancing! J. At that time I worked as a sound technician in film industry and didn’t make music myself, had no time, but I couldn’t live without making music anymore. It was 2010 when I decided to try my hand at it and produced a couple of tracks. And music won in the battle “music vs job”. I went from Moscow-City to my native town in the South of the country to devote myself to music for some time. Now Matao is in Astrakhan.

2. You live in Russia, how would you describe the electronic dance music scene in general, and most important, the progressive house scene in your country? Is it played a lot out in clubs, on festivals and on radio stations?

From my point of view, EDM experiencing difficult times, electronic music has become a part of all music spheres, it has become mass music.  From one side it’s good, but if we look into it all, we can easily realize, that money, but not music and new ideas,  is the most important part of music mainstream.

Time to step up a bit and release another interview to all of you, following the place of Progressive House Worldwide. This time we got our Russian fellow from Krasnodar, one of the guys that from time to time makes real quality progressive breaks. But of course, he also makes his quality progressive house tunes also that we all know about. This time we have Arctic Night presented to you. Let’s hear what he has to say to us.

Hi there! We hope everything is fine with you and that you are busy creating new music to us out in the world. Let’s introduce you to our viewers. For a start, could you tell us, who is the guy behind the name of Arctic Night? Also, how did you get in the music industry and how did you go on to the producing part in your life?

Hello all! My name is Alexander Kolodeznyy and you know me in the world of progressive music as Arctic Night. Why Arctic Night? It’s all very simple, I thought about that for a long time, to name myself like that. I try to do the music as beautiful as a night in the Arctic regions. Same mysterious and bearing in itself. Music plays a major part in my life. My family and my music, without that I cannot exist.

You live in Russia, how would you describe the electronic dance music scene in general, and most important, the progressive house scene in your country? Is it played a lot out in clubs? Festivals etc? [click Continue Reading for full interview]

Time for another interview today, this time were heading of to Russia to get behind the name of Evgeny Bardyuzha a bit deeper. He is a producer been around the trance and house scene for quite a while now. Recently he released his trance album “Referendum” on the great Neuroscience Recordings label. Let’s see if we can get a bit closer to this great producer and to solve the mystery how he makes his productions that we enjoy.

Hi Evgeny!

Nice to see that you wanted to get involved with us, it’s our pleasure to have you with us. Give us a small briefing, who is Evgeny Bardyuzha and how did you end up on the electronic dance music scene? How did you do it, are you a product of hard work, learning on your own or are you musically trained from a young age?

Hi! I have been an EDM listener from the age of 11, as I remember. I always been curious how people produce such an interesting kind of music, I couldn’t imagine all the technological process, just knew that they use synthesizers and that’s it! It has been a long time gone till I got a decent computer and some amateur software for “musicmaking”. But very soon I was so much sucked into this creative process that I just dropped all my hobbies and I was producing all the time when I free from school. It was FruityLoops program where I have made 6 or 8 “albums” consisting of nearly every electronic musical genre. I signed my first track when I was 18 or so..
I have never been musically trained, everything I made was based only on my imagination and feelings.

You are now involved in well over a hundred releases on Beatport, do you see and end to it or music and producing is something that always will follow you through life? What are your thoughts about it?

I hope the producing will always be a part of my life, but mostly as a beautiful hobby.

You seem to be a producer making all different styles of electronic dance music, crossing a lot of genres. Are there any particular reason why it is like that, you like to experiment a lot while producing or you just love all kinds of styles?

An impressive CV of  Ché Armstrong shows us he is a type of a guy who dedicated his life to music.

For those who never heard of Ché before, you should know he is the one responsible for the rising of famous Neuroscience Recordings. There is so much more in the Neuroscience pipeline, so we just had to catch up with him and talk a bit on various of topics. I guess all you want to hear from him, or what you would like to ask him is down bellow in the interview so check it out.

PHW Exclusive interview with Ché Armstrong

PHW: Hey there Ché! Thanks for your time mate, we are really honored we have an opportunity to chat with a guy who’s did so much for the progressive house world! To start, for those who’ve never heard of you, can u tell us… Who is Ché Armstrong?

Ché: First and foremost I would class myself as a DJ. I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside, and warm-up, for some big names in recent times. This year alone I’ve played with the likes of Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk and Eric Prydz.

Most people will know me as the label owner/manager of Neuroscience Recordings. Neuroscience has definitely allowed me to become more involved with music.

More recently, people will be getting to know Ché Armstrong the producer too. It’s still very early days for me, and I’m still exploring sounds, but I do love making music and it’s something I want to get more involved with! [Click Continue Reading for FULL interview]

Time for another interiew, this time we fly of to Macedonia to hook up with one of the most interesting persons around the progressive house scene. Striking with full force week in and week out, we are truly happy to join forces with Ivan Nikusev were he is giving us a glimps of who he is and what he is working on at the moment. This interview was made for our close frinds back at www.releasepromo.com a short while ago and of course we want to spread the word about them and Ivan himself. Enjoy a very opened interview by Mitch and the guys behind www.releasepromo.com and Ivan Nikusev, the label owner of our weekly feature in our promo sessions, OLD SQL Recordings.

How did your journey into electronic music begin, where did you first hear it and decide this was what you wanted to be involved in?

- My beginning in the electronic music started with the tracks of Prodigy and Scooter in the early 90s. After that I started to listen some German techno tracks, mostly because of Love Parade. But the main moment was when i listen for the first time “For an Angel” from Paul van Dyk. From that moment i know it that it’s the music i love. And since then, till this day i am still with the progressive sound, always filled with nice melodies.

You are one of the most well known and respected artists on the Mistiquemusic roster, how did you begin working with Michael, Levan and Stiven Rivic’s great imprint?

-Thx for the nice words, I appreciate them. Well, I know M&L since they released their first track, a remix on Arthur Deep, back in 2007. I open their profile on MySpace and after I listen their demos in the player, I fell in love in their sound. I got in contact with Levan and we started to communicate. They grow up very fast and conquer the deep progressive world with their music, so they become my idols as well. I was sending always my demos first to Levan, and he was rejecting me most of the time J but he was doing it to help me, to motivate me to be better and better every next time, he was kind of a teacher to me who I really respect together with Rasti Tkac J. With Stiven I met when he join the brothers and open the label. He is Croatian and as Balkan dudes we found very common stuff to chat as friends beside the music, so we get close as well. Since then we were very close, and we talk very often. I am very happy that they respect me as well and care about my ideas and some opinions that I have for the label, and also I am happy that I managed to help them about some stuff, as well as bringing new talents in the mystique family, and I will be always here for them in future!!!

As we stated earlier on our Facebook page, more great things and interviews will come at the end of the year. So here it is. Meet passionate producer from Chicago USA speaking of some everyday things in his life. Get a glimpse of what is he working at this moment and enjoy his thoughts about music. Meet Nick Stoynoff.

1. Hi there dear Nick, we are really grateful for the interview opportunity you gave us. I know that most of the people already know who you are, but again, there are some minority of people who don’t. So, can you explain to us who really Nick Stoynoff is ?

Not a problem, thank you for the opportunity! I am a 24 year old Chicago based EDM dj/producer. I have been dj’ing for a little over 10 years and writing music for 3. I have a weird affinity for documentaries (mostly conspiracy/conflict related), used to play golf competitively, have been trying to quite smoking for 2 years, enjoy tasty beverages, and I think owls are a waste of time…there is more, but I don’t think anyone wants to hear my list of fears :)

2. How does your story about music started ? Something from the childhood or… ?

It’s an interesting question that I never really confronted because my introduction to music evolved somewhat organically. As a kid I was never really engaged in music so to speak, it was just something that existed. It wasn’t until 11 or 12 years old that I started to discover electronic music thanks to a good friend, Sam Padrul, who introduced me to it and from that point I was hooked. I went out and bought several compilations, most notably the entire Tranceport series and a few GU comps which more or less kick-started my ‘career’ into music. Shortly after I picked up a set of turntables and began digging for records on the weekends, practicing for 4-6 hours or until I ran out records! I actually went to great length, predating digital distribution, to obtain records that were being featured in some of Oakenfold’s 98-99 sets and other mix comps at the time. (i.e limited Perfecto releases, white labels, rare pressings featured in essential mixes..etc) Looking back into that period I think it was a valuable exercise that has served as a great tool for me today not only as a dj but when going through the thousands of records available through various digital outlets. Then came the point several years ago when I wanted to add the production element, initially as a means to separate myself from other dj’s but it eventually evolved into something I love doing for myself. [CLICK CONTINUE READING FOR FULL INTERVIEW]

The winter is going really strong, and the months have passed after our last interview. We already have few of them on the line (Stephen J. Kroos, Nick Stoynoff, Envotion…) but today we wanted to show you one very great interview we did with two guys, who were, completely unkown to the scene until they started following their dreams. Maybe of you already know and follow their mixes on Youtube, but today, you will official meet Juan and Wahed, the creators of Road Of Endless Dreams & Sunset Melodies. Alongside this interview, we also present Sunset Melodies #20 incl. Endless Roads guestmix.

1. Hi there guys, thanks for your time, we really appreciate the opportunity to speak with You. So, for the ones who still don’t know who are you. Can you write some short introduction ?

Juan: Hola! No guys,thank you for having us and giving us a space in PHW. I feel like a celebrity or something, haha. Well, uhm… My name is Juan Cruz, but i don’t really like to be called that way, i like just Juan better :D I’m 23 years old, I’m from Argentina. Apologies for my english in advance. I’m a quiet dude who enjoy simple things in life and I have an incredible passion for EDM. Specially for melodic progressive house. For a little bit over 2 years I’ve been uploading mini-mixes to Youtube, combined with stunning, breath-taking footage. There’s ‘Endless Roads’ which is a series that includes, well, Progressive House, mostly, Progressive Trance, Deep House, Breaks, Chill Out. And I recently started another series called ‘Introspective Mixtapes’. These ones will include more Downtempo, Ambient, Post-Rock, Lo-Fi, Indie, Shoegaze, Garage, Experimental stuff, etc.

Wahed: Hey i am 21 years old and living in Germany. I am studying Geophysics/Meteorology in Cologne since 2 years. I spend most of my time for studies and the time that is left is reserved for my passion the music some sports and my girlfriend. Sounds not very exciting and i have to say it isn´t really at the moment. Studies takes a lot of time and does annoy so i am really happy i have this hobby which gaves me lots of endurance . CLICK CONTINUE READING FOR FULL TEXT

Now we are back with another interview from the progressive house family. This time we went to South America to hook up with a truly gifted producer hailing from Argentina. With own productions and remix work on big labels such as Per-vurt Records, Darin Epsilons huge Perspectives Digital label, Balkan Connection, Baroque, Armada, Cid Inc´s imprint on the progressive heaven Replug Records, Mistiquemusic and so many more, Juan Deminicis is one of the brightest shining stars out on the scene at the moment. We are truly happy that this guy joined in for an interview with us to let us know a bit more behind the name. Now, let’s see what he has to say!

Hi Juan!

We hope everything is fine with you back home in Argentina. A lot have happened lately with you and your music and it seems you’re doing a great job being on a lot of the leading labels around. Could you tell us for a start who is hiding behind the name of Juan Deminicis? How did you end up on the electronic dance music scene and have you always been interested in sounds and sound design? How long have you been in to the producing and how did it all begin?

Hello, all good here, thanks for asking. Where do I begin? Im a guy that is 20 years and lives in Buenos Aires. I make music like anyone.
I known the electronic music since I was 15 – 16 years old then I was introduced very quickly to production, you know learning on my own, testing softwares, and listening to my favorite artists, like Hernan Cattaneo, Danny Howells, Sasha, Eric Prydz, James Zabiela, John Digweed, Nick Fanciulli, Layo & Bushwacka among others. Every day I was waiting to finish my day in school and then I played and listened to their their CDs.

Undoubtley my first introduction as a producer was on “GU38 Black Rock Desert” mixed by Carl Cox. I listen together with my friend Pablo Acenso, I mean, I was 17 and it was our first remix together and we couldn’t believe it that moment, it was our best achievement, and certainly was the kick we needed to stay put on the beautiful art of the music.

I’m very proud too of course, to sing in the Global DJ broadcast mixed and compiled by Markus Schulz, win the Cid Inc remix contest, and appear on the tracklist and charts of my favorite artists, that is something that is priceless.

How would you describe the progressive house scene in general in your home country of Argentina? Is there a big club scene for it?

The scene is not bad, there are coming great international DJ’s to play and we also have really big clubs. It’s not good from the point of view of new producers, Argentina have some really great new talented producers but few get the opportunity to play.

The most of us that listen to your music are definitely interested in how you do it. What programs do you work with, any specific vsti’s that is significant when it comes progressive melodies, basslines and Juan Deminicis? Also, do you work with both software and hardware?

One of the top guys on the progressive house scene, and particulary when it comes to emotional and melodic progressive house, then Canadian producer Lessov comes in mind. Along with his productions he also runs his own label, all that in the age of 18. His label Portrait Digital Recordings is one of the fast rising labels on the EDM scene and something to watch out for all the time. He is an ace finding new talented producers all the time. Now it is time for an interview with him here at Progressive House Worldwide.

First of all mate, thanks for joining in for this, we appreciate it a lot since we been following you since the very beginning. Could you give our viewers a small introduction that is behind the name of Lessov and how it all began for you and your music?

First of all, thanks for having me. It’s a big honour to be interviewed here because as you said, you guys have been with me since the beginning of my career. The name “Lessov” was inspired by two things: first, my love for the Russian language and the culture behind Russia. Second, my love and adoration for forests and woods. I’ve always held a special place for these settings, and I always imagined if there were to be mystical, undiscovered realms in this universe, they would be found in a forest. A rough translation of “woods” or “of the forest” in Russian was Lessov, so I picked it.

I began in music by taking piano lessons at a young age. I think I jumped around from 3/4 different teachers as I grew up, but I could never focus enough to sit and memorize lines of notes. I believed music was all about improvisation (which isn’t totally the case) and I believed music shouldn’t be read like a book. When I was about 11 or 12, my mom came home and had bought me the Green Album by Weezer. One of the tracks “Hash Pipe” was on that CD so I asked what it was. Let’s just say I haven’t seen that CD since and that’s a shame because I loved it more than anything I had heard up till that point.

When I became a teenager I of course picked up a guitar and tried to find myself. I was drawn to “Nirvana” and bought every CD, every biography on Kurt Cobain, and tried to learn almost every song. I quickly realized my guitar playing abilities were bad so I enrolled in guitar lessons in my town. I took them for about 3 years (14 years old to 16 years old) and played every day constantly until my fingers were raw. After I learned more complex things about the guitar, I began trying to learn everything I could from Jimi Hendrix to Rammstein to some classical stuff (I was never good with the classical stuff).
After being in a few bands, I remember listening to Daft Punk and “Robot Rock” and instantly saying “I want to make this music.” So I bought every Daft Punk CD and had dreams of buying samplers and keyboards etc. I didn’t have enough knowledge or money to buy these things, so I acquired Cubase LE from my guitar teacher for cheap along with a PreSonus Firebox in attempts to record my guitar tracks, but learned I could program small beats into the piano roll. Cubase was too hard for me to I switched to FL Studio and have been producing on that DAW ever since, upgrading from 7, to 8 to 9 and now 10. It wasn’t until listening to “Not Exactly” by Deadmau5 that I started producing the style I do now. I began with trance under my alias “Frostwave”.

To me you have always been a producers building a lot around your melody lines. How does it often start when you start to build a track from scratch?

Sometimes you find producers that just have the gift to create something incredible time after time and it ends up you don’t even need to listen to it, you know you are going to be on a journey once there is new material out. Swedish “man of melodies”, yeah we think you all know who we are talking about now, Claes Rosen is definitely one of them and is today with us for an interview. With releases during the past years on huge labels such as Unreleased Digital, Silk Digital, Silk Sofa, Silk Digital, old progressive label Nellie Recordings, Kristoffer Ljungbergs newly established baby Macarize and a bunch more, we are truly happy to have him with us today to let him speak as much as his music normally does. We hope you will enjoy it!

Hi Claes!
How great to see that you wanted to tune in with us, we are truly happy and honoured to have one of the biggest names in the business with us. We all know you’re located in Sweden, what are your thoughts about the progressive scene in Sweden?

Well, if you can call Swedish House Mafia progressive house, then the scene is big. The type of music I make seems to be liked more in the eastern region of Europe.

You are living in a pretty small country if we talk about the population, just over 9 million people, at the same time there are so many good producers and some of them definitely leading names on the EDM scene, what are your thoughts about it, how come?

Hmmm, I haven’t got a good answer on that one but I guess we Swede´s know what´s poppin :) Also I think it’s the right time for electronic dance music now, people like to party and that is where the partymusic comes in.

You’re not only a producer working with your own material, you’re frequently also making a bunch of remixes for other producers. Could you try and describe to us, what the differences is in producing from the beginning (your originals) and rework someone else’s ideas?

Sometimes you find an artist that you always know will deliver the sounds that are just the ones you would want to come up with on your own. I have a couple of them and one of them I finally got the chance to involve in our exclusive interviews here at Progressive House Worldwide. I’m talking about Konstantin Vorontsov, hailing from Minsk in Belarus. He is more known under his alias Eryo. As an exclusive artist to the great label of Mistique and all their sub labels, I always get a smile on my face when I know there is a release about to show up in the promo box from him. I know I will have something interesting to play over the weekend. Look out for his remix for Deep Soul Duo – Fellowship that will be out on Mistiquemusic 7th of August, melodic progressive house at the very top of the progressive world. Now, lets get “under his skin” to see who is behind the name of Eryo and his melodic productions.

Hi Konstantin!

I’m truly happy and honoured to have you with us at Progressive House Worldwide, your music has, for a long time, really caught my ear. We want to hear the story about and behind the name of Eryo. Who is behind the name and how did you end up on the progressive house scene? For how long have you been producing?

Hi! Thanks for inviting me to this interview. Well, I started listening to progressive house in 2003 I guess, and those sounds caught my ear from the first time. I listened to it mainly along with trance, but later was more focused on progressive scene. The most remembered compilations were The Masters Series by Hernan Cattaneo and The Therapy Sessions by Dave Seaman & Phil K. I listened them to dust, so many times. Those are such amazing albums! This stuff brought me to scene I think. But it was only in 2009 I started producing after I learned Cubase a bit. I think it’s better to have some listening experience before starting making something.

Are you doing music & DJing as a living?
No, it’s just a hobby for me. The one which takes loads of time sometimes though. With non commercial stuff I’m making it’s hardly possible to earn enough money from that. And yes, I have gigs. Not so often yet, but I hope for more.