Carrying a rich, purposeful body of work between imprints such as A State of Trance, Whoís Afraid of 138, Future Sound of Egypt and InfraSonic, Sean Mathews has got much more than the French Riviera in his sights when Cote d' Azure shakes up your town. Textbook trance from the UK producer, approved by an accompanying ghost choir as the scene and standard is set for the open air at 3am, hits high notes with the electricity and illumination of forked lightning.

Cote d'Azur

Mr. Trancetive stands for a dedicated and loyal passion for all kinds of Dance and Trance music and the wonderful feeling it evokes. Making mashups, edits and megamixes is his core business and his sets are packed with creative and surprising blends.

Mr. Trancetive (pronounce like 'transitive') alias Sjoerd Hoevens was born in 1987 in Haarlem, The Netherlands. From a young age he enjoyed music, especially when listening to the radio. Every Friday afternoon he rushed home from school to tune into the Top 40 to hear the greatest hits of the moment. He became a loyal customer at the local music stores and his CD-collection grew fast. He was often asked to play records at school parties and organized some of them at his parents’ home, which he really loved doing. As he had no DJ-gear but only two stereo sets, his mixing technique was a bit unconventional, blending tracks with the volume buttons and harmonic-mixing them by ear. It helped him develop a sensitive feel for smooth and harmonic transitions. Though he loves all kinds of music, his interest then already went out to Dance music. This was the late 90's/early 00’s, with great artists like ATB, Mauro Picotto, Faithless, 4 Strings, Scooter, Sash!, DJ Tiësto, Milk Inc. and Paul van Dyk.

When he heard John O’Callaghan’s tune Big Sky back in 2007, his love for Trance music skyrocketed and has never left. From that moment he tuned in to Armin van Buuren’s radioshow A State of Trance every single week. After visiting Trance Energy and Armin Only Imagine in 2008, Sjoerd decided to use his passion for Trance as a basis for his own creative interpretation of the genre. He bought his first DJ-gear and started mixing. In 2014 he posted his first mixtape on SoundCloud and in 2015 he started the production of mashups and edits. Since then his mashups got supported by Trance artists like Jorn van Deynhoven, Artento Divini, David Broaders, Johnny L, Tomac, Lazarus and many more. His inspiration comes from Trance artists like Armin van Buuren, Andy Tau, Solid Stone, Giuseppe Ottaviani, U-Mount, Farius, Gareth Emery, Ben Gold, Ashley Wallbridge, Sean Mathews, Omnia and many more.

Today he’s more productive and passionate than ever before and determined to share his love for Trance music with the world. Besides his solo project Sjoerd is also one of the hosts of the Dutch radioshow @Time4Trance and hosting Trance Connection on Afterhours.FM together with his UK based friend Nucrise (@rafa-arendz).

FSOE, ASOT, Outburst, Reilism, Damaged, AVA, Infrasonic and many more!

Welcome to the World of Sean Mathews.

« Mon existence ne se plie à aucune finalité qui la surplombe. Elle ne sert ni dessein étranger, ni maître lointain, ni chaîne invisible : elle est sa propre lumière, son propre horizon. Elle est la cime où tout s’achève et tout commence.

Je suis un homme, et ce prodige que je suis m’appartient en propre. Il m’incombe de le saisir avec clarté, de le défendre avec fermeté, de le porter avec droiture — et, si l’heure le demande, de m’agenouiller devant sa grandeur, comme on s’incline face à l’infini qu’on abrite.

Mes richesses intérieures — mes pensées, ma volonté, mon souffle libre — ne se monnaient pas, ne s’éparpillent pas, ne se bradent pas aux âmes creuses qui mendient ce dont elles se sont vidées. Je les garde en moi, tels des joyaux dans un écrin scellé, avec la vigilance que mérite ce qui est rare et pur. Et au cœur de ces trésors, la liberté trône, indomptable, inaltérable.

Je ne dois rien à mes semblables, et je n’attends d’eux aucun tribut. Je ne délègue pas ma vie à autrui, pas plus que je ne ploie sous le fardeau de la leur. Je ne convoite pas leur essence, et je refuse que la mienne soit pillée.

Je ne suis ni le rival ni le vassal de mes frères : je suis ce qu’ils discernent en moi à l’aune de leur propre éclat. Mon affection n’est pas un don gratuit, une charité aveugle ou un réflexe usé ; elle est une flamme que l’on gagne, un hommage que je rends à ceux qui s’en montrent dignes.

Mes compagnons, je les choisirai parmi les esprits affranchis — loin des chaînes des esclaves, loin des sceptres des tyrans. Je marcherai aux côtés de ceux qui m’élèvent, et avec eux je tisserai des liens d’estime et d’amour, sans jamais les dominer, sans jamais m’abaisser. Nos mains se joindront si nos âmes le désirent ; sinon, chacun suivra son propre chemin, solitaire et souverain. Car au plus profond de lui-même, chaque homme est une citadelle.

Alors, que cette citadelle demeure inviolée, intacte, sacrée. Et que, depuis ses remparts, l’homme tende la main s’il le choisit — mais jamais en deçà de ses murailles. »

Anthem (1938), 
AYN RAND (1905 — 1982)

Cote d'Azur

DJ Sean Mathews