Afterlife / Siamese / Upperground / Simulate / Ellum 
Worldwide booking: citizenkain.booking@gmail.com

French DJ/producer/label boss Citizen Kain is the DJ’s DJ – his powerful tracks at the heart of sets by many a top name (Tale Of Us, Maceo Plex, Artbat, Solomun, Mind Against, Adriatique…). He releases on Afterlife, Ellum, Upperground, Siamese, Atlant, plays at global events such as Fusion Festival (DE), Marvelous Island (FR), Ying Yang Festival (Great Wall of China), Les Plages Electroniques, Sunburn Festival (India), Spilt Milk (South Africa), Les Nuits Sonores, Piknic Électronik… while supporting luminaries such as Artbat, Laurent Garnier, Adriatique, Adam Beyer, Maceo Plex, Solomun, Mind Against… 

 Add to that his impressive following on DSPs and honourable history (including jail!) as part of the French illegal rave scene and it’s high time he was more of a headliner in every sense of the word. So, he’s emerging from his ‘eminence gris’ status into the limelight, in time to make his new label’s name UNSEEN (launched Aug 2022 with ‘Kiss Me Again’) well and truly ironic as well as releasing his own new work, remixes and other artists. 2023 sees his track‘Ghosts & Shadows’ drop on Artbat’s label Upperground, after his ‘Ricochet’ dropped March 2023 on Adriatique's Siamese imprint – more big releases TBC amidst a hectic tour schedule.  

SOUND, STORY & EARLY INFLUENCES: Kain describes his sought-after and very strong individual sound as ‘Melodic Techno, always melodic, but with an edge and very groovy rhythmics. I mix genres of Techno, Hardcore, DnB and House from each period of my music development, defining a very fat, high energy sound.’ Other influences from 80s New Wave (Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk…), Punk, and his earliest youth playing guitar in a Metal band also enrich the mix. 

Kain’s childhood passion for making music began at age 10, an electric guitar from his parents leading to forming Metal bands with friends and gigging from age 15. He got the House/Techno bug soon after, and from 2002, he gave up a car factory job for full-time DJ/producing after a small legacy allowed him 2 years free to learn his craft, the one silver lining to the tragedy of losing his mother at age 20. From then on, he earned his living in music. A period of mainly Techno Hardcore/DnB eventually evolved into his current passion, Melodic Techno. 2006 saw his first vinyl release, and from 2007 he released vinyl on high stature labels and began serious touring. From gigs in local bars and clubs, to organising small illegal rave parties and then much bigger illegal events (which landed him briefly in jail!), he has lived his love of music on stage and never stopped. 

Early influences began with Metal, Hardcore and Punk (Biohazard, Sick Of It All, Madball, Agnostic Front, Fugazi, Discharge) while playing in bands, then when DJing it was Electro/New Wave like Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Joy Division, The Cure that got him into Dance Music, seeing him through his Techno epiphany. 

RECENT RELEASES: As well as his 2023 July single ‘Ghosts & Shadows’ from a 4track VA EP on Artbat’s label Upperground, and lots more in the works, there was also ‘Ricochet’ March 2023 on Siamese while 2022 gave us ‘DRAG’, and ‘Pancho Villa’ (both on Tale Of Us' Afterlife), his label launch track ‘Kiss Me Again’ on UNSEEN, plus releases on BOg’s Atlant and a second track on Afterlife’s VA compilation, as well as a track ‘Supercycle’ with David Guetta’s alter ego Jack Back. He made his Ellum debut with ‘Charly Charly’ in 2021. His tracks are eagerly snapped up by DJs such as Tale Of Us, Maceo Plex, Artbat, Solomun, Mind Against, Adriatique, David Guetta, Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox, Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, Joris Voorn, Joseph Capriati…

PERFORMANCES: Citizen Kain has shared a stage with all the major artists since 2000, most recently Artbat, Maceo Plex, Solomun, Mind Against, David Guetta, Adam Beyer, Laurent Garnier, previously Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Ricardo Villalobos, Carl Cox, Dubfire, Luciano, and earlier, Underground Resistance artists like Mad Mike, Jeff Mills, James Pennington. He has a packed touring schedule for 2023. 

GIGS INCLUDE: Fusion Festival (Germany), Piknic Électronik Montreal, Ying Yang Festival (Great Wall of China), Les Plages Electroniques, Sunburn Festival (India), Spilt Milk (South Africa), Dream Festival (Mexico), I Love Techno (Europe), Sea You Festival (Germany), Marvelous Festival (France), Family Piknik Festival (France), Klubbers Day Festival (Spain), Big Bang Festival (France), Les Déferlantes Festival (France), Burning Beach Festival (Germany), Icarus Festival (Germany), Panoramas Festival (France), Eclipse Festival (Canada), Les Nuits Sonores (France).

Now Citizen Kain has stepped fully out of the shadows, with such a list of achievements and accolades, the sky’s the limit.

HATE promotes the best electronic, techno-oriented releases.

HATE on Soundcloud is all about exclusive Podcast Series & Premieres Cycle.

Mix series, born in October 2016, includes works from artists who are involved in the development of our channel and provide the tone of HATE Collective for a long time. Past records from them you can find on our YouTube channel.

After only one year from its birth, HATE podcast series was mentioned by Telekom Electronic Beats as one of "10 Techno Podcasts Every Techno Head Should Know": http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/10-techno-podcasts-every-techno-head-hear/
 
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As one of the longest standing independent record labels in the US, Nervous Records has built its reputation through a willingness to take chances on new sounds and new producers. Nervous was the first American label to sign and release tracks from such dance industry luminaries as Armand Van Helden, Paul Van Dyk and Nuyorican Soul. This spirit has enabled Nervous to build a catalogue of hits that spans the complete range of underground dance and hip hop genres.

The label was famous almost immediately when it started back in 1991 because of its eye-catching, very distinctive cartoon character logo. In addition the first three releases were produced by Roger S., Kenny Dope, and Todd Terry respectively, representing the three best house producers of that time. By 1992 Nervous was featured in magazines like Billboard, DJ Magazine (cover story), Mixmag, and ID, hailed by all as the “Sound of New York nitelife.”

Nervous’ first major dance release came in 1992, with “Feel Like Singing” by Sandy B. Nervous decided at that point to focus its energy on expanding the label’s musical field. The label’s first step outside the house music arena was with the Brooklyn, NY-based rap group, Black Moon, whose single “Who Got The Props” virtually put Brooklyn back on the map as a center of hip hop. At the same time, the label decided to alter the Nervous character for this release, giving it specific hip hop characteristics, and calling the hip hop label Wreck Records. Massive success followed with the Wreck imprint, as hits soon followed by Smif-N-Wessun, and Funkmaster Flex.

Nervous decided to continue to expand its musical boundries in 1993 by signing Mad Lion, which would be the first reggae artist on the Weeded imprint. Once again, there was huge success as Mad Lion’s single “Take It Easy” sold over 250,000 units.

Meanwhile, the Nervous merchandise continued to produce massive sales numbers as it established itself as one of the most favored t-shirts for the youth cultures of America, Japan, and many European countries.

In 1994, the label decided it was time to move into the electronic genre, and started an imprint called Sorted. The first artist on that label was Josh Wink, who went by the artist name Winx. While Winx’s debut release was a critical success although not a major seller, Winx’s follow-up release “Don’t Laugh” became the American dance community’s most talked about single, and ended up selling several hundred thousand units worlwide. Subsequently Nervous released Winx’s debut album, “Left Above The Clouds.” This album was one of the first “electronica” albums to be released, and lead to Josh Wink being signed to Sony as an artist. Nervous also released an album by two Long Island based dj’s, DJ Micro and Vicious Vic. The album, entitled “Progress Into Our Future,” since became a seminal album for the crew of Long Island dj’s that currently dominate clubs with their hard trance sound.

In 1996, Nervous virtually single-handedly created a garage house music revival by releasing the debut solo artist album by house music legend Byron Stingily. Byron was formerly the lead singer of gold-selling group Ten City. His second single on Nervous, “Get Up,” went to number one on dance charts around the world, including the Billboard Magazine club chart in America.. For his album, “The Purist,” Nervous assembled an all-star cast of legendary House producers, including Frankie Knuckles, Masters At Work, David Morales, Basement Boys, Maurice Joshua and MK.

As the musical trends continued to evolve in the late 90’s, Nervous continued to create new imprints to remain at the cutting edge of all independent labels. Nervous Dog was created to accommodate the emerging harder-edged house sound of New York; Strapped was the home for uptempo, club oriented hip hop Party tracks; and Nervous Chill released the down tempo, jazzy grooves that are always in vogue in the newest restaurants.

The label also has had many successful tours over the years. One of the biggest was in 2,000, when the Nervous tour was sponsored by Playboy Magazine and KAMEL cigarettes, and featured DJ’s Jackie Christie, Razor-n-Guido and DJ Escape, along With PA’s by Nervous artists Byron Stingily, Charlotte And Kim English. In addition, Nervous created what became one of the Winter Music Conference’s most original Parties, the Nervous After-hours breakfast at Denny’s, which featured an International list of dj’s entertaining conference attendees at 5:00 AM while they ate their grand slam Denny’s breakfast.

In 2000 and 2001, the energy tribal sound dominated the US club and Nervous gave America’s club-goers four of the its most dominant anthems, “Skin” by Charlotte, “Ssst…Listen” by Jonah, “Unspeakable Joy” by Kim English and Dive In The Pool by Barry Harris featuring Pepper Meshay. During this same time, the label has also created many successful compilation series, among them “Hip Hop Independent’s Day,” and “Future Progressive,” and “Club Nervous.

As the hits grew in number, so did the value of the catalogue for sampling purposes. Nervous songs have been sampled in major hits by Mariah Carey, New Edition, Coolio, Flip Squad, Basement Jax, George Michael, Soulsearcher and more..

In 2006 Nervous gave the US one of the biggest dance radio records with What A Feeling by Peter Luts & Dominico, a track which won the 2007 WMC award for Best Euro Dance track. In addition, Nervous delivered the most memorable US underground track of the year with Ralph Falcon – I Need Someone, which was also number one club record of 2007 according to Billboard Magazine.

In 2008 Nervous had two of the top five most played records of the year at dance radio, with Bellatrax feat. Sophia May/I Can’t Help Myself and Every Word by Ercola featuring Daniella, and ended the year as the two most played label at dance radio in the USA according to Billboard Magazine.

Nervous has also made a strong foray into the compilation market, building a roster with some of the most credible house music. The past twelve months has seen full length cd’s from Oscar G, Ralph Falcon, Funkagenda, Mark Brown, Behrouz, Chris Lake, Starkillers & Austin Leeds, DJ Theo, Exacta and Marlon D. Second half of 2009 will see releases from Danny Krivit, Frankie Knuckles, Tom Stephan, Peter Bailey and Richie Santana and Anane (produced by Louie Vega. 

In the grand tradition of Nervous launching sub-labels to embrace the next sounds to take over Nitelife ... In 2011 we launched Nurvous Records.  With the Indie Dance / Nu-Disco sound that has erupted from England and is now barreling towards full speed in America, one of our primary goals is to provide innovative homegrown style; and bringing back emotion to the music, squashing the over-commercialized big-room invasion.

Cocoon Recordings has been founded in the year 2000 as a part of the Cocoon Music Event GmbH. Sven Väth has initiated Cocoon Recordings in order to complete the Cocoon platform as a supporting tool for young artists in Electronic Music. The label philosophy is as simple as demanding: helping young producers and DJs to release their music without depending on Major Label structures. The releases can mainly be assigned to the genres Techno and House.

Cocoon Recordings as a label and Sven Väth as an artist stand for the use of vinyl as sound carrier, also in the future. Admittedly, the Digital Division of Cocoon Recordings has also been set up in 2008 and the numbers of downloads are indeed enjoyable. However, the label's focus is on vinyl, now and in the future. In order to complete the range of services that Cocoon Recordings offers, the publishing company Cocoon Publishing was founded in 2010.

Hector MiAl is following