My new Album 'SEROTONIN' is out now: https://armada.lnk.to/Serotonin

A renowned DJ & producer, label boss and art creative, DAVIDE SQUILLACE'S career is constantly evolving as he brings his innovative ideas to the forefront, from music to art. A true renowned talent, his sound is an eloquent mix of techno, dance, indie, instrumental and downtempo beats.
DAVIDE SQUILLACE’s career title is constantly evolving. A label boss,
art creative and renowned DJ & producer in his own right, Davide has the
ability to express himself audibly and visually through the different
platforms he has created over the years. Since establishing his music
career over a decade ago, Davide’s dynamic sound continues to light up
and inspire dancefloors, spanning over many continents. Constantly
pushing the boundaries of electronic music, his sound is an eloquent mix
of techno, dance, indie, instrumental and downtempo beats. His side
project, Better Lost Than Stupid sees Davide collaborate with fellow
revered DJ’s: Martin Buttrich and Matthias Tanzmann. Also passionate
about art and culture, Davide established two creative brands and artist
collectives, This And That and Blender.

Bookings: 
WW- Future Artists -Salvatore Assante - bookings@futureartists.agency
South America: Arturo Ruiz - arturo@tboamerica.com
Italy: Oltre Bookings  - alex@oltrebooking.com
North America: rs@thebullittagency.com

For Rune Reilly Kölsch, Kompakt has become a great label to call home. In 2013 the German imprint celebrated 20 years of record releases at the cutting edge of electronic music, championed in June by one of the most genre re-defining albums and personal music projects for an era: Kölsch’s landmark long player, ‘1977’.

A melodic autobiography on black wax, the Kölsch project has seen 36/37-year-old Rune take stock of a diverse and successful production career and draw upon his own personal beginnings: a nostalgia for childhood, family, friends and the confusion of applying his split-cultural heritage to what it means to think of ‘home’. As Rune freely admits, “being half Irish, half German and living in Denmark – it was all one big messy period of my life.” 

Born to hippie parents in the freetown of Christiania (a commune-like autonomous borough of the Danish capital Copenhagen) his childhood was spent surrounded by creativity. His mother was an artist whose family had roots in German politics and his father a singer songwriter who travelled through Asia playing music in the early 70's. Kölsch, however, did miss out on building friendships and found solace in making up “this imaginary world that I would spend days in,” before the family moved to Germany – a period of memories, relations and characters from which ‘1977’ derives its titles.

For Rune, the tracks he began building from 2010 took in this personal reflection, his being “completely locked in to reminiscing about what shaped me as a kid and into the individual that I am now” – contemplating his unique past to form the brickwork of ‘1977’, one of the most future-facing techno albums of recent years.

Influenced by hip hop, pop and the incredible legacy of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, Rune started producing in 1995, embarking on a string of success stories. In 2003 he released the multi-million selling, saxophone-infused ‘Calabria’, that saw collaboration requests pouring in from artists as diverse as Nicki Minaj, Shakira and Flo Rida. He then set up Tattoorecs – releasing pioneering underground tracks with no titles, just tattoos for artwork, that garnered critical acclaim and support from minimal and techno trailblazers such as Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Tiefschwarz and Ricardo Villalobos.

This appreciation of the complete musical spectrum has gifted Rune with a devotion to groove and melodics and with it the dexterity to input real creative change to the genres he reveres, not least his beloved techno. “2010 was the year of the ketamine house wave, where the music was 118 bpm and everything was extremely boring”, reflects Rune. “I wanted some melodic techno, some energy back in this scene. People needed the energy to express themselves and go crazy for a bit.”

This notion faced opposition, even from within Rune’s close circles. But it was Kompakt founder Michael Mayer who had the insight to see what Kölsch was trying to achieve. Rune’s conviction that vibrations and melodics are the key to human response had tipped the balance, underlined by his experience as a hip hop DJ where he “needed something to catch me and drag me in. And that’s what techno should do!” Here too he drew on his love of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, recalling how “they used to make mistakes all the time. It would be a big mash of all kinds of stuff, but at least something was happening. That’s what I was missing and that’s what I’m trying to change with the Kölsch project.”

The result is ‘1977’, a personal collection of dancefloor destroyers that are continuing to send clubs and festivals across the globe into melodic supernova. Take this video of Kölsch’s set at Belgium’s I Love Techno festival, one of Rune’s 2013 highlights, where “people were doing sit downs, singing along to all the tracks”. Watch it. It puts the hairs up on the back of your neck. “The response was overwhelming,” said Rune in a recent interview with Mixmag (who named Kölsch as one of their ‘Stars Of 2013’), as “when you think about it, it was just a bunch of childhood memories with a kickdrum underneath.” 

Elsewhere he’s ripped up the airways with an acclaimed Essential Mix for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, delivered his incendiary soundscape to Singapore’s world-renowned ZoukOut Festival, boomed his live show through the heaving basement of London’s XOYO and played the hallowed Space Terrace – in his words “a boyhood dream since I started going to Ibiza in 1999. That was what I wanted from life!” So opening Amnesia in 2014 with Joris Voorn will be a bonus then...

While these are reasons enough to keep the beaming smile beneath Kölsch’s trademark black fedora, his humility remains just as striking. While tracks like ‘Goldfisch’ have taken pivotal positions in the set lists of world class DJs from across the dance music spectrum – traversing the underground with Seth Troxler, while simultaneously providing credible new euphoric highs for the likes of Axwell – Rune remains joyously down to earth. All despite producing, with ‘1977’, an album that has crossed as many cultural and musical boundaries as his own childhood past.

From the face-twisting melodic drive of ‘Opa’ and ‘Bappedekkel’, to the chord-surfing piano groove of ‘Der Alte’ and the euphoric crescendos of ‘Lorely’, ‘Oma’ and ‘All That Matters’ (all hits in different countries), the fact remains that whether in your living room, on the dancefloors of the world’s greatest parties, or simply in your headphones on your way home, Kölsch’s ‘1977’ has re-defined techno and become an achievement that speaks for itself. 

Words: Phil Dudman – Clubs & Live Music Editor, Mixmag


Sidney Charles has mastered the art of high impact house music that comes with a signature sense of depth, melody and groove. That unique style has made the Hamburg-born DJ, producer and label boss one of the underground's most prominent names: last year was his busiest ever with multiple chart-topping releases, high profile support from Radio 1 and standout gigs across the world. In 2023, the proven tastemaker will focus on his already influential Heavy House Society label and launch its new residency at Watergate in Berlin.
The last year has seen Sidney make an indelible mark on the scene. He played in Ibiza at the likes of Amnesia, DC10 and Cova Santa. He played to large crowds across several South American countries and all over the US from Miami to Las Vegas to New York and LA. He played in key Spanish cities at Input, Fabrik Madrid, Weekend Beach Festival, frequently visited Italy, played in the Netherlands multiple times a month and cemented his close relationship at UK hotbeds like Manchester's Warehouse Project and Leeds' Mint Warehouse.
Whether playing to a close and compact crowd in a small basement or tearing up a vast festival main stage, Sidney knows how to join the dots between the past and the present. He manages to open up new house worlds with his educated selections but never forgets to blow up the dance floor in the process. Just like his productions, his DJ sets are full of surprises, twists and turns but also rooted in physical grooves. His love of jazz, hip hop and funk and his vast knowledge of the 90s sounds always shine through with plenty of heavy bass which makes the Sidney Sound so irresistible.
Years after his first breakout hit, Sidney continues to hit the top of the charts with his newest creations. In 2022 there were three separate number ones on three different labels in Beatport's genre charts. They came on his own label, Eastenderz and Hot Creations, while he has also signed to the likes of No Art, Locus, PIV and Do Not Sleep amongst many more.
Sidney's Heavy House Society is already a respected go-to outlet for solid and innovative house music. It mixes up releases from top-tier artists and well curated new school talents such as Kolter (aka Djoko), Luuk Van Dijk, Locklead, Madvilla, Luca Donzelli, M-High and many more. As well as a collab EP with Kolter in 2023, Sidney will also head up the label nights, Heavy House Society, under the famous LED ceiling of Berlin's cult club Watergate. He has solo EPs in the works for the label as well as Cécille Records, MicroHertz and PIV; and will get in the studio with East End Dubs. All this is proof that Sidney Charles is at the top of his game.

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