mail: artbatmusic@gmail.com

label: Upperground

❤️ ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕦𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕘𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔 ❤️

DJ/Producer from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Shugz combines high-energy, air-tight mixing and electrifying productions to boot. From humble beginnings rising through the ranks in Trance to now diversifying with a more polished open-format sound whilst still maintaining the sounds of his early influences and roots. Shugz’ sound breaks down the barriers of dance music, no rules and straight up energy is a mainstay in his productions and live sets, with no problems producing a plethora of unique styles including Techno, Trance, Hard Techno as well a more recent commercial sound. 

  

Starting 2024 with a bang, the Belfast man secured himself a multi-track major record deal with one of the biggest record labels in the world in Colombia Records/Room Two, pinning himself alongside of the world’s global elite artists such as Calvin Harris, Adele, Daft Punk & Harry Styles to name a few. Shugz’ musical accolades do not stop there, with already requested remixes from MK, Rita Ora & Joel Corry to compliment his new deal & ability. 

  

In 2023 he produced a total of 38 tracks and accumulated an impressive 12.5 million Soundcloud streams with each one of his Soundcloud uploads hitting the "New & Hot" chart consistently as well as a top 3 "All Music Chart" hit with "King of My Castle". 

  

Shugz also is no stranger to the world’s dance music circuit, with a stacked passport each year from 2016 when he started his journey professionally with his first international artist agency. Having played 41 gigs in the last 12 months alone, touching down in over 20 countries with regular tours in Australia, Asia, UK, and regular visits to South America and all over Europe.  

  

In his native Belfast he achieved local-hero status with 6 sell-out shows in the famous Telegraph Building with his own brand ‘Kill your Idols’ as well as regular summer appearances at major festivals such as Creamfields, Coloursfest, Lost Minds, Escape in the Park, Planet Love & the Felie An Phobail in Belfast. 

  

Stay tuned as Shugz continues to grow, explore & improve in new sonic territories with his newfound sound & direction.

Stáisiún raidió Gaeilge é Raidió Fáilte atá lonnaithe i mBéal Feirste, contae Aontroma. Tá sé ar cheann de na trí stáisiún raidió Gaeilge in Éirinn. Raidió Fáilte is an Irish-langauge community station based in Belfast. It is one of Ireland's three Irish-language radio stations. 

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


-Bookings-
James Wylie
Assured Agency
E: james@assuredagency.com
P: +44 7535965900
W: https://assuredagency.com

Dubbed a leader of the current Tech Trance revolution, Sneijder possesses a distinctive aptitude for fusing euphoria and darkness, a trait that sets him apart from many. His skill is evidenced by the vast number of chart-toppers he’s created, including ‘Need You Here’ and ‘Everybody’s Free,’ and recent Beatport number one singles ‘In and Out of My Life,’ ‘Dawn,’ ‘You Take My Breath Away,’ and ‘Bring The Noize,’ all master classes in forward-thinking, cutting-edge club music.

Adding his unique sound to remixes for Armin van Buuren, Aly & Fila, and John O’Callaghan has seen Sneijder become one of the most in-demand artists in Trance. Releasing records regularly on the industry’s most respected labels and boasting a back catalog of hit records have helped cement his name firmly amongst the list of Irish greats.

In 2023, we saw the release of his second artist album, ‘Bring The Noize,’ an album showcasing his studio versatility and ear for killer melodies. This album boosts influence from the past, present, and future sounds while showing off the true scope of his musicianship and technical abilities. His skills in production are hardly a surprise, with immense knowledge of the dance floor paired with years of cutting his teeth on the festival and club circuit, thus becoming well-versed in what sounds make the ears tick.

Now, the maverick has reached the next step of his career: label owner. Sneijder launched Afterdark as a platform for himself and other similar-caliber artists in 2016, firmly asserting his iconic status in the underground. Afterdark stands for all things dark, original, and dance floor-oriented, while also playing its part by cultivating the careers of the next generation of the Trance Elite. Afterdark has now cemented itself as one of the best and most upfront labels in Trance.

In 2023, we also saw the launch of a new project from the Sneijder studio. ‘alt1’ brings together sounds inspired by Sneijder’s past in Hardcore, Hard Trance, Rave, and even Hip Hop. Brace yourself for a main stage musical experience with no rules or boundaries.

www.facebook.com/coldbluemusic
Dates: http://www.bandsintown.com/ColdBlue
Bookings/Management: neal@musicfirstagency.net

Cold Blue’s ascension into a Trance superstar over the last two years has been nothing short of extraordinary. He has consistently delivered release after release for the world’s top Trance labels including Subculture, Kearnage, WAO138, Pure Trance and FSOE, as well as compiling and mixing the Subculture 2018 CD, which was a 70 minute club mix containing all his own productions. It is momentum like this that has now put Cold Blue in the Top 10 Trance artists on Beatport achieving three #1’s and countless Top Ten positions.
 
As a DJ his ever-increasing popularity is reflected in his touring schedule. Debut festival performances at EDC Las Vegas, Dreamstate So Cal, Tomorrowland, Airbeat One, alongside arena shows in Australia, the United States and the UK have propelled him into a position amongst the Trance elite.

2019 will see Cold Blue shift up another couple of gears again and his studio has already gone into complete overdrive. This year big releases are forthcoming on Subculture whilst there are also whispers of a debut artist album. It’s these artistic capabilities that have cemented Cold Blue as a premier league artist who has a massive part to play in shaping the future of Trance Music.

MY NAMES DONNA FROM NORTHERN IRELAND...

IM A BEGINNER DJ THATS BIG INTO MY BOOTLEG, TECHNO & REVERSE BASS 💣

FACEBOOK - DJ DONNA MARIE

TIK TOK - DJDONNAMARIE

YOUTUBE - https://youtube.com/@djdonnamarie470

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