FRIDAY / VENDREDI - OCTOBER 2, 2009
From 2am to 10am
TRANCEFORMERS
with
LEON BOLIER (Netherlands)
leonbolier.com
myspace.com/leonbolier
DJ MALEK
djmalek.net
CARL MUREN
carlmuren.com
LEON BOLIER (Netherlands)
Introduction: A major force in second dawn of The Netherlands’ dance music, Leon Bolier is one of the most creative studio minds at work in the country today. Through his now widely-known ‘trance with a twist’ auditory ethos, he determinedly broke the mould of pre-millennium euphoric trance – rebuilding it with a never-heard-before sound-set. Taking the natural next-step, Bolier has long since brought the music from the studio to the people. Behind a pair of CDJs, he is a force of nature, delivering one sound-quaking performance after another. Playing hundreds of nights, and in front of hundreds of thousands of clubbers, this mission culminated in Leon debuting on DJ Magazine’s Top 100 chart in the autumn of 2008.
Backstory: Born in 1980, he started his production career at the early age of 14. In 2003 Leon and his brother Bart ran into industry guru Maykel Piron, who was at the time working as A&R for Warner Music’s BeNeLux division. Piron turned the pair loose on a remix of Libra (BT’s) ‘Calling your Name’. After being picked up on by a sizeable number of A List DJs, their Subsphere remix went on to be released on the Captivating Sounds label. Capitalizing quickly on its success, they worked on a volley of similarly-received remixes, including both of Questia’s ‘Nexus Asia’ and ‘Crystal Clouds’ singles on ASOT and Azior’s ‘Sunset at Myvatn’ on Green Martian. The single ‘Infinite’ followed quickly on the same label, further reinforcing the Bolier name.
Going Solo: With a production ethic that left the industry drop-jawed and clubland reeling, Leon launched his standalone career in 2005. Over the course of the next 12 months he released a head-spinning (and possibly even record–breaking) 17 tracks. These were snapped up by many of Holland’s finest imprints with ‘Poseidon’, ‘My Precious’, ‘Bonaire’ and a multitude others being released on labels including ASOT & Captured. In the first month of 2006 Leon embarked on a label relationship that is now singularly synonymous with his career. ‘Pulsar’ and ‘Solar 1’ were released through the Spinnin Records’ sub-label 2Play, and over the course of the next 3 years Bolier was to put out an extraordinary 20 tracks through the label.
The Turntablist: With this impossible-to-miss salvo of productions flowing out of Spinnin’s door, it was no surprise that demand to see Leon behind the turntables mushroomed at much the same pace. After a busy ‘06 on the release front 2007 was the year he entered the DJ pantheon. Bolier’s innate ability to read the dancefloor and deliver damage-to-order has now become the stuff of legend. Trance Energy, Fabulous and the Amsterdam Dance Events in his homeland all got an early taste for his powerful musical elixir. With word spreading around the globe, Leon fast found himself, headphones-in-hand, rocking countries as far apart as Argentina, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, UK, Egypt and Russia. Gatecrasher, Trance Energy Australia, ID&T’s Tomorrowland, Love Parade Germany, Mondaybar Cruise Sweden and Global Gathering Poland are just some of the instantly recognisable dance institutions he’s now played for. This 24 month long gig marathon bore the best possible fruit when Leon was inducted into the spinning elite’s DJ Mag Top 100 DJ rundown in October 2008, debuting at No.95.
Collaborations & Remix Aliases: Aside from Subsphere, Bolier has worked under many different guises for both solo and collaborative production work. The Surpresa and (latterly) Precursor monikers have been used mark out tracks and remixes for different labels with differing sound set-ups. He teamed up with fellow Dutch trance luminary Menno de Jong under the name Solar Express in 2006 for the ‘Magma’/Momentum’ double-header, and later that year as 'Bolier and Coenraad for Intuition’s ‘Mighty Ducks’ and ‘Mohawk’. He has also collaborated over the years with other Netherlanders including Jonas Steur, Sied van Riel and DJ Astrid on outings like ‘Lost Luggage’, ‘Malibeer’ & ‘Crazy People’. Last and by no means least, his co-op with JOOP ‘The Future’ became the Trance Energy anthem in 2007 and also became a national chart entry in Holland.
The Debut Album: With a now unquenchable appetite for Bolier’s brand of musical mayhem set amongst the masses, Leon began recording his first artist album. With its ‘Ocean Drive Boulevard’-forerunner setting the once-again wide-ranging tone, Bolier’s ‘Pictures’ LP captured the collective imaginations of clubbers and electronic dance lovers. Upon its release at the end of September 2008, it translated into Beatport smash and has gone on to spawn the further singles ‘Thug’, ‘XD’, ‘YE’ & ‘Acapulco’.
‘Streamlined 2009 – Buenos Aires’: Leon had previously co-mixed the Cloud 9 compilation ‘Trancemission’ but in early 2009 set his sights on the launch of his own compilation series. One that would allow him to create an exact digital representation of his musical philosophy. Galvanized by his South American tour in the spring of the same year, he returned home to mix ‘Streamlined 2009’. Subtitled ‘Buenos Aires’, it stands as the clearest possible representation of what makes Bolier one the most exciting, innovative Decktitions in the world today.
