Recommendations for a n00b

Hi Hardstylers!

This is my first post in this section of BOA as im not really into hardstyle. But thats my problem (hehehe)

I teach music tech and one of my students has heard some hardstyle and really likes it, i have heard a fair bit of HS before and i know the stuff he's into has a fair few vocals in it. He's actually a drummer and into rock a bit as well but he says that he's getting into this sort of music now.

He has a CD with some stuff on, but it isnt labelled and i wouldnt know.

So my question is to those in the know...

Which are the best

DJs to listen to?

Clubs in the North to go to?

Live Acts to listen to?

The best labels to buy from?

The best websites/places of interest to look at?

and finally

What's happening in the Hardstyle scene these days, whats big news etc etc and where do you see the scene going...

Any and all answers gratefully recieved!

Thanks.

personally i like DJ Isaac as a DJ
Technoboy as a producer
Titanic, dance pollution, sigma and scantraxx are among my favourite labels.
There is a Hardlife event in Leeds this Friday, one room is Hardstyle/Hardtrance and the other is Techno.

Hardstyle is biggest in Holland (it's birth place), Italy and Germany.
It's popularity is growing in the UK, but Hardhouse seems to dominate the hard dance clubs for some reason.....god only knows why !
Hardstyle is more popular in the North of England and Wales.

Check out www.globalhardstyle.com, it's good resource for all things hardstyle :dance:

DJs to listen to? In the UK, M-Zone - EG - Cally and Juice? :eh: , umm not sure about the uk hahaha but others inc.. Technoboy, Deepack, Vortex, man theres so many have a look at a QDance Event Line up.

Clubs in the North to go to? sorry no idea come to the southwest :D (check out the trance promotion forum)

The best labels to buy from? depends if ur into the hardser hardstyle or more bouncy, i go for, sys-x, confusion, wikked, scan traxx, sigma, italian masters of hardstyle, qdance, to name a few

The best websites/places of interest to look at? www.germantrance.com !

and finally

What's happening in the Hardstyle scene these days, whats big news etc etc and where do you see the scene going...

I see the hardstyle pointing to all things DUTCH :lol:

Which are the best DJs to listen to?

In the UK I would say Dolphin, Rascal, M-Zone, The Elite and Force 9 and then the up n coming names to look for I'd say Liam B, Rory McCart, Viper, The Hard Life DJ's, Tim Hidgem, Geoff Nugent.

On the international scene my fav's would have to be Luna, Pavo, Brennan & Heart, Isaac and Deepack.

Clubs in the North to go to?

Although I am a touch bias, what with it being my night, I'd say the best hardstyle night in the north is Hard Life in Leeds (this Friday in fact). As i say, I am bias, but in a poll on www.globalhardstyle.com for the UK's best hardstyle night, we came second, and were beaten only by Bionic in Cardiff (a bit of a blag that admittedly as not that many people voted, but those who are on that site know their shit!).

Other nights worth checking out in the north are Binary in Manchester (nxt event June 10th), and my personal favourite (though not quite in the north) is Know:Fear in Stoke. Also, there is a new all night event starting in Chesterfield on July 15th that should be worth checking out. (also Neomenia in Wakefield play some hardstyle, but at the more mellow and trancey end tbh).

If you class North Wales as in the north then also worth a look are Frequency and The Clinic.

The best websites/places of interest to look at?

www.globalhardstyle.com - easily best site on the net

www.hardlife.org.uk (my site - includes lots of hardstyle and techno sets to download for free, and details of all events)

www.multigroove.nl

www.q-dance.nl


Hope that helps mate.

P.S. is that Chris from The Inspectors? If so, are you coming down on Friday to check out the new techno room - "Techno Prisoners" - line-up inc. The FAT Collective, IQ (live PA) + more. Hard, acid and funky techno for the second room! I think Carolyn (and possibly Maily) is coming over for it mate.

P.P.S if you don't remember me - we met at Pure Techno vs Fusion at Stinky's in Leeds a few months back, and then again at pt the following month. We were planning an event at The Mill in Bradford at the time!

Thanks guys!!!!! ill check out your recomms and pass em along, what nice hardstylers!

:pat on head:

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Originally Posted by dodgyedgy

Thanks guys!!!!! ill check out your recomms and pass em along, what nice hardstylers!

:pat on head:

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only safe people in this neibhourhood :clap:

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Originally Posted by DJTrubass

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Originally Posted by dodgyedgy

Thanks guys!!!!! ill check out your recomms and pass em along, what nice hardstylers!

:pat on head:

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only safe people in this neibhourhood :clap:

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;) i reckon!

nice to see my site gets promoted by locals :)

Thats 'cos its the best forum around mate!

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Originally Posted by kai

Thats 'cos its the best forum around mate!

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:clap: i aint arguin with that.

firstly, cheers to kai for the namecheck ;)

Ill do my best to answer the questions.....

DJs to listen to?

Pretty much all of the big Hardstyle DJs are Dutch; Luna, Lady Dana, Brennan & Heart etc etc and I would agree with Kai when he says the Up-and-Coming UK DJs are Rory McCart and Liam B, but also add Brian M at Bionic ;) Also dont forget the Germans..... Sam Punk and Blutonium Boy

Clubs in the North to go to?

Think Kai had that covered too..... and I am SW as well so cant really comment further.

Live Acts to listen to?

I wouldnt actually say there is a Live Hardstyle act at the moment, I am sure there are some of the Dutch Hardstyle Producers that do some live stuff, but nothing on the scale of someone like Lab4.

The best labels to buy from?

My Personal Favourite has to be Straight On Recordings, and I would say Blutonium Records. Both have distinctive styles with SO & their sister label SOB (Straight On Black) showing the typical Dutch style, and Blutonium the German.

The best websites/places of interest to look at?

www.screamer-hardstyle.com - Along the same lines as Global Hardstyle

www.partyflock.nl - Written in Dutch, but have a play around and find info out about whats happening in Holland.

and finally

What's happening in the Hardstyle scene these days, whats big news etc etc and where do you see the scene going...

Well, I can see Hardstyle being driven onwards by those carayzee Dutchies, its always a good sign when you get an offshoot Genre (Jumpstyle) it usually shows longevity. In the UK, hopefully we will see the growth of the scene over here, I think when one of the big boys jumps on it as Goodgreef have been recently I think it will continue to move onwards and upwards.

there ya go :cool:

While I agree with a great deal of what your saying there Geoff, just one thing I feel the need to take issue with - and that's that the involvement of Goodgreef is a good thing for the UK hardstyle scene. For me, the kind of crap hardstyle being put out by labels like Nukleuz and Goodgreef, produced by the likes of Cally & Juice and Alex Kidd, is just giving the music a bad reputation, and stopping people who would otherwise have shoen an interest in the quality stuff from Europe from ever gettign into hardstyle as they just regard it as being the shite being played by these guys. Personally I think far from being good for the development of hardstyle in the UK, the involvement of such parties in the scene is just leading to crappy cheesy hardstyle swampin the scene, and once that happens even if the scene does grow it is growing in the wrong direction - i.e. the path already well-trodden by hard house a few years ago!

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Originally Posted by kai

While I agree with a great deal of what your saying there Geoff, just one thing I feel the need to take issue with - and that's that the involvement of Goodgreef is a good thing for the UK hardstyle scene. For me, the kind of crap hardstyle being put out by labels like Nukleuz and Goodgreef, produced by the likes of Cally & Juice and Alex Kidd, is just giving the music a bad reputation, and stopping people who would otherwise have shoen an interest in the quality stuff from Europe from ever gettign into hardstyle as they just regard it as being the shite being played by these guys. Personally I think far from being good for the development of hardstyle in the UK, the involvement of such parties in the scene is just leading to crappy cheesy hardstyle swampin the scene, and once that happens even if the scene does grow it is growing in the wrong direction - i.e. the path already well-trodden by hard house a few years ago!

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Yeah totally agreed, when I mentioned Goodgreef I think it was more for Dark by Design who have been around for a while..... C&J :nono: :nono: and every time I see a post on GHF/Screamer about them from some fool saying how good they are I have to remind our European friends that they just arent representative of the UK HS Scene.

I think what I was saying is that when an organisation of their size starts to put HS nights on it can only gain the genre more exposure..... of course it goes without saying that they need to book the right DJs to do this ;) People might go to one of their nights, may even enjoy hearing the pap music but then do a little research for themselves (like this thread) and find out a whole better side to Hardstyle.

Yeah, I see your point there mate.

To be honest, a lot of what I feel about Goodgreef stems from running a night in the same city as them for 12 months, and seeing them gradually steal ideas from ourselves and Binary as they saw their crowds falling and people turning to hardstyle from traditional Goodgreef territory i.e. UK hard trance and hard house.

I could cope with that if they were doing it right, but they just aren't. They seem to think that by booking one hardstyle DJ from Europe and filling the rest of the line-up with the usual shit they are doing enough, and in a way they are as British hardstyle fans are seduced by the opportunity to see a big name. The problem with this is that the smaller hardstyle nights in manchester (of which at one point last year there was 6) suffered drops in attendance as the crowds they were taking from Goodgreef were lured back by the big name bookings, who they wanted to see more than the local talent that was (and still is) coming through. For such talent to come through though we need the smaller nights who are prepared to book them, rather than a scene raped by the superclubs that are jsut interested in booking the established stars from Europe.

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Originally Posted by kai

Yeah, I see your point there mate.

To be honest, a lot of what I feel about Goodgreef stems from running a night in the same city as them for 12 months, and seeing them gradually steal ideas from ourselves and Binary as they saw their crowds falling and people turning to hardstyle from traditional Goodgreef territory i.e. UK hard trance and hard house.

I could cope with that if they were doing it right, but they just aren't. They seem to think that by booking one hardstyle DJ from Europe and filling the rest of the line-up with the usual shit they are doing enough, and in a way they are as British hardstyle fans are seduced by the opportunity to see a big name. The problem with this is that the smaller hardstyle nights in manchester (of which at one point last year there was 6) suffered drops in attendance as the crowds they were taking from Goodgreef were lured back by the big name bookings, who they wanted to see more than the local talent that was (and still is) coming through. For such talent to come through though we need the smaller nights who are prepared to book them, rather than a scene raped by the superclubs that are jsut interested in booking the established stars from Europe.

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:clap:

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Originally Posted by piginabush

C&J :nono: :nono: and every time I see a post on GHF/Screamer about them from some fool saying how good they are I have to remind our European friends that they just arent representative of the UK HS Scene.

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Thats good to hear mate - it's always nice to know that other people on those sites are saying the same things as myself and Marv! Hopefully we get through to our European cousins more than the idiots who are just up C & J's arses!