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You read that right. This guy has a hell of a lot of remixes to his name, 30 to be precise, and he was only old enough to drink by 2013. He started making his own music and beats in 2009, by the age of 17. He tested the waters by tentatively sending his work out to producers the world over.
He was rewarded by being signed to Flashover Recordings, a label owned by Ferry Corsten, a Dutch DJ of no small repute. This led to Audien’s first single released in the same year as well entitled “Rise and Shine”. He then released 16 non-album singles over the course of 2010 and 2011 to complement his 19 remixes over the same period of time.
Clearly this was an artist as prolific as he was talented. He was recognised for this too, with tracks of his appearing on compilations curated by Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren and Above & Beyond. The latter would also premier a track of Audien’s called “Wayfarer” as the very first song played on their radio show Group Therapy, very high praise indeed.
The best part of this is that in the grand scheme of things Audien has barely begun his career. He’s accomplished what most could hardly dream of given a whole lifetime to work and he’s still only just getting started. This will be a very exciting ride from here on out, and any electronica fan would do well to join.
Born in 1977, he was the son of a famous Japanese wrestler and restaurant-chain owner Rocky Aoki eventually going on to graduate from the University of Carolina. While still in his twenties he found the time to form a record label named Dim Mak in homage to his childhood hero Bruce Lee.
In its infancy, Dim Mak was known for working with a diverse range of artists from all genres and has been instrumental in launching the careers of artists like Bloc Party and The Gossip. The label soon began to focus more on Steve’s specialty, electronic music, and is now recognised as one of most influential establishments in the dance music world.
The label’s profile was further boosted with the release of Aoki’s first album ‘Wonderland’. Featuring artists as diverse as Weezer’s River Cuomo to Kid Cudi it was a huge success with every song on the album being released as a single with its own remixes.
To support his music Steve tours constantly and has become known for unpredictable and exciting live shows. Even while performing an average of 250 shows a year he still finds the energy to be crowd surfing and dancing with his crowds all of which helped him to achieve 6th place in DJ Times magazine’s ‘America’s best DJ competition’ in 2013.
With the release of the first part of his new double-album, ‘Neon Future’ on Dim Mak, Steve looks set to continue to be one of the most popular electronic artists in the world.
So, so, soooooo upset that he did not show up!! We waited for him to come on for the entire night and left very disappointed! :( would like to get a refund since we purchased tix months ahead in anticipation to see him.
Electronic Dance Music is at the forefront of the charts with artists such as Avicii, Calvin Harris and Zedd tearing it up using their arsenal of beats and hooks that without fail sells music. Lets talk about Audien, the progressive house producer and musician who is also making some pretty big waves in the scene at the moment with some of the remixes and singles that he has been putting out as of late.
Punters appear to have been with him from the beginning, some sporting Audien shirts upon entrance whilst others mosey around at the merchandise stand. Everyone looks ready to dance this evening as the house lights go down with the flicker of strobes as the main event, Audien walks out on stage to the helm of his setup with consists of decks a mixer, a keyboard and a laptop. He opens with one of his most current releases from this year, a song called “Hindsight”. In hindsight, I knew full well that this would be an experience but had no idea it would be to the caliber of this EDM odyssey that is.
There no denying the Steve Aoki is epic when it comes to his live shows. He clearly does what he does for no other reason than “because its fun.” He’s been known to crowd surf, spray champagne all over the crowd, and crowd raft…yes raft. EDM sets are always energetic, but Steve Aoki seriously takes it to another level.
Unfortunately for me, the set that I caught him was very mild, mainly due to the location in which I saw him. He was the headliner for the EDM stage at Heat Festival at the University of California, Riverside; but by stage, it was really just the third floor of the Commons area in the middle of campus. What this really meant was that there was no crowd surfing of any sort, but the set was still sick. Spinning things like “Warp,” “One More Time” remixed by him and, my personal favorite remix of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” His transitions and fade-aways are flawless!
I really wish that I could have seen him in a better setting, and plan to eventually see him again, maybe for his Afroki collaboration with Afrojack. Regardless, considering I didn’t have to pay for this festival, I’m satisfied with the set that I was able to see from Steve Aoki.