Jump to content

DJ Mag Top 100 - 2009 Results Announced!


AlieNed

Recommended Posts

1 Armin Van Buuren

2 Tiлsto

3 Above & Beyond

4 David Guetta

5 Paul van Dyk

6 Deadmau5

7 Ferry Corsten

8 Markus Schulz

9 Gareth Emery

10 Sander van Doorn

11 ATB 14

12 Infected Mushroom

13 Sasha

14 Axwell

15 Andy Moor

16 Bobina

17 John Digweed

18 Carl Cox

19 Cosmic Gate

20 Steve Angello

21 DJ Shah

22 Aly & Fila

23 Paul Oakenfold

24 John O'Callaghan

25 Benny Benassi

26 Sebastian Ingrosso

27 Laidback Luke

28 Richie Hawtin

29 Fedde Le Grand

30 DJ Feel

31 Lange

32 Hernбn Cattбneo

33 Daft Punk

34 Bob Sinclar

35 Eric Prydz

36 Joachim Garraud

37 Kyau & Albert

38 James Zabiela

39 Umek

40 Christopher Lawrence

41 Eddie Halliwell

42 Simon Patterson

43 Offer Nissim

44 Judge Jules

45 Sean Tyas

46 Dubfire

47 Martin Solveig

48 Sven Vath

49 Richard Durand

50 Marco V

51 Kaskade

52 TyDi

53 ERICK MORILLO

54 Matt Darey

55 Astrix

56 Menno de Jong

57 The Thrillseekers

58 Nick Warren

59 Dirty South

60 Roger Sanchez

61 Mark Knight

62 Wally Lopez

63 Leon Bolier

64 Blank & Jones

65 Justice

66 Laurent Wolf

67 Astral Projection

68 Boys Noize

69 Ronski Speed

70 Ricardo Villalobos

71 Sander Kleinenberg

72 Chuckie

73 Sharam

74 Marcel Woods

75 Lisa Lashes

76 Moonbeam

77 Rank 1

78 Sйbastien Lйger

79 Marcus Schossow

80 Skazi

81 Steve Lawler

82 Super8 & Tab

83 Pete Tong

84 Tocadisco

85 Sied Van Riel

86 Tiga

87 Daniel Kandi

88 Mike Koglin

89 Luciano

90 Yahel*

91 Myon & Shane 54

92 John B

93 Simon Posford

94 Fatboy Slim

95 Robbie Rivera

96 Antoine Clamaran

97 Nic Fanciulli

98 Gui Boratto

99 Alex M.O.R.P.H.

100 Andy C

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12. Infected Mushroom

 

Style: Rock trance

Best known for: Making audiences go apeshit.

Gig of 2009: Electric Daisy Carnival (USA)

Tune of 2009: Tim Healy 'Television Is The New God (Sub6 Remix)' (Hommega)

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Randy Seidman

The track that changed your life: Actually it was something else: Dinn Duvdevani - my son.

What makes a good DJ great: A combination of charisma (sociability included) and technical skill.

Most underrated DJ: John 00 Fleming

Biggest challenge this year: Balancing the tour schedule, wife, child, studio time, and all of the television shows I like to watch!

Top tech toy: The iPhone Of all the trance acts in the poll, Infected Mushroom - aka Israeli duo Erez Aizen and Amit Duvdevani - are the most likely to cross over to the mainstream. This year, the duo consolidated the sound they have been pushing for years with their album 'Legend of the Black Shawarma', which featured vocal contributions from Perry Farrell of iconic rock band Jane's Addiction.

 

"We are continuing to play the Infected sound, which is continually evolving and building," Amit explains. "'Legend of the Black Shawarma' was almost three years in the making and it encompasses rock, trance, breaks, psychedelic and many more styles," he says.

 

However, the duo didn't forget their roots and performed this year at some of the best clubs in the world, including Pacha in Brazil, Ministry of Sound in London and Guvernment in Toronto. These club performances saw them bring a different dynamic to their music.

 

"If we are talking specifically about performance, we still have a sound that is driving, melodic, hard and unique," Amit says. "Some tracks sound different performed live than they do on the album. For instance, 'Killing Time' with Perry Farrell is a slow jam on the album, but live is a completely different beast. Overall, our goal is to keep people dancing and interested."

 

Although Infected Mushroom just released an album, they are back in the studio already to work on the follow up.

 

"We have been fortunate to be able to do this for our living," Amit says.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23. Paul Oakenfold

 

Style: House and trance.

Best known for: Bringing house music back from Ibiza in 1988.

Gig of 2009: My one-year anniversary at Rain, in Las Vegas.

Tune of 2009: Robert Vadney 'Fallen Angel's Symphony' (Perfecto)

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Adam White

The track that changed your life: Marvin Gaye 'What's Goin' On'

What makes a good DJ great: Understanding of arrangement, structure, key and being able to put all that together.

Most underrated DJ: Daniele Davoli

Biggest challenge this year: Producing Madonna.

Top tech toy: The CDJ-2000 Who out of the DJmag Top 100 DJs can say that they played to 1.3 million people this year? While on tour with Madonna. After producing her latest single. Well, none, other than Paul Oakenfold, that is.

 

"In Finland, there were 94,000 people," he says, genuinely humbled and perhaps a little baffled. "Look, I know they ain't come to see me. I know that I'm fortunate, and that I've been given an opportunity. Lots of artists would have loved to support her."

 

Equally, he admits it was unexpected when the Queen of Pop approached him to produce her single 'Celebration', the only new track on her recent double-disc greatest hits album.

 

"To be honest, I was surprised," he says. "She'd just worked with Timbaland and Pharrell and Justin Timberlake, and I didn't think she wanted to go in my direction. But she listened to some of the ideas, and we wrote a bunch of songs.'"

 

And if that wasn't A-list enough, Oakenfold's now working on a Michael Jackson track, for a forthcoming tribute album, has been scoring films for Jerry Bruckheimer, has a Las Vegas residency which pulls in 3000 people every week and an artist album in the pipeline, featuring collaborations with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cee-Lo, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and Perfecto signing Infected Mushroom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40. Christopher Lawrence

Style: Underground trance, tech and psy trance.

Best known for: DJ sets.

Gig of 2009: Coachella festival.

Tune of 2009: SOM's 'Acid Rain (Psycoholic Remix)' (Psy Spy Records)

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Jonathan Allyn

The track that changed your life: New Order's 'Temptation'. Until that time I had been into industrial and punk music.

What makes a good DJ great: Consistency, integrity, and loyalty to his fans.

Most underrated DJ: Ismael Rodriguez from San Francisco. He has a brilliant ear for music.

Biggest challenge this year: Moving to Australia has made working on my new artist album and producing my radio show Rush Hour very tricky.

Top tech toy: The iPhone. I can sync it with iTunes to go through new music, check emails, watch movies, update my Twitter and take photos of my kids. Despite being known as 'the biggest DJ in the USA', Christopher Lawrence moved from his home in Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia this year which, because of his punishing DJ schedule, has meant that he's only "home for about 48 hours a week."

 

As a producer, Lawrence has put out trance smasheroonies such as 'October's Child', 'Attention' and 'Scorcher', which have cropped up in the sets of Sasha and Paul Oakenfold, as well as hoards of lesser-spotted DJs.

 

Since he started playing out in the mid '90s, his progressive trance DJ sets have steadily become more sought-after; these days he never has a weekend to himself. Luckily, his wife Sara is also a DJ and this year they launched a new electro DJ project called Mr & Mrs Smith.

 

"We did our debut set at Burning Man this year and it went brilliantly," says Lawrence. "It's been inspiring for me to play a new sound and exciting to work with my wife, who is a dance music veteran in her own right. Our sound is on the electro house tip, miles from what I play in my regular sets. But it's still tough, in fact Sara probably plays tougher than most male DJs out there

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55. Astrix

 

Style: Full-on trance and electronica

Best known for: Fusing the power of trance with club elements and euphoric breaks.

Gig of 2009: The Beach festival in Japan.

Tune of 2009: Infected Mushroom 'Sa'eed' Perfecto/HOMmega

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Ace Ventura (Yoni Oshrat)

The track that changed your life: Hallucinogen 'Deranger'

What makes a good DJ great: His fans

Most underrated DJ: John '00' Fleming - he is really THE MAN!

Biggest challenge this year: Finishing my new album.

Top tech toy: My new game station. This time last year, US-based Israeli psy-trancer Astrix, aka Avi Shmailov, was laid up in bed recovering from a back operation. However, he put the time to good use by starting work on his third album 'Red Means Distortion'. It's finally ready after some interruption from a hectic tour schedule, and Avi's fastidious need to replace older tracks with new material. It's going to see the light of day at the beginning of 2010, along with a massive world tour lined up to promote it.

 

When Astrix isn't sprinkling dancefloors with his trance magic, he spends any free time he has in the studio writing and producing.

 

"I released a 2Gb memory stick called 'One Step Ahead' containing 12 tracks and three video clips. It was a first of its kind for me, and was a very exciting product."

 

In 2009, Astrix got to remix one of his favourite bands, whipping Infected Mushroom's 'Killing Time' into shape. His 'Dharma' track appeared on the high profile 'Heat Seekers - Israeli Trance Allstars' compilation, and a series of high energy gigs across the globe continued to secure his position as one of the scene's key players. Astrix plans to build a new studio, "and explore more complex music productions, like remixes and commercial electronica, but always with my trademark sound and groove."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

67. Astral Projection

 

Style: Trance

Best known for: Being purveyors of top-notch trance since 1993.

Gig of 2009: Aurora Festival in Greece in August. A killer festival right on the beach.

Tune of 2009: Our remix of Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene'. We had the best time in the world making it.

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: This might sound strange, but Danny Tenaglia - his set in Israel recently was beautiful in its diversity.

The track that changed your life: The Neon Judgement's 'Concrete' from 1981, because it first got us into electronic music.

What makes a good DJ great: Good ears, good taste and the ability and willingness to adapt when needs be.

Most underrated DJ: Don't know.

Biggest challenge this year: Figuring out where this market is going and restructuring the label.

Top tech toy: Cubase 5 and Logic 9. Astral Projection (Avi Nissim and Lior Perlmutter) are Israel's foremost electronic group, in existence since 1993, although Nissim and Perlmutter have been crafting their own take on dance music together for longer than that. As with most people involved in the dance music industry, 2009 has not been without its many trials and tribulations for Astral Projection, but all-in-all it's been a good year for the duo from Tel Aviv.

 

"There's been a lot of restructuring this year," Avi concedes, "and that's taken us away from the music for longer than we would have liked. We're still trying to work out where everything is going – it seems to change every four to six months!"

 

However, the good news is that Astral Projection's much-delayed 10th album, 'Open Society', is finally in the last stages of production. There are still some legal issues to iron out - the suspected reason why the album has been continually put back - but the end is in sight.

 

"We're very happy with the musical direction of the album," says Avi. "This year has been liberating, what with ridding ourselves of a not-so-good record company, so we're really excited about its release next year."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

81. Skazi

 

Style: Trance-rock

Best known for: Combining electronic music with guitars.

Gig of 2009: Mexico 2009 Skazi tour

Tune of 2009: Pendulum 'In Silico'

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: David Guetta

The track that changed your life: Prodigy 'Firestarter'

What makes a good DJ great: That he keeps re-inventing himself.

Most underrated DJ: I don't know

Biggest challenge this year: To have an album that will combine different types of electronic and trance music.

Top tech toy: SSL Mynx Israeli trance rocker Skazi has kept the fire burning this year with his abrasive mix of head-banging metal and psy-trance explosions, fused together with an angle-grinder and a heap of gritty tech sounds likely to cause the weak hearted a giddy spell.

 

"I've been working on a lot of projects at the same time and traveling a lot. I've been very busy and I enjoy a good moment in every part of the world I visit."

 

A tour of Mexico provided some spiritual enlightenment for him. "I played in the Mexican Pyramids and felt that the energy there was heavenly. It felt special,

 

I had the Maya energy!"

 

Living life to the full is very much a rule of thumb for Skazi.

 

"I learn and progress while working. And that not only keeps me updated and informed, but that knowledge elevates me professionally every year." He touched on the 'darkside' this year by producing an electronic album with chart singers. "For the first time in Israel, heavy electronic music 'met' with pop and rock." Next year's focus will be on a new album, set for release in February. "It will be a combination of rock and trance music. It is likely to host big vocalists, such as MC Fishy, and also some unconventional and not so mainstream instruments."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

90. Yahel

 

Style: Trance and club

Best known for: 'Voyage', 'Devotion', 'Skywalker' & 'Going Up'

Gig of 2009: Ministry of Sound with Kyau & Albert and Super 8 & Tab was a great show.

Tune of 2009: Jaytech 'Nemesis' (Anjunabeats)

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Solar System

The track that changed your life: Depeche Mode 'Policy Of Truth'. All of that synth pop sounds had a profound effect on me.

What makes a good DJ great: You need to understand the audience and be able to connect to them through the music.

Most underrated DJ:

Biggest challenge this year: Staying fresh and doing better than I did last year.

Top tech toy: Akai MPD32 Midi player. It has great features and really helps in the studio. It would seem that every time DJmag speaks with Israel's trance icon Yahel, he's either just made a new album or he's in the process of finishing one off. And when he isn't zipping across the world with his ethnic-kissed slabs of trance wonderment igniting dancefloors, he's either in the studio crafting yet another album or he's out walking man's best friend, his dog Loco.

 

"We have a blast," he tells DJmag. "I also like to visit my family and play with my nieces and nephews."

 

Yahel keeps life nice and spicy with a steady momentum of music production versus worldwide DJing.

 

"Earlier in the year I was able to complete a few tracks. We recently released one of them as a free download on my Myspace page," says Yahel. "And I travelled a lot, and visited some new places like Korea and Panama, and, of course, the US and UK."

 

When he plays out, every second counts for the trance instigator.

 

"I concentrate on making each beat meaningful. I only have a limited time on stage and every beat is one less that I have to reach the audience," he says.

 

As for his new epic album release 'Corrosion', it will be banging at your harddrive as of early 2010.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

93. Simon Posford

 

Style: Eclectic, genre-defying, everything goes in the pot.

Best known for: Playing my own music.

Gig of 2009: Shpongle live at the Roundhouse, London on Halloween.

Tune of 2009: The new Shpongle track 'Ineffable Mysteries' (Twisted Records) seems to be going down well.

Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2009: Benji Vaughan

The track that changed your life: Jam & Spoon 'The Age Of Love'

What makes a good DJ great: One who is a pioneer rather than a follower, lighting the way down new paths.

Most underrated DJ: Everybody! There are many extremely creative people, brilliant at what they do, who never make it into the press.

Biggest challenge this year: Playing at a festival in Brazil after a huge storm, and everything on the stage made of metal was 'live', including the decks!

Top tech toy: I have a USB oil-burner, but I couldn't live without my Macbook Pro, running Logic. Psy-ambient crowd pleaser and multi-named enigma Simon Posford knows exactly the right kind of bouncy, psychedelic techno to inflict on a dancefloor intent on getting well and truly Shpongled!

 

"A sympathy and empathy with the crowd, combined with the ability to create a journey with twists and turns, magic and surprises," is what is required, he explains. In fact, there is quite a lot of explaining to do with the Twisted Records artist; Simon Posford, aka Sphongle, aka Younger Brother, aka Hallucinogen, is the man responsible for some of the genre's finest bendy moments, with this year being no exception.

 

"I toured the USA quite hard, playing New York, San Francisco and LA, but it was good to get out into the huge bit in the middle," Simon continues, "and I finished the new Shpongle album, 'Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland'."

 

By the time you read this, it will be out, and he will have also nearly finished a new Younger Brother album, a project alongside Benji Vaughan aka Promentheus.

 

"It's been an extremely productive year for my various projects," Simon confesses. "I've been transforming the music I made with Raja Ram as Shpongle into a live band with 12 musicians, and performing it in front of very enthusiastic crowds."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's just a popularity contest, this does not mean that armin is the best dj on the world, only that he's known lol.

 

Exactly.

What's the point for 'best dj poll' since everyone knows that it's 'famous dj poll'?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly.

What's the point for 'best dj poll' since everyone knows that it's 'famous dj poll'?

 

well.. everybody that voted for a dj thinks that that dj is the best. Not the most famous. Of course how skilled that dj is is a different matter. Arent there any women in the list at all?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well.. everybody that voted for a dj thinks that that dj is the best. Not the most famous. Of course how skilled that dj is is a different matter. Arent there any women in the list at all?

 

this is a crap list my opinion , and im laughig at , literally saying

 

seem like simo is only one being not a jewish artist related to psy trance , all the rest are israeli - astrix , shrooms , astrals , yahel and skazi :lol:

 

look at the styles they defined for themselves , this is amazing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The huge joke about this list are the bands that never Dj'ed one day in their life. I still haven't understood what they are doing on a Dj list?

 

On the commercial side this list is a very good income boost for those Dj's (and misplaced bands) ending up on the list because many Commercial Clubs around the World book Dj's from this list. We are talking big money if you are on this list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...