What the Dutch Did for Us...

The Netherlands is a name that some of us have come to associate with dance music quite rapidly. Many of the bigtime DJs come from there, and they contributed largely towards the Deep House Movement not so long ago. Among the most famous DJs to arrive in our ears fresh from Holland are Tiesto and Fedde Le Grand, so let us venture into what the Dutch did for us...

#1 - Fedde Le Grand: This man has had hit after hit, after hit, and it's just not fair on other DJs - no one can compete with him. From the hugely popular "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" to his fantastic duos with Ida Corr for 2008's "Let Me Think About It" and Camille Jones for "The Creeps". As well as this he is a fantastic remixer, his current remix of Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" is amazing, and an excellent producer. He has produced for many years now, and even organises his own night clubs.

#2 - Tiesto: Again, another DJ, this time from the techno trance side of things, but still just as good. Tiesto's single "Traffic" got to Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, and to Number 1 in the Dutch charts as well, which was a remarkable achievement considering it was the first instumental track to reach number one in the Netherlands in 23 years. He releases tracks under a hit label, and has played to billions of people when he DJ-d the opening athletes' march for the Olympic Games in Athens.

#3 - Sander Kleinenberg: Apologies for the sweaty image, but this man's skills deserve for that to go unnoticed. My all-time favourite track of his was "This Is Miami." Kleinenberg recently played Global Gathering 2008 and has done many other festivals since. He has become a famous pioneer in the house genre.

#4 - Laidback Luke: Laidback Luke is one of my favourite DJs of all time. "Break the House Down," "Rocking With The Best," etc - they all are top quality tunes and you just can't stop listening to them. Another excellent remixer, including a wonderful remake of Daft Punk's "Teachers" which first featured on Pete Tong's show on Radio 1 and I loved it, this man has all the talent you could need. Before turning to music, he was a graffiti artists, but since making that right choice of music, he has worked with the likes of house legends David Guetta, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello - but let's face it if he works with one of the latter two he had to work with the other, are Angello and Ingrosso ever apart?

#5 - Armin Van Burren: Another quite legendary DJ. This man has worked his way to the top and quite rightly. I won't go on anymore, because I want to get through this, but do download his weekly podcast 'A State Of Trance'

#6 - ErickE: "The Beat Is Rockin'" was one of the best dance tracks of the year 2007. ErickE really made his name through this track. A true legend of dance music lies in Holland.

...and all the others. Artists including 4 Strings, 16 Bit Lolitas, and Marcel Woods also come from the Netherlands. So that is what the Dutch did for us.

Unfortunately, all of the thousands of readers of this blog won't receive any more posts until the 25th August :(
I am going to be away in America for the majority of that time, and upon my return I would like a few days rest from this rather exhausting blog (but I have to keep up with what the fans want). So I will post a new entry on the 25th August, which will be about this years Creamfields Festival (23rd and 24th Aug), as described in the most recent blog.

Toodles.