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TOOLROOM CELEBRATE TEN YEARS IN STYLE

Watch the Ten Years Of Dance doc and win a box set!

Toolroom Records are commemorating their tenth anniversary with an extensive limited edition box set and an extremely well made documentary on the last ten years of dance music.

The documentary features interviews with Hardwell, Armin Van Buuren, Steve Angello, Seth Troxler, Loco Dice, Fatboy Slim, Josh Wink, Todd Terry and more, while the box set includes the 'Toolroom Ten' album, limited edition 'Man With The Red Face' vinyl with 2013 remixes, a Toolroom t-shirt (sponsored by Puma) and a USB key. To find out how to win a box set, see the question at the end of this story.

Helmed by Mark Knight, Toolroom embarked on a world tour throughout 2013 and started planning their tenth anniversary celebrations well in advance. “When we started planning all this at the start of the year, we quickly realised how many other labels were also celebrating a decade in the game – Armada, Crosstown Rebels, Size, Ed Banger, Cadenza... the list just seemed to go on and on,” Mark Knight told DJ Mag. “Which meant that 2003 must have been some kind of a tipping point for dance music, an idea we all found incredibly interesting.”

“So we decided to find out why this happened,” Mark continued. “We spent the best part of the year interviewing some of the major players in dance music over the last ten years, travelling all over the world to do so! And we put together all their experience, opinions and ideas into (hopefully) a coherent, balanced and interesting documentary.”

The documentary starts with an article in The Guardian newspaper proclaiming that dance music was dead before charting the impact of technology on DJing, why DJs started their own labels, the rise of EDM in America, and why the scene is embracing underground house again. From predictions of its demise, dance music ended up ten years later with DJs selling out stadiums and playing mammoth electronic festivals worldwide.

“There are some big clashes of opinions in there, and also some really surprising comments from people you wouldn't necessarily expect,” says Mark. “But what really shines through is the passion these people have for our scene. Putting this documentary together was a real labour of love for the team — it's taken the best part of a year and lots of long nights to get a 20-minute short film. But it hopefully does the last decade of dance music justice, a decade which myself and everyone at Toolroom has loved being a part of. We hope you enjoy it!”

To win a Toolroom box set, just answer this question (below) and send the answer to [email protected] The tenth correct answer will win the box set.

Q. In what year was the first Toolroom Records release? What was it called, and who was it by?