THOMAS GOLD: ALL THAT GLITTERS

With his mix of trance, house, hard beats and sugary melodies — and massive club hits for Axtone and Phazing — in vogue, it's German producer Thomas Gold's time to shine...

After a year that saw him kicking all sorts of professional goals, and inching ever closer to the top-billing house jocks who’ve been playing his records for years, Germany’s Thomas Gold saw it fit to close off 2012 with a bang, in the form of his new single 'Miao'. Appropriately, it’s an explosive big-room stormer that packs a whole lot into its five-minute running time. Huge house grooves, sugary sweet trance melodies, a dash of feisty ‘EDM’ aggression, plus enough twists and turns to ensure a fevered reaction on the dancefloor.

“I produced 'Miao' as a special track for my DJ sets, and I wanted to do something really punchy and energetic, but with a twist,” Gold told DJ Mag. “That’s when it comes to the little sweet melody in the breakdown. It’s always great to see how the crowd reacts when it drops from the punchy part into the breakdown, and then goes back into full energy! I’ve been playing 'Miao' throughout the summer, and it’s always gotten great reactions.”

Gold also welcomed in the New Year with a headline gig at the Vanguard in Los Angeles, which marked the start of a month-long tour that saw him take his ‘Fanfare’ brand (also the name of his weekly podcast and radio show) right across North America, with shows in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Washington and beyond. 
All of this comes at the tail-end of what was undoubtedly Gold’s biggest year yet. In addition to adding further polish to his musical identity, with a sound that’s worked wonders in the big rooms and beyond, he made a solid start to the year with the Dirty South collaboration 'Eyes Wide Open'. The achievements kept rolling in after that; Gold delivered a coveted Essential Mix for Radio 1, hit No.1 on Beatport with 'Sing2Me', and played high-profile gigs as far afield as Tomorrowland in Belgium and EDC in Las Vegas. Arguably, though, the most important achievement was his debut compilation on Axwell’s label.

'Axtone Presents Thomas Gold' was packed so full of his own tracks, remixes, mash-ups and unreleased productions that it arguably counted as a de facto artist album, and it also captured his artistic approach perfectly — the ‘big room’ sound we’ve grown familiar with from the likes of Swedish House Mafia and Avicii, which fuses house, electro and trance with an extra dose of classy fun. 
Far from a being a follower, though, Gold was actually injecting trancey elements into his records as far back as 2008, jumping the gun on the ‘trouse’ movement that has exploded in popularity since then; though he stops short of claiming status as a pioneer.

“It has been a bit of a process to get where I am now musically,” Gold told DJ Mag. “I’ve always loved to mix up different genres... I’m developing my style all the time, and I’m constantly trying out new stuff. It’s true, trance has always been a part of my production style, and today it’s kind of ‘normal’ to have some trancey elements in a track, so maybe I’m lucky to have this as a signature element in many of my productions. Still, I always have an eye on what’s going on in the clubs. There’s plenty of ideas to explore, and that’s what I love!”

As a DJ/producer who’s always had an affinity with what’s worked well in the big rooms, Gold says this is a mixture of doing what comes naturally, as well as tactical decisions that are made in the studio to ensure maximum dancefloor impact.

“I love the big room club sound, but I’m also a fan of melodies and chord structures,” he says. “Sometimes I go for a very musical approach, starting an idea with a piano melody and some orchestral strings, which I then turn into a proper club track.” This was the approach he took last year with his No.1 Beatport smash 'Sing2Me'. 

“On the other hand, sometimes I start a production with just a fat and punchy groove, and then build upon this, which is how it worked for 'Miao'. I have no recipe or rules.”