Dutch duo Jim Taihuttu and Nils Ronhuis have been steadily rising year on year as Yellow Claw. Though the third member, MC Bizzeey, left in 2016, the duo has continued to find success. They often don’t allow themselves to be confined in one box, floating between genres with ease and cementing their place across the electronic music industry. Yellow Claw seamlessly incorporate elements of hardstyle, hip-hop, trap, dubstep with moombahton — a fusion of house and reggaeton.

Since 2014, they’ve run their own label, Barong Family, which has seen 600 releases over six years. Their four albums have also charted to success with 2017’s ‘Los Amsterdam’, in particular, standing out for its uniqueness. Their latest album, 'Never Dies', continues their tried-and-tested formula. Bringing the likes of Tinashe, Fatman Scoop and Migos' Offset, the guest features helped elevate the project and further confirm their propensity to envision collaborations that many can't conceive.

From: The Netherlands
DJ style: “Everything.”

It's been another global whirlwind for dynamic Dutch duo Jim Taihuttu and Nils Ronhuis (third member MC Bizzey left in 2016), as the success of 2017 catapulted their Yellow Claw brand ferociously into 2018. Not wasting a second of the momentum from the success of their second album, they dived deep into another endless international tour cycle and yet another album. Dispatched less than a year after ‘Los Amsterdam’, their new album ‘New Blood’ propelled them to even higher levels as it featured a rollcall of flavours, collaborators, MCs and vocalists. From San Holo to DJ Snake, A$AP Ferg to Kalibwoy, ‘New Blood’ documents their broadest sound and abilities so far.

“We have travelled increasingly more and met so many new interesting people,” they said when the album came out. “This album will show a level of differentiation and variation more than ever, a true globalization.”

Jim and Nizzle’s Barong Family label has also been a consistent source of dancefloor firepower this year. Releases have ranged from the grizzly sizzles of drum & bass don Nymfo to the glitchy 23rd century garage of Slowbody by way of Wiwek’s debut artist album ‘Jungle Terror Saga’. A relentless reflection of their wide-armed bass-heavy, genre-melting DJ sets, Barong Family’s wide range of releases captures the essence of why these two have remained a Top 100 constancy since 2015 and have headlined pretty much every European, Asian and US festival imaginable. The global whirlwind continues.

Words: DAVE JENKINS

Together Bizzey (Leonardo Roelandschap), Nizzle (Nils Rondhuis) and Jim Aasgier make up Yellow Claw, a grouping whose sonic output is a diverse reflection of the trio's own personalities. However, their method of working doesn't always see them agree on issues of musical taste, but fortunately they have a simple way of reaching a final decision — “paper/rock/scissors get you through a lot,” they tell DJ Mag.

After successful singles in their Dutch homeland's national charts, Yellow Claw's reputation spread internationally and they signed to Diplo's Mad Decent. Now they regularly travel the globe, citing Indonesia as the most interesting new place they've visited this year and Bootshaus in Cologne as the best venue. 

We asked the guys how they feel about their recent progress. “Last year was great but this year was just better because everything was bigger, better, faster, harder,” they explain, before enigmatically adding: “and we get to share it with our barong family.”

With an unshakeable faith in the future of electronic dance music and an ever-evolving palette of sounds that they are only too happy to work with, Yellow Claw's ambition for 2016 is quite straightforward — “World domination!” 

DAVID McCARTHY