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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
34
Oliver Heldens
| NEW ENTRY

Dutchman Oliver Heldens’ ascension into the Top 100 has been a particularly swift one, even by the standards through which new entries have shaken up the poll in the past few years. It was all by the grace of his funky main room record ‘Gecko’ last year, the perfect example of a certain groove returning to commercial house; which caught the attention of Tiësto, no less, who signed the track to his Musical Freedom label and released a new vocal version. 

“It opened many new doors. Production-wise I get to work with some of the biggest names in the industry,” he tells DJ Mag, naturally a reference to the Tiësto connection, though also to his recent studio work with Sander van Doorn, plus remixes for Martin Garrix and Robin Thicke.
“I also got to play the biggest festivals in the world last summer and have some great new shows scheduled. In only one year, so many things have changed… but I’m a down-to-earth guy and I keep being quite relaxed and sober while everything is moving this quickly.”
 

Things certainly have moved fast, with Heldens responsible for an impressive string of releases within the past year, including his latest hit ‘Koala’. He says they are ideas that have been percolating for a long time, though they are off to the side from his earlier studio adventures.
“Before 'Gecko' I was working on a lot of groovy, housey stuff, but had never released something like that, because originally I’d been working on progressive/electro stuff back in the day. Besides that though, all the support the past year has given me positive inspiration as well.”