Oliver Heldens is taking his love of techno music to another level after launching HILOMATIK, a new record label.
The Dutch dance music superstar says the label will serve as a home for his HI-LO alias as well as a hub for blossoming techno artists. HI-LO has been a tastemaker at the intersection of techno and house music, releasing a slew of tracks on Adam Beyer’s Drumcode, Reinier Zonneveld’s Filth on Acid and deadmau5’s mau5trap, among others. He was also the top-selling Techno (Peak Time/Driving) artist on Beatport over the last year, according to a press release.
Heldens says HILOMATIK will sign records “on the more ‘musical’ side of techno.”
“My number one goal with the label is to bring the melodic techno world and the more driving peak time techno world closer together,” he explained in a statement. “But on the other hand also mixing techno with house music, so the music can be quite intense but still incorporate melodic elements and some groove.”
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Heldens’ approach to HILOMATIK’s A&R calls to mind comments from pioneering techno icon Carl Cox, who recently opened up about the genre’s modern stylistic trends in an intimate interview with EDM.com.
“It has that energy but it doesn’t have a soul to it,” Cox said of today’s popular techno music. “Because there’s nothing soulful about electronic music when it’s coming at you that hard.”
HI-LO also dropped a brand new single on HILOMATIK, his third record label venture after Heldeep and OH2. Take a listen to “PURA VIDA,” a pulsing techno track, below.
Follow Oliver Heldens:
Facebook: facebook.com/OliverHeldens
Twitter: twitter.com/oliverheldens
Instagram: instagram.com/oliverheldens
Spotify: spoti.fi/3bbHLGI
Follow HI-LO:
Facebook: facebook.com/officialhilo
Twitter: twitter.com/official_hilo
Instagram: instagram.com/officialhilo
Spotify: spoti.fi/2ZFW1Oa