Eelke Kleijn
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Eelke Kleijn

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Yet even minus the family commitments, it’s hardly surprising the Dutchman claims there aren’t enough hours in the day. Speaking down the line from his native Rotterdam in the Netherlands – arguably with Berlin and London the pivotal centers of the electronic dance music universe – he is busy working on a live set for the BlownAway2Rotterdam party which is coming up in late November. “I am dividing my time between that and finishing a new remix for Outside the Box Music and a couple of new EPs as well.”


Back pedaling though, coming up in music for Eelke was a combination of what was going on at home as well as his childish curiosity with all things unusual. “As long as I can remember I had a thing with music,” he admits. “As a kid, I was taping music and making mix tapes and the like. But it wasn’t until I was 12 that I started to play an instrument and really got into creating music as well. I used to take home musical instruments from the store that I worked at over the weekend – and returned on Monday or Tuesday morning. That hobby got out of hand really quickly and when I was 18 I released my first record on vinyl!”

Fast-forward a few years then and the chap finds himself well inside that aforementioned epicenter of the dance music phenomenon – and he loves it. “Regardless of whether the center is in London, Amsterdam, Berlin or a combination of those, the fact remains that we are very central here and it is easy to travel everywhere in Europe in a couple of hours. Holland has such a rich history in dance music and because the dance music scene has been going strong here for over 25 years, there are at least 20 clubs where you can go to and enjoy dance music. That’s pretty cool for such a small city!”

Indeed, such diversity affords punters the opportunity to hear almost anything at anytime – and that forms the raison detre behind Eelke’s own musical disposition. “I’m really feeling a true mix of genres,” he says. “I play everything from deep house to techno and all that is in between – even some UK bass recently. It just depends on the crowd, location and vibe. But I’d say in general my sound is really dance floor oriented, with a lean towards some atmospherics every now and then. Even when I play techno it has little melodies or atmospheric touches that get into your head. I don’t really like the cold and bland stuff though.”

Studio wise, Eelke is working on a remix for his label Outside the Box Music. “I’ve got a new track coming up by Arjuna Schiks that we are releasing,” he professes. “I am also working on some originals that should appear over the next few months, on different labels. I’m not however currently working on a new artist album. That will happen eventually, but after having done two, I don’t feel any pressure to finish a third one. I feel I can communicate my music at the moment better in singles and remixes. I am currently also working on a follow up single to Ein Tag Am Strand. I’m definitely not trying to quickly copy that track and release it, so it will be something different. For the follow up I am working with Emily Bruce, who sang on Goldfish’s Woman is a Devil on a melodic vocal track.”

And with that, he adds the label carries with it no specific direction. “Actually there is no philosophy behind it and I think that is the beauty of it. I just release music that I like from artists that I like to support – that could be a philosophy if you look at it from a certain angle, I suppose.” We have a forthcoming EP coming up from MUUI, one of my favorite artists at the moment. We had it remixed by Santiago Garcia and Kaap de Goede Hoop. After that I have an EP by Rob Hes with a remix by Steve Slight, and also a two-track EP by Arjuna Schiks that I’ve remixed myself.”

Finally, the lad is looking forward to getting to Australia for the upcoming Earthcore festival. “Some of my closest friends who have visited the festival told me it was the most amazing thing they ever experienced. So with them coming from Holland – and having extensive experience in dance music – does raise the bar quite high for me.”

And not to be outdone – he is also likely to spend a little time on the floor with punters and fans – because as the old adage goes – you can’t trust a DJ who doesn’t dance. Luckily, this one does.

BY RK

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