Michel de Hey (NL)

Rotterdam’s Michel de Hey is in no small part responsible for the city’s now vibrant house and techno scene. For over a decade he has championed the best the genre has to offer through his own tight DJ sets, radio shows, skilled productions and, of course, courtesy of his own labels including EC Records and HEY! Records. Over the years Michel has picked up a number of awards for his contribution to the scene, as well as the odd US Billboard Dance Chart hit early in his career. Meanwhile, the tech house, techno and minimal music he has released on his own labels has been championed by modern day talents like Josh Wink, Adam Beyer and Paul Kalkbrenner... without Michel, then, the sonic landscape would sound very different. His own productions in that time have joined the dots between sleek and stripped back techno, groove laden minimal and more propulsive tech house. Labels to have released these sounds include EC Records, Circle Music as well as Noir and Lilith Recordings, with in-the-know DJs always playing Michel’s records all over the world. So too does the man himself tour the world, regularly playing top clubs and festivals like Womb, Japan, Circo Loco and Space in Ibiza, Weekend in Berlin and many others across Europe and the Middle East. Given Michel’s ability to thread together so many styles and sounds on dancefloors everywhere (he is widely schooled in playing small, sweaty and intimate gigs as much as he is large festivals) it’s now wonder he has mixed many compilation CDs (including No Nonsense, Technological Elements, Impulz, Dance Valley on Ibiza and many more) in his time. From funky house to big rolling techno via everything in between, de Hey can do it all. More recently, Michel has teamed up with Floris Regoort for a new release on his own Hey! imprint, and plans are afoot for another tour of South America this summer. He is also currently celebrating 5 years of his Hey! Muzik radio show (aired on Fresh FM every Friday) with a tour of Belgium and the Netherlands every weekend until September, plus a special mix CD featuring 19 exclusive and remastered tracks from the likes of Joris Voorn, Gregor Tresher and Steve Rachmad was released in February. That his own Hey! club nights continue to bring the crème de la crème of EDM (think Karotte, Ricardo Villalobos and more) to key Dutch clubs like Amsterdam’s Studio 80, Rotterdam's Catwalk and Utrecht's Poema, also confirm Michel to be as tireless and forward facing as ever.