Matt Fax

Matt Fax, born David Ciekanski on December 14, 1996, is a French electronic music DJ and producer. Having started in 2009, David saw early successes with supports from renowned DJs and artists around the world, such as Depeche Mode, Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond or Gareth Emery. Throughout his career, he been producing numerous tracks and remixes which entered multiple Beatport Charts.

His music is a blend of Progressive House, Trance music and Techno, but he stated being "very versatile".

As David R. and Mike Duz (2009-2012)

David got introduced to music since his most tender age, mostly to Rock music bands like Queen (band), Scorpions (band), AC/DC (band) and French artists. His passion for electronic music came later by discovering Tiësto, which gave him the want of being a DJ, and Joachim Garraud, which introduced him to music production. He also been introduced to Hardcore music by his brother.^[1] He started producing and releasing his first tracks at the age of 13 under the alias David R.,^[2] and had his first support with Laurent Garnier playing his track Technocolor in a couple of his sets back then. He changed his name to Mike Duz a few years later, where he shifted from Techno to Electro House and Progressive House. He had numerous releases on smaller independent record labels until he been able to release a remix for Moguai on deadmau5's label mau5trap on November 7, 2011.^[3] He then changed his name to his actual pseudonym, Matt Fax.

As Matt Fax (2012-present)

The beginnings

The first release under the Matt Fax alias been released on May 9, 2012 on Balkan Connection. Throughout the year, he released most of his music on various small labels, until Jaytech and Above & Beyond among others started playing his music regularly. He signed with Silk Music later the year, where he released a couple of EPs and remixes through the multiples division for 2 years.

Early 2013, at the age of 16, he signed with Enhanced Music and released his first EP "Late Night/Broadway" under the Colorize sub-label, where Matt is still one of the most active artists today.^[4] Later in the year, he got asked to remix Jaytech on Anjunabeats,^[5] and been invited as a guest mixer on Group Therapy, Above & Beyond's radio show. The trio stated that Matt was "the youngest guestmixer to be invited on the show" and became "a regular fixture on Group Therapy".^[6] He also hosted a couple episodes of Anjunabeats Worldwide, the trio's secondary show principally hosted by Anjunabeats artists. The same year, he remixed The Blizzard's classic "Piercing the Fog" on Armada Music as well as Johan Vilborg & Adam Szabo hit "Two to One" on Enhanced Music.

The hiatus

The very next year, Matt kept on releasing a couple of EPs on Colorize, as well as the single "Shift" on August 4, 2014,^[7] which remained one of his most sold track for a few years. The track been revisited as a chill-out version in 2015.

In August, he announced considering quitting music.^[8] In a couple of interviews two years later, he admitted posting similar posts every year, as he never been sure of his own choices.^[9]

On December 29, 2014, a retrospective compilation of Matt's works on Silk Music been released, marking his departure of the label.^[10] However, he released a remix for Nigel Good the very next year, even if the remix was finished a while before. On a Question and Answer session on his Facebook page, someone asked if new stuff will be released on Silk Music, where Matt stated he departed from the label and it was not in project for the moment.^[11]

The comeback

While a possible come-back was teased with his appearance DJ-Set at Above & Beyond's afterparty in Paris in January,^[13] he released the "Going Down/Hyperspace" EP on Colorize on April 13, 2015.^[14] Both tracks been supported by DJs around the world, including Armin van Buuren which played Going Down in Mumbai for the A State of Trance Festival warm-up.^[15] Throughout the year, he released the singles Supertaper, Tumble, Moonlight, Alpenglow and Aeris (in collaboration with Jaytech), as well as Belong/Mirth and CNFS/Stuck EPs, which all been supported on numerous radio shows and podcast from recognized DJ's around the world, as well as being regularly played on radio station such as Sirius XM.

On February 5, Matt released his new single Warmrider, which he defines as "a tribute to the Progressive sound he used to love",^[16] as well as a contribution for ZeroThree's compilation #REALPROG V.2 called "Vina" and the "Wrath" EP on the same label.

On March 11, he released a new remix on Anjunabeats for Boom Jinx and Aruna's single "Light as A Feather", which been critically acclaimed. The release led into a second guestmix on Group Therapy, where he played a couple of his upcoming projects.^[17] He also made his very first gig at Ministry of Sound in London on March 18,^[18] playing at the same time as Andy Moor which was in another room.^[19]

His next EP "Careless/Huntdown", was released on May 6 on Colorize, and marks the 4th anniversary of Matt Fax.^[20] The EP ranked 7 on the Beatport Top 10 and the track "Careless" has been played more than 500,000 times on Spotify, as well as being massively supported by DJs like Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate and Sam Feldt for example. A few weeks after the release, Matt unveiled a bonus track called "Backdraft" and was exclusively distributed on Bandcamp with a pay-what-you-want payment basis.^[21]

Almost two months after the unveiling of the last EP, Armin van Buuren and Above & Beyond premiered the "Horizon / Blimp" EP in their respective radio show.^[22][23] The EP been July 8 on Colorize, and shows a less deeper and more balearic, soulful and almost clubbier sound than the "Careless / Huntdown" EP. The whole EP made the Beatport Progressive House Top 100 in only 4 days, and the title track Horizon been ranked 27 in the Progressive House tracks on Beatport, making it Matt's best-selling track. ^[24]

On June 21, he been invited on Gareth Emery radio show Electric for Life and debuted his remix of his track "Hands", which been released July 15. Gareth admitted being "such a big fan of this guy". He also remixed Tritonal single "Getaway" on Enhanced Music.

In the meantime, he released Progressia on Gareth Emery's label Garuda, and is yet to release his debut single Upward on Avanti, a division of Black Hole Recordings.

He also announced thinking about working on an album, as it's a project he been trying to work on for 4 years, and also leaving social medias as he thinks it "kills creativity and life in general".^[25]

Influences

Matt always been highly compared to Eric Prydz,^[26] which was one of his main inspirations. He also cites deadmau5, Jon Hopkins, Boards of Canada and Radiohead as inspirations.

Discography (as Matt Fax)

EPs

Singles

Remixes

Compilations tracks

• "Vina" (2016) [Zerothree]
• "Shift (Asleep Version)" (2015) [Enhanced Music]
• "Alpenglow" (2015) [Zerothree]
• "Tumble" (2015) [Positronic Digital]
• "Arrival presents Matt Fax 01" (2014) [Silk Music]
• "Ehhh, No" (2013) [Nueva Digital]
• "Vasteras" (2012) [Balkan Connection]
• "Coda" (2012) [Lowbit]
• "Cycle" (2012) [Elliptical Sun Melodies]
• "Magnificent Night" (2012) [Macarize]

References

http://www.discogs.com/artist/2791154-Matt-Fax

External links

• Official website
• Facebook
• Soundcloud
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube