Axwell (band)
Encyclopedia : A : AX : AXW : Axwell (band)
Axwell (born Axel Hedfors) is a DJ/remixer/producer/record label owner from Stockholm, Sweden. He is known for adding his signature funky bassline-inspired beats and loops into his tracks and remixes.
Although his years behind the decks began in the late 1990s, his profile got larger when he teamed up with Robbie Rivera and vocalist Suzan Brittan to record "Burning." The collaboration would go to number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2004.
In late 2004 Axwell released another global hit, "Feel The Vibe", which has been re-released in 2005 with new vocals as "Feel The Vibe ('Til The Morning Comes)."
The last couple of years have been fantastic for young Swedish producer Axwell. Leading the way has been Mambana, his collaboration with Isabel Fructuoso (of Afro Medusa fame). Signed to the highly respected Soulfuric Recordings, they have released 2 huge tracks since April 2002. "No Reason" was their massive debut single that hit the top spot in all the Hype/Buzz charts that Summer and featured in the sets of all the top DJ's including Little Louie Vega, Danny Rampling and Ben Watt. The follow up "Libre" was released last summer and was arguably bigger than its predecessor. "Libre" was licensed to more than 12 different territories and featured on compilations that sold in excess of half a million copies. Isabel was in Stockholm recently working on the new single "Felicidad" that should be out this summer.
Other big tracks that Axwell has been responsible for over the last 2 years include Jetlag “So Right”, which came out in September 2002 also on Soulfuric. Featuring the vocals of Noel McKoy this track had a guitar hook to die for and was backed up with a peak time dub mix that saw Axwell and Brain Tappert at the controls together. At the tail end of 2002 Axwell went back to his roots and did a track under his own name - “Lead Guitar” was released by fellow Swede Stonebridge on his Stoney Boy imprint and was again well supported.
2003 saw Axwell record for London based label suSU (the UK home of Masters At Work) under the guise of Starbeach. The track was called “Get Naked” & featured the vocal talents of D’Empress (Mutiny). This was followed up last Summer by Axwell's update of Evelyn Thomas' classic "High Energy" which rocked dancefloors again some 20 years after it’s original release. In the autumn of 2003 Axwell's "Wait A Minute", featuring the vocals of Nevada was released on Soulfuric related label Device. This peak time party anthem was a club smash that duly gained support from the likes of Pete Tong, Junior Jack % Kid Creme & David Guetta.
In between all this Axwell has managed to lend his considerable talents to other Artists - recent mixes have included Usher "Burn" (BMG), Room 5 “Make Luv” (Positiva), Clipse ft Faith Evans "Ma, I Don’t Love Her" (RCA) &. Stonebridge "Put 'Em High" (Hed Kandi). He's just finished a remix for N*E*R*D's single "Maybe" due on Virgin next month. A notable recent remix has been of indie band Hard-Fi for whom Axwell remixed the hit 'Hard To Beat' to great success.
At the end of last year Axwell set about dismantling his studio ready for a complete refurbishment. The job was finally completed in February since when Axwell has been working on some new productions - apart from the aforementioned new Mambana single he's finished a new solo track called "Feel The Vibe" that's out on promo through Sweden's Nero Recordings this month, and the reactions has been stunning so far...
The year of 2005 has been particularly successful for Axwell. In addition to a very successful re-release of his smash "Feel The Vibe" on a Ministry Of Sound Data label, he has produced several amazing club remixes, as well as his own production. Notable remixes include Rasmus Faber - Get Over Here, C-Mos - 2 Million Ways, Roger Sanchez feat. GTO - Turn On The Music, as well as his collaboration with Sebastian Ingrosso on Ernesto vs Bastian's "Dark Side Of The Moon". Amongst his original production, it is worth mentioning his collaboration with another Swedish producer Sebastian Ingrosso on one more funky bomb "Together". Axwell's most successful release of 2005 was "Watch The Sunrise", with Steve Edwards on vocals (famous for Cassius' "The Sound Of Violence"). The track has reached #3 in UK Dance Singles Chart and BBC Radio 1 Dance Chart. Axwell is currently working with Eric Prydz for a Pryda label release of 123 and 321.
Axwell's most recent remix work, his remix of Deep Dish's 'Dreams' is set to be released on Monday April 17 on Positiva Records. He also remixed Pharrel William's track 'Angel.'
Now in 2006 spring, Axwell and Steve Angello, under the "Supermode" alias, have remixed Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy", making a song whose name is "Tell Me Why" (since the extract sample from the original song repeats "tell me why"). It has been released under the Data label.
See also
- List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.