Sound Wave 231 with Mike Vale & Suri5e

Slovenian superhero Mike Vale and Ukrainian talent Sunri5e take under control show with Falkon.

The last few years have been a whirlwind of success for Slovenia’s fast-rising global house / tech-house star DJ and producer, Mike Vale. He is not just another big-shot-producer-turned-DJ, rather one of a rare new-breed of all around artists who excels in both disciplines. Having spent a decade quietly learning his trade and perfecting his skills, he is now rising to the top of a brave new musical world.

Mike began to make his mark in the summer of 2010 with the release of “Global Oriental” / “Trobezlon” on New York based Nervous Records, a label well respected for their releases from house masters such as Armand van Helden, Frankie Knuckles and Laidback Luke.

The start of 2011 saw the popularity of “Rising Up” (1605) further increase his growing reputation, selling well it also became a highlight on UMEK’s “Toolroom Knights” compilation. More successful releases followed: a remix for Aney F & Daniel GreenX “Health Spirit” (Starlight Unlimited); and original productions “Hmm” (Coraza) and the huge “I’m Gonna” (Southside), which was licensed to the “Destination Miami 2011” (Southside) compilation and subsequently re-released with remixes.

But, it was Mike Vale’s release on Tomcraft’s Munich based Great Stuff Records that can be considered his big break. Played by everyone and reaching the heady heights of the top of the Beatport charts, the response to “Pretty Woman” was so huge that Mike and the label decided to promote it further with an arty music video that was picked up and charted by MTV: http://youtu.be/JGlDGWaEuos.

At around the same time Pete Tong played “Pretty Woman” during the “Ibiza Radio 1” announcement part of his influential weekly show on BBC Radio 1, http://snd.sc/ZgvwtX turning it into one of the most popular tunes on the White Isle that summer, which led to the licensing of the huge smash to compilations such as “The Face of Ibiza” & “Ibiza Afterhour”. Another big supporter of this release was Marco Carola, who spun it on the Mixmag Stage at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami as well as at one of the most popular European festivals, Exit (Serbia): http://youtu.be/kxGPGRbhYxg. He even played an exclusive mash-up of this track and his own hit “Play It Loud” in his sets.

Mike Vale’s remixes further bolstered an already soaring reputation, with his interpretations of Phunk Investigation “1980’s” (1605), Angel Anx “Boompie” on the Shapeshifters’ Nocturnal Groove label, and Klelight & Koolfunk “Fuckin Hands” (Natura Viva), all securing more Beatport Top 100 success. In August Mike added additional vocals to his remix of Landmark “Hito” (Natura Vida) creating yet another smash, the buzz lasting so long that his remix was licensed to Defected Records’ “Nikki Beach Miami” compilation the following year.

2011 was undoubtedly a great year for Mike Vale and in May his talent was further recognised when he was endorsed as a highly rated, emerging talent by Beatport, who included him in the Top 3 hottest tech-house artists in the industry.

Even before the dust had settled around the success of “Pretty Woman”, Mike Vale and Great Stuff embarked on a new venture in March 2012 - a remix of Pleasurekraft “Anubis” http://snd.sc/ZdTAh5 – which hit the Beatport Top 10 and got massive support – being played by all the big names from the house, tech-house and techno scene. One week later, the UMEK & Mike Vale “Point To Consider EP” saw both the title track and “How’s Your Body” reach the Top 20 Beatport Techno and Tech-House charts.

The list of Mike Vale’s successes wouldn’t be complete without mentioning his remix of DJ PP’s “Old Class” (Natura Viva), which also stirred up a lot of attention, leading to his first official DJ-mix compilation: “Selezione Naturale Vol.1” (Natura Viva). In June, a new collaboration with fellow countryman UMEK – their “Chosen EP” (Great Stuff) – secured big name support across the board during the Ibiza and summer festival season. This track, along with UMEK & Mike Vale “How’s Your Body” (1605), was picked up by Ministry Of Sound for their “MOS Live: Amsterdam” compilation and the duo finished the year with UMEK & Mike Vale “My House” (Great Stuff).

Meanwhile, Mike Vale’s immense remix talents were once again on show for Do Santos “2 Coffee” (303lovers) and Alex Kenji “Not That Kind Of Girl” (Hotfingers) - a No.3 Beatport Tech House Chart hit that was subsequently licensed to Federico Scavo’s “Hotfingers Talks” (Hotfingers) mix compilation and “Toolroom Knights Mixed by Forza” (Toolroom).

      3Mike ValeArtist BiogThe last few years have been a whirlwind of success for Slovenia’s fast-rising global house / tech-house star DJ and producer, Mike Vale. He is not just another big-shot-producer-turned-DJ, rather one of a rare new-breed of all around artists who excels in both disciplines. Having spent a decade quietly learning his trade and perfecting his skills, he is now rising to the top of a brave new musical world.Mike began to make his mark in the summer of 2010 with the release of “Global Oriental” / “Trobezlon” on New York based Nervous Records, a label well respected for their releases from house masters such as Armand van Helden, Frankie Knuckles and Laidback Luke.The start of 2011 saw the popularity of “Rising Up” (1605) further increase his growing reputation, selling well it also became a highlight on UMEK’s “Toolroom Knights” compilation. More successful releases followed: a remix for Aney F & Daniel GreenX “Health Spirit” (Starlight Unlimited); and original productions “Hmm” (Coraza) and the huge “I’m Gonna” (Southside), which was licensed to the “Destination Miami 2011” (Southside) compilation and subsequently re-released with remixes.But, it was Mike Vale’s release on Tomcraft’s Munich based Great Stuff Records that can be considered his big break. Played by everyone and reaching the heady heights of the top of the Beatport charts, the response to “Pretty Woman” was so huge that Mike and the label decided to promote it further with an arty music video that was picked up and charted by MTV: http://youtu.be/JGlDGWaEuos.At around the same time Pete Tong played “Pretty Woman” during the “Ibiza Radio 1” announcement part of his influential weekly show on BBC Radio 1, http://snd.sc/ZgvwtX turning it into one of the most popular tunes on the White Isle that summer, which led to the licensing of the huge smash to compilations such as “The Face of Ibiza” & “Ibiza Afterhour”. Another big supporter of this release was Marco Carola, who spun it on the Mixmag Stage at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami as well as at one of the most popular European festivals, Exit (Serbia): http://youtu.be/kxGPGRbhYxg. He even played an exclusive mash-up of this track and his own hit “Play It Loud” in his sets.Mike Vale’s remixes further bolstered an already soaring reputation, with his interpretations of Phunk Investigation “1980’s” (1605), Angel Anx “Boompie” on the Shapeshifters’ Nocturnal Groove label, and Klelight & Koolfunk “Fuckin Hands” (Natura Viva), all securing more Beatport Top 100 success. In August Mike added additional vocals to his remix of Landmark “Hito” (Natura Vida) creating yet another smash, the buzz lasting so long that his remix was licensed to Defected Records’ “Nikki Beach Miami” compilation the following year.2011 was undoubtedly a great year for Mike Vale and in May his talent was further recognised when he was endorsed as a highly rated, emerging talent by Beatport, who included him in the Top 3 hottest tech-house artists in the industry.Even before the dust had settled around the success of “Pretty Woman”, Mike Vale and Great Stuff embarked on a new venture in March 2012 - a remix of Pleasurekraft “Anubis” http://snd.sc/ZdTAh5 – which hit the Beatport Top 10 and got massive support – being played by all the big names from the house, tech-house and techno scene. One week later, the UMEK & Mike Vale “Point To Consider EP” saw both the title track and “How’s Your Body” reach the Top 20 Beatport Techno and Tech-House charts.The list of Mike Vale’s successes wouldn’t be complete without mentioning his remix of DJ PP’s “Old Class” (Natura Viva), which also stirred up a lot of attention, leading to his first official DJ-mix compilation: “Selezione Naturale Vol.1” (Natura Viva). In June, a new collaboration with fellow countryman UMEK – their “Chosen EP” (Great Stuff) – secured big name support across the board during the Ibiza and summer festival season. This track, along with UMEK & Mike Vale “How’s Your Body” (1605), was picked up by Ministry Of Sound for their “MOS Live: Amsterdam” compilation and the duo finished the year with UMEK & Mike Vale “My House” (Great Stuff).Meanwhile, Mike Vale’s immense remix talents were once again on show for Do Santos “2 Coffee” (303lovers) and Alex Kenji “Not That Kind Of Girl” (Hotfingers) - a No.3 Beatport Tech House Chart hit that was subsequently licensed to Federico Scavo’s “Hotfingers Talks” (Hotfingers) mix compilation and “Toolroom Knights Mixed by Forza” (Toolroom).To top that, Mike’s excellent remix of Prok & Fitch “Symphony” http://snd.sc/11JQpgD on Roger Sanchez’s renowned Stealth Records, hit No.1 on the Beatport House Chart and stayed there for 10 days - a phenomenal achievement for a remix. Roger further backed his newfound star by including Mike’s remix on his “Release Yourself” compilation in November.

Mike Vale signed off 2012 in style by playing his debut DJ set at London’s world famous Ministry Of Sound, where his headline performance in Room 103 took the club by storm and set the stage for a series of further bookings in 2013 for the rising DJ star.

2013 began with Beatport completing a global search for the hottest new talent and announcing a list of the most promising names in the industry. Mike Vale deservedly featured as one of the main artists to watch this year. Not one to rest on his laurels, Mike Vale’s much loved remix (with Jerome Robins) of Deadmau5 “1981” (Play Digital) surged into the Beatport Top 10, becoming a global hit and a highlight on “Toolroom Records Miami 2013” compilation album. Meanwhile, “So What”, Mike Vale’s collaboration with Manuel De La Mare was released on Toolroom to great critical acclaim and also included on their “Toolroom Miami Essentials 2013”.

On a creative high, he settled into another series of superb productions. “Burning” featured exclusively on “Toolroom Knights Mixed by UMEK”, alongside another collaboration with his Slovenian mentor - “Fluid Feel”.

“Where The Funk” by Mike Vale & Bagagee Viphex13 (1605) and a hot remix for Robbie Rivera and Federico Scavo “Jump” (Juicy Music), continued to forge an ever upward path.

But even more excitement was reserved for a tune that immediately created a huge buzz with the best DJs ahead of release: Mike Vale featuring Stella Mercury “Don’t Give A Damn” (Stealth), including a superb remix by Brazil’s Wehbba, seems destined to be one of THE anthems of the summer: http://snd.sc/YGIoZT. Mike premiered this huge track when he appeared for the first time at WMC Miami 2013 at a series of top parties. Five shows over three days included some very exciting events, including a party at Mokai with the 1605 crew: Umek, Pleasurekraft, Stefano Noferini and Anthony Atalla and party at Bamboo with the Stealth Crew: Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry, Prok & Fitch and Baggi Begovic.

As his global profile continues to rise, 2013 is shaping up to be a very significant year for this amazing DJ and producer. The ever-growing demand for Mike Vale’s DJ skills will see him play in many countries around the world, including Canada, USA, UK, Holland, Ibiza, Japan, Finland, as well as all over Eastern Europe. As the mighty Beatport has already suggested, Mike Vale is definitely the one to watch in 2013.