Deep into the night, the streets are hollow, except the snow that vacates patches of the road. The cold, crisp air surrounds you; it is inescapable. Mysterious sensations cover you like a blanket… As we roll into the first official days of winter, the sky isn’t the only thing darkening…

Winter is the season where outdoor fun transforms into sitting by the heater and daydreaming about brighter days.
To kick off this season’s eerie vibes, we have chosen a particular artist whose music fits these frosty and enigmatic months… Entitled the ‘dark knight’ of hardstyle, this particular artist’s music is mysterious, dark, soul-capturing and will swirl your deepest emotions into a hurricane. Freshly announced as the newest X-Qlusive ‘resident, ladies and gentlemen, we present to you our artist of the month for December, B-Front!

Bob van der Palen, or better known as musical prodigy B-Front became infatuated with music during his childhood years. After familiarising himself with his neighbour’s studio, Bob became eager on crafting his own productions and by the age of just 10, he was working contentiously on producing Trance. By the time Bob turned 15, he had shifted his focus to Hard Dance music, subsequently releasing his first track “Motherfucking Psycho” on DJs Records, followed by a second release “Lunatick” in 2006. By this time, B-Front’s dark and illustrious sound had been picked up by industry heavyweights; putting this young talent’s name on everybody’s radar.

A few years later and after performing at small-scale events, 2010 was the year that brought Bob’s biggest breakthrough – the release of “Magic” alongside Frontliner. Little did this ‘power-couple’ know that the track itself would become one of hardstyle’s most prominent anthems and touch the hearts of fans on a global scale. This initial collaboration with Frontliner paved the way for great things; although the two were recognised as musically opposite, the chemistry they had together in the studio was something special, something incredibly unique that no other artists had…

Working his way up to quickly be acknowledged as one of Fusion’s most valuable assets, B-Front continued to release a collection of incredibly timeless music including his tracks “Neophobia,” “For The Girls” with Digital Punk, “Inner Creativity” and “Virus.” By this time, Bob had secured himself on line-ups for Tomorrowland, Reverze, Dominator, Mysteryland, Q-BASE, Defqon.1 (The Netherlands and Australia) and many more…

In 2012, another gem was born – “Mysterias.” The track gave a strong identity to B-Front’s sound and proved his incredible creative capabilities; not to mention, it’s a track that’s still played and treasured today and will be for many years to come. B-Front’s sound was like no other in the scene. Whilst by this time many artists had switched over to producing more ‘accessibly,’ Bob stayed true to his legacy of showcasing a wholesome, three-dimensional and fascinating sound within his tracks. Although he was one of the ‘harder’ artists around at this time, B-Front cleverly blended raw and dark atmospheres with heart-grasping melodies, resulting in an extremely diverse collection of music treasured by all kinds of hard dance fans.

A little further down the line came another track that threw the scene into a curveball. “Undiscovered,” the Team Green anthem for Hard Bass was regarded as one of B-Front’s biggest hits to date. The track paved way for an intense and emotional journey to be experienced whilst listening to it which was something so unique when you compare it to other music released in 2013. Other mentionable releases from 2013 include “Spectral” with Digital Punk, “Worth Fighting For” with Adaro, “The 4th Kind” with High Voltage and “Delusion” with Frequencerz.

2014 and 2015 have been two overwhelmingly successful years for this down-to-Earth producer who has worked immensely hard in the studio in order to continue innovating the scene. His collaboration acts, especially B-Freqz, have been immensely successful with releases like “Divine,” “Overdose,” “Monsters Inside Me” and “Ghost Town” taking the hardstyle scene by storm! Aside from Bob’s collaborations, another great development arose in 2015 that saw him joining forces with a stellar team of artists to establish a new platform which would allow his productions to further thrive. Alongside his buddies Adaro, Frequencerz and Ran-D, Roughstate was established as a boundary-free platform for creativity.

Music-wise, prosperity has kept rolling in for Bob in 2015 as he has celebrated some incredible releases such as “Witch,” “Endless Path” with Degos & Re-Done and of course, “Blackness,” an atmospheric, emotional and powerful masterpiece. With such an incredible and diverse discography and a unique approach to sound design, B-Front’s hard work has not gone unseen as Q-Dance invited him to host his own X-Qlusive: B-Front, held in the colossal Heineken Music Hall on the 30th of January, 2016. What a way to start the year!

We’d like to personally congratulate B-Front on all of the great milestones and achievements he’s reached, including his X-Qlusive; what an honour! We hope that you continue to keep up the great work and best of luck for 2016!

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