Recap: 10 Standout Artists of 2015 – Hardstyle

As 2015 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the year that has been. The hardstyle scene has been lucky enough to yet again experience an incredible year filled with releases, albums, new event concepts and some new names! For the next few days we will be recapping 2015 and to kick things off we’re going to take a look at some standout artists! With the quality and amount of music released this year, it’s no doubt that artists have been putting in immense amounts of effort; so in celebration of this, we’ve chosen 10 artists who we feel who have given it their all and have had a fantastic year! In no particular order, we present to you the best of the best from 2015! 

Noisecontrollers *WINNER*

We’re not going to lie, we have that tempation each month to pick him as ‘artist of the month’ so it’s no surprise that this fella has taken the winning spot for our ‘artist of the year!’ 2015 has been an incredible year for this down-to-Earth pioneer who has managed to release the studio album “All Night Long,” create a killer documentary based around his prosperous decade in music and begin the exclusive live-act NCBM with Bass Modulators.

After 10 years of releasing music and performing, you’d think that it would be hard for a crowd to impress Noisecontrollers, however every time he jumps up on stage with a huge smile on his face, he appears to be as content as the crowd on ground level. Off-stage, his modest attitude has gone a long way. Always happy to meet and greet his fans, it’s clear that this master of Hardstyle does what he does because he truly loves doing it. Kudos to you Bas! We wish you the very best in 2016.

Da Tweekaz *RUNNERS UP*

These two crazy Norwegians just keep surprising us! After making it into the DJ Mag Top 100 for their third consecutive year, Da Tweekaz are known as one of the most deserving acts among the entire Hard Dance spectrum. Take Defqon.1 in The Netherlands for example, although the duo were programmed early in the day, as soon as they jumped on stage the vicinity transformed from a slow and empty space to a packed out area!

Their performances attract such a mixed crowd; you could be watching them play and spot a bunch of ravers at the very front of the crowd wearing Minus Militia merchandise and going absolutely mental! That’s the best thing about Da Tweekaz – even if you aren’t a fan of melodic hardstyle, you just won’t be able to resist being a Tweeka fan!
This year, the guys took video blogging to a whole new level with their episodes of ‘Tweek’D,’ doing something that many artists suck at doing – actually being extremely entertaining and hilarious. 2016 brings even bigger things for the duo, who have just announced the launch of #Tweekay16!

Radical Redemption

2015 was definitely not the year to fuck with the Radical because this one man army will tear you to shreds! Looking back on this hard, yet modest artists’ year, things have been far from dull with the release of his third album “The One Man Army” which sparked a whole revolution in hard dance music! Accompanied by a sold-out event in the Heineken Music Hall, 2015 is the year that Radical Redemption was unofficially crowned as the ‘raw’ hardstyle God. On top of his solo success, live-act Minus Militia has just finished off a successful year with performances at Supremacy, Summerburst, Intents Festival, Masters Of Hardcore and of course Defqon.1 where they tore the mainstage to shreds.

Every festival you go to you’ll see dedicated fans running around with Radical Redemption caps, flags and those classic “Die Bitch” t-shirts – it’s incredible that one guys music has impacted such a large demographic! It’s safe to say that the Radical has started an entire revolution in hardstyle, so we urge you to please not fuck with him in 2016!

B-Front

The dark knight of hardstyle has yet again exceeded all expectations in 2015. Bringing out hit after hit, I feel as though 2015 has been a year that an even wider demographic has appreciated his signature raw, yet incredibly atmospheric and emotional sound. Heart-grasping tracks like “Blackness,” “We Are One,” “Witch,” the highly anticipated “World Outside” with Frontliner and B-Freqz tracks “Overdose” and “Divine” are all of such great quality; they’re all faultless! Despite his rising work-load as one of the owners of new record label Roughstate, B-Front still manages to put every ounce of effort into his productions and energetic performances!

Staying forever humble, B-Front’s legacy has recently been further celebrated by Q-Dance, who have invited him to host his very own X-Qlusive in early 2016! If the past year is any indication of what’s to come for B-Front, then we best say that the best is yet to come!

Gunz For Hire

In 2015, there was no mercy when it came to this dangerous duo! Live-act Gunz For Hire have recently experienced one of their most successful years yet with packed out performances around the globe, the launch of their new live-act “No Mercy” and the release of huge tracks “This Is Los Angeles,” “A Storm Is Coming,” “May God Be With You All” and “Brooklyn.” Brutal shots were fired at some of the most anticipated events such as Defqon.1 (The Netherlands & Chile), Electric Love Festival, Superbash, Penoze and their launch of ‘No Mercy’ in Time Out in Gemert.

Still recognised as the most successful live-act that the hardstyle scene has experienced, Gunz For Hire never fail to incorporate thematic elements into their show and create an entire world around their performances – that’s why we can’t get enough of them!

Phuture Noize

Officially the youngest artist to produce not one, but two albums, Phuture Noize has blown the public away with his extremely sophisticated outlook on music and wacky approach to sound design. Although he was always known as a bit of a musical hipster, the year 2015 marked the time in which this young prodigy consciously went against the riptide of ‘standard’ raw hardstyle and stepped outside the box to explore what the concept of music really means and how to blend this in with hardstyle.

Produced at just 20 years of age, his second album “Phuture Propaganda” is so insanely good for such a young producer – the standard of each track is top-notch and showcases a matchless bout of creativity.
To follow up the release of “Phuture Propaganda,” Marco announced that he would continue the duo by himself and before we could even finish reading the announcement he was already out with a brand new 3-track EP “Existence Through Sound!”

Regain

Literally out of nowhere came an extremely energetic, yet modest DJ/producer who has taken the hardstyle scene by storm! After his great line of releases in 2014 such as “Push It To The Limit,” “Insane” and “Bathed In Blood,” 2015 brought even bigger success for this Polish prodigy when he released “Broken” and of course, his legendary remix for Adaro’s “For The Street.” One problem with international artists is that they run the risk of not getting as many bookings, but not for Regain, who has spent more weekends in The Netherlands than in his home country!

Having the honour to perform at some huge events such as Unlocked, Decibel Outdoor, Radical Redemption’s One Man Army, RAWdefinition, A Summer Story, Dreamfields Festival, Intents Festival and many more, Regain also recently hosted his own night ‘Point Of No Return!’ What’s next for this Polish talent? 2016 is set to be huge and the kick-off is no exception to the rule as Regain will perform alongside Requiem and Jason Payne as 3 The Hard Way.

Devin Wild

Fresh face Devin Wild’s 2015 has led him to be renowned among the scene for being “insanely good at producing for his age.” As Scantraxx’s secret weapon, this under aged talent may look innocent but boy, he’s got some tricks up his sleeve! Tracks like “Everlasting,” “Nature’s Gasp,” with Atmozfears, “Device” and “Into The Night” grabbed the hearts of listeners worldwide, subsequently resulting in some great bookings at Dream Village, Euphoria, Dreamfields Festival, Defqon.1, The Qontinent, Beat The Bridge, Members Of Hardstyle and more!

Usually in these initial years, young DJ’s and producers find it hard to break through, but as a bright spark among the rest of them, Devin Wild has deservingly broken through in 2015 and we bet that this is just the beginning for this young melodic genius!

Cyber

Although Swiss melodic mastermind Cyber is young, he never fails to capture those beloved older vibes throughout his thriving discography. His sound has been said to remind listeners of the older Headhunterz sound which is never a bad thing and tracks like “We Are God,” follow-up “Everything Is God,” “DLTBGY,” and heart-melter “Each Other” with buddy Sylence have secured his position as a promising new name in hardstyle.
Performance-wise, one of Cyber’s biggest highlights in 2015 was his mainstage debut at Decibel Outdoor and also his trip down under where he played at the notorious Masif Saturdays in Sydney. Setting the bar extremely high when it comes to talents in hardstyle, we don’t doubt that the future holds big things for this reverse bass loving young-in!

Endymion

Last but not least is the hardcore gone hardstyle success story – Endymion! Throughout the past few years, some of you may had heard their sound slowly transitioning over to 150BPM, however it wasn’t until 2015 when they officially announced their move along with their brand new label and platform Nightbreed Records. Bursting into the scene immediately, there was no stopping the trio who from day one established the Nightbreed legacy, began their monthly radio show and supported talents like Break Zero and Bass Chaserz.

Music-wise, their aim to create sophisticated, timeless and raw, yet classic hardstyle was fulfilled successfully as they released some epic tracks such as “About To Get Raw” with High Voltage, “Death Never Dies” with MYST, “Nightcrawler” with MC Nolz and who could forget their remix of Activator’s “Sparta?!”

Based on the quality of music, dedication and all-round effort, these are the artists who we feel have represented 2015! Do you agree with our picks? If not, which other names do you feel should be in here? Let us know in the comments below! On behalf of the Alive At Night team, we wish you all a very drunk Christmas and a skitz New Year!