In the space of just a few years, Blasterjaxx have ascended the journey from relatively unknown producers to heroes of the current scene in astounding fashion. With a none-more-energetic sound that’s packed to the brim with huge riffs, enormous builds, killer drops and infectious melody, they have time and time again proved themselves to be amongst the most exciting producers and DJs in the EDM scene. Thom and Idir’s meteoric rise to the top has has brought it’s challenges, but they’ve always stood by each other. Together they have taken electronic dance music to new levels and their sound is still ever-evolving.
Born and raised in The Hague, Netherlands, Thom Jongkind and Idir Makhlaf draw on their home country’s rich heritage in hard-edged dance music to present a sound that interprets that distinctive toughness in a cutting-edge, contemporary fashion. After DJ Chuckie gave the duo their first break with their Carlos Barbosa collaboration Escucha on his Dirty Dutch Music imprint, the biggest dance labels around were soon vying for their output.
From Tiësto’s Musical Freedom (Loud & Proud), Spinnin’ Records (Gravity, Titan) to Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings (Beautiful World, Going Crazy) to Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records (Snake, Forever) to Doorn Records (Astronaut) to Mixmash (Legend Comes To Life) to Ultra Music (No Place Like Home), they have left few stones unturned. Remixes for the likes of David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto, Steve Aoki and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike have continued to cement their place at the heart of the global EDM scene, with many millions of plays racking up for their prolific body of work.
Launching their own label, event and radio show concept Maxximize has been the latest major step change in their career. Maxximize Records has given a platform to upcoming as well as more established talents like DBSTF, Boostedkids, Breathe Carolina, Dannic and Jewelz & Sparkz and quickly grown to become one of Beatport’s Top 10 best-selling Big Room labels — an incredibly impressive feat to achieve in just one year from launch. The kick-off of their immense series of parties was in Rotterdam after which New York and Miami soon followed suit, inviting stars like Ummet Ozcan, Laidback Luke, Timmy Trumpet, Dannic, Danny Avila and Firebeatz to play alongside them. Even Hardwell was keen to show up for a surprise back-to-back set. The accompanying Maxximize radio show has also proved a roaring success, making and breaking countless new tracks in the same fashion as their immense DJ sets.
2016 marked another important year to date, with the duo landing at #43 in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll, Thom embarking on an epic tour of Asia, and a bevvy of wildly popular releases emerging from their studio. They kept things rolling in a big way on Maxximize Records with four singles including the massive Big Bird —voted by Billboard Dance as one of their 10 best records of the year—and the huge Going Crazy collaboration with Hardwell on his own Revealed Recordings. And while they continue to grow on a global scale with bigger and bigger gigs, they haven’t forgotten about that personal touch, which saw them organize a special ADE Pub Crawl for just 75 of their most passionate fans.
“Music is our religion” is their motto, and with such a loyal and ever-growing global fanbase following their every move, it looks like they’ll to continue to convert everyone who comes into contact with their awesome sounds.