Tidy Trax | |
---|---|
Founded | 1995 |
Founder | Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart (aka The Tidy Boys) |
Genre | Hard House • Trance |
Country of origin | England |
Location | Leeds |
Official website | www |
Tidy Trax, currently known as Tidy, is a record label based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1995 by Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, Tidy is known for promoting a style of hard house that is both fun and high tempo. It has featured a roster of hard house and trance artists, and hosts regular live events including the Tidy Weekender. Since 2005 the Tidy label also includes Tidy Two and Untidy.
The Tidy Trax label was founded in 1995 by Rotherham-based Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, who are also jointly known as DJ producers the Tidy Boys. [1] [2] Pickles had previously worked on the Jive Bunny series of records, the financial success of which supported the foundation of the Tidy Trax label. [3] [4] The label was at the forefront of the UK hard house and trance scenes in the 1990s and early 2000s, both running live events and releasing over 350 records. Tidy Trax was reported to have sold over a million records in one year. [3] From 2005 the popularity of the Tidy sound did wane, however the label had maintained a core underground fanbase and in the 2020s a resurgence in popularity has been reported. [3] [5]
Artists that have been featured by the label include Andy Farley, Tony De Vit, Steve Blake, Lee Haslam, the Tidy Boys, Rob Tissera, Eats Everything, Charlotte de Witte, Hannah Laing, and Josh Butler. [6] [7] [8] Other artists included the Tidy Girls, a collaboration between Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage, Rachel Auburn, and Lisa Pin-Up. The Tidy Girls eponymous release achieved success in the UK official singles chart. [3] [9] The cover CD of the February 2003 issue of Mixmag featured a "Tidy vs Frantic" mix between DJs Paul Maddox and Tom Harding. [10]
In 2005 Tidy Trax merged with its sister labels, Tidy Two and Untidy Trax, to form a single label called Tidy. [11] Also in 2005, the Ministry of Sound released a Euphoria compilation focused on the Tidy sound, which peaked at number 10 in the UK official compilation chart. [12] An album, featuring various artists, celebrating 20 years of the Tidy label peaked at number 11 in the UK official dance album chart in 2015. [13]
In 2021 Tidy celebrated its 25-year anniversary with its 18th live event held at the Pontins holiday park in Prestatyn. [5] [7] In 2023 Tidy published a photobook, "The Cult of Tidy Volume One: 1995-2005", detailing the history of the label up to 2005. [6] The label is often credited by the dance music press of being a major innovator in the dance music scene, with its promotion of "fun" events and c. 135 BPM beats. [5] [6] [7] [14]
The Tidy Trax label regularly released the music of British DJ Tony De Vit, who is often credited as the "godfather of UK hard house". De Vit died in 1998, shortly after "the Dawn" was released by Tidy Trax, as a result of his contracting HIV. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of De Vit, in 2023 Tidy Trax released a compilation of remixes of De Vit's tunes, "TDV25 - The Remixes", by artists including Eats Everything, Nicole Moudaber, and Hannah Laing. [8] [15]
The Tidy Weekender is a regular live event organised and hosted by the Tidy label that has a roster of dance music performances, and has featured acts such as Judge Jules, Rob Tissera, Anne Savage and Fergie. [16] The first event was held over a 3-day period in 2002, at the Pontins park in Prestatyn, which was also the venue for the 25th anniversary event in 2021. [3] The 20th anniversary of the Tidy label occurred in 2015 and was celebrated at a Tidy Weekender in Southport. [16] In 2023 Pontins closed down the holiday park in Prestatyn, which had a significant impact on the Tidy "wet and wild weekender" which was to be held there. [17] Other live events promoted by the label include the "Cult of Tidy" tour. [18]
Title | Artist | Year | Peak UK Singles | Peak UK Dance |
---|---|---|---|---|
U Found Out [19] | The Handbaggers | 1996 | 55 | 8 |
Higher/You'll Know [20] | Trauma | 1998 | 96 | 5 |
Expression [21] | Steve Blake | 1999 | 32 | |
Tidy Girls EP [9] | Tidy Girls | 1999 | 96 | 31 |
Coming on Strong [22] | Signum ft Scott Mac | 1999 | 66 | 5 |
The Dawn [23] | Tony De Vit | 2000 | 56 | 3 |
Unbelievable [24] | Lisa Lashes | 2000 | 63 | 18 |
Deep Swarm [25] | Trauma vs Ian M | 2000 | 12 | |
Let's Rock [26] | E-Trax | 2001 | 60 | 20 |
Busted & Backwards Bitch [27] | Guvnors | 2001 | 80 | 12 |
I Don't Care [28] | Tony De Vit | 2002 | 65 | 2 |
What Ya Got 4 Me [29] | Signum | 2002 | 35 | 3 |
Unbelievable [30] | Lisa Lashes vs Lab 4 | 2002 | 78 | 14 |
What Can You Do 4 Me [31] | Lisa Lashes | 2003 | 52 | 5 |
Intoxicating Rhythm [32] | Anne Savage/Vinylgroover | 2004 | 87 | 15 |
Mastermind [33] | Enermatic | 2004 | 100 | 23 |
Liberate/Here Comes The Pain [34] | Lee Haslam | 2004 | 71 | 9 |
Title | Artist | Year | Peak UK Comp | Peak UK Dance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Keep It Tidy 1995-1998 [35] | Various | 1998 | 66 | |
Keep It Tidy - Vol 2 [36] | Various | 2000 | 36 | |
The Tidy Boys Annual [37] | Various | 2001 | 27 | |
The Tidy Girls Annual [38] | Various | 2001 | 24 | |
Keep It Tidy 4 2002-2004 [39] | Various | 2004 | 56 | |
Resonate 4 [40] | Various | 2004 | 67 | |
Tidy Weekender 12 - Live [41] | Various | 2007 | 75 | 32 |
Hard Dance Awards - The Album 2007 [42] | Various | 2007 | 93 | 23 |
Tidy XX - Celebrating 20 Years Of Tidy [13] | Various | 2015 | 77 | 11 |
TDV25 - The Remixes [8] | Tony De Vit / Various | 2023 |
Antony de Vit was an English DJ and music producer. He is considered one of the most influential of his generation. He was credited with helping to take the "hard house" and fast "hard NRG" sounds out of the London and Birmingham gay scene into mainstream clubs. His single "Burning Up" reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1995, with "To the Limit" making number 44 in September 1995. During that year, he won BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of the Year Award, as voted by listeners of the show, and Music Week's re-mix of Year Award for Louise's "Naked". He remixed several UK top 40 hits during his career with artists such as Taylor Dayne and East 17. Between 1994 and 1998 his popularity with the clubbing public was rivaled by only Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox. In September 2010, Mixmag UK announced the nominations of 35 DJs chosen by other big names in the world of dance music as those they considered the best DJs ever. A subsequent 15-month survey, which polled hundreds of thousands of global votes, asked who was the "greatest DJ of all time" and when the result was announced in January 2011, de Vit was ranked number 9.
Lisa Lashes, is an English electronic dance music DJ and music producer known for mixing numerous Euphoria albums and for her Lashed dance music events. She has headlined European and international music festivals such as Global Gathering, Creamfields, Nocturnal Wonderland and Dance Valley, UK events such as Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Inside Out and Planet Love and has toured China, Canada, US, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.
Anne Savage is a British hard dance DJ.
UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often features a speedy tempo, offbeat bass stabs, hoovers and horns. It usually contains a break in the middle of the track where no drums are present. UK hard house often uses a long and sharp string note to create suspense. Most of the time, the drops are introduced by a drum roll.
Euphoria is a series of dance music compilations that debuted on the Telstar Records label in early 1999. During the first year, Euphoria focused primarily on trance music until mid-2000 when Euphoria released the first chill-out album in the series and the first hard house album in late 2000. Euphoria was later spun off into a number of associated club nights around the UK, Ibiza and Cyprus. Over the course of three years, in excess of 500 tour dates were chalked up with tour DJs such as Adam White, Robert Van Ryn, Simon Webdale and Darren James. The compilations included box sets usually priced at around £20.00. The Euphoria albums were of high quality and still are highly collectible and the earlier versions are somewhat rare.
Signum is the name for two Dutch producers, Pascal Minnaard and Ronald Hagen, who create and remix mainly trance music. Since 2007, Signum has been Hagen's solo project.
Lisa Pin-Up is a British electronic dance music producer and DJ, whose career started in the 1990s. She is a hard house producer and part of the Nukleuz label. She is also a part-time model and ranked number 54 in Loaded's Hot 100 babes in 2002.
Robert Ferguson, known professionally as Fergie, is a Northern Irish DJ and electronic music artist from Larne. He has been an internationally touring DJ and a music producer for over 20 years. He presented a radio show on BBC Radio 1 for over four years while recording 13 Essential Mixes for the station. He was featured in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll seven years in a row and currently holds the record for the highest new entry since the poll began, achieved when he was voted 8th in 2000.
Nukleuz is a dance record label based in the Clapham area of London, UK. Nukleuz is the home to many artists and compilation series in various genres including trance, UK hardcore, tech house and hard house.
Hard NRG, nu-NRG, filthy hard house, or more recently just filth, is an electronic dance music genre similar in structure to UK hard house form, taking influences from German hard trance. The main difference is in the musical/thematic content of each style.
Bang Face is an electronic dance music event that has been taking place at various venues across the UK and Europe since 2003. Referring to itself as a Neo-Rave Explosion, Beatport announced on 18 April 2024 that it's newest genre was Neo Rave - "Coined by BangFace, Neo Rave encompasses the harder styles of dance music". Starting as a monthly club night in London, it has grown to include an annual weekender, a boat party on the River Thames, as well as guest shows at festivals such as Glastonbury. In 2013 Bang Face celebrated its 10th birthday with DJ Mag stating Bang Face [maintains] "the perfect blend of old skool rave and the finest contemporary leftfield sounds". In March 2015 Bang Face reached the milestone of 100 events by hosting the Weekender at Southport Holiday Park. Resident Advisor asked the question "Is Bangface the most unique rave out there?" and described it as a "Neo-rave utopia". In 2023 Bang Face celebrated 20 years of events with the 2023 Weekender headlined by Orbital.
John Walker known by his stage name, Kutski is a British radio DJ, from Chester, England. He presented various shows for BBC Radio 1, playing a variety of hard dance music, including breakbeat, electro, hard trance, hardcore and hardstyle. Kutski now produces and hosts a weekly podcast, "Keeping the Rave Alive", which plays music similar to that heard on his BBC Radio 1 shows.
Amber D is a British hard dance DJ from Staffordshire. As Amber D’Amour she plays electro, fidget, and tech house.
Alexander Ridha, better known by his stage name Boys Noize, is a German electronic music record producer, songwriter, and DJ. In 2005, Ridha established his label, Boysnoize Records. Ridha has remixed the work of a number of other artists, including Snoop Dogg and Depeche Mode. In 2019, he produced Frank Ocean's song "DHL".
Lab 4 is a U.K. based hard trance act formed in 1994 by Adam Newman and Les Elston. The duo are known for their spectacular and raucous live performances.
Hannah Laing is a Scottish disc jockey and electronic music producer from Dundee specialising in high energy trance, techno, and house music. In 2023 she was nominated for a DJ Mag Best of Britain award. Laing has been regularly featured on BBC Radio 1, including performing a two-hour Essential Mix.
Rachel Auburn is a British fashion designer and hard house and trance disc jockey and music producer. She has performed her music extensively internationally, and was both the first female DJ to play in China and the first to showcase 1980s London clubland fashion in New York and Tokyo. Auburn has held DJ residencies at club events including Tidy Trax, Taboo, and Trade, and has achieved UK chart success under her own name and the Tidy Girls and Candy Girls aliases.
Steve Blake is a London-based trance and hard house disc jockey and record producer. He has released a number of well-received records, and plays high-tempo bass-heavy DJ sets at c. 145 BPM.
The Tidy Boys are a UK-based hard dance music duo formed of Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart. They are known for creating the Tidy Trax record label, and their hard house DJ and production work. Pickles and Mozart are also known as Hyperlogic, the Handbaggers, and Untidy Dubs.
Lee Haslam is a British electronic dance music disc jockey and hard house music producer. He has achieved chart success in the UK, performed a BBC Essential Mix, and is also general manager of the Tidy record label.
Legendary Hard House pairing from Rotherham, individually known as Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, a duo who through their work as pioneers of the biggest label in Hard Dance music, Tidy Traxx
The Tidy Boys and their label Tidy Trax epitomised the early '00s hard house scene, at one point selling a million records a year.
Enter 2021, a full twenty-five years after opening their book to write in. Tidy as a brand continues to morph over the years. As sub-labels combine to entertain the fans and keep the music alive the scene grows, retracts as fans get older, then welcomes a new wave into the fray
Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, AKA The Tidy Boys, created Tidy Trax in 1995. The sister/sub labels Untidy Trax and Tidy Two joined with Tidy Trax in 2005 to form TIdy, representing UK hard house and trance music.