Sied van Riel

The Riel Deal:  From the prolific electronic dance breeding ground that is The Netherlands, with close to overnight speed, in 2008 he landed. In that year alone he was tipped by Tiësto as “the hottest producer around”, by DJ Magazine as “the next big thing to hit trance” and took home Trackitdown.net’s Trance Award for the scene’s ‘Best New Face’. 12 lightning-fast months later he’d qualified all those early markers through a fleet of equatorially hot track releases, club-hypnotizing DJ performances and a ‘next-level’ remix ethic. In 2009 he played over 60 show-stopping sets (which included spinning at an incredible 7 world-class events in just 9 days). It was an achievement which culminated in him making his debut on DJ Magazine’s Top 100 2009 DJs chart. He’s the latest DJ to graduate to trance music’s ‘Van Clan’ hierarchy. He is Sied van Riel…

The Riel-eases: Following several notable ‘early years’ releases (including ‘Fearless’ on Subtraxx and the PVD-championed ‘My Dreams’ on Expedition), Van Riel started to beat a path to the dancefloor. In 2007 he was signed to Dutch super-label Spinnin’ Records; a move which bore immediate fruit through dancefloor bullets like ‘Changing Places’, ‘Sigh’ and ‘What You Want’. With the quality-control locked in place, his production career went supernova as ‘Contrasts’, ‘Minimal Symphony’, ‘One’/’Two’ & ‘Riel People Know’ brought mayhem to dancefloors throughout 2008. In August of that year the track ‘Rush’ was un-caged and marked not only a first release through Tiësto’s Black Hole Records but also Sied’s vital breakthrough record. Hammered by Armin, Ferry Corsten, PVD and (naturally enough) Tiësto, its nu-skool tech-trance sound surged through the world’s festivals and arenas. The Liquid Recordings released ‘MME’ (which was part of the ‘Dedication EP’) & ‘Mongoosed’, and the Black Hole follow-up ‘Sunrise’ arrived in 2009, provoking similar floor-quaking upheaval.  These days also releasing on Armada Music he’s focussed and determined to push his sound as far as possible. With Audio 52 and Tunnel Vision being his first single releases on the Captivating Sounds imprint in 2012 followed by “Carved By Your Hands” and “Past Present Future”. The later proving that Sied’s signature sound is here to stay.

The Riel Floor-Rocker: Sied cut his DJ teeth early in his career playing at events like Germany’s illustrious Love Parade and Tiësto’s round-the-world ‘ISOS’ Tour. FFWD a few years and he is become a essential mainstay of festivals, arena events and clubs world wide, which have included the goliath Netherlands Trance Energy, Armin’s country-hopping ASOT events (5 years in a row), the days long Stereosonic and Creamfields Australia tours, Zouk, Amnesia Ibiza, the legendary Crobar in Buenos Aires, Ministry of Sound London, Exchange LA, Dance Valley and EDC.

Through far-sighted track selection, marksman-like mixing and an intrinsic ability to read crowds he has raced through the ranks of DJs.

The Riel-Mixes: For the last 5 years Sied’s been lending the Rieltouch to tracks from the worlds finest trance labels (including Armada, Black Hole, Spinnin’, Flashover and High Contrast). In that time he’s captured the minds of music lovers, re-touching tracks by luminaries like Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate, Offer Nissim and many more.

Rielism: Following numerous radio appearances, Sied launched his own weekly radio show, Rielism. it has immediately drawn a loyal and ever growing listener-ship. In late August of 2009 Sied released his first double disc outing, ‘In Riel Time Vol.1’ became the ultimate at-home, in-car platform to experience the Van Riel sound. It proved a sales smash on Beatport and was made Album of the Month in Mixmag. The magazine noted that Sied had “rapidly gained in status over the last year” and that the album itself brought with it “one intense peak-time track after another”. In 2011 he brought “Rielism” to the table. A brand new compilation series on Black Hole Recordings.

The Riel Pronunciation: That’s ‘Seed’ van ‘Real’ trance-spotters and accuracy fans!