HEAVY HOUSE SOCIETY by SIDNEY CHARLES

His vision of house music is known among fans as the Sidney sound: a sound based on punchy bass, the immediate impact of hard-hitting drums, cavernous low frequencies, and driving rhythms that connect directly with the body. As both a DJ and producer, Sidney favors the raw, dirty sounds that defined the old-school pioneers, but with a modern, full, and punchy approach. His signature tracks, such as “House Lessons” and “Warehouse Romance,” made this clear from the outset, and since then the artist has focused on increasingly irresistible rhythms on key labels such as Truesoul, Hot Creations, and Saved. His direct, dark, and forceful vision of house is all about physicality and making your body move. He wants you to get up and dance and stay there. To do this, he uses a mixing technique inspired by his longstanding love of hip hop and DJ battles: beat matching, subtle scratching, and energetic, fast, tight mixes that move at a good pace. His love for direct rhythms dates back to A Tribe Called Quest's seminal album Low End Theory, which was the first in hip hop to really focus on the power of the drums and their placement in the mix. After initially being a hip hop DJ who reached his peak with a warm-up set for the legendary Xzibit, house music piqued Sidney's interest: he had grown up with it around him, as his mother was a music journalist and he regularly received promos from Strictly Rhythm, but it wasn't until later that he began to appreciate its more immediate sense of energy and drive, along with the funk he loved so much about hip hop. Over the years, he has performed numerous times at DC10 Circo Loco, at Mute Beach in Argentina in front of 10,000 people with Hot Since 82, held a Do Not Sleep residency at Vista Club in 2015, and was a resident at Tribal Sessions Sankeys in its heyday in Manchester and Ibiza. His music has also achieved some real milestones, such as ‘Ruff Line’ reaching number 2 on the Beatport chart, Hot Creations' ‘All Night Long’ reaching number 1 on Beatport, he was the artist with the most RA charts in 2013, and he was nominated twice for Best Producer and Best New Artist at the Ibiza DJs Awards. Now based in the relaxed and sunny climate of Portugal, where he has time to surf, relax, and more space to think about his work than in the hustle and bustle of Berlin, he continues to mature as an artist. His current release ‘Rush’ ft. Liz Cass on DFTD is doing very well in digital and streaming stores, as is the launch of his own label, Heavy House Society, whose name says it all: it will be a label that deals with heavy, forward-thinking, rhythm-oriented house music. Sidney, who worked as an A&R at Avotre a few years ago, will bring his expertise to the new label and continue to discover new talent.