Name: Micheal Neefs
Alias/Producer name: RELO4D
Social links:
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
Labels affiliated with:
Trip Records, BeWild Records, G-Mafia records, UNCONTROLLED, Xclusive Records, Xclusive Trance, Progressive Vibes Music, Mediain Music LLC
What music did you listen to as a child?!
Beside listening, like any kids, my parents vinyls, casettes and CD’s alone in my bubble, around my 13’s there was 2 major musical trends in my high school : - Rock (in the large sense of it such as metal, grunge, neo-punk) - Rap, Hip-Hop - And a 3rd one (which at first, I wasn’t paying attention yet) was Dance & Rave music, preferred by the older school mates. This period was also the one, where hanging out with older people, like big brothers from school mates, sipping my first beer and cigarette, while discovering instead of studying for exams, the fantastic universe of the classics rocks years…Woodstock documentaries, guitar hero’s bands such as Jimi Hendricks, The Doors, deep purple, Santana etc… At the same time, every Sunday with my scout groups, I discovered how cool it was to listen to bands like Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, NoFX, etc.. This brought me to steal the guitar from an aunt, take old microphone insert it into the guitar body, and connect it to the different Hi-Fi systems of the parents’ house to feel I had an electric guitar. I say “different”, because I broke in total 3 pairs of woofers because of Larsen and distortion caused by this setup, totally not appropriate. At the same time, I started guitar lessons with a questionable priest and guitar teacher, and rapidly became seal-learner with guitar magazines, tablatures and CD methods. Soon after I created with friend of my village a band, with whom I spent probably the best moments of that life period. Hanging out doing covers of bands such as Nirvana, Rage Against the Machines, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Slayer, the Offspring, etc… smoking pots (but I was too often sick to really enjoy it ☹ ), bring girls, drink beers, spending all our free time over there, even with 5 degrees in the rehearsal room, while attracting skepticism and gossips of all the villagers around about what the youth people of that tiny village as doing there every weekend and Wednesday afternoon ☺… We had the opportunity to perform our own music a multiple occasions, and that gave me since then, this taste for performing on stage. I’ve been building in parallel building my clubbing legacy starting around age of 17, thanks to good relationships, I had to beautiful moments, like enjoying the after x-mas or new year parties in iconic locations of Belgium, and sharing the VIP area with people like Prince, Skunk Anansie, and even Madonna, giving me plenty of glitters in the eyes. I was also doing what a friend and I loved to do and call “quality clubbing” (sic) and driving regularly 500/900 kilometers with our company cars pushed to their limits on the fast German highways to spend crazy weekends navigating into clubs like Cocoon, Tresor, Watergate, Berghain, Kitkat clubs for totally wicked parties. “A life less ordinary” was my motto. I’ve been also part of the lucky ones to assist to more than 12 Tomorrowland festival occurrences. Music production came lately those past 4 years, it rapidly became therapeutic, to become a bit more settled in my personal life, especially during the pandemic period. I decided to give myself the opportunity to be coached in group and individually, try hard and build several routines to keep the focus. I’m approaching music production and artistic career building, like I do with my other business in the Tech industry, with some long term goals, strategy, try all possible alternatives, and more than ever truly allocate as much time as possible to develop this artistic life.
When was the first time that you realized that you liked electronic music?!
When I bought my very first CD album of Belgian/Dutch duo “2 Unlimited” and start with a friend of my village to make music cassettes mix, with selected tracks from various dance compilations, that we were decorating the paper cover with drawings of all kinds, and selling it to friends the Monday morning in the bus going to school.
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?!
- At age of 14, when with a small boy scouts groups, we escaped from the summer camp to go to a discotheque located in the neighbor village, and sip my very first Vodka-orange while dancing on the title “Corona – The rhythm of the night”
- Years later Meeting “The Kaiser“ - Sven Väth in the bathroom, during the 12 days non-stop party before the demolition of the Tresor, in Berlin, 2005.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you? !
Until these days : NTO, Joachim Pastor, as they art of the very few who are elevating e every day trying becoming better producer and artist. Anyma, Tales of Us, Artbat, French79 and many more…I’m spending on average 2 to 4 hours of music moments on a daily basis. Trying to decode tracks construction, trying to understand the patterns, harmonies, logic on how those renown artists are building their unique sound. Geeking with my synths and experiment, try combination of sound design. Watching advanced Music production training courses, spend hours of youtube video
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought? !
After having listened to a recent podcast of Miss Monique – 1hour set that really transported me in positive mindset, I went to build the playlist accordingly on Beatport and bought the tracks. I plan to play some of them in my next gig, thanks Miss M ☺ .
What is your current production and DJ set up like?!
As said before, I’m a geek, I love to tweak settings, connect all kind of devices, experiment, fail often, and spend countless hours for nothing but that. I have the chance to own the Moog Sub37, 2 Roland boutiques synths (SH01A and SE-02) different controllers that I love such as the Push3 from Ableton, and my beloved AKAI APC40 MK II that comes with me in every travel I’m doing all over the world, all connected to my RME Fireface UCX II and a pair of classical Yamaha HS8. I also own 2 guitars (my very first one Fender Stratocaster, Squier edition but from the “quality” generation, and ESP “Kirk Hammett” KH-202). On the DJ side, I have the warm and solid A&H Xone 96, as well for most of my mobile Gig : the Pioneer XDJ-XZ. My dream - but with only 24 hours a day - I cannot find enough time spending to experiment and build my “Live performance setup 2.0” to perform my tracks live. I envision to have my synths around me and perform with them in front of large public…work in progress.
What releases do you have on the horizon?!
I’d like to build movie clip for some of my tracks, as when producing them I had very particular emotions and living some moments of my life. I want them to be transcended into music video. I’d like also to share the lineup with one or several of my favorites’ producers, and currently working on trying this to become a reality.
Where can we hear you perform?!
I have a couple of dates planned some small locations across Brussels. I’m also trying to regularly post nice DJ sets video of me performing, on YouTube. Combining drone views, and GoPro videos of the location where I’m travelling with my music. Hopefully I have the secret desire to develop a partnership and have my own party.
Tell us more about the set you made for Trip Records?!
I’ve been lucky to attract the hears of the A&R of Trip records a few months ago, and we have agreed and sealed multiple releases for the coming months. I decided during my last trip to Italy to include those upcoming releases within 2 hybrid Deep house / Melodic Techno DJ sets, performed outdoor through my AKAI APC40 and Ableton. I recorded them in one shot, hence please be indulgent for the small potential glitches you may detect ☺.
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
“Just Emma & Zazou - Baltic Sea (Monolink Remix)” for its ethereal vocal vibes, harmony and with its beautiful anxiogenic ARP
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
It would be “Sentience” for its, what I’m not afraid to call – EPIC - break before the last drop measures. Trying to stay humble, I really love it and still provide me goosebumps when playing on stage or in studio.
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
The 15min long track from the “Pachanga Boys – Time” it is one of the few that really brought me to music production, I was feeling so well listening to it trying to picture how nicely done it was built, and transporting me in awaken dreams.
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
Forbidden to laugh please ☺… “The Movie Great Pyramid K 2019”, free on Youtube. I’m extremely passionate by neo-euhemerism, mythologies, alternative theories, UFO’s, science and human origins.
My favourite TV show:
While we are at it : The 19 seasons of “Alien Theory” from The History channel.
Write the Set Tracklisting:
00:27 : Dmitry Molosh - Edge (D-Formation, Rick Pier O'neil Remix)
06:35 : RELO4D - Astral Awakening (upcoming release Q4CY23)
12:24 : Anton MAKe - My Little Princess (Original Mix)
19:51 : RELO4D - Cosmic Breeze (upcoming release Q4CY23)
27:14 : Nox Vahn & Marsh - Come Together (Matthias Meyer Remix)
29:02 : RELO4D - Douce Rêverie (upcoming release Q4CY23)
34:48 : Barchi - Urabu (James Saboia Remix)
39:50 : RELO4D - Eclectic Kalifa (upcoming release Q4CY23)
44:28 : RELO4D - Celestial Groove (upcoming release Q4CY23)
48:10 : Rick Pier O'Neil - Votan (Original Mix)
54:20 : RELO4D - Sentience (release on the 19th October 2023, preorder today !)
59:30 : Paul Deep (AR) - Dohko (Original Mix)
01:04:22 : Teklix - Sadhana (Original Mix)
01:09:29 : RELO4D - Resonnance (upcoming release Q4CY23)
01:14:41 : RELO4D - Awakening (upcoming release Q4CY23)
