By Geoffrey Rowlands


Star Trek fans might imagine the Lost Frequencies logo to look like the top view of a Klingon Bird of Prey starship. It is not an image recognised by Felix De Laet.
“No, I didn’t have anything from Star Trek in mind when the logo was created,” smiled the 21-year-old Brussels-born producer and DJ. “I have no problem about how people think of it, the only important thing is that they associate the logo with Lost Frequencies.”
Felix has enjoyed a phenomenal rise to stardom over the last few months. His remix of US country singer Easton Corbin’s 2012 album track, Are You With Me, has become a massive hit all across Europe. It is his first commercial release.
“I’d put quite a few remixes on my Lost Frequencies SoundCloud page and sent many of them to various record labels always hoping they might be signed. I hardly ever received a reply, let alone had any label wanting to sign my tracks.
“But Armada Records actually contacted me after I put my remix of Are You With Me online. At first, I couldn’t believe it really was the Armada people. I wondered if one of my friends was playing a trick on me. But it was Armada. They wanted to sign me and everything has taken off from there.”
Felix doesn’t even remember how he came to hear Easton Corbin’s original recording.
“I was asked about this some time ago but I just couldn’t recall how or when I heard the song. I definitely should do as it has become so important in my career but I simply can’t remember.
“It’s not the sort of music I normally listen to. I’ve been into electronic music since my schooldays. I listened to Dutch and Swedish music, Avicii’s early tracks in particular. All the kids at school were into house or other forms of dance music. They would introduce me to new songs every week.
“But I didn’t just enjoy electronic music. I was also open to hearing various other types and these different genres have greatly influenced my remixing work.
“Easton Corbin’s country music is the obvious example now because I have such a big hit with Are You With Me. But the first remix I felt really proud of was American rock band Paramore’s Crushcrushcrush and the one which has probably drawn most comment was my remix of Bob Marley’s reggae classic, No Woman No Cry.”
While his schoolfriends were interested in DJing, Felix was much more intrigued by how the songs were created.
“Producing tracks, rather than just playing records, always appealed to me. I’ve played piano since childhood and told my piano teacher at school that I wanted to make my own music rather than just play other people’s stuff. I was the only kid who had this interest so my teacher showed me some of the tricks of how to make my own melodies.”
The gift of a computer, complete with the GarageBand software application, gave Felix the opportunity to work on his own tracks.
“I began producing seriously about four years ago. Of course, I had so much to learn but thought I fully understood everything about a year ago. But I met people who suggested I might do other things and realised I didn’t understand everything at all. In fact, I now appreciate I’ll never understand everything, there will always be new stuff to learn.”
Although he has found fame through remixing, Felix is working on his own original songs.
“My remixes are deliberately always very different from the originals. Are You With Me, for example, is much faster, shorter and uses just a few of the lyrics. But I have always wanted to create my own songs and I’ve done this with my new single, Reality. The track was made with a brilliant Dutch singer/songwriter named Janieck Devy.
“I’m hoping to make a full album of my original songs. But I’m still passionately interested in remixing so I guess I have a musical conflict within myself. Maybe my album will also contain remixes, I guess everyone will have to wait and see.”

IN BRIEF
Chris Squire

There is sad news for fans of English progressive rock band Yes. Bassist and backing vocalist Chris Squire has passed away at the age of 67.
He was recently diagnosed with acute erythroid leukemia. It was announced that Chris would miss the band’s forthcoming concert tour to undergo treatment but the disease had obviously taken too strong a hold.
Chris co-founded Yes with singer Jon Anderson in 1968. Some 19 different musicians have performed with the band during their near half century of history but Chris was the only member to play in each incarnation of Yes.
Acknowledged by fellow musicians as among the greatest bass guitarists, Chris also worked on side projects such as Conspiracy and The Syn. He released a solo album, “Fish Out of Water,” in 1975.
His 21st and final studio album with Yes, “Heaven & Earth,” was released last July. It can be heard in full at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehH3rFT3xVA
“Fish Out of Water” is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mc0sX3cPfg

Ed Sheeran

English singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran has set a new UK chart record. Thinking Out Loud, the third single taken from his multi-million-selling sophomore album, “x,” has become the first song to spend an entire year inside the UK top 40.
A sleeper hit, Thinking Out Loud was in the top 40 for 19 weeks before finally climbing to number one. This is a truly remarkable statistic in an era when so many songs shoot straight to pole position.
The track, which Ed describes as his favourite song on the album, has also become an enormous world-wide success. It topped the charts in nine countries and found a place among the top ten in 27 nations. Thinking Out Loud also became Ed’s biggest single in America and Canada peaking at number two in both countries.
The official song video has now been viewed nearly 584 million times on YouTube. It can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-EO5I60KA

Jarryd James

Unless you have been to Australia in recent times, you probably don’t know a Brisbane-born singer/songwriter named Jarryd James.
If his debut single, Do You Remember, is any indication, it won’t be too long before Jarryd has an international following. Currently touring his native country, he will perform his first US concerts in Los Angeles and New York early next month.
The official video for Do You Remember, which reached number two in Australia, is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-_4nXkJtNo
Jarryd’s recently released second single, Give Me Something, can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PTzPb4o09A
His as-yet-untitled debut album is tentatively scheduled for release some time next month.

DJ Kyra Chaos

Kyra Chaos was initially seen dancing in the video for Drake’s track, Practice. She went on to appear in numerous other videos for artists such as Chris Brown, Busta Rhymes and Fabolous.
Reinventing herself as DJ Kyra Chaos, hip hop fans should certainly find something to enjoy on her free mixtape, “Summer Diaries 2.”
The 18 tracks feature artists such as Meek Mill, Fetty Wap, Gucci Mane, Trey Songz, Jeremih and many more. It can be heard and downloaded at www.datpiff.com/DJ-Kyra-Chaos-Summer-Diaries-2-mixtape.717449.html
Kyra released her original “Summer Diaries” mixtape around this time last year. It is available to hear at (no www.) soundcloud.com/kyrachaos
Also posted here are two more mixtapes, “For The Lovers” and “Spring 2015.”