Matt Fax

David Ciekanski (born 14 December 1996), better known by his stage name Matt Fax, is a French electronic music DJ and record producer.

Matt Fax
Birth nameDavid Ciekanski
Born (1996-12-14) 14 December 1996
GenresHouse, techno, progressive house, trance
Occupation(s)Musician, producer, disc jockey
Years active2012–present
LabelsAnjunabeats, Armada Music, Black Hole Recordings, Enhanced Music, mau5trap, Zerothree
Websitewww.mattfaxmusic.com

Having started his career in 2009, Fax encountered early success with support from renowned DJs and artists around the world, such as Depeche Mode, Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond and Gareth Emery. Throughout his career, he been producing numerous tracks and remixes which entered multiple Beatport charts. His music is a blend of progressive house, trance music and techno.

As David R. and Mike Duz (2009–2012)

David got introduced to music since his most tender age, mostly to rock music bands like Queen, Scorpions, AC/DC and French artists. His passion for electronic music came later by discovering Tiësto, which gave him the want of being a DJ, and Joachim Garraud, which introduced him to music production. He also been introduced to hardcore music by his brother.[1] He started producing and releasing his first tracks at the age of 13 under the alias David R.,[2] and had his first support with Laurent Garnier playing his track "Technocolor" in a couple of his sets back then. He changed his name to Mike Duz a few years later, where he shifted from techno to electro house and progressive house. He had numerous releases on smaller independent record labels until he been able to release a remix for Moguai on deadmau5's label mau5trap on November 7, 2011.[3] He then changed his name to his actual pseudonym, Matt Fax.

As Matt Fax (2012–present)

The beginnings (2012–2013)

The first release under the Matt Fax alias was on May 9, 2012 on Balkan Connection. Throughout the year, he released most of his music on various small labels, until Jaytech and Above & Beyond among others started playing his music regularly. He signed with Silk Music later the year, where he released a couple of EPs and remixes through the multiples division for two years.

Early 2013, at the age of 16, he signed with Enhanced Music and released his first EP Late Night/Broadway under the Colorize sub-label, where Matt is still one of the most active artists today.[4] Later in the year, he got asked to remix Jaytech on Anjunabeats,[5] and been invited as a guest mixer on Group Therapy, Above & Beyond's radio show. The trio stated that Matt was "the youngest guestmixer to be invited on the show" and became "a regular fixture on Group Therapy".[6] He also hosted a couple episodes of Anjunabeats Worldwide, the trio's secondary show principally hosted by Anjunabeats artists. The same year, he remixed The Blizzard's classic "Piercing the Fog" on Armada Music as well as Johan Vilborg & Adam Szabo hit "Two to One" on Enhanced Music.

Hiatus (2014)

The very next year, Matt kept on releasing a couple of EPs on Colorize, as well as the single "Shift" on August 4, 2014,[7] which remained one of his most sold track for a few years. The track been revisited as a chill-out version in 2015.

In August, he announced considering quitting music.[8] In a couple of interviews two years later, he admitted posting similar posts every year, as he never been sure of his own choices.[9]

On December 29, 2014, a retrospective compilation of Matt's works on Silk Music been released, marking his departure of the label.[10] On a Q&A session on his Facebook page, someone asked if new stuff will be released on Silk Music, where Matt stated he departed from the label and it was not in project for the moment.[11]

Comeback and breakthrough (2015–2016)
"To be honest, I never stopped working when I said I quit. The problem is that a couple of months before the announcement, I started losing faith in what I did. Something wasn’t right, my music was going nowhere, lost in the mass. So I eventually tried other styles to improve my production quality during then."

— Matt Fax, speaking about his hiatus with EDMprod.com[12]

While a possible come-back was teased with his appearance DJ set at Above & Beyond's afterparty in Paris in January,[13] he released the "Going Down/Hyperspace" EP on Colorize on April 13, 2015.[14] Both tracks been supported by DJs around the world, including Armin van Buuren which played "Going Down" in Mumbai for the A State of Trance Festival warm-up.[15] Throughout the year, he released the singles "Supertaper", "Tumble", "Moonlight", "Alpenglow" and "Aeris" (in collaboration with Jaytech), as well as the Belong/Mirth and CNFS/Stuck EPs, which all been supported on numerous radio shows and podcast from recognized DJ's around the world, as well as being regularly played on radio station such as Sirius XM.

On February 5, Matt released his new single "Warmrider", which he defines as "a tribute to the Progressive sound he used to love",[12] as well as a contribution for ZeroThree's compilation #REALPROG V.2 called "Vina" and the Wrath EP on the same label.

On March 11, he released a new remix on Anjunabeats for Boom Jinx and Aruna's single "Light as a Feather", which been critically acclaimed. The release led into a second guest mix on Group Therapy, where he played a couple of his upcoming projects.[16] He also made his very first gig at Ministry of Sound in London on March 18,[17] playing at the same time as Andy Moor which was in another room.[18]

His next EP, Careless/Huntdown, was released on May 6 on Colorize, and marks the 4th anniversary of Matt Fax.[19] The EP ranked 7 on the Beatport Top 10 and the track "Careless" has been played more than 500,000 times on Spotify, as well as being massively supported by DJs like Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate and Sam Feldt for example. A few weeks after the release, Matt unveiled a bonus track called "Backdraft" and was exclusively distributed on Bandcamp with a pay-what-you-want payment basis.[20]

Almost two months after the unveiling of the last EP, Armin van Buuren and Above & Beyond premiered the Horizon/Blimp EP in their respective radio show.[21] The EP been July 8 on Colorize, and shows a less deeper and more Balearic, soulful and almost clubbier sound than the "Careless / Huntdown" EP. The whole EP made the Beatport Progressive House Top 100 in only 4 days, and the title track Horizon been ranked 27 in the Progressive House tracks on Beatport, making it Matt's best-selling track.[22]

On June 21, he have been invited on Gareth Emery radio show Electric for Life and debuted his remix of his track "Hands", which been released July 15. Gareth admitted being "such a big fan of this guy". He also remixed Tritonal single "Getaway" on Enhanced Music.

In the meantime, he released numerous singles, including "Progressia" on Gareth Emery's label Garuda, "Upward" on Avanti, a division of Black Hole Recordings, two EPs on Statement! and Colorize, as well as two remixes for Solarstone and Alex Klingle. All of these releases have generally been well received by the critics.

Debut album and further releases (2017–present)

2017 saw Matt releasing less music than the past years. He released the EP Circles/Aura Lusia on February 3 and it been heavily supported by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, and Avicii on his radio show LE7ELS. His following release, "Phantom", been supported by Armin van Buuren in his radio how A State of Trance. During the year, he played alongside Madeon, Aazar and Kristian Nairn at the Bypass club in Geneva.

During the summer, Matt started teasing about forthcoming releases. In late July, he announced "Amnesiac", the first single from his debut album Contrast. The single was released on August 4 and charted 79 on the Beatport Progressive House Top 100. The following single "Close 2 U" was released on September 1 and been noted 8.0/10 by DJ Mag. The full album was released on October 6 on Colorize and been streamed over 1 million time within a month on Spotify. Following the release, he was invited in Amsterdam to play a 20-minute guest mix and make an interview with Armin van Buuren in his radio show A State of Trance, making him the youngest guest in the show.[23]

2018 saw him remixing high profiles like Armin van Buuren, Andy Moor and tyDi. On April 6, he played at the Ministry of Sound in London for the 10 Years of Enhanced Music. He also launched his Progressive House alias Matters, to focus on trance music under Matt Fax. His first EP Moves has been supported by Above & Beyond, Aly & Fila, Ruben de Ronde and Will Atkinson and accumulated over 300,000 streams on Spotify. The later Roof Park EP, has been noted 8.0 by DJ Mag.[24]

In October, Matt announced a collaboration with Grammy Award-nominated producer BT called "The Noetic". The single has been released on Armin van Buuren's label A State of Trance.

In 2019, he has been playing at the A State of Trance 900 festival on February 23rd and some shows around the world, including Japan. His single "To the Ground" was rated 9.0 by DJ Mag,[25] and has been included to the rotation playlist on Sirius XM Diplo's Revolution and Radio FG. DJ supports for the track includes Tiesto, Lane 8, Diplo, Gareth Emery and Simon Patterson among others. [26] The track has also been used in various commercial, such as Jaguar [27] or John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts [28].

On April 24, 2020, Matt released his second studio album, Progressions.[29]

Influences

Matt always been highly compared to Eric Prydz and deadmau5,[30] which was one of his main inspirations. He also cites Jon Hopkins, Boards of Canada and Radiohead as inspirations.

Discography

Albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions
Beatport
Contrast
  • Release date: October 14, 2017
  • Label: Colorize (Enhanced Music)
  • Format: Digital download
 8
Progressions[31]
  • Release date: April 24, 2020
  • Label: Colorize (Enhanced Music)
  • Format: Digital download
 —
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released.

Extended plays
Title Year Peak chart position (Beatport)
[32]		 Album
Invisible / Deadline 2012 — Non-album singles
Every Beginning Has Its End —
Sju / Léa —
Voyager —
Time / Watch —
Magenta / Fly —
Solaris / Center Kill —
Late Night / Broadway 2013 65
Anima / Beyond / Wickham —
Point 9 / Evening Paris Highway 35 Arrival pres. Matt Fax 01
Orion / Hidden Feelings 40
Within / Cloudbreak 2014 20 Non-album singles
Avalon / Over the Edge 17 Arrival pres. Matt Fax 01
Going Down / Hyperspace 2015 10 Non-album singles
Belong / Mirth 12
CNFS / Stuck 11
Wrath 2016 14
Careless / Huntdown 7
Horizon / Blimp 6
Swench / Last Touch / Halv 8
Circles / Aura Lusia 2017 19 Contrast
Moves / Epoch / Oblivion 2018 41 Non-album singles
Dark Woods / Echo / Ghost Stories[33] 26
Roof Park[34] 8
Collide / The Gate[35] 2020 —
1AM in Paris / The War (with BT and Iraina Mancini)[36] — The Lost Art of Longing
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles
Title Year Peak chart position (Beatport)
[37]		 Album
"Plane"
(with Mindset)		 2012 — Non-album singles
"Morevenin" —
"Barr" 2013 —
"Departure"
(with Blood Groove and Kikis)		 — Wonderland
"Shift" 2014 17 Non-album single
"Dunton Green"
(with Cramp)		 — That's How We Roll
"Supertaper" 2015 49 Unified Vol. 2
"Moonlight" 33 Non-album singles
"Aeris"
(with Jaytech)		 45
"Astral Ride" —
"Warmrider" 2016 40
"Vina" 85 #Realprog Vol. 2
"Backdraft" — Non-album singles
"Orbital" —
"Progressia" 57
"Upward" 93
"Dogwander" 92 Realprog Vol. 3
"Phantom" 2017 67 Non-album single
"Amnesiac" 79 Contrast
"Close 2 U"
(featuring Mike Schmid)		 —
"Storm" 2018 — Non-album singles
"Arylide" 62
"Epoch"
(as Matt Fax presents Matters)		 —
"Sweet Dream"[38]
(with Dezza)		 74
"The Noetic"[39]
(with BT)		 18
"Ignition"[40] 44
"To the Ground" 2019 9
"Universal" 51
"Eukarya"
(with Rodg)		 69 Fate
"It's Always Now"[41]
(with TyDi)		 78 Non-album singles
"Kaleidoscope"[42]
(with Praana and Haliene)		 —
"Abenaki"[43] —
"The Longest Road to the Ground"[44]
(with Morgan Page featuring Lissie)		 —
"Nightride"[45] —
"Animal"[46] 2020 —
"Light On"[47] —
"Set Your Sails"[48]
(featuring Rbbts)		 — Progressions
"1AM in Paris"[49]
(with BT and Iraina Mancini)		 — The Lost Art of Longing
"Greatest Thing"[50]
(with Richard Bedford)		 — Progressions
"Walk Into the Water"
(with BT and Nation of One)		 — The Lost Art of Longing
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Remixes
Year Track Name Artist Peak chart position (Beatport)
[51]		 Label
2013 "For Life" Inkfish — PHW
"Lilt" Weepee — Colorize (Enhanced)
"Piercing the Fog" The Blizzard 29 Armada Music
"Labour of Love" Jaytech
(featuring Nathan Grainger)		 31 Anjunabeats
"Fly Me Home" Ltn and Apsara — Silk Music
"Two to One" Adam Szabo and Johan Vilborg — Enhanced Music
2014 "It's A Funky Record" Proff and Vadim Soloviev — Intricate Records
"City Lights" Justin Oh
(featuring Jonny Rose)		 84 Arrival (Silk Music)
2015 "This is Us" Nigel Good — Silk Music
2016 "Aphonia" Funkagenda — Ultraviolet
"Golden" Thomas Hayes
(featuring Kyler England)		 — Enhanced Music
"Light As A Feather" Boom Jinx and Aruna 50 Anjunabeats
"Getaway" Tritonal
(featuring Angel Taylor)		 — Enhanced Music
"Hands" Gareth Emery and Alastor
(featuring London Thor)		 58 Garuda
"Release" Solarstone 90 Armada Music
"Kiss and Tell" Joshi and Nina Carr 46 Colorize (Enhanced)
"Colors Back" Alex Klingle — Enhanced Music
2017 "Collateral Damage" Levv —
2018 "What If" Armin van Buuren
(featuring Vera Ostrova)		 — Armada Music
"Decade" The Blizzard 100 Future Sound of Egypt
"My Name" Maxim Schunk and Raven & Kreyn
(featuring BISHØP)		 — Enhanced Music
"There Is Light"[52] Andy Moor, Somna and Diana Leah 32 AVA Recordings
"Did You Know"[53] TyDi and Christopher Tin
(featuring London Thor)		 19 Global Soundsystem
"Call To Arms"[54] Gareth Emery
(featuring Evan Henzi)		 — Garuda
"The Last Goodbye"[55] Orjan Nilsen
(featuring Matluck)		 8 In My Opinion (Armada)
2019 "Little Planet"[56] Estiva 79 Armada Music
"Games"[57] Ruben de Ronde and Louise Rademakers —
"Midnight Blue"[58] Ruben de Ronde and Rodg —
"All You Need to Know"[59] Gryffin and Slander
(featuring Calle Lehmann)		 — Darkroom / Geffen Records
"Worlds Collide"[60] Nervo — Thrive Music
2020 "1000 Faces"[61] Jason Ross and Dia Frampton — Ophelia
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
gollark: Well, do you know if they're available at sane prices in the UK?
gollark: Hmm.
gollark: Getting exotic techy stuff in the UK seems to be annoying.
gollark: There are no downsides, except the downsides!
gollark: I would get a PinePhone, but I don't know where I can actually get any or if they're purchaseable right now.

References
  1. "Matt Fax opens up for us in exclusive interview - We Rave You". 22 April 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  2. "David R. (2)". Discogs. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  3. https://soundcloud.com/mau5trap/moguai-oxygen-mike-duz-remix
  4. "Coloirze on BP Top Tracker". BPTopTracker.com.
  5. "Jaytech feat Nathan Grainger - Labour of Love". Discogs.com.
  6. "Group Therapy 038 with Matt Fax". Above & Beyond's Website.
  7. "Matt Fax - Shift". Discogs.com.
  8. "Matt Fax quits music". Matt Fax's Facebook Page.
  9. WeRaveYou. "Matt Fax opens up for us in exclusive interview". WeRaveYou.
  10. "Arrival pres. Matt Fax 01". Discogs.com.
  11. "Matt Fax Q&A Session". Matt Fax's Facebook Page.
  12. "An Interview with Matt Fax: Progressive House, Favorite Plugins, and More". EDMProd.com.
  13. "Wackii Time Afterparty". Trancendances.net.
  14. "Matt Fax - Going Down/Hyperspace". Discogs.com.
  15. "Armin Van Buuren - A State of Trance Festival Warm Up Sets". Armada Music Website.
  16. "Group Therapy 172 with Matt Fax". Above & Beyond's Website.
  17. "Ministry of Sound event Back2Back at The Gallery on March 18". Ministry of Sound Website.
  18. "Matt Fax opens up for us in exclusive interview". WeRaveYou.
  19. "Matt Fax tweets about upcoming Colorize EP". Twitter.
  20. "Backdraft on Bandcamp". Matt Fax Bandcamp Page.
  21. "Armin van Buuren - A State of Trance 769". A State Of Trance.com.
  22. "Horizon / Blimp - Beatport Stats". BPTopTracker.
  23. "Armin van Buuren - ASOT 836 (ADE Special)". YouTube.
  24. "Matters - Roof Park (DJ Mag Review)". DJ Mag.
  25. "Matt Fax - To The Ground(DJ Mag Review)". DJ Mag.
  26. "DJ supports for To The Ground". 1001tracklists.
  27. "Jaguar E-PACE commercial featuring 'To the Ground'".
  28. "REACH Festival Commercial featuring 'To the Ground'".
  29. Mao, Jessica (August 24, 2020). "Matt Fax ventures into dark progressive with refined sophomore album, 'Progressions'". Dancing Astronaut.
  30. "Interview for WhenWeDip". WhenWeDip.com.
  31. Mao, Jessica (24 April 2020). "Matt Fax ventures into dark progressive with refined sophomore album, 'Progressions'". Dancing Astronaut. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  32. http://www.bptoptracker.com/artist/matt-fax/254662/tracks
  33. "Dark Woods / Echo / Ghost Stories - EP by Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  34. "Roof Park EP (Matt Fax Presents) by Matters on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  35. "Matt Fax drops 'Collide' & 'The Gate' in Anjunabeats debut". EDM Tunes. 20 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  36. Frometa, RJ (19 June 2020). "Pioneering sound architect BT releases new double single '1AM in Paris (with Matt Fax)' / 'The War (with Iraina Mancini)'". Vents Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  37. http://www.bptoptracker.com/artist/matt-fax/254662/tracks
  38. Hymo, Josh (8 June 2018). "Premiere: Matt Fax x Dezza – Sweet Dream". Dancing Astronaut. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  39. "The Noetic - Single by BT & Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  40. "Ignition - Single by Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  41. "It's Always Now - Single by tyDi & Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  42. "Abenaki - Single by Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  43. "Kaleidoscope (with HALIENE) by Praana & Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  44. Sweeney, Farrell (14 October 2019). "Matt Fax mashes up old and new 'The Longest Road To The Ground'". Dancing Astronaut. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  45. "Nightride - Single by Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  46. "Animal (feat. Trove) - Single by Matt Fax on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  47. Mao, Jessica (6 March 2020). "First Listen: Matt Fax awakens progressive energy on 'Light On'". Dancing Astronaut. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  48. "Set Your Sails (feat. RBBTS) - Single by Matt Fax on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  49. "1am in Paris / The War - EP by BT on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  50. "Greatest Thing (Tommy Baynen Remix) - Single by Matt Fax & Richard Bedford on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  51. http://www.bptoptracker.com/artist/matt-fax/254662/tracks
  52. "There Is Light (Matt Fax Remix) - Single by Andy Moor, Somna & Diana Leah on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  53. "Did You Know (feat. London Thor) [Matt Fax Remix] - Single by tyDi & Christopher Tin on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  54. "Call to Arms (feat. Evan Henzi) [The Remixes] - EP by Gareth Emery on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  55. "Prism (Remixed EP 1) by Ørjan Nilsen on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  56. "Little Planet (Matt Fax Remix) - Single by Estiva on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  57. "Games (Remixed) - Single by Ruben de Ronde & Louise Rademakers on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  58. "Togetherr (Remixed, Pt. 2) - Single by Ruben de Ronde on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  59. "All You Need To Know (The Remixes) [feat. Calle Lehmann] - EP by Gryffin & Slander on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  60. "Worlds Collide (Matt Fax Remix) - Single by NERVO on Apple Music". iTunes Store. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  61. "1000 Faces (Remixes) - EP by Jason Ross on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
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