Laurent Véronnez
| Laurent Véronnez | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Laurent Véronnez |
| Also known as | Airwave, Lolo, Planisphere, Cape Town, V-One |
| Born | 10 December 1977 |
| Origin | Brussels |
| Genres |
Progressive Trance, Trance |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Remixer, DJ |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Bonzai, Green Martian JOOF |
| Associated acts | Antidote, Attack, B4, Body-Shock, Bunkerz, Cape Town, E.N.E.R.G.Y., Extended Mirror, Fire & Ice, Groove Syndicate, Lounge, The, Montera, Nova Brothers, Planisphere, Rebelgrooves, Red Sign, Squad, Ultra Vibe, Yamakasi |
| Website | airwave-music.com |
Laurent Véronnez (born 10 December 1977) or Airwave, is a Belgium-based progressive trance and electronic music artist. He has created hundreds of tracks for more than 35 projects.[1] His work is most notable under his alias Airwave. He is also known as Lolo.
Early life
Born in 1977 in Brussels, Belgium, it was at age 7 where he first discovered Electronic music, which led him to release his first single at age 18 on the Bonzai label. He lived in Brussels until he was 20 years old, experimenting with computers and synthesizers at his home. After sending his first demonstration to Lightning Records – the original home of the Bonzai label, in 1996, he became one of the main artists of the new age in electronic music.[2]
Career
The Early Days
After the first small successes with PLG, North Pole, Montera and Magnetix, all little projects he developed on vinyl, he had his first breakthrough with the first release of Fire & Ice, produced together with DJ Fire. He decided to move to Antwerp so he could concentrate more on his productional work. He became a professional artist using Airwave as his main project in 1998. Slowly but surely his music came to the ears of a fast-growing generation of Dutch Trance DJ's when Trance music exploded in 1999. Armin Van Buuren, DJ Tiësto, and Ferry Corsten played an important role in Airwave's development over the years. Tiësto commissioned Airwave for 2 remixes of his hit-single "In My Memory", and later on, Armin Van Buuren and Airwave created a couple of collaborative tracks called Sunspot and Slipstream, respectively appearing on their debut albums (Believe for Airwave, 76 for Armin van Buuren).
Rising Up
As years went by, the name Airwave went big outside Western Europe, and quickly the United Kingdom opened its doors the big way for the artist, being booked at the 3 major Trance Venues of the early 2000s: Gatecrasher, Godskitchen, and Slinky. Slinky offered him the great chance to Tour in Asia, most notably in Japan and South Korea, but also to New Zealand and Canada, where Airwave was billed as the main artist each single time. Airwave went back to Canada several Times, as well as Japan, South Africa. His Debut album in 2002, Believe, was immediately acclaimed by the Trance Community, getting raving reviews on several community blogs from back then, with community site trance.nu backing him up constantly. Containing several previous hit singles such as Innerspace, Alone In The Dark (Championed by Tiësto), Believe was completed with true stompers that would later on let him enter the hall of fame of Trance Music: Ladyblue and When Things Go Wrong sold by thousands on Vinyl. Believe got a little brother in 2004 in the form of I Want To Believe, containing even more hits released in 2004.
2006-2009
In 2006, Airwave, while still busy with side-projects Planisphere and The Green Martian, released the real game-changer of his career, Trilogique, a 3-part album consisting of 30 tracks in 3 subgenres of electronic music. The First part was focused on what he's known for, the second part adopting a tougher and darker vibe, while the final part unveiled a hidden part of his artistic personality: downtempo and what would become later on the Psybient genre. Trilogique was according to Paul van Dyk, a messiah of his community, as his favorite album of 2006. The CD version sold by thousands, while the download market was also slowly rising. Many singles were taken off Trilogique, among others his hit-single "People Just Don't Care", regarded today as one of his very best tracks ever. Thanks to this new material and the gained credibility, Airwave went back on tour between 2006 and 2008, seeing him appear to play a combo DJ and Live Set in Tokyo, Estonia, France, Canada, Spain, UK, Netherlands, and which ended up seeing him playing at the fast-growing festival Tomorrowland in Antwerp, Belgium, also in 2007. Trilogique was soon followed by Touareg in 2008, an ambitious effort showing Airwave's versatility, containing great music made in collaboration with artists from outside the Dance Genre. Thanks to this unique sound and to the continuous musical effort, Airwave played a second time at Tomorrowland in 2008, this time as a full-on live Artist, followed a few months later by some other dates, most notably in Ukraine, and Canada (DJ Set).
2010–present
While still partially active, Laurent Veronnez took some time off to raise a family. Airwave went back to work on new music in 2010 but had to face a different music world ahead which left him a bit doubtful. That's where John 00 Fleming and his imprint JOOF Recordings went to help develop the artist's vision further, while Bonzai, his main record label, kept supporting him with the rest of his discography and his side-projects. It took Laurent a while to figure something for his new visions to fit into something sustainable on the longer term, but by the end of 2011 he had found a new perspective in pushing his own envelope into new territories while sticking to the roots of Trance. Airwave released first Hello World, a unique record showing his ability to think outside the box, before definitively showing his new sound and new love for Trance with Atlas Winds, released in Early 2012. With the success of Atlas Winds and its B-Side, Chiricahua, showing his love for Progressive Breaks, a genre he also specializes into, he went on to build the foundations of what would become his big come back at the front of the Underground Trance Movement. Backed by JOOF Recordings and Bonzai, Airwave released Parallel Lines in Late 2012, consisting in Dark Lines, purely oriented for the dance floor, and Bright Lines, showing his love for other subgenres of Electronica. Both albums are highly regarded years after their release. Thanks to the singles taken off the album, plus the good support, Airwave got the chance to play once again Live in Tokyo, Japan in 2013, a peak-moment that follows a bunch of DJ gigs in Poland, Greece, and also UK, and also India for the first time. Showing his respect over the years for his home-label Bonzai, Laurent still regularly plays the regular "Retro" Events in Belgium. Classics also led him to play several Times at various big events in Europe, such as Luminosity beach Festival in 2012, 2014 and again in 2016, and also again at Tomorrowland Festival in 2014 and 2016. His latest hit singles released on both JOOF Recordings and Bonzai Progressive, A Touch Of Grace, Gaijin, Game Of Life, Tigris and Euphrates, Sadness In Black and White, were all hits on the #1 Download Store for DJ's, Beatport, and have paved the way for a new breed of musicians, and he's highly regarded as a frontman of the new era for Underground Trance. In 2016 Airwave has finally started working on a new album in order to confirm his recent success with new singles, pushing his own musical boundaries even further.
Influences
Laurent has been influenced by the roots of electronic music, since the early beginning, from Kraftwerk to FSOL or great producers like Jean-Michel Jarre, Orbital, Oliver Lieb and one of his all time heroes, Junkie XL. He defines his own musical style as "pure electronic dance music with a sniff of electronica and trance and progressive sounds" through discovering and being inspired by his musical heroes and being guided by his record labels Bonzai and JOOF Recordings.
Discography
Albums
- Believe (2002)
- I Want to Believe (2004)
- Trilogique (2006)
- Touareg (2008)
- Dark Lines (2012)
- Parallel Lines (2012)
- Bright Lines (2012)
References
- ↑ L-Vee Releases Retrieved on 11-09-2008.
- ↑ Airwave biography Retrieved on 25-09-2008