Pool parties, dropping beats as the sun rises over the ocean – or just one really good tune...? We caught up with a selection of hotly tipped DJs to find out what summer means to them.

Cristoph – listed by Pete Tong as a Future Star - told us ‘, I Would Have to say (legendary nightclub) Shindig's twenty-second-birthday back in my hometown of Newcastle was the best party of last summer for me. I have followed Shindig since I was a very young lad. Both my elder brother and sister used to tell me how good it was which made it something I desperately wanted to experience growing up. So to actually be able to play one of their anniversaries was completely amazing. All my friends came down and the atmosphere was intense; the memory will stay with me forever’. He adds ‘, But I do not think I have heard this year’s tune of the summer yet though. I'm hoping it will be a real nice dark, melodic number…’.

Dale Howard – who this year has a residency at Sankeys Ibiza - confessed ‘, My memory is so terrible so I cannot really remember last summer. I remember playing at Amsterdam Open Air Festival and that was a really great event. The crowd were really up for it; it’s always nice when you feel like the crowd are with you through every track and every break down; it kinda takes the thinking out of track selection because they’re ready to go down whatever road you want music to take. Those are the sets that stay with you, in my opinion. I just hope that this year’s big summer sound is something that either has great musicality and is a really emotive summer track, like Paul Woolford's 'Untitled' was last year. That, or something that can really change the mood of the dance floor…’.

German DJ duo Stil and Bense – who describe themselves as sonic soul scientists and whose Deep House anthem ‘Take Me As I Am’ exploded over dancefloors last summer - recall ‘, Our summer moment last year? That was definitely the Ruhr in Love; a big annual festival in Oberhausen, Germany. For a reason we cannot recall, we decided to go there by public transportation - overcrowded trains & crammed buses, that is. Arne was fearing for his guitar he usually plays on stage and we were uncertain if we could make it in time for our set. Also, it had been raining for days, even that particular day was cloudy, but when Robin (Schulz) played his set and we hit the stage afterwards, the sun came out and people really started to vibe with us. We fired up some sunny, deep tunes in contrast to the rather harsh and technoid sounds and stages around us. First track Tom played was ‘Hand in Hand’ by Klangkünstler, Arne was jamming some funky chords along and in the crowd a guy is screaming ‘the guitar man, the guitar man!’ Sounds like we make this up, agreed, but that’s exactly how the set went down. Afterwards we got really drunk and caught the last train home…’.

Credits:
https://soundcloud.com/cristophmusic
https://soundcloud.com/dalehoward