Tiesto推荐的瑞典新人DJ,与铁叔共同制作了《A Town Called Paradise》专辑中的《Rocky》\r \r To hear him tell it, Kaaze has always been a producer at heart.“As a kid, I didn’t listen to music like regular people,” the young Swede says. “I would always listen to songs and think ‘I’d change this or do it like that.’”Growing up in a musical family that exposed him to such divergent influences as Whitesnake and Earth, Wind and Fire, Kaaze began playing piano and drums at an early age, while developing the ear that would eventually make him an established artist in his own right.Kaaze heard his first house track at age 16 and quickly rushed out to buy his first DJ rig shortly thereafter. He played his first gig one year later, being so young his mother had to chaperone him to the show. As he honed his skills behind the decks, his multi-instrumentalist background eased his entry into production, where he began logging countless hours in Logic each day.Upon moving to Stockholm, the budding producer took a radical approach to redefining his sound. He dropped out of school and retreated into his studio to adopt a hermit’s lifestyle for nearly a year and a half, producing 24/7 and sharing his musical output with no one.“I quit my fan page. I deleted my old media,” he says. “I needed to find myself. I didn’t know who I was as a producer.”What emerged was a demo that caught the attention of Kaaze’s idol Tiësto and changed everything for him in the span of a season. The two met for the first time in Stockholm two weeks later, and Kaaze accompanied the Dutch superstar to his gig at Summerburst Festival. The Swedish producer began sending daily demos to his newfound musical mentor, solidifying a melodic progressive sound that draws upon his 80s disco and glam rock roots. Following a summer full of musical exchange, Kaaze received the formal offer to sign with Tiësto’s Red Light Management group and embarked on an eye-opening tour of New York and Tiësto’s Hakkasan residency in Las Vegas.“Tiësto came at the right time for me in my life,” says Kaaze. “Last year was such a special year for me, there were so many ups and downs.”As a means of thanking his new boss for his support, Kaaze decided to lend his remix touch to his favorite Tiësto track “Maximal Crazy.” Tiësto enjoyed it so much that he elected to release it as a free download in honor of reaching 16 million Facebook likes, introducing Kaaze to his gigantic global fan base and garnering more than 400,000 plays in the process. Kaaze made his Musical Freedom a few weeks later with the release of “Drop the Power,” a track handpicked by Tiësto for its soaring synthesizer melodies and club-friendly muscular drop.With a slew of forthcoming releases that include vocal anthem “We Will Recover” with Michael Feiner and a high- profile collaboration with Tiësto set for the star’s upcoming album, Kaaze’s steadfast studio ethic and ear for melodic elegance have led him to the brink of a breakout year