Dimitris: First of all congratulations for reaching the great milestone of 2 years of your wonderful label Songspire. Can you tell us the reasons for starting this record label and can you tell us how you define the sound of the label?
Onno: Thank you so much Dimitris and indeed it’s a great milestone, very proud of the releases we’ve done so far and we have some really interesting and big releases coming up as well which I will tell you more about later on. We’ve started the label to create a platform and outlet for quality house music and present listeners outstanding music on a frequent basis.
Dimitris: Does the label caters for one music genre or for multiple genres?
Onno: The sound of the label is all focused on melodic house & techno in the broadest sense, sometimes leaning a bit more towards progressive house, sometimes towards organic house and sometimes towards deep house but all melodic and with emotion. It’s music which gives me goosebumps, that’s one of the criteria to get signed to the label.
Dimitris: Can you tell us the qualities that you search for to find in a track in order to considerate it for release on your label?
Onno: Melody and groove. And above all the sound quality. Sometimes I receive demos with beautiful melodies, but the production level isn’t up to standard unfortunately. The quality definitely went up the last couple of years though in the end you can really make the difference when you’re a good skilled producer. You see this with Eric Prydz as an example, his productions sound so good, whichever style, melodic or more towards monotone banging productions, everything is spot on because it sounds phat and works live.
Dimitri: Can you list for us the top 3 most successful releases from the label so far and provide us a short comment about each one of them?
Onno: - Alastor & RUE - Contact
One of the first releases we did and still one of my favorites, amazing drive and cinematic melody, instant classic in my opinion. Nora En Pure played it on the Ultra Music Festival Mainstage in Miami and it went off.
- Klunsh – Anyway
Very cool production from French dj/producer Klunsh. Lots of rhythm in this one and subtle drums and sounds. Favorite of Solomun who played it during his Off Sonar Diynamic Outdoor and FuturFestival sets and also got live support from Kolsch at Timewarp and Zhu at his Cercle set this year.
- Parvenu – Side Step
Beautiful melodic production first played by Lane8 in his Summer Mixtape. Later on got added to SiriusXM Chill, it’s a timeless track.
Dimitri: The times are uncertain and insecurity in the music business is widespread. What the future holds for Songspire. Can you reveal to us any of your future releases that we should keep an eye on it?
Onno: Indeed it are weird times at the moment. Last year during ADE we hosted a successful first label event with dj’s Ampish, Deeparture, Arturia, Sound Quelle, Rui, Yourr, Sides and ALMA and unfortunately aren’t able to host one this year. Luckily the music releases continue and we’ve got big new records coming up from the likes of Solanca, Deeparture, Nato Medrado and Jones Meadow just to name a few.
Dimitri: Finally how are you going to commemorate this great occasion? Anything special as release or event?
Onno: Due to the current situation that won’t be possible unfortunately but hopefully we can make this up next year and celebrate twice as hard ;) We also have our 100th release coming up soon and that will be a special one as well, stay tuned!
Here you can check Onno's playlist Songspire Vibes on spotify.