Absolute music video Cheap Shot
Absolute music video Sebastian
Absolute, AKA M.I.K.E., is Mike Dierickx. Formerly known as Dirk Dierickx, he resides in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2000, he decided to change his real name from Dirk to Mike. Mike quotes: “When I started to dj at the age of 16, i used the name Dj Mike as my artist name. Later on it changed into my producers name M.I.K.E., and that’s why I decided to make it my real name…” Producing and DJing under the name M.I.K.E., he has been releasing records under the guises; Solar Factor, M.I.K.E, The Blackmaster, Return Of The Native, Plastic Boy and last but not least, Push. As a dj,Mike’s style is very similar to the music he makes- techy electro-edged on a progressive trance tip. He is at the forefront of Europe’s new sound. Regularly topping the dance charts in several leading countries.
The story begins of an 11 year old boy discovering the potential of samplers and keyboards. A boy who preferred knobs and backlight displays instead of child games. At the age of 18, Mike handed his first demo tape to the Antwerp based record company, ‘USA Import’. Shortly after, his first record, ‘Vision Act’ was released on the Atom label in 1992. Mike released a series of successful records before he signed up with Lightning back in 1996.
M.I.K.E’s reputation shot through the roof, and although a commercial crossover had never been anticipated, in 1998 ‘Universal Nation’ took the world by storm, winning several dance awards, and undoubtedly being recognized as one of the classic dance-records of the trance era till this day. Pole positions in worldwide dance charts were soon putting the Belgian dance scene firmly on the map. His Push follow-up single, ‘Strange World’, destroyed hundreds of clubs across Europe, in the same vein as ‘Universal Nation’.
This was followed by yet another blockbuster, ‘The Legacy’, once again topping all dance charts across Europe and entering the British National charts at 21. Over the years Mike received several music awards including best club singles and best dance-producer, and entered 6 times the national top 40 in the UK.
Mike also teamed up and did rmxs for Sinead ‘O Connor, Moby,Bom Funk Mc’s,The Bloodhound Gang,Mauro Piccoto…This kind of success did not go unnoticed as M.I.K.E. was asked to DJ at some of the best venues in the world; some of these include: ‘Gatecrasher’ and ‘Godskitchen’ in the UK,’Fura’ and ‘Vel Farre’ in Japan, ‘Dance Valley’ and ‘Trance Energy’ in Holland, Spirit and Spundae in the U.S., from Australia’s Sydney and Melbourne to New Zeeland and the residency in Armada’ s Amnesia club night in Ibiza are a few to mention. Mike still holds residencies in The Gallery in London and Illusion / Belgium for his label nights.
In 1999 he decided to start-up his own label,and Scanner-Records was born. The music stands for minimal electric dance with a proggy touch. Scanner was renamed into Scanner Digital, as it welcomes the new digital era. All info can be found on www.scannerdigital.com.
But Mike is more concentrating on his new label Club Elite / Armada Music, where he releases his own productions under different guises. The label boost tech house grooves and the better electro-trance.
