Xilent
From a very young age, growing up in Poland, Xilent aka Eryk Kowalczyk was exposed to the classics of 80s pop, funk and soul by his parents, both of whom were professional musicians. With his mother being a qualified conductor, violinist and pianist, and his father a drummer and singer in various bands, Eryk was constantly surrounded by music in many different forms.
A young, inquisitive Eryk first cut his teeth trying to produce his own music on a crude Propellerhead Rebirth RB-338 at the tender age of eight years old. Initially attempting to make a mix of House and Acid Techno, the aspiring producer began his career by recording his creations through a PC speaker to cassette and later showing them to his friends at primary school.
As the years went by, Eryk found himself immersed in Trance and heavier sounds from artists like The Crystal Method and The Prodigy. The first Drum & Bass CD he ever came across was a compilation album in 1999 entitled, 'Future Grooves - Essential Drum & Bass'. This was the first time he had ever heard music with a higher BPM than 150. He immediately fell in love with this new style of music and became influenced by such Drum & Bass pioneers as John B, DJ Rap, Future Cut, Adam F, and Calyx. In the following years Xilent experimented with production in a range of styles ranging from Techno to Breakbeat, but it was in Drum & Bass that Eryk found his forte. His musical influences would not be lost on his production values though, with the Techno and Trance influences of uplifting pads and heart-breaking breakdown melodies, along with the technical and sequencing influences of Breakbeat.
Xilent's first release came in 2009 on Ammunition Recordings 'Quality Killer EP' with the track 'Terminal', which was called a "drum and bass anthem" and "one of the biggest tracks of 2009" by top electronic music shop TrackItDown.net. The tune immediately caught the ear of John B, who subsequently signed a number of tunes to his own Beta Recordings imprint. Now living in Scotland where he studies Sound Production at University, Xilent has continued to improve his production techniques, while also DJing throughout Europe, supporting Spor at the main stage of the Audioriver Festival in 2010. Although light-years from his crude beginnings working on Propellerhead, incredibly Xilent has only been producing regularly for less than three years, and until recently only used a laptop and a pair of Sennheiser headphones to produce his epic sounding tracks. Now with a full studio of gear, Xilent is armed and ready to take things to even greater heights.
In 2011 Xilent co-signed exclusively to AudioPorn Records and Mainframe Recordings. AudioPorn, the brainchild of former Ram Trilogy member and Drum & Bass legend, Shimon, has always been at the forefront on the search for fresh new sounds. AudioPorn was the label that first introduced Dirtyphonics to the masses with hits like 'Quarks', 'Teleportation', and 'Vandals'. As well as pushing the genre boundaries on Camo & Krooked's 'History Of The Future', and 'Vengeance' by Shimon himself. Meanwhile, DisasZt's Mainframe Recordings has had a meteoric rise since its inception in 2008, being the label who burst Camo & Krooked onto the scene and released their debut album, Above & Beyond.
Since signing to the labels, Xilent has had a truly breakthrough year with the release of the 'Choose Me EP', which was nothing short of a smash hit. Featuring a dubstep mix of the underground sensation, 'Choose Me', the tune racked up over 15,000 plays in less than a week on his own personal Soundcloud account, as well as over 1.5 million views on YouTube. In addition, it was selected as Zane Lowe's "Next Hype" track on BBC Radio1, and went #1 on Beatport's Dubstep Charts, still maintaining its position in the Top 5 nearly 3 months after release!
After the success of 'Choose Me', it wasn't long until some big names came knocking on Xilent's door with the likes of Ministry Of Sound seeking remixes for artists and tracks such as J Majik & Wickaman -'In Pieces;' Yogi and Ayah Marar's 'Follow You', as well as Fuzzy Logik & Jada Pearl's 'All My Love' released on New State Music.
Xilent's signature neurofunk style drum & bass single 'Evolutions Per Minute' / 'Tenkai' was released on Mainframe to thunderous applause with DJ Mag reviewing and rating the release an extraordinary 9.5 out of 10.
In December 2011, Xilent follows up his genre defining melodic dubstep hit 'Choose Me EP' with the equally immense 'Skyward EP', including four brand new tracks: 'Skyward II', 'Skyward I', 'For Once' feat. Skyflake and 'Gravity' featuring label mate Tali.
Xilent finished the year with a nomination at the 2011 Drum & Bass Arena Awards for Best Newcomer Producer and Xilent's dubstep hit Skyward II racking up over 500,000 hits on UKF Dubstep in just 4 days. With a busy touring schedule including a much anticipated US tour lined up for early in the year, Xilent is set to continue his meteoric rise in 2012 as one of the most talked about new producers and DJs in electronic music.