Armin van Buuren Master of Armada Music
Representing: Leiden, the Netherlands
Style: Trance
Best Known For: Challenging Tiesto’s place in trance history

Armin van Buuren is fast becoming a name as universally synonymous with dance music as Tiësto’s became just a few years ago. Coming at a time recently after the explosion of the king of Dutch trance was a tough task, but he has managed somehow to step out from Tiësto’s shadow and make his presence shine without so much as even a hint of being called a copycat or “just another trance DJ from the Netherlands.”

Before his music career took off, Armin’s alternative was in law, as that was his subject of interest at university. He started out DJing at local clubs (Nexus, to be exact), and honed his marathon DJing skills with lengthy six to seven hour sets. He released “Blue Fear,” at the age of nineteen which got his name out there on the charts, and the hits kept coming, albeit in collaboration with different labels. The nineties seem to have been a great decade for many of the DJs on our Top 10 List, as most of their careers were brought to the world stage in this decade. Armin is no exception – in fact, you could probably make the argument that his career (both as a DJ and as a producer) has experienced the greatest upward ascent. In this time period, he established his own label (Armind under the Armada umbrella), signed a track to Ministry of Sound, and reaching into the millennium, collaborated with some of his most famous colleagues: Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk, and Tiësto.

He may be most well-known for being a trance DJ, but Armin tells aspiring DJs, “Don’t be a prisoner of your own style.” His work is self-described as “euphoric,” “uplifting,” and “melodic,” so it’s easy to see why electronic music fans flock to his shows in droves. Armin’s stance is clear when it comes to pleasing his audiences; he incorporates techno, electro, progressive, and a whole slew of other genres into his celebrated long sets (such as the Armin Only events, the longest of which lasted 9.5 hours, and the largest attracting over 16,000 fans), just so his fans won’t be bored with straight trance. Playing at the biggest festivals and clubs (he’s a regular at Amnesia Ibiza, which has hosted A State of Trance parties in the past) is a given for Armin – the question is where hasn’t he been.

He has released four artist albums in the past six years to positive responses, the latest of which entered the Dutch Top 100 Albums Chart at number one (Imagine - 2008). He remains the only dance artist to accomplish this feat. His radio show, A State of Trance, has been running for seven years and over 350 episodes (and don’t forget his immensely popular mix compilations). The parties that celebrated the most recent milestones were – in a word – epic, as they featured guest DJs like Aly & Fila, M.I.K.E., Markus Schulz, and of course, Armin himself. His rise in the DJMag polls from fifth, to third, to second, and finally to the top spot, in just the past few years has cemented his place in trance history – it is highly doubtful that Armin van Buuren will ever take second place to Tiësto again. I guess he can always be a lawyer if his DJing career ever falls apart. Or not.

Here is Armin’s latest music video - Armin van Buuren ft Sharon den Adel - In and Out of Love

Links:
Top 10 DJ’s of the World
armin.armadamusic.com/
www.armadamusic.nl