James Holden, a name that sums up everything that accompanies the term “progressive”, from his beginnings with the classic Horizons through to his newer more eclectic stuff on the awesome Border Community label. At the relatively young age of 25 James Holden has achieved more then the average person his age would even dream of. He travels the world Djing, owns and runs his own record label Border Community and is responsible for some of the greatest dance music releases of the last 5 or so years.

One thing that has changed significantly is James Holdens signature sound, he has moved away from the more standard progressive trance towards a more melodic techno sound. He lists the reasons for this as the fact that he has “just got better at producing”. Which is increasingly obvious with each production being better and somewhat more elaborate then the last. He also feels he has been helped by leaving old label Silver Planet “ever since I got free and set up bordercommunity I’ve been able to make and play exactly what I like, which has made a big difference to the music and to how happy I am with it”. The 2003 release of Balance 05 was a true defining moment in Holdens career, with many people listing it as one of the best mix CD’s of the year. Many people including myself have been eagerly awaiting another, but apparently we wont have to wait too long with James himself saying a new CD should be out “Hopefully before the end of 2005, and I know I can make it even better too..”.

The establishment of Border Community was the real coming of age for Holden, he finally had an outlet to release music that he truly enjoyed. BC has been responsible for unearthing some of the best talent in years with previously unheard of artists such as Petter, MFA and Nathan Fake constantly releasing fresh and interesting music to a scene that was getting increasingly predictable. Holden puts this down to “we’re not bothered about the rules or whether everyone likes every release – we like everything and that’s enough. I’m really happy that the artists we work with are free to explore whichever direction they’re interested in, and I think that’s the key to making interesting music too.”

The run of good releases through BC looks likely to continue well into this year too, with James mentioning release upcoming from “some exciting new artists”, as well as a Nathan Fake album and an EP from himself as well. With James about to embark on his long awaited tour of Australia I quizzed him on the DJ technology, which has changed dramatically over the last few years, with many DJs moving away from vinyl, and embracing new technologies such as Ableton LIVE and Final Scratch. I asked James for his thoughts on this increasing trend and he mentioned “for the last 6 months I carried only a couple of vinyl acappella’s, and I took them out of my bag last week so I could get into the U.S. without a cavity search. I love cdj1000s but they’re an interim stage before moving to laptop stuff, which is much more interesting”. When quizzed on what fans should expect from his upcoming tour he revealed that he believes his sound is “a bit more cohesive lately”, and that “I’ve got a whole bunch of good new tunes I didn’t have last time I was over”. Which judging by recent sets to appear on the Internet we have something massive to look forward too.

James Holden is by far the progressive scenes most eclectic and forward thinking producer and DJ. While he might not have the technical ability of Digweed, or the praises of one time collaborator Sasha, he still manages to continue to advance a sound that many have declared dead and buried on numerous occasions. While the infamous “Pixie trance” term might no longer describe his DJ sets and productions as much as it used too, the mystical elements are still there.

James Holden brings his Border Community tour to Australia this February:

Thu Feb 10 – Adelaide, Electric Circus
Fri Feb 11 – Melbourne, Room680
Sat Feb 12 – Sydney, Sweetchilli (BUY TICKETS)
Wed Feb 16 – Brisbane, Milk Bar