If you’ve been listening to progressive house or trance music for any period of time, there’s a good chance you’ll know the name Mike Koglin. For many, the name is firstly associated with a reworking of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence. Mike’s rework, entitled The Silence, exploded on to the dance music community in 1999 – a time when melodic trance was first being thrust onto the world stage at the hands of Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten and Tiesto, and when electronic dance music was quickly becoming the new rock and roll. Unlike many so-called ‘remakes’, The Silence was a high-quality, original reinterpretation, and it suitably impressed those whose opinions counted – including most notably Depeche Mode, who liked the track enough to grant Mike permission to give the mix a proper major-label release in the UK. With Depeche Mode’s blessing secured, Mike’s masterpiece soon became a UK top-20 hit, landing in the record boxes of every top jock on the planet, and landing the coveted last-disc, last-track slot on Sasha and John Digweed’s retail mix compilation that year, Northern Exposure Expeditions. The rest, as they say, is history.

As Mike tells it, “in those days trance was still a very new and innovative type of music, and there was still a lot of room for experimentation.” As one of the very first dance reworks of a classic electronic track, it was very well received as something new, fresh and different. Mike attributes his having come up with the original idea as a result of his passion for electronic music in his youth. “To me it only made sense, because a lot of today’s dance music has its roots in the electronic music of the 80’s,” Mike explains. “Kraftwerk actually have a credit on my album for having started the whole thing!”

In the seven years since The Silence first established him as one of dance music’s shining stars, Mike has kept himself busy with a string of high-profile projects and remixes under his own name and a series of pseudonyms, including work with such industry heavyweights as Boy George, the B52s and Dido. Having had great success with collaborative projects in recent years, Mike recently focused his efforts on developing a full-length collaborative/artist album that would allow him to showcase both his own musical ideas and the fruit of his cooperative labours with others. The result? The appropriately named VS.

“My concept for VS was to invite many producers and DJs whose sound I’m into to collaborate with me – not only to make it different from other artist albums but also to make it more interesting for the listener,” Mike explains. Judging by the list of collaborators – a veritable who’s-who of modern trance production – it would seem there was no shortage of interest in the project. Trance heavyweights Alex M.O.R.P.H., Jono Grant of Above and Beyond, Mark Pledger, and Pulser are all listed in the tracklisting, but – perhaps in a nod to Mike’s prime-time slot on Northern Exposure so many years ago – the last track of the album is a mashup of “The Silence” and Sasha’s “Wavy Gravy” , as put together by progressive-breaks wonderkid James Zabiela.

The mix itself is arranged like a traditional DJ mix compilation, with the thirteen tracks arranged and structured together to form a cohesive and engaging set that journeys across a number of musical styles. Mike Koglin may have made a name for himself as a trance producer and DJ, but VS clearly demonstrates the broader range of styles he is capable of. “I’m actually flirting with techno quite a bit these days, and I’m really into the whole minimal house and electro thing too,” Mike notes. “To me the there is a lot of potential in taking elements from all those styles and mixing them with trance as we know it.”

From a production standpoint, Mike is a Mac fan, running Logic 7 on a Macintosh G5. His production rig is a mix of both software and hardware, including a venerable Roland JP-8080. The allure of real analog hardware also isn’t lost on Mike – he’s just traded in his digital Mackie console for an all-analog Midas. “There are still a few bits of outboard that I use a lot – and it’s nice to EQ things on an analog desk, distort them, and that kind of stuff,” Mike confesses.

As a DJ, Mike has maintained an impressive touring schedule with major club and festival gigs around the world. As he explains it, his preferred DJing style is varied, but consistently intense. “It’s odd, but my DJ sets are often described as a tad harder than the actual tracks that I make myself,” Mike notes. “I guess my style can best be described as ‘banging yet uplifting’. I’m really into the more techy side of trance at the moment, with driving beats, tons of percussion and without any over-long fluffy breakdowns. Those kind of tunes work really well in the club.”

When asked if there are any particular songs or artists that he feels are particularly strong at the moment, Mike is quick to name names. “The Dutch are particularly good at this new breed of trance, guys like Mac Zimms, E-Craig or Sander Van Doorn for example,” he says. “The last track that really jumped out for me was Sander’s new remix of Yello – Oh Yeah. I’m still completely blown away with that one.”

Considering his many collaborative successes in the studio, it should come as no surprise that Mike Koglin enjoys sharing the DJ booth with others, too. “The best back-to-back DJ set so far was last year when I was in Russia with Lange and Steve Helstrip of The Thrillseekers,” Mike recounts. “We all played at Gaudi Arena in Moscow, and we decided play back-to-back, all three of us, for five hours. It was such a great night – partly due to loads of Russian Vodka – and the crowd there was amazing too.”

Mike Koglin’s new album ‘VS’ is out now.