We have the pleasure of speaking with a man who needs no introduction, Oxia. We find out more about what motivates him, his favourite clubs to play, current favourite track and more…

Hi Oxia, we’re a bit different. What’s your opinion on the scene in 2018 and what’s keeping you motivated to be part of it?

Hi. The current scene is still very interesting for me; despite all the years that have gone by, there is still plenty of new, or established artists doing amazing things, there still are great parties, clubs, festivals, and there’s still a beautiful vibe. These are some of the things that keep me going, in addition to still being so passionate about music. When I’m playing, and I see super enthusiastic people in front of me, it gives me energy to go on. And of course, I get to travel to so many countries and meet many different people.

French artists have always been at the forefront of innovation in dance music. Cercle’s live streams seem to be showcasing France as one of the world’s coolest destinations right now. Where are the best clubs to play? 

It’s true, there are many talented producers in France, and their styles are quite different from each other, and so the scene is artistically very rich. And you have initiatives like Cercle who livestream performances in unusual places, thus allowing their viewers to discover outstanding French monuments or landscapes – a great way to incite foreigners to come over and visit, I suppose.In terms of clubs, I wouldn’t say there’s a huge number of them in France specifically dedicated to electronic music; a lot clubs program electronic music artists only from time to time. This said, we have our fair share of really cool specialized venues, such as the legendary Rex in Paris, which has been there for the last 30 years. There are obviously others in Paris like Faust, or Yoyo for example. Then you have Sucre in Lyon, BT59 in Bordeaux, LC Club in Nantes … In my hometown, Grenoble, there’s a cool venue, La Belle Electrique – it’s not a club, but it does organize big events with excellent lineups. Otherwise you have Cabaret Aléatoire in Marseilles, the Bikini in Toulouse …There are a few more but I’m not going to be able to list them all

As somebody who has been at the game in the scene for a long time, which French artists do you believe will play a big part in the future of dance music?

I’ve been indeed in the scene for a few years now, but it’s kind of hard to predict the future. As I was saying previously, there’s a lot of talented French artists who do very interesting things, each within their various genres, and who might grow with time. But it’s hard to pinpoint someone specifically… If I have to give one name, it would be Agoria’s. I listened to his latest album and I think he’s going to cross a threshold and become even more popular than he already is. And I’m not saying this because he’s a friend.

Talk to us about the goal for your label Diversions Music!

It had been about ten years since I’d last had a label – I’d co-directed two in the past, Ozone Records and Goodlife, but after they were stopped I thought I wouldn’t have time for a new one. And so I left the matter as it was for about a decade. But this changed in 2016 when I made some tracks with my old friend Nicolas Masseyeff. After seeing that the labels we’d submitted them to were taking so much time to release them, Nicolas suggested to setup our own label together. He managed to convince me and motivate me; the main reasoning was that we could release what we wanted, and especially when we wanted to – and this doesn’t stop to our own productions of course.

We want to release different stuff, which does not belong to one genre only. That’s because we like very groovy and rhythmical things as much as we like more melodic and melancholic stuff. Nicolas and I really do share the same vision about music.

We see you are playing at Music On again, what other special shows you got lined up this summer? 

Yes, I’m very happy to play once again this year at Music On, Amnesia Ibiza. It’s my fifth year in a row and it’s still a real pleasure. There was also the Music On festival in May, in which I also performed and which was a blast. To answer your question there’s a bunch of cool shows coming up this summer like Be My Lake festival in Hungary, Dreambeach festival in Spain, my 3-hour B2B with Agoria due to take place in August at Brunch Electronik Barcelona, and also BPM festival in Portugal …

What’s your setup when you’re playing these days? Are you performing live much?

I performed live a few years ago after my album “Tides of Mind” was released in 2012, but it was only for a handful of special dates over a few months’ time; I stopped afterwards. I was enjoying doing live performances, but after a while it became boring for me to play my own tracks solely, week after week. And so I stopped and I prefer sticking to DJing, with three CDJ2000 and a Pioneer DJM900 mixer.

I like sometimes to add the FX1000, it brings a livey feeling and you can also play live drum sounds with a small sequencer.

What one track is a constant in your sets right now, and why?

There’s a couple, of course, but the one track that’s always in my sets I think, even though it’s a few months old, is Sven Tasnadi – “Change” (Mathias Kaden downtown remix) on Katermukke. It’s one of those tracks that you can’t seem to take off your playlist. This remix has so much energy, so much groove, that it never misses on the dancefloor. It truly reflects Mathias’ spirit; and I love the melody that shows up towards the end.

Any new releases in the pipeline for us to be excited about?

I’ve just released a three-track EP early June on my label Diversions Music, “Reset to Zero”. Also, my track “Instinct” will be featured on Knee Deep in Sound’s upcoming July Ibiza sampler.
And I have so many other things going on but it’s still a bit early to talk about them. Sorry

Reset To Zero EP is out now! Grab it here: https://www.beatport.com/release/reset-to-zero-ep/2291420

Artist FB: https://www.facebook.com/OXIA.official/

Artist SC: https://soundcloud.com/oxia-official