From: Smolensk, Russia.
DJ style: “Electronic dance music.”
Best known for: “‘Fast & Furious 6’ soundtrack. Collaborations with Tiësto, Kaskade, R3HAB and many more. Multi-platinum sales artists.”
Fave tune of 2018: “Swanky Tunes ‘In The Club’.”
Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2018: “Rompasso.”

Swanky Tunes come rocketing back up the chart into 71st position this year. But what’s the key to their success? “We’ve been experimenting a lot with everything: music, videos, travels, leisure time, and that’s really cool to do, to come out of the box and see things from the other side,” the trio tell DJ Mag when asked about their year. Sounds like keeping things fresh is the trick! In terms of music that means Vadim Shpak, Dmitry Burykin and Stanislav Zaytsev have been putting out big bass-heavy bangers like ‘Drop It’ (the video for which collected crazy footage of the lads playing before huge crowds) and new trap-influenced track ‘In The Club’, plus they mixed the 2018 edition of their Showland Records’ ‘Miami’ compilation.

Speaking of Showland, this year the label dropped EPs from Rhannes, Will Fast and Dumbers and is now close to breaking the 100th release mark, meaning more celebrations are inbound for the near future.

Words: BEN HINDLE