Speaking to RaverRafting, Polish DJ, remixer and producer Tom Swoon discusses his return to electronic dance music and his most recent release ‘Atom’. Previously known as Pixel Cheese, Dorian Tomasiak currently hosts Lift Off Radio on Electro City on Dash Radio which has recently gone through a rebrand. Tom Swoon gained popularity after his first remix, Gareth Emery’s ‘Tokyo’, which was released on Garuda and climbed the Beatport Top 100 chart, which were then followed by remixes by Steve Aoki and Kaskade. His first release via Ultra Records ‘Elva’ was quickly followed by his last release under the Pixel Cheese pseudonym two months later which was a mix of Nervo’s ‘You’re Gonna Love Again’. Tom Swoon has also toured with the likes of Avicii and Steve Aoki and has been nominated for a number of awards.
Could you explain your sound and where you fit in the electronic music arena?
From the moment I decided to expand my sound further, I feel like there is no one specific place I want to lock myself into anymore. Personally, I’ve been always listening to various kinds of music and now, when I often feel different things, they translate into songs totally different from each other.
‘Atom’ has been incredibly successful, did you expect it to have this much of a reaction?
It was actually a really challenging task for us and I felt a lot of pressure while working on ‘Atom’. Going after such a classic can sometimes go the wrong way, but I’m glad it is being appreciated by so many people, as well as A-List DJ’s – it really means a lot!
We saw you recently hosted an intimate party for the re-launch of your radio show, what was the idea behind doing this?
The rebranding of the show which I’ve been working on every week for the past three years was something really huge for me and that’s why I decided to do in a special way, instead of just rolling out the next episode under a new name. I was thinking of a way where I could challenge myself in a fun-to-watch way, and that’s how the ‘live’ episode idea came up.
Who do you listen to in your spare time / when you’re travelling?
I hardly listen to just one artist to be honest. Thanks to Spotify, I am always loading up my phone with totally different types of stuff, from jazz to drum n bass (mostly from unheard artists) and depending on the mood, I click play on an appropriate playlist 😉
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I would like to shoot out a few names here, but after a second thought, I think that I just want to work with someone who will understand me, my reasons and will open up enough, so that I could understand him/her. I believe that if that’s achieved, we won’t have to worry about the output of our work, because it will be something good for sure.
Who are your musical influences?
Lately I’ve been not really relying on any particular name, but rather curiosity around the musical tastes of other people – and that element of discovering something new all the time is something influencing me a lot now.
What advice would you give to other Polish artists looking to get ahead in the US space?
The first thing that comes to my mind is to tell them that there is no ‘easy way’ to break out. That’s a very common mistake coming from them watching all these videoclips of huge festivals and thinking the artist life is all about ‘this’ and nothing else. If I had a penny for every time I’ve heard ‘your life must be so easy, man.’
What’s next after ‘Atom’? Can we expect more EP releases?
For now, I am focusing on single releases – the next one is coming in May on Blasterjaxx’s Maxximize Records, so watch out for this one!
Connect with Tom Swoon:
https://facebook.com/TomSwoon
https://twitter.com/TomSwoon
https://soundcloud.com/tomswoon
https://instagram.com/tomswoon
https://tomswoon.com
Share On
