KSHMR

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Logo by KSHMR
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Niles Hollowell-Dhar (2013)

Niles Hollowell-Dhar (born October 6, 1988 in Berkeley , California ) is an American songwriter , DJ and record producer with Indian roots. He is best known under the stage name KSHMR , as well as under his pseudonym The Cataracs , under which he was active as a project with David Benjamin Singer-Vine from 2003 to August 2012.

Career

Chart placements as a DJ

In 2015, KSHMR reached number 23 in the DJ-Mag annual charts. In 2016 he reached 12th place. He also took this place in 2017.

2003–2012: First successes as a duo "The Cataracs"

Logo of his project "The Cataracs"

David Campa Benjamin Singer-Vine and Niles Cyrano Hollowell-Dhar met at Berkeley High School, California, and formed music producers in 2003. They released their first album Technohop, Vol. 1 in 2006 on an independent label. One of their first third-party productions was a track for the hip-hop band The Pack, also from Berkeley . More albums and productions followed, but they didn't leave a big impression.

The big breakthrough came in 2010 with the song Like a G6 . Singer-Vine and Hollowell-Dhar produced the song for the Californian quartet Far East Movement and were involved as authors and interpreters. A sample of the song Booty Bounce by the singer Dev , which was also produced by The Cataracs, is used in the chorus . Like a G6 rose to number 1 on the US Billboard charts . It also became an international hit, reaching the top of the charts in New Zealand and the top 10 in many other countries.

With participation in the tracks Bass Down Low by Dev and Backseat and Better With the Lights off by the New Boyz together with Chris Brown and Dev, three more successes followed in Great Britain and the USA. All three songs were produced and co-written by them. Together with Snoop Dogg , from his rap song What's My Name, Pt. 2 borrowed their name The Cataracs , they wrote the song Wet for Prince William's bachelorette party in 2011 . They then re-produced the title with David Guetta , making it a worldwide hit that reached number one in the singles charts in Austria , France and Australia.

2012: Exit Singer-Vines, success with Hey Now

In the summer of 2012 the duo reached the single charts in numerous countries with the song All You , which was created in collaboration with Kaskade and Waka Flocka Flame . They also entered the US electronic album charts with their EP Gordo Taqueria . A little later David Singer-Vine decided to get out of the music business. Niles Hollowell-Dhar announced that they would go on alone and keep the name The Cataracs . After a few rather less successful singles, he produced the song Hey Now with the French DJ Martin Solveig in 2013 , which was able to advance into the top 10 in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

In June 2013, Hollowell-Dahr announced that he was currently working on the second single from Selena Gomez's debut album Stars Dance . The song is called Slow Down and made it into the singles charts of the USA, France and Canada, among others. They also made it into the top 20 of numerous iTunes charts. In a radio interview, Gomez said she was happy to have chosen to work with The Cataracs. He also wrote and produced the track Undercover for their album. Gomez also mentioned that these were her favorite songs on the album. In September 2013, Niles announced on Facebook that he was working on a lot of new recordings at the time. At the same time, he is said to have re-established contact with David Singer-Vine and also that there is a chance of getting back into the project.

2014: Genre change and KSHMR

Logo of his project KSHMR

In spring 2014 Hollowell-Dhar signed a record deal with the Dutch record label "Spinnin 'Records". On February 24, 2014 he released the song Megalodon as a single under his new pseudonym KSHMR . In contrast to the songs he has produced so far, this track is based on a big room drop. His second single, Baila , followed in April and was released as a free track. At the same time he started the podcast "Welcome to KSHMR", which was made available for free download. In this episode, he presented a previously unreleased song as well as his single Omnislash , released in July 2014 . At the same time the song No Heroes was released , which was recorded with the Dutch DJ duo Firebeatz and the British singer Luciana Caporaso. The song quickly gained popularity. It rose to the top 10 of the Beatport charts and after just a few months the official music video was viewed several million times on YouTube. In August 2014, Niles released another single with Luciana, entitled Dogs, as a free download. He introduced Dogs in the previously published “Welcome to KSHMR” , but this version has numerous differences. Reasons for rewriting were not given.

In September 2014 Burn was released on Revealed Records, the record label of the Dutch DJ Hardwell . The song was co-produced with DallasK and became a huge hit. The track was played by numerous DJs such as Tiësto , Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike or Vinai on their gigs and Hardwell even named it one of his favorites of 2014. In a vote of the best songs published on Revealed from 2010 to 2015, Burn made it to number 3. Furthermore, the song advanced to number 1 on the Beatport charts. In December 2014 a vocal version of the track followed together with Luciana with the title Let Your Mind Go . As a "thank you" he made the follow-up single Leviathan available for free download in October 2014 . On December 15, 2014 the song Karate was released in collaboration with the Dutch DJ R3hab . In addition to the typical KSHMR big room style, this track also shows characteristics of the Melbourne bounce. The official music video also premiered one day after its release. Karate advanced to number one on the Beatport charts.

In November 2014 he appeared for the first time as a remixer. This is the song Virus (How About Now) by Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and MOTi. In addition to the normal KSHMR remix, there was also a "House VIP Version" in the Future House style. Only a few weeks later he released another free track called Kashmir , which features Progressive House for the first time. On January 26th, 2015 KSHMR released the song Dead Mans Hand together with a remix of the track Runaway by the Swedish DJ duo Galantis . Dead Man's hand was given high chances of success in advance, which the track ultimately brought. After the release of the free track Clouds in collaboration with Dillon Francis and Becky G, the producer presented four new songs and a remix for the track launch by DJ Jean in the fourth episode of the “Welcome to KSHMR” podcast .

2015: Secrets & collaborations with well-known DJs

In February 2015, KSHMR announced the release of the song Secrets on "Musical Freedom" on March 16, 2015 . Tiësto was involved as a producer . Vassy contributed vocals to the song . The track's release was a success. In the Beatport Top 100 the song was after only one day in fourth place and thus applies to Wizard of Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway as the most successful starter. The trio reached first place after just three days. The official music video followed after three days and was also viewed more than half a million times after a few days. In May 2015, Secrets reached the official singles charts in the Netherlands and Austria.

Parallel to the success of Secrets , a preview of a collaboration with the American DJ Vaski and the singer-songwriter Francisca Hall made its rounds on the Internet. In contrast to his previous singles, this track, which will be titled Lazer Love , is heavily dubious. However, the song wasn't released for free download until July 11, 2015. The Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix also played his new track Jammu , the title of which is based on the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir , in his part on the 100th episode of the podcast "Spinnin 'Sessions". KSHMR used a progressive house drop, which was compared in particular to the musical style of the Swedish DJ and producer Avicii . Jammu and Lazer Love received further promotions with the fifth episode "Welcome to KSHMR" and " Hardwell On Air 217".

On April 24, 2015, The Spook was released together with underground producers BassKillers and B3nte. The style is a fusion of big room and bounce. Already in the fourth episode of the "Welcome to KSHMR" podcast, which appeared in early February 2015, the producer presented the track and received positive criticism as well as early support from the , DJ Carnage from Guatemala. The animated, horror-inspired music video was released on April 25, 2015, one day after the track was released. The fact that The Spook was released as a free track despite the high musical quality attracted a lot of attention .

The next release was the song Toca . He supported trap producer Carnage and the Australian DJ and producer Timmy Trumpet , who is best known for the track Freaks . Toca received strong positive feedback and was just praised for the distinctive recognition value of the three different musicians. The style can be classified in the genre of electro-house. The official music video shows Carnage and Trumpet touring Australia together. The track was created through a collaboration between Trumpet and Carnage via the service "Stems" from Native Instruments, which is currently available exclusively to high-class producers . To put the finishing touches to the title, Carnage and Trumpet visited KSHMR at his Los Angeles home to work out the final version with the sound designer, who is considered a production genius. The title celebrated a kind of premiere in the podcast episode "Welcome to KSHMR Vol. 5". This was first published by KSHMR on May 27, 2015. A few weeks later, on June 26, 2015, the song was released as a single. In addition to Toca , Jammu and Lazer Love , there were also new collaborations with Dannic and Zaxx, as well as two new, self-produced versions of Secrets in the 5th "Welcome to KSHMR" episode.

Summer 2015: Work on Jammu and Paradesi EP

After a long advance promotion, the progressive house song Jammu was released as a single on June 15, 2015 . In collaboration with the record label Spinnin 'Records , he organized, among other things, a graphic design competition, the aim of which was to design a cover for the single. Furthermore, after the release of the single, he announced the start of a remix competition for the song, the winner of which will be allowed to publish his remix on Spinnin 'Remixes, an imprint of Spinnin' Records, as well as produce a collaboration with KSHMR, also appearing on Spinnin ' . While the promotion of Jammu was in progress, KSHMR also posted an unfinished track called Chile on Facebook, the rhythm of which is apparently borrowed from the Latin American classic La Bamba . He asked for feedback and ready-made suggestions for the continuation of the song, which began as a progressive house track. This move developed the apparently desired effect and increased KSHMR's already great popularity in the scene again. Hundreds of suggestions found their way onto the Internet within the next week. KSHMR commented on every single suggestion on Facebook, giving the budding music producers feedback for their upcoming productions.

At the same time he announced an EP called Paradesi . This EP is a thank you for supporting his music. The EP has been described as a collection of various remixes of Jammu and his prequel Kashmir, as well as a new track that turned out to be a progressive house song entitled Delhi . He completed the work on the Paradesi EP on June 20, 2015. Although the EP is considered a free download, it is not freely accessible. In order to receive the EP for free, it was necessary to purchase the single Jammu from the music portal Beatport and to send an email to KSHMR with the invoices for the track. In return, he sent a Dropbox link to download the EP to all senders. He clearly requested not to pass on the files and the download link. In mid-July 2015, KSHMR made all of its previous free downloads, including the Paradesi EP, available for free download via Dropbox to sweeten the waiting time for its fans for the big announcements expected later in the month.

On July 20, 2015, KSHMR announced that, after denials at the beginning of the year, they wanted to perform and tour as a DJ. His first date has already been set. The premiere of his planned tour The World of KSHMR is scheduled for September 19 this year at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. At the same time, he announced his long-awaited Soundpack Sounds of KSHMR, which will contain a large part of the audio samples he uses. This has been available free of charge via Splice Sounds since July 27, 2015. At the same time later, a progressive house production surfaced on the internet. This turned out to be a collaboration with the Canadian DJ duo Dzeko & Torres . The title was released as Imaginate on July 29, 2015 via Spinnin 'Records as a free download. The singer of the song, however, does not appear as Luciana Caporaso, as suspected in the run-up to the release, but Frankie Miller.

At the same time, the track Memories from the episode on YouTube garnered numerous clicks. At first it was assumed that it was the long-announced Vicetone collab, but this turned out to be a mistake and the track turned out to be a collaboration with the Dutch DJ duo Bassjackers . The vocals were initially incorrectly assigned to Luciana Caporaso after previous collaborations on Let Your Mind Go and Dogs . However, through a Facebook post in which the single cover could be seen, it turned out that it was the American singer Sirah . The big room drop, however, has been heavily compared to the songs Mammoth and Waves by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and W&W , respectively . A promotion campaign is currently running for his single Memories, which was announced for release at the beginning of September 2015 , a collaboration with the Bassjackers and the American rapper Sirah. The collaboration was released on August 31, 2015 via Spinnin 'Records.

Winter 2015: Strong with R3hab

The song Heaven was released on October 19, 2015 , a collaboration with Canadian producer Shaun Frank and Canadian singer Delaney Jane. The track can be classified into the area of ​​deep house and is based very much on the typical characteristics of Hollowell-Dhar. At the same time, his remixes for DJ Jeans The Launch , which again digresses far more into the big room area, and Avicii's For a Better Day in tropical deep house style were released. A progressive house remix to the track Feels by French newcomer Kiiara.

In November 2015, the release of the second collaboration with the Dutchman R3hab entitled Strong was announced for the first time . It was premiered in August 2015 by R3hab at its live performance at Creamfields Festival in Great Britain. Already at the end of October 2015 the track was played as ID in several podcasts by Hardwell , Nicky Romero and Jay Hardway , among others . Was released Strong on 16 November 2015 on Spinnin 'Records. Like KSHMR's and R3hab's previous singles, this one also moved up to number 1 in the Beatport Top 100, but it was criticized that the entire instrumental of the song in the lead part reminds of Secrets and in the drop of R3hab's Tiger .

In the sixth episode of his “Welcome to KSHMR” podcast, he premiered the anthem of the “Sunburn Goa 2015 Festival”. Behind this is the collaboration with the Italian DJ duo Marnik, called Bazaar , which was only announced at the end of November 2015, two months later . The song is based on the style of both projects and evolves from a quieter lead sound to a more or less aggressive big room track. The piece will be released on December 11, 2015 via Spinnin 'Records.

2016: The Lion Across The Field EP

With his first single in 2016, Touch , which was created in collaboration with Felix Snow and Madi, KSHMR released a sound that was far different from what its predecessors contained. The number featured elements of trap as well as bass house and extreme dirty to electro house. In spring 2016, KSHMRS premiered collaboration with singer Sidnie Tipton, which is based on a classic progressive house pattern and made it to number one in the Beatport Top 100. Just one month later, in May 2016, KSHMR released his EP The Lion Across The Field EP , which included wildcard songs from the field of trap, tropical and deep house to big room. The latter contained the title Dhoom and was strongly compared to the song Eclipse by Hardwell , which is why this was kept as the announced collaboration before the release. At the beginning of June 2016, the song Dharma followed , which represents the long-awaited collaboration with Headhunterz .

On September 5, 2016, Invisible Children with Tigerlily came under heavy criticism. The reason for this was the strong similarity to Jangos Indirasta . Many attributed this to the use of the same sample pack, but due to the fact that different parts were almost identical, questioning reviews were raised because of the quality of KSHMR's productions, which is actually always known as "innovative". Voices formed a free track released at the end of September 2016. This was created together with Melbourne Bounce producer Will Sparks . Although the quality of the song was very well received, Sparks lacked recognition, as the number was based almost entirely on Tropica and Deep House elements.

The second collaboration with the Bassjackers appeared on October 24, 2016 . The track appeared under the title Extreme and is due to the future bass style, which was very popular at the time . Due to the similarity to The Chainsmokers Roses , this was traded as a collaboration with them. At Slam.FM , the Bassjackers confirmed that Extreme was created in collaboration with them. The final version was sung by Sdnie Tipton, while the previous one featured songwriter Lia Marie Johnson.

On December 26, 2016, KSHMR released the official anthem for the Sunburn Goa Festival a second time. As in the previous year, this was produced with Marnik and stylistically very similar to its predecessor Bazaar , which was received critically. Mandala was the title and was provided with Indian vocal traces by the singer Mitika. The track reached number one on the Beatport Big Room charts and number 8 in the Top 100.

2017: Materia EP

Back To Me premiered in spring 2017. The track was traded as a second collaboration with the Canadian DJ duo due to the similarity to Dzeko & Torres ' L'amour toujours . At the end of February 2017, the song was announced as a collaboration with Dutch producer Trio-Crossnaders and singer Micky Blue. The track received positive reviews, but was criticized for lack of modernity. It also moved up to the top of the Beatport genre charts. Crossnaders shared about Back To Me :

“KSHMR offered to work with him on Micky Blue's vocals. The project shuttled back and forth and we had a complete track done quickly, but the drop melody was still missing. KSHMR then locked themselves in the studio again and the rest is history. "

- Crossnaders : Billboard

On June 16, 2017, KSHMR published the second collaboration with Tiësto, which had already been announced well in advance. The track sung by Talay Riley is called Harder and is based on the tropical house style that was successful at the time. A club-ready version serves as the intro to Tiësto's fifth episode of his ClubLife compilations. In collaboration with the Dutch trance and big room producer Maurice West, the song Festival of Lights followed on July 21, 2017 . The song was the first release of his Materia EP , which was released on August 4, 2018 including collaborations with Snails and No Mondays, among others.

After the collaboration was announced in October 2015, the song Power , which was created with the Dutch producer Hardwell , premiered on April 16, 2017 . The song is based on an unfinished production by KSHMR from 2014 alone and was released on September 22, 2017 and moved up to number 39 on the Dutch singles chart.

After the quieter song Underwater was released on October 13, 2017 in collaboration with the Indian singer Sonu Nigam , KSHMR will present the two big room productions Islands with R3hab and Shiva with Marnik in December 2018 . Shiva served as the hymn of the Sunburn Goa Festival 2017 and stylistically followed on from the hymns of previous years, which were also produced by KSHMR and Marnik.

2018: Carry Me Home & Grandpa

KSHMR in an interview at Airbeat One 2019

On May 18, 2018, the song Doonka was released , which was created in cooperation with the Israeli producer Mr.Black, who has been active on "Spinnin 'Records" for some time. The vocal track Carry Me Home with singer Jake Reese followed a month later . The song advanced to the Swedish singles charts.

After the track was already included on their compilation album Bringing the Madness in 2016 , Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike released the song Opa, recorded together with KSHMR, on July 22, 2018 as part of their Tommorowland EP . The official music video shows the Greek Zorba's Dance embodied in the song .

In August 2018 the songs Neverland with 7 Skies and Good Vibes Soldier with Head Quattaz were released.

The song Magic was released on November 2, 2018, stylistically a follow-up to Secrets . Tiësto did not take part in this. On the other hand, KSHMR revealed that the track arose from an idea that he developed together with the Swedish producer Adrian Lux .

2019: No Regrets & Devil Inside Me

In March 2019, the single No Regrets was released together with the Belgian DJ Yves V and the electro-pop band Krewella .

In May 2019 the single Devil Inside Me was released together with the Swedish producer KAAZE . The singing of the song was contributed by the American singer Karra.

At the end of June 2019, he released his second collaboration with Australian DJ and producer Timmy Trumpet . This was called The People and was announced back in 2017 during his appearance at the Sunburn Festival in India. At the same time, the single Lies , influenced by hardstyle and trap elements, was released , which was created in collaboration with the Dutch producer B3rror and the singer Luciana.

The single My Best Life followed in mid-July 2019, the vocals of which were taken over by the Australian singer Mike Waters. After the original version had a trendy design, a club mix followed in August 2019, which surpassed the success of the original on Spotify . In September 2019, another pop single was released with Bombay Dreams . This was created together with the Indian DJ duo Lost Stories and the Indian singer Kavita Seth.

In October 2019, KSHMR returned to the big room genre with the song Do Bad Well . The vocals were contributed by the American singer Nevve. A few weeks later the song Alone was released , which was KSHMR's fourth collaboration with Marnik. In addition, the Canadian singer Anjulie and Eiffel 65 singer Jeffrey Jey took part.

2020: KSHMR Essentials & Bruk It Down

In February 2020 the single Over and Out was released , which was created in collaboration with the Malaysian producer Hard Lights and the German singer Charlott Boss . At the same time as the release of his KSHMR Essential plug-in, the single Bruk It Down was released , which he recorded together with the Spanish DJ and producer Sak Noel and the Jamaican singer TxTHEWAY.

Others

KSHMR together with Tiësto in 2014 for the first time behind the DJ desk

Public appearance

While he could be seen in all music videos with the project The Cataracs , he made the identity of KSHMR a secret for a long time and was not seen on single covers, in music videos or in social networks. Due to his mentioned name in the credits of the productions, it was revealed that he was behind this. As a result, he officially revealed his identity together with Tiësto at the Ultra Music Festival 2014. Although he originally said he did not want to appear as a DJ, he announced on July 20, 2015 that he wanted to perform live from 2016 on. Since then, KSHMR can also be seen at numerous festivals, excerpts of which can now also be seen in music videos.

Arrangement as co-songwriter and producer

In addition to his solo career, Hollowell-Dahr is also active as a ghost producer. Due to his sudden entry into the EDM scene as a ghost producer, a kind of running gag developed on numerous music platforms , especially in 2014, and especially on YouTube , the claim KSHMR would have been active as the decisive producer appeared in the comments of various songs. On May 29, 2015, British DJ and producer Mat Zo posted a list on Twitter of a selection of ghost producers and the musicians for whom they are named. Hollowell-Dhar has been associated with Dvbbs , Carnage and Borgeous . However, it is criticized that he originally announced that he only wanted to work with lesser-known artists, but afterwards collaborated with Tiësto, R3hab and many other great DJs.

Even before his breakthrough in electro house, he was active as a co-writer, producer and composer. He officially worked for the first time in 2010 as co-producer of the David Guetta remix to Snoop Doggs Sweat . There followed another collaboration with the French DJs with the song I Just Wanna F , in which Timbaland and the singer Dev , whose entire debut album he produced in the same year, also took part. In the following years 2012 and 2013 he built his fame and wrote and produced for Jason Derulo , Selena Gomez and Sean Paul's world hit The Other Side of Love, among others .

In parallel with the founding of his project KSHMR , the genre in which he was active also changed. Hollowell-Dhar laid the cornerstone on which his entire later career was based in the Big Room area with the unmentioned participation in the tracks Tsunami and Stampede by the Canadian DJ duo Dvbbs and the American DJ Borgeous together with the Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike . Before the official musicians were announced, they falsely participated in the songs It Feels by the Australian Nervo Twins, the instrumental piece Rave After Rave by the Dutch DJ duo , which was played for the first time at the kick-off of the world tour "Bringing the World Madness" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike W&W as well as DVBBS and Jay Hardways voodoo suspected.

Another false assumption in the area of ​​ghost production was caused by the song Tiger by R3hab , Skytech and Fafaq. All speculation among the fans began as to the extent to which KSHMR had contributed to this, often some fans even expressed the opinion that it was only KSHMR's track. Hollowell-Dhar responded with an almost outraged post in which he made it clear that his contribution to Toca had been minimal and that he only considered Tiger a good track and posted it solely for that reason. He would have had nothing to do with the production of the song. In addition, R3hab is one of the hardest working producers he knows and has been heavily involved in the production of his solo track Dead Man's Hand .

Background of the free tracks and music videos

According to a comment by the artist on a Facebook post, the "KSHMR" project, despite all other assumptions, has not brought anything to the producer up to this point. The reason for this, however, is not a lack of sales figures, but rather the complex music videos for each of his tracks, which he finances entirely himself. This is the only way he can ensure that the videos contain a message and remain profound. It is also a real battle with his label "Spinnin 'Records" every time he wants to make a track available for free download. However, he is of the opinion that all music should be freely available, which is an unattainable goal, but he wants to realize as well as possible.

KSHMR Essentials

In April 2020, KSHMR released its first own plugin KSHMR Essentials together with Splice and WA Production . The plugin is an FX plugin which was developed for five different sounds.

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label
Remarks
2006 Technohop Vol. 1
Cyrano
First published: July 7th, 2006
as The Cataracs
2007 Technohop Vol. 2
Cyrano
First released: July 7th, 2007
as The Cataracs
2008 The 13th Grade
Indie Pop
First published: January 1st, 2008
as The Cataracs
2009 Songs We Sung in Showers
Indie Pop
First released: January 1st, 2009
as The Cataracs

swell

  1. Top 100 DJs 2017 | DJMag.com. Retrieved October 22, 2017 (English).
  2. far-east-movement-tops-hot-100-with-like-a-g6
  3. ^ The Cataracs Announce Breakup , Homozazzi.com, August 23, 2012
  4. Timo Büschleb: KSHMR sometimes without Indian sounds: KSHMR & Crossnaders feat. Micky Blue - Back To Me on " Dance Charts "
  5. Kat Bein: KSHMR and Crossnaders Go for Big Festival Vibes on 'Back To Me': Exclusive on " Billboard "
  6. KSHMR & Yves V Feat. Krewella - No Regrets. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  7. About the Author / Lilla Kontra: KSHMR & KAAZE - Devil Inside Me. In: We Rave You. May 27, 2019, accessed May 8, 2020 (American English).
  8. KSHMR & Timmy Trumpet - The People. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  9. Beatport LLC: Luciana, KSHMR, B3RROR - Lies (feat. Luciana) (Original Mix) [Dharma (WMG)]. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  10. KSHMR. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  11. KSHMR Essentials | WA Production. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  12. KSHMR Essentials VST. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .

Web links