Exclusive interview: New Dance Music Friday with Mike Mago

We proudly present the New Dance Music Friday feature, your weekly update on all newly released dance tracks, brought together on one amazing playlist. Featured this week (among many others): Mike Mago! He's releasing his 'Crossing Border' EP pt. 2 today, and talks about the creation of it in this exclusive interview.

Hey, you are releasing your Crossing Borders EP Part 2 today. How did you create this? 
"The first Crossing Borders EP was released last year and my idea was to try and see if I could cross some genre borders but still keep a signature sound in one EP. It turned out super nice and I was really happy with it, allthough I felt it serviced more in creating a signature sound then that it really crossed a lot of borders genre wise. I really liked the idea to make a bunch of tracks and conceptually find a match. I feel this EP turned out really well in that point. As much as I love making music with singer/songwriters, I do have a soft spot for making music that leans more towards the instrumental and melodic parts and focuses on the development of the track. The third track 'Space' is a good example for that in my eyes."

What does this record say about your musical evolution as an artist?
"I feel like internally I'm always thorn between mainstream/pop and underground music, although these terms are pretty relative. I basically feel so much pop is cheesy and so much underground music is snobby. I just like the space in between where there are cool pop tracks, that are catchy yet original, and where there are unique underground tracks that have a certain memorable and catchy element. There is an overlap somewhere there where I like to be. I think this EP represents how I'm interpreting that area now."

The track is featured on Spinnin’s New Dance Music Friday playlist. How important is streaming to you?
"Thank you Spinnin'! :) Streaming changed the industry and for a big part the way people make music. Before streaming I always told people, I would like to make music that people can dance to in clubs or festivals, but also can listen to on their headphones. In that way streaming hasn't changed my way of thinking about my music, but obviously it created a way to fill the void between radio and clubs. I'm relieved nowadays you don't have to make a happy radio tune in order to get more passive listeners to check your music. They can tune in via playlists. On the other hand there is a certain anonymity to it. People may have heard your track a million times, but still don't know who the artist is, because of them just following a playlist. The biggest challenge for an artist nowadays, I think, is to make the conversion from success in plays to success profile wise. For me it's a big challenge in any case, cause next to producing, doing shows and running my label Bmkltsch, there's not so much time left to invest in making that translation. So in short, yes streaming is important, but moreover it's creating or increasing your following. Pff, sounding like a management coach now haha!"

Which tracks released this week should definitely be added to New Dance Music Friday? 
OLWIK, Raie - 'Supercool' (feat. Felix Abebe)

Crush Club, Supermini - 'We Dance'

Weiss - 'Feel My Needs' (Purple Disco Machine remix)

Sterling Void - 'It's Alright' (feat. Paris Brightledge) (Adesse Versions remix)

Nihil Young, Gathier, Wolf Story - 'Align' 

Cedric Gervais vs Superorganism - 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous' (Cedric Gervais remix)

[Please note this playlist will change a week after this post]

Listen to New Dance Music Friday on Apple Music and Deezer