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Tydi - The New Numero Uno

Author: Cyclone
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Is this year’s inthemix50 poll a sign of things to come- While electro house still dominated the top ten it was trance that came out on top with Brisbane’s Tydi reigning supreme in 2008. 3D’s Cyclone spoke with Australia’s new number one DJ.

Want evidence that trance is back- tyDi, aka Tyson Illingworth, is Australia’s new number one DJ.

The precocious Queenslander knocked off Ajax from 2008’s inthemix50 poll, Sydney’s reigning electro-houser slipping to number three. “I didn’t really expect to get number one,” tyDi enthuses. “I was hoping to be in the top five again, which is pretty cool. But I didn’t know that this was gonna happen!”

tyDi is not only, at 21, the youngest DJ to top the poll, but also the first Queenslander. He has no desire to follow the likes of BeXta, leaving Queensland for bigger cities. Among other things, he’s committed to his residency at Brisbane’s Family nightclub.

The trance DJ believes that many Australians, particularly Sydneysiders, sleep on Queensland’s scene. However, Queenslanders have acquired greater confidence in their local talent. (The state is well represented in the inthemix50 poll with four names in the top 10.) “This year Queenslanders have really gotten on board and just supported their artists. They’ve gone, ‘All right, let’s help out the DJs who play for us every weekend.’”

And tyDi goes as far as to suggest that Brisbane crowds are more fluid than elsewhere. “The people who like house music also like trance, and the people who like trance also like house. Everybody’s very open and supportive.”

Ultimately, tyDi, who lets slip that he’s virtually booked out ’til the New Year, has transcended his home state. “I feel I’m more part of an Australian scene, because I play around Australia just as much as I play in Queensland.”

He’s enigmatic. Between DJing across the country and producing, tyDi is studying part-time at the Conservatorium of Music, yet his classmates are unaware he DJs. “I don’t go around advertising that I’m a DJ,” he says. “I think they’d find it a bit weird.”

tyDi’s formal background has influenced his electronic music-making as he’s recording strings. “I’m actually working with a string player from Missy Higgins’ band at the moment.”

tyDi’s long-term plan is to develop a live set with musicians and a singer. It won’t be his maiden ‘band’. He once played drums in a punk outfit.

In the interim, tyDi, who cites Markus Schulz as a mentor, has issued music via Armin van Buuren’s Armada and Andy Moor’s no less notable AVA Recordings.
tyDi, interested in minimal techno but not electro-house, has lately readied an album for Armada.
“The album is a very long-term project that I’ve been chipping away at for a few years,” he reveals. ”A lot of the songs on it are already released on the Armada label – the latest track just came out, it’s called Russia. It’s just showcasing the music that I’ve been writing over the last two years. I think it really shows off how much my style has changed. There’s also a lot of ambient and chill-out on my album.

“But it’s still changing at the moment now – we’ve delayed the release by a couple of months just because of a few changes.”

WHO: Australia’s Number One DJ, AKA tyDi
WHAT: Plays Sublime at Home / Global Gathering at Hordern Pavilion
WHEN: Friday 19 September / Sunday 30 November
MORE: myspace.com/djtydi

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