Blackhole picture memory storage7/14/2023 ![]() ![]() The parent label Black Hole remained a driving force in trance, helping to platform future stars like Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten with the well-conceived Artist Profile series, which ran across 19. Some were mere flashes in the pan, others endure to this day, and there have been more than 100 in all over the years. ![]() As the label’s profile grew, so more and more artists would send in demos that didn’t quite fit, so Arny and Tiësto decided to branch out with various sub-labels. Sales of the compilation also funded the opening of a small Black Hole office and expansion into releasing 12″s, artist albums and mix compilations. It was an early high watermark for the genre that is still regarded as a classic, and it was instrumental in helping to establish Tiësto as a DJ and producer on the world scene. The mix itself took in deep, progressive trance with dark, ethereal and pulsing grooves, progressive sounds and techno-leaning styles. And it was all done by Arny on an early Mac and basic software, despite having no formal training whatsoever. That imagery, along with artwork that followed, helped give Black Hole a unique visual identity that chimed with the dreamy and otherworldly nature of the music. Part of that was down to the success of their first release – the Magik CD compilation with its fairy imagery (borrowed without permission and thus later removed) from acclaimed British artist Patrick Woodroffe. It was a perfect pairing and the label soon became known around Europe as a bastion for the freshest sounds around. Largely, Tiësto did the music, Arny did the business. The pair decided to go it alone and set up Black Hole Recordings in 1997. Before long, they used a Basic Beat sub-label as a launch pad and inaugurated the now legendary Forbidden Paradise and Lost Treasures mix series to showcase these emotive new sounds. In those days, hardcore and mellow house music were most popular, but Arny and Tiësto were more excited by the then-new trance sound. It was on dance floors like this that Arny and Tiësto truly solidified their relationship, so when Bink became manager for a hardcore label that was set up by the newly founded Rotterdam company Basic Beat, he naturally put Tiësto forwards for a position behind the counter of the Basic Beat record store. The popularity of electronic music in the region also gave rise to weekend-long mega raves in clubs like Extreme, Illusion and La Rocca. It was all these styles and more that Arny would often sell to Tiësto - who at the time had not yet adopted his iconic moniker - at Breda record store Tunesville. And the geography of the small city is important – its location close to the border with Belgium and not all that far from Germany meant that the acid, techno, wave and EBM of those countries spilled over and mixed with the Dutch gabber movement. Tom Parker, but the arguably even more iconic Black Hole co-founder Tiësto, and Arny himself. The label’s roots lay in the southern part of the Netherlands in the city of Breda, the birthplace of not only Elvis Presley’s manager Col. Despite its considerable influence on the scene, it still operates from a small office with a tight-knit team of 13 people (divided, it should be noted, almost equally between genders, which is still an all too rare thing in the world of dance music.) It is now a company that has been pivotal to the emergence, survival and thriving of too many artists and sub-labels to mention. In that time, the label has gone from early trance innovator to global trance ambassador. That Arny Bink’s Black Hole Recordings celebrates a quarter of a century in action on September 15th, then, is remarkable. Or for a label to explode overnight and then implode before they even get into double digital catalogue numbers. ![]() It is not uncommon for breakout artists to come and go in a matter of months. In terms of electronic music, it can be multiple lifetimes. Twenty-five years is a long time by any measure. ![]()
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