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If we had to pick the DJs DJ of EDM, few names would fit the bill better than Oliver Heldens. Someone who prides himself on creative tune selection, hes just as likely to play tech-house as he is future house and disco in an EDM set. And thats just when hes playing as Oliver Heldens. His more underground alter ego HI-LO is strictly driving tech-house and techno. “I play tech-house but Im not a techno DJ. I play mainly house — future house,” he tells DJ Mag. “I play anything thats groovy, old house stuff or electro-house.”

While before he felt a little out of place dropping his tunes on EDMs main stages, over the past 12 months he found himself playing slots at crossover festivals like Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, and it was as if something clicked. “Now I can rock the main stage,” he adds. “A lot of commercial stuff mixed with cool club records and it goes off, and Im happy with that.”

However, hes not bothered about working on a live show or becoming the next EDM pop star. Its as a disc jockey that his heart lies. “I prefer to DJ. As a DJ you can play a lot of different stuff and you can play on the fly — but with live stuff, youre really bound to what you can do live.”

Its his appreciation of all types of dance music — something borne into him since the age of 10, growing up in Rotterdam listening to hard dance — that marks him out as one of EDMs leading selectors. Hes someone who appreciates disco and the groove of classic house as much as he does drum