The Music

Originally a 3 piece, Solarstone blazed a trail through the emergent days of trance, founding their name with the club hits like ‘Green Light’ (1995), ‘The Calling’ (1997) and ‘The Impressions EP’ (1998). As the first trance wave peaked in 1999 Solarstone left an indelible mark on the scene with the Top 40 hit ‘Seven Cities’. The track - one of, if not the first Balearic Trance anthems - has been re-released 3 times and has sold in excess of ½ million copies. Remixed in 2002 by Armin van Buuren, its instantly-recognizable sunset-sound legacy can still be heard in tracks today.

Over the following 6 years Solarstone continued to feed the masses with floor-busters like ‘Solarcoaster’ (2003), ‘Speak in Sympathy’ (2004), ‘Eastern Sea’ (2005) & ‘Like A Waterfall’ (2006). In May 2008 he released ‘RainStarsEternal’ – an album described by DJ Mag as “a consummate all-rounder from the UK’s original trance master”. ‘R.S.E.’ spawned six singles including ‘Spectrum’, ‘4ever’ & ‘Late Summer Fields’ - the latter of which Richard produced, sung and wrote the lyrics for. In the autumn of the following year its remix companion piece ‘RSEMIX’ was released with refashioned tracks from the likes of Ferry Corsten, Probspot, Stan Void, Jaksaw & Pedro del Mar.

June 2010 brought ‘RainStarsEternal’s successor … ‘Touchstone’. The album was a concentrated effort by Richard to chart the inspirations & influences that had gone to make up his musical psyche. They ranged from some of the most famous artists of the last 50 years to some of the most niche & hidden. To date it has generated the singles ‘Slowmotion’, ‘Electric Love’ and the title track (which DJ Mag called “energy-inducing” and Mixmag said was: “essentially the summer of ‘99 recalibrated and refined for 2010”). Its concept was embraced widely by press & fans (with Tilllate calling the album “"fantastic”, “beautifully produced” & “littered with club hits”). As with previous projects the album came with several groundbreaking multimedia angles. These included a revolutionary viral campaign involving the dissemination of Widgets & an online globe (or ‘Mindmap’) which allowed fans to exam all the influences in detail.

On the compilation front in 2000 he released the seminal 'Chilled Out Euphoria', an album still revered today for its multilevel mixing, followed by 2005's 'Destinations Vol 1'. '2006 he released the 99-06 compendium album, ‘AnthologyOne’ and in the spring of 2009 Richard launched his next compilation series, Electronic Architecture. Born from his longstanding love of pop art, it won plaudits and acclaim around the world for its imaginative concept. It was hailed as “a magical blend of music, art and design” by Tilllate Magazine and in March 2010 was nominated for an IDMA award in the Best Full Length Mix category. In July of 2010 Richard had began to compile tracks for a second album in the series, provisionally titled ‘Elec2ronic Architecture’.




The DJ

Solarstone behind a pair of CDJs is something that every EDM lover, planet-wide, should witness at least once in their clubbing careers! Rich brings together a clear and abiding love of melody with an intrinsic, perceptive aptitude for floor-shaking performances. Since learning to spin in the late Nineties, he’s played for the majority of the super-club brands (inc. Cream, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher, Slinky & Euphoria) and spun alongside the worlds best-known DJs many times over. Unlike many other spinners he also maintains a huge home-country following, playing almost as much to UK audiences as to ones abroad. Rich's worldwide travels have also taken him to some of the biggest events and festivals across the globe, and also some of the most remote. Over the years these have included islands in the Philippines, bush parties in Australia and massive festivals in the heart of Brazil.

Solaris International

Solaris International is presented by Solarstone / Robbie Nelson on alternate weeks, featuring the latest progressive house and quality trance music, with a host of exclusive features including the chillout moment, the solarSwarm selection, the unsigned track of the week plus the tune of the week, plus a weekly 30 minute guest mix from a top dj, competitions and lots of other stuff. Listeners can also vote for their favourite track of the show in the forum favourite.



More info:

www.solarstone.co.uk