In what may be a somewhat dubious distinction, D.O.N.S. is best-known to many clubbers as a remixer of Technotronic's immortal "Pump Up the Jam." In 2005, some 16 years after the original track's release, the Hamburg, Germany-based producer managed to take his reworked version high into the reaches of the U.K. singles chart. He did so by taking the swagger of the original track and imbuing it with his signature stamp, an electro-based but commercially friendly brand of house. In yet more '90s dance nostalgia, in recent years, he's also given the treatment to tracks by Reel 2 Real and even the Real McCoy.
D.O.N.S. pumps out plenty of his own jams too, and they're as cheerfully crowd-pleasing as those remixes. Divas' commands weave in and out of heavy synth pads and crescendoing snares, all dramatically reaching those requisite big-room climaxes. There's just enough weirdness here, though, to keep a listener off-guard. The guy is German, after all, and some tracks have just a dab of techy vibes. Not too much, though — for D.O.N.S., the peak hour is clearly the only one that matters. Before a serious schedule of WMC gigs, he plays B.E.D. on Tuesday to celebrate the release of his new artist album, released on his own imprint, Kingdom Kome Cuts.
