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HI-LO

The Techno Project That Gave Oliver Heldens Another Voice

Check out the HI-LO events here ↓Techno · Tech House

Oliver Heldens developed a second artistic identity for darker club music. Through Drumcode releases and HILOMATIK, HI-LO became a serious catalog rather than a side project.

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2 MIN READ · 439 WORDSORIGINAL REPORTING · THE DJ HANGOUT
ARTISTOliver Heldens
PROJECTHI-LO
LABELHILOMATIK
CATALOGDrumcode · HILOMATIK

CHAPTER 01

Why a successful house producer makes another name

When an artist becomes known for one sound, listeners can start expecting variations of the same formula. Dutch producer Oliver Heldens developed HI-LO as a separate outlet for darker, more insistent club material. The music leans into techno rhythms, low-frequency pressure and hypnotic repetition while his wider career remains associated with house productions.

The distinction matters because an alias cannot succeed just by changing the typeface on a flyer. It needs records and a musical point of view. HI-LO became recognizable through recordings designed for long club sets, powerful sound systems and audiences prepared to follow a track as it gradually changes.

CHAPTER 02

A long conversation with the techno circuit

The HI-LO catalog includes releases on Adam Beyer’s Drumcode label, a home for contemporary techno. The label lists tracks such as Hypnos, Rabbit Hole, Wanna Go Bang and Crescendo. These releases show a sustained commitment to techno rather than a temporary detour prompted by a passing trend.

Collaboration has remained part of the project. Working with other club producers allows the music to develop beyond a single fixed signature. The result can be driving and heavy without abandoning the melodic or structural imagination that listeners may recognize from Heldens’s other releases.

CHAPTER 03

HILOMATIK gives the project its own home

HI-LO also developed HILOMATIK as a release identity. It gives the project a consistent home for music built around crisp drums, tight bass and arrangements that respond well in a club. A label can help define an artist’s priorities even before a listener sees the name attached to a particular track.

The project remained active through 2026. Rhythm of Life appeared on HILOMATIK in May, while Do Not Disturb with Saint Joshua followed in June. A collaboration with Vini Vici titled Pump It Up arrived in July on Alteza, and MEGALITHIC appeared through HILOMATIK in September. The sequence shows a producer continuing to explore adjacent forms of high-energy electronic music.

CHAPTER 04

An alias only works when the music does

What makes HI-LO useful to study is the discipline behind the second identity. An artist can play more than one style without forcing those styles under the same name, but an alternative project must build its own credibility in the communities it hopes to reach.

The Drumcode releases, the HILOMATIK catalog and the regular flow of new recordings now give audiences independent reasons to seek out HI-LO. For emerging DJs and producers, the lesson is not that everybody needs two names. It is that a new direction deserves the time and detail required to become a real body of work.

THE REPORTING BEHIND THE STORY

Verified releases, artist accounts, interviews and dated event records. Artist-reported history is identified in the article when older accounts disagree.

  1. Drumcode — HI-LO recordings ↗Techno label releases and collaborations
  2. Apple Music — Rhythm of Life ↗May 2026 HILOMATIK release
  3. Apple Music — HI-LO discography ↗2026 catalog and recorded performances

Until an authentic image is approved for republication, this profile uses original name artwork rather than a fabricated artist portrait.

BACKGROUND

Netherlands

SOUND

Techno · Tech House

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