Eric Prydz

Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz releases singles and EPs under a variety of project names, including Pryda, Cirez D, Sheridan, Dirty Funker, Moo, A and P Project, Axer, Hardform, Dukes of Sluca, and Groove System. Most of these singles are released on his own labels, which include Mouseville, Pryda, and Pryda Friends. Under his own name, however, Prydz favors straightforward, club-oriented house with a line in remakes of mildly cheesy pop songs from the 1980s. Prydz's first release in this style was 2004's "Call on Me," a sensation in Europe upon its release. Built on the hook from Steve Winwood's 1987 hit "Valerie" (with new vocals by Winwood), "Call on Me" hit the top of the singles chart in both England and Germany, spurred in large part by a somewhat controversial video consisting of an overtly sexual aerobic routine that had no less a personage than U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly commenting on its salaciousness. Prydz followed this in 2005 with "Woz Not Woz," a beat-heavy instrumental revamp of the 1980 Was (Not Was) single "Wheel Me Out" that was less commercially successful but more musically inventive. This was followed in 2006 by "Proper Education," a remake of Pink Floyd's smash "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" that set David Gilmour and the schoolchildren chorus to a considerably funkier backbeat. Prydz continued to issue singles on Pryda for the next few years, culminating in 2012's triple-disc Eric Prydz Presents Pryda. New material was presented on disc one, while discs two and three featured past material edited and mixed by Prydz. In 2015 he issued "Opus," a nine-minute, building track that became a hit, and then made news when Kieran Hebden, aka left-field producer Four Tet, tweeted out a request to do a remix. The request was granted, and in 2016, "Opus" became the title track to Prydz's debut studio album. ~ Stewart Mason