Thomas Penton (Owner of Electric Candy Recordings)
 As one of the first pioneers to start introducing dance music to his native South Florida, this veteran has been DJing, producing, & releasing techno projects since 1992. Since then, Penton has produced various releases that have fueled the best talents in the world. Penton's productions have been supported for over a decade by Sasha, John Digweed, Dave Seaman, Paul Oakenfold, Chus & Celballos, and many others. Today, he has released over 80 various projects on some of the industries highest respected dance labels, including Perfecto, Armada, Intenso, Stereo Productions, Sutil, Baroque & more. For-more his many past & present productions are featured on numerous compilations from some of the industries largest selling dance labels, such as Euphoria, Gatecrasher, Bedrock, and Perfecto. His style has crossed all borders, from producing a wide range of progressive, tribal, and electro house releases. His productions have received acclaim press from some of the industries largest dance magazines and online publications.
Now Penton heads his own label, Electric Candy Recordings. Allowing him to focus more on electro house & progressive styled projects, there are many releases scheduled for 2007. The label will also feature numerous remixers as well featuring productions from artists Peter Presta, Tronso, Martin H., Hernan Serrao, Scott Anselmo, Damien Heck, & Cecil McCarthy are out now and receiving massive support worldwide. Thomas's last release, "Jacks Funk" charted #1 at Beatport.com for several weeks. Releases are available now exclusively at www.Beatport.com.
At the beginning of the year, Thomas completed his Mix CD with 19BOX Recordings from Japan. As well as, mixing the soon to be released ‘Girls on Film’ dance remix album for 2Asides Rec. And later in 2007, Thomas will be releasing a new mix cd with I/O Music featuring some of the best in electro/progressive house. But his studio work doesn't end there; Thomas has released sample library cds for production studios & artists titled, Essential Drums & Percussion Vol. I. and the newly released, Essential Loops & Sound Effects; which has been featured in Future Music Magazine. These two special projects are available exclusively at Resonantvibes.com. And be expecting numerous more remixes & original productions from him before the years end. He has toured all throughout the world and all throughout the US and is currently available for DJ performances and remix productions.
Discography for Electric Candy Recordings:
# ECR007: Thomas Penton - Midnight Freak (Original & Alex Armes RMX)
# ECR006: Thomas Penton - Bring Me Back (Original & Cecil McCarthy RMX)
# ECR005: Scott Anselmo - Vertical Lift (Aerobraking & Damien Heck Mixes)
# ECR004: Thomas Penton & Hernan Serrao - Jacks Funk (Original & Alyson Calagnas Elektra RMX)
# ECR003: Tronso - Your So Nice to Me (Original & Santiago Nino RMX)
# ECR002: Thomas Penton Presents Stripwalker - Everything is Wrong (Original & Martin H. RMX)
# ECR001: Thomas Penton - Body Rock (Original & Peter Presta RMX)
Interview with Thomas Penton at Electric Candy
1. With so many new labels popping up over the last couple years what made you to decide to start a label of your own?
Well, I've managed my own labels a few times, years ago (Resonance & Inductive). So I knew technically what to do. But just felt I wanted an easy outlet for my new releases. A way for me to keep more control and to help friends release their works as well. So far things have done very well for my label Electric Candy Recordings with Beatport.com & others.
2. Is there a specific sound that Electric Candy targets when signing music?
Would you say there a specific target audience you are after or is it mostly wide open? Well it must be a mixture of progressive & electro. But must have 'big room' energy. I don't want to release 'deep' or 'minimal' projects. And usually every artists I sign to the label, I do a remix for the project. I also love vocals, so the range is wide I feel.
3. Which release are you most excited about or proud of?
Always the newest one, doing some remixes now that I think are strong and will work the floor good. Some of which are on my label and some for other labels. The newest release for Electric Candy Recordings (which features a RMX by Alex Armes & I) is by a new artist, 'Audio Junkies' - Something 4 Your Mind. It will feature 4 mixes and be out July 5th.
4. Several of Electric Candy's releases have made it to the top 5 downloads/sales at notable Digi download sites such as Beatport.com. How does this fair for the label?
Well very good, of course. Great for exposure and great to make a few dollars to give to our artists. I'm just very happy to see people enjoying the tracks & playing them out.
5. What can we expect from Electric Candy in the next six months?
Usually one new release every month. As I mentioned above, the new release coming soon. And the next release (ECR009) is a collaboration project, Thomas Penton & Kotoswitch. Koto is a new artist from Taiwan. Also, I'm doing a lot of collaboration works with Alex Armes for Electric Candy Recordings.
6. On a more personal note, are there plans for an Thomas Penton artist album in the not so distant future?
No time for an album, I rather do singles.
7. You have been touring Asia and abroad this past year. How has the jetsetting experience influenced your production and the labels future?
Well I feel the crowds want energy and to have a good time, not for a DJ to show how deep he can get. So that's what I put into my music. Also with the traveling, it has allowed me to meet many great unknown producers who I'm trying to help now.
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