Benny Benassi
KAAZE (real name — Mick Kastenholt) is a Swedish DJ, music producer and electronic music artist known for melodic progressive house, festival EDM and his long-standing collaboration with Revealed Recordings. At different stages of his career, his music has combined progressive house, electro house, big room and elements of techno, while from the early 2020s his sound gradually shifted toward a harder club-oriented aesthetic that he calls Hōt Teknō.
Mick Kastenholt was born on 30 January 1989 in Sweden and comes from Helsingborg. Among the most important figures at the beginning of his professional career were Tiësto and, later, Hardwell. KAAZE subsequently became one of the most recognisable artists associated with Revealed Recordings, released two full-length studio albums and entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs ranking.
Early years
Kastenholt began making music in childhood. According to his professional biographies, he started playing piano and drums at around the age of four. His home musical environment was far from limited to a single genre: the music he heard in his early years included Whitesnake and Earth, Wind & Fire, while 1980s disco, rock and electronic music later played an important role in shaping his own approach.
At around the age of 16, Kastenholt became seriously interested in house music and DJing. After moving to Stockholm, he focused on production and spent a long period working almost constantly in the studio. One of the demo tracks he created during this period reached Tiësto. The two musicians met in 2012, after which Kastenholt became connected with the Dutch DJ’s team and began regularly sending him new material. He later worked with Red Light Management and had the opportunity to observe Tiësto’s work closely, including during his performances in the United States.
It was during this period that the stage name KAAZE became established, under which the producer began building his international career.
Tiësto and the first international releases
One of KAAZE’s first notable releases was a remix of Tiësto’s track Maximal Crazy. In 2014, the solo track Drop The Power appeared on Tiësto’s Musical Freedom label, after which the musicians’ collaboration developed into joint studio work.
Tiësto’s album A Town Called Paradise, released in June 2014, included the track «Rocky», recorded by Tiësto and KAAZE. This meant that even at an early stage of his career, the Swedish producer was featured on the same album as Hardwell, Firebeatz, Sultan + Shepard, Krewella, Icona Pop and other international EDM artists.
In 2015, KAAZE continued to expand his catalogue. Together with Danny Avila, he released Close Your Eyes, associated with the Parookaville festival, while a collaboration with twoloud resulted in Maji on Revealed Recordings. His relationship with Revealed soon became the defining factor in the next stage of his career.
Revealed Recordings and collaboration with Hardwell
Collaboration with Hardwell became a turning point for KAAZE. After the Dutch producer took notice of his music, KAAZE began appearing regularly in the Revealed Recordings catalogue.
In March 2016, Tell Me was released — KAAZE’s first solo release on Revealed. The track climbed to No. 2 on the Beatport chart. That same year saw the release of Milk Man and the first instalment of the ShowKAAZE EP series, establishing the producer’s characteristic combination of bright progressive-house melodies and festival-scale big-room energy.
The next important release was «Triplet», issued on 11 May 2017. Hardwell had previewed the track during his performance at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. The track became known as one of the most discussed festival IDs of the period and emerged as one of the key works in KAAZE’s early discography.
In July 2017, Hardwell and KAAZE released «We Are Legends» featuring vocals by Jonathan Mendelsohn. The track appeared on Hardwell & Friends EP Vol. 1 and became the first official collaborative single by the two producers.
In November of the same year, ShowKAAZE EP Vol. 2 followed, including End Of The World with Jonathan Mendelsohn, Black Sahara with Joey Dale and Aloma Steele, and Soulmate with Cruickshank.
«I'm Coming Home» and «This Is Love»
In 2018, KAAZE continued developing the melodic side of his festival sound. Sexy was released in April, followed in May by «I'm Coming Home», built around the large-scale synthesiser melodies and progressive-house arrangement characteristic of the producer.
On 31 August 2018, KAAZE and Hardwell released their second major collaboration, «This Is Love», featuring American singer Loren Allred. Following We Are Legends, the track firmly established KAAZE’s creative connection with Hardwell and Revealed Recordings. Satellites with Nino Lucarelli was also released at the end of 2018.
Dreamchild
On 4 October 2019, KAAZE released his debut studio album «Dreamchild» through Revealed Recordings. The record represented the culmination of his progressive-house and big-room period of the 2010s while also demonstrating the influence of rock music, pop arrangements and music from previous decades.
The album featured Maddix, KSHMR, Nino Lucarelli, Elle Vee, Jonathan Mendelsohn, KARRA, NEEN and other musicians. Its tracklist included Chain Me Up, Up In Smoke, Poison Lips, People Are Strange, Eye Of The Storm, My Favorite Enemy, California Gold (Triplet), Devil Inside Me, This Is Our Kingdom, I Should Have Walked Away and Dark Angel.
A special place is occupied by «People Are Strange», recorded by KAAZE and Maddix with Nino Lucarelli and based on material from The Doors’ 1967 song of the same name. I Should Have Walked Away also demonstrates KAAZE’s interest in 1980s musical aesthetics, reflecting the combination of electronic and rock-pop culture found throughout Dreamchild.
BLK RSE and the change in sound
In 2020, KAAZE introduced the side project BLK RSE, created for the darker and more club-oriented side of his music. Unlike the main KAAZE discography of that period, in which large vocal parts and progressive-house melodies played an important role, BLK RSE allowed the producer to work with harder electronic structures.
At the same time, the main project continued to develop. In 2020, he released The Evil Folk, Erase You, Sweet Mistake and Arrest Me. In 2021, the third instalment of the ShowKAAZE series appeared, while KAAZE entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time at No. 83.
MICK
In 2022, KAAZE recorded «Whole Again» with Steve Aoki, featuring vocals by John Martin. His collaboration with Steve Aoki later became another notable thread in his discography.
In 2023, KAAZE released his second studio album, «MICK», a title that directly refers to his real first name. The original version consisted of 12 tracks. It was later followed by MICK (Deluxe Edition), expanded to 20 tracks with additional versions, including remixes released under the BLK RSE name.
MICK marked a transitional stage between KAAZE’s melodic legacy and the heavier club-oriented direction of his subsequent work. During this period, his production increasingly incorporated techno rhythms, harder bass and more minimalist arrangements.
Hōt Teknō and a new stage
From 2023 onward, KAAZE consistently reshaped his sound, combining techno, electro, mainstage EDM and the melodic foundation preserved from his earlier work. This direction became known as Hōt Teknō or Hot Techno.
The stylistic change was also reflected by DJ Mag: in the 2024 Top 100 DJs ranking, KAAZE listed his style as Hot techno and climbed to No. 48 — at the time, his best result in the poll. Previously, he had ranked No. 83 in 2021, No. 70 in 2022 and No. 59 in 2023. In the 2025 ranking, he placed at No. 74.
One of the most important tracks from this period was «Move», recorded with Hardwell. The 2024 release became the 1,000th release in the history of Revealed Recordings, symbolically continuing KAAZE’s long-standing relationship with the label that played a key role in his international career.
In 2024–2025, KAAZE also released Destination Calabria, Papi and In The Dark, recorded On The Floor with CERES for Spinnin' Records and continued collaborating with Steve Aoki. In December 2025, Aoki and KAAZE presented the collaborative EP «Head Rush» on Dim Mak, featuring the title track with Sarah de Warren as well as Self Control and Give It To Me.
Redline
In 2026, the harder side of KAAZE’s music continued through the releases Antidote, Invincible and WTF. During the summer, the «Redline» project was introduced on Smash The House.
The EP brought together four tracks — Get Loud, Switch Off, For You and Run It. The first tracks from the project appeared in July, while the completed version was released in August 2026. Musically, Redline continued the fusion of techno rhythms, industrial timbres, mainstage drive and the melodic dramatic structure characteristic of KAAZE.
This period also coincided with KAAZE’s Tomorrowland Belgium debut in 2026, where he performed across both festival weekends. By then, his touring geography already included major club and festival venues in Europe, Asia and North America, including Ministry of Sound, Amnesia, Ushuaïa, EDC and Parookaville.
Musical style
The foundation of KAAZE’s early sound was melodic festival progressive house: emotional harmonies, large synthesiser lines, gradual buildups and energetic drops. At the same time, influences from rock, 1980s disco and pop music were present in his work from the beginning.
These sources of inspiration became especially clear on Dreamchild, where electronic arrangements existed alongside guitars, vocal compositions and references to music from the 1960s through the 1980s. The BLK RSE project allowed the producer to separate the darker club-oriented side of his work, while these two directions later began to converge.
In his mid-2020s work, KAAZE strengthened the techno component: tempos and drums became harder, arrangements more direct, while festival progressive house gave way to a mixture of techno, electro and mainstage EDM. At the same time, the melodic element familiar from Triplet, I'm Coming Home and We Are Legends remained one of the defining features of his production.
Personal life
KAAZE rarely makes his private life part of his public image, but he has spoken openly about his daughter Seven, who was born in 2023. According to the musician, fatherhood significantly changed his attitude toward touring schedules, work and the development of his own career. The name of his planned Se7en Records project was also chosen in honour of his daughter.
Discography
Studio albums
- Dreamchild — 2019
- MICK — 2023
- MICK (Deluxe Edition) — 2023
Selected EPs
- ShowKAAZE EP Vol. 1 — 2016
- ShowKAAZE EP Vol. 2 — 2017
- ShowKAAZE Vol. 3 — 2021
- Head Rush — with Steve Aoki, 2025
- Redline — 2026
Selected tracks
- Drop The Power
- Rocky — with Tiësto
- Tell Me
- Milk Man
- Triplet
- We Are Legends — with Hardwell and Jonathan Mendelsohn
- End Of The World — with Jonathan Mendelsohn
- I'm Coming Home
- This Is Love — with Hardwell and Loren Allred
- I Should Have Walked Away — with Nino Lucarelli
- Devil Inside Me — with KSHMR and KARRA
- People Are Strange — with Maddix and Nino Lucarelli
- Whole Again — with Steve Aoki and John Martin
- Move — with Hardwell
- On The Floor — with CERES
- Head Rush — with Steve Aoki and Sarah de Warren
- Invincible
- WTF
- Get Loud
- For You
KAAZE has evolved from the melodic progressive house of the 2010s festival EDM era to a harder, techno-oriented sound in the mid-2020s. His collaboration with Hardwell and Revealed Recordings occupies a central place in his career, while Triplet, We Are Legends, I'm Coming Home, Dreamchild, MICK and his later Hōt Teknō releases reflect the consistent evolution of his production style.
