DJ and producer Alexey Nikolaev (Alexey Sonar) started his journey to the tops of the musical glory quite a long time ago with the conquest of Murmansk, his born town, and nowadays Alexey is a rightful representative of Russia’s largest booking agency and record label, «Digital Emotions». He is statedly on air with his original brand-name «Asphalt» radio show, participates in largest musical projects, including Kazantip, often travels across all Russia with DJ sets and arranges gigs and tours for the today’s most upfront international acts. It’s no coincidence that people quietly call Alexey «asphalt laying machine from Murmansk» not only for the radio show but also for his insistence in goal attainment and steady effort on delivering the beauty of music to the heart of every listener.

Alexey Sonar as a DJ

His performance behind the decks is a must-see happening for everyone who is a competent fan of electronic dance music. An inherent feeling of the dancefloor, outstanding energy and distinguished choice of music mark Alexey Sonar out of the humdrum mass of DJs on the today’s market. His DJ career began identically to the majority of others: first school discos, favorite radio show «Club Deck» and sets at local clubs of native Murmansk. An initial breakthrough moment was his victory in all-Russian contest which caused nation-wide talks, «DJ Red Devil Battle» in 2007. After that, the name «Alexey Sonar» was sparkling on numerous posters of Russian and international clubs, as well as large-scaled dance projects like Kazantip. With the lapse of time, Vladimir Fonarev, known to be the most respected Russian DJ, noticed Alexey’s efforts, progress and success, and invited him to become a rightful representative and join the team of «Digital Emotions», to which he contributes also nowadays.

Alexey Sonar as a radio presenter

In 2005 Alexey made the very first steps and his debut on air as a radio presenter of Power Hit Radio in Murmansk. Later he was offered a personal time slot for a weekly show dedicated to modern electronic dance music; that is how the era of «Asphalt» began. Because of exclusive content, guest mixes by top level stars from around the world and original manner of presentation, the show quickly gained an ever-growing audience of listeners and army of fans far above the borders of home city and reached a truly international level. «Asphalt» is available on a number of FM- and Internet-stations, from the United States to Bulgaria and from South Africa to Thailand. Contemporary «Asphalt» is a musical trilogy. Its first chapter is a traditional radio broadcast in Russian language, the second one is «Asphalt Global», the English version of the Russian part, and the trilogy’s conclusion, «Asphalt Classics» — a show representing and reminding of the classics of electronic dance music. «Asphalt» was over and over again rated high by the reputable professionals of media industry and nowadays is one of very few Russian radio projects having solid support both at the fatherland and abroad; this fact once again confirms «Asphalt’s» topicality and relevance. Besides that, Alexey runs an authoring show «Point of View» on Proton Radio, and «Solitudes», a program reflecting all colors of chill-out and ambient music, and records two series of podcasts, «Asphalt» and «Orange Moon».

Alexey Sonar as a promoter

Since 2006 Alexey arranges parties in his born town of Murmansk, based on his own concept. Thanks to his efforts, the inhabitants of the largest city in the world located beyond the Arctic Circle, had unique opportunities to dance and listen live to such worldwide prominent artists like Above & Beyond, The Thrillseekers, Super8 & Tab, Mike Koglin, Kyau vs Albert, Andy Moor, Cosmic Gate, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Serge Devant and many others. Alexey is also participating in running a series of events under the trademark of Red Devil SoundTrek and brand-name showcases by Digital Emotions, simultaneously being responsible for booking international acts.

Alexey Sonar as a producer

Alexey’s music production activity began not that long ago, but even during this rather short-term period he managed to gain respect of colleagues and gratitude of faithful listeners. His works see the light of day on such labels like Proton Music, Proton Mixed, Particles and Tactal Hots Music; such grandees of the dance scene like Solarstone, Nick Warren and Jody Wisternoff have already shown their support. The overall high quality of track and remixes made by Alexey Sonar is unquestionable, the most obvious evidence of that is their repeated appearance in Beatport’s Top 100. Alexey is also working on some joint projects at the moment, including collaborative tracks with the Russian musicians Sergey Tkachev and PROFF, as well as prominent British vocalist Jan Johnston.