Laidback Luke Announces First Studio Album in 13 Years Featuring Collabs with Yellow Claw, GTA, Benny Benassi & More
Laidback Luke has been a fixture in dance music for well over a decade, so when he says he’s finally ready to put out a proper artist album again, that’s worth paying attention to.
You wouldn’t expect Laidback Luke to have such eclectric collaborations with the likes of Yellow Claw, GTA, Trevor Guthrie, D.O.D., and Benny Benassi, but the long-time DJ has announced a diverse full-length artist album. The Dutch DJ hasn’t released an artist album in over 13 years and what better way to celebrate by exploring various genres of dance music.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Laidback Luke explains the musical variety in his forthcoming album,
‘electronic music is still all the same family to me. Commercial or underground, I love it all!’
The DJ’s latest 16 track album ‘Focus’ is set to be released on November 6th on Mixmash Record Label, ‘What I love about the album is that I can say it’s real. It’s not me selling out and it’s not me staying in old habits. It’s me enjoying my producer time and making tracks that I would both love to listen to and dance to’.
Digging into the tracklist, the eclectic streak Luke’s talking about is obvious. There’s “Let It Go” with vocalist Trevor Guthrie, “The Chase” alongside GTA and featuring Aruna, “We Party” with D.O.D., and “Neon Sunrise” with Benny Benassi and vocalist Amba Shepherd, plus a collab with Yellow Claw. That’s a genuinely wide range of names to fit onto one album, spanning big-room, electro house, and progressive house without ever feeling like a random grab bag of guest features tacked on for the sake of it.
It’s also worth remembering just how long Luke’s been at this. Thirteen years is a serious gap between artist albums, especially for someone who’s stayed as visible as he has through singles, remixes, and a relentless touring schedule the whole time. Most producers with that kind of longevity end up leaning on nostalgia when they finally circle back to a full-length, but based on what Luke’s describing, ‘Focus’ sounds like the opposite: a snapshot of where his head is right now rather than a victory lap through his old catalog.
Given how much dance music has splintered into sub-genres since Luke’s last album, ‘Focus’ also doubles as a bit of a statement piece — proof that a producer who’s been around since the genre’s earlier, more unified days can still move comfortably across all of its current corners. Keep an eye out for the November 6th release and give it a spin when it lands.
