Mason is Busier Than Ever: Nite Rites, Rave Brands, and Life Beyond “Exceeder”

2 hours ago 1

Between releasing new music, touring, building studios, and celebrating the anniversary of “Exceeder,” Mason shares what’s been keeping him busy and what he’s looking forward to.

Dutch DJ and producer Mason has had quite a diverse career. Born Iason Chronis, he’s been active in the scene for nearly three decades. He originally got his start incorporating live violin in his DJ sets in the late ’90s. He would later go on to tour with Tiësto, both as his opening DJ and as a live violinist during those sets.

Then, in 2005, Mason released the hit track “Exceeder” and later re-recorded Princess Superstar’s vocals for “Perfect (Exceeder),” which was released on Ministry of Sound the following year. Then, in 2024, the track had a resurgence after being featured in the Netflix show Saltburn and got a second life, bringing him back to the forefront of the scene ahead of its 20th anniversary.

This isn’t only what Mason is known for, though; the 46-year-old artist has worked across a range of genres, including house, electro, disco, pop, and hip hop throughout his career. This includes collaborations with artists like Róisín Murphy, Shingai Shoniwa (The Noisettes), Aqualung, Rouge Mary (Hercules & Love Affair), Jocelyn Brown, DMC, Kurtis Blow, BAM (Jungle Brothers), Sway, Stefflon Don, and Alex Clare. Beyond that, he also runs his own label, Animal Language, a platform for his music and for other artists who have caught his attention.

More recently, Mason has focused his production efforts back on a series called Nite Rites, with the most recent being “Nite Rite Beta,” which is currently available on Beatport and other platforms. He also just launched Rekorder Studios, a recording studio in Amsterdam that’s been his longtime dream. Amidst his busy schedule, Mason sat down with us to chat about “Perfect (Exceeder)” blowing up again, what he’s been up to lately, and what the future holds for his career.

Stream Mason vs Princess Superstar – Perfect (Exceeder) on Spotify:

Hi! Thank you so much for joining us today, Mason. Let’s jump right into it. To kick us off, most people might know you from your track Exceeder and its vocal version “Perfect (Exceeder)” with Princess Superstar. What was it like to have that blow-up not only in 2007 but then again in 2024? What was different about the response the second time?

First of all, it was a surreal experience, as I’m very aware that these kinda revivals are a very rare phenomenon. I was in the middle of my album campaign, and all of a sudden, “Perfect (Exceeder)” started to spike. It’s been used in all sorts of movies, games, and TV shows before, but this Saltburn movie apparently struck a chord with the right kinda audience, and it went off again, streaming a million a day at some point.

I’m obviously super grateful it happened. It also brought a wave of fresh remixes from people like David Guetta, Oliver Heldens, Jax Jones, and 1991, which gave it a whole new life. Of course, it shook up my touring and release schedule quite a bit. That said, my focus is still very much on what I’m doing now, not what I made 20 years ago. But yeah — as it’s so old by now, I do enjoy playing it out again for good ol’ time’s sake. Plus, I have about a trillion versions.

You’ve been in the music scene for quite some time. What have you noticed has changed, or have there been any other industry surprises?

I’ve seen the industry change and reinvent itself every few years, from vinyl and physical releases, to downloads, to streaming, to a TikTok-driven market, to AI, to who knows what. The speed at which this industry changes can be mind-boggling.

One of the biggest shifts is how accessible music-making has become. You no longer need a big budget or expensive studio setup to release music, which is amazing — it’s opened the door for so many new artists and voices. But at the same time, it’s created an overwhelming flood of content. Something like 200,000 tracks are uploaded to streaming platforms every day. For listeners, that can be numbing. It’s part of why older music is actually gaining a bigger share of streams again — people gravitate toward what they already know in the middle of all that noise.

For us artists, it’s a complicated industry to make a living, and it’s too easy to put the blame on just Spotify or major labels, for that matter. The whole chain needs to be looked at, cause the way streaming income is divided between different kinds of rightsholders is out of balance. Also, we as artists have a responsibility and need to do a certain amount of expectation management, as we release more songs in a day than we did in a year a few decades ago.

You’ve always been interested in incorporating live instruments in your DJ sets. How has that changed over the years?

I’ve been DJ-ing since the mid-nineties, and have had a few live periods indeed. I grew up as a classical violin player, so I used that for a bit, also as a guest performer at Tiesto’s concerts. Later on, I started to do more traditional live electronica on stage, with synths, weird, funny controllers, sequencers, and so forth. A few years ago, I had a run with a close harmony vocal group that accompanied me during my shows, called the Masonettes, which was a really fun chapter. Right now, I’m really enjoying just traditional DJ-ing. Whether it’s for 5 people or thousands, I just really love it. DJ-ing truly is my first love.

With the success of the last year or so, what are your plans for the future musically? Anything you’ve recently been experimenting with?

I’ve always been into both pop and club music, and I still want to do both. Maybe it’s not the smartest move career-wise, but honestly — who cares? I’m the one in the studio listening to this stuff all day, so I need to keep it interesting for myself. Coming up, there’s a mix of pop-leaning dance records, mostly on Armada Music, alongside more underground club tools on my own imprint.

How do you see Animal Language, your label, being incorporated into what you do? And where do you see Nite Rites fitting in?

Animal Language is really just about putting out music I love, without overthinking it. There’s no strict strategy — if I hear something great someone sends me, I’ll release it. And of course, my own stuff from time to time, especially the stranger, weirder bits.

The Nite Rites series fits perfectly into that. It’s essentially a collection of club tracks I make for myself — things I want to play out mystem, often a bit odd or offbeat, and stuff I couldn’t be bothered to send out to other labels.

The original series from about seven years ago developed a bit of a cult following, so it’s been fun bringing it back. Nite Rite Alpha and Beta are already out… and yeah, you can probably guess what’s coming next — we’re working through the whole Greek alphabet, so stick around.

You’ve just built Rekorder Studios, a huge complex with multiple rooms in Amsterdam. How has it been working in the new studio and collaborating with others there?

So this was a longtime dream I had that finally turned into reality after two years of building and squeezing every euro. But it’s there: we created a 1,500-square-meter music hub with 12 high-end music studios and a bunch of offices for music companies only. As the demand was so massive, we could kinda pick and choose. It’s really inspirational to have all these people working here every day who are very good at their craft, whether that’s mixing, mastering, songwriting, or playing instruments. We have everything under one roof now, and it’s brilliant.

Kafe Rave takes club culture into cafés, laundromats, and other odd spots around Amsterdam. What have you seen at those parties that are unique compared to clubs or festivals?

It’s too much fun, really… For free, and hardly any need to promote it as it’s always packed. We basically go to four of these places on one night: super crappy bars (the empty kind with 2 alcoholics) or pizza parlors, etc. We take along a mobile sound system and a few hundred dedicated ravers and completely take over the place for an hour before moving to the next location. We’ve been throwing these flashmob parties for over 10 years with my Animal Language label, and the fun and joy are huge creative fuel sources for me.

Finally, what are you looking forward to in the rest of 2026 and beyond?

The process. I’ve lost interest in seeing a music career as a treadmill or a linear stepping stone where you need to get from here to there. I just wanna enjoy the process of creating stuff, and luckily I have sufficient freedom to do so my way. There’s just so much joy in creating stuff. My career led me to a place where I can do that every day, and that’s the most important to me. I see it as coincidental; it’s music in my case, otherwise I’d just be creating something else.