Astrix

Astrix ('Avi Shmailov, born 1981, Caucasus) is a psychedelic trance DJ and producer specialising in the sub-genre of full on.
He grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel 1992 and he began recording music under the name Astrix in 1997: the name was chosen for simply sounding good, and not directly influenced by anything in particular.

Astrix started as a DJ in 1995 playing alternative and 1980s music. It was during this time that he learned about electronic music. In 1997 he began his first in-house studio recordings using a personal computer. He discovered trance in 1997 after being invited to a Trance party. "At first it was a very new and strange experience for me and I couldn't find myself, but I was impressed by the energy and the impact that the music had made on the people at the party." At the beginning of his career in the late 1990s he produced tracks in the "nitzhonot" style of trance, an uplifting, anthemic off-shoot of goa trance. His first tracks were "In Peace" and "Eakhis World," which both appeared on the well-known nitzhonot compilation "Ptzatzot 3."
During the late 1990s and into the early 2000s he continued in this style and collaborated with several major Israeli trance artists such as Yahel, Eyal Barkan and Oren Barkan. In 2001 he collaborated with Alien Project on the album Midnight Sun, which marked his switch from nitzhonot to full-on psytrance.

Astrix's music is known for his solid, driving basslines and ascending melodies. It is very uplifting and, as far as psychedelic trance goes, fairly "hard" and is also usually played during sunrise and the morning at outdoor trance parties. Many would consider his style to be a crossover between "full-on" and the "clubbier" end of trance, exemplfied by his Psychedelic Academy Mix.