Imanbek
Rave Republic is an electronic duo formed in Singapore in 2014 by Swiss DJ and producer Mathias Schell and Australian DJ of Russian origin Stas Madorski. The project emerged directly from the Asian club scene and gradually reached an international audience through festival performances, extensive touring and releases on Warner Music, Spinnin' Records, Revealed Recordings, Rave Culture and other electronic music labels.
Rave Republic's music has evolved noticeably alongside the festival scene. Their early recordings were closer to vocal EDM, dance-pop and progressive house, while later releases moved toward big room and heavier mainstage sounds. In the 2020s, elements of future rave, hard dance and hard rave became increasingly prominent. Among the duo's best-known works are Far Away, Shoot for the Moon, In My City, Heartbreaker, Deep Love, Free Fall, Rave Is Our Religion, City Life, Eyes Wide Shut, Welcome to the Rave, Samba De Janeiro, Do You Think About Me, Addict, Magalenha and Toca's Miracle.
Mathias Schell, Stas Madorski and the formation of Rave Republic
The members of Rave Republic grew up in different countries. Mathias Schell was born in Switzerland and moved to Singapore with his family as a teenager. He had been involved in music since childhood, played piano and later became interested in electronic music and DJing.
Stas Madorski was born in Russia, grew up in Australia and moved to Singapore as an adult. Before fully dedicating himself to music, he combined DJ performances with a corporate career.
Both performed independently as DJs in Singapore clubs. After one of their joint sets, the musicians realised that they complemented each other well and officially formed Rave Republic in February 2014.
The original idea was focused primarily on live performance: Schell and Madorski wanted to recreate the atmosphere of a major electronic festival inside a club. They used energetic interaction with the crowd, custom visuals and stage elements, while white shirts with black ties gradually became a recognisable part of the duo's image.
Asia's club scene and the first festivals
The early years of Rave Republic were closely connected with Singapore and neighbouring countries. The duo secured club residencies and performed in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Manila and other major cities across the region.
Unlike many electronic projects that first gained attention through online releases, Rave Republic developed primarily as a live duo. Their own music began to evolve more actively after they had already built a regular audience.
One of their first major festival milestones was Road to Ultra Singapore in 2015. Rave Republic later performed on the main stages of Ultra Singapore and Electric Daisy Carnival China, as well as appearing at It's The Ship and other major electronic events across Asia.
Far Away and Warner Music
Rave Republic's first major original release was Far Away featuring Rosendale, released in December 2015 in collaboration with Warner Music Singapore. The song reached number one on the iTunes dance chart.
The duo's early style here differs noticeably from their later festival material. The focus is on vocal melody, an emotional chorus and a relatively accessible electronic arrangement.
In 2016, they followed with Shoot for the Moon featuring The Madison Letter. The song also topped the iTunes dance chart and became one of the key recordings from Rave Republic's first period.
Rule It All
On September 23, 2016, the duo released their debut EP Rule It All. The six-track release brought together Rule It All, Take Me Up, Complicated, Shoot for the Moon and other material from the project's early stage.
Rule It All captures Rave Republic before their full transition toward heavier festival electronics: vocals and melody still play an important role, while the club-oriented side remains embedded within conventional song structures.
A full-length album never became the foundation of the duo's discography. Rave Republic have instead continued to develop their catalogue primarily through individual singles and collaborations.
International collaborations
During the second half of the 2010s, the geography of their studio collaborators expanded significantly. In 2018, they released Fall Into My Love with Syzz and TyteWriter, Aurora with Kazden and In My City featuring British vocalist Luciana.
In 2019, Heartbreaker was released on Spinnin' Records — a modern reworking of the MSTRKRFT track featuring John Legend. Around the same period, Rave Republic worked with Jeffrey Sutorius on Middle of the Night.
These collaborations gradually took the duo beyond the regional market and connected them more closely with the international EDM industry.
DJ Mag Top 100 DJs
In 2018, Rave Republic entered the global DJ Mag Top 100 DJs ranking for the first time at number 98. The duo then remained in the list for seven consecutive years:
- 2018 — No. 98
- 2019 — No. 94
- 2020 — No. 81
- 2021 — No. 86
- 2022 — No. 94
- 2023 — No. 92
- 2024 — No. 96
Their best result was No. 81 in 2020. The ranking is based on audience voting and is not a professional assessment of musical quality, but Rave Republic's long-term presence reflects the stability of the project's international fan base.
The shift toward a heavier festival sound
By the end of the 2010s, Rave Republic's music had changed noticeably. While Far Away and Shoot for the Moon were built around vocals and melody, Beijing and later releases became far more oriented toward big room and main festival stages.
This evolution is especially clear in their 2020 releases. The REGGIO collaboration Deep Love marked Rave Republic's debut on Revealed Recordings, while Free Fall featuring Tim Morrison on Spinnin' Records preserved the project's more melodic and vocal side.
The same period also brought Dragon with TBR, Lionheart with Justin Prime, Don't Leave Me Alone with Gian Varela and Fagin, and other collaborations.
From this point onward, stylistic range effectively became part of Rave Republic's approach: heavy festival music exists in their catalogue alongside more accessible vocal singles.
Rave Culture and Rave Is Our Religion
In 2021, Rave Republic and British producer Olly James released Rave Is Our Religion on Rave Culture — the label and music platform associated with W&W.
The title aligned particularly well with the duo's original concept. From the beginning, Rave Republic built their identity around the idea of a large collective rave, and this concept now found direct expression in their own music.
Their collaboration with Rave Culture continued and became one of the important lines in the project's later discography.
Revealed Recordings and Future Rave
At the same time, Rave Republic strengthened their presence in the Revealed Recordings catalogue. After Deep Love, they released Legacy with REGGIO and City Life with Chester Young.
In May 2022, the duo teamed up with GIFTBACK for Eyes Wide Shut. Revealed officially classified the track as Future Rave.
For Rave Republic, this direction was a natural continuation of their existing festival sound: darker synthesizers and harder rhythms were combined with a large melodic climax.
The same year also brought Missing You with Justin Prime and EMKR and Welcome to the Rave with Mark Sixma.
A new festival phase
In 2023, Rave Republic continued blending different styles. Notable releases included Blackbeard with Darius & Finlay and Simon Erics and Repeat with Chester Young and Kris Kiss.
This tendency became even more pronounced in 2024. Together with Plastik Funk and Bellini, the duo released a new version of Samba De Janeiro on Rave Culture, bringing the recognisable theme of the 1990s dance hit into a modern mainstage setting.
Their collaboration with Faustix, Do You Think About Me, was released on Revealed Recordings and became Rave Republic's sixth release on the label. The music here is significantly darker than their early material and relies on heavy, techno-oriented rhythms.
A solo single, Addict, followed in November.
Releases from 2025–2026
In 2025, the duo continued to release individual singles at a particularly active pace. These included Magalenha with Plastik Funk and Bellini, Heat Seeker with Tigerlily, Heaven with Aki-Hiro, Stay, Know What I Want and Resurrection with Bombs Away.
On April 10, 2026, Rave Republic and Fragma released a new version of Toca's Miracle on Rave Culture. The track continued the increasingly visible late-career line of reinterpreting classic dance compositions.
During the summer, Sunshine with Dance Nation and Renaisshouse and Into the Unknown with JASON followed. These recordings continue to develop the duo's contemporary mainstage side and show a further move toward faster and heavier festival sounds.
Tomorrowland Thailand
Rave Republic are included in the official lineup for Tomorrowland Thailand 2026, the first full-scale Asian edition of Tomorrowland. The event takes place from December 11–13 at Wisdom Valley, with the duo scheduled to perform on December 11.
For a project that developed directly within the Asian club scene, appearing at the first major Asian edition of Tomorrowland represents a logical continuation of a long festival history.
Rave Republic's musical style
Rave Republic cannot be accurately defined by a single electronic music subgenre.
The early period — Far Away, Shoot for the Moon and Rule It All — is closer to vocal EDM, dance-pop and progressive house. In these recordings, the main emphasis is placed on melody and chorus.
By the end of the 2010s, big room and mainstage EDM had become increasingly important. After 2020, these were joined by future rave, hard dance, hard rave and harder techno-oriented rhythms.
At the same time, the duo never abandoned the song-oriented side of their music. Heavier festival tracks continue to alternate with vocal and melodic releases.
In 2024, DJ Mag described Rave Republic's live sound as a combination of EDM, hard dance and hard rave, which provides a fairly accurate description of the project's current stage-oriented identity.
Rave Republic discography
EP
- 2016 — Rule It All
Selected singles and collaborations
- 2015 — Far Away — feat. Rosendale
- 2016 — Shoot for the Moon — feat. The Madison Letter
- 2017 — Leave My Mind — with Fulses feat. Ming Bridges
- 2018 — Fall Into My Love — with Syzz feat. TyteWriter
- 2018 — In My City — feat. Luciana
- 2019 — Heartbreaker
- 2019 — Middle of the Night — with Jeffrey Sutorius feat. Matluck
- 2020 — Deep Love — with REGGIO
- 2020 — Free Fall — feat. Tim Morrison
- 2020 — Dragon — with TBR
- 2020 — Lionheart — with Justin Prime
- 2021 — Rave Is Our Religion — with Olly James
- 2021 — Legacy — with REGGIO
- 2021 — City Life — with Chester Young
- 2022 — Eyes Wide Shut — with GIFTBACK
- 2022 — Missing You — with Justin Prime and EMKR
- 2022 — Welcome to the Rave — with Mark Sixma
- 2023 — Blackbeard — with Darius & Finlay feat. Simon Erics
- 2023 — Repeat — with Chester Young feat. Kris Kiss
- 2024 — Samba De Janeiro — with Plastik Funk and Bellini
- 2024 — Do You Think About Me — with Faustix
- 2024 — Addict
- 2025 — Magalenha — with Plastik Funk and Bellini
- 2025 — Heat Seeker — with Tigerlily
- 2025 — Heaven — with Aki-Hiro
- 2025 — Stay
- 2025 — Resurrection — with Bombs Away
- 2026 — Toca's Miracle — with Fragma
- 2026 — Sunshine — with Dance Nation and Renaisshouse
- 2026 — Into the Unknown — with JASON
Rave Republic's place in contemporary electronic music
Rave Republic stand out above all because of the origins of their international career. The duo did not emerge from the traditional European centres of EDM and did not gain worldwide recognition through a single sudden hit. The project grew out of Singapore's club scene, gradually expanding its reach through Asia, international festivals and collaborations with major electronic music labels.
Their music changed along the way. The vocal-driven Far Away and Shoot for the Moon gave way to heavier big room releases, followed by future rave and a contemporary hard dance/mainstage sound. At the same time, Rave Republic retained the ability to return to melodic songs and reinterpret classic dance themes.
The most consistent part of the project remains its live-performance approach. Rave Republic were created around the idea of bringing a festival atmosphere into the nightclub, and years later they themselves reached major international festival stages.
It is this combination of Asian club roots, years of DJ experience and the ability to evolve alongside the festival scene that defines Rave Republic's place in contemporary electronic music.
