When Nick Calingaert recorded “The World is Mine” with legendary Chicago house vocalist John Redmond, few realized how true of an aphorism that really is.  Born in Japan, he lived in various countries around the globe, spending several years in Italy, England, and Belgium before finally settling in Chicago in 1996.  It was during these travels as a youth that Calingaert became a music enthusiast, not only collecting vinyl with ferocity, but also studying violin and music theory while simultaneously teaching himself the guitar.

 

Nick’s recording debut came in 1995 courtesy of a collaboration with another Chicago house legend, Spencer Kincy (aka Gemini), via a track for Belgium’s SSR imprint.  SSR was also home to Common Factor’s first two EPs.  But while SSR proved to be a launching pad for Nick, it was his work with Carl Craig’s Planet E label that propelled him into the spotlight.  His first two EPs for Planet E were met with widespread critical acclaim, most notably grabbing single of the month in Mixmag UK consecutively.  Common Factor also earned the respect of American dance music magazines – Urb Magazine named this rising domestic talent as one of the Top 100 artists to watch in 1999.  Common Factor would go on to release two more 12”s for Planet E and his full length, “Dreams of Elsewhere”.  “Dreams” amassed all of the material from his first two EPs and featured three new bonus tracks.

 

While recording for Planet E and exhaustive touring he found time to collaborate with Chris Nazuka, best known for his extensive production and remix work with the legendary Derrick Carter, under the Retroflex guise for Scotland’s Soma Recordings.  Once again this series of releases met with critical acclaim.  Nick’s relationship with Planet E came to an end in 2000, with his final release being a tour de force vocal house excursion featuring house legend John Redmond, best known for his “People Everyday” release on Cajual Records.  2000 also saw the release of the “Her Lines” EP for UK’s Paper Recordings, which was Calingaert’s first release under his own name.

 

After taking some much needed time off in 2001 to recuperate and re-energize his creativity, Nick emerged with an arsenal of remixes for such techno luminaries as Dan Curtin and labels such as Wally’s Groove World, Zozan Music, and Cross Section.  He also resuscitated the Common Factor name for Soma with the “Rise” EP.  Rapturously received, this led to yet another round of both DJ and live performance settings throughout Europe.

 

Calingaert took the bold initiative of setting up his own recording label, Tactile Music in 2002.  The first two releases were both Common Factor EPs (“Disco Exorcism” and “Over You” respectively) and once again launched Calingaert into the tech-house spotlight with much critical acclaim and further solidified Tactile’s status as a pre-eminent electronic music label in Chicago.  Tactile’s third release featured collaborations between Calingaert and Pokerflat/M-nus recording artist Steve Bug.  This was followed by another single for Soma, remixes for Moodmusic, Factorcity and Wasnotwas, and the acclaimed “That Was Then” EP released by Playhouse.

 

Nick continues to amaze audiences worldwide with his hypnotic but soul drenched tech-house live sets and blistering DJ sets.  Recently, he has performed alongside such electronic music contemporaries as Metro Area, Tiefschwarz, Matthew Dear, and Swayzak.  2006 sees Calingaert, working on the long awaited follow up to “Dreams of Elsewhere”, even more touring, and several new remixes and recording projects.