Artem Stolyarov (; born 28 September 1989), known professionally as Arty (stylized as ARTY) and ALPHA 9, is a Russian musician, DJ and producer. He has collaborated with Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, BT, Paul van Dyk, Mat Zo, OneRepublic and Matisse & Sadko. His debut album, Glorious (2015), peaked at number 14 on the US Dance/Electronic Albums charts.
Early life
At the age of eight years old, Arty's grandmother insisted that he should attend music school, from which he successfully graduated aged just fourteen. After that he considered applying for music college, but eventually decided against it, as the chance of becoming a professional pianist was really small and because he no longer enjoyed playing. Instead he learned to use FL Studio sequencer, and his love of video games and electronics led to his keen interest in production equipment. Eventually, he began to be influenced by artists such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method. After graduating from the Saratov State University with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Arty decided to seriously commit to electronic music.
Career
2009–11: Early releases
Arty's debut release, "Inside of Me" / "Flip Flop" with Misha Kitone was followed by the EP Vanilla Sky, which appeared on the label Enhanced Music and brought him to the attention of many world-renowned DJs. The Enhanced Progressive label was the first to sign Arty as an artist. His single "Bliss" appeared on the track listing of A State of Trance by Armin van Buuren in late 2009 and his breakthrough came later that year when Above & Beyond signed him to Anjunabeats. They featured his singles "Rush" and "The Wonder" in their club sets and on their radio show Trance Around the World. Following that, Arty released "Trio" with Matisse & Sadko on Axwell's Axtone label in 2011.
Arty also released "Bliss" (2009) and "Come Home" (2010) on Ferry Corsten's label, Flashover Recordings under his alias Alpha 9.
Following his release on Axtone Records in 2011, Arty collaborated with fellow Anjunabeats-signed artist Mat Zo and their first joint production "Rebound" was released on 19 April 2011 as Anjunabeats' 200th single. The song was voted 'Webvote Winner' on three straight occasions in the radio show Trance Around the World. At the anniversary party for ASOT 500 of Armin van Buuren's radio show A State of Trance on 9 April 2011 in Den Bosch, the two DJs played together on the Main Floor alongside other well-established DJs such as Markus Schulz, Above & Beyond, Gareth Emery, and Armin van Buuren himself. Since then, Arty has played many worldwide clubs and festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Tomorrowland, Creamfields, Ushuaia Ibiza, XS Encore Las Vegas, and Amnesia Ibiza.
2014–15: Glorious
In 2014, Arty became the first Russian musician to sign with the American Insomniac record label and on 9 October 2015, he released his debut album Glorious on Insomniac Records. Arty has had countless releases on labels such as Enhanced Progressive, Vandit Records, Insomniac Records, Anjunabeats, Spinnin', Axtone, and Revealed. On 9 May 2016, Arty released "Bloodfire", a bass house-influenced big room track which was a deviation from his typical progressive trance releases on Hardwell's label Revealed Recordings. On 6 June 2016, he released an electro house track on label Anjunabeats titled "Distorted Love". Arty then collaborated with producer Andrew Bayer to release "Follow The Light" on 8 June 2016, which was his third release on Anjunabeats for the year.
2017–present: Alpha 9 and recent releases
In 2017, Arty officially revived his trance side project titled Alpha 9, which has been inactive since 2010. Together with releasing trance track "This Night Is Ours" on 3 February 2017, Arty posted a letter on Facebook written to his listeners. "Closer to the end of last year[2016] I noticed how much my music was different from what I’ve done in the past, and I felt like I had been neglecting my long-time fans and it didn’t feel fair. And that’s how I came up with idea of bringing the Alpha 9 alias back," wrote Arty in his letter.