Inside Bound To Divide's Recent Chart

The producer’s new chart connects his Magnetic Magazine Recordings debut with artists and labels that have played a direct role in his recent work and have shaped a career that's spanned more than a decade.

Bound to Divide has spent the last few years building a catalog across melodic and progressive house, and “Cycles,” his latest release on Magnetic Magazine Recordings, is one of his most patient records to date. Julian van Straten has always had an ear for melodies that can carry a track for several minutes, and he tends to give them enough room to develop, which is exactly why the chart he assembled around “Cycles” deserves some attention.

What's important about this chart, specifically, is how often the selections connect with his own career: several come from labels where he has released music, and others come from artists now sitting beside him on Magnetic Magazine Recordings. It gives “Cycles” an immediate context, and et it also tells you quite a lot about how van Straten listens when he is putting records together.

The Earlier Label Relationships Are Still Present

Van Straten was born in South Africa and is now based in Bournemouth. After playing in punk-rock and nu-metal bands during his younger years, he began producing electronic music in 2015. Bound to Divide was later released with Colorize, Monstercat Silk, UV, Sekora, and Anjunadeep Explorations, and several of those affiliations appear in the chart.

The Anjunadeep Explorations link goes even further, since LAR and Taylr Renee’s “Rewind” appears on Anjunadeep Explorations Vol. 2 alongside Bound to Divide and Coulson’s “All I See Is You.” Trilucid’s “Let Go of Your Pain” closes the chart with another selection from the same label, and these connections give the list a personal relationship with where van Straten has been releasing music during 2026.

The Chart Sounds Like a Producer Who Teaches

Van Straten’s work extends beyond his own releases, as he founded Basic Wavez and leads its sound design. He has also spent years teaching production on YouTube and Sonic Academy, and that part of his career comes across in a chart that pays close attention to arrangement and songwriting.

Eelke Kleijn’s “Answer Every Question” is an especially fitting inclusion, since DAYS like NIGHTS offers another example of an artist-led label built around a specific approach to melodic music. “Electric Love” and “Rewind” bring vocal songwriting into the selection as well, and Ivory (IT)’s version of “Bringing Me Joy” introduces Blessings at the beginning of its catalog.

Taken as a full, holistic collection of tracks, the chart places “Cycles” in a strong position among the labels and artists already connected to Bound to Divide, and it shows that van Straten is thinking about the people around his music as carefully as the music itself.

For anyone encountering the artist or the labels for the first time, these ten records provide the necessary, albeit mindfully ephemeral sonic palette and a direct look at what Bound to Divide is listening to right now.