Lloyd Barwood lives up to his rising reputation as producer of upbeat progressive…

Lloyd Barwood has become one of progressive house’s sharpest new voices, winning support from figures like Sasha, Danny Howells, Dave Seaman and Eelke Kleijn. His profile continues to rise, with appearances across the UK and abroad, a residency at Glasgow’s Skyline, and a growing run of support and headline slots.

Drawing equally from classic progressive and modern melodic house, Barwood delivers a sound that sits naturally within the Balance Croatia 2026 lineup.

On this Balance Selections podcast, the rising producer delivers a summer-soaked mix that reflects his upbeat demeanour. With selections from Jaytech, Guy Mantzur, Medway and more, it’s a considered set that leans into the brighter side of progressive house.

Tracklist

1. Lloyd Barwood – What Is Progressive House? (Intro Mix)
2. Tim Penner – What’s Going On {Mango Alley}
3. Cornucopia – Remember Me {Early Morning}
4. Davi – The Bay Pt. 1 {Anjunadeep}
5. Henry Saiz – I Can Feel It Coming {Last Night on Earth}
6. Lloyd Barwood – ID
7. Luke Chable, Danny Bonnici – Colours (2010 Version) {Balance Music}
8. Joseph Ashworth – Pepper {Sound of Outside}
9. YOTTO, Booka Shade – Encounters (SOHMI Fantasy Extended Remix) {Odd One Out}
10. dOP – Heart Signs (Chaim Remix) {Eleatics Records}
11. Molac – Vanta Black {Alquimia}
12. Medway, Luke Porter – RTFM {microCastle}
13. Steve Parry – Don’t You Ever Stop (John Digweed & Nick Muir Remix) {Bedrock Records}
14. Pig&Dan – The Saint (Job San) (Lee Van Dowski Remix) {ELEVATE}
15. Sasha, lau.ra – Burnt Letters {Last Night on Earth}
16. Jaytech – Metro {Anjunadeep}
17. Guy Mantzur, Kamilo Sanclemente – The Future is in the Past {Moments}
18. D-Nox, Stereo Underground – Dolby {Einmusika Recordings}
19. Medway, Lloyd Barwood – ID
20. Something Good – Bloom {Monster Tunes}
21. Lloyd Barwood – ID
22. Tyrrell – LALALALALALA {Etage Noir Recordings}
23. Lloyd Barwood – Chain of Thoughts {Last Night on Earth}

Balance Selections Q+A

Name: Lloyd Barwood
Location: London, UK
Alias/Producer name: Lloyd Barwood
Labels affiliated with: Last Night on Earth, Axept Records, Controlled Substance, Stripped Digital

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My last 3 releases:

What music did you listen to as a child?

Music has always been a huge part of my family life growing up and to this day. I have a vivid memory from childhood, when I was only 5 or 6 years old, of my dad pulling out his collection of vinyl.

It was mostly Motown, soul and disco records, and he played us the 12” of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message. I was hooked from that moment and over the years he would go on to introduce me to so much amazing music.

My dad was a saxophonist and it inspired me and my brother to learn instruments too. From the age of 8, my brother and I were jamming to old school rock in a little band.

I was rocking out on the guitar and he was on the drums. I also played the clarinet until I reached grade 6 and then went on to learn the sax and also achieved grade 6 at that too. I’ve actually recorded sax elements into a few of my records as ambient textures.

So, as you can imagine, music was always playing in the house or in the car, whether it was us playing it ourselves or putting the needle on the record.

When was the first time you realised that you liked electronic music?

It was my first year at university in Southampton. A room mate of mine was already getting into house music and he invited me to go to a day festival in the city.

It was my first time hearing house music on a big sound system and I was hooked from the get-go. It helped that it was Jamie Jones and Maya Jane Coles behind the decks too.

Not a bad way to kick off my love for raving.

When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?

The first time I saw a DJ in a club was actually at the after party of the day festival I mentioned above. That just shows how much I enjoyed the music. 12 hours of two-stepping wasn’t enough, so we opted to continue late into the morning!

Route 94 was headlining the after party at a club called ‘Voodoo’ in Southampton. I remember him dropping the MK remix of My Head is a Jungle and his record My Love and the whole dancefloor went crazy.

It’s safe to say I’ve been hooked on electronic music since then.

Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?

As an artist, my biggest inspiration is Sasha. The first time I saw him live was an accident. I stumbled across his set with John Digweed when they were playing one of their big return gigs at ‘The Social Festival’. At this point in time, I had no clue what progressive house was and I had never heard of either Sasha or John Digweed. This was all about to change.

After the festival, I started researching into Sasha, learning his history and how pivotal he was in the scene. I worked my way through all his mixtapes and releases, starting things off with Northern Exposure then moving onto Renaissance, Global Underground, Involver, Airdrawndagger and everything in between. I can confidently say that I have listened to pretty much every mix of his I can find online.

I was mesmerised by the way he build sets, telling a story through his track selection, knowing when to pick up the energy but also when to slow things down. And the way he delivers each record in the set is like no other DJ I have witnessed. He also leads from the front, shaping his own sound and not buying into trends or what other artists are doing. That level of forward-thinking creativity is what I aspire towards as an artist.

Other sources of inspiration come from being front and centre on the dancefloor. There is no better time or place to find inspiration than when a DJ drops a record and the whole crowd erupts around you. I’m always taking note on the dancefloor, both mentally and literally…I quite often get my phone out mid rave to write down a few ideas then apply these same ideas to my own music when I get back in the studio.

What was the last album that you downloaded/purchased?

I don’t tend to listen to many albums, but one that I keep coming back to is ‘Times & Places’ by Andy Cato (one half of Groove Armada). It’s a very cool concept album that was written over 12 years whilst he was touring the world. The records trace his career and life from the 90s illegal raves to the Groove Armada era.

There’s actually a funny story behind how I got recommended the album… It was recommended to me by the artist Denney. Back in 2018, I purchased a copy of Denney’s Nubreed 12 Global Underground (GU) album.

I was always a big fan of Denney back in my tech-house-loving days, so to see him be called up for a GU mix got me excited. The first record on the album is ‘Andy Cato – 7am Drop’, a very cool opening record, but I wasn’t aware this was part of a wider album.

A few years later, during COVID times, I attended a seated event where Denney was DJing and after his set I bumped into him in the toilet. I told him how much I loved his GU album and mentioned the opening record. He told me to listen to the whole album called ‘Times & Places’. I’ve loved it ever since.

What is your current production and DJ setup like?

I don’t have a fancy studio. All the music I produce is created in the spare room of my London flat, which acts as a “studio”, an office for my 9 to 5 job, and a guest bedroom. So it’s a relatively simple setup.

For DJing, I use a DJM-450 mixer with 2 x XDJ-700s, and for producing, I work on Logic Pro on my MacBook Pro and have a Prophet Rev2 hardware synth. For monitoring, I have two Rokit 5’s but I mostly use my Slate Digital VSX headphones, as I don’t have a sound treated room. Honestly, you only need a laptop, a pair of headphones and some inspiration to make music.

Most of the music I write either contains synth lines from my Prophet or uses synths in-the-box. My go-to software synths are Serum, Diva or Pigments. Between those three, I can create pretty much create any sound I am looking for.

Other plugins I am loving at the moment are SoundToy’s SpaceBlender and ‘Silo’ (recommended to me by the legend that is Jamie Stevens), which I use to create some amazing textures as it combines granular synthesis, audio spatialisation and reverb.

When I first started producing, I purchased every plugin under the sun and over time I came to realise that it is much more important to be an expert in a few tools rather than a jack-of-all in lots of them. Nowadays, I probably don’t use more than 10-15 plugins for both production and mixing. Less is more as they say.

What releases do you have on the horizon?

I’ve just had a big-room record called ‘X-Rated’ release on Of Us Records, which has received some fantastic feedback. I have some amazing releases lined up for next year already but I have to keep these under wraps for now. However, you will hear a few of them in my Balance Selections mix…

Where can we hear you perform?

2026 is already lining up to be my biggest year yet.

On February 7th 2026, I am playing my biggest gig to date, DJing alongside Sasha for the very first time in Liverpool for the 909 and WAV event. It is hard to contain my excitement for this one. Finally getting to hand over the decks to my hero.

I also have some incredible gigs planned up at Skyline in Glasgow, where I am holding my first DJ residency. The first of which is Sunday 15th February, where I will be supporting the rising star in Ezequiel Arias and playing alongside the other incredible residents.

I will also be playing at Balance Croatia Festival in Croatia next August, which is a real bucket list moment for me. I attended the festival this year and it was one of the best weekends of my life. Now, I get the opportunity to play at that same festival that changed everything for me and on a line up alongside all of my favourite artists. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?

The mix was recorded in my studio at home and, I have to say, I am really happy with how it came together. I opted to programme a 2 hour set so I could build the pace slowly and take the listener on a journey across lots of my favourite records from the last few decades.

It was a challenge trying to build the setlist, as I had so many great records I wanted to include, but I had to leave some out. I associate Balance with only happy memories and I think that really translated into the mix. I hope it makes people smile and feel good inside when they listen to it.

I produced a few new records just for this mix too, including the intro record called ‘What is Progressive House?’. I wanted to do something different and unique that would resonate with me and progressive lovers all over the world.

I had the idea of sampling interviews with some of my favourite progressive DJs talking about what progressive house means to them then layered this inside lots of textures and atmospheres. I will let you guess which DJs I sampled…

I put a lot of time, effort and late nights into perfecting this mix but it was worth every second and I feel very proud of the end result.

The top track in my DJ set currently is: