You know you’ve had a storming year when you find yourself turning down work from Madonna and Britney Spears. Make no bones, Swedish house DJ and producer Steve Angello has firmly slapped himself on the clubland map in 2009 and now, finally, is the time to reflect.

Well, kind of.  At the end of November, Angello releases an album The Year Book which relives all of his ‘best bits’ from the past 12 months. But once that’s out the door, our boy will be straight into the studio to work on new material for next year. There really isn’t much time for reminiscing...

“I still don’t think I’ve made it yet” Angello rather humbly explains. “There’s still so much more you can do, and you can always achieve and accomplish more than what you’ve done. I was on my knees come September but then there were the Brixton shows in November to drag myself up for, and the studio work; so much fun stuff to look forward to!”

Angello made a temporary move to LA at the start of the year, but then decided to stay. Word zipped around quickly, hence the offers of remix work from Madge and co. but the super-Swede was determined to make a name for himself under his own steam. He did exactly that, storming Brazil and the States with DJ tours, playing to 300,000 over one sweaty week Down Under in February, and joining Laidback Luke for a bold new take on Robin S’ seminal cut Show Me Love – a hugely successful revamp that would dominate every national pop chart in Europe.

“It’s just one of those tracks. It’s done a lot of good stuff for me” Angello beams.  “The best thing about it is everywhere I go it’s the one track everyone wants to hear.”

And then there’s the Swedish House Mafia; an outrageously funky syndicate of Scandinavians to which Angello belongs. It’s fair to say the Mafia has infiltrated most parts of clubland in 2009. Angello, alongside countrymen Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, dazzled taste-makers at the Miami Winter Conference in March with uplifting, piano-driven single Leave The World Behind. The tune, also featuring Mr Luke, promptly topped Beatport and earned Pete Tong’s weighty recommendation as Radio 1 Essential New Tune.

Since that disco bombshell, the Mafia boys have masterminded a popular Monday night residency at Pacha Ibiza this summer, and hosted sell-out shows at London’s Brixton Academy; literally just last week. “Brixton with the boys, it was such an achievement for us” Angello offers. “It felt just like Pacha; like being with family. We really felt like we gave the crowd something they won’t ever forget.”

Post-gig feedback from clubbers would seem to bear all that out. It’s no wonder then that Angello has ‘opened’ an audio ‘Year Book’ for 2009; it’s been a more than productive few months: “I get inspired by everything from techno to R&B to rock; it’s a very broad spectrum that we’re looking at. I think tracks like Show Me Love and Leave The World Behind will inspire my next trips to the studio because they’ve been such a big success.”

Naturally, The Year Book 2009 includes those international anthems, as well as Angello’s intensely Balearic Flonko and techno-fied Valodja – major forays this year in their own right.  And then there’s epic, trance-y, Monday (an eagerly awaited future single) and synth-monster Tivoli. In short, there’s plenty of major memories to motivate Angello’s imminent return to the studio.

“Next month will basically be studio, studio, studio; some of that time with Sebastian, some without” Angello concludes. “There’s also plenty coming from Size [the label for which Angello is A&R)  including tunes from my little brother Anton, Kim Fai and Christian Smith. Good stuff.”

Who’s to say 2010 won’t be Angello’s year too?

Steve Angello’s The Year Book is out on Size November 30th, 2009.