Kategoriarkiv: Articles

Interview: Above & Beyond

It’s HERE! The long awaited interview with Tony McGuinness and Jono Grant from Above & Beyond bejbi.se, together with Viktor Kidson did, earlier this year when they visited Sweden on the Scandinavian leg of their We Are All We Need-tour.

CONNECTION. If one word sums up the phenomenon of Above & Beyond then that is surely it. Whether it’s the thousands of A&B fans singing their lyrics back at them at gigs from Beirut to Brixton, or the millions that tune in for their weekly Group Therapy radio show, connection – real human connection – is at the heart of all things that define Above & Beyond.

Above & Beyond find themselves embedded at the heart of their fans’ lives. Some walk down the wedding aisle to their songs, others ink their bodies with their lyrics, often a proud couple will choose to get engaged at one of their gigs. All that pledge their loyalty to them are moved in a way that goes beyond most electronic music out there.

Above & Beyond is Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamaki and their story is one of constant movement. From their early days as hotly tipped producers to their current global standing, Jono, Tony and Paavo have remained as down-to-earth and determined as ever – always focused on the next goal. Over their 13-year history, this dedication has continually paid off.

We caught up with Tony and Jono right before their gig in Stockholm. We get a deep down, intimate chat with them about their music, and how it feels to create something that touches hearts all over the world. Ours included.

Learn how they see and love the ’Anjunafamily’, and how they don’t produce for people but somehow manage to produce with people. Get a view on their careers before they were Above & Beyond, how both Jono and Tony were in different bands. And how Tony still is! Find out what the music sounds like.

In the summer of 2013 Jono, Tony & Paavo launched another bold musical project, Above & Beyond Acoustic. Rewriting a selection of their back catalogue for a 15 piece ensemble, complete with a full string section, a harp and even a broom, they sold out three intimate shows at the impressive Porchester Hall in London, and in October 2013 will bring Above & Beyond Acoustic to Los Angeles.

Find out how frightening that really was. And what they have planned for the future.

And like just about everything they turn their attentions to, it is a labour of love as well as a collaboration of the trio’s energies. De La Soul weren’t wrong. Three really is the magic number: and in Above & Beyond’s case the magic is spreading faster than ever before.

Bejbi.se & Kidson Media Production presents Above & Beyond!

Interview, research & article: Viktor Kidson, Kidson Media Production
Production & editing: Patric Franksson, www.bejbi.se
Sound: Lars Johnsson, www.bejbi.se

Thank You Jono & Tony of Above & Beyond.

Also thanks to:
Universal Music
Caroline International
Stockholm Waterfront Building

CONNECT WITH ABOVE & BEYOND:
aboveandbeyond.nu
itunes.com/aboveandbeyond
youtube.com/aboveandbeyond
facebook.com/aboveandbeyond
soundcloud.com/aboveandbeyond

CONNECT WITH BEJBI.SE:
twitter.com/bejbi_se
facebook.com/bejbi.se
youtube.bejbi.se

CONNECT WITH #TEAMKIDSON:
facebook.com/KidsonMediaProduction
youtube.com/KidsonProduction
twitter.com/TEAMKIDSON

Contact:
kidson(a)kidsonMP.com
patric(a)bejbi.se

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If you want to see the pictures Patric took during the concert, check them out here

Interview: Marius Andries

I caught up with Marius Andries on a bustrip to Västerås to an event called Stockholm Invasion which was put together by our friends at Kollektivet and we did an interview on a crowded bus full with drunken party people.

Marius

State your full name:

Marius Andries.

You are known to the public since the 90’s as a part of Pinocchio. Can you tell us some info on your previous career.

Wow. Well, I started around 96 together with Antiloop and we built our own studio in Lidingö. We rented a villa and built 2 studios. Both acts were into electronic dancemusic (or modern dancemusic as it was called at the time). And we decided to start up and try to put our effort into the sequence.

If you listen to the music that was out there at the time in the same ”genre” as you, like Antiloop, you and for instance Earthbound which all had that harder trancesound with that drive or edge to it, almost to the goa-trance or psytrance style.

When I listened thru your early works which were faster and edgier and compare them with the later (2002) sounds, you can hear that your productions were a bit calmer. Was it something that the market sought after or did you change the sound yourself?

(laughs) Well, I think that came with age.

If you look back at the top of your career, the years 1996 to 2002 and look at your accomplishments. What are the things that you are most proud of?

Well, that was a hard question. What I was most proud of… Well actually, what I do now is more fun. Back then, everything was so controlled by the record company, down to what niche you should concentrate your song to. This was pretty boring as you didn’t have free hands to do what you wanted, and that’s pretty negative.

Absolutely. But If you look back, is there some track that you think ”shit, this is something that i’m really proud of”

Well, yes. I would say Hypnotized in that case. This was the track that I and Erik Färnert, which was a part of Pinocchio back then were most proud of. Both technical and on the production level.

You also did quite a few remixes back then. You remixed artists like A-teens, E-type and 666 just to mention a few. Was it any particular remix that you were especially proud of?

Well, most often it was productions that came from Dee Jay Promotions, and Giovanni, who had some artists like Solid Base and 666 on license from Germany. The stuff we made for them was probably the most fun remixes.

If you look back on which remix productions you were least proud of, is there any specific remix that comes to mind?

Yeah, there were probably quite a few. The thing was that, in 1999 to 2000 we mass-produced remixes, probably 35 to 40 remixes, and at the end of that period you could hear that most sounded pretty generic and we didn’t put our best efforts into the work. We just wanted to finish them quickly, and that’s not that fun.

Nowadays when you produce, do you rent a space in a studio or produce at home?

Well, nowadays you don’t need to be in a big studio to produce. Often it’s easier to put together a computer, a midi-keyboard and some software-synths which wasn’t the case back in the 90’s. I prefer to sit at home and do the groundwork and if you decide to finish it, you usually take it to a bigger studio to put the finishing touches and master it.

When you sit at home in front of your computer and are producing, is there some special software-synth that you MUST use, or most often use or your productions can’t be without?

I would say Nexus in that case. Then there’s Trillian and the moog-sounds which is in it. But I’d have to say that Nexus is my favourite synth.

You recently signed up with Future Sound Of Sweden. How does it feel to restart your career with them?

I don’t see is as a career, more as…. What’s good with Future Sound Of Sweden is that they don’t say anything about your productions. You have free hands to do what you like and they don’t try to form your tracks into something mainstream to fit the radio etc. I like to have free hands, especially when you are a musician like me who…. It’s more like a hobby for me, and nothing else.

You do it because it’s fun, not as before, to earn some money. You do it because it’s fun and you get a warm feeling when you ’re sitting there and creating the music.

Exactly. Besides producing, you’re also a DJ and a promotor for your own club, Club Noize, which resides in Snaps. You usually get the local dj’s to play instead of yourself. I haven’t seen you play yet.

No, my first gig will be on the 28th of September. I haven’t done it so far because i’ve thought it would be the best to take strong, local dj’s which already are established to get the club going. Me, myself ain’t established as a DJ but…. As i said, I’ve tried to get some DJ’s that is already established in Stockholm.

Absolutely. But under the height of your career, 1996 to 2002. Did it ever happen that you DJ’d abroad?

Well, I’ve played some in Romania. And also, we were on tour around 2000 all over Europe but we played more as a live-act, not as a DJ.

How many were you on stage? One, two or three?

On stage, we were only two. Erik and me.

Pinocchio

Was it large gigs or smaller clubs back then?

It was both. The biggest was the Malmo-square which was over 10.000 people.

Wow, exciting!

Yeah, that was pretty exciting.

There was a period after 2002 where you disappeared from the music-scene. What happened then?

I had kids.

Congratulations! How old are them today?

They are 10 and 8. They are 2 girls.

Do you have any fun memories from your tours that you want to tell us about?

Well, there was a tour in Lysekil with Bomfunk Mcs, Richi M, Earthbound and Antiloop.
We were a pretty tight group which partied a lot and made music on the tour bus. Loads of laughs and a really nice atmosphere.

Did any fun stuff happen? Any awkward situations?

No, we were actually pretty mellow which felt really good.

You talked about making music on the tourbus. Did any cool collaborations come out of it?

No, it was more like someone showing off what they just done.

If you look back on the height of your career. Who was your favourite dj/artist?

Well, what got me into making music was probably the Age Of Love-track (by Age Of Love). But i’ve always liked Jam & Spoon. Otherwise, I can’t really say that i’ve had any big idols, it’s more that you listened to everything that was released back then. And you thought that most music back then was pretty good. So you basically were influented by all music that was releases

Sounds right. But if you had to compile a list of your ”all time top 5”, is there any track or tracks that you want to mention as favourites?

marius2

Yeah, there is one track which was popular back when I started to produce. It was Energy 52 – Cafe Del Mar. That’s probably still my all time favourite.

When you are at a club or a pub, is there any special drink you always order?

If you ask everyone that knows me, the will know. It’s Whiskey and Red Bull.

You actually sung on some of your productions…

I didn’t sing, it was more like reading text from a paper.

Did you come up with the texts yourself (except for Da Da Da which was a remake)?

Well, most often, it was only a couple of words. In the case of Hypnotized, I was influented by Billy Idol’s track with the same name. But it wasn’t exactly texts, it was more that you said anything spontaneous.

The most fun was Flower On The Moon, which was a pretty early production.
We were sitting drunk in the studio one night and watching the moon and trying to figure out what to say and had no idea. Let’s write about Flowers On The Moon, and most people say ”what did you smoke that night?” But we didn’t smoke, that I can tell you. It was too many drinks, as usual. And from that you get pretty wierd texts.

You were active back in the day when infamous rave-club Docklands had it’s peak. Were you ever there partying?

Well, I can tell you that I wasn’t that active on the partyfront back in the days, but I was there when I was playing there. But the feeling was great. Oh that’s right, we recorded the video for Abletarte, my first track was recorded there. Docklands had a reputation and people thought…. Actually the government associated it with drugs, people went there only to do drugs, it wasn’t for the music. So it was somewhat of a taboo. I don’t know….

How many times did you play at docklands?

We (Pinocchio) played only once. But we also DJ’d separately on one occasion.

Where does the name Abletarte come from?

Well, there were a schnaps back then that everybody drank. Apple-scnaps, and one night we came up with the name aebletarte. It was one of those drunken nights.

Back on the same EP, Musical Expressions, there were a track called Down The Basement, which later came with a 2000-remix. And that 2000-remix sounds more like Antiloop.

Well, it was pretty influented by their sound, and that was because the record company wanted that special sound which was really sad. But… I can say that I did a version of it and went to the A&R and he something like said ”try to get it to sound more like a mixture of 666 and Antiloop” and I said, ”I can’t do it and I won’t do it, I want to do something of my own” and ended up putting a guitar-loop as main instrument on the track which eventually sounded pretty near Antiloop which is pretty sad. Well, Antiloop is really good but it’s sad that my production sounded like Antiloop.

marius3 Antiloop had a really cool sound but it’s better to find an own sound

Yeah, that’s what every producer wants, their own sound. It’s harder today as everyone uses the same software-synths so much music can sound pretty alike. What you should try to do (and what I try to do) is create a sound with more defined melodies, put that personal touch on it which doesn’t sound like anyone else out there. I try to play alot with the chords and the build of the track so that it doesn’t sound like something already out there. It’s sometimes difficult but….yeah. That’s what you do.

If you listen to your sound today and want to try to explain to someone who hasn’t listen to your productions, how would you explain it?

(laughs) Unfinished

No, but, haven’t decided or found what I want to sound like. It has been more like ”you spontaneously create a loop and try to do a track around it”. But a sound, Well, I can’t say that I have that yet. What I think is more fun is that you can mix your niche more today. Sometimes, I have created a harder track, and after that a more trancy track, and after that a more housy track.

I don’t have any special niche, but if I have to label myself, i’d say Electronic Dance Music. Can’t say that I only do trance, or tech-house or techno. You get to where your loops take you.

Do you set a special tempo when you create your tracks?

I usually start around 126 bpm but everything depends on what the loop sound like.

When you produce, do you use studio speakers or headphones?

I use studio speakers, can’t recall the name. Just bought them 2 months ago. (Found out the name a few days later, they are called Tapco S5)

Have you gotten any release date for your first single, Holographic on Future Sound Of Sweden?

7th of October.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/10350254″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Do you produce on PC or Mac?

PC. I used to use mac, it’s more stabile but it’s harder to find good plugins.

Is your studio computer in your bedroom?

It’s really near the bed. You often run to it at least 10 times a day, as soon as you come up with something new.

Which program do you use for your productions?

Cubase 6.2

Do you have a special computer just for producing or do you use the same computer for everything?

I have an own computer just for producing. There is nothing else on it except what you need to produce.

Have you won any prizes or awards?

Well, i’ve got a few platina records and gold records for the sales that i’ve been apart of. Like E-type, A-teens, Pain and a few others. There is like 7 of them. They are on the wall at my bar at home.

Which of the remixes did sell the most?

A-Teens – Mamma Mia and E-Type – Campione.

And of your own productions?

Well, that must have been Hypnotized. But It didn’t sell that much.

Have you ever tried any other genre, like hardstyle?

No

Never done a chillout-track?

I actually did a chillout-version of the Holographic.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110232852″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Have you gotten any requests to remix any other of Future Sound Of Sweden’s other artists?

No, not yet. My contract with them is still pretty fresh.

What is your feeling about the signing to Future Sound Of Sweden? Will you release loads of tracks?

Well, i’ve signed a 4-year contract and I can do as many tracks as I want under these 4 years as long as I feel that it’s as good as I want it. It’s not important how many tracks I release under these 4 years.

Future Sound Of Sweden has their own singer, Chase. Do you consider doing tracks with his vocals?

I’m actually looking to release somthing with vocals, maybe not this track or the next but i’m trying to find someone who can write texts and sing.

I know that on some of Future Sound Of Swedens upcoming tracks, they have sent a track to Chase and he’s sent it back with vocals. Is that any way you want to work?

That’s how you usually work nowadays.

Would you consider a collaboration with the other Future Sound Of Sweden-artists like Christian Rusch or Kim Svard?

Absolutely! It’s exciting to work with other artists as they have another view on music than you, and also have another sound than you do.

Have you learned anything music-wise from the touring-days when you shared bus with Antiloop and the others that you still use today?

You learn all the time, it’s like a progressive learning curve.

What kind of music do you listen to at home?

Well, that varies. Sometime it’s house, sometime’s it’s trance and sometimes it’s techno or any other electronic dance music?

Does it happen that you play for instance soul or reggae at home?

No, no reggae, no pop. It’s usally EDM of some kind.

Do you listen to commercial radio at home or at work?

No. The only radio station I listen to is Radioseven.

We talked about Club Noize before and your first gig in forever. Are you looking forward to playing?

Well, not that particular. I don’t really know what to play. I’m playing pretty early, between 21 and 22 and there is probably not that big crowd. I’ll probably play Deep House.

We like deep house. As long as you stay away from the commercial sound of Swedish House Mafia etc. Do you have any favourites in deep house?

Deep Dish.

Thank you for the interview

It was my pleasure

I caught up with Marius again for some additional info since some time has passed since we did that interview.

What do you plan to release over the next coming months?

Perseid Jam will be the second release and will be released after Holographic, probably with a 2 month window. I have a couple of more tracks that is waiting in the pipeline. My plan is to release an album within a year but everything eventually is depending on inspiration.

You and Lily V Nine collaborated on a track called 650 for a competition set by Armin Van Buuren for the next A State Of Trance 650-anthem. Will more collaborations come out of it?

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/10894939″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

I feel like there will be more collaborations, talked with Steve Sundheden and Jay Van Kay for collaborations and is really looking forward to working with them. When it comes to the A State Of Trance-collaboration, we are currently keeping a new collaboration open, but it was really fun to work with Lily V Nine

Last time we spoke about you eventually releasing vocal tracks. Has anything happened on that front yet?

I haven’t done anthing when it comes to finding a vocalist, and must admit that I haven’t spent any time on it either. We’ll see what the future brings.

Related links
Pinocchio on Spotify
Pinocchio – Down The Basement
Pinocchio – Da Da Da
Pinocchio – Hypnotized

Art Of Sound / Tillsammans presents Sanctuary with Ummet Özcan

Sanctuary

Our friends at Art Of Sound / Tillsammans is having a major trance-booking this coming weekend, an event that you dont want to miss out on!

They have booked the internationally famous Ummet Özcan together with local talents for a gig that won’t be forgotten for a long time!

Warmup-dj’s will be Jonas Hörnblad, JP Bates and Steve Sundheden, all of them pretty known in the Swedish trance-community.

Art Of Sound / Tillsammans usually book artists who play in the Techno, Deep & Tech-House, Progressive & Psytrance-genres and will have their second dancefloor dedicated to the latter with artists like Gaudium, Tegma, Bakke & Mama Gaia

The third floor will be dedicated to two of the local partyproviders BZO and Tribalism where Jakob Westling and Kenneth Kenuna will play some true progressive classics from 1992 until today.Expect major goosebumps if you’re into old heroes in the genre like James Holden and Sasha.

Except for the major DJ’s. there will be stunning decors, wicked visuals and amazing 3d-mappings + phat lasers. So even if you don’t like the music, come for the visuals!!

The timetable isn’t 100% set at the moment but to give you a glimpse into who plays when, check this out:

Floor 1 (in order of play)

JP Bates
Jonas Hörnblad
Ummet Özcan
Sundheden

Floor 2 (in order of play)

Bakke
Tegma
Mama Gaia
Gaudium

Floor 3
B2B Jakob Westling / Kenneth Kenuna (+ friends)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The event is next friday (the 26th) and the venue is open from 22.00 – 05.00
Adress: Palmfeltsvägen 1B.
Nearest subway: Globen. About 100 meter to walk.
Entrance-fee: 180 sek. You can buy a 2-day ticket for another party on saturday (the 27th) at the same location and pay 300 sek for both. The party on saturday is more techno-influented with acts like Function, Oliver Bondzio (one half of legendary duo Hardfloor), Jesper Dahlbäck and Nima Khak.
Age limit: 20 year and older

Feel free to join Art Of Sound and Tillsammans / Suburbias facebook pages for more info on the next coming parties.

Tillsammans has had some quite big names in their bookings over the years. Click this link for a complete list.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Ummet Özcan

Short bio on Ummet Özcan.

DJ & producer from Putten, Gelderland, the Netherlands with turkish parents.
Aside from making music, Ummet is also a sound designer and have been working with some of the major sound bank designers like Rob Papen (Albino, Predator) and Acces Music (Virus).

His musical career started back in 2006 with the release of the single Chica God but his major breakthrough as a producer came in 2009 with the release of Time Wave Zero. Since then, he’s released some 30 releases and collaborated with acts like W&W, Sied Van Riel, MEM, El Toro just to name a few.

Meantime, while producing tracks and sounds, Ummet has frequeted many of the hottest clubs around the world. So far this year Ummet have toured Canada, USA, Egypt, The Netherlands, Malaysia and the UK just to name a few and his touring will continue most of this year.

As a DJ, Ummet usually plays really energetic trance and has a strong stageprecence and drives the crowd wild with his choice of tracks. His gigs at Luminosity Beach Festival over the years has been legendary and the most remeberable gigs of the whole festival.

Hope to see you at the party!

Classic FTW: Goldenscan – Sunrise (Pulser’s 6AM Vocal Mix)

This week’s article is about one of those tracks that is just classic. The trio only released 4 singles and all of them became pretty huge. I’m ofcourse talking about GoldenscanSunrise (Pulser 6 AM Vocal Remix). (Buy on Itunes)

UK-based Ed Goring and Mark McCormick met in 1999 and formed Goldenscan.

Both had a career in music before. Ed was part of the multi hit-making Elevatorman as for Mark, he was part of FXU, the first UK act to be signed to NYC’s highly prestigious Strictly Rhythm.

Their first (and biggest) success came with the 2000 single Sunrise (with vocalist Maggie). The track was actually out on White Label already in 1999 but it was in 2000 where it got it’s major breakthrough.

The version that usually got the most airplay was the Pulser remix, but there was also an remix by Tiesto. Later in 2003, there was a re-release with an Ronski Speed remix.

The last remix to be released was the 2011 Neptune Project remix.

What I really like about the Pulser remix is that it’s smoother and got more depth than the original. While both Tiesto’s and Ronski Speed’s remix are more floating and light, the Pulser remix is more colder and darker.

I remember when first hearing it on a roadtrip early in the morning while the sun came up. So magical!

goldenscan-sunrise

After the success with Sunrise, Goldenscan released their second release, Of Our Time (with vocalist Nicki Evans) was pretty decent. I do love the original mix over the remixes by Super8 and Randy Katana as it keeps some of the original sounds that made Sunrise so good.

Their next success came with the release of the EP Halcyon / Only With You where both tracks were successes. This was also their last release before they quit making music.

Halcyon (with singer Sally Doherty) is a really pumping and well produced track.
Only With You (with singer Miriam Stockley) uses the same recipy as Halcyon which makes the track really good.

Goldenscan got back together in 2011 and re-released got signed to Armin Van Buuren’s label, Armada Music and eventually started their own label, Goldenscan music

When I listen to Sunrise, I dream back to the moment when I first heard it, in the warm summer morning just around sunrise in the south of Sweden. Since then, i’ve probably heard it a thousand times and I still think it’s absolutely fantastic.

I hope that Goldenscan will continue releasing new tracks on their label and the magic will continue, if not, to let the youngsters know what great music sounds like.

For I am a believer in Goldenscan!

Related tracks:

Goldenscan – Sunrise (Tiesto Remix)
Goldenscan – Sunrise (Ronski Speed Remix)
Goldenscan – Sunrise (Neptune Project Remix)

Goldenscan – Of Our Times (Original Mix)
Goldenscan – Of Our Times (Super8 Remix)
Goldenscan – Of Our Times (Burufunk Mix)

Goldenscan – Halcyon (Original Version)
Goldenscan – Halcyon (Ljungqvist Remix)
Goldenscan – Halcyon (Tenishia Remix)

Goldenscan – Only with You

Classic FTW: Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Bervoets & De Goeij Remix)

You very often find an artist/project that makes one hit and then disappears. The next project had 2 major hits in the trance community, 2 big tracks that defined early trance. So which track am I talking about? It’s ofcourse Cygnus XThe Orange Theme (Bervoets & De Goeij Remix).

Cygnus X started out as a project with German producers Ralf Hildenbeutel & Matthias Hoffmann in early 1993.

Matthias Hoffmann started out as an studio guitarist for artists like Quincy Jones and Sheila E but changed his musical interest after listening to dancemusic. Matthias started releasing his own material from 1988 and onwards.

He was also one of the founders of the Eye Q-label together with Sven Väth and Heinz Roth. It was also around that time that he met Ralf Hildenbeutel for the first time as Ralf worked as a studio partner for Sven Väth.

The Cygnus X-project took shape in early 1993 and released their first single, Superstring on Eye Q Records.

The first releases were an EP with Superstring and Positron and later in 1994 you saw remixes from Oliver Lieb and Cygnus X themselves. The big breakthrough for Superstring came in 2000 when Rank 1 made their famous remix. Rank 1’s remix got them a top 40 hit and peaked at no 33 in the UK chart.

Worth noticing is that Superstring (Rank 1 Remix) was the Sensation 2000 Theme.

What I really like is that Rank 1 made the track warmer than the original which is abit cold and dry. Superstring was released on a total of 26 releases and licensed to labels like Xtravaganza and Bonzai just to name a few.

cygnysx-orangetheme

Their next big track came in 1994 with The Orange Theme. By this time Ralf has already left the project.

The Orange Theme was based on the thememusic to the movie A Clockwork Orange by Walther Carlos.

The original track was pretty huge but it was first in 1999 with remixes by Ferry Corsten, Solarstone, Bervoets & De Goeij (a.k.a Rank 1) and Man With No Name that the major breakthrough came.

The new remixes also gave Cygnus X another chart position, this time at no 43 in the UK chart. I just love how the track builds and builds and then a major breakdown. Major Goosebumps!

The Orange Theme has since been remixed by many more and reworked by artists like Deadmau5
.
Cygnus X version has been released on a total of 31 versions and licensed labels like Hooj, ID&T and Bonzai just to name a few.

In 1995 Cygnus X released their only album, Hypermetrical.

A fun fact is that the album doesn’t contain Superstring at all. The only track produced with Ralf on the record is Turn Around.

The album also spawned a few singles like Kinderlied (1995), Turn Around (1995), Synchronism (1995), Hypermetrical (1996) and Positron (2002) but none of the were the range of the ever so popular Superstring and The Orange Theme.

A cool fact is that Positron became the anthem for Trance Energy 2003

Cygnus X also released Collected Works in 2003 with all the hits to date (including Superstring) plus remixes from Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Buuren, Marco V, Rank 1 and Future Breeze just to name a few.

For me, the 1999/2000-remixes of Superstring and The Orange Theme were 2 tracks that defined trance when I first started listening on a major scale. I was more into house at the end of the 90’s. What fascinated me back then was the major effort the remixes put on their work. When you saw a track from Cygnus X you knew that cool remixes would follow.
And most often, it did!

Related tracks:

Cygnus X – Superstring (Original Mix)
Cygnus X – Superstring (Rank 1 Remix) [Official Video]
Cygnus X – Superstring (Oliver Lieb Remix)
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Original)
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Moonman’s Orange Juice Mix)
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Solar Stone Remix)
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Man With No Name Remix)
Cygnus X – Positron (Original Mix)
Cygnus X – Positron (Armin Van Buuren Remix)

Classic FTW: Ascension – Someone (The Thrillseekers Remix)

This week’s article is about another small project that did great things. They only released 2 tracks but both of them became really huge. So which track am I talking about? It’s ofcourse AscensionSomeone (The Thrillseekers Remix). (Buy on Itunes)

Lyrics:

I need a spirit who can touch my life. 
I need a voice to speak the truth. 
I need a soul who will be on my side. 
I need a heart I´ll never loose. 

[Chorus] 
Someone like you… 
Somebody like you… 
Someone like you… 
Someone like you… 

Sometimes I wonder if my dreams are right. 
Sometimes I know they’ll all come true. 
I need somebody who can move my world. 
Someone who knows just what to do. 
Someone like you… 

Chorus 

EeH… (2x) 
Aah… (2x) 

I need a spirit who can touch my life. 
I need a voice to speak the truth. 
I need a soul who will be on my side. 
I need a heart I´ll never loose. 

ascensionsomeone

Ascension was Rick SimmondsStephen Jones, both well known in the trance-genre under aliases like ChakraLustral, Simmonds & Jones and The Space Brothers just to name a few.

The Ascension-project was started in 1997 and their first track, Someone (with vocalist Joanna Law) was signed to Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto-label although Rick and Stephen had planned to release all their various releases under Judge Jules’s Manifesto-label.

The initial 1997-release contained Original Vocal Mix together with Slacker’s Rolling Mix and Slacker’s Elevation Vocal and eventually a few new remixes appeared from producers like The Thrillseekers, Signum, Space Brothers, Binary Finary & Robert Vadney just to name a few.

What I really like is the soothing vocals by Joanna which gives the track that special feeling. The 1997 original vocal was long one of my favourite until the release of The Thrillseekers remix in 2000. Was quite an experience to see The Thrillseekers play this in his classic set on Luminosity Beach Festival last year.

Lately though, i’ve been listening to the fresher Signum Remix as I really love what they did with the darker and fuller strings in the background.

Someone has been released on a total of 16 different releases whereof the latest was in 2011 on Armada Digital with fresh remixes by Signum and Robert Vadney.

Ascension’s second track, the 2002 release, For A Lifetime (with vocalist Erin Lordan) was signed to Alex Gold’s Xtravaganza-label and came with a bunch of interesting remixes by Oceanlab, Lustral and Alex Gold vs Coast 2 Coast.

The release was later re-released in 2011 on Armada Digital with fresh remixes by Roger Shah and a brand new chillout-version.

So what happened to Rick and Stephen since the Ascension-project ended? Well, they founded the online music store, Audiojelly where you can find all their tracks under various aliases together with many of your favourite producers.

Most of their aliases has been droped since 2005 but Lustral is still going strong and released a single last year.

When it comes to Ascension’s music, I believe that the track Someone is one of those early trance-tracks that people recognize and have fond memories of so my guess is that will live on in most of the older clubbers memories.

A cool thing that i’ve seen lately is that many of the older dj’s have been doing loads of classics sets which both the older and the newer audience likes. And if one track gets stuck in the newcomers brains, the DJ’s have definitely done their job. There are so many awesome classical tracks out there that will be forgotten if no one listens to them. So keep on playing classics!

Related tracks:

Ascension – Someone (Original Vocal Mix)
Ascension – Someone (Signum Vocal Mix)
Ascension – Someone (Space Brothers Dub)
Ascension – Someone (Robert Vadney Remix)
Ascension – Someone (Slacker’s Rolling Mix)

Ascension – For a Lifetime (Oceanlab Mix)
Ascencion – For A Lifetime (Lustral Sunset Mix)
Ascension – For A Lifetime (Coast 2 Coast Vs. Alex Gold )
Ascension – For A Lifetime (DJ Shah Remix)
Ascension – For a Lifetime (Chillout Mix)

New releases: Christian Rusch – The Arp

The guys and girls over att Future Sound Of Sweden Records just announced their fourth and latest release.
This time it’s from the legendary Christian Rusch.
Christian Rusch started producing EDM back in year 2000, and had a huge breakthrough with the magic tune Epic, co-produced with Greg Murray.
The last years he has been tutoring Tïesto in producing music, and has been working on his own material for a while.

We first heard this tune at Luminosity Beach Festival last summer, and it sure has an summerish wibe. ”Uplifting, driving, and very much in to the point, The Arp delivers an intense journey through rough bass-frills, lush pads, ambient piano landscapes, and its namesake focal-point: the arp.” (FSOS Records)
The b-side is a remix by the up-and-coming producers Sande and Acler.

Beatport Exclusive: 3.2.2013
Release Date: 17.2.2013
Label: FSOS Records™
Catalogue: FSOS004
UPC: 811868215778
Artist: Christian Rusch
Title: The Arp

Music written & composed by: Christian Rusch
Produced by: Christian Rusch
Remixes by: Joakim Sande & Fredrik Åkerstrand

Track:
1. The Arp (Original Mix) | 8:22
2. The Arp (Sande & Acler Remix) | 8:17

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Classic FTW: B.B.E. – Seven Days And One Week

Let’s go all the way back to 1996. Trance music was on the rise and especially one track took the world by storm. The track ended up as a top 10-track in more than 15 european countries. It even sold Gold in Germany and also sold Silver in France and the UK with an amazing 200.000 copies sold only in the UK. So which track am I talking about? It’s ofcourse B.B.E.Seven Days And One Week. (buy on Itunes)

Goosebump points:

00:55 when the orchestral hit comes.
01.50 when Oh Yeah is heard just before the main melody comes on.
02.45 after the second Oh Yeah and when the hypnotic bassline starts.
04:38 when the breakdown starts and starts to fade.
05:06 when its all quiet except for the lead instrument.
06:01 after the orchestral explosion and the drums start playing again.

B.B.E. were french producer Emmanuel Top together with italian producers Bruno Sanchioni and Bruno Quartier. Emmanuel Top had done some acid-influented techno before the project and Bruno Sanchioni had quite some fame with various projects like Age Of Love which should be pretty well-known to you guys. Bruno Quartier had also done quite a bunch of various tracks under quite a few aliases.

The name B.B.E. comes from the first letters of their names.

B.B.E.’s first track was actually Seven Days And One Week. First released as an EP called Seven Days And One Week / Hypnose and later released as an own single with various remixes.

Over the years, the track has been released on various labels like Positiva, Urban, EMI and Armada Digital just to name a few. When it comes to remixes, i’d say that I still prefer the original club mix which still sounds pretty fresh even today.

A top tip: Listen to Hypnose, a really dark and hypnotizing track which reminds you of Eric Prydz alias Pryda.

The follow up to Seven Days was the amazing single Flash. Although released in late 1996, the major breakthough came in 1997 when it made it’s way into the UK top 10.

Worth noticing is that on a few versions, the track Photo (which is a personal favourite) appears. The track was later re-released as Enter – Load & Save. Also worth noticing that a few versions of Flash also contained the Rollo & Sister Bliss remix of Seven Days And One Week.

As I mentioned above, the track Photo was re-released as EnterLoad And Save. What they tried to do is to take the dark Photo and make it more ”fluffy”, more atmospheric.
What I really liked about Photo was that it was bang on dark and moody.

The fourth single, Desire was another chart-topper and made it’s way into the top 20 in Ireland and the UK. The Age Of Club-mix is worth a listening.

Deeper Love from 1998 was the first vocal track so far. The vocalist used was Joy Rose from the british house-collective Incognito. The track became another top 20 track in the UK.
Worth noticing is that on the album, the track is called Symphonic Paradise so the single is sometimes called Deeper Love (Symphonic Paradise).

This was also the year that B.B.E. released their debut album, Games, a 13-track monster which had all the tracks to date and a few more. The album did decent chart-wise and made it into the top 60 in the UK. I still got my album somewhere but haven’t really listened to it in quite some time.

After the albumrelease, the guys took some time off. They tried to restart the project after Emmanuel had finished his new studio in 2001 and even released 3 more singles which never made it into the charts.

The 2001 track, B.B.E. Vs Emmanuel TopOrion was the first track. It isn’t bad at all. More trance-sounding than previous track which probably was a sign of the times when it was released.

The second track, Free, follows in the footsteps of Orion. I love the pumping bassline though.

The last track, Hollywood was more house than trance but still kept that simple bassline that many tranceartists at the time used.

So how to sum this up?

For me personally, B.B.E. were a big part of my listening back in 1996 when Seven Days first came out. I was all into the dream trance-sound that came with Robert Miles – Children in 1995 which I really loved.

The first 2 singles, Seven Days and Flash (and Photo) was easily in my top 10 tracks of 1996 as they represented a fresh new sound. I honestly can’t say that the tracks that followed was in the same league, not even by a long shot. I did love the album though which sounded really fresh for 1998.

The thing with classics like this is that they will always live on as long as people keep playing them. It’s really awesome to hear the classics, especially played by your favourite DJ. I know that I will keep on playing them for quite some time as I concider them true classics.

Related tracks:

B.B.E. – Hypnose
B.B.E. – Flash
B.B.E. – Photo
B.B.E. – Enter, Load & Save
B.B.E. – Desire (Age Of Club)
B.B.E – Deeper Love (Trancy House Mix)
B.B.E. vs Emmanuel Top – Orion (B.B.E. Mix)
B.B.E. – Free
B.B.E. – Hollywood

Classic FTW: Luminary – Amsterdam (Super8 & Tab Remix)

This next track is a must-listen in the trance world. It’s from a small project and only released 5 tracks but this main track have been played by most major dj’s and is probably still being played every now and then. So which track am I thinking of? It’s ofcourse LuminaryAmsterdam (Super8 & Tab Remix).

Lyrics:

Underground or Aeroplane 
Doesn’t matter in the end 
I know it has to be this way 
You’re leaving me again 

So I’ll write my little love song 
And I’ll sing it to the wind 
You’re out there on the road tonight 
London, New York, Amsterdam 

And I’m lonely here without you 
Miss your breath against my skin 
You love me then you leave me still I lie here 
Pressing fingers, where your kisses have been 
And I miss you 
And I miss you 
And I miss you 

I know that I should be in bed 
It’s almost 3am 
But when I close my eyes I can only see miles of headlights 
Fleshing out the distance 

So I’ll sing my little lonely songs 
It’s just part of who I am 
Cause I know that its been calling to you 
London, New York, Amsterdam

Goosebump-points:

00:55 in the small break when you first hear Ashley’s vocals
01:50 in the next mini-break before the full melody comes on.
02:20 when the music starts to fade just before the vocals.
02:33 when the vocals start.
03:16 when the breakdown comes and that bass.
03:43 when the music starts to build up again.
03:57 ”And I Miss You” while slowly building,
04:40 when the drums start.

Luminary was british producer Laurence Rapaccioli and american singer Ashley Tomberlin.
Laurence was already known for his Arksun and Hidden Logic-aliases and at the time Ashley was really unknown in the scene.

They started working together as early as 2003 but their first release under the name Luminary came in 2005 with the track My World.

Ashleys vocals over Laurence’s track is really smooth, especially in the progressive Andy Moor-remix. The track was released as a 3×12” set whereas the first contained Original Mix and Nikola Gala Mix, the second an Andy Moor Mix and an Arksun Mix and the third a Pesh Mix and a Hydroid Mix.

First released on Tiesto’s mixalbum In Search Of Sunrise 4 and later picked up by the label Lost Language, the track got huge supports by many of the best dj’s like Armin Van Buuren.

The second single, Wasting was signed to Armin Van Buuren’s label Soundpiercing and featured on Armin’s A State Of Trance-compilation before the ink had dried.

Wasting also came with an Andy Moor-remix and like My World, both tracks are sweet progressive tracks and Ashleys soothing vocals fits the tracks like a glove.

But it was with the third single, Amsterdam that got the big attention. This time, signed to Above & Beyond’s Anjunabeats and released with remixes by Smith & Pledger and Maor Levi. Super8 & Tab’s remix isn’t featured on any singles, just as a track on various compilations like Anjunabeats Catalogue CD 33.

All mixes of this track is simply amazing but i’d say that Super8 & Tab’s remix is the one that I prefer, a pure trancer.

Above & Beyond loved Ashley’s voice so much that they even let her sing on the amazing track Can’t Sleep off their legendary debut album, Tri-state.

Their fourth and last release, Dark Eyes was signed to Solarstone’s label, Solaris Recordings. While the original mix is somewhat of an ambient chillout-track, the Funabashi remix is really a pumping trancetrack. The release also came with a Gift Remix which is pretty decent, although too electro for me.

On the 17th October 2007 Luminary announced that they have decided to split. They decided to leave a last fingerprint to their loyal followers with the track Believe which was available as free-to-download on their webpage. Laurence himself describes Believe as ”(believe) which for me personally is the best track we ever created” and I can almost agree. The track (as the others) are really well produced and got a really sweet melody under the amazing vocals by Ashley.

So, what happened after this? Well, Ashley started to sing for various dj’s like Paul Van Dyk, Boom Jinx and Matt Darey, only to name a few and Laurence hasn’t really released anything since Luminary quit.

It’s hard to describe a track and what it’s effects are to you. The easiest for me is goosebumps. If you’ve followed my posts since the beginning you’ll see the goosebump-points marked in the post. That if nothing describes really well what I feel when I hear a really good track. And Amsterdam is just one of those tracks that does it for me.
For it’s a true classic for me.

Related tracks:

Luminary – My World (Andy Moor Remix)
Luminary – Wasting (Andy Moor Remix)
Luminary – Amsterdam (Smith and Pledger Remix)
Luminary – Amsterdam (Maor Levi Remix)
Luminary – Dark Eyes (Funabashi Presents Tom Porcell Remix)

Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep (Original Mix)