Kategoriarkiv: Niklas

Classic for the weekend: Andain – Summer Calling (Airwave Remix)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgyUZwIEoH0&w=680&h=376]

This weekends classic is from 2002 and this article is about the remix. I´m talking about Andain – Summer Calling (Airwave Remix). (Buy on Itunes)

What I really like is the hypnotic beat over the smooth Andain vocals together with the goosebumping buildup after the breakdown.

Lyrics:
And when it hurts for me
I never felt so empty
Memory has its way
Falling
Falling

Those summer mornings
You kissed me out of my next dream
Then without warning
It goes away

And then it goes
And then it goes
And then it…goes

Search to find you somewhere
As winds began to sway
Got in my car and just
Driving
Driving

Those summer mornings
I danced inside your warm embrace
You hear me calling
And now you’re gone

Goosebump points:
00:57 when the vocals start
02.38 when the main synth comes into the background
03:36 when the breakdown starts
03:56 when she starts wailing
04:18 when the main synth kicks in after the break. ORGAZM ALERT!!
04:47 when the kickdrum starts up again

A famous man have many names. That quote fits perfectly on the next featured artists.
Belgian born Laurent Christian Georges Véronnez is one of trance an progressive’s busiest producers, with over 35 different aliases he has produced some 500 different tracks in various music styles.

His musical career started at the age of 7 as he started playing around with synths but it wasn’t until the age of 18 when he sent some demos to the infamous Bonzai-label that his music career really started taking shape. At Bonzai, he quickly grew to one of their biggest artists.

Laurent’s main influences back then was everything electronic, from early Kraftwerk to Future Sound Of London and producers like Jean Michel Jarre, Orbital, Oliver Lieb and Brian Transeau just to name a few.

The first big success came after teaming up with DJ Fire (real name Jurgen Leyers) back in 1998 as Fire & Ice. Since then, many aliases has been used. L-vee, V-one, Airwave, Meridian, Green Martian, Lolo and Body-Shock just to name a few.

The most common alias used is the Airwave-alias, but he also did some collaborations in projects like Planisphere (togheter with Georges Petkidis, Fire & Ice (with Jurgen Leyers) and Cape Town (with Ludovic Meyer)

Laurent consider his style of music as ”pure electronic dance music with a sniff of electronica and trance and progressive sounds”

Laurent’s first release as Airwave came in 1998 with the single I Want To Believe, which was follorwed by the single Above The Sky in 1999.
In 2000, Airwave released 3 singles: Escape From Nowhere, Innerspace and Alone In The Dark. Alone In The Dark was the first track I heard from Airwave and IMHO one of his best ever. It was also with the same track that Airwave became huge in the UK.

The followup single, Save Me came out in 2001 and in 2002, Airwave released his first album, Believe.

In 2002, Airwave also teamed up with Armin Van Buuren and released Airwave vs. Rising Star – Sunspot. The same year also saw the release of Another Dimension as well as a re-release of Above The Sky as an EP with Alone In The Dark and Innerspace as additional tracks.

In 2003, when the the owner of Bonzai, Lightning Records went bankrupt, Laurent teamed up with Yves De Ruyter, Fly (owner of Bonzai) and Marnik (A&R from Lightning Records) to create the label Banshee Worx. The same year, the single When Things Go Wrong was released.

The second Airwave-album, I Want To Believe came out in 2004 and was a 2CD-piece where the 1st CD was the 2002 album Believe and the 2nd CD contained new material.
2004 also saw the re-release of the track Ladyblue, first featured on the 2002 album, Believe, but now redone for 2004 with an epic 12 min mix by Markus Schulz. Also released the same year was the EP Boredom, which also featured the track Last Flight To Gaia.

The singles, Progressive Agressive, People Just Dont Care and The Promise I Made (with Jon O’Bir), all came out in 2006 together with Airwaves third album, Trilogique which was a 3CD album.

The fourth album, Touareg came out in 2008 and was contained both new material aswell as fresher versions of older tracks.

In 2009, Airwave teamed up with old friend Ludovic Meyer (from the Cape Town-collaboration) for the epic track Batignolles Blues. Most people know Ludovic Meyer under the nickname Ferry Tayle. Ferry Tayle & Stephan R Neverending Story Remix of the single is a smooth uplifting remix and a favourite of mine.

I had the opportunity to see Airwave and Ferry Tayle perform as Cape Town last year and it was amazing. Airwave plays like a god on his keytar!

2010 saw the release of Airwave Presents Lolo – Myla’s Theme and 2011 the release of single Hello World. Hello World is also the first track released on the sub label L*C*D* Recordings

Airwave released the singles Atlas Winds / Chiricahua in 2012 but they had to be withdrawn due to Atlas Winds used a sample that Airwave bought years earlier that contained holy words from the Quran and it’s forbidden to use any words from the holy book, especially holy songs. I know that Airwave is working on replacing the vocals and hopefully we´ll see a re-release of the track later this year.

I will have the privilege to see Airwave perform a liveset this summer at Luminosity Beach Festival in Holland. According to the lineup, the next DJ in line is Ferry Tayle (together with Manuel Le Saux). I can only hope that Airwave will perform a few track as Cape Town. That would be a memory worth remembering!

Classic for the weekend: Rank 1 – Airwave

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gcebbgooOM&w=680&h=491]

This weeks classic comes from a group that has been in the scene for a quite some time. Its an alltime tranceclassic that pioneered the wave of the Dutch trancesound. I’m talking about
Rank 1 – Airwave (Rank 1 vs Dutch Force Remix) (buy on Itunes)

Benno De Goeij and Piet Bervoets started working together back in 1996 as the duo Pedro & Benno but it wasn’t until 1998 they took the name Rank 1. They also released some tracks under the names Precious People, Gualagara, A.I.D.A., Simplistic Mind, Two Disciples and R.O.O.S.

The name Rank 1 name came from the idea of ”what if we get ranked no 1 in the charts”
Their big breakthough as Rank 1 came in 1999 after the release of the single Airwave which even got high rankings in a few charts all over the globe, for instance #10 on the UK Singles chart and #25 in the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. The single became a huge hit and was played by most major djs around the world at the time.

It was also remade in 2000 as a mashup with Donna Williams’s track True Love Never Dies which IMHO is the best mashup never released!

Rank 1 re-released Airwave in 2003 with vocals by Aino Laos, but now under the name Breathing

Lyrics:

breathing
feel it on my skin
your breathing
falling to your arms again
spread my wings and fly
hold my head up high
feels like summer wind
when you’re breathing,
breathing

breathing

everytime I close my eyes
when the stars begin to rise
I feel like I could fly
you’re the reason why
when i need to have you near
drowning in my tears
the colors fade to grey
you wash them all away
morning sun
you’re the one
deep within
I hear you breathing
Breathing
feel it on my skin
your breathing
falling to your arms again

spread my wings and fly
hold my head up high
feels like summer wind
when you’re breathing
oh when you’re breathing
breathing

Meanwhile working as Rank 1, Benno De Goeij was also busy with some other projects, like for instance the project Kamaya Painters with Tiesto. Kamaya Painters released 3 track in total:

1998 Endless Wave / Northern Spirit / Outstream
1999 Far From Over / Cryptomnesia / Soft Light
2000 Wasteland / Summerbreeze

Since the release of Airwave, several huge hits has been released.

In 2001, they released Such Is Life with singer Shanokee which also came with a pretty decent Marco V remix. The same year also saw the release of Awakening which came with remixes from Cosmic Gate and a really beautiful Ferry Corsten remix which I still listen to quite often.

Their album, Symsonic came out in 2002 with all the major releases so far. It even came out with a DVD.

1 Symsonic
2 Cosmomatic
3 Airwave (Album Cut)
4 Conspiracy
5 T.T.C.
6 Awakening (Radio Edit)
7 Down From The Deep
8 Equilibrium
9 Such Is Life (Sunday Afternoon Rework)
10 Passage To The Unknown
11 Still In My Mind
12 Airwave (Sunset Mix)
13 Such Is Life (Album Cut)
14 Citrus Juicer
15 Live At Trance Energy 16.02.2002
16 Airwave (Video)
17 Such Is Life (Video)
18 Such Is Life (Live At Sensation)(Video)
19Awakening (Video)

In 2003 they released a new vocal track called It’s Up To You with vocalist Shanokee. It was a remake of the album title track, Symsonic but now with vocals and a bit faster tempo.

The 2004 release of Beats At Rank-1.Com became the official Trance Energy theme 2005. The same year also saw the release of the singles Opus 17 / Top Gear .

In 2007 they teamed up with Armin Van Buuren for the single This World Is Watching Me with vocalist Kush. Since then, Benno has been a co-producing most of Armin Van Buuren’s productions. On Armin’s 2008 album, Imagine, most songs were written by Benno except for Imagine, Fine Without You and Intricacy.

2007 also saw the release of Life Less Ordinary which was a collaboration between Alex M.O.R.P.H. & Rank1. They also collaborated with Jochen Miller on 2 projects, the 2008 release And Then… and the 2010 release The Great Escape. Since 2008, Benno has been involved with most Jochen Miller-releases as co-producer.

2009 was a big year as 2 of Rank 1’s track became the official anthems. First out was L.E.D There Be Light which was the official Trance Energy theme and later Symfo, which became the official Sunrise Festival theme. I remember seeing Rank 1 playing L.E.D. at Trance Energy that year, major goosebump-moment!

Feel free to download JP Bates beautiful mashup of Rank 1 – L.E.D. And Roger Shah’s Back To You which you can download for free here.

2010 saw the release of 100, which was a collaboration between Nic Chagall, Wippenberg & Rank 1. The title is named after being the 100th track released on the dutch label, High Contrast Recordings.

My guess is that we will see more great things from Benno & Piet in the future, they have so much more to give the trance audience. Or as the title of the Airwave-mashup said ”True Love Never Dies”

Classic for the weekend: BT – Flaming June

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd_B6gOI0MA&w=680&h=491]

This weeks classic is somewhat connected with last weeks piece on Paul Van Dyk as he was a co-producer on this track. Im ofcourse talking about BT – Flaming June (BT & Paul Van Dyk Mix) (Buy on Itunes)

I remember being amazed the first time I heard it. The mixture of the Piano, The flute and the pumping bassline thru the track is really awesome. It’s been 15 years since the original release and it still sounds fresh!.

Goosebump-points:
0:27 when the piano comes in
0:53 when the flute starts
3:02 when the bass-lead starts
4:25 when the breakdown starts
4:39 when the echoing piano kicks in
4:52 when the main Piano kicks in

BT, or Brian Wayne Transeau was born in Rockville, Maryland in the early 70’s. He was early discovered as a prodigal child when it comes to music and first studied music at the Washington Conservatory of Music and later went to Berklee College of Music.

In the beginning of the 90’s he met up with Dubfire and Sharam of Deep Dish and started doing dancemusic. His first releases didn’t get any big response in the US but on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, djs Paul Oakenfold and Sasha played his music at every gig. It wasn’t until Sasha bought BT a planeticket to visit London that BT really witnessed his own success.

Until this time he had released Libra presents Taylor – Anomaly (Calling Your Name) with vocalist Jan Johnston and
his own singles Embracing the Future and Nocturnal Transmission.

While in London, he met up with dj/producer Paul Oakenfold and got signed to his label, Perfecto.
The first release on Perfecto was came in 1995 with the single Loving You More with singer Vincent Covello and later the same year BT’s first album, IMA (the title means ”now” in Japanese).

The album contains some cool songs like Embracing The Sunshine, Nocturnal Transmission (which was partially used on the soundtrack to the movie ”The Fast & The Furious”) and Loving You More.
The same year, BT also remixed a couple of tracks. Most memorable is his remix on Grace – Not Over Yet.

The US version of the IMA album released in 1996 also contained the hit single Blue Skies with singer Tori Amos. The single also became no1 on the Billboard Dance Chart.

It was around this time I discovered BT after hearing Embracing The Sunshine on MTV. I later bought both Loving You More and Blue Skies on CDM.

In 1997, BT released the singles Flaming June and Remember., both singles were also featured on BT’s second album, ESCM (Electric Sky Church Music).

Compared to the IMA-album, ESCM contained more vocals and a saw more experimental BT with darker sounds and also contained both drum & bass and breakbeat. BT also use live instruments like guitar, bass and drums, all played by himself.

ESCM saw the return of vocalist Jan Johnston who sings on both Remember and Lullaby for Gaia.

1999 saw the release of the third album, Movement In Still Life and contained hit singles Godspeed, Mercury & Solace, Namistai (with Paul Van Dyk), and the US version also contained Never Gonna Come Back Down. The album was heavily influented by the new hip hop-wave in the US so the original UK version was totally remade for the US market.

Tracks like Godspeed and Mercury and Solace did well in the UK, but would not fare well on US radios, where Never Gonna Come Back Down and Shame performed well on American alternative rock stations.

The fourth album, Emotional Technology came out in 2003 and contained hits like Somnambulist (Simply being loved), Force Of Gravity and Superfabulous.

It was also the year that BT got into Guineess world record-book for the Somnambulist-tracks that contains most vocal edits in a single track, with 6,178 in the album version. This technique is called Stutter and uses a program called Bias peak which BT loves to work in. You can hear it being used in loads of BT’s productions including the NSYNC-track Pop which BT produced.

The album, This Binary Universe, was BT’s fifth album and wasnt a typical album but more an experiment into producing in full 5,1 cinema sound. It was actually BT’s 2nd album to do this, the first was the soundtrack to the movie Monster, released back in 2003.

The album, both released as CD and DVD contains a broad mixture of jazz, breakbeats and classical music and even a full 110-piece orchestra. This was a non-vocal album and didnt really contain any hits.

The latest album, These Hopeful Machines, released in 2010 was the biggest success to date. 8 out of 12 tracks from the 2CD album became singles including, The Rose Of Jericho, The Emergency, Every Other Way, Forget Me and A Million Stars. The album featured vocalists Jes, Kirsty Hawkshaw, Christian Burns, BT and Rob Dickinson. Even his daughter, Kaia Transeau sung the lullaby-part on the track Forget Me.

The album also came out as These Humble Machines with radioedits and released as 1CD and later as These Re-imagined Machines as a remix-album with remixes from Adam K & Soha, Marcus Schossow, Ferry Corsten, Tydi, Chicane and Armin Van Buuren just to name a few.

While doing his own thing, BT’s songs has also been featured on loads of film scores including The Jackal, American Pie, Driven, 3000 miles to Graceland, Zoolander and The Core just to name a few. He has also had his tracks featured in videogames as Gran Turismo 3, FIFA 2002, Wipeout Fusion, Need For Speed: Underground, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 and Burnout Revenge just to name a few.

For me personally, These Hopeful Machines was 2010s biggest album by far and I really love the remix-album too. So many beautiful tracks, especially the Josh Gabriel remix of Every Other Way. It is one of those albums that will live on forever.

BT – Embracing The Sunshine
BT feat Tori Amos – Blue Skies (Deep Dish Blue Phunk Mix)
Grace – Not Over Yet (BT Remix)
BT – Godspeed
BT – Mercury & Solace
NSYNC – Pop
BT feat JC Chasez – Force Of Gravity (Ferry Corsten Remix)
BT & Jes – Every Other Way (Josh Gabriel Remix)
BT feat Kirsty Hawkshaw – A Million Stars (Myon & Shane 54 Remix)
Tiesto feat BT – Love Comes Again

Classic for the weekend: Paul Van Dyk – For An Angel

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6xb3F9qcdw&w=680&h=491]

The next track is made by one of trance biggest DJ’s. Paul van Dyk (or Matthias Paul which is is real name). First released on his first album, 45RPM, back in 1994 and remixed plenty of times since with latest remixes coming out in 2009. The track i’m thinking of is For An Angel (PvD E-Werk Club Mix) from 1998.

A fun fact is that it was actually my hardrocker-friend that tipped me about this track after hearing it on the local radio. He later bought the CD-maxi.

Goosebump-points:

0:55 when the druma kick in
1:37 when the breakdown comes and the main synth starts
2:33 when the piano starts
4:51 when the breakdown comes
5.33 when the piano starts again

Paul grew up in east Berlin in the early 70’s and his musical intrest came from listening to the pirate western radioprograms broadcasted over the berlin wall, stations like RIAS and SFB. He and his friends occasionally came over some smuggled mixtapes that people visiting the eastern block bring with them.

Paul and his mom got a permit to leave eastern Berlin to live with his aunt in Hamburg just before the berlin wall fell and later in 1990 he moved back to Berlin. His first DJ-gig was at the legendary Berlin club Tresor in 1991 but it wasnt until he teamed up with Kid Paul at the Turbine club that he was discovered. Pauls mixing techniques made producer/DJ Cosmic Baby open his eyes for the young talent. Paul and Cosmic Baby later released 2 singles under the name Visions Of Shiva, Perfect Day in 1992 and How Much Can You Take? In 1993.

1994 was a big year for Paul. It was the year that his first album, 45 RPM came out on the label MFS and also the singles/EPs The Green Valley E.P. , Pumpin’ / Pump This Party , 45 Remixes Per Minute and 45 RPM -The Special Spanish EP Version. The latter cointained the first version of For An Angel, with vocals by Ute Lampka-Konrad.

Meanwhile Paul released his own tracks, he also did some remixed. Most memorable of the older remixes are his version of Humate – Love Stimulation entitled Lovemix

With the release of his second studio album Seven Ways, label owner Mark Reeder launched Pauls career in England by licensing the album to Deviant Records. The album later became no1 album of 1996 according to the readers of DJ Magazine.

In 1997, Paul met up with american producer BT (real name Brian Transeau) and together they produced hits like Flaming June & Forbidden Fruit. And 1999 they released Namistai. The same year Paul released version of the epic classic Age Of Love – Age Of Love. This was also the year I personally discovered Paul van Dyk.

With the re-release of the album 45 RPM in the UK and the US, Paul decided to remix his old 1994 track, For An Angel and gave it the name ”E-Werk Club Mix” after a classic club in Cologne, Germany. Paul also got a resident at the world-famous Gatecrasher club in Sheffield, UK where he early stated that he was anti drugs so people did own t-shirts with the tag ”No E, Pure PvD”.

In the middle of 1998, Paul decided to leave his old record label and start his own to control everything that was going on. The new label was named Vandit Records.

The same year his remix of Binary Finarys instant classic 1998 was released which also topped the german dance charts.

The album Out There and Back, released in 2000 contained a bunch of hits like We Are Alive with swedish singer Jennifer Brown, Avenue and Tell me why (The Riddle) with english singer St Etienne. Worth noticing is that many of the track on the album were sung by his wife Natascha van Dyk.

After releasing his mix-album, Politics Of Dancing in 2001, Paul went on a worldwide tour and also saw the release of the live DVD, Global 2 years later.

In 2003 he also released his fourth studio album, Reflections which were inspired by a trip to India. The album contaned the hit Nothing But You and he later was nominated for a grammy-award. Also worth noticing is that many of the tracks from the album later was used in tv-commercials for Motorola, HBO & Land Rover just to name a few.

After releasing his second mix-album, Politics of Dancing 2 in 2005, he dedicated the track The Other Side with singer Wayne Jackson to the victims of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.

The album, In Between, released in 2007, contained hits like White Lies (with singer Jessica Sutta), New York City, a collab with Starkillers, Austin Leeds and singer Ashley Tomberlin and also Let Go with singer Rea Garvey

Worth noticing is that many of his tracks has also been used in video games like:

1999: Wipeout 3
2003: FIFA Football 2004
2004: Need For Speed: Underground 2
2008: Mirror’s Edge
2009: Grand Slam Tennis
2011: Test Drive Unlimited 2

Also, Paul has also worked on some movie-soundtracks:

2003: Zurdo (which he won an Mexican Oscar)
2004: One Perfect Day
2005: The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants
2005: Into The Blue
2008: The Dark Knight

2012 will see the release of his 6th studio album, Evolution, and a also a tour with the new album.
Planned gigs so far: Tallinn / Estonia, Stockholm / Sweden, Bologna / Italy, Graz / Austria and Brisbane / Australia.

After listening to the new single, Verano, I hear a fresh sound which probably will end up in a really big year for Paul!

– Niklas

Classic for the Weekend: Motorcycle – As The Rush Comes

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RiDhy5AIh8&w=680&h=376]

The fifth classic needs no introduction as its one of trance biggest tracks. I’m talking about Motorcycle – As The Rush Comes (Gabriel and Dresden Sweeping Strings Remix) (buy on Itunes)

Motorcycle are american producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden together with the singer Jes Brieden. The track came out in 2003 with remixes from Armin Van Buuren, Markus Schulz and Above and Beyond just to name a few. But the best remix IMHO is the Gabriel and Dresden Remix with the high reverb, the sweet strings and ofcourse the lovely vocals by Jes. The track topped alot of charts including Billboard where it became no1 in 2004.

Lyrics:

Travelling somewhere, could be anywhere
There’s a coldness in the air but I don’t care
We drift deeper
Life goes on
We drift deeper
Into the sound

Travelling somewhere, could be anywhere
There’s a coldness in the air but I don’t care
We drift deeper into sound
Life goes on
We drift deeper
Into the sound feeling strong
So bring it on
So bring it on

Embrace me
Surround me as the rush comes
Embrace me
Surround me as the rush comes
Embrace me
Surround me as the rush comes
Oh embrace me
Surround me as the rush comes

So bring it on
So bring it on

We drift deeper into sound
Life goes on
We drift deeper
Into the sound feeling strong
So bring it on
So bring it on

* Repeat (x2)

As the rush comes (repeat)

Goosebump points:

00:57 when the bass starts
01:54 when the first breakdown starts
02:22 when the main vocals kicks in
04:29 when the vocals starts in the break
05:41 when the main chorus starts
06:53 when the bassdrum kicks in after the last breakdown

They only released 2 singles officially under the name Motorcycle, the 2nd single was ”Around You” which came out in 2005. There are 2 other tracks though, one came on the Bloom-album, named ”Imagination” and the other one, ”Deep, Breath, Love” only came out as a demo but was released as a white label with a mashup called ”16 Bit Lolitas vs. Motorcycle – Deep Breath Sedna (Dave Dresden Mash-Up)”

After the single ”Around You”, Jes Brieden, went to work on some other projects with D:Fuse, Deepsky, and Solar Stone just to name a few. She was signed to Tiëstos label, Black Hole Recordings where she released her first Solo-album, ”Disconnect” in 2007.
The album contains the Motorcycle-track ”Imagination” and also the Solar Stone-track ”Like A Waterfall”.

Since then, she has sung on tracks from BT, Tiesto and Cosmic Gate just to name a few. She also released her second album ”High Glow” in 2010.

Gabriel and Dresden started out as a duo back in 2001 as remixers for New Order, Way Out West and later made a name for themselves with the release of their first single, ”Lament”. Since the release of Lament, they have been really busy, as remixers, producers and Djs.

Some favourites remixes:

2001 Way Out West – Mindcircus
2002 Andain – Summer Calling
2002 Paul Oakenfold – Southern Sun
2002 Tiësto – In My Memory
2003 Annie Lennox – A Thousand Beautiful Things
2003 Motorcycle – As the Rush Comes
2003 Nalin & Kane – Beachball
2003 Andain – Beautiful Things
2003 Three Drives – Carrera 2
2003 Evanescence – Hello
2004 Above & Beyond – No One On Earth
2004 Dido – Don’t Leave Home
2005 Rachael Starr – Till There Was You
2006 Markus Schulz & Departure with Gabriel & Dresden – Without You Near
2008 Faithless – A Kind of Peace
2011 Andain – Promises

Their mixalbum, ”Bloom”, released in 2004 is legendary and contains loads of own production and remixes.

DISC ONE:
1. Gabriel & Dresden – Arcadia
2. Gabriel & Dresden – Serendipity
3. Gabriel & Dresden – Lament
4. Andain – Here Is The House
5. Michael Burns – Forwards
6. Sarah McLachlan – World On Fire (Junkie XL Club Mix)
7. Audioholics – External Key
8. Voyager – Someone Else
9. Gabriel & Dresden – Dub Horizon
10. Ferenc – Cronch
11. Guy Gerber – Stoppage Time

DISC TWO:
1. Pass Into Silence – Voices
2. Elevation + Gabriel & Dresden – Athena
3. Lili Haydn – Anything (Gabriel & Dresden Code 313 Dub)
4. (RND) – Nova Santori (Josh Gabriel Mix)
5. Dido – Don’t Leave Home (Gabriel & Dresden Mix)
6. Bigtop – Sub
7. Above & Beyond – No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Club Mix)
8. Josh Gabriel – Alive
9. Josh Gabriel – Switch
10. Push – Electric Eclipse
11. Motorcycle – Imagination (Acoustic Version)

In 2005, Gabriel & Dresden started their own label, Organized Nature and later in 2006 their first self-titled album, Gabriel & Dresden which contains the hit singles, ”Tracking Treasure Down” and ”Dangerous Power”.

While working as a duo, Josh Gabriel also released some track under the projects Andain (with singer and songwriter Mavie Marcos and guitarist David Penner though David Penner later quit) and Winter Kills (with singer Meredith Call).

On the 30th of march 2008 Gabriel & Dresden decided to call it quits and went solo.

Josh Gabriel put all his efforts in his Winter Kills-project while Dave Dresden teamed up with Mikael Johnston to form Dresden and Johnston. The new production Duo went on to remix a number of artists including Nadia Ali’s Love Story and Enrique Iglesias’s Tonight, all of which hit the #1 position in Billboard (Magazine)’s Hot Club Play Dance Chart.

The Winter Kills-album, entitled ”Winter Kills” included the hit singles ”Deep Down” and ”Hot As Hades”, 2 personal favourites, especially the remixes by Alex M.O.R.P.H. And John O’Callaghan.

On NYE 2010 Gabriel & Dresden teamed up for a special gig and has officially been back togheter as a duo since.

– Niklas

Classic for the Weekend: Solid Sessions – Janeiro

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OhcHDo5zsA&w=680&h=461]

The fourth track in this section is Solid Sessions
feat Pronti & Kalmani – Janeiro (Armin van Buuren Remix) from 2002. (Buy on Itunes)

The original came out 2000 and was an instrumental track which later got a vocal-makeover by Pronti and Kalmani who had their studio next door to Solid Sessions. They used a russian vocalist on the version called Vera who also appears on Dash Berlins debut single Till The Sky Falls Down.

According to wikipedia: ”The song is about a girl who falls love with a DJ on tour who visits Icaraí Beach in Nikiti, Rio de Janeiro State during a chance meeting. She loses contact with him when he goes home and pines for him. She meets up with him again at a later date on the same beach, again by chance. She makes her interest known at this time and asserts her wishes to remain with him.”

Janeiro became a huge hit in 2002 after getting remixes from Armin, Kyau & Albert & Marc Et Claude just to name a few.

Lyrics:

This is my home
This is where i love to be
Running on the beach
Smiling ’cause you’re next to me

This is my home
This is where i love to be
Running on the beach
Smiling ’cause you’re next to me

This is where you saw my naked soul
In Janeiro, in Janeiro
This is where you saw my naked soul
In Janeiro, in Janeiro
This is where you saw my naked soul
In Janeiro, in Janeiro
This is where you saw my naked soul
In Janeiro

I never wanna lose you again

Goosebump-points:
1:53 when the main background synth kicks in
2:50 when the guitar kicks in
3:19 when the vocals kick in
4:15 when the song start after the breakdown
5:41 when the guitar kicks in again

When I listen to the track, it brings out a summery feeling of joy, a sandy beach and you can almost taste the saltiness of the water. IMHO this is one of trancemusics biggest anthems that most people out there have heard and danced to over the years.

Solid Sessions didn’t really do that much after Janeiro but if we look at Pronti & Kalmani we will find much more interesting story.

Pronti & Kalmani is actually producers Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn which are the men responsible for acts like Alice Deejay and Dash Berlin. The Dutch duo started releasing music back in 1998.

The last years they have putting all their efforts in the group Dash Berlin which also consists of frontman and DJ Jeffrey Sutorius, who became famous back in 2007 when their big hit Till The Sky Falls Down, came out. Armin van Buuren featured it on his Universal Religion-album which became a huge success, even so huge that Armin decided to sign Dash Berlin to his Armada Music-label.

The name Dash Berlin came from Jeffrey Sutorius after playing the huge Love Parade-festival, he decided to incorporate the word ‘Berlin’ in his artist name. ”It’s an ode to a metropolis and her engaging, urban landscape,” he said, ”Where I have seen more then a million people dancing on the streets, in the in the spirit of an ever-evolving Europe”.

Their album ”The New Daylight” which came out in 2009, contained hits like Till The Sky Falls Down, Man On The Run, Never Cry Again and Waiting , all huge vocal-monsters. They also re-released Janeiro on the album, but now under the name Dash Berlin Feat. Solid Sessions.

Dash Berlin has also remixed a bunch of tracks including Cerf, Mitiska and Jaren – You Never Said, Medina – You And I, Armin van Buuren vs Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Not Giving Up On Love just to name a few

Since the release of The New Daylight, Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn have released the singles Disarm Yourself, Better Half Of Me and most recently World Falls Apart.

Dash Berlin is currently touring North-America and is also scheduled to play ASOT 550 in Russia later this spring.

It feels like Dash Berlin has a tight grip on the future of trancemusic and IMHO that grip will stay firm for many years to come. If not, the Dash Berlin-sound will still be remembered with a big smile on my face

– Niklas

Classic for the Weekend: Cosmic Gate feat Jan Johnston – I Feel Wonderful (AM to PM Remix)

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5C4gHY68gk&w=680&h=461]

The next classic is actually a remake of an older track. The track i’m thinking of is Cosmic Gate featuring Jan Johnston – I Feel Wonderful (AM to PM Remix) (Buy on Itunes)

The original track which its based on, Freefall featuring Jan Johnston – Skydive, released back in 1998 was made by Alan Bremner and Anthony Pappa and used the same vocals by Jan Johnston as Cosmic Gate did.

Cosmic Gates track is a real progressive monster, especially when listening to their extended version, the AM to PM remix which is nearly 11 minutes of pure orgazm.

Nic Chagall and DJ Bossi, real names Claus Terhoeven and Stefan Bossems, began producing under the Cosmic Gate-name back in 1999 and their older material was more to the hard side of trance. Their music has since then evolved to the more progressive side of trance.

Just look at some of their hits since this track came out:

”Body Of Conflict” (featuring Denise Rivera) (2007)
”Not Enough Time” (featuring Emma Hewitt) (2009)
”Sign Of The Times” (2009)
”Under Your Spell” (featuring Aruna) (2009)
”Barra” (2010)
”The Theme” (2011)
”Be Your Sound” (2011)

Just ”Be your sound” was IMHO one of the best tracks from last year, will probably feature that track sometime in the future!

Also worth noticing is that in 2006 Nic Chagall released some tracks under his own name and went around DJ’ing. He released a track called Monday Bar which (IMHO) is linked to the fact that he played for Monday Bar in sweden the same summer.

Lyrics:

I feel wonderful

The first moment, before the first touch
We know the longing, we have to hold each other
I will drown you in love, must suffocate your needs
Now we’re healed
We have our own language

I feel wonderful, I could skydive from the moon
Sail an ocean, on my fingertips
When the wind screams my name, take his hand
I’m free, to run, run, run, to you..

I feel wonderful..

The first moment, before the first touch
We know the longing, we have to hold each other
I will drown you in love, must suffocate your needs
now we’re healed
We have our own language

Collect your words, I have them when you’re gone
I silently smile, I even miss you in my sleep
No rush, no lust, no lies
This journey is our love
You’re my hero, from heaven did you come?

[x2]
I feel wonderful, I could skydive from the moon
Sail an ocean, on my fingertips
When the wind screams my name, take his hand
I’m free, to run, run, run, to you..

This is one of those tracks that you just want to close your eyes and feel Jans lyrics flow thru your body.

Goosebump-points:

1:00 when the bass kicks in
2:13 when the synth kicks in
3:38 when the lyrics starts
6:46 when the break comes

Jan Johnston, who was one of the best singers back then, sang on most of my favourites from that timeperiod.

Just check out some of her resume:

1995 Libra Presents Taylor – ”Anomaly – Calling Your Name” UK #71
1997 Submerge – ”Take Me By the Hand” UK #28
1997 BT – ”Remember” UK #27
1998 Freefall – ”Skydive” (single release, re-issued in 2000 and 2001) UK #75 (1998), UK #43 (2000), UK #35 (2001)
1999 BT – ”Mercury & Solace” UK #38
1999 Libra presents Taylor – ”Anomaly” (Remix/Re-release with new video) UK #43
2000 Tomski – ”Love Will Come” UK #31
2002 Cosmic Gate – ”Raging (Storm)” UK #48
2003 DJ Cor Fijneman – ”Venus” UK #109
2003 Paul van Dyk – ”Nothing But You” (also featuring Hemstock & Jennings and Kym UK #14.
2003 Svenson & Gielen – ”Beachbreeze” UK #163 (through import sales) (Originally titled ”Ocean”)
2004 Serge Devant – ”Transparent”
2005 Cosmic Gate – ”I Feel Wonderful” (an update of her song recorded with Freefall ”Skydive”) UK #122
2006 Leama & Moor – ”Waiting” (originally titled ”UR My Book”)
2007 DJ Shah – ”Beautiful”
2010 Tenishia – ”Flesh 2010” (an update of her track ”Flesh”)
2010 Dave D’Mello – ”Remember” (an update of her track with BT)
2011 Cosmic Gate – ”Raging 2011” (an update of the track released in 2002)

The cool thing is that Cosmic Gate is still sounding fresh after nearly 23 years in the music industry. I hope to hear more tracks in the near future that will give me special feelings and goosebumps. In this case, i’m not worried at all.

Tracks and remixes related to this post:

Freefall – Skydive
James Horner – I see you (Cosmic Gate Remix)
Kyau vs Albert – I Love You (Cosmic Gate Remix)
Cosmic Gate – Be your Sound (Extended Mix)
Cosmic Gate – Fire Wire (DJ Scot Project Remix)
Svenson and Gielen feat Jan Johnston – Beachbreeze
BT feat Jan Johnston – Remember

Classic for the Weekend: Cass & Slide – Perception

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl9tAtGsjTs&w=680&h=491]

The next track i´m gonna feature is Cass & Slide – Perception [New Vocal Mix] (buy on iTunes which came out in the end of 2000.

I’ve got an amazing story around how I first heard the track.
It all started sometime in the beginning of 2000 when a friend of mine posted a sample of the track with only the vocal part which he heard in some DJ-set back then. I was a member of several housemusic-forums and the sample was posted on one of them in a section called ”Name that tune”.

I was usually really good at naming tracks regarding all types of housemusic but this was a track I’ve never heard of before. I downloaded the sample and listened to it from time to time and even googled it (or whatever you used to use back then) with no result. I think it was perhaps 1,5-2 years later that I found out what it was called.
Until then I’d probably listened to the sample I had more than 100 times.

Lyrics:

You can see forever
Look inside of your mind
Find a sense another wonder
Just release the fears you left behind

Feel your way through the darkness
Guide your soul into the light
Swim into the open water
Drift on the tides that you may find

Find your soul in the sunrise
Look around you can see it in their eyes
Be as one together
Rise up as the emptiness subsides

You can see forever
Rise up together
Search and you will find the answer
If you look deep inside of your mind

Personal goosebump-points in the song:

2:12 into the song when the main synth starts
5:04 into the song when the vocals starts
5:47 into the song when the 2:nd verse comes in, also notice the main synth in the background fading up.

First time I heard the whole song was really amazed by the lyrics and the progressive sound that build and builds until the vocals start around 5 minutes into the song when everything starts to build once again.

I havent had the opportunity to hear anyone play it at any club but Markus Schulz (Buy on iTunes) did a remake of the song 2010. I first heard his version in march 2010 when he played at the Mondaybar Spring Cruise. Back then he only had a non-vocal version but later that year he had Justine Suissa sing the new vocals for the track.

IMHO, Justine Suissa’s vocals is pretty flat compared to the original vocals by Naimee Coleman which has more feeling to them. Don’t get me wrong, I love Justine Suissas voice but in this case i’d go for the original any day of the week.

Worth noticing is that Naimee Coleman did the vocals on Aurora’s big hit, Ordinary World (Buy on iTunes), which was a cover of one of Duran Durans biggest hits. Aurora later did another cover on Tasmin Archer’s big hit, Sleeping Satellite. Besides singing on these tracks, she’s had an impressive Solo-career, opening gigs for bands and artists like Van Morrison, Susanne Vega, Jackson Browne, 10,000 Maniacs, Sinead O’Connor and Sting.

Cass & Slide are Cass Cutbush and Pete Martin and they first teamed up back in 1999 when they both worked on a recordlabel called Flying Rhino Records in London. Their first release, Diablo was released on the label.

Cass later started his own recordlabel with fellow DJ, Lee Burridge, called Fire records where most of the Cass & Slide-material later was released. The track, Perception was an instant hit when world-famous DJ Sasha featured it on his compilation, Global Underground 013: Ibiza. Tiesto also featured it on his In Search Of Sunrise 2-compliation, which came out in 2000.

After releasing their full-lenght album, Burning The Candle At Both Ends, in 2002 there has been pretty quiet from Cass & Slide, especially after Cass’s label, Fire, went under in 2003. I saw some remixes by Slide in the mid of 2000 but none of them did any big impression on me.

I hope that you also find this track as good as I do so the spirit of Cass & Slide will live on forever.

Additional links:
Markus Schulz feat Justine Suissa – Perception (YouTube).
Aurora feat Naimee Coleman – Ordinary World (Above & Beyond Remix) (YouTube).

– Niklas

Classic for the weekend: Chicane – Offshore [Disco Citizens Remix]

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mplayysPDZU&w=680&h=491]

Welcome to an all new section on bejbi.se.
This section is going to present an important Tranceclassic just before the weekend starts, all written and presented by a long time friend and a walking wikipeda of music: Niklas.

The first track in this section is my all-time-favourite. I first heard this sometime in 1997 on a mix-cd called Club Mix 97 which contained loads of great tracks that I still listen to.

The track i’m talking about is Chicane – Offshore (Disco Citizens Remix) [Buy it on iTunes!]

The things that stood out most was the atmospheric strings, the piano and the guitar-riff.
The track was originally released back in 1996 and became an instant Ibiza-anthem with the balearic sound that’s captured in the song.

The track was later re-released under the name Offshore ’97 with vocals. Offshore ’97 was originally a bootleg made by Anthony Pappa with vocals from a track called ”A Little Love, a Little Life” by the group Power Circle, which later became the official vocal version called ”Chicane with Power Circle – Offshore ’97”

Lyrics:
A little love, a little life
A little love, a little life
Let it show
A little love, a little life
Let it show
A little love, a little life

I feel in my mind, I’ve got to let go, I’ve got to unwind
I need a good time, I need to find love, I’ve got to get high
I feel in my mind, I’ve got to let go, I’ve got to unwind
I need a good time, I need to find love, I’ve got to get high

You’ve got the passion to feel inside
A little love, a little life, now you decide
There ain’t no reasons why we can’t share
A little love, a little life can take us there