With Day 2 of Ultra Music Festival done, I came back to my hotel with a huge smile on my face.
This was awesome!
Huge stages, with massive sound and visuals everywhere, it’s sure a feast for the eye, as well as the ears.
We started the day with walking through the area, even though it’s a really big area, it takes notime to walk between the areas, and there are food, beverages and toilets everywhere.
And the people, sure, it’s Spring Break here now, but there were a lot of partypeople and the pulse was high from the moment we walked inside the gates.
After 12 hours of dancing and drinking, my feet hurts and I got some sleep. And now, it’s time for day 3 of UMF, the biggest EDM-festival in the world.
In just a few hours, the worlds largest EDM-convention, Miami Music Week (Winter Music Conference), starts in Miami, Florida.
With over 370 parties over 10 days, and some of the largest dj’s and artists in the world, this is the Mekka for the musiclover.
Bejbi.se has a photographer and reporter on site and we will give you a report of what’s up here.
The weekend starts on friday, with the HUGE Ultra Music Festival, a festival with over 330 000 tickets sold it’s guaranteed to be the biggest in the world too. After that it’s endless of daytime poolparties and afterhours clubbing.
Above & Beyond hit Stockholm with their Group Therapy.
Alongside they had Jeremy Olander, Jonas Hörnblad, Kambiz, Jay van Kay, Kenuna, JP Bates and Damien Eie.
Luger pres. Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy, Münchenbryggeriet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2013.03.01
Pictures: 50
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 Goldenscan – Sunrise (Pulser 6 AM Vocal Remix). (Buy on Itunes)
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!
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.
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.
After a month of cold and snow we are back to warm you all up with the 39th episode of #Podgressive!
We have turned focus from Denmark to our other neighbour, Norway. Djs and artists invited for the show is the trance dj Carina, one of Norways most promising female djs and the duo E&G that has allready got some rad support by Armin van Buuren at ASOT. We also have an interview of the producer and dj, Made in Norway. For my part, you will get a jurney from around 123bpm all the way up to 132bpm with deep house, minimal, house and prodressive trance. Don’t forget to share, like and feedback this episode and hopefully you will like it! Head over to podgressive.com and give it a listen!
The winter is still having a firm grip of Sweden but we are slowly moving towards spring and all the fun that comes with it! How about ASOT600, Wonder Festival, WMC and of course Above & Beyond in Stockholm.
My taste of music is quite wide and I can sometimes abandon a genre for a while to pick it up at a later point. That has happened now and I’m clearing my head with other styles. But I’m after all a sucker for EDM so I’m of course prepared for this episode and looking forward to put my set together!
I have found some tunes that I think will be a great injection to my set. Starting with a bit slower bpm than before. There are tunes that can’t be left out so I hope that you like them as well.
February episode was all about Denmark. Daniel Kandi and Kris O’Neil showed that Denmarks trance music is something to count! We are moving on and will put our full focus to our dear neighbours Norway! They don’t just have awsome girls or fantastic landscape. The norwegian EDM-scene is strong and we are proud to present the uprising trance duo E&G, lovely and really talanted Carina and our interview with the house producer Made in Norway by Patric. So, make sure to check in #Podgressive on the 22th February, 12:00 CET!
TOP10 – February 2013
Here we go again! Tunes that has made my February!
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 X – The Orange Theme (Bervoets & De Goeij Remix).
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.
Their next big track came in 1994 with The Orange Theme. By this time Ralf has already left the project.
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.
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!
The Thrillseekers feat. Stine Grove – Anywhere with you [Club mix]
The English Trance Producer/Dj The Thrillseekers is about to release an new single from his upcoming album ”ESC”. This is a vocal trance-piece sung by The Danish vocalist Stine Grove and has everything a pure vocal trance track should have; an energic intro, a vocal break and a wonderful distinct lead piano.
The tracks vocals are written by the Swedish Singer-songwriter Kristina Westin, who has released two albums of her own and one as a singer in the indie rock band Borstspindeln.
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 Ascension – Someone (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.
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.
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!
