Matt Darey : Darey Products : April Column
Author: Matt Darey
Sunday, April 3, 2005
The results from the first ever Trance Awards are in. Hosted by Slinky at The Opera House in Bournemouth, the results certainly turned up some surprises. Unfortunately I was away for the awards so I sent Trance correspondent Josie Harral down with a pair of glowsticks to cover the event. First off... well done to Adam White and Andy Moor, winners of Best Track for "The Whiteroom' and Adam White as winner of Best New Producer. As well as being Label Manager for Darey Products, Adam has also produced such big tunes as "Reverence' and "Ballerina', both of which have appeared on prestigious compilations. Success also went to trance superstar Paul van Dyk, who walked away with Best DJ, Best Producer, Best Label (for Vandit), and (sort of) Best Live Act for Nu NRG - Vandit's flagship artists, and the boys behind massive trance classics "Dreamland' and "Connective'. It was after this, however, that the global nature of these awards really kicked in... Best Club - Cream @ Amnesia, Ibiza; Best Resident - Armin van Buuren for Armada @ Amnesia, Ibiza (nominations were AvB for Armada, Ibiza, PvD for Cream, Ibiza, and Tiësto for Cream, Ibiza), and biggest surprise of all - Tiësto for Best Remixer. The event itself received mixed reports. Graham Gold was generally agreed to have played a topnotch set, and made a decent job of presenting the awards under difficult circumstances. Les Hemstock and Andy Bagguley were also both well received, but Nu Nrg's set - both track choice and sound quality - surprisingly came in for some fairly hefty criticism. Trance Award organisers TrackItDown have announced that next year's ceremony will almost certainly not take place in the UK, although they welcome feedback from this year and suggestions for 2006.
Trance v's Hard Dance
The lines between trance and harder styles are becoming increasingly blurred, with success from darker, tougher tracks like Dogzilla - Your Eyes-, and Sander van Doorn - Dark Roast, and more and more tunes described as genre-defying- Long may it last. Any change in dance music that opens up more club nights to more people has got to be a good thing. The recent seventh annual Tidy Weekender, traditionally home to the cyber and fluffies brand of hard house, is a case in point, with a strong trance presence that more than held its head high.
First up, Arena 1 on Friday night saw a quality hard trance set from Matt Hardwick. Highlight of the whole weekend, however, even taking into account the mighty dance superpowers Lisa Lashes and Eddie Halliwell, was unanimously agreed to be tough trance man K90 and his flawless, driving, uplifting live set. Lastly, Arena 2 on Sunday night was pretty much devoted to trance classics - pure euphoric nostalgia from BK and Lee Haslam in the Gouryella & Orange Theme stylee. Does it get any better- I think not.
Apart from anything else, staying in a chalet with a bunch of mates, and talking, breathing and living dance music for three days is a ridiculously good laugh. You can sleep when you're dead.
Trance News
Industry news up first. Massive trance label Black Hole Recordings, run by Dutch superstar DJ Tiësto, has signed a deal to distribute their entire catalogue through Audiojelly. The label is home to such luminaries as Cor Fijneman and duo Mark Norman, and the deal covers all their imprints including the world famous Magik Muzik. Audiojelly recently signed a similar deal with Nukleuz, the hard dance record company that launched the careers of such superstars as BK and Mauro Picotto. Also in the news... German heavyweight trance label Euphonic, owned by Ralph Kyau and Steven Moebius Albert, aka Kyau vs. Albert, and label bosses to a string of trance thoroughbreds including Sonorous, Ronski Speed and Mirco de Govia. The "Positive Ways" compilation from the label is into round 4, and this time is mixed by Kyau vs. Albert themselves. The CD features many unreleased tracks such as Ronski S Tags