Disc 1

Disc one opens with an amazing Beat Service remix of the single "Every Heartbeat" from Will Holland & Jeza. This track is pure melodic with a deep bass line complementing the sexy voice of Jeza. Beat Service continues his presence with the track "Mars", a track with melodic strings and progressive sound that would surely be a hit on the dance floor. Holland continued with the melodic-progressive flow with Audien’s deep melodic track "The Reach" before bringing back some vocals in Maor Levi Club Mix of "Hold On" by Ignas & Julie Thompson. A great remix by Maor Levi with deep bass line and progressive sounds compliments Thompson’s lovely voice that would surely make you want to hit the dance floor.

Now this is where I thought something happen with my player during Juventa’s "Nothing But Less Than Three". He mixed progressive trance sounds with a touch of dubstep that would even surprise Juventa’s die-hard fans. That twist was short lived as Holland goes back to progressive trance with with Exostate’s "Easily I Fell" remixed by Norin & Rad, a very upbeat track with the typical Norin & Rad bass line and melodic beats that would surely get you back into the groove of things. As some of you might not know, Exostate is a collaboration between Bissen & Jeza. This was followed by another remix by Maor Levi – Ost & Meyer’s "Safari". This tune contains a mixture of haunting vocals, melodic bass line and a touch of electro.

Norin & Rad makes their second appearance with Retrograde – a soothing track with melodic synths and piano keys. Things slow down a notch with Madison’s deep melodic and laid back tune "When You" and a melodic progressive track in Parallax by The Falcon containing beats that would surprise you a bit. Holland brings back a trio of vocal tracks with "Everafter" by Tritonal & Cristina Soto which was beautifully remixed by Mike Shiver. Shiver did an awesome job with this track – blending in his melodic beats with Tritonal’s bass line and Soto’s amazing vocals. This was followed by Estiva’s remix of "Love Is Strong" by C-Systems & Jo Micali featuring the voice of Hanna Finsen. Estiva did a great job complimenting a soothing track with stunning bass line and melodic piano keys. Estiva continues his presence with "Death Of Me", a track he collaborated with Tania Zygar. This is one of my favorite tunes of the album due to its great bass line and electro synths that blends well with Zygar’s blissful voice. To close out disc one, Holland chose the amazing Rafael Frost remix of "Azzura" by Boom Jinx & Daniel Kandi, a track filled with pounding beats and melodic tones.

That’s only disc one!

Disc 2

Will Holland sped things up with Disc Two starting of with Karanda’s remix of the melodic, uplifting tune "Alpha" by Fast Distance. This was followed by the second appearance of an Audien track, "Keep This Memory", remix by John Malmgren. This tune is filled with melodic riffs and amazing breaks that would surely be a tune for the summer. Alan Morris & Sequentia’s "Blind" follows, bringing in faster beats and melodic tones before a massive drop filled with uplifting strings that would send shivers down your spine. Holland continues with melodic strings and powerful beats in "Oregano" by Store N Forward before ushering in the first vocal track of disc two in Ost & Meyer’s remix of "Hurricane" by Vast Vision & Fisher. This tune mixes in trance beats with a touch of house tones along with the beautiful voice of Fisher.

Daniel Kandi is back the second time around with "Insert Generic Title" with Dennis Pedersen chiming in to create this remix containing massive beats and awesome melodies that would surely bring you to a state of euphoria. C-Systems is back, this time collaborating with Bushi for the uplifting and melodic track "Ari". Sequentia appears again working with Jaco to produce "Crossfire", a track filled with melodic strings, haunting vocals and rapid bass lines. Following next is Juventa’s mix of his track with Answer 42, "Like These Eyes". Now this is the Juventa we all know and longed for – bringing in enchanting vibes and uplifting melodies coupled with massive bass line. Holland continues the uplifting vibe with William de Roo’s "Datamoon" followed by the Ost & Meyer track "Argentum", their third appearance on this album. Another track with melodic uplifts and bass line that would surely garner massive airplays.

Suncatcher’s "Welcome Home" brings in melodic riffs and uptempo bass line and an enchanting drop that you would want to listen to over and over again (like I did) and be WOW’d. In comes a vocal track in "Something To Say", produced by Stonevalley with the voice of Shannon Hurley. This got the progressive vibe with melodic synths that works well with the beautiful voice of Hurley. Things slow down a notch with the Temple One’s remix of "Lacuna" by Deepwide. Temple One did an outstanding job remixing this great tune emphasizing the melodic synths. Holland closes out disc two with Suncatcher’s emotionally-filled remix of "Still With Me" by Tritonal & Cristina Soto.

Verdict

Will Holland did a phenomenal job in not just mixing ‘Digitally Enhanced Vol. 5‘ but in choosing the right tracks for each disc. This album is surely a must-have for your collection and might be the best Digitally Enhanced compilation yet.

10/10

Probably working in events – I studied it at Uni and was running events around the UK before I took the plunge to go full time on Enhanced a couple of years ago.

If there was no music…

That would be awful, wouldn’t it? I’ve thought about this before and with music as my main passion and livelihood it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for me! I think we would all be far worse off.

What do you like the most in your job?

One part I love is definitely the little ‘Christmas morning’ feeling when I get an amazing demo – it’s a surprise you were not expecting and it’s so exciting. The main thing is seeing records do well and our artists achieve great things.

Your first thought on a Monday morning…

Not being able to make up my mind straight away. I like things to be perfect and it can take me a long time until I’m satisfied with something; perhaps I over think it. I don’t know, maybe it’s a bad habit, but maybe it’s also a good thing as well!

Your favourite airline?

Ryan Air. It’s amazing; they should be so proud of what they achieve… ;)

I would never wear…

A Tottenham Hotspurs shirt. Ever.

If you were to put on a celebrity cookery show, which dish would you teach us?

My cooking obsession has reached new, nerdy heights; I’ve started photographing everything I cook on my phone. One second… OK, an entrée which I love doing is lime and coriander crab, with a balsamic shallot glaze, langoustine and a creamed pepper sorbet. Keeping it fish for the main I would do Sea Bass fried in chilli on a white wine, cream, lemon and saffron linguine, and a fennel butter sauce to finish it off. I normally cook meat but of late I’ve been getting into fish… I just like to experiment and rarely use a cookbook.

Your favourite football team?

Arsenal! I finally made it off the season ticket waiting list after about 8 years this year; not a vintage year but it’s been great to go to so many games.

Who was your celebrity crush?

Racking my brain trying to think back to when I was younger, Kelly Brook was definitely up there at one point!

Do you believe in an afterlife?

You’d like to think there is something else waiting for us, wouldn’t you?

Movies: Comedy or Thriller?

Depends on my mood, but normally comedy.

Weekends are for:

If it’s not DJing then relaxing and having fun with friends! And football, of course!

Thank you for your time :)

Thank you guys! Keep up the great work with the site!

For more info related to Will Holland check out the following links:
www.willholland.com
www.twitter.com/Will_Holland
www.facebook.com/willhollandofficial

Bossi from Cosmic Gate

With conventional compilations churning out seemingly the same material, ‘Social Deconstruction‘ features The Gallery’s current legends and future heroes. Each with an exclusive track built explicitly from scratch, their Gallery experience has been broken down, analysed and re-constructed in musical form. Riffs, synths and loops lovingly assembled, to represent each artist’s most cherished Gallery memory. From Ministry’s main room debauchery, through to next door’s hectic 103 melange, ‘Social Deconstruction‘ dismantles the Gallery magic into an electronic aural blueprint.

The rush, the crowd, the love, the euphoria. Each part interlocking for that life changing experience, across 24 ground breaking tracks – that can’t be heard anywhere else from the likes of Kyau & Albert, Tritonal, W&W, Jochen Miller, The Thrillseekers, Ronski Speed, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Manuel De La Mare, Daniel Kandi, Max Graham, M.I.K.E., Stoneface & Terminal and many more!

"Social Deconstruction is special, having been developed specifically with Gallery fans in mind. It also reflects our forward thinking resolve, which defines The Gallery night from any other. I’d like to thank every artist who has devoted their time and effort. A dedication shared by the faithful week in, week out. For this The Gallery is eternally grateful." – Gavyn Mytchel (Gallery Resident)

It’s been nearly ten years since the world was first introduced to the powerful but warm voice of Susana. She is the voice behind some of the biggest hits of Armin van Buuren, Ernesto vs. Bastian, Rex Mundi, The Blizzard and many more. Two years ago, her debut album ‘Closer‘ lit the souls of thousands of music lovers. This year, she sets the mark even higher. On ‘Brave‘, her distinctive voice, song-writing skills and lyrical feel come together as one.

For ‘Brave‘, the songstress collaborated with some of the world’s most talented producers, by the likes of Max Graham, Aurosonic, Ernesto vs. Bastian, Leon Bolier, Shogun, Alexander Popov, Daniel Kandi and many more. From the deep and darker shades of progressive, lush and easy-flowing ambient to the uplifting melodic touch of trance, there’s no genre in dance that can’t carry the voice of Susana. With "Home", one of the many jewels on the album, she brings anode to one of trance’s most beloved classics and shows the world just how big her passion for the genre really is.

‘Brave‘ is the next chapter in the impressive career of the favorite vocalist, making sure you hear all about Susana.

I’m not going to write a word about my travel, because that part would surely be censored. At the end me and my friend arrived at Gdańsk around 10 PM (3 hours later than planned). We would have some serious trouble finding the venue (Centrum Stocznia Gdańsk – famous for its role in Polish history in the ’80s) if not two Turkish guys who helped us out. To be honest CSG is probably the worst venue for a trance party I’ve been to so far. Back in the days it used to be a shipyard – raw interiors would be just perfect for a techno/minimal/hardstyle party, but not accurate for trance, there was something missing…

Due to train delays we missed the sets of Skytech (friends said their played the best set of the party), Deniz Koyu and most of the Deniz’ b2b with Ferry. When I reached my usual "front and center" spot it was Ferry b2b with Mat Zo. Oh, I was so happy just to see Ferry again, I believe he has one of the most sympathetic faces I’ve seen! But let’s get straight to the music…

Deniz Koyu was the only artist in the line up labeled as house, all the rest were mostly known as trance DJs. To my unpleasant surprise I haven’t heard much trance till the second half of Ferry’s set. I’m not a specialist in all the EDM genres, I also don’t bash other genres, but trance for me means feelings and I missed that. I respect others in love with house or electro sounds, it’s their thing, but it simply doesn’t speak to me. Of course Ferry played some of his old time classics as well as many tracks from his latest ‘WKND‘ album, but for me it wasn’t the same Ferry I fell in love with. Ferry always tended to experiment with sounds, but his sets were full of trance. He has the right to play what he loves, I don’t argue with that, but for me it’s a loss, no one else made me feel so amazing during sets as he did. I will just keep on hoping to be a witness of his trance set someday again.

Last in the line up was Mr. Skyfire: Shogun. As the venue wasn’t packed whole night, not a lot of people stayed till his set. Nevertheless he did a fantastic job keeping the dance floor in motion. He played all the greatest trance tracks of past years, some will say cheesy, but I can assure you the number of people didn’t change much between the start and the end of his set. For me this was a piece of what I was there for, trance, happiness, euphoria. Unfortunately at that time I was already so tired (horrible trip!) I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would love to, but still the lovely Shogun made me dance till the last sound.

To sum it up I have to say I have mixed feelings after this Full On Ferry. First of all the place didn’t have that trance spirit, even though lights and lasers were doing their best. Secondly all it mostly wasn’t "my" kind of music. On the other hand I was happy to see Ferry once again. Even if his set was disappointing to me, I still feel musically connected to him and I won’t stop believing to hear a full trance set by him. Hands down for Shogun, altough I had the impression he can do much better.

At the very end it all makes me wonder if it’s the dusk of trance music? More and more trance DJs/producers moving towards house and electro sounds. Perhaps trance needs some time in the underground? No matter what will happen to trance – I will not stop loving it!

My first "Dutch" review in 2012 belongs to a wonderful Dutchman, who definitely isn’t a newbie in the scene! This time, I offer you my own look on Daniel Wanrooy’s new artist album, a piece of his personal, musical life – ‘Slice Of Life‘!

Daniel takes us in by a melodic intro, with interesting electric guitar samples in his own, "Friuli". Unusually long intro, makes you think positive, keeps you calm, yet in some parts, it feels a bit too long, especially when you are enthusiastic about hearing what’s up next! But that’s just a small detail, nothing worth complaining about.

Next up, a nice question pops up right away. "Why you wanna put yourself through this?" in the vocals by featured Elliot Johns. Hearing this track brought mixed up feelings. For my tastes, those vocals are something very unsymphatic, I really wasn’t pleased by the colour of Elliot’s voice on this. Taking a couple more listens brought me to a conlusion that this track won’t probably fit me in any form, not even a dub mix. Sounds like a slow progressive track, yet with strange electro elements.

A bit of a better sound show itself at track #4, called "Dog Day Afternoon" – heavy beat, striking bass lines, chorus vocal in the break down in different heights, catchy, electrifing melody, yes! Something worth listening! Nice progressive trance with few tech-trance elements!

Legendary voice of the scene is also featured on this album. Blake Lewis is the one to thank for the vocals on "Stay In The Moment", also an interesting piece, followed up by a very melodic track "Tonica". A truly marvellous piece, if we are to talk about the melody and its catchfullness. Very gentle piano hits combined together, sounds just perfect! Progressive, yet the rest of the track feels a bit too hard, but I’m sure that few more listens will do the trick!

Another collaborated piece takes the 8th place in the album. Featuring Rene Havelaar, a very well known name when it comes to Daniel’s collaborations, these guys surely know what they are doing by creating a very good collaboration with electric melodies and heavy beats by Daniel. And yet the track has a very emotional touch to it and I believe that is the part that was done by Rene – very good job indeed! Would like to see these two collaborate again!

This album takes us into a slower and calmer tempo too. Featuring Emma Lock, Daniel is "Living It Up" into a nice melodic vocal track that calms things down a bit, preparing us for the last few tracks of the album, into the "Pretoria" in the 2012 Mix to be exact! Once again, a great potential for a tech-trance track, yet it goes into harder progressive trance at best, thanks to nice melody, and massive beats.

Last four tracks seem to be a combination of styles from the whole album. "E.L.F." is sounding very electric, with many electro elements, "Your Life" with the vocals of Hannah Ray sounding pretty sweet and more trancier, "Lotus" sounding more into the trance, big room sound, something that will really give people a reason to move and the last one – "4 Days Out", nice outro track, with melodic beginning and a very progressive build up. This track proves, it has a very deep soul.

Verdict

To close this review, I believe that Daniel could do a bit better on his tracks! ‘Slice Of Life‘ is not a bad album, but neither it’s great. Tracks lack the deepness they should have, about half of the album sounds like trance mixed electro. It needs a bit more trance feeling, personally. I would love to see this album in a remixed version.

For more info related to Daniel Wanrooy check out the following links:
www.danielwanrooy.com
www.twitter.com/danielwanrooy
www.facebook.com/danielwanrooycom
www.youtube.com/danielwanrooy
www.soundcloud.com/danielwanrooy

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Contest ends on Saturday, May 19, 2012.
*Conditions apply.]]> http://trancehub.com/contests/solarstone-mumbai-delhi/feed/ 0 http://trancehub.com/specials/the-best-european-dance-music-festivals-this-summer/ http://trancehub.com/specials/the-best-european-dance-music-festivals-this-summer/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 15:24:12 +0000 Trance Hub http://trancehub.com/?p=1529 Trance Hub wanted to...]]>

It’s spring and most of us are already planning for our summer holidays – always such a difficult decision to make. Trance Hub wanted to make your travel plans more exciting. Here’s a list of the biggest dance music festivals in Europe this summer. Why not couple this vacation with a great EDM experience?

Now let’s get planning. Here are festivals recommended by us – from June through August all across Europe, we have hand-picked this list as each festival is an experience in its own. Some are all about music, while some are all about the experience. Do share your comments and feedback below. We would love to hear them.

We wished to have included Tomorrowland as a part of this list but since it is already sold out, it wouldn’t have altered your decision. Though if you think the season of summer festivals is over, wait a minute – you can always move to Ibiza to the closing parties of the season. They’re BIG, BAD and BANGING!

See you somewhere having a time of your life!

I know we don’t have to introduce you to our readers. Your tracks do it very well, but maybe you could tell us how did you guys meet? How did the idea of "Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren" come out?

Matt: Shawn and I first met online in 2003 or 2004, and we worked on songs together. In 2005 I met Jaren and we all sorta started working together. We only really started existing as a trio when we made "Light The Skies".

I’ve heard the whole album and I can already imagine myself lying on the beach with a drink in my hand and headphones on as well as dancing to songs of "Give Me A Sound" in the club. It’s been a while from your initial successful tracks to the release of the album. How did the creation process look like? What was the most time-taking phase?

Jaren: Oh gosh… In my own words the process looked like this:

Moment of inspiration – produce – write – get really excited – write more – sing – mix – mix – life changing event. Stop. Have some life experience – talk about the future – jam – get writer’s block. Stop. Get discouraged. Stop. Have some more life experience – talk about the future – jam – get excited – get inspired. Start the whole process over. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Okay, we’re finally done.

Shawn: I really think the most time-taking phase of the album was the production. We literally have 3-4 versions of almost every song on the album. We’re all three perfectionists so it took a while for us to all get on the same page for each track.

Give me a sound has a duet in "Starting Right Now" with well-known British singer Chris Jones. We know duets are rare in EDM, how difficult was it to work with so many variables in a track, especially for you producers Matt and Shawn?

Matt: Working with Chris and working with Josie was fairly easy. The hardest part is to get the vocals to match if they’re recorded in different studios.

Shawn: I feel like it was also a little difficult to get the general mixdown so that Chris wasn’t louder than Jaren or vice versa, finding that sweet spot where they both sound great. As for the production it actually made it easier to fill the track up with drones, vocal chops and other cool vocal bits.

On the same lines, you have collaborated with the mighty Rank 1 and the really talented Pulser. What were the thoughts behind choosing such a wide variety of producers?

Shawn: Not only that we’re huge fans of the artists we chose to work with, it’s a dream come true for me to be working with legends like Rank 1, Pulser, Fine Taste and newcomer Audien!

Listening to the album I have found a small "surprise" called "Our Neighbourhood". In few other albums we could find different style interludes, but they were mostly instrumentals or classical music pieces. How did you come up with the idea of placing a rock song into an EDM album?

Jaren: I say it all the time, but I truly believe it: We are not prisoners to any one style because we are inspired by so many different things in life. We grow, we mature, we adapt. We are fairly certain that our biggest fans do, too.

Matt: Well, that was my idea, I guess. It was originally Jaren’s top-line but I love rock and I wanted to make a song that was entirely not electronic. That’s what the lyrics made me feel.

Jaren and Matt – we all know you are married and recently became parents. Does mother/fatherhood influence your work? How do you manage raising a child with working and touring? (How is it working with your partner and how do you handle conflicts?)

Jaren: Hahaha. I’m going to answer this one before Matt get’s himself in trouble. Kidding! Actually, in the beginning it was really a struggle. Where do you draw the line between business and pleasure when you are working/living with the same person 24/7? It’s really easy to take the other person for granted. To be honest, we just celebrated our six year anniversary last week and I think both of us are surprised we made it through those first few years together. Surprisingly, however, doing all of this now that our daughter is here is so much easier. Having a baby really put our priorities in line. We are a much stronger unit.

The album is very touching from start to finish. In my opinion it blew me away and I can’t let this one go. Who came up with the album title?

Matt: Shawn did. Jaren came up with the lyrics for "Give Me A Sound".

Working as a trio can’t be easy, so can you give us a break down of what each of your roles are in the group? I guess what I’m trying to get at… who’s the Boss?

Jaren: Hahaha! I think we all think we are the boss. I get to say what I want about vocals, but I really do take Matt and Shawn’s opinions into consideration… at least I like to think I do.

Matt: The role changes every time. Sometimes we’re more structural, sometimes one of us does more sound design and other effects.

Shawn: I agree with Jaren, I think we’re all bosses… my main role on the album was most of the production/sound design and some of the melodic content.

The Producers

Vocals are a special element for producers and have to be dealt with very carefully. Any advice you want to give to producers who resist doing vocal trance projects?

Matt: You gotta find a good singer. We are lucky we have Jaren because she’s a good writer and vocalist. You gotta have a solid raw vocal for it to sound really good treated.

Jaren is the most recognisable part of your team. How do you feel about her stealing the show?

Matt: We all help each other out in some ways. I can only be grateful for her success.

Shawn: Most definitely, well she deserves to be stealing the show… listen to her sing!!!

Jaren: I’m paying them loads of money to say that, btw. These guys are the ones doing all the hard work!

We want to hear from both of you, which are your favourite vocal trance tracks?

Matt: There’s just so many, man. It changes everyday.

Shawn: For me, I’d definitely have to say Above & Beyond has some of the best vocal EDM… almost everything they put out is an instant classic, I love "Sun & Moon", "Thing Called Love", and "Love Is Not Enough".

The Vocalist

It is such a pleasure to have you back Jaren, we are so happy that you have come such a long way since our last interview. How has life changed?

Yay! It’s great to be back, thanks for having us. It’s funny – I recently read the last Trance Hub interview and it was like a diary entry. Great to see what I was doing then. I’m still doing the same, but a little has changed: I toured solo in 2009, had a baby in 2010 and moved to Canada in 2011. I’ve spent the past few years writing for fellow trance artists and now have branched into writing for pop/dance artists. It’s been hard work but a lot of fun!

In most of your tracks you are featured as Jaren, but now we can also hear Fenja. Who is Fenja and how does she differ from Jaren?

Fenja is my alter ego. She takes on the house and pop projects. I felt like keeping ‘Jaren’ for trance was probably a more respectable thing to do. Not everyone is going to appreciate the fact that I enjoy dance/pop, but at the end of the day I am a creative person who enjoys all kinds of music and if I don’t do what my heart tells me then it’s like I’m cheating myself.

I don’t think many of our readers know you stand behind many vocal hits not sung by yourself. "Estiva feat. Josie – Better Days", "Masoud feat. Hannah Ray – Here We Go", "W&W feat. Bree – Nowhere To Go" and now the smash hit from Marcus Schossow & Elleah hurry up to name a few. Is there a difference between writing for yourself and for other vocalists? Is there a track of yours which came out so great you wish you’ve sung it by yourself?

There is a slight difference. Mostly the difference is that if I sang on everything I wrote people would be so sick of hearing my voice I wouldn’t get any work, hahaha. So I try to find other vocalists to share my passion. Occasionally I will write a song that I want to keep for myself, but typically if I know I have to write for someone else I’m able to keep some distance. It’s a bit weird to think about, really. In terms of songs I wish I would have kept for myself… There have been a couple recently (unreleased), but as it happened I got them back one way or another, quite unintentionally. Happy surprises.

"Witness", the latest single, taken from ‘Give Me A Sound’ brings me chills since the first listen. Can you please tell us the story behind the lyrics? What inspired you writing it?

This was a topline I wrote for an old Armin demo, actually. It wasn’t a good fit for his instrumental and I was so attached to it by that point that we all agreed I would take it back and we’d use it for the album. I think the song talks about the struggle between ‘inner voice’ and what our minds tell us. Where’s the balance? At what point do we decide to stop living as two (ego and inner voice) and start living as one (inner voice alone)? And is it possible to sustain? I think everyone struggles with this at some point in their lives. It’s a deep question.

I’m sure a lot of aspiring vocalists look up to you. What has been the most important piece of advice you ever received which has helped you get to where you are today?

The most important piece of advice I’ve received came from my manager, Stuart Squires. He said to look at this thing long term. I see many vocalists give up after a couple of years because it’s not a short term money maker. It takes a few years to get your name out, get the gigs happening, etc. I’ve quit the business probably three times in the last six years, hahaha. I always come back because I love to write, but certainly there are those times where you get discouraged. It happens in every business. But for me, as long as I remember to think long term I’m okay.

For more info related to Matt Cerf check out the following links:
www.mattcerf.com
www.twitter.com/mattcerf
www.facebook.com/mattcerfofficial
www.youtube.com/mattcerfTV

For more info related to Shawn Mitiska check out the following links:
www.shawnmitiska.com
www.twitter.com/shawnmitiska
www.facebook.com/shawnmitiska
www.youtube.com/shawnmit

For more info related to Jaren check out the following links:
www.jarenlive.com
www.twitter.com/jarenlive
www.facebook.com/jarenlive