Armin van Buuren – A State Of Trance 2008
Pin ItNumber 1 DJ / Producer Armin van Buuren’s fifth ‘A State Of Trance‘ compilation this year includes stunners from Offer Nissim / Sied van Riel, DJ Tatana / Martin Roth, Ohmna, Julian Vincent / Mark Otten and some apparent names like Andy Moor, Mike Foyle and Armin himself.
‘A State Of Trance 2008‘, like always, has 2 sides of the music, ‘On The Beach‘ and ‘In The Club‘. Disc 1 encompasses easy listening with moody tunes while Disc 2 brings you banging club music with electro toppings.
Disc 1 – On The Beach
Disc 1 starts with a cold, arousing remix of Armin’s "Unforgivable", remixed by the brilliant duo of First State. But ehh… this one can be easily connoted to a remix by the Inpetto bros. The intense synth work will escalate the atmosphere around, while Jaren’s voice works the real magic on you.
Sooner, you may find yourself grooving to a brilliant beachy mix of Tatana’s "Spring Breeze" mastered by Martin Roth. One of the most amazing tunes that has a feel-good vibe to it; just hold the martini in your hand, listen to the waves and listen to this tune!
Mike Foyle, known for his amazing piano-flavoured productions, introduces his sweet synth-led new style in "Bittersweet Nightshade". This tune may-or-may-not win accolades, if compared to his previous productions like "Firefly" and "Pandora". Nevertheless, it still stays as one of the major highlights of Disc 1.
Mark Sixma aka M6′s "Amazon Dawn" is sneakily mixed next, a Balearic transformation which was inspired from a documentary about tropical rain forests. The tune carries moody guitars throughout, but has a great progressive feel to it.
We all know how fatal "Fake Awake" proved on global dance floors. After all, the mastermind behind it goes by the name of Andy Moor. The splendid vocal chops, in this Disc, are served in a behemoth remix by The Blizzard duo – a sure-shot way to turn two left-footers into dancing puppets. Trademarked by The Blizzard’s frenzied synthing, this one will certainly zap any dance floor.
Up next, to peak up our ‘ASOT ’08‘ experience, Blake Jarrel comes off with "Punta Del Este" in a Beach Mix. So wait, the chopped vocal fever doesn’t end with "Fake Awake", this tune carries some amazing vocal slices with a trippy vibe and a distinctive synth maneuvering your ear buds.
"Serendipity" is probably Benya’s best production to date. He makes use of long strecthed synths each flowing perfectly into the other – the bass line follows the sounds. Then all of a sudden everything stops, and we have a deep bass coming through on top of which Ms. Penny Nixon’s vocals create a wicked environment.
The mix reaches "Satori Waterfalls", a moving production by Boy Hagemann and Johan Cyber of Ohmna fame. The lyrics barely tip the ears since it holds Sanskrit elements. On the musical front, this tune sets off a prolonged flow of ecstasy, attributed by enchanting lifting synths.
"These Shoulders" wake you up from the trip and you say hello to your first electro experience of ‘ASOT ’08‘. Signalrunners have had a fantastic 2008 and this tune best demonstrates their scale and genre varieties. Julie Thompson’s vocals are more Pop-inclined, but the piano and crashing synth-rich break down gets the real thing out of you (yes, whatever comes to your mind).
"Vampire" demonstrates how talented Carrie Skipper can be with her voice, almost ethereal and haunting; her vocals are spiced with tech riffs by Myon & Shane 54 – the duo that has undeniably left some brilliant musical trajectories on our minds this year.
Regarded as the biggie of Disc 1, we have "Certainty" by Julian Vincent with a new vocalist to hit the Trance arena – Cathy Burton. Mark Otten steeps his lasting impression with fat synthy elements, and an equally subtle but groovy bass. Post vocal break synth work is a different euphoria all over.
When you have Tenishia and Tiff Lacey coming together in collaboration, the expectations automatically rise. And with "Burning From The Inside", you get something over your expectations i.e. a perfect track that can be termed as real Trance. Synths are easily recognizable, probably we have heard these tranzy synths in other productions, but what you make out of it is what matters. Tenishia produces a touching melody with Tiff’s magical chops. The angelic pads carve a picture-perfect sonic fantasy. Personal best of Disc 1!
By the time ‘ASOT ’08‘ felt our CD ROMs, "Cygnes" was already buzzing in our ears. Thanks to the innumerable radio shows that just looped this beauty. The beats definitely seem to be coming from Andy Duguid, who co-produced this tune with Mr. Sam. The electro bass line sets off to create a timbered atmosphere and the hypnotic vocals picture great dreamscapes.
Kyau & Albert, with their remix of "Out Of The Sky" have avowed the fact that their remix is best of the slot. Fascination is what is felt when the beautiful vocals of Sarah Howells treat your ears. Dominated by vocals, the music takes us to a guitar-led break down and the lead synth riffs take on, leaving us completely smitten – to hands-in-the air moment.
Disc 2 – In The Club
Armin does the honors of Disc 2 with "Strangers We’ve Bbecome" in an Intro Tech Dub. Moonbeam, anyone? Yes, this does sound like it’s coming from Moonbeam’s studio, but the tech sounds completely take this off the hook. Initially, it sounds like a movie soundtrack but later minimal dark elements come in. Josie’s beautifully haunting vocals make me want to listen to a dance remix of this one.
This slowly transforms to a relaxing "Lost" – courtesy DJ Shah and Zara Taylor. The Shah-Zara duo never seems to fail with their collaborations that mostly turn out to be total aural aphrodisiacs. "Lost" mandates that Shah is an all-rounder when it comes to making music.
Sied van Riel’s interpretation of "For Your Love" is my personal best of both the Discs. All odes to the inexplicable break down that just lets me flow through the sounds; sounds that slowly build up to a much relieving break down. Simply amazing!
Ilya Soloviev & Paul Miller join hands in "Love Summer" – beautiful Balearic guitars are introduced after strong electro elements. This is how our new generation Trance has started to sound, with so many atmospheres in it.
One of the biggest names in this Disc, Markus Schulz’s offering "The New World" carries a deep dark grungy synth that dominates the whole production, for which Markus is always known. Reminding me of a sunrise behind the dark clouds and as far my imaginations can go on this one.
Once again, a tune with the inclusion of chopped vocals buzzes our speakers, but since it has Daniel Kandi’s skills, it sounds up-up uplifting. His signature style can be heard in this one, like big arena sounds that can drive any crowd to hysterical, chaotic, harmless actions. Robert Nickson partners with him and puts his experience to make this one a total floor-smasher.
Vandit boy Giuseppe Ottaviani’s production "No More Alone" emerges next. True German style and male vocals from Stephen Pickup make this one quite reminisced. A tube-like synth is used as the main melody while some angelic pads are also heard in the background, this totally adds as a euphoric experience to Disc 2.
What we hear next is the banging remix of The Thrillseekers’ "The Last Time" by Simon Bostock. The break down includes a marvellous synth intro that rhapsodizes further.
Charging it up, Armin introduces Stoneface & Terminal’s electro mayhem called "Blueprint". These guys already showed their mighty presence earlier in ’08 with their constant line of productions. Strong synth work and trademark S&T bass line nick in later to help you dance, on your chair, in the club, wherever you are.
Aly & Fila were excellent last year, but the remix of "Back To You" failed to meet my expectations, probably because the charming vocals of Adrina Thorpe don’t synchronize with the melody, which is too noisy and paced. And the break down, for the matter, could have been engineered in a different manner, for a much needed change in these guys’ style.
The first and the only Rocktronic tune of this Disc, where Eller van Buuren does some serious guitar riffing, leaves the listening exhausted, though. Note when the tune gets Trancy in between. Thanks to Andy Blueman for keeping it on Trancy levels.
Thomas Bronzwaer makes his existence felt with "Certitude", a tune that is easily bound to get lost in all these biggies. This one, for sure, is crafted for some laidback and easy listening. Good nevertheless!
Arnej strikes back with his 8 Wonders guise in a messy and robust production called "The Return". Seeing his earlier productions under this guise, I expected this to have the beachy feel with ambient synths. This however sounds dark and nothing special to excite my aural senses.
Jochen Miller’s "Lost Connection" is barely sampled till the remix of Armin’s "In And Out Of Love" is heard, remix courtesy – Richard Durand, going tech all the way. The remix sounds brilliant, if you take Sharon’s vocals out of it, because the tune alone has such a big potential to grow over you. One wise suggestion to improvise further on this track could be to title it this way: Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon Del Adel (Richard Durand’s Tech Dub Remix). Yes a dub or vocode on the vocals wouldn’t have been a bad idea as well!
Conclusion
Thanks Armin for making this compilation a memory of 2008, the tunes have left their imprint on our minds. Everyone is playing their best from the rest in their players. And with me, I am looping the Disc since last 10 days already, waiting for the next compilation to come.
8/10
For more info related to Armin van Buuren check out the following links:
www.arminvanbuuren.com
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Reviewed by: Apoorv
