Cherry St. Storage

It’s the music that slides in midway through a good all-nighter party.

The crowd has relaxed, the vibe is electric, and the DJ is in a sense-enticing groove, guiding the room through new highs until dawn.   At least that’s what I picture when I listen to Trance and Progressive Trance – unlike a lot of dance music, the better artists  captivate my ear and make my spine tingle.

So this review covers what I’ve found so far.  All of these artists use a similar vocabulary; phase shifts, wave modulations, sweet vocals, white noise, club-standard rhythyms, and the inevitable ecstasy-rush build-up and explode.  Even so, each of the artists below have their own voice, and I wanted to capture that.

Armin van Buuren – A State of Trance 2008: Tailored, Elegant, Alive

available at Amazon and your local CD store

Maybe it’s his Dutch sensibility, or his musical background…I don’t know enough about him yet to say.  But the first image that comes to mind when I hear Armin van Buuren (www.arminvanbuuren.com) is an expensive, tailored couch (wait for it…).  The fabric is the best, the colour is striking, the shape is opulent, it’s great to sit in, but it retains a clean line and a neat look.  He creates a lush carpet of sound, and you can tell that he’s here to party, but he keeps his eye on the ball throughout.  There’s no pointless repetition – there’s no formula transitions.  It’s smart music , clean and lush, with the right amount of tingle and thrill.

Oceanlab: Sirens of the Sea – Plush, smiling beats

At Amazon, or your local retailer

I scanned this quickly one day in HMV, and a few seconds of each track was enough for me to know this was for me.  It’s happy music.  It makes me smile, it makes me tingle, it carries me.  It’s more atmospheric than some of the other albums in this review – more trance than dance, more chill then thrill.  Still, the harmonies are lush, the voicings are wide, the beats are there and are gently encouraging, and the vocals are sweet (nothing like vocals to connect a track to a feeling).  I can’t help but like this album.

Kaskade: Strobelite Seduction – Power in a fur coat

available at your local retailer or Amazon

I really love this album.  It has the cool factor of Armin van Buuren, plus something more.  With van Buuren I get a sense of restraint, holding the trance on course.  With Kaskade, it’s emotion – he wants you to know he’s there.  It’s not just that he uses more vocals in this album then other artists (the usual suspects – sweet, light, female) – although as I said above, vocals bring an extra zing of personality to a track.  His mixes are a little warmer, a little brighter, a little sweeter, maybe a little more straight ahead, and just a little deeper in the lush factor.  But behind that, there’s just enough testosterone to kick the whole package up a notch.  I can almost see the guy behind the turntable listening to this – stop-in-your-tracks handsome, and so matter-of-fact about it all.  A hint of smile, the smarts to make you move, and the talent to carry you through the night.

deadmau5: Random Album Title - Canadian Coolness

Available at your local Amazon or disc dealer

This album is cool, and not just because it’s Canadian (we Canadians love our successes).  This is a bit of a detour from the albums above, only in that drive and beat are primary.  The atmosphere is still there, and it’s definitely trance material.  The sounds are big, but more mechanical – more electronica – maybe a little more impersonal.  But it’s not in a bad way- this album has flow and sweep and drama.  And the beats are kicking – more mainstream club then chill lounge soft.  It still gets my skin tingling, and it’s not kick-you-in-the-ass-it’s-time-to-dance.  It’s just a very cool, very spacious, very strong sound.  I love it.

Tiesto: In Search of Sunrise 6 “Ibiza” – Main Event Mastery

at your local Amazon or disc dealer

Ok, I am probably biased here, because I know he’s an established headliner.  Still, this album shows why – it’s big, it’s strong, it’s beautiful.  It has the long lines of van Buuren and the passion of Kaskade, plus a club-savvy vibe and power that only a DJ that can hold a stadium in his trance can bring.  The textures – complex, beautiful layers of sounds and effects – so many colours to pick out of each track.  And the rythyms pinning the sounds – that powerhouse bass beat that gives that the huge atmosphere of sound some serious muscle.  This is class A, middle of the night super-buzz, driving you to bliss, let’s dance and fuck like animals music.  This guy throws the party I want to be at.

Also not to be missed:

Thrillseekers: Night Music Vol.2

Amazon or a store near you

Armin van Buuren: Imagine: The Remixes

Amazon or your disc dealer

So, that’s a look at some of the tunes carrying me through the summer – check ‘em out at Amazon (you can preview tracks at Amazon.com).  And hey – comment, would you?  I’d like to know that at least one person reads all this.

Mahalo!

I promised myself at least two posts a month, and although this is a bit of a cop-out…here are some thoughts ’bout music I’m listening to currently…

links to Amazon.ca - visit your local Amazon (.com, .co.uk, etc) to purchase

The Bird and The Bee: Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future

I love their style.  It’s clean, direct, smart, and deceptively innocent.  The writing is very retro, but definitely has some 21st century bones, and a sonic soundscape that is lush without being fattening.  Inara’s voice (the lead singer) is such a refresh from all the heavy, overwrought, avidly earnest singing out there lately – light and lithe, maneuvering deftly on tip-toes, but she isn’t anyone’s princess.  You can sense the acid behind the words, and given the chance, she could hurt you with a glance.

links to Amazon.ca (good if you're Canadian - pick your own Amazon if you're elsewhere)

Jason Mraz: We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

I like a voice that can maneuver.  One that sounds like it doesn’t need Accu-tune to survive, and can negotiate more than one octave without breaking a sweat.  Jason Mraz has one of those voices – he reminds me a lot of Jason Kay of Jamiroquai – a lighter voice that can dodge and shift fast, but with a gallon of soul that gives it some guts.  Amazon classifies him as Soul, or Adult Alternative, and I can see why – he’s definitely got an ear for R&B.  But there’s something about the singing and the writing that reaches out from those genres, and for me, that’s what keeps it fresh and sparkling.  Definitely singing outside of the box.

Links to Amazon.ca (not Canadian? you know what to do by now)

Lily Allen: It’s Not Me It’s You

Someone told me Lily Allen has gotten boring.  I hadn’t heard her before this album, so I can’t say.  What I can say is this is a cute album with a kick-ass edge.  The orchestrations are deft, lush, and brilliant.  Her voice is sweet, easy going, and pretty damn listenable.  And how can I not enjoy a sweet, bouncy little tune called ‘Fuck You’?  She’s got what I like – she’s smart, she’s sharp, she’s musical, she’s pop without the pap, and she’s fresh in being who she is.  I can’t deny Lily Allen, and I have to add – you ain’t boring, miss.

Album artwork by permission of Chuck Wild

It was in Second Life (yea, I’m one of those – more on that later) that I stumbled on an internet station named ‘Cryosleep’, part of the Bluemars set of stations (www.bluemars.org – check them out, even if they are currently offline).  The station’s motto; ‘zero-beat guaranteed’.  And I was hooked – it was music that would surround me and soothe me, and unwind the knots I’d tied myself into.  Plus, even if some of the tracks seemed to fall into the realm of ‘new age’, it was without the smarmy, post-hippie new age-y simplicity of so much of that genre.  And although you would call it an Ambient station, it also lacked the ultra-cool, sunglasses-at-night, too busy to feel anything -style of many ambient mixes I’ve heard.

So, when Cryosleep went silent just before Christmas this year, I was suddenly without a fix, so I went to the Artists page hoping to find a hit or two of musical soothe.  And after a few visits to Google, I fell into Chuck Wild’s Liquid Mind series – stopping there because of all the tracks on Cryosleep, his were the ones I’d stop dead for.

The thing for me when I first heard Liquid Mind (even before I knew who Chuck Wild was) was that I’d discovered a hand reaching out to hold mine.  It was as if I’d turned a dark corner into a secret garden safe from the marauding 21st century.  It was a voice in my ear that said softly and powerfully, ‘it’s ok – I know what you’re holding, and you can let go for now – let me carry it for a while’.  The music to me is silence and tranquility in sound, and I can sit and feel the tangled strands of my thoughts slowly unwind into smoothed out rows of bundled thread.  For me, it unlocks a sadness and a joy that has no other way out, giving both some air to breathe before being submerged again to face another day in the world.

It took me a while of listening, and a listen to the composer’s audio interview off the Liquid Mind website, to understand what gives this plainly static music its power.  Through the slow, drifting, gorgeous chords he puts out, anchored by really, really deep basses, and voiced in wide, expansive canvases, there is an almost subliminal pulsation – either in the sounds themselves, or through arpeggios and rythmic lines ever-so-carefully  submerged in the ocean of sound each track holds.  So, when the composer said his inspiration was from hours of standing by the Pacific Ocean, which had given him solace from his pain, I got it.  Here was the feel of the ocean in music – no sound effects needed (thanks for that, dude) – he’d found a way to describe the hypnotic sound of waves and the potential of power a calm sea holds.

I could go on, but I won’t (if you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with me).  Check out the Liquid Mind site; you can read about the work and the artist and download a free sample.  You can hear samples of all the albums and purchase downloads or CDs (I’ve bought three so far; Unity, Reflection and Spirit (pictured above)) at CDBaby.com or Amazon.com or through iTunes.

And finally, I have to thank Chuck Wild for this series – you’ve touched me with your work, and I’m forever thankful.  I hope this post is a small way of returning the favour.