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Album Review: Ferry Corsten – WKND


Ferry Corsten delivers his fourth full-length studio album, WKND (Ultra Music/Flashover), on February 24th. We got the early scoop & review for you!
When it comes to Ferry Corsten, the music possibilities are endless. As a seasoned veteran, every album or compilation that he crafts not only opens our ears to familiar sounds, but also introduces us to even more artistic, unique ,and dynamic sound possibilities. This year, celebrating 20 years of radiance, Ferry will be introducing his next masterpiece artist album entitled, WKND, scheduled to be released this upcoming February. Get ready to open your mind and allow Corsten to rock your world with these 14 unstoppable tracks.

From HUGE bangers, to harmonious melodies, to some seriously funky beats we expect from Ferry…this album has got it all! I am confident that some of the female vocal tracks on WKND will, without a doubt, make your hair stand up. The album kicks off with a stunning mellow vibe to A Day Without Rain ft. Ellie Lawson…an outstanding progressive work of art, accompanied by gorgeous vocals. Speaking of god-like vocals…Not Coming Down ft. Betsie Larken has (hands down) got to be one of the most magical songs I’ve ever heard. From start to finish, this song embodies a variety of elements. A dark & grindy trance track, that breaks down to an absolutely angelic piano & vocal solo. Just when you’re wrapped up in the emotion of this song, you’re quickly knocked out with some serious pounding punches to get your feet going. A work of a musical genius indeed, showing us that a single track, meticulously put together, has the strength to move your emotions in ways you never imagined possible. I forbid this track be remixed, as it stands so beautiful exactly where it is. Just sayin…

Corsten has always been notorious for his signature style. Over the years, these styles have grown into distinct sounds that only he seems to so effortlessly bring to every production. WKND introduces us to much of the latter. Take Me is a perfect illustration of pure trance energy. This track boasts a soft mesmerizing synth, with a hard, unbreakable beat. Another room shaker…Don’t Be Afraid. This tune offers nothing but a clean progression that builds up with some deep, strong synths to get you going. Fans will be in for a real treat when hearing this one live!

WKND also offers a beautiful and a unique progressive lounge vibe with the track Walk on Air. Simply stunning and well constructed. And with regards the vocals!? Well let’s just say, whether male or female, Corsten has come correct. Female vocals such as Live Forever ft. Aruna, In Your Eyes ft. JES and Let You Go ft. Sarah Bettens are all cleanly constructed with gorgeous melodies blended with sharp rhythms that will for sure not only get your feet to move, but will most certainly force you to belt out a note or two.

In the last year, male vocals have been the new trend and Ferry has certainly proved that on this project. Ain’t No Stopping ft. Ben Hague has already made some waves on Dutch Radio 538 with its catchy rhythm and feel good aura. While it could be classified as a somewhat risky track for Ferry with its mainstream radio characteristics, Ferry adds a healthy dose of entertaining synths that will compel this song to grow on you faster than you can say…”meh”!! Love Will ft. Duane Harden also presents a clean, crunchy beat accompanied by some classic piano melodies & enjoyable catchy vocals.

If you’ve been to any live production in the last 6 months, you’ve probably already fallen in love with some WKND bangers!! Feel it, has certainly done some significant dance floor damage this past year. Also, without a doubt our knees got weak for Ferry’s collaboration with Armin van Buuren…Brute. Wow, what an anthem this became!! An earth shattering, spine tingling track that lifts you up and gets you jumping! WKND also brings us Check it Out, which for sure got your feet moving this past year. Who would’ve ever thought of fusing a vocal sample from The Return of Captain Rock to create this fun, groovy, funky, phenomenon of a track!!

There is never a dull music moment on WKND, and Ferry Corsten has proven, once again, that his artistic musical abilities go way beyond our imaginations! Not only does he donate earsplitting bangers… but groovy, harmonious tracks that you can listen to anywhere, anytime, any mood! Tracks made to rock the venues, as well as relax your mind. What amazes me most about Ferry Corsten is that after 20 years, he’s still got it…and got it with a vengeance! Fans will forever be loyal to his sound and style because he is one of the few artists always on his A-game both live, and also in the studio…always proving there are no boundaries to music.

Ferry Corsten’s WKND will be released 2/24/12. Get it, and see for yourself what all this hype is about. Check it out…. Reviewed by Deb Graynor

Tracklist for Ferry Corsten’s WKND (Ultra Music/Flashover):
1. Ferry Corsten ft Ellie Lawson, “A Day Without Rain” 2. Ferry Corsten, “Feel It” 3. Ferry Corsten ft Ben Hague, “Ain’t No Stoppin’” 4. Ferry Corsten, “Don’t Be Afraid” 5. Ferry Corsten ft Betsie Larkin, “Not Coming Down” 6. Ferry Corsten vs Armin van Buuren, “Brute” 7. Ferry Corsten ft Aruna, “Live Forever” 8. Ferry Corsten ft Sarah Bettens, “Let You Go” 9. Ferry Corsten, “Check It Out” 10. Ferry Corsten ft Duane Harden, “Love Will” 11. Ferry Corsten ft Jes, “In Your Eyes” 12. Ferry Corsten ft Pierre In The Air & Amba Sheperd, “Walk On Air” 13. Ferry Corsten, “Take Me” 14. Ferry Corsten, “WKND” 15. (Bonus Track) Ferry Corsten, “Sunday”
Reviewer Deb Graynor
Label: Ultra Music/Flashover
Release date: February 24th, 2012

Today, Monday Dec 4th, is the last day of voting for the Lights – Siberia remix contest and our own djNth has a couple of tracks in the running. Voting ends at 5pm PST. Get your votes in now.

http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/lights-siberia-remix-contest/submissions/83315
“This one came together very quickly, I initially downloaded this vocal first becuase I liked this song the best out of all of the Lights tracks in the remix competition but I found it wasn’t working out with my clubby Trance track I was writing so I set it aside and did the Banner remix instead. Came back to this later and checked to see how it fit with the Breaks track I had originally intended to use in the Toes remix and I liked the feel of it. I think it turned out pretty good for getting pieced together last minute and keeping me up all night long trying to make the deadline.”

http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/lights-banner-remix-contest/submissions/82201
“This is my nu-school Cybertrance remix. Inspired by AVICII and the portamento synths of the Cybertrance sound of yesteryear. :) I feel like this song could finish in the top 20 just because it is pretty different from the rest of the remixes. Most people did faster Dubstep type remixes because the original track is around 75 or 150 BMP range, but check it out and send me a vote.”

Ferry Corsten has released the first App-only album ever to celebrate his 20 years as a producer.

The 20 year App contains a one hour long special mix created by the man himself, filled with 34 of his biggest hits up to date and a lot of unique pictures of Ferry’s face morphing through the years and his musical life. A must have for every fan of Ferry Corsten and dance music in general.

Key features in this App: - Unique 20 Years mix made by Ferry Corsten - Beautiful pictures of Ferry’s face morphing through the years, his musical life and dance events - An overview of his albums over the past 20 years, including track lists Check out the App on ferrycorsten.com

Ferry Corsten has become an icon in the trance and dance scene. He has released 6 artist albums since his rise to the top and a myriad of compilations. With his own record label, Flashover Recordings he releases his own music and the music of other great electronic DJ’s and producers.

His interactive radio show Corstens Countdown is currently broadcasted in more than 50 countries worldwide and annually nominated as one of the best dance radio shows in the world.

With Full on Ferry he treats his fans to a great night filled with back to back sets with himself and various artists. The show has it’s residency in Ibiza, Spain.

As part of a special video-cast, Markus Schulz – one of the 10 biggest DJs in the world – yesterday announced that it would be the sprawling electronic dancetropolis of Los Angeles that’s been selected for his 2012 city compilation! Speculation had been mounting on forums over the last week that the honours could well fall the city’s way, with it becoming the odds-on favourite among Schulz watchers in the final hours before the broadcast. And that was indeed the way the compass spun! As the video’s countdown reached zero (with the broadcast’s hosts uStream at near meltdown!), it revealed the iconic cityscape of the album’s cover and confirmation that the series would return to North America next year.

In unveiling LA as the city of choice, Markus said “electronic dance music has blown up huge in the United States this past year. One of the main reasons driving that is the scene in Los Angeles, where a new generation of clubbers are uniting with long-term fans and creating one of the most passionate scenes anywhere on the globe. I’ve played there many times in my career, at the Monster Massive festivals, the Electric Daisy Carnivals and for the last 3 years New Years Eves at Together As One, and they’ve all been so memorable in their own way.”

To mark the release of Markus’ city-celebrating Los Angeles 2012 mix-comp, Schulz will be playing not one, but two incredible gigs on consecutive nights at alegendary LA dance spot. Markus continues: “one of the clubs heavily featured in my Do You Dream DVD is Avalon. The fans there have always been amazing and as a result of the vibe and the response of the Avalon crowd I ended up playing over six hours, past 7am in the morning! It’s these types of environments where I really test my DJ sets and skills”. So on Presidents Day weekend in the States, it’ll be the West Hollywood club that will play host to two very special parties to celebrate the release of Los Angeles ’12. Saturday February 18th will be a 21+ event with Sunday the 19th being a 18s and over show. “It’s going to be an extended set from me alongside some very special guests and it’ll be the first time in my career that I’ve done two back-to-back shows in LA”, says Markus. “So get your plane tickets, booked, your hotel rooms reserved and your plans made – it’s going to be an incredible weekend!”

From here, over the next six weeks, Markus will be making his final preparations to musically decode the City of Angeles. The album promises to be two discs of the most upfront, cutting-edge, tip-of-the-spear electronic dance music out there, personifying exactly how LA clubs it!

We’ll be back to unveil its tracklist mid-Jan… so standby for that! More info on Markus Schulz from www.markusschulz.com and www.facebook.com/markusschulz

After 30 years working on their respective ongoing music projects, Vince Clarke (Erasure / Yazoo / Depeche Mode) and Martin L. Gore (Depeche Mode) come together for the first time since 1981 as VCMG to release a brand new album on Mute, preceded by a series of EPs.

VCMG is the fruit of initially tentative discussion and subsequent enthused collaboration where Vince and Martin, both influential as pioneers in electronic music, get to exercise their lifelong love of the genre as the techno inspired VCMG.

As Vince explains: “I’ve been getting into and listening to a lot of minimal dance music and I got really intrigued by all the sounds… I realised I needed a collaborator… so it occurred to me to talk to Martin.”

Says Gore: “Out of the blue I got an e-mail from Vince just saying, ‘I’m interested in making a techno album. Are you interested in collaborating?’ This was maybe a year ago. He said, ‘No pressure, no deadlines,’ so I said, ‘OK’.”

The writing and recording of the album was done in a typically unique way with the pair working alone in their respective studios, communicating only via email, exchanging files until the album was ready. It was in May 2011 that the pair met for the first time to discuss the project when they both performed at Short Circuit presents Mute festival in London.

The album (title to be announced soon) was produced by Vince Clarke and Martin L. Gore and mixed by the influential Californian electronic artist Überzone / Q and will be released in the spring of 2012.

The first release is an EP entitled Spock. EP1 / SPOCK will feature remixes from Edit-Select, aka Tony Scott, the UK DJ / producer and founder of EditSelect Records whose previous remix credits include Speedy J, Death In Vegas and Gary Beck; Regis, British techno musician Karl O’Connor, member of the Sandwell District collective and co-founder of Downwards Records); Zak aka DVS1, founder of Hush Records and one of the most prominent figures in US dance music counts techno innovator Derrick May amongst his biggest fans, with his second ever release on May’s own Transmat plus XOQ, the alter ego of Überzone / Q, who mixed the VCMG album.

EP1 / SPOCK will be available initially as a global exclusive on Beatport on 30 November, and then on all DSPs from 12 December with the 12″ release following on 19 December 2011.

EP1 / SPOCK TRACKLIST
Spock – Album Version
Spock – Edit Select Remix
Spock – Regis Remix
Spock – DVS1 Voyage Home Remix
Spock – XOQ Remix

Paul Oakenfold, a man who has been around since Trance began, has played a myriad of locations. His compilations thorough the ages have been notorious. He’s mixed film soundtracks into “Perfecto Fluoro” and selected his favorites from his performance of at the Great Wall of China (“Great Wall”). “The Goa Mix” is referred to one of the greatest Trance compilations of all time by many. That being said, I’ll be the first to admit Oakenfold has been lower on the radar in the last few years. Recently, though, he’s been releasing some serious singles and his last compilation ripped our faces off. “Never Mind the Bollocks” was full of heavy hitting, extreme Trance with a good balance of lighter tones. The only complaint across the board seemed to be that some of the tracks were a bit old by the time the compilation was released.

“We Are Planet Perfecto: Vol.1? is focused heavily on new material gunning Paul’s Perfecto label. What’s very special about this album is the sneaking suspicion that some of these tracks may be from Paul’s fabled album “Pop Killer,” which has been prolonged in release at least twice and into 2012. From the title of his collaboration’s title with Robert Vadney (that’s right — it finally happened) alone “Pop Star,” we’re seeing the newest sound. You’ll find it at the “pick-up” moment of Disk 1, along with his newest jam “Sleep” and a 2012 remix of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “My Otherside.” This version is extremely different, taking an intense progressive Trance sound rather than the previous house versions everyone has heard. This disk starts off with Juventa’s new song Ocean Sparkles, in the Eric Shaw Cinematic Mix. Oakenfold is a man who knows how important a first impression is, and through the years some of my favorite mix introductions have been carefully picked tunes for his compilations. There’s an intense consistency of winning tracks from the Otherside remix right until the end, a rework of PPK’s classic “Ressurection” by the Planet Perfecto Knights, remixed by Remy Le Duc vs. EC Twins. This is one of the craziest remixes ever done for this song, and leaves you wondering what the man intends to play on his second disk.

Disk 2 opens with USTM’s #3 track of November 2011: the original mix of Syna vs. Ayleon’s “Change.” This track is calming yet intense, instant pulling you into a mix we’ve all been waiting to hear for a long time. Right off the bat Oakenfold brings in his psytrance undertones with Liquid Stranger’s remix of “Ode Ao Sol” and the legendary Man With No Name with his newer tune “Sugar Rush” (Astrix Remix). Minutes later we’re hit with Robert Vadney’s remix of Paul’s song “Firefly” and things take a turn to the high-point of the compilation. Heatbeat’s remix of “This is New York” by Lange and Gareth Emery takes us over the new remix of Grace’s “Not Over Yet” we’ve all been loving, then into two brand classic remixes in a row: of Oakenfold’s “Faster Kill Pussycat” and “Southern Sun!” That’s all before some other noteworthy classics come in remixes and the mix ends with thumping Goa and Euphoric trance selections.

What I really like about this compilation is the skill Paul demonstrates in keeping the same vibe interesting through overtime, mixing each CD almost twenty minutes over the standard hour. The theme here is to demonstrate the new sound of Perfecto Records, and he’s willing to spend extra work in the mix to make sure you get the full picture. Once you realize it’s about time to wrap it up the pace changes again and you realize there’s no stopping this comeback. The sound of Perfecto has once again been solidified.

-Written by Tom Rogers

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Always wanting to be a dancer, Juliet Star enjoyed dancing to the beautiful sounds of Progressive House and Trance. The transition from just dancing to the music, and wanting to play it instead, was a slow one but eventually took hold and a love for DJing was born.

After joining #trancefamily and a trip to Holland Juliet found a home for herself among Trance lovers from all over the world. Currently residing in San Diego, California, Juliet Star can be found performing across the Southwest US with her take on Progressive and Trance with the occasional Breaks or House set.

Currently you can catch her live every Thursday at 6pm PST / 9pm EST on ProjectRadio.us for her show ‘The Mix Hour’ and ever Sunday 6pm PST / 9pm EST for 2 hours on ProjectRadio.us and JulietStar.com

Moving forward keep an eye open for some original Juliet Star productions and her contributions to the blog United States Trance Movement.

Juliet Star has put together a great collection of Trance tracks that showcases her programming and mixing skills. Download then head over to her podcast and subscribe.

Enjoy!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01:13 — 70.1MB)

Mix Info & Tracklisting (more…)

Record your own version of AVICII – Levels (street performance, children’s choir, flash mob etc) and upload to YouTube. Winners get to be a part of the official video for Levels. Contest ends November 1, 2011 so get moving.

Check out the full Info and Rules here.