From smashing it at Creamfields and Parklife to now curating her own festival, Hannah is taking things to the next level. Partnering with EE Live (the team behind Terminal V), she’s putting together a day of heavy beats, massive basslines, and that unmistakable Scottish vibe we can’t get enough of.

We’ve been huge fans of Hannah for ages, and seeing her evolve has been nothing short of amazing.

After launching her label doof and selling out shows at Dundee’s Caird Hall and SWG3, this festival is the next step in her journey. Expect three stages packed with hard house, techno, and trance, all wrapped in that signature Hannah Laing sound we love.

“doof In The Park, it feels crazy even seeing those words! To be bringing a festival to my hometown with my own brand is an absolute dream come true!” says Hannah. “Home show atmospheres are unmatched, especially with the crazy Scottish crowds! See you in the park! doof for life!”

Tickets drop on Skiddle, Friday, September 27th, 2024, at 9 AM.

Trust us—you won’t want to miss this.

We can’t wait to be there!

For more details and to sign up for priority access to tickets, visit www.doofinthepark.com.

The post Hannah Laing launches ‘doof In The Park’ in Dundee appeared first on Data Transmission.

Taking place on Saturday 6th May, dance music fans can tune in for free via www.judgejules.net where the legendary DJ will deliver a live mix to mark this significant milestone. Expect plenty of special tunes from across the history of ‘The Global Warm Up’, from its launch in 2004 to the present day. To be first to receive the link and full details of the livestream event head over to www.judgejules.net and sign up to the Judge Won’t Budge Membership Group via the pop up link.

‘The Global Warm Up’ began as a weekly radio show allowing Jules to play music that he loves and reach out to clubbers across the world. Fast forward nearly two decades and ‘The Global Warm Up’ is still massive, available as a podcast and broadcast via 79 stations in over 50 countries, reaching upwards of a million listeners each week. During this time Jules has put the spotlight on countless guests such as up-and-coming DJ / producers like wh0, This Culture, and LF System, through to A-list artists like Paul Oakenfold, Joel Corry, and Armin Van Buuren.  

Alongside Pete Tong, Judge Jules became synonymous with weekend dancefloor manoeuvres around the world thanks to unmissable radio shows on KISS FM, then BBC Radio 1.

Judge Jules has a busy summer hitting the road with his live band, his ‘Judge Jules Goes Large’ club nights, with Ministry Of Sound Classical and festivals around the country.

Tune in here to the 1000th edition of The Global Warm Up on 6th May to celebrate alongside one of global dance music’s true trailblazers. 

The post Judge Jules announces free livestream as The Global Warm Up radio show hits 1000 episodes  appeared first on Data Transmission.

Fur Coat

The Barcelona-based Venezuelans have been blazing a trail across the 4/4 scene since first signing to Crosstown Rebels in 2011, also clocking releases for Get Physical, My Favourite Robot and Jamie Jones‘ Hot Creations imprint.

Fur Coat apply trance-like propulsion to each track on the EP, which is finished by our Debut Transmission ‘Kataris’. The title-track offers a sweltering journey through tech house, driven by a thumping four-to-the-floor kick and coated in an acidic skin.

“The names do relate to a feeling that we think each track transmit or relates,” say Fur Coat. “As with all of our productions they are part of an experimentation process and the logical evolution of our music, however always keeping a distinct signature sound on what we do.”

Listen to ‘Kataris’ below and remember you can catch LNOE boss Sasha playing all night long at Electric Brixton this New Year’s Eve.

Tracklist:

01. The Fall
02. Side Effects
03. Hoverboard
04. Katarsis

The post Debut Transmission: Fur Coat – Katarsis appeared first on Data Transmission.

The track offers more of the hypnotic, hedonistic nighttime vibe that made the group famous and rightfully so considering it’s being released today as part of the new remastered super-duluxe 4CD version of the group’s sensational 1996 album, Second Toughest In The Infants.

Stream ‘Bloody 1’ below and and check out the full release tracklist at the bottom of the page.

Super Deluxe 4xCD

CD1:

1. Juanita: Kiteless: To Dream Of Love

2. Banstyle / Sappys Curry

3. Confusion the Waitress

4. Rowla

5. Pearl’s Girl

6. Air Towel

7. Blueski

8. Stagger

CD2: singles, B sides, remixes

1. Cherry Pie

2. Oich Oich

3. Puppies

4. Mosaic

5. Deep Arch

6. Pearl’s Girl (Tin There)

7. Pearl’s Girl (14996 Version)

8. Born Slippy (Original Instrumental Version)

9. Born Slippy.Nuxx (Deep Pan)

CD3: previously unreleased material

1. Bug

2. Confusion The Waitress (She Said)

3. D+B Thing

4. D’Arbly St

5. 4 Crowns

6. Rowla A1806

7. Bing Here

8. Techno Thang

9. Pearls Ver2

10. Bloody 1

CD4: Born Slippy (Nuxx) – previously unreleased demos, live recordings, mixes

1. Nuxx A1796

2. Nuxx A2221 UW live (2 sets) Leicester M Dog 94

3. Nuxx A4712 Live @ Zap club Brighton Feb94

4. Nuxx A4733 UW live Amsterdam Apr94

5. Nuxx Liquid Room 94 A2254 UW Live Liquid Room 2 Tokyo

6. Nuxx from A1825

7. Born Slippy (Nuxx)

The post Underworld share unreleased track, ‘Bloody 1’ appeared first on Data Transmission.

Luminosity Beach Festival saw its 8th year at Beachclub Fuel in Zandvoort aan Zee at the end of last month and oh my, what a festival it was! Three days of musical bliss from my favourite DJs on a stunning beach in the company of 5,000-odd merry ravers. Needless to say, I was in Heaven. After last year, Luminosity was granted the title of Dutch no.1 must-attend festival and this year’s event offered an even more enticing experience, with a mix of big names and up-and-coming talent in different styles of Trance.

Like many of the other festival-goers, I slept (sort of…) in one of the apartments in Center Parcs over the course of the weekend, which was shared between ten of us. One friend and I decided to hire bikes on the day we arrived and cycle to and from the festival each day, which turned out to be a fabulous (if not ever so slightly dangerous) idea.

We arrived at the site on day one, the sun beating down on us, to the melodic sounds emerging from Arena 2, where Dan Stone was DJing. After playing a couple of his own tracks, one of which was ‘Proteus’, he dropped the beautiful ‘Nubia’ by Aly & Fila and Ferry Tayle, before treating us to a recent rework of Matt Darey’s ‘See the Sun’, which had everyone in the crowd singing along, broad smiles spread across their faces – a pretty good introduction to the festival! After that, I drifted about between the two stages, catching some of Simon O’Shine’s set before making my way over to the main stage to see Paul Van Dyk. Naturally, this was the most anticipated set of the day, with PVD being the biggest name on the line-up, so I felt I ought to see at least some of it, despite the fact I’d rather lost interest in his music. However, even though I managed to squeeze myself into a spot right at the front, I had to leave after just ten minutes, as there was too little space to dance and too many people who seemed more interested in catching the perfect snap of PVD on their iPhones than just enjoying the tunes he was playing. I’m glad I escaped anyway, as it meant I got to see an hour of Sneijder’s set, which most certainly did not disappoint. This was only the second time I’d seen Sneijder, but I remember thinking the first time that he seemed to know exactly how to get the crowd going, which he did once again on this occasion. It was a very uplifting set, with the highlight being his epic remix of Veracocha’s ‘Carte Blanche’, which had everyone sitting down then leaping back up at the drop. They did the same thing during the Noble Six remix of Kyau & Albert’s ‘Kiksu’, which I’d not heard until that day and absolutely loved. Other standout moments for me were hearing ‘How Many Times’, which always gets me a bit emotional, and Sneijder ending with a series of absolute bangers, one of which was his mash-up, ‘Loud Time’.

Next up was Neptune Project. Originally only booked for the Luminosity after-party, Dan Willis had to step in at the last minute to take the place of Photographer, who had failed to turn up to the festival for reasons I’m still unsure of. I was initially gutted, as he was one of the acts I was most looking forward to seeing, but thankfully Dan more than made up for it with a cracking set and the crowd seemed far from dissatisfied. Once again, I wormed my way right to the front and this time, there was ample space for dancing, making it all the more enjoyable. In true Neptune Project style, there were a number of vocal Trance songs, such as Chakra’s ‘Love Shines Through’, ‘Satellite’ and a mash-up of ‘Velvet Morning’ and ‘Silence’, intertwined with more pounding tracks. It was nice to hear some old school Trance in the form of Michael Woods’ 2003 club mix of ‘Gamemaster’, as well as recent material by the Neptune Project boys themselves, including their beautiful remix of ‘Sun in Your Eyes’, which I adore.

At that point, I was torn between staying at Arena 2, where Johan Ekman had just stepped up to the decks, and moving back to the main stage to catch Bryan Kearney. I’ve seen Kearney numerous times and Ekman’s someone I’ve been intrigued by for a while now, but I still found myself wandering across to the other stage. I stand by that decision, as Kearney’s set was simply incredible and far exceeded my expectations, making it the perfect end to my first day. Amongst the many fantastic tunes played were Ferry Corsten pres. Gouryella – ‘Anahera’, ‘Man on the Run’ and ‘Need to Feel Loved’, the last of which is an all time favourite of mine. I like the fact that Kearney wasn’t afraid to mix the old with the new, and we were treated to some classics, such as ‘Not Over Yet’ and ‘Toca Me’. Naturally, the mighty Irishman included a number of his own tracks as well, like ‘I Don’t Deserve You’, ‘Exactly’ and his latest hit with Will Rees, ‘Prime Example’. Just when I thought it was all over, he dropped one final tune – a brand new one apparently – I still don’t know what it’s called, but will be checking Mr. Kearney’s SoundCloud page daily in an attempt to find out!

After making it back to Center Parcs (in one piece, thankfully) I joined in with the post Lumi celebrations happening at our apartment, which various different people from all over the complex had come to partake in. I was too overwhelmed with excitement to even think about sleeping, but eventually I forced myself to hit the sack, as I wanted to conserve my energy for the following day.

The post Reviewed: Luminosity Beach Festival 2015 appeared first on Data Transmission.

Hi John, cheers for taking the time to speak to us. Talk us through your current whereabouts…

No problem. Right now I’m sat in the office drinking coffee talking with you.

That you are. Looking ahead, how are you feeling about returning to the o2 Academy in Leeds for Digital Society Presents Open Up?

I’m very excited. It’s interesting, I’ve had good and bad gigs at the o2 and I’ve now worked out how to predict what up-and-coming shows are going to be like for me. Yes all shows there are busy but whether I am going to have a good gig is entirely dependent on who is headlining. If the headliner is more commercial, then it sometimes doesn’t really flow for me.

You get a percentage of people who love it and a percentage who stand with a disappointed salmon face, arms folded and not dancing, waiting for a sing-along moment that never comes. Of all the shows I have played there, the last one for Subculture was probably my favourite, but I’m sure with Astrix and Patterson behind the wheel, this forthcoming event will exceed any and all expectations.
I was at that Subculture night, limbs flailing, certainly no salmon face and I have to say, yours was my favourite set of the night. Can we expect to hear a similar sort of thing on the 22nd, or are you planning to pull something quite different out of the bag?

That’s very kind of you. This “what can we expect” question is probably one of the most regular things people ask in pre-show interviews and, without wanting to offend you, it’s probably the most irritating thing to have to answer. “Hi Lewis Hamilton, you have a tough race ahead of you today – what can we expect from you?” – “Erm, well as a Formula One driver I guess what you can expect is for me to get in my car and drive as fast as I can round the track for the duration of the race.”

I’m a Techno and Trance DJ. You can expect Techno and Trance. That’s right, I don’t change my sound, I don’t evolve my sound and I’m not a DJ who jumps ship according to what’s popular at any given time. No sir, not me. I’m the cunt that turns up to support his football team regardless of whether the sun is shining and they are top of the league or it’s pissing with rain and they’re about to be relegated. So the only thing I will be “pulling out of the bag” will be a kick drum machine gun to assault you all with.

Fair enough! Who are you most looking forward to playing alongside?

Everyone on that line-up. They were all handpicked because of the sound they produce and play and the kind of artist they are. They are all Open Up compatible.

How does DJing in your own country compare to DJing abroad?

There are certainly variations from one country to another. When it’s great in the UK, it’s really great, but I also love playing Argentina, Netherlands, Asia and Australia. I’ve had some of the best gigs of my life in Lebanon, the crowds there are off the chain.

Lebanon eh? I’ll have to dust off the passport and head out there. Your warm-up sets are often dark, techy, slower and a bit hypnotic, which I personally love. Do you prefer playing this style of music or the pounding, fast and frantic Trance that’s full of energy? 

[Laughs] Good question. Right after me telling you that I don’t ever change my sound… I like the cut of your jib. Of course I want to only play banging sets because that’s when I get to play all my own music, which is all tougher 140 sounds. However, on certain occasions I do enjoy playing warm-up because it’s a challenge to have to source different material and then to play it in a different way, bringing a crowd up to a certain level but without letting them get too frisky. You need to raise them to a certain level of fever pitch anticipation so that the dude you are warming up for can come on and essentially have them in the palm of his hands. There is nothing greater than playing after a warm-up DJ who has played the perfect warm-up set. Michael Gin in the US is one of the best warm-up DJs I have ever heard. Actually there is a DJ in Lebanon who is an old friend of mine called Amadeus – he’s also a superb DJ, who is just as comfortable warming up for Sasha as he would be for Paul van Dyk.

Cool. In an interview I carried out recently with Simon Patterson, I asked him who his greatest inspiration has been and he said you, “for reasons not only in music.” How do you think you inspire other DJs? And who would you say is YOUR greatest inspiration?

The DJs that I manage (Simon included) I work hard to ensure they all remain grounded. I don’t tolerate tantrums or big egos and I never allow them to ever feel they “deserve” what they’ve got. Deserve is a vulgar word that can poison even the most sound of mind. I encourage them to never compare their own career with anyone else’s and I try to insist that they are always grateful, that they work hard and are always polite and courteous to fans, promoters and anyone else they come into contact with on the road. I’ve seen other DJs behave like cunts on the road. Bigheaded, demanding divas that ought to be ashamed of themselves – I won’t work with horrible parasites like that. They give the scene a bad name. Those are the qualities I like to think I help instil in the artists I work with. Who is my biggest inspiration? Oliver Reed and Keith Moon.

Wise words. You’ve been in the game for so long now and have an extremely loyal fan base; how do you manage to keep them on their toes?

I just do what I do and hope the fans I have dig it. I’m grateful to be given the opportunities to do what I do and for the support my fans give, but I I’m not in this for attention so please don’t ever expect me to jump up and down or wave my hands around or stage dive. I just like to focus on creating an intense environment for people to lose their shit in. Preferably from a dark DJ booth situated off to one side in the shadows. Turn off the lights, everybody face inwards, and let’s do what we came here to do – dance – like our fucking lives depended on it.

John Askew plays Digital Society Presents Open alongside Simon Patterson, Astrix, Sean Tyas and many more at Leeds’ O2 Academy on Friday May 22nd. Purchase your tickets for it below.

Ticket sales and event registration Skiddle Promotion Centre

The post John Askew: “Deserve is a vulgar word that can poison even the most sound of mind.” appeared first on Data Transmission.

At Data Transmission we’re firm believers in ‘the more the merrier’, and that statement certainly rings true with the latest editions to our Spotlight mix series, Human Machine.

Formed of Sicilian legend and owner of Inndigital, Mauro Di Martino, otherwise known as Musumeci, and his friends Sisio, Simeone, and Pavi, Human Machine blend futuristic house and techno. The foursome’s sound borders on progressive at times, and their mix even ventures in trance territory, yet they manage to keep things classy and dancefloor friendly.

With over 20 years of experience under his belt, Di Martino has carefully orchestrated the project, but that’s not to say it’s all him. Human Machine’s first release, the Black Mechanism EP, is a completely collaborative effort, drawing from the “eclectic brains” of all four members. The release dropped on Monday via Engrave LTD and has already been doing the rounds thanks to the likes of Dixon and Âme.

Much like their productions, Human Machine’s Spotlight mix flirts with a wide array of styles and sounds, placing tracks from Atelier Francesco and Frankey & Sandrino alongside remixes from Adriatique, Røhåd and The Drifter. Stream or download the mix below, and head to the Engrave LTD SoundCloud to hear the Black Mechanism EP or the Human Machine Facebook for more from the gang.

Tracklist

01. Human Machine – Polymorphism – Engrave Ltd
02. Frankey & Sandrino – Chepei – Mood Music
03. Butch – The Spirit feat. Hohberg (Adriatique Remix) – Watergate
04. The Legendary Lightness – Hey Ron (Ripperton Remix) – Zukunft
05. Atelier Francesco – Akaino – Boso
06. Kurt Baggaley – Former Self (The Drifter Remix) – Something Happening Somewhere
07. Howling – Signs (Rødhåd Remix) – Monkeytown Remix
08. Chateau Flight, Cabaret Contemporain – Persian Surgery – Versatile
09. Sokool – C4 (Benno Blome Remix) – Konzeptions
10. Heiko Laux – Shimmer + Roach Motel ‘The Night Accapella’ (Human Machine Live Mix)

The post Spotlight Mix: Human Machine appeared first on Data Transmission.

German duo and brothers in sound, Nic Chagall and Bossi, have been producing music together as Cosmic Gate for over fifteen years now and have evolved into one of Germany’s most consistently successful Trance acts. They’ve sold out arenas in some of the biggest cities in the world, rocked the decks at a number of electronic music festivals and have six studio albums and thirteen DJ mixes under their belts. Now, in step with their Wake Your Mind radio show’s first 50th milestone, they have just unveiled a new mix album concept: Wake Your Mind Sessions. This proverbial triple threat seamlessly combines the highlights of their DJ sets, radio show and new music premiere platform as one. I caught up with the two boys to find out a bit more about the mix album and their thoughts on the future of the Wake Your Mind Sessions concept, along with their plans for the rest of the year.

First things first, how are you both?

Nice to talk to you as well! We are very good, thank you. We had a wonderful time at the shows in Tel Aviv, then we played at Ministry of Sound in London and now we’re on to Germany, so it’s been a busy few days on the road.

Sounds great! You recently returned from ASOT 700 in Utrecht, which I had the pleasure of attending – was the show as awesome as you were hoping it would be?

We actually thought that this year’s ASOT Utrecht was very special! The crowd for us was the best we’d experienced in years. Sometimes DJs have to push a crowd, but this year the crowd was just going all by itself. We had an absolute blast up there! Thanks to everyone that partied with us in Utrecht, we’re already looking forward to 2016!


What else have you been up to so far this year?

We have been touring our album Start to Feel, working on some remixes and own club mixes for the tracks on the album and on top of all that, we’ve started compiling and mixing our new mix compilation series, Wake Your Mind Sessions 1, which came out on March 13^th.


Yes, I was very excited when I heard the news about this mix album – can you tell us a bit more about it?

After our label WYM Records and WYM Radio, we thought it was time to extend the brand further and do a new DJ mix CD. Our last mix under the name ‘Back To Back’ was a few years ago now and we thought WYM Sessions was simply the perfect adjustment. WYMS 001 is a double mix/CD. Mix 1 starts deeper and more progressive, slowly building things up whereas CD/Mix 2 is more like a mainstage set, more sing-a-long vocals and hands in the air energy, while still retaining the build up. If you like our DJ sets, we think WYM Sessions will be perfect for you.

So what provoked you to release it now?

After the release of our artist album, ‘Start to Feel’, we felt it was a good time to make a statement from the DJ side again, to show others what our sets are like and basically give people the chance to have us ‘DJ’ in their car or living room in time for spring and Miami Ultra week.

How did you begin the selection process for this album? It must have been tough no doubt!

Actually it’s harder for us to find good music than to have too much to choose from. We are both pretty hard to convince with a lot of music and finding tracks that fit our taste is not that easy. That’s why we prefer to have good music on it instead of only brand new music or names, names, names! The quality is the deciding factor for us. The fit of our style and the flow of the mix is what counts.

Agreed. So what are each of your personal favourite tracks on there?

Pfft! Now that is hard to say! We sure love I’ve Got The Power by Alex di Stefano and our own track Yai (Here we go Again), with the brilliant new vocals from JES. In general though, we prefer the listener to make his or her own mind up and find and pick their own personal favourites.

We certainly will! What’s the future of the Wake Your Mind Sessions do you think?

The plan is to give an update of our DJ sound pretty regularly from now on. So WYMS 002 is planned for sometime next year, but when exactly depends largely on when we release a new artist album, as that should come first.

Can we expect to hear any other new releases from Cosmic Gate in 2015?

Yes, absolutely! Firstly, there will be more releases coming that you know from Start to Feel – we’ll be introducing new remixes and club mixes, etc. We have also started to work on fresh material already, so watch this space!

Do you have anything to add to your avid fan base?

Thank you for the support, and we’ll see you guys in the UK at quite a few festivals in the summer, EDC and Creamfields to mention a couple. We’re massively looking forward to those!You can now purchase Wake Your Mind Sessions 1 from iTunes. Connect with Cosmic Gate:

Website
Soundcloud
Facebook
Twitter

The post 5 Minutes With… Cosmic Gate appeared first on Data Transmission.

‘Still Breathing But Already Dead’ is the first single from Barcelona duo The Suicide Of Western Culture, and features on their third album, due for release in March via El Segell del Primavera. Swedish producer, The Field, takes the track down a driving trance route, infusing it with pounding techno and bubbling acidic synths.

Stream the remix below and check out the full single tracklist at the bottom of the page. Plus don’t forget you can catch The Suicide Of Western Culture live at Barcelona’s Primavera festival in May.

Tracklisting:
01. Still Breathing But Already Dead
02. Still Breathing But Already Dead (The Field remix)
03. Still Breathing But Already Dead (A Capablanca Espacio Interior Mix)

The post Debut Transmission: The Suicide Of Western Culture – Still Breathing But Already Dead (The Field Remix) appeared first on Data Transmission.

With Above & Beyond’s new album ‘We Are All We Need’ finally dropping this week, their fanbase around the world will already well familiar with at least a few of its polished choruses; its singles have been drip-fed to their millions-strong fanbase around the world over the past 12 months.

“We always try and make the album something that you’d listen to at home,” Jono Grant told Data Transmission, shortly before he performed on the mainstage of Vh1 Supersonic in India. “It’s influenced by club music, and also influenced by the singer-songwriter stuff, so it’ll sit somewhere in the middle. And then we do the club remixes after the album’s release.”

The UK trio have walked a fine line as a stadium trance act, with instrumental stormers like ‘Hello’ representing the more purist side of their output. However, the singer/songwriter elements have also been key to Above & Beyond’s appeal, as far back as anthems like ‘Alone Tonight’ and ‘Good For Me’, and their Oceanlab project with veteran vocalist Justine Suissa. Their strength as a songwriting team though was more apparent with their ‘Above & Beyond Acoustic’ project last year, which saw them taking their back catalogue outside a nightclub.

And the strength of the songwriting on the cast of singles on ‘We Are All We Need’ is probably stronger than ever before. When A&B played one of its most important gigs ever last October, the ‘Group Therapy 100’ party at Madison Square Garden in New York that was broadcast to tens of millions around the world, the crowd already knew the lyrics to the likes of ‘Sticky Fingers’ and ‘Blue Sky Action’ off by heart. These tunes really do resonate.

Data Transmission caught up with Above & Beyond close to where it all began for the trio; or at least, close to the enigmatic Goa beach that inspired them to name their label Anjunabeats.

“We’ve been here ten times I think. And because we named our label Anjunabeats, it was a bit of a musical pilgrimage to come here, and see what it’s actually all about. Because while we used the name, and we knew what the connotations were… it was kind of chosen as more of a vibe thing, rather than because we actually knew too much about it, to be honest. So then we wanted to sort of backtrack, and see what it’s actually like here. 2006 was the first time that we came to India. And the scene has really grown since then. But as you know, it’s so global now anyway, it’s transformed into an international scene rather than a local thing I’d say.”

How have the gigs changed over the years?

The expectations from the audience have gone up, in terms of the production. I think the trick has been to try and remember that while that’s important, actually you’re there to play music, and you should focus on the music. Dance music has become so much about the screens and the O2 cannons and everything else, but the reason why people are actually there is for the music. That other just stuff impresses the people who have only just gotten into it.

Is there something about the emotional, singer/songwriter aspect of Above & Beyond that connects naturally with Indian audiences, do you think?

The Indians are very passionate, let’s face it. When you do a gig here, it’s not like people are standing around and wondering, oh what’s this all about. They really go for it, they really let go and get into it. So I think they really like that emotive sound, they really buy into it. So it’s a good audience for us to play to for that reason. That’s what we want as well, we feed off that.

There’s been a lot of changes in dance music the past few years, but you’ve been able to evolve the core Anjuna sound so you’re one of the few trance acts still on the festival mainstages. There’s you and Armin van Buuren, but other than that…

It’s difficult, because I think that whenever we do a track, we try and give it something unique. But at the same time that alienates people along the way, because some people wish we were still making the 138BPM trance that we were making 10 years ago. But for me personally, I don’t want to make the same record over and over again. It’s interesting, because wherever people got on the Above & Beyond train, that’s what they enjoy. Some people say, “Oh their ‘Group Therapy’ stuff was better”, and some say, ”their ‘Tri-State’ stuff was better’. It depends when you got into our music really. Some people will get into this album and this sound.

For me personally, the most important thing is to find a way that we can make music that we believe in, which will translate to a crowd, but to not just end up playing music purely that you think will make people jump up and down to, or whatever you want them to do, stick their hands in the air. For me, I’m thinking of how can we put our sound forward to a festival audience, and not just be playing Beatport’s Top 10. Which I find lazy, to me that’s just boring. I couldn’t just stand up there and wave my hands around to that, because I don’t really like it. Some of the deep house tracks are great, but a lot of it is that drab Dutch sound. I respect those guys because they knock out those tracks, and they’re incredibly well produced, but it all sounds the same to me.

What strikes me about your new album ‘We Are All We Need’ is that while it has the core A&B sound in terms of the singer-songwriting, though there’s more of a club focus than the template you worked with on ‘Group Therapy’ and Oceanlab, which featured more downtempo selections that were later reworked into club remixes.

The feedback has often been that it’s really clubby. And I’ll tell you something funny, when we were making this album we were trying to make it even more downtempo than ‘Group Therapy’, though it doesn’t sound that way to you, which is really interesting [laughs]. That says a lot really, as when we’re making an album, the sound evolves as we’re doing it, rather than through a template. We hit a point were we decided that we wanted to make it more downtempo and less clubby. But we’ve actually not achieved that [laughs]. But we always try and make the album something that you’d listen to at home, which is influenced by club music, and also influenced by the singer-songwriter stuff, and sits somewhere in the middle. And then we do the club remixes afterwards. But you’re right, it does have that club sound at the same time.

Have you worked with other producers to help evolve your sound?

We’ve worked with Andrew Bayer a lot on the album. He’s a great producer, and also because we’re always travelling, it helps that he’s always there. If I come up with an idea on the road, I’ll bring it back with me and we can produce it up later. Or, some of the ideas are already developed and he’ll come in to help out. It just makes for a great way of working. He’s doing his own stuff as well, so he’s not there all of the time. But it’s great way to help have that cohesive thing… Because two of us will be away, one person might be away… it’s a mess otherwise. You come back and your kickdrum has been changed, and you’re like shit what’s happened [laughs].

He’s an amazing producer.

He’s a technical genius, and stylistically too. We’ve done some co-writes with him as well. We don’t try to hide the fact that we work with Andrew, it’s something that we’re proud of. Because he’s a great producer. If you look at the best records in history, I believe they’ve been made by a team of people. An album like Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ is an incredible piece of work, and that’s not just because of the band, it’s because of the producer, the engineer. This idea of look at me, I can do all of this myself… It is a myth. Who are you lying to? Yourself really. I couldn’t do this without Tony, Paavo… and Andrew. We all need each other, and I think that’s why we stay together. Because it’s almost like a marriage.

So what’s planned for the label next year? The album will be a big thing.

Well, we don’t plan the music. But we’re going to do obviously ‘Anjunabeats Vol. 12’, and probably a new Anjunadeep album next year as well. My brother James said to me that one is gonna be hard, because he’s really proud of the one from this year. It was amazing. I don’t have that much to do with the Deep label, so it’s great because I can big up the label without feeling like I’m bigging up myself [laughs]. So yeah, he does a great job of that with Jody [Wisternoff]. 

It has evolved a lot since the first compilation came out.

It’s really exciting, and it’s bizarre. We were lucky because the deep house thing picked up, but it wasn’t like we said, oh let’s do deep house because it’s going to be popular, it just so happened that it coincided. And that’s the way we run things, we don’t try and chase a sound too much. Sure, there are big records out there, and we’re going to be influenced by those records, that’s perfectly normal I think. But at the same time, when Martin Garrix releases ‘Animals’, Above & Beyond isn’t going to do a me too track, because it doesn’t make sense. If it was something that was really us, we might be more influenced by it. But sometimes those things collide. And it’s like with the deep house thing, it’s really exciting when you catch a wave in that sense. It really is like that. The deep thing, it really is great. I played a set in Madison Square Garden before the show, and I never get to play that kind of music. When people are coming to a gig like this they expect to hear certain songs from us, but having the opportunity go to and play all these records… I don’t actually have a lot to do with those records, yet I do as they’re all artists on Anjunadeep. It’s a nice place to be, I’m really proud of that label. Even though I don’t have a lot to do with it [laughs] I feel like it’s part of the Anjuna family.

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