I Love Progressive - Trance, Progressive, Track Lists, Raves, Uplifting, A State of Trance, Armin Van Buuren, Progressive House

Satoshi Tomiie is one the most successful Japanese electronic music producers and DJs. He has written music for soundtracks, including well known Animatrix. Satoshi Tomiie was lucky to have a classical music education and later became involved with various bands throughout high school. An interest in hip hop music and DJ’ing came later and after some appearances was eventually asked by a Japanese cosmetics company to collaborate by creating a track for a Frankie Knuckles show. The veteran recognized Tomiie’s potential, and the collaboration result was “Tears” that became a techno classic.

Given the opportunity, the rising star DJ moved to New York. He joined the Def Mix crew and became recognized as one of the world’s top DJs. Satoshi Tomiie often tours the biggest dance music festivals and established international clubs. In 2000 he created his first CD titled “Full Lick”. It was a great success worldwide and especially in England. Tomiie has a series of remixes and music productions, and has released several DJ mix compilation albums. Satoshi Tomiie is the owner of house music record label SAW.

John O’Callaghan Biography

Voted #60 in the 2008 DJ Mag Top 100 Poll

Overview: It’s taken John O’Callaghan just 5 short years to outrun his ‘next big thing’ tag and move over to the A-list fast-track. A masterful spinner, his unique blend of trance, coupled with an exacting, pin-point precise mixing style has seen him power up the DJ rankings. In the summer of 2008 the gifted 27 year old spun his first Radio 1 Essential Mix and, in the course of the year, was one of only 4 trance DJs to do so. In the 2007 Top 100 chart, John was marked out as the man to watch by no less than 5 DJs. 12 months later he duly delivered on their predictions, entering at No.60 on the 2008 countdown. Last year he picked up the ‘Best Producer’ and ‘Best DJ’ trophies at the Irish Dance Music Awards; decisively conquered the notoriously-competitive dance-testing ground of Ibiza and became the first Irishman to play Trance Energy. In 2009 he stands at the threshold of dance superstardom.

Production: Since making his first moves into music production just 5 years ago, John’s notched-up over 20 releases on some of the most respected labels in the industry, prompting Paul Van Dyk to mark him “one of the most exciting producers in the world today”. Club killers like ‘The Chamber’, ‘Exactly’ & ‘Space & Time’ have all become mainstays of DJs sets on many revered trance imprints. In 2007 he released both his first compilation ‘Live As Vol.2’ and his debut artist album ‘Something to Live For’ through Discover Records. Later the same year, in collaboration with vocalist Audrey Gallagher, John produced ‘Big Sky’… By virtue of a 4-month-long club & radio hammering from the big 5, it was voted the No.1 trance tune of 2007 on Armin’s A State of Trance. ‘Big Sky’ has rapidly gained modern trance classic status, virtually taking on a life of its own. John also produces through a number of pseudonyms, including Joint Operations Centre and J.O.C. Under the latter he indulges his love of techno-fringed productions, releasing ‘Rotterdam’ on Sander van Doorn’s own ‘Doorn Records’. In 2008 John was called upon by Godskitchen to mix their Australian 10th Anniversary Compilation, closely followed by ‘Trance World Vol. 4’ which was released through industry giants Armada. John occasionally also collaborates with other select artists, most recently and significantly with trance-legend Giuseppe Ottaviani on the hugely-received VANDIT release ‘Our Dimension’. The spring of 2009 will see the release of John’s highly anticipated 2nd artist album on Armada Records.

DJ: John caught his first DJing break playing on national Irish radio station 2FM’s ‘Sessions Tour’, which was broadcast on New Years Eve, 2003. He has gone on to throw trance-fire onto the floors of some of the world’s highest-profile clubs and festivals. Counted amongst them are Ireland’s Planet Love, Global Gathering, Trance Energy, WMC Miami, South America Music Conference and Creamfields, amongst others. 2008 went down as John’s all-important DJ breakthrough year… One that saw him play 6 nights on the White Isle, including Judgement Sunday & Armada at Amnesia, before going on in October to conquer Australia as part of Godskitchen’s infamous yearly nationwide tour. Latterly, O’Callaghan has expanded his fan-bases in Poland, The States, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Slovakia and The Czech Republic – territories which he credits as being the deciding factor in entering the 2008 DJ Top 100 chart. In Utrecht in March of 2009 John will play the main-stage at Trance Energy – now widely regarded as the pinnacle apex of the trance calendar, a colossal accomplishment for the Irish virtuoso.

The Subculture Radio Show: For the last two years John has presented his take on the trance scene, via his Subculture show on widely popular station, DI.FM. Subculture presents a crystal-clear monthly snapshot of John’s in and out of club sound, exploring the outer reaches of electronic music. The show goes out at 5pm UK time on the 2nd Monday of the month, noon US EST and 6pm CET.

Remixes: Although his studio career carries more of an original production bias, John has lent his musical skill to many exceptional remixes. In 2005 his debut came in the form of the hugely-received rewiring of fellow countrymen Agnelli & Nelson’s ‘Shiver’. From there he went on to rework Dogzilla’s ‘Without You’, Ronski Speed’s ‘The Space We Are’ & Filo & Peri’s ‘Anthem’, amongst others. So taken was Armin by John’s 2008 remix of ‘If You Should Go’ that he took the rare step of asking O’Callaghan to rework a second track from his ‘Imagine’ album. John’s remix of The Doppler Effect’s ‘Beauty Hides in the Deep’ last year became a cult hit within the trance fraternity and is regularly sited as his greatest remix to date. He is widely regarded as one of the most in-demand producers & remixers in electronic dance music today.

Prepared by:

Tim Stark – DJ Magazine

::. Article taken from www.johnocallaghan.com

Above & Beyond is a trance music group formed in 2000 by Jonathan “Jono” Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki. The trio are popular in the trance scene for their uplifting trance productions and collaborations with many vocalists. They also host their own weekly radio show, Trance Around the World. The group’s tracks are regularly played by well-known DJs, such as Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, ATB, Judge Jules and Paul van Dyk.

Formation

Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki met at the University of Westminster and they set up the Anjunabeats label in the summer of 1999 with the release of the ‘Anjunabeats Volume 1′. Anjunabeats Volume 1 was the very first track recorded by Jono and Paavo. This ‘Original Mix’ packaged with their ‘Tease Dub Mix’ received immediate attention in various dance clubs, and quickly gained support from Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold, Judge Jules and Paul van Dyk. Above & Beyond came together in 2000 when producer Tony McGuinness called in Grant and Siljamäki to help him complete a remix of Chakra’s “Home” track while at the Warner Music Group.[1]

The inspiration for the name Above & Beyond came from a web page belonging to an American motivational trainer coincidentally named Jono Grant. Jono had the poster stuck to his wall. The slogan used by the motivational trainer was “Above & Beyond”, and when the group was searching for a name to use for their Chakra remix, the slogan stuck out from the poster.[2] Although the group was relatively unknown at the time, their remix of Chakra’s Home was picked over remixes by Rob Searle and Tilt to be the A side mix, and after plays by Pete Tong, reached number one in the UK club charts.

Early Productions

Interest in Above & Beyond soon emerged from established trance labels and new remixes were requested: the trio remixed Aurora’s “Ordinary World”, Fragma’s “Everytime You Need Me”, Perpetuous Dreamer’s “The Sound of Goodbye” and Adamski’s “In the City”. These tracks served as the foundation for Above & Beyond’s reputation[citation needed] as one of the UK’s leading vocal trance remixers.

Above & Beyond’s most famous remix was for Madonna’s single “What It Feels Like for a Girl”. Madonna was so impressed[citation needed] by the remix that the music video for her song was shot to the Above & Beyond remix instead of the album version. The video, directed by Guy Ritchie, Madonna’s husband, would go on to gain its own notoriety.[citation needed] Most recently[when?], Above & Beyond has made remixes for Delerium, Three Drives and J-pop artist Ayumi Hamasaki.

Above & Beyond soon began collaborating with other artists, giving birth to a new production project named OceanLab (Above & Beyond with Justine Suissa) as well as collaborations with Andy Moor and vocalists Carrie Skipper, Ashley Tomberlin, Zoë Johnston and Richard Bedford.

Late in 2003 they remixed Tomcraft’s “Loneliness”, Motorcycle’s “As the Rush Comes”, as well as being asked back by Madonna to remix “Nobody Knows Me”. Other remixes included Britney Spears’s single “Everytime”, Dido’s song “Sand In My Shoes” and Delerium’s “Silence”.

Later Productions

Above & Beyond’s single “No One On Earth”, featuring the vocals of Faithless member Zoe Johnston, followed. It was voted Tune of the year 2004 in Armin van Buuren’s trance radio show A State of Trance.[citation needed]

Early in 2006 the band released their debut artist album, “Tri-State”. UK Dance magazine DJ Mag gave the album a 5 Star review, saying “A blend of sleek electronic rhythms, lush filmic textures and old-fashioned song writing. ‘Tri-State’ is the fulfillment of any dance act’s ultimate album aspiration: a padding-free, skilled, diverse long-player. In a word, ‘Brilliant’.”

Singles from the album include “Air For Life” (with Andy Moor) which won “Best Underground Dance Track” at the 2006 Miami Winter Music Conference and was Tune of the Year for 2005, as voted by the listeners of Armin Van Buurens radio show A State of Trance. Alone Tonight (featuring Richard Bedford) was nominated for best progressive house/trance track at the 22nd International Dance Music Awards held at the 2007 Miami WMC, reaching number 4 in the Finland National Singles chart and number 5 in the UK Dance Chart. Above & Beyond performed Alone Tonight at Global Gathering 2005 broadcast live on Radio One in the UK. Their single “Can’t Sleep” was included on A State of Trance in episode 280, which featured at number 3 on the best 20 tracks of 2006 according to the fans that voted in its polls. Above & Beyond “Good For Me” (featuring Zoe Johnstone) was voted Tune of the Year in 2006 on Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance Radio show. In 2008, Above & Beyond won Best Underground Dance Track at IDMA Awards at the Winter Music Conference with their single ‘Home’.

DJ career

Paavo Siljamäki and Jono Grant during a performance in Miami, 2007.

In 2002 the team began their DJ career in Tokyo in front of 8,000 clubbers, on a bill featuring Ferry Corsten and DJ Tiësto. After a slow start to their DJ career, they are now considered headline acts and make regular appearances at some of the worlds biggest trance festivals and clubs including Creamfields and Godskitchen Global Gathering in the UK and Amnesia in Ibiza. Furthermore, on the 31st of December 2007, Above & Beyond unofficially hosted the largest DJ gig ever on Barra Beach, Rio de Janeiro, where they reportedly played to an estimated 1 million people.[citation needed]

Above & Beyond made their live debut as performers at Passion in 2004 and went on to win the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of the year award in the same year.[3]

Above & Beyond were ranked #4 in the DJ Mag top 100 poll from 2008,[4] having entered at #39 in 2004.

::. Article taken from wikipedia.org

Sander van Doorn (born Sander Ketelaars on February 28, 1979 in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands) is a Dutch techno/trance music DJ and producer. He is listed at DJMag’s top 100 djs list, debuting at #15 in 2007, and is currently listed at #13. Sander hosts an internet radio show every 4th Wednesday of the month on Digitally Imported radio called Identity. The show is made from 2 studio mixes and sometimes is live.

The first big achievement in his career was securing residencies at Judgement Sunday in Ibiza and at the Gallery in London. Sander has DJ’ed at many major clubs, parties and venues around the world. In June 2007 he presented one of Eddie Halliwell’s shows on BBC Radio One. He also did an essential mix for BBC Radio One in June 2006, the same month he won ‘Best New Producer’ at the Trance Awards. His productions, both original work and remixes, in 2007-2008 have generally been well received in the electronic music industry. Notable artists he has done remixes for include Robbie Rivera, Matt Darey, Randy Katana, Mode Hookers (Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso), Blank & Jones, TDR, Armin van Buuren.

On 3 March 2008 Sander released his first artist album under the record label Spinnin’. The album was titled ‘Supernaturalistic’. It is a 13 track album with a variation of tracks with a base in trance but all with their own take on the genre.

March 2008 saw Sander win an award for ‘Best Breakthrough DJ’ in the International Dance Music Awards at the Miami Winter Music Conference in 2008 (beating the likes of Calvin Harris, Deadmau5 and Axwell).

::. Taken from Wikipedia.org

Official Sander Van Doorn Website

Deadmau5 (pronounced “Dead mouse”, birth name Joel Zimmerman) is a progressive house and electro house producer and DJ from Toronto, Canada. His extensive discography includes tracks such as “Arguru” and “Not Exactly”, which have been included in compilation albums such as In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza, MixMag’s Tech-Trance-Electro-Madness (mixed by Deadmau5 himself), and on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show. He works alongside numerous other DJs and producers, such as Steve Duda under the BSOD alias. His album, Random Album Title, was released electronically in September 2008 via Ultra Records in the U.S. and Ministry of Sound in the UK and Europe. Physical copies of the album were released in November 2008.^[1]

Joel Zimmerman was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario on January 5th in 1981. In 2008 he was the most-selling artist on Beatport with more than 30,000 digital downloads with his singles “Not Exactly,” “Faxing Berlin,” and “Ghosts N Stuff”^[2]

Deadmau5 received two nominations for the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2008 for a track with Billy Newton-Davis and Melleefresh. He did not win an award for Melleefresh’s “After Hours” song, but he won the award for Newton-Davis’ “All U Ever Want”.^[3] On May 1, 2008, Deadmau5 became the most awarded DJ/producer/remixer of the Beatport Music Awards. He was named “Most influential, forward-thinking and relevant person” by Beatport.^[4] He was also named “Producer of 2007″ by DJ magazine’s 2007 Top 100 winner Armin van Buuren,^[5] and by runner up Tiësto. ^[6] In 2008, he placed number 11 in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll, tying Infected Mushroom (2006) for the highest new entry in the poll’s history, showing Zimmerman’s fast rise to prominence.

In the United States, Deadmau5’s collaboration with Kaskade, “Move for Me,” reached number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay chart in its September 6, 2008 issue.^[7]. In 2009, he was nominated for Grammy Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (”The Longest Road” (Deadmau5 Remix) by Morgan Page featuring Lissie).

In December 2007 Marcus Schossow and Maor Levi created a project named Deadrat6 as a joke on Deadmau5, claiming his tracks sound alike.^[8] A similar faux project was also created under the name of Sinterklaa5.^[9]. As a counter-move, Deadmau5 created a track under the artist name “Marcus Fatsow”.

The rivalry between Deadmau5 and Schossow escalated at an event in April 2008 in Oslo, where, according to Marcus Schossow, Deadmau5 refused to play at a club if Marcus Schossow was going to play afterwards. This lead to Marcus Schossow being refused entry and made the night a Deadmau5 solo-event.^[10]

In an October 2008 interview with the Irish Daily Star Deadmau5 was quoted as follows:

“It puts me to fucking sleep to be quite honest, I don’t really see the technical merit in playing two songs at the same speed together and it bores me to fucking tears and hopefully with all due respect to the DJ type that will fucking go the way of the dinosaur id like them to dis-a-fucking-pear. It’s so middle man, they’re like fucking lawyers. You need them, but they’re fucking cunts. God bless them they’re my number one customer right so I’m not gonna go diss every fucking DJ. But to say you become this massive up on a podium performer by playing other peoples productions at the same speed as someone else’s productions and fading between the two of them, I don’t get it.”^[11]

::. Article taken from wikipedia

Master of numerous music industry disciplines, Menno de Jong has already carved enough notches on the dance tree for someone twice his age. His production & remix career has seen him record for some of Europe’s biggest trance labels and he’s the owner of lauded Dutch independent Intuition Recordings. A bona-fide Podcast pioneer, he’s produced and presented the much respected and widely-syndicated Intuition Radio show for the last 3 years. As a DJ he’s closed gigs for Tiësto & Paul van Dyk, is currently ranked at No. 48 in DJ Magazine’s Top 100 Chart and has spun in over 25 countries. At just 24 years old, he’s is without question the next challenger to the Dutch trance throne!

Born into a musical family, it took very little time for Menno to start experimenting with the array of synths corralled in his father’s studio. His production career started in auspicious fashion in 2004 when ‘Guanxi’, his debut production was signed to Anjunabeats. The consummate music workaholic, Menno has continued to conjure one magical, melodic feat after another. Double-header ‘Magma’/‘Momentum’ and ‘Sjamaan’ were released on Fundamental (in 2005 & 2007 respectively), while ‘Tundra’ (2005) and ‘Nolthando’/ ‘Solid State’ (2007) appeared on his own Intuition label. Remix-wise, he has re-scripted tracks for The Thrillseekers, Karen Overton & Mark Otten, amongst others and to ever-increasing acclaim.

As with studio production Menno also dabbled in DJing from an early age. At 17 he progressed from school discos & friends parties to a two year residency at an underground club in Eindhoven. Further charged by the reception ‘Guanxi’ received from DJs and still aged just 20 years old he threw himself into music nearly full-time, juggling his busy schedule with his studies at university. In the last three years he has successfully catapulted himself into the upper echelons of the trance DJ hierarchy. Having now spun in over 25 countries, Menno has played at clubs and events that are themselves the virtual synonyms of trance. Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Creamfields, Trance Energy, Sensation White, Mysteryland, Amnesia Ibiza, Love Parade, Berlin, The Gaudi Arena in Moscow & WMC in Miami have all hosted his pin-point perfect tune selection and sophisticated mixing style. Alongside that he has DJed with some of the biggest names in the scene, including trail-blazers such as Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, The Prodigy, Paul van Dyk, Marco V and Markus Schulz. With his non-stop smile, energetic dancing and ever-present contact with the audience, he continues to share his passion for evocative melodies and dance-floor rocking beats.

Menno’s rise through the deck-spinning ranks has been suitably reflected in DJ Magazine’s annual Top 100 poll. He debuted at 72 in 2006 before rising 10 places to 62 a year later, and a staggering 14 places to 48 in 2008. He is also ranked at No. 11 in Trance Addict’s annual top 100 Trance DJs poll.

Following an inspiring tour of Africa, Menno broke into the compilation market in mid-2007. Mixing the first in a projected series of country-themed albums, Intuition Sessions Vol. 1: South Africa gathered together the cream of the label’s highly recognizable crop.

De Jong was also at the leading-edge of the internet radio and podcasting phenomenon, launching his Intuition Radio show in 2005. The weekly episodes rapidly became required listening for the internet’s trance-hungry hoards, with Menno showcasing the very best in EDM. The show has now gone monthly and progressed onto the airwaves of XM Radio, Dutch national Slam FM & Worldspace with tens of thousands of listeners tuning in each week. The Intuition Podcast is also available as a download via iTunes.

Tim Stark – DJ Magazine

::. Taken from MennoDeJong.com

The Dutch superstar has consistently been voted one of the top 10 DJs in the world (according to DJ magazine’s definitive Top 100 DJ chart) for five years. He’s played for hundreds of thousands of fans – sometimes at once – in amphitheaters, fields and nightclubs from Australia to Russia to white-hot Ibiza. He took the party island’s “Best Trance DJ” prize at the annual DJ Awards ceremony this year and two years ago; got tailed by some road-tripping fans on a Southern Comfort-sponsored, 26-city bus tour of America; and had his life’s work interpreted in music, video and décor at his annual Masquerade event “Full on Ferry”, at 12,000-capacity arena Ahoy in his hometown, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

It’s all in a year’s work for the man who’s been called the “architect, pioneer, and instigator” of trance music’s global dominance.
But within the close-knit international DJ community, Corsten’s regarded as something else too: A studio auteur with a fierce sense of sonic rightness; a real-deal producer who works solo, sans engineer, and creates the most complete, energetic, melodic records in dance music. His style is so singular that synthesizer manufacturer Roland commissioned a Corsten sound bank for their new SP-555 sampling unit. But it’s so broad that it could meld with Public Enemy’s classic cut “Bring The Noise,” on a Corsten remix that Chuck D himself called “the ultimate concoction of space, energy and lyrics.”

The world first experienced Corsten’s dance floor wallop in 1999, when the young and hungry artist created aptly named track “Out Of The Blue” (recorded under his System F moniker). It was the first of his eight Dutch gold records, and 10 U.K. Top 40 hits, the most ever by a trance producer. He released his debut album, “Right Of Way,” in 2003; and the groundbreaking “L.E.F.” – containing Duran Duran collaboration “Fire” – in 2006, which debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes dance chart.

A keen sonic curator, Corsten serves as the head honcho for his record labels, Flashover Recordings, Aleph, Boom tssjak, and Levare.On his new XM Radio show, “Corsten’s Countdown,” he debuts new tracks every week and lets his faithful listeners – on the radio, and online – vote on their favorites for the month’s final chart. The show is the first of its kind to engage fans worldwide, and give them a direct hand in predicting and creating hits.

Corsten has also used his high profile for good, serving as an ambassador for the KidsRights Foundation, which increases awareness of the plight of disadvantaged children worldwide. He boasts his own clothing line, Signature F, via Washington, D.C.-based iKY Clothing.

Is Ferry Corsten a globe-trotting, club-packing, beat-dropping superstar DJ? Most definitely. But that’s just the beginning of the story…one that’s still being written.

::. Taken from Ferry Corsten.com

With gigs all over the globe and an impressive array of highly respected productions, Alex M.O.R.P.H. is one of today’s most wanted producers/remixers in the uplifting trance genre. He made over 80 Remixes for fellow artists and released more than 30 own productions as well as big collaborations, which all found their way into the record boxes of the worlds top jocks, like Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren or Above & Beyond, to name a few.

He always tries to show his versatility in multiple aspects, including a well-known radioshow (HeavensGate) and a stunning solo artist debut album coming soon. Bringing the most upfront trance music imaginable in his sets, Alex M.O.R.P.H. is able to make a crowd go wild any time. He also teams up with Woody van Eyden to perform legendary Back2Back sets the people don´t forget too soon – if ever… Even the world’s most credible magazine for dance music (M8 Mag) supported them with a covermounted Christmas CD in December 2006, mixed by Alex & Woody. Furthermore, their weekly radioshow HeavensGate is broadcasted on a worlwide network of radiostations, such as Sunshine Live, BFBS Radio/Sky Digital or Kiss FM Ukraine. In 2007 his growing popularity becomes obvious by climbing up the DJ Mag list (#119). Gigs at Mayday Poland, Amnesia Ibiza, Stadium of Sound Poland, and of course productions with Paul van Dyk (“Get Back”, ”In Circles”) and Woody van Eyden (“I Love Trance”) proved, that Alex doesn´t plan to Rest in 2008!

The follow-up to the massive “Heavenly”on Fenology, “Turn it On”, the new co-op between Alex and Woody featuring the beautiful voice of Michelle Citrin, has been released on Paul van Dyk´s Vandit Imprint and was picked by Armin van Buuren as the Tune of the Week in his radioshow! Also, one of THE trance tunes of 2008 followed: WALK THE EDGE, which got a truly massive remix by Alex M.O.R.P.H. B2B Woody van Eyden themselves.

After entering the DJ Mag TOP100 together with Woody van Eyden in 2008, Alex is just starting his engines, working on his artist album PURPLE AUDIO and presenting the first single from that album, SUNSHINE.

::. Taken from Alex Morph.com

Over 10 boundary-pushing years, Nic Chagall and Bossi have evolved Cosmic Gate into one of the most creative and highly-sought-after electronic music acts in the world. Revered uber-producers, their musical acumen has seen them become long-term favourites of the trance’s Big 5 DJs with their 3 hugely-received albums transporting anthems like ‘Body of Conflict’, ‘I Feel Wonderful’, ‘Analog Feel’, or the classics ‘Exploration of Space’ and Fire Wire to the dancefloor. As DJs, their kinetic, blood-pumping live performances are seen by hundreds of thousands of club and festival goers annually. Playing a 100 nights every year, it’s this ever-visible club presence that saw them reach their highest position to-date on the DJ Mag Top 100, landing at No.62 in 2008.

Following a chance meeting at a label office in Cologne in late 1998, the pair collaborated for the first time. It’s a production partnership that has become one of the dance world’s most successful and memorable. In their homeland of Germany, they’ve maintained a consistent level of chart success, with no fewer than 7 Top 40 singles to their name and a Top 10 hit in the UK in 2001, with the quintessential club hit, Fire Wire. Drawing on a broad-range of their individual musical tastes and influences, they’ve continued to advance and enhance the sound… Following up the long-players ‘Rythm & Drums’ and ‘No More Sleep’, in 2006 they released ‘Earth Mover’, which saw a seismic shift towards a more melodic and electronically orientated music. Including the club hits ‘Analog Feel’, ‘Should Have Known’ and ‘I Feel Wonderful’, the long-player was IDMA nominated for Best Album of 2007 and was latterly seen as a new ‘year one’ for Cosmic Gate.

In 2009 Nic and Bossi are set to release their fourth studio album ‘Sign of the Times’, which contains 11 floor-monsters-in-waiting, last year’s vocal anthem ‘Body of Conflict’ and the latest smash single ‘Not Enough Time’, which in the words of Tiësto is “a great and solid vocal trancer that touches all your musical senses!” And in the broader scale on ‘Sign of the Times’ Armin van Buuren says “The new Cosmic Gate album is one of the most anticipated releases of this year. They are on the forefront of the dance music sound of the moment… Bring on 2009!”

Deck-side Nic and Bossi have whipped floors into frenzies all the way around the world. In 2008 they played Tiësto’s now-famous Monday nighter at Privilege in Ibiza, rocked roofs at the Judgement Sunday nights and decisively broke into the US and Australian clubbing scenes through a string of sell-out tours. They appeared in the DJ Magazine’s list of Top 100 spinners for 6 years now and are regular festival attraction, spinning at events like Trance Energy and Mysteryland in The Netherlands, Summadayze in Australia, Germany’s Nature One and Stateside at Nocturnal. In early 2009 they are set to roadblock the Freedom Festival with Tiësto in Malaysia and Sunrise in Poland.

Back2Back, Cosmic Gate’s on-going compilation series was devised as the at-home testament to the pair’s club-rocking exploits. 2007 saw the release of the 3rd volume through Tiësto’s Black Hole label. The compilations bring the evocative mix of trance, progressive and electro and stands apart through their use of numerous at-the-time unreleased productions and unique Cosmic Gate edits.

Over their production lifetime, the Cosmic Gate remixes have become almost as fêted as their productions. Essentially a blow by blow of trance music’s A-list, Nic and Bossi lent their studio know-how to productions by the likes of Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond’s OceanLab project, Rank 1 and Blank & Jones. Most recently they rewired Deadmau5’s ‘Clockwork’ to devastating effect and created two highly-praised remixes of ‘Vincent De Moor - Fly Away’ and ‘Veracocha - Carte Blanche’.

::. Taken from www.cosmicgate-music.de

Born in Leiden, Holland (on December 25, 1976) to a musical family, Armin indulged his passion for music from a young age. He spent all the money he earned with his paper round on records. His mum won a computer when he was 10, “So as a little nerdy kid I was writing my own basic programmes, and learnt about the technology from there.” He progressed from making low-profile mix tapes for friends to higher profile mixes when he discovered experimenting with different sequences on his computer through his uncle. “I was so stunned by what I saw him doing on the computer, that I got addicted to creating music right there and then!”

“I loved dance music immediately – this great rebellious sound that was so different to the ‘beautiful’ songs of the years before”. Armin cites electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre as a major influence (famed for his awesome visuals as well as his groundbreaking synth sounds), as well as Dutch producer Ben Liebrand, who later mentored him in his mixing and producing.

In the early days, Armin thought it was wise to have something extra in case the DJ’ing didn’t work out. So he studied for a law degree.  The final year of his course was inevitably stretched as he juggled his studies with his increasingly hectic schedule; his rise to fame included lots of productions and remixes, as well as playing out to packed clubs every weekend. It took him three years to graduate, but his determination made him succeed!

Armin’s own productions have all made a huge impact with his last 12 singles hitting the Top 40 in Holland, and gaining worldwide acclaim. His back catalogue includes Blue Fear, Communication, Sound of Goodbye, Shivers, Rush Hour, Burned With Desire, Exhale, Love You More, This World Is Watching Me, and Yet Another Day. While the remix offers flood in, Armin only takes on tracks that he really loves. He uses exactly the same criteria for his compilations, meaning that every release from Armin or his long-running Armind label is a bone fide stormer that’s earned its place. His output includes tracks for the cult TV series 24, and the likes of Motorcycle’s When The Rush Comes.

Armin is a dedicated trance lover, but isn’t imprisoned by a single genre, saying “What makes trance work so well is that it doesn’t stick to one style, and can incorporate electro, minimal, whatever it likes.” His desire to showcase more of the great music he hears, along with the number of people sending him tracks they wanted to release, led to the obvious step of starting his own label, Armada, in 2003.