Just got home from Holden / G&D - TranceAddict Forums

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-- Just got home from Holden / G&D

Posted by sti3 on Feb-29-2004 11:33:

Just got home from Holden / G&D

And my main reactions are:

Holden is as amazing as I thought before I heard him live.

and

Gabriel and Dresden are incredibly overrated.

I like about half of G&D's productions and remixes. But as DJs, they blow. Who else is allowed to play 95% their own productions when they DJ? Nobody. Other DJs are required to actually create a set out of other people's tracks, with a flow and a mood. Not G&D. They get to use Abelton Live, picking and choosing loops and tracks of their own creation, yet they _still_ can't make a compelling, well-mixed set!

I can't think of any other hit-or-miss producer that gets the kind of accolades G&D do. I would like to come to any other conclusion, but I think it's because they're American, that a few good tracks have given them superstar status and let them get bookings (inc. an Essential Mix) the world over, that they mostly haven't deserved.

Holden at times transported me. Gabriel & Dresden, at best, made me dance for 2 minutes at a time, but at worst had me checking my watch, wondering what the hell they were thinking when they married X pop vocal with Y prog/trance beat. Maybe I just don't get it, but I prefer Perry O'Neil, James Zabiela, Luke Chable, and JAMES HOLDEN. These guys, IMO, "get it". Gabriel & Dresden just seem to get lucky sometimes.

Again, Holden was amazing. That last breakbeat 1991 rave tune? Brilliant, like the rest of his set.

Anyway...

Thoughts?

Posted by MrSquirrel on Feb-29-2004 11:47:

Your post as not up before I started mine.......

I had a good time....oh well....To each their own eh?

I agree Holden was awesome....

MrS

Posted by everything0 on Feb-29-2004 11:58:

Holden had me going the whole time. G&D....love their productions, but as far as DJs, they were ok. the sets that I do have of them i usually listen to when im in the mood to chill...which i pretty much ended up doing most of the time when they were spinning. time to zzzz

Posted by rock_roll18 on Feb-29-2004 12:28:

Re: Just got home from Holden / G&D

quote:
Originally posted by sti3
And my main reactions are:

Holden is as amazing as I thought before I heard him live.

and

Gabriel and Dresden are incredibly overrated.

I like about half of G&D's productions and remixes. But as DJs, they blow. Who else is allowed to play 95% their own productions when they DJ? Nobody. Other DJs are required to actually create a set out of other people's tracks, with a flow and a mood. Not G&D. They get to use Abelton Live, picking and choosing loops and tracks of their own creation, yet they _still_ can't make a compelling, well-mixed set!

I can't think of any other hit-or-miss producer that gets the kind of accolades G&D do. I would like to come to any other conclusion, but I think it's because they're American, that a few good tracks have given them superstar status and let them get bookings (inc. an Essential Mix) the world over, that they mostly haven't deserved.

Holden at times transported me. Gabriel & Dresden, at best, made me dance for 2 minutes at a time, but at worst had me checking my watch, wondering what the hell they were thinking when they married X pop vocal with Y prog/trance beat. Maybe I just don't get it, but I prefer Perry O'Neil, James Zabiela, Luke Chable, and JAMES HOLDEN. These guys, IMO, "get it". Gabriel & Dresden just seem to get lucky sometimes.

Again, Holden was amazing. That last breakbeat 1991 rave tune? Brilliant, like the rest of his set.

Anyway...

Thoughts?

Totally agree with you on that....
Holden was quite amazing and though im not the greatest fan of progressive house ..I enjoyed it a lot.
G&D on the other hand...had the weirdest tracklist ... and some songs which were "weird"?

Props up to holden

Posted by dyre on Feb-29-2004 20:30:

man, i got home about an hour ago ^_^

i had an excellent evening .. holden was golden (<--aHAhahaha). i find it kind of disturbing that he looks alot like my little brother.. man, he was really into the music, it was great ^_^.

gabriel + dresden's (though mostly gabriel) set i thought was rather interesting.. i think they could probably benefit a little from variety. i thought it was great hearing all these songs from the internet live and up close, for about the first hour anyways.

i thought it was interesting listening to gabriel talk before hand how he builds his set off textures rather than melody, and then later hearing him put his words to action. it most parts it really did come together, though now after the night is over.. i feel a little empty from their set.

but yes, i had an excellent time and it was great meeting you guys too ^_^. i'll be back in two weeks for sasha.

and gimme a few hours and all my (good) pictures from the evening will be up and ready for viewing. i think i took about ~270 raw pictures. that almost tops the amount of pictures i took, last time i saw sasha ^_^.

Posted by dyre on Feb-29-2004 23:00:

all done .. enjoy : http://www.theschlock.com/club/040228/

Posted by ctprincess on Feb-29-2004 23:07:

nice pictures!!!!

i like the one of holden at the end of the night standing up on the decks!

Posted by dyre on Feb-29-2004 23:24:

quote:
Originally posted by ctprincess
i like the one of holden at the end of the night standing up on the decks!
hehe .. i took that one from your spot, after you left ^_^

Posted by DJMaytag on Mar-01-2004 08:03:

Re: Just got home from Holden / G&D

quote:
Originally posted by sti3
Who else is allowed to play 95% their own productions when they DJ? Nobody.

Steve Porter. He told us once that his goal was to get his sets up to about 80% of his own productions and/or remixes.

Posted by ninja_k on Mar-01-2004 13:51:

I'm not too picky about what a DJ plays during a show as long as it sounds GOOD. perhaps that's the problem some people are having with saturdayy night ?

Posted by fathomless1 on Mar-01-2004 22:23:

quote:
But as DJs, they blow. Who else is allowed to play 95% their own productions when they DJ? Nobody.

I'm sorry but I had to comment on this. This is the dumbest comment I have ever heard (sorry). If I went to see lets say Metallica, I would not bitch because they played too many of their songs and not enough of other peoples. G&D are big producers and remixers, they DJ to showcase their works. Most of these songs they played, they have produced in the last 2 years, they have made enough music for a few cd's (and there are none out). So, when I go to see G&D I expect to hear their music, and they did not disappoint. Holden does not produce 'as much' and he did play the majority of songs that he has produced recently. They are focused on producing and when I listened, I did not try and listen for minor mixing mistakes, I just had a great time at their 'concert'.

If you have ever heard a G&D set in the last 2 years, you would know that they play mostly their material. So, to see them live and criticize them for doing exactly this, is just stupid. You knew that they did this before you even went. Not trying to start a flame war, just addressing the ignorance of the comment made at the begining of the thread.

those are my .02 cents

Posted by rock_roll18 on Mar-01-2004 22:24:

nice pictures dyre :-d
Like the one with holden standing on top of his decks.
Hyper guy

Posted by biznology on Mar-01-2004 22:30:

Re: Just got home from Holden / G&D

quote:
Originally posted by sti3
... But as DJs, they blow. Who else is allowed to play 95% their own productions when they DJ? Nobody. ...

wrong, if i can continue. i seem to remember a large contingent of TAers wetting themselves over a DJing duo called Nu-Nrg, whom often play 99% of their own tracks, and those tracks all sound the same and never get released.

that being said i understand how GnD often come off wrong or muddled in set design. at least they are no nunrg|

Posted by sti3 on Mar-01-2004 22:55:

I have heard G&D sets in the past couple years. The ratio of their productions to others has certainly gone up. Now that I've sobered up a bit and the disappointment has worn off, I guess my beef was the quality of the tracks they played. It was very inconsistent and had no flow IMO.

I don't have a Holden tracklist (I'd love one) but I would guess it was less than half his productions.

Biznology, good point about Nu-NRG. The first set I heard by them was a couple years ago, that radio set that everyone had--it was indeed amazing. My love for them has worn off forever, as I have gotten into different sounds and they have become less consistent as producers.