quote:

Originally posted by Dean Millson Not sure about that Soups. Not since maybe GU24 imo. I don't think you can call Depp Dish or even Nick Warren "underground" anymore. There is no questioning GU's influence on electronic music & it's culture but they've been well behind the ball musically in recent years.

Deep Dish may not be underground 'anymore' however when they mixed 025 i still feel as though they were.. Besides that Toronto CD is one of the best Global Underground cds that have ever been mixed.

SEROYA - ONLY YOUR LOVE (HOLME IVES REMIX)
JUNKIE XL & SASHA - BREEZER
PAUL ROGERS - KRAFTY
MIRO - THE ONE I RUN TO
KNIGHT KEYS - NEVER FELT THIS WAY (BEHROUZ & ANDY REMIX)
HOLDEN & THOMPSON - NOTHING (93 RETURNING REMIX)

When this CD was released in 2003 all of these tunes (except breezer and krafty) were just on the verge of being released and in turn becoming massive. To me that is the epitomy of underground tunes on a compilation.

Whilst both Warren and Deep Dish are no longer underground DJs they most certainly have pulled out their undeground tunes when putting together their mixes for these compilations.

If you ask me the GU series is the best collection of musical trends in trance and progressive all collected on a bunch of cd's ever!!!

I know you have a hankering for the EQ series, however are you seriously saying that at this point in time the EQ series come close? I mean it only took for them to get to number 8 for a piece of shit compilation to be released.

quote:

Originally posted by 00soups00 I know you have a hankering for the EQ series, however are you seriously saying that at this point in time the EQ series come close? I mean it only took for them to get to number 8 for a piece of shit compilation to be released.

Whats wrong with Desyn's?

I was never a fan of Tornoto, but yes you're right it was still pretty up front for it's time.

Sorry to knit-pick, but you did say...

quote:

has always encapsulated the best (and most underground) music of it's time of release

and the part i disagree with is the "always" bit. GU was compilation that you looked for for new and "progressive" sounds. In recent years however all they have done is rotated the same DJ's one after the other. I'm sorry but in 2006 there are FAR more interesting DJ's out there that would encapsulate the best/most underground music around. That's taking nothing away from either Nick or Deep Dish, but GU has become more about safe sales than anything else. And fair enough, it's a big business so of course the commercial side of things is a priority, but lets look at GU for what it is and imo it's definately not about anything "underground" or particularly "progressive" these days because as it's become a formula. That's not to say that the CD's might not be a good listen, they generally are - but lets not confuse it for something that it's not anymore.

Yes I am a big fan of Balance. After GU19 changed the face of progressive music forever, it was Holden's Balance that changed it forever again (all you have to do is listen to the amount of melodic techno played on dancefloors across the world these days to see how much that mix infulenced things). Since then there hasn't been a GU (or a Balance) that has come close to having such an impact on progressive music - so i don't think it's big call to say that in recent times Balance has had more of an impact muscially than GU has. Balance has some advantages over GU in a sense that it doesn't have the sales expectation that GU has these days, and therefore they can afford to take a few more risks - however they have carved out a niche beside GU as a compilation that is more about the music and the artists of the time as opposed to safe sounds and sales. As much as i'm not a fan of Desyn or Paolo, both of them have been more at the forefront of "progressive" (pushing things forward) recently than Nick Warren of Deep Dish. You definately won't get the "big tune prog mix" that you might expect from say a GU, but that's exactly the point imo - "big room prog" isn't really "progressive" at all anymore.

___________________
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quote:

Originally posted by Dean Millson I was never a fan of Tornoto, but yes you're right it was still pretty up front for it's time. Sorry to knit-pick, but you did say... and the part i disagree with is the "always" bit. GU was compilation that you looked for for new and "progressive" sounds. In recent years however all they have done is rotated the same DJ's one after the other. I'm sorry but in 2006 there are FAR more interesting DJ's out there that would encapsulate the best/most underground music around. That's taking nothing away from either Nick or Deep Dish, but GU has become more about safe sales than anything else. And fair enough, it's a big business so of course the commercial side of things is a priority, but lets look at GU for what it is and imo it's definately not about anything "underground" or particularly "progressive" these days because as it's become a formula. That's not to say that the CD's might not be a good listen, they generally are - but lets not confuse it for something that it's not anymore. Yes I am a big fan of Balance. After GU19 changed the face of progressive music forever, it was Holden's Balance that changed it forever again (all you have to do is listen to the amount of melodic techno played on dancefloors across the world these days to see how much that mix infulenced things). Since then there hasn't been a GU (or a Balance) that has come close to having such an impact on progressive music - so i don't think it's big call to say that in recent times Balance has had more of an impact muscially than GU has. Balance has some advantages over GU in a sense that it doesn't have the sales expectation that GU has these days, and therefore they can afford to take a few more risks - however they have carved out a niche beside GU as a compilation that is more about the music and the artists of the time as opposed to safe sounds and sales. As much as i'm not a fan of Desyn or Paolo, both of them have been more at the forefront of "progressive" (pushing things forward) recently than Nick Warren of Deep Dish. You definately won't get the "big tune prog mix" that you might expect from say a GU, but that's exactly the point imo - "big room prog" isn't really "progressive" at all anymore.

admitedly they are now starting to recycle the same olds around the block again, which is disappointing because they have been at the forefront of DJ compilations for a very long time. I did hear a little whie ago they were going through some financial trouble and were going to have to think about shutting up shop (not sure how reliable that all was though) which would explain their need to stay with a 'what works' approach.

Your term of 'progressive' music is all to do with the idea of pushing things forward, and moving the genre into new and different things, with that being said then who would be an appropriate artist to encapsulate that in a release with GU? The new term of progressive music seems to be that blippy, bloppy tech stuff which is apparently turning everyones heads now.

I would like to see someone like eelkje klein, harry lemon or d-nox & beckers be signed up to do a GU in the near future, however i don't see that happening, as GU has essentially become a big name label releasing cd's by big name dj's, however because of it's immense popularity it begs the questionn of how long can something be deemed 'underground' for? With the success that the Global Underground series has had, can it ever truely be underground again??????

I think there are only really currently two "new" DJ's that have a high enough profile to be added to the GU roster and that's James Zabiela & James Holden. Holden would be more than capable of putting together a mix that was an appropriate snap shot of progressive music in 2007 but that wasn't too "out there" for the mass audience that GU markets to. The same goes for Zabiela, but imo Holden would be a more appropriate choice first up. Why not even give Anthony Pappa a "full" GU compilation?

I'm sure it's a financial thing, but if they were still releasing the NuBreed sub-series then the Global Underground brand would be a lot more well-rounded than it is these days imo. Both the 24:7 and Nubreed Series gave the label so much more of a forward-thinking feeling, while still capitalizing on the strength and mass appeal of the GU brand. I think part of the problem now with them playing it so safe is that they've not had any other vehicles to test (or foster) the profiles of some of the more up and coming DJ's in the scene. Would Pappa have been as big as he is without his Nubreed mix? Would Lawler with his? Who knows...

The unfortunate thing is that GU is the only brand that has enough strength with punters to influence things so profoundly. The guy/girl that always buys each GU when it comes out, would probably have bought Lee Burrdige's NuBreed or 24:7 because of the fact that it came from Global Underground, whereas perhaps if those exact same mixes were released either independently or on another label they would not have. So the strength of the GU brand could/should be exposing people to different DJ'S and sounds - pushing things forward. Unfortunately, for whatever reason (most probably financial) they're not doing this anymore and i think it's a missed opportunity. But maybe with the music business being a much harder game these days it's just not good business sense.

I think GU could recapture some of it's old "underground" feel by bringing back those other mix series and by obviously taking a few more calculated risks. If you look back through their back catalogue they really mixed it up at the start... Tony DeVit through to Oakenfold (very different sounding DJ's) through to Danny Tenaglia, through to Sasha, Digweed, Darren Emerson and of course Dave Seaman & Nick Warren. Those first 10 or so mixes really are a definative illsutration or the different sounds being played in clubs across the world - if you look at the last 10 you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was really only one or two particular sounds being played in recent years. Most probably the business has grown too big for itself (as many do) and it's too difficult for them to get back to basics unfortunately.

I think i read somewhere that Adam Freeland might be mixing a GU soon which would be a decision that's about 4 years too late imo and another example of how GU has stopped leading and started following.

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___________________
Pretty Simple;
Saturdays at Ffour.