Originally posted by Trance-M
Twan did a bunch of interviews during Luminosity.
Enjoy the story behind "Li Kwan - Point Zero" with Matt Darey:
New album 'Retrospective' out on July 27th exclusively on his site!
Cheers for keeping this going.
I was about to go in to a rant about his dumb sunglasses but actually he's being pretty honest and down to earth about his career.
I met him back in 1998 at a small club/party a mate was throwing and it was around the time he'd had a strong of monster hits (Game Master, Rendevous, Sun is SHining, Grace remix etc), a friend was DJing and we said lets get Matt on the decks - would be quite a coup to get someone with those credentials and he politely declined:
he said he doesn't know how to mix. We thought he was joking or just being shy but he confirmed "I literally don't know how to DJ" and we suddenly realized that he was telling the truth. It seemed bizarre that a guy that was largely responsible for half a dozen of the largest tracks over the best part of the decade, and had what are considered bone fide "classics", had never mixed before.
Seeing this, I'm surprised that he still didn't start until 2001. In fairness it was quite common for some producers not to have DJ'd (like BT whpo also didn't really start until he'd had a string of hits) but it just seemed odd that he'd had so many hits by them and never done it. It's got to the point that nearly everyone has learned to DJ before they ever even touch a sequencer, but it reminds me it used to be the other way around.
He also mentioned Joey Negro (aka Dave Lee) and I got the same impression. He was the type of guy that would give people chances, which is kinda fitting becuase Dave has something like 40+ monikers that he's released tracks under in all sorts of genres.
Jul-10-2019 01:40
Hides in Shadow
Suspended User
Registered: Apr 2019
Location: In Deep Space
I dig those sunglasses and it fits his persona nicely as well as his haircut, he's a trancer at best, no, trance pioneer.
Originally posted by Trance-M
I have been looking forward to this interview Twan did with Armin, despite I'm not a huge Armin fan currently. It's a great interview though, so enjoy:
What a fucking twat; He's trying to say he created Blue fear in 1997 "before trance even existed".
Hoe about Age of Love (1990) or Bassomatic - Fascinating Rhythm (1990) or Quench Dreams (1994) or Sasha or BT.
FFS.
He's also trying to do this weird thing of making up some definition of "club trance" as if home trance is a thing.
Jul-11-2019 21:07
SYSTEM-J
IDKFA.
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Manchester
Ten thousand trance records made before 1997 but you use Fascinating Rhythm as an example? It's about as trancey as Groove Is In The Heart.
Dude seriously. I listened to that for maybe the 1st time in 10 years the other day, and aside from the poorly synced drum machines and vocal which I never cared for, it's basically the archetype of pumping prog.
I'm tempted to tighten it up and remix it.
Last edited by DJ RANN on Jul-13-2019 at 00:36
Jul-13-2019 00:30
MSZ
godspeed
Registered: Jun 2005
Location: kill me
you produce? dont think i've heard anything from you the decade ive been here. Do you have anything that rivals Juan's rolling bassline?
Jul-13-2019 02:30
Hides in Shadow
Suspended User
Registered: Apr 2019
Location: In Deep Space
quote:
Originally posted by MSZ
you produce? dont think i've heard anything from you the decade ive been here. Do you have anything that rivals Juan's rolling bassline?
dont think i've heard anything from you the decade ive been here. Do you have anything that rivals Juan's rolling bassline?
For several years I couldn't make anything (I signed an NDA and IP agreement when working for a composer that meant anything I made for a while wasn't mine). I then posted some shit up a few years ago, did remixes for a couple of the labels that used to post on TA, but I barely ever get to finish anything now and I can't be arsed to post up WIPs. I probably should. Time is the issue now - Most of the stuff I get to make is just 30 mins maybe once a week now and since I got phase DVS I've mainly been noodling with that - I've barely fired up logic or cubase in months.
Jul-13-2019 18:07
Hides in Shadow
Suspended User
Registered: Apr 2019
Location: In Deep Space
That ain't no biggie Rann, it's all good. You don't got to post wips if you don't want to. I was trying to get Jack into producing but he writes so I don't think it's happening any time soon.
Last edited by Hides in Shadow on Jul-13-2019 at 21:47
Jul-13-2019 21:32
Trance-M
Since 1994 tranceaddict
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: Limburg, Netherlands
quote:
Originally posted by DJ RANN
What a fucking twat; He's trying to say he created Blue fear in 1997 "before trance even existed".
He's also trying to do this weird thing of making up some definition of "club trance" as if home trance is a thing.
Of course not, he's talking about Holland. He said Ferry and Tiesto already were busy. At the time he started producing Trance wasn't nearly as popular in Holland as it was in Belgium or Germany. Armin was producing more typical club tracks like the ones below, even after he made Blue Fear, notice the typical organ sound. That's why when he made Blue Fear he hadn't trance as a genre in mind, that's what he meant in my opinion.
There were some compilations like Hypnotrance over here in Holland (Arcade was a famous Dutch label back then), first one in 1994, but it contained tracks by many German producers: https://www.discogs.com/label/386130-Hypnotrance
Armin made tracks like these, I only found out later that he made them, last one he made with Olav Basoski, I uploaded the first two:
___________________
Longest (classic) Trance playlist on YouTube (5000 tracks released up to and including 1997), click here
Jul-14-2019 20:26
DJ RANN
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: May 2001
Location: Hollywood....
quote:
Originally posted by Trance-M
Of course not, he's talking about Holland. He said Ferry and Tiesto already were busy. At the time he started producing Trance wasn't nearly as popular in Holland as it was in Belgium or Germany. Armin was producing more typical club tracks like the ones below, even after he made Blue Fear, notice the typical organ sound. That's why when he made Blue Fear he hadn't trance as a genre in mind, that's what he meant in my opinion.
There were some compilations like Hypnotrance over here in Holland (Arcade was a famous Dutch label back then), first one in 1994, but it contained tracks by many German producers: https://www.discogs.com/label/386130-Hypnotrance
Armin made tracks like these, I only found out later that he made them, last one he made with Olav Basoski, I uploaded the first two:
I think I know what you're getting at but at the same time being too kind in his defense.
Eve PVD put out some records that are not what we consider trance (i.e. Pump this party etc) but I think what he's trying to do is say there's difference between club trance and trance, which is bollocks.
The first time I went to holland, I think in 1996 I went to a a few clubs and all of them were really playing house - some hard house, some dare I say it handbag-ish stuff, actually probably not too far from what those Armin tracks were.
I actually think he wanted to just be a DJ and producer and was just throwing shit against the wall to see what would take...and Blue Fear did take. I think that's when he decided to be a trance producer.
Back in the UK in around 1997, I remember Ferry playing his first UK gig at the camden palace, and Graham Gold was quite proud of the fact he was being a champion of the "dutch sound" that was coming around and within a year, it somewhat dominated and it was really all about Ferry, Tiesto, Vincent De Moor, Misjah etc.
Armin was really just starting out and frankly, even though he had hits later like communication and LSS, he was a minnow comapred to Ferry et Al until the 00's when his career eclipsed them.