I liked his work with Maria Nayler. They made some really nice songs together.
Swamper
I heard about his passing while I was 15 minutes into Jean-Michel Jarre's first Canadian show -- I finally had a chance to see Jean-Michel Jarre perform life - it was his first time in Canada and I got to hear "Oxygene 4" which was my first exposure to electronic music growing up. That sound resonated with me but it stayed dormant until a decade later when I came across Robert Mile's "Children" and bought the "Dreamland" CD. It was such a refreshing, different sound! To put it in perspective, I was barely out of high school and hadn't even been to a nightclub at that point ...and it was years before I went to my first rave. I tried to hunt around for this kind of music but it was a fruitless endeavour since it was labelled as "Mediterranean Progressive" and "Dream House" and none of the shops carried that. Thankfully the Net / .mp3 and Napster showed up and then TA. He really did change my life in a positive way I couldn't predict back in 1996.
Reading articles today it says he passed of cancer. I had also forgot this bit:
Miles has stated two motives for the writing of "Children". One was as a response to photographs of child war victims his father had brought home from a humanitarian mission in the former Yugoslavia.
The other, inspired by his career as a DJ, was to create a track to end DJ sets, intended to calm rave attendants prior to their driving home as a means to reduce car accident deaths.
Sad to see a legend go out so young.
Sykonee
This has always been my go-to Miles jam:
r5a
wow, thats really sad. rest in peace. probably one of the first electronic songs i heard that got me into the music.
DJ RANN
Truly sad.
I remember being in a big london club (maybe Clockwork Orange) and it was someone like Daniele Divoli or Brandon block who dropped Children towards the end of their set but middle of the night. Probably the first house club night I'd ever been to and that track absolutely melted down the club. No one had heard it before and allegedly that was the first time it was played in a club as the DJ had an acetate. It was all over the charts in the months that followed and I'll admit it got overplayed but there's always something amazing about that production.
Dance Music lost a true talent. RIP Roberto.
Spacey Orange
Bummed as well. I remember when I first heard it as well. It was the fall of 1996 and living in LA when I tuned in to Groove Radio and the DJ was going on about a how it was a world exclusive. Definitely blew me away and bought the CD single at the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Blvd. Whatever one's opinion of Children, it definitely was a seminal track in electronic music history. RIP
Light The Fuse
a couple of roberts tunes left a giant footprint on my early teenagerdom and discovery of music, electronic music and trance in general. rip mate. you will be missed.
Lews
I think 'One & One' was the first song of his I heard, actually; it was the opening track on what was probably the first Bedroom-DJ set I ever downloaded, forever ago. Not really my brand of gin today, but still enjoy 'Children' and 'Red Zone 3' for sure, as well as that 2nd Disc of 'Renaissance London.'
Far too young, that's a real shame for his friends and family. RIP :(
SYSTEM-J
Ah yes, that Renaissance mix, where he attempts to eradicate the "dream dance" image forever by twatting out 70 minutes of acid techno and face-melting goa.
There's no denying that Children was one of the most influential dance records ever made. At the time, I don't suppose there had ever been a record quite like it. Not only did it create a deluge of commercial "hook" records from the likes of DJ Quicksilver, it also had an undeniable influence on the trance/progressive of the day. And it recruited probably millions of people into the electronic music scene. I remember a school teacher playing it to us in a music class when I was 12 or 13 years old and being captivated by it.
As an aside, years ago I grabbed this maxi CD of One & One from a second hand market stall, with some pretty strong underground remixes on it. That Joe T Vannelli remix (not the same as his Light Remix which is on Youtube) is absolutely stomping:
damn he will b missed , one of the greatest to ever do it.
tetatdo
It's been almost a year and I find myself still really sad about Robert Miles passing away. I dont think Ive ever been sad about any artist or musician passing away. It's really weird. His music really had a deep impact in my younger, formative years. Especially 23am. Yet so did Tom petty, and other artists, but I still can get choked up about Robert Mile's passing. I can't really explain it. Everyone seems to remember him for Dreamland but I find that his talents went far beyond.
The last year I've spent alot of time listening to his later stuff, and even though I really hated Organik when it first came out, I've found it to be extremely good, probably one of my favorite of his releases. It's lush with many different sounds, beats and melody.
Even thirteen was really really good. Obviously a far departure from his musical repertoire but even after a year of regularly listening to it, I find it stands up to the test of time and I
keep going back to it.
Somnambulism is fantastic, it plays like a rock and roll jam session...I dig the entire album, all the way through. Which is really rare these days. I cant remember the last time I picked up an entire album and liked all of it as a whole. I usually get bored with new music and skip through tracks.
The wolf always makes me really sad. The melancholic tone of the track, juxtaposed with it being the last song on his last album ever.
I really wish his website, or the website for his label were still up. It would have been a good tribute to him and the history of is work. Old blog posts, promotional materials for his albums all would be cool to refer to as a tribute Sadly, all lost to time.
Evolve140
Childern was an absolute must have track in my MP3 collection as a teenager. Anytime I'd have to rebuild my music library for whatever reason, crashes and what have you, it was a no brainer, Robert Miles - Children was just one of those tracks you didn't even think twice about that you just had to have it.
