iLove Trance MusicBlank & Jones | iLove Trance Music

Friday Flashback 25-09-09

Stuart — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:56:16 +0000

Heya party people, put your hands in the air! It’s that time of the week again! Yes, Friday Flashback time. And I wanna hear your heart beats at this one because it’s another trance massive! Blank & Jones and their single Heartbeat. The single “Heartbeat” has three versions: Club Mix, Laid Back Mix and No Vox Mix. It was released on vinyl in December 1997 on Gang Go Music label and it’s included on the debut album of Blank & Jones called “In Da Mix”. “In Da Mix” was released in 1999 on Kontor Records and Gang Go Music and contains other hits like “Flying To The Moon”, “Cream” and “After Love”, but we’ll get back to that later.

Now… let’s pay a little attention on the history of Blank & Jones. Blank & Jones’ members are Jan Pieter Blank (born June 15, 1971), known as Piet Blank; René Runge (born June 27, 1968), better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold (N*D*K) (born December 17, 1969). The band is based in Cologne, Germany and when it first started producing the duo was called “Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones”.

Blank & Jones mix DJ and live, making the most of today’s technology. “We do everything digitally, on the basis of Final Scratch, which allows us to use our own edits and mixes, nothing comes straight from tape. Every set we play is unique, not only sound-wise but also in terms of what we play and how we play it.”, as they say on their official website www.blankandjones.com

So, only thinking of such classics, how can your heart not just skip a beat?

Download Blank & Jones – Heartbeat

List of Trance Tracks From Some Facebook Friends

Stuart — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:00:28 +0000

I compiled this list last week alongside the Twitter list published Monday. Thanks once again to all of those who contributed!
I asked on my status update for people to list their 5 favourite trance tunes and be featured on the site. You may see some duplicates here which leaves me thinking I’ll set-up a poll on the blog in the future.

Matt Handy
Robert Miles – Children
Energy 52 – Cafe del Mar
Underworld – Rez
Jam and Spoon – Odessy To Anoya
Bedrock – For What You Dream Of

Sue Portman
Binary Finary – 1998
Moogwai – Viola
Verracocha – Carte Blanche
System F – Out Of The Blue
Vincent de Moor – Fly Away

Chaz Pope
Rank 1 – Airwave
Coast 2 Coast – Be With Me
Ron Hagen & Pascal M – Take You There
Lange – I Believe
Lost Tribe – Gamemaster

Martin Bradley
System F – Out Of The Blue
Rank 1 – Airwave
Tiesto – Suburban Train
Push – The Legacy
Cygnus X – The Orange Theme

David Blythe
Push – Universal Nation
Lost Tribe – Gamesmaster
Lost Witness – Happiness Happening
Matt Darey – Beautiful
Verracocha – Carte Blanche

James Armstrong
James Holden – Horizons
Flat 6 – It’s Too Late
Rene Ablaze – Floating
Art of Trance – Love Washes Over (Pheric Mix)
Albion – Air 2000 (Oliver Lieb Remix)

John Binks
Oceanlab – Satellite
Dutch Force – Deadline
Gouryella – Gouryella
Blank & Jones – Cream
PvD – For An Angel

I know many of the above were really wanting to list many more tracks, and who can blame them!

What 5 favourites do you have? Please leave them below!

Cheers

Stuart

Top 50 Trance DJs

Stuart — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:13:34 +0000

I was not entirely happy with compiling the Top 25 for a number of reasons. Mostly because it was made up of known names, many new artists who had broken the scene were missing and I felt it was a bland read because of that. So I went back through the list at DJmag.com and spotted a number of artists who should be noted.

If you did not catch the Top 25 Trance DJs post I made please click here before delving into the second half which includes those from 26-50.

Here I have now compiled the list further to complete the Top 50 Trance DJs as voted by DJmag.com readers!

…26. DJ Feel
27. Yahel
28. DJ Shah
29. John O’Callaghan
30. Blank & Jones
31. Cosmic Gate
32. Simon Patterson
33. Gabriel & Dresden
34. Richard Durand
35. Matt Hardwick
36. Signum
37. Tiddey
38. Greg Downey
39. Marcel Woods
40. Solar System
41. Skazi
42. Mike Koglin
43. Solarstone
44. Astral Projection
45. Leon Bolier
46. Ronski Speed
47. Alex M.O.R.P.H. & Woody van Eyden
48. John ’00′ Fleming
49. Christopher Lawrence
50. Bt

The last three were just outside the official Top 100 list.

DJs in the list I was glad to see…

Artists I was particularly glad to see in this list were Simon Patterson, Richard Durand, Leon Boiler, Marcel Woods, Solarstone and John ’00′ Fleming. Also worth noting the continuation of psy-trance being featured as it continues its popularity across the globe.

As mentioned in the comments for the Top 25 Trance DJs list, there are again a high number of DJs in the list who are well known for their productions, and more so for their productions than their ability as a DJ in many people’s opinion.
My thoughts are that in any part of the music industry you have to be accomplished as an artist releasing music (if your actually writing it is another matter) to be taken seriously and climb the stardom ladder. Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Kings of Leon, Metallica, Madonna, Lilly Allen, none of them would of got anywhere if they had stayed in a pub/club singing covers. For that reason I think it is wise to assume the same goes within the electronic music industry and the top lists reinforce that idea.

My advice if you want to make the Top 100 DJ list is; start learning to produce music with the intention to release some tracks and worry about your DJ skills being polished and refined later

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