What a great day!

The Rex (Week 17) | Dedicated To Boston's Waste Management System (Keyworth Remix)

When I heard that my favorite Bayer track would get a remix treatment from my favorite engineer/producer of the last couple of months I almost jumped a hole into my ceiling. The hype was unbelievable for me. I waited until the perfect moment to listen to this track. I finally took the time and I must say that the result was well worth the wait.

Keyworth his signature sound is woven around the original melody flow and after a while he introduces a synth so incredibly haunting  I was actually frightened for a second. After listening to this a few times, I must say he stayed very true to the original but reconstructed and rewove it into something more keyworth. The end result is phenomenal, and although the original is more than good, it's been surpassed by this remix.

I ordered my album today (the day before I'm typing this) and 5 previews alone have shown me that this is going to be one of the highlights of the year. This bonus only increased that by tenfold. Daft Punk, Henry Saiz, Mat Zo, Bayer with a Keyworth remix...This is going to be an incredible year for music.

Essential Zo: How Mat Zo Got It All Right

In the small amount of years that I have been following around Mat Zo, I've already been surprised more than I could possible imagine. Where made a huge impact on me during my enlightened year of 2011, and actually became my number one although I have only heard from him for a year, his 2012 felt somewhat off. I don't know the exact reason, but although his superb Bipolar EP release, something felt amiss. When his album got announced, I surprisingly found myself indifferent to it all. I believe the fact that his recent direction have been a little of a no for me. Where "The Sky" is still a track I can't wrap my head around, "Easy" is simply a track I don't think fits in the image of Zo that I have been having. Where "The Sky" again did something unique, "Easy" just felt like a wrong attempt at a major hit. After hearing the original version instead of the Porter Robinson collab, I can sort of see how that happened. But still. My thrill was gone.

Was, because his Essential Mix effort changed it all for me. A year ago, I wrote about the misuse and misconception I believe can be found in the nowadays mixscene. All too often, even a gloririous oppertunity like a feature in the famous Essential Mix from BBC is wasted by likes of..well way too many. When word got out Mat was going to get in the spotlights, I was already fearing the worst. Judging from his latest sets, I was expecting nothing more than some cheeky house mashups. But from the very first tone, I was proven wrong. It was unbelievable, and an example to all the other essential mixers to come. He took a wopping 70 track setlist and made it work brilliantly. The genres are all over the place, yet the tempo and mixing is inch perfect. He actually seemed to know that this essential mix is a showcase of everything you are as a dj. Mat shows to be as versatile as his music suggest, featuring with tracks from the past and from the now (and even a few Anjuna ID's from the future!). I very much like that, as most artist seem to be completely unaware of what's happening outside their range of production. With this, mat again shows how far away he stands from the gazillion of producers out there.

After listening to it again at full force yesterday night, I'm happy to conclude that Mat Zo has completely revamped my interest in him and that I'm really stoked for the album, as his ID's sounded great as well!

Bottomline: I once took the comparison of the Daft boys with Mat, and this mix shows me I can still stand behind that statement with proud feet. Very, and I mean very interested to his 2013 moves!

The Rex (Week 03) | Before Me (Leftwing & Kody Remix)

New names, new label, new Deep House for me to enjoy. This track simply has all the DP elements I like to see in a track. The raw bassline, the subtle synths and the stunning groove. This track sortof came out of nowhere for me as I blindly went to check out the mere cover, which is insanely good! I turned out to find a stellar deep house track that I will be playing much and much more over the following couple of months.

The Fossil (Week 02) | The Festival

A true forgotten classic this week. When I put on "Laser Kissed Trance" mixed by Above & Beyond for the first time, a legendary CD amongst the trance community, this track immediately struck me. The energy, the pace, the sheer power this mystery trance track intrueged me for days.

Now, I rediscovered this hidden treasure via Above & Beyond's 2004 Essential Mix. Again, I was struck with pure awe when hearing this breathtaking fossil. I must have gone back to the break untill I got home. The soothing words of the astronaut, declaring everything is okay still haunt me when I hear the very first note of the angelic cries of the back choir, indicating it's buildup time. This track gave me so much, it could no longer go through my daily life without a name. After some searching, I found the tracks name and it's obscure, seemingly erased past. "The Festival".

"The Festival" is an example to me of how trance can affect your state of mind. So often have I heard or read  the word "uplifting" where I felt nothing. This however, sends me to places I never went before. I like to call it "The Space Lift" track, as the break strongly remind me of Tranquillity Base space themed homage to the Buzz Aldrin's part in space exploration. At first, I was even convinced that it was some version of the so called "Buzz". But no, it was Scintilator. A name I will hear nothing about apart from this very track. But that might be just enough for a lifetime.

The Rex (Week 02) | Lange - Hold That Sucker Down

Updating trance classics is not new, but most definetly a popular thing to do at the moment. Many artist fail miserably. A good example would be the current string of "updated" classics on Anjunabeats at the moment. From Norin & Rad to Maor Levi, each and everyone of them do a horrible job. And there are more examples. Can a revamp, a revival of the old never be good? It most definitely can.

Staying true to Quarted T.O.'s original, Lange accomplished to create a stunning rework that completely keeps the fire of seventeen years ago alive. When reworked like this, I can't say do anything other than appreciate the outcome. Certain tracks need to stay alive throughout the years, so people can find their way to the original that brought so many ripples into the water of the trance scene.

Lange is a Trance artist that I know not so much about as I should have. But it seems that I need to pay more attention to him, as most of his tracks are pretty much in my style of trance. Last year, his "Coming Home" track was being played regularly via my speakers. With this rework, it will be no different.

Evolutionary (Week 01) | Driving Me Wild

It's been a while since I've done this, but I think it's about time to pick this up again. A track like "Driving Me Wild" isn't something I'm going to come across again very soon, so a it deserves nothing less than this Evolutionary mention.

That Anjunadeep is moving to Deep House is no secret. The shift has been gradually happening this year, launched by Dusky's EP, and confirmed by the change of arms in the anjunadeep compilation series: Jody Wisternoff will be replacing Jaytech for 05. I was sceptic at first, as I loved 01 till 04 to bits! But after checking out Jody's Way Out There mixtapes, I must simply say that the chanced of deep 05 becoming the best in the series is big.

Anyway, the official rebirth of "Anjunadeep" into, well, AnjunaDEEP is initiated by this mind boggling three piece EP from newcomer Kahwe. The EP in it's entirety is incredible, but it's title track "Driving Me Wild" is clearly the golden track of the bunch. Instantly liked it actually. I looked it up when it appeared on the Anjunadeep Release Schedule, and what I found what an stunning chemistry between audio and video. Beautiful ladies with beautiful beats...Is there anything more to life?

But besides beautiful ladies in lingerie dancing around on Kahwe's beats, what makes this new deep release so darn special? It's a combination of many things. Many good things! For instance, the deep bassline is the best bassline I've heard in my green experience as a Deep House enhusiast. Yes, better than Roth and better than Dusky, two bonified legends. It makes the whole track so tasty. Add to that the clever symbiotic melody and smart classy vocal loops, and there you have it: a true deep house diamond. And I know that the word perfect or diamond is used more than it should be, but this track is so incredibly right in every sense of the word. Beautiful, beautiful stuff that makes me glad I'm spending my time and effort for deep house.

This gem is getting released alongside two other great tracks called "Anything" and "Yew". I can only hope one of those three tracks makes it on Deep 05, because the whole package is nothing less than absolutely amazing.