Masoud feat. Josie – Leave it All Behind (Tritonal’s Air Up There mix)

For those that don’t know, Josie’s the the sister of popular vocalist Jaren who made tracks such as Unforgivable and others with Armin.  Her voice suits this track from the up and coming rising star duo Tritonal from Texas, USA.  The two have cranked out over 15 tracks in 2008 and half as many remixes; here at TDM, we pay special homage to those who we feel give the trance dance music scene the dance part of it.  Their music is most similar to Ferry Corsten’s own style, (their remix of We Belong is amazing as well) and this release does not disappoint as well.  We usually put our favorite track at the end of all the reviews, but we thought we’d switch it up this time.  Premiering on ASOT 420, this track may have gone unnoticed to much of the general populace, but definitely not here at TDM.  Check it out today.

John O’ Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher – Take it All Away (Sean Tyas Remix)

One of the hit tracks from JOC’s new album: never fade away, this song debuted with a Marcus Schossow remix on ASOT, but the rather lackluster beats of Marcus found its way one end of our ears and out the other.  The track was a bit too bland to be digested, but the core song just needed a remixing artist that knows how to remix (especially in the style of trance he specializes in), and that is the final finished product with the Sean Tyas remix of this track.  It’s great, amazing, and a host of other adjectives.  Cop it today.

DJ Tiesto – Louder than Boom (Extended Mix)

Love the artwork on the vinyl collection.  With that said, Tiesto is back to his King of Tech-Trance ways.  Killer track with an amazing break and buildups + payoffs.  I think that in all honesty, the graphic above says it all about the track.  Grade A track from Tiesto, go find it on iTunes and get it now.

Dash Berlin – Waiting (Vocal Mix)
Dash Berlin – Never Cry Again

These two tracks are the headlining vocal tracks from Dash Berlin’s new album, which has already established vocal trance successes Man on the Run and Till the Sky Falls Down.  The editorial staff here at TDM feels these two are the two that stand out particularly in the album, and apparently so do most other DJ’s and artists (like armin, A&B etc) who have already featured them on their radio shows. If you get a chance, check the album out and especially these two tracks.

Aly & Fila – Khepera (Leon Bolier Remix)

Egypt’s legendary duo Aly & Fila have another hit on their hands with Khepera.  The release is combined with Leon Bolier’s amazing remix of the track.  We prefer the Bolier remix, but both are quite good.  Aly & Fila are two artists that keep pumping out exactly the type of music that we love so much here at TDM, so keep an eye on them and their radio show Future Sounds of Egypt (which also happens to be their record label name)

M6 – Deep Inside (Vocal Tech Mix)

M6 is an alias that pretty much only makes quality tunes, from when he started using the M6 alias and his first couple tracks.  This one is no different.  Beautiful melodic tech trance hit, it definitely warrants some attention for those who like smooth melodic buildups and the grating tech trance sounds we’re so familiar with from Mark Sixma regardless of if he’s producing under M6 or Re:Locate etc.

Sean Tyas – I Remember Now (Original Remix)

Falling in line with what we said earlier about Aly & Fila, Sean Tyas recently completely reworked his old track “Remember” and re-released it as “I Remember Now” under Aly & Fila’s label FSOE.  This isn’t some minor rework or mastering and AR’ing, the only people who will remember his original song from hearing this are die-hard tyas fans.  This track definitely has much more variety and is a very strong case for the ways Tyas’s producing experience has grown.  The release comes with a Push (M.I.K.E) remix, and a Sied van Riel remix, but honestly, Tyas songs are not really meant to be remixed.  His sounds far better than the others, as they should since his songs have a pure dance element to them that MIKE and SvR do not use in their productions.  Don’t get us wrong, some of our favorite songs are plastic boy and push songs, but Tyas really brings an element of pure uplift to trance that really should not be corrupted by other artists.  Definitely a tune to check out.

Lange ft. Sarah Howells – Let it All Out

Leave it all behind, Take it all away, Let it all out?  Is there some kind of trend with female vocalized song names?  All joking aside, this is an awesome vocal track which is the follow-up to last year’s “Out of the Sky”, which in our opinion is one of the top tracks Lange has ever produced in his many many long years of producing.  It’s a tough bar to compare any track to, and on first listen, this song does not compare.  It definitely grows on you though, and is most certainly catchy and worth taking a listen to.  Check it out if you get a chance.

First State ft. Sarah Howells – Brave (Original Mix)

This is the promo song for First State’s new upcoming album, once again with Sarah Howells as the vocalist.  In a bit of a similar fashion, we did not enjoy it that much at first listen; but with a few plays, the song has become incredibly more catchy and great.  First State uses Cosmic Gate’s new bassline sound and a few other things to achieve a harmonious balance between vocals and ambient sounds.  This track gathered the highest margin of Future Favorite on ASOT with almost 50% of all votes, and if you give it a few listens you will know why.

Roger Shah & Tenishia ft. Lorilee – I’m Not God

Yeah, there’s definitely a few artists that we love here and feature all the time (although we are not paid to!).  Roger Shah is one of those whose music does not immediately epitomize Dance Trance Music, but almost all of his beautiful balearic tracks are so melodic and driving that we feel the need to include almost all his new remixes and tracks in our reviews.  This one is no different.  Amazing vocals provided by Lorilee, his collaboration with Tenishia results in outstanding tracks on the release.  We really cannot decide if the Tenishia remix or the Roger Shah remix is better, but this is a good thing because both are great and vastly different in style.  Another magical production from his label Magic Island, get it when you can.

Oceanlab – Sirens of the Sea Remixed

CD 1
1. If I Could Fly (Jaytech Remix)
2. Come Home (Michael Cassette Remix)
3. On The Beach (Andy Duguid Remix)
4. Lonely Girl (Gareth Emery Remix)
5. On A Good Day (Above & Beyond Club Mix)
6. I Am What I Am (Lange Remix)
7. Breaking Ties (Above & Beyond Analogue Haven Mix)
8. Miracle (Above & Beyond Club Mix)
9. Ashes (Oliver Smith Remix)
10. Sirens Of The Sea (Above & Beyond Club Mix)

CD2
1. Secret (Andrew Bayer Remix)
2. Just Listen (Myon & Shane 54 Remix)
3. On A Good Day (16 Bit Lolitas Remix)
4. Miracle (Michael Cassette Remix)
5. Sirens Of The Sea (Sonorous Remix)
6. Breaking Ties (Duderstadt Vocal Remix)
7. Satellite (Original Above & Beyond Mix)
8. Sky Falls Down (Armin van Buuren Remix)
9. Clear Blue Water (Ferry Corsten Remix)
10. Beautiful Together (Signum Remix)

The UK’s legendary trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki comprise Above & Beyond.  Throw in a timeless vocalist in Justine Suissa and you have Oceanlab, whose productions have more or less all been some of the sickest tracks in the industry.  This new album is not all that new at all, as it is a compilation of “new” remixes of their Sirens of the Sea album by multiple artists.  The worst part is half of the tracks on the remix album aren’t even remixed at all.  For your convenience, new tracks that have debuted on this album are italicized.  As you can see, there’s not that many.  With all that said, new tracks or not what we care about here at TDM is how money they are, and by that yardstick alone this album does not disappoint.  One huge surprise on the tracklist is the lack of Daniel Kandi’s remix of On a Good Day, which arguably has been one of the biggest remixes for any song period on their original album.  It was the most played track in ASOT 400 celebrations throughout all the artists yet failed to find its way onto Oceanlab’s remix album.  Our personal favorite tracks have been bolded once again for your convenience.

From the absolutely awesome relatively recent Signum remake of the original Beautiful Together back to the olden days with Ferry & Armin’s remixes of Clear Blue Water and Sky Falls Down, these tracks bring a sense of nostalgia to a time before these current Dutch powerhouses were a common household name in EDM.  Back then Armin was still quite weak in his own productions, did not have the track selection and mixing skills he has now, and about the only thing he absolutely excelled at was remixing tracks like Sky Falls Down, Seven Cities, etc.  While we did complain a bit about some redundant older tracks, in the end… who can truly argue with putting Satellite on a compilation of top tracks?  If one can swallow the pill of ego (in being old-school) and self-denial that the late 90′s were the best era of trance, it is very apparent that it is one of the top trance tracks of all time.

Overall Score: 8.5/10

A State of Trance 2009

Disc 1 – On the Beach
1. John O’Callaghan feat. Lo-Fi Sugar – Never Fade Away (Andy Duguid Mix – On the Beach Intro Edit)
2. Sunlounger feat. Kyler England – Change Your Mind (Myon and Shane 54 Remix)
3. M6 – Paradise Lost
4. Ron Hagen & Pascal M – Riddles in the Sand
5. Mat Zo – The Fractal Universe
6. The Blizzard with Gåte – Iselilja (Sunn Jellie & The Blizzard Dub Remix)
7. Monogato – Miami Vibe (Omnia Remix)
8. Josh Gabriel presents Winter Kills – Deep Down
9. Myon and Shane 54 feat. Aruna – Helpless (Monster Mix)
10. tyDi feat. Audrey Gallagher – You Walk Away
11. Andy Moor & Ashley Wallbridge feat. Meighan Nealon – Faces
12. Rex Mundi feat. Susana – Nothing At All
13. Jerome Isma-Ae – Shaguar
14. Dash Berlin with Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren – Man on the Run (Nic Chagall Remix)

Disc 2 – In the Club
1. John O’Callaghan feat. Sarah Howells – Find Yourself (Cosmic Gate Remix)
2. Fabio XB & Ronnie Play feat. Gabriel Cage – Inside of You (Cosmic Gate Remix)
3. Gaia – Tuvan
4. Michael Tsukerman – Sivan
5. Cressida – Onyric (Stoneface & Terminal Remix)
6. Claudia Cazacu feat. Audrey Gallagher – Freefalling
7. Aly & Fila – Rosaires
8. Alex M.O.R.P.H. feat. Ana Criado – Sunset Boulevard
9. Signum – Addicted
10. Robert Nickson – Circles (Andy Blueman Remix)
11. Neptune Project – Aztec
12. Thomas Bronzwaer – Look Ahead
13. Phuture Sound feat. Angie – Come to Me (ASOT 2009 Reconstruction)
14. Dreastic – Blade Runner
15. 3rd Moon – Monsun

It’s no secret that the staff here at TDM are fans of Armin’s ASOT yearly compilations.  Armin’s good taste in track selection in his sets and live events carry through to his professional productions.  In general, most CD’s released by artists are 85% fodder and 15% actual content.  Armin’s a State of Trance compilations are generally the best tracks that have come across his plate in the recent year.  This one is no exception.  Then again, being the head of Armada and being the #1 DJ in the world gets a lot of quality tracks passed your way before anyone else.  With artists like DJ Shah as Sunlounger, M6, Robert Nickson, John O’Callaghan, Cosmic Gate, Josh Gabriel, Myon & Shane 54 as the Black Army, Dash Berlin, Andy Moor, Thomas Bronzwaer,  and tyDi, it’s hard to imagine this compilation being anything short of amazing.  In that regard of showcasing each of these artists’ extreme talent in producing, ASOT 2009 does exactly.  Don’t think, just get it today.

Overall Score: 9.5/10