Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Surrender to something

Staying in the Benelux area I haven't written about Lasgo before either. The eurodance/eurotrance scene made big by Dutch Alice Deejay and since then fronted by Belgian Milk Inc, Ian Van Dahl, Sylver and not least Lasgo who probably have had the biggest crossover hit of them all "Something".



"Something" just hit me instantly and when the following singles was just as good there where no doubt I needed to own the album which didn't disappoint.

Lasgo followed the succes with a second album just as good, including the beautiful "Who's That Girl" and the hits "Lying" and "Surrender".



Since then there have been silence for three years, but Lasgo has now returned with a new girl in front and hopefully many more great tracks to come!

Time for a cow

I just realized I haven't written about Milk Inc until now. Time to make up for that since I've been a fan since the start.

And the start was with a huge hit across the European clubscene with the excellent "La Vache" which landed at a perfect time for them in 1996-97 when the classic eurodance constellation - male rapper/female singer - era was slowly turning towards either bubblegum or a more trancy sound.



The following singles didn't do that well outside of Benelux or the trance scene and I thought of them as somewhat of a one hit wonder even though I new they where still releasing. It wasn't until they around the new millenium found their current form with Regi Penxten and Linda Mertens in front and the amazing "Walk On Water" that I really started taking notice of them!



Since then they have released several great tracks, one of them being my favorite from their side and one of my all time favorites as well. The simply awesome "Time":



Milk Inc has slowly build a base of faithful followers and has proven to be a viable dance act, most others only surviving to their second album if lucky.

Happy New Year to you all!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Best albums of 2008

Well, as said 2008 wasn't really anything to talk about as far as album goes. On the brigth side the release plans for 2009 looks VERY promising though!

But I still think I should give a little feedback on the 2008 albums. None of them really makes it into my regular playlist in the future I think, but still worth mentioning is a couple from Belgium.

Kate Ryan had huge succes with her cover "Ella Elle L'a" taken from the album "Free" which makes it onto my 2008 list. As usual with Kate Ryan, "Free" includes great songs in both english and french like the single "L.I.L.Y." and the other great french cover song "Voyage Voyage":



Teaming up with Kate Ryan both as far as geographic origin and musical genre goes are Milk Inc with their latest album "Forever" which is one of their better albums and one of the best of 2008. It includes the excellent title track:



Finally though absolutely the best album release of the year I do hesitate to mention September's "Dancing In Orbit" as it is not really a new album release but a compilation collecting the best from her previous albums "In Orbit" and "Dancing Shoes" and only released in some countries following her huge succes with the new 2008 UK version of her 2005 song "Cry For You":



Actually a track that could be mentioned as one of the best tracks of 2008 as well.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Best of dance 2008

It's the time of year to start looking back on what the year 2008 has brought us.

On the album side, the year have been really bad as far as I know as I can't even think of any obvious candidates.

But in contrast the year has been superb as goes for tracks! I've already mentioned tracks like Ace Of Base's "Wheel Of Fortune 2009", Fragma's "Memory" and Guru Josh Project's "Infinity 2008" which in my book are the absolute top candidates for best track of 2008.

But other great ones this year are The Attic's "Flash In The Night":



Bob Sinclar's "Together":



And R.I.O.'s "Shine On":

I do know!

Another 90's eurodance artist I didn't really explored until recently even though she's behind another one of my favorites is Pandora.

Her track "Don't You Know" caught my attention the first time I heard it in 1995 and I still give it a play quite often.



In my book Pandora never topped this one, but she have done other great tracks. But again it's a hard one to top!

A magic omen

Returning to some words about the classic 90's eurodance.

One of the best compilations I own is by coincidence also one of my first cd's, "Absolute Let's Dance Opus 5". Being a bit late on the cd-market I actually bought this one of my younger brother who was more and more turning his taste towards hip-hop. I got at a bargain price and didn't gave it much notice on what was on it, just wanting to expand my very small cd library at the time.

As it turned out this was a compilation which - unlike most compilations of today - almost has no fillers but lots and lots of killer tracks and it very much defined my eurodance standards and demands. It is still one of the compilations I turn to most often so it really have passed the test of time.

It also includes one of my all time favorites, a track that really is the epitome of eurodance and a pure classic, Magic Affair's "Omen III"!



Probably because they never really got another hit in Denmark I didn't really explored if Magic Affair had done more greatness. Funny thing is that I at some time must have decided they where from Sweden, so it wasn't until some years ago I bought their album "Omen (The Story Continues...)" and decided to research a little that I learned they where from Germany and have done many great tracks but none as good as "Omen III". But ok, not many has!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wheel of finally

I've previously written a review of the Ace Of Base concert in Copenhagen last year. In it I mentioned an amazing electro version of "Wheel Of Fortune". I have no idea why they didn't released it as a single at that time as the net was creating a lot of buzz around Ace Of Base's return to the limelight with a mini-tour and especially about the "Wheel Of Fortune" version they where playing at the concerts.

Well now it have finally been released and it's just as amazing as I remembered it!



I do hope it will get the success it deserves but I fear Ace Of Base again will see dissapointing sales because of weird release plans ruining their momentum. If it where up to me, this one would go straight to the top, and I can't wait for new material hopefully released as announced next year.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Memories of a miracle

As I've said before it seems as if every old dance artist are returning to the music scene again. Well, I'm not the one complaining :-)

Fragma who is best known for their smash 2000 hit "Toca's Miracle":



By the way, I think Alex Gaudino do owe Fragma something for the idea to his "Watch Out" video.

Ok, back to Fragma. They have just returned with a fabulous comeback single "Memory" which deserves all the attention it can get. It got my attention at once and I've been playing it constatly since the first listen.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Your my ticket to ride

When I started this blog it was the intention to make it a blog of my own personal journey into the world of dancemusic. Now it has more become a list of my recommendations of new and old songs (which was actually kind of the intention as well). So returning down the original path for a while...

In the mid 90's I had really started going out every weekend. I was still kind of a novice when it came to music, but had become sure that eurodance was my call. Especially two clubs had my attention at the time and I have many good memories from both including a lot of music memories!

At one of the clubs one of the big hits was Solid Base's "Mirror Mirror":



I quickly found out that Solid Base was behind the song and when they followed with "You Never Know" I couldn't wait for an album. It took some time and it wasn't till sometime later they started hitting at my local bar's jukebox with "Fly To Be Free" I started looking for the debut album again and finally found it. Ironically but not unsurprising it was named "Finally" :-)

Soon after in the late 90's they started hitting it big time with "Ticket To Fly" and many more. And the following albums got big time tv advertising. Solid Base actually got so popular that they did a song for Pringles chips commercials "Once You Pop (You Can't Stop)".

Like the rest of the eurodance scene Solid Base sadly disappeared quite sudden and is now widely forgotten. In eruodance circles however they are among many (including myself) considered to be one of the favorite acts.

I can't choose among one my many favorites of theirs, so here's one of the more popular Solid Base tracks, "Stay With Me":

Solid Base - Stay Wi..>
Found at skreemr.com


Actually Solid Base is also one of the reasons behind this blogs name...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

What is it with me and angels?

Yes, yet another post with angels in the title and text. This time not in the title of a track but the name of an act.

It's the time of year where one can start looking back on what will become candidates for best of 2008. As for the albums I really don't see many candidates this year, so turning to an older album which I just bought recently and is for sure one of my best buys this year: Angel City's "Love Me Right".

If you like the hitsingles from the album "Do You Know (I Go Crazy)":



And the absolutely amazing "Sunrise":



You won't be disappointed by the album which also features the just as good singles "Love Me Right (Oh Sheila)" and "Touch Me" and many more great tracks!

I sure hope the singer Lara McAllen and the producers get back together and do a follow up on the album sometime soon...

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Free mp3's and free questions

Well, I can see on the statistics of the blog that you readers are out there. And some of you are even comming back! Thank you very much :-)

But the response isn't that big, so please don't be affraid of commenting.

I just updated my links list of free legal mp3 downloads. If you know of any others, let me know and I'll post it and we will all benefit.

Finally to get this blog even more interesting I'll start a little answering service. I do pride myself of some knowledge when it comes to 90's eurodance, but also newer stuuf, house, electro, trance etc. So if you have any questions let me know. Can't find a tracks name, the name of a singer, rumours of new tracks etc. Anything related to the wonderful world of electronic dance/club music. Just ask!

I myself have earlier asked if anyone know anything on the english version of Activ's "Doar Cu Tine" (named "Undressed"). Does anyone know if it was released on an album, a single, digital? I can't seem to find any info anywhere.

Also I would love to know who did the remix of Karma's "Every Time You Leave" which across the net goes by the Benny Benassi Remix suffix. Is it by Benny? It isn't mentioned on any official site so it probably isn't. But who did it then?



So what do you want to know?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The 90's living on to infinity

It has now for quite a long time been a trend to take the old 90's eurodance classics and update them to the dancefloors of today. 2008 have probably (but hopefully not) been the peak of the trend and we have been flooded with electro versions of 90's hits.

You can find a lot of updated versions which are not electro, but turning to those one of the better updates you'll find is from Global Deejays Feat. Technotronic with "Get Up":



And lately I have fallen quite a lot for Guru Josh Project's "Infinity 2008":



Both mentioned are great versions adding something extra to the originals. Hopefully we will see other great electro-updates in the future.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

So sexy bass

Well writing a blog about club oriented music I of course have to do a little advertising of my own venture into the music scene.

Copenhagen Bass is a duo consisting of myself and a friend. Our debut single "So Sexy" is now out!



Available worldwide as download from iTunes and many more download stores...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

International blog

Now I am rambling about dancemusic in weird languages I remembered I visited Iceland last year around this time of year. At that time local popstar Páll Óskar (Paul Oscar) had recently released his two singles "Allt Fyrir Ástina" and "International".



Both big hits on local radiostations and especially "Allt Fyrir Ástina" caught my attention. Well I still like both songs.



By the way Páll Óskar wrote the lyrics to this years Icelandic Eurovision contestant Euroband "This Is My Life".

Friday, August 8, 2008

Active follower

I've recently started listening quite a lot to the brilliant Activ "Visez":



Somewhat similar and just as good as "Doar Cu Tine" and also taken from the 2004 album "Motive".

As they are from Romania and most info-pages are in Romanian it is a bit hard to find info on the "Undressed" version of "Doar Cu Tine". Anyone know anything about it?

Well "Visez" is a great track that has proven it is worth following Activ and their releases.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

She's the one in french

Sometimes it's hard to figure what makes a hit but for Kate Ryan it seems singing in French is the magic formula.

She exploded onto the scene in 2002 with the smash hit "Désenchantée" which became a big hit all over Europe.



And though she have released songs in English both before and after "Désenchantée" they've never given her quite the same succes. Even though they are often just as good. Here's one of my English favorites from her "Only If I":



Her latest is again a song in French. "Ella Elle L'a" which is good on it's way to become as big as "Désenchantée" haven so far gone top 10 in Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Lithuania.



Keep 'em coming Kate. Both in French and English.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I love the 90's too!

I just have to mention the new cooperation between Dr. Alban and Haddaway. Two of the biggest names from the 90's eurodance-scene have joined forces and are out with a brand new track Dr. Alban vs. Haddaway "I Love The 90's".



At first you might think both the sound and lyrics are a bit cheesy, but after some listens it is now one of my absolute favorites at the moment! It really deserves that one of the major radiostations or dj's picked it up and gave it a wider audience than all the blog's and music forum's which have welcomed it with enthusiasm!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Not forever

Last instalment for now in the little "where did they go?"-series goes to Sweden and Double N. The duo first caught my attention with the great "Forever And A Day" featuring Maria Rubia (of Fragma fame) on vocals.

boomp3.com

The song became quite a hit in Denmark where it was featured as one of many theme-songs of that seasons Big Brother TV-show.

Around the same time they also released the less succesful but stil good "Moon Child".

boomp3.com

After which they disappeared... Which is not completely true... They actually did a song called "The Ride" for the movie "Lilja 4-Ever" also released as a single and have now settled as producers under the alias 2N Productions. Producing for such names as Kate Ryan and BWO among others.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Baby I miss your walk on the water

Second instalment in my little "where did they go?"-series goes to Denmark and Catch. Their fantastic debut-single "Walk On Water (Baby U Can)" went all the way to the #1 spot on the danish dancechart.



A song co-written by DJ Encore who later did his own version "You Can Walk On Water" previously posted.

Catch continued with another great poppy dance track "Keep On (Singing Lala)":

boomp3.com

Then they dissapeared. Again as with Dee Dee an album was planned and actually got a title "Sweetest Mystery" but for some reason never got released? A little sneakpeak was actually given on the "Keep On" remixes maxi-single which included two bonus tracks "On And On" and "B.A.B.Y (I Miss You)".

Sunday, June 8, 2008

The one forever

Ok, time to take a view on some of the acts who started off with a blast but then disappeared without a trace. Kicking it off will be Dee Dee!

Fronted by Diana Trippaers and produced by some of the same guys behind Ian Van Dahl the first release "Forever" from 2001 was a major hit across Europe, topping the dancecharts of several countries.



A year later it was followed by the just as great "The One" (and later a french version of "Forever") after which Dee Dee was unofficially shut down.



Rumours have it they actually had produced demo tracks for a full album. But it is sadly stuffed away in some drawer.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Here i go with angels again

Talking about E-type I vividly remember his major comeback with "Angels Crying" which went on to be his greatest hit of all time strongly supported by the slasher horror movie parody music video.



Probably one of the few of his songs which are well known among the mainstream audience.

It was followed by another song "Here I Go Again" continuing the hit succes of "Angels Crying" with another horror movie video. This time a bit of Poltergeist and The Excorsist. It went on to become almost as big as "Angels Crying".

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Eurodance-vision

I personally only watch the Eurovision Song Contest for fun and not because I like the music. But since it's the time of year for the 2008 final I'll take a look back in the history of dancemusic in the Eurovision.

Most dancemusic on the Eurovision have been second rate versions of the real thing, just like rock, pop etc. on the Eurovision mostly is second rate. But thanks to the popular tv-show we all get an insight to the musical culture across Europe (and beyond nowadays). And once in a while we do get some gems out of all the efforts.

In recent years established artists have started to appear more and more frequently. In 2004 both E-type and Scooter entered the local Swedish and German competitions. None of them went on to the international show and the songs isn't among the best material from eithers back catalogue but both with their unique sound and Scooter ending at a respectable 2. place in Germany with "Jigga Jigga".



Often you have to look at the local competitions to find the best dance songs like The Attic's "The Arrival" posted earlier. But you'll also find something good in the international, most notably Antique's "(I Would) Die For You".

free music


And now a true 90's classic Gina G's "Ooh Aah ... Just A Little Bit" which launched Gina G into a short but big career with many hits. Most people outside the UK probably don't even remember the song as a Eurovision song as it for some reason only ended as #8.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Shopping for music

Let me just rant a little about the music industry! Why is it so damn hard to find old (and in some cases also new) dancemusic to buy online? They go on and on about how filesharing is destroying the income of the music industry and yet the only track I can find from a "fairly" big name like Culture Beat to buy on danish download stores are "Mr. Vain". Even their CD's are almost impossible to find both in regular shops and online stores.

I see it as I'm forced to turn to filesharing to find their music!

I would be more than happy to buy a track like Pharao's "There Is A Star". But again it's not available on danish download stores.



Even though it's hard to find as filesharing it is at least possible!
I can easily find the same problems with newer artists.

Another big issue is file formats. Why can't we the buyers choose freely between acc, wma and mp3? I for one hate the hassle of dealing with acc and wma. Again I would have been glad to buy David Guetta's "Delerious" if it where available as mp3.



But the only way is to buy the wma and somehow convert it to mp3. Or again I could choose the easy and free possibility of turning to filesharing again.

I know that dancemusic is only a tiny tiny bit of the income from music. And I have no idea of who is to blame, the artists or the record companys? But I know that dancemusic is not the only genre with these problems and I'm sure the industry could help themself a great deal by using the energy they do on fighting filesharing on giving us opportunities to buy their music instead!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Romania mania

Yes, Romania really has something going on these years. Not only have they given us Akcent and Morandi, a few years ago they gave us O-zone with great traks like "Despre Tine" and "Dragostea Din Tei".

boomp3.com

Last year I also discovered DJ Project with the beautiful "Before I Sleep":



And Activ with yet another great romanian track "Undressed" (also known as "Doar Cu Tine" the romanian lyrics version):

boomp3.com

I do hope they will keep it up and not fall into doing rock and r 'n' b like everybody else...

Sunday, April 20, 2008

More angels

Funny I just wrote about "Angel" by Cappella and recently I discovered the song "Angels" by romanian Morandi which is a big hit in Eastern Europe at the moment.



It was a song I loved from the first time I heard it and it's one of my favorites at the moment.

Romania really keeps them coming these years.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Angel in my ears

Another song by one of the old 90's eurodance hit acts released fairly recently (compared to their heydays) is Cappella's "Angel" from 2003.

boomp3.com

An amazing track which had deserved a much better faith than the one it got. And actually it's a track that haven't aged, it could still be a hit today if people knew about it.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Hit me with a Buzz

I've already written too long on this blog without mentioning Da Buzz, the most poptastic band in the world.

I vaguely remember they had a minor hit in Denmark with one of their first singles "Do You Want Me" or "Let Me Love You" (or both) which I liked but didn't took much notice of. As you can see, I can't even remember which song it was.

But somehow the name Da Buzz did stuck in the back of my mind and when I some years later was flipping through cd's at the local library I came upon their second album "Wanna Be With Me?". The back of my mind told the front of my mind that they had done something I had liked, so I took the cd back home to give it a test spin.



The title track hit me instantly! It was and still is amazing! The rest of the album wasn't bad either, but it was "Wanna Be With Me?" that made me keep the album home and renew it at the library some times so I could keep it home even longer.

Slowly the album grew on me and I ended up buying it and having many favorites from it. At the end of that year it was by far the most played album of mine in years and I just had to buy their third album "More Than Alive" and the at that time new fourth album "Dangerous - The Album". They didn't disappoint!

And with songs like "Dangerous", "Alive" and many more how could they?





Soon after I bought their first album "Da Sound" and actually imported their fifth and latest album "Last Goodbye" from Sweden as soon as it was released. And now I can't wait for a sixth. Everything they do are great!

Wrapping this up are one of their all time best from the "Last Goodbye" album, "Without Breaking":

free music

Be sure you will hear more about Da Buzz from me as they rank at the very top of my favorite artists!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Electrofy me

Time to write a bit more about the clubsound of today. Electro is sweeping the world like a storm and even though it have been here for some years it wasn't until the crossover success of Fedde Le Grand's "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" it started getting really big.



I've previously mentioned tracks by David Guetta and Yves Larock, some other electro tracks from the past year worth a recommendation are Erid Prydz vs Floyd "Proper Education".



And Armand Van Helden "I Want Your Soul" (here in the long album version).

free music


Also danish Fashion Victims got much attention in the homeland with their "Koochi Koochi".

Thursday, March 20, 2008

R 'n' Beat

I've complained about it before, but nowadays the radiostations and music TV channels are all the same. A little radio-pop, a little rock/indie, a little hip hop and way too much R 'n' B.

Now even the very few electronic/dance tracks which make it big and sells gold or platinum still struggles for some air time or TV play. But in the middle of all the distress small signs point towards better times, I truly hope they will come.

Some of the R 'n' B artists are actually starting to get influences from the electronic scene. Hopefully they will open the public eye to the joy and energy of house, eurodance and similar genres!

Even though I can find real R 'n' B songs I like quite a lot more, tracks like Justin Timberlake's "My Love", Kanye West's "Stronger" etc. clearly have found inspiration in the electronic music. And lately one of the best R 'n' B tracks to be released for years also have some influences from the electronic club scene, Rihanna's "Don't Stop The Music"


If only all R 'n' B songs would become like this I'd be happy to turn on the radio again.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Back to basics with a snap

Did you know that many of the classic eurodance artists of the 90's have returned in recent years with new material?

I'm not talking Scooter or E-type who haven't really been away. Nor all the covers or 2005-, 2006-, 2007-versions etc. of old hits. But real new material. And most of it quite good!

I've mentioned Basic Elements some times. Besides them one of the more succesful comebacks have been done by Corona. In 2006 she released "Back In Time" which was not a major hit but did spawn some attention on most dancecharts around Europe.



Snap! who have had many succesful releases of updated tracks and cover-versions released the new song "Beauty Queen" in 2005.



An amazing song if you ask me. Why it didn't went on to become a new hit of theirs is beyond me.

Rather unnoticed Dr. Alban also released a new album "Back To Basics" in 2007. Of course it doesn't help there wasn't any promotion done other than on his own website and it is practically impossible to find a place where you can buy it! Most of the songs have just started to appear on download-stores during the last couple of months. A bit sad as you can find some quite good songs on the album including "Don't Joke With Fire" and "I Wanna Know".



The list of returning 90's-dance artist is too long to go on. Now all we need is for them to have the same succes as they had back then! The music for most parts is there.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Best of dance 2007

Back from vacation and what better to start the year with a "best of 2007" post.

2007 whas actually a quite good year for dance with electro making it big and giving other dance-genres some attention as well.

I've already posted on some of the best albums from last year and of course tracks from those albums are also to find on my "best of"-list. Tracks like "In Your Eyes" and "A Life To Live" by The Attic, "To You" by Basic Element and "Wanna Fly?", "Falling", "Nobody Wants To Try" and "Point Of No Return" by DJ Encore.

Among the many excellent electro tracks released last year David Guetta's "Love Is Gone" has to be one of the best!



In the more popish end of the dance scene newcommers Lucky Twice made a fantastic debut with "Lucky"! Why it only hit it of big time in Spain and France is beyond me.

free music


Giving Lucky Twice a strong competition are Romanian Akcent who did it again with the amazing "King Of Disco"!




Also worth to mention are danish Infernal's "I Won't Be Crying":



Finally though maybe not at the absolutely top of my list I have to mention two songs I'm sure will be played by dj's around the world for many years to come. The previously mentioned "Rise Up" by Yves Larock and following the hit-formula of "Love Generation", "World, Hold On" and "Rock This Party" the new one by Bob Sinclar "Sound Of Freedom":

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Taking a short break...

I'm going on vacation for the next couple of weeks. But I'll be back with more posts in february!

Untill then keep sending those links to free legal mp3 downloads of eurodance, house, electro, trance etc. And I'll update the list on the right for everybody to enjoy!