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!

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.

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!

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.