Two of the biggest names in trance come together, and what we get out of it is not only a euphoric piece of music — it’s the official anthem of A State of Trance 600, a massive global tour that kicks off in Madrid in February 14. “The Expedition” is a guaranteed club banger, a fitting curtain-raiser for what promises to be a historic year for Armin van Buuren‘s A State of Trance, and the perfect embodiment of this year’s ASOT mission statement: TOGETHER WE CAN TURN THE WORLD INTO A DANCE FLOOR.
A State of Trance 600 TOUR DATES: Madrid – February 14 | Mexico City – February 16 | Sao Paulo – March 1 | Minsk, Belarus – March 7 | Sofia – March 8 | Beirut – March 9 | Kuala Lumpur – March 15 | Mumbai – March 16 | Miami – March 24 | Guatemala City – March 27 | New York – March 30 | Den Bosch – April 6
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
Little surprise that this superb production served as the official anthem for this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando. I caught R3hab at Digital Dreams in Toronto this past summer and was hooked. An incredible live performer, he is equally masterful in the studio, as this track clearly attests. If you haven’t been lucky enough to witness this Dutch DJ in performance, I recommend keeping an eye on his tour schedule and marking it in your calendar when he’s next in your vicinity. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Unstoppable bpm:tv bloggeuse Gosia Mrugala is seeing double after an exclusive one-on-two interview with fast-rising Dutch trance duo W&W, a.k.a. Willem van Hanegem and Ward van der Harst. Check it out.
Gosia Mrugala: Where did you meet and how did you guys start working together?
W&W: We had a mutual friend and through him we started talking online about music production since we were both producing on our own. After a while we finally met at a Dutch festival, we had a good connection so we started to hang out more and more. After we attended another festival, we felt like producing music together. That’s when we made our first release.
GM: How is it working in a duo?
WW: It’s great! You always have someone around who’s opinion you can ask for when working! It’s also good to be on the road together, we can imagine it must be very boring to travel by yourself all the time.
GM: Your top 3 tracks at the moment?
Willem: Rick Mitchells – Sub Zero; Alvaro – Make The Crowd GO!; Deadmau5 – Fn Pig
Ward: David Gravell – Fire Away; W&W – Lift Off; Above & Beyond vs Hardwell – Thing Called Spaceman (W&W Mashup)
GM: Outside of trance, what kind of music are you into?
Willem: I have a very broad range of music that I like, I listen to everything, from hip-hop to rock to dubstep and all other kinds of EDM.
Ward: I love artists like Coldplay and Ed Sheeran.
GM: So how are things going with your Mainstage radio show?
WW: Mainstage is doing really good! It’s broadcast on Sirius XM. Also, the podcast gets more and more downloads! We get so many reactions from people listening to our show! It’s great when you read on Twitter that somebody from Australia, Canada or South America is listening to your radio show when sitting on the train or metro.
WW: That is actually a funny story! We were on our way to Los Angeles from Argentina where we were standing in the customs queue. We checked our Twitter and saw that we were a trending topic worldwide! As soon as we checked the @ mentions we noticed that we won the competition, amazing news of course!
GM: Any memories/moments from summer 2012 that stand out for you?
Willem: The past summer has been great! Definitely our best and busiest summer so far! The whole summer and all its festivals were actually one big highlight! We played so many great gigs!
Ward: Exactly like Willem says, it’s been such a fantastic summer! It was an honor playing festivals like Global Gathering, Tomorrowland, Nature One, Nocturnal Wonderland and Electric Zoo to name a few!
GM: So, any predictions for summer 2013?
WW: Well, we think and hope 2013 will have an even better summer! It’s going to be hard to top this last year, but always aim for the stars!
GM: Can you tell me of any upcoming projects or collaborations in the works?
WW: Our latest mix compilation, Mainstage Vol. 1, just got released and the reactions on that are overwhelming! We didn’t expect this at all! Next up are a few very strong releases on our label Mainstage Music, and after that it’s time for our new single ”Lift Off”! We have some huge collabs coming up as well, but we can’t reveal those yet.
GM: Where do you see yourself in five years?
WW: Hopefully in five years we’ll still be doing what we love to do: making music and playing it for as many people as possible!
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
Across Canada this week the weather is into the plus-20s, which means forget about June 20 — summer starts NOW!
With EDM kidz from far and wide searching for that special tune that says “summer of 2012,” many producers will be pumping their tracks out there, all hoping to score the next “Barbra Streisand” or “Leave the World Behind.” Some will be amazing, yet fail to get the love they deserve. In other cases, the opposite will be true.
Every year a specific sound comes to the fore, and I’ve been waiting for this year’s to drop. BAM! We got it yesterday.
For the past year or more I’ve been professing my love for Dillon Francis — and naturally, I figured if that if anyone was going to define the sound of this summer, it would be him. And it is. Teamed up with 50 percent of Duck Sauce, he has delivered a track that is 100 percent awesomeness. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Money Making,” by A-Trak and Dillon Francis — a tune so perfectly addictive it will be an immediate download.
Best of all is the video that accompanies this track. Watch out for cameos from P-Thugg, Natalia Kills and my favourite rapper of the moment, Action Bronson.
This tune is bananas.. I’ll be keeping count of how many times I hear it this Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas — which is where I’m headed right now. Stay tuned for updates!
Gosia Mrugala is a Toronto-based blogger and reviewer. You can read her blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.
