Zeds Dead showcases fresh talent for the first Deadbeats compilation

There are a lot of ways to gain a good first impression, and in terms of a label wanting to put their best foot forward, there is nothing more satisfying than releasing a strong debut compilation. Deadbeats is the brain child of the Toronto duo Zeds Dead, and they have just released a compilation with 9 tracks that showcases the label's diversity. 

What makes this compilation exciting is all of the newer names attached to the release including Kid Froopy, who's excellent chill track called "Show Me" kicked off the compilation. This was followed by the dark track "Matrix" by Toronto's Rezz, who's on a fast pace on becoming one of the most in demand DJ's on the planet. Other notable new artists attached to this release includes Nebbra and his catchy track "You", which was previously released as a standalone EP on Deadbeats. It would be a disservice not to mention the duo SMLE and their very addicting chill track called "By My Side", another highlight. 

The icing on the cake was Zeds Dead own submission titled "Woman Wine", which felt like a throwback tune to their dubstep roots. 

Overall the first Deadbeats compilation is a resounding success and eagerly await more music and compilations in the future. 

Deadbeats Compilation 1 Tracklist:

1. Kid Froopy - "Show Me"
2. Rezz - "Matrix" 
3. Pusher - "Mayweather" ft. Heckz
4. Zeds Dead - "Woman Wine"
5. Nebbra - "You" ft. Mike Sabath
6. SMLE - "By My Side"
7. Blount - "Softly"
8. Megalodon - "Watch This Bounce" 
9. Memorecks - "Raging Dreams"

To preview the full compilation or purchase it outright - click here. 

Cosmic Gate hits it out of the park with Wake Your Mind Sessions 002 (Compilation)

Cosmic Gate just released an epic 33 track 2-disc compilation which could very well be the best ensemble of progressive and trance tracks in 2016. If you enjoy the deeper stuff along with Cosmic Gate's classic uplifting and emotional brand of music, then this is the release for you.

The first CD is a showcase of the deeper side of Cosmic Gate as they slowly turn the temperature up to the 2nd CD where the magic happens. You'll get to hear their latest hit "am2pm", as well as a nasty remix of Cosmic Gate's "So Get Up" by Alex Di Stefano. Another little gem is the revamped "Third Contact" remix of their classic hit "Exploration of Space", giving it a fresh coat of paint ready for the 2016 summer festival season.

The first Wake Your Mind compilation released last year made a strong impression, but the 2nd installment served to solidify the series as a must-listen for every trance fan. Wake Your Mind Sessions 002 is a pleasure to listen to and is a fantastic compilation to pick up following Anjunabeats Volume 12. You can buy it by clicking here.

Cosmic Gate - "Exploration Of Space" (Cosmic Gate's Third Contact Remix)

Cosmic Gate - "am2pm"

Tracklist

Mix 01.
01. Lane 8 - Midnight
02. Diversion & Jennifer Rene - Wishing
03. Yotto - Mulholland 99
04. Cristoph featuring Jem Cooke - Slowly Burning (Dub)
05. Meramek - Know Me (Thomas Schwartz & Fausto Fanizza Remix)
06. Heliotype - Catching Fire
07. Jaytech - Great Divide
08. Alex Klingle - Epilogue
09. Myon & Shane 54 with Haley - Round We Go (Extended Mix)
10. Yoel Lewis - Monaco
11. Maor Levi featuring EL Waves - 4U
12. Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor featuring London Thor - Smoke & Mirrors
13. David Forbes & Richard Lowe - March Skies (Extended Mix)
14. Greenhaven DJs - Relinquish
15. Black Snow featuring Marisa & Mark Wild - Don't Give Up (Steve Brian Remix)
16. Cosmic Gate & Sarah Lynn - Sparks After the Sunset (Rafaël Frost Remix)
17. Kenneth Thomas featuring Aura Wolfe - All Shades of Sky
 
Mix 02.
01. Muvy - Butterfly
02. Fehrplay - Rattata
03. Cosmic Gate & JES - Yai (Here We Go Again) (Super8 & Tab Remix)
04. Jason Ross & Wrechiski - Frontier
05. Daun Giventi - Sutra (Extended Mix)
06. Cosmic Gate & Eric Lumiere - Run Away (Alexander Popov Remix)
07. Armin van Buuren & Cosmic Gate - Embargo
08. Sunny Lax - Enceladus
09. Super8 & Tab - Moonbow (Extended Mix)
10. Arnej - The Long Goodbye
11. Cosmic Gate - am2pm (Extended Mix)
12. Cosmic Gate - Exploration of Space (Cosmic Gate’s Third Contact Remix)
13. Cosmic Gate - So Get Up (Alex Di Stefano Remix)
14. Dash Berlin with Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren - Man On the Run (David Gravell vs Nic Chagall Remix - Cosmic Gate Mash Up)
15. Alex Di Stefano - From Heaven to Inferno
16. Miss Monique - No Fear

Jordan Suckley: "It's been intense for the past year." (Interview)

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Jordan Suckley has been someone to watch out for within the trance scene for the past few years thanks to his unbending style of darker trance vibes. Now with his own record label, his non-stop touring schedule, Jordan has released the first Damaged Records compilation mix with 38 tracks mixed by himself and Mark Sherry. Jordan digs deep into the crates for this compilation as many of these producers featured in Damaged Records Volume 01 have barely 500 Soundcloud followers! It's a rare treat to have someone as established as Jordan Suckley to take a risk on brand new producers and is not afraid to find true trance gems. 

In this interview I talked to Jordan about his new mix compilation, his views on the current trance scene, and his thoughts on how trance music will move forward as 2015 rolls on. Enjoy: 

How's life with Jordan Suckley over the past year?

It's pretty good, it's been intense for the past year. Non-stop touring.

Damaged Records seems to be growing quite nicely. How's that journey been?

I didn't really plan on starting my own label, but it was my manager kind of convinced me to give it a go. I'm really surprised at how well it has done as it has come out as 13th best selling trance label on Beatport. It's the highest new entry for new record labels. I'm surprised at how well things have gone.

Congratulations, what's your secret?

It's just about picking the right tracks, doing the right promotions and getting the right support. There isn't any special formula as things just kind of click together.

Tell me about the new mix compilation series, Damaged Records Volume One.

We are going to do a yearly compilation and for the first one I got Mark Sherry on board. He has a good contrasting style to my own because I play a little darker with the psy-trance and tech-trance elements. Mark still does tech-trance but he also does techno. The compilation is a nice mixture of two different styles. My CD is the sound that you hear me playing in clubs around the world. It's nice to have an actual physical CD of that stuff.

How deep did you dig to find these gems? Some of these featured artists have less than 500 Soundcloud followers.

I dig deep. I do a lot of search on beatport, and I get sent a lot of tracks to my Damaged email address and use them as exclusives. Since I have a record label I get sent hundreds of promos all the time. I get sent a lot of bad stuff but there are some gems in there.

"Rather than doing a beautiful compilation that you play at your wedding, this compilation is what I play in the clubs."

You picked Mark Sherry to do the 2nd CD – what's your connection with Mark?

Mark is one of my favourite producers, he's so talented and has been around the scene for a long time as well. He's a reputable name and one of the remixes he did for the label was one of the biggest selling tracks we've put out so it's only right to have him on board for this.

This CD goes hard as its full of powerful tracks.

Yes it's all of the stuff I play in the clubs. Rather than doing a beautiful compilation that you play at your wedding, this compilation is what I play in the clubs. This is what the label is about. I just put up what I like on the CD and I hope people like it.

What's your view on the trance scene in 2015?

It's amazing, never been better! I always think that the scene is only as strong as the number of good producers out there. There are many producers always making quality stuff. As long as there are good producers making tracks then the scene will keep on thriving. I'm playing gigs in loads of random places that I thought I never would have been able to play at before So that's a good sign.

Can you name some next level artists that we should look out for in the trance scene this year?

The next one I'm pushing is a guy called Sam Jones, he has a few tracks on my label and I'll be working on a collaboration with him at some point. He's from Wales, he likes tech-trance and has worked on tracks for Mental Asylum and Kearnage. He's got quite a few good bits coming out as well. He's definitely the next talent.

How do you keep your sound fresh and interesting for you?

In the last 6-8 months I have refreshed my sound a bit by adding different elements. Trance is so broad that just as long as it has a trancey rift in there, you can add anything in the breakdown like a bit of techno, psy-trance, or a normal trance bassline. It's different with every track but I like to bring in elements from different styles of music.

What's next for the trance sound?

I think more people are going to do sound design with unique bass sounds and leads. The production techniques will change with more individual sounds.

What can fans expect from Jordan Suckley in 2015? Tours, releases?

I've just done a remix of Tiesto, which will come out in July. I've got a collaboration with Paul Van Dyk for this next Politics of Dancing album. I've done a remix with Heatbeat that's coming out on Armada. I've got a new vocal track with Erica Curran coming out on Damaged. I've got a couple more originals in the works. Touring wise I'm going to Australia next week and in May I'm going on a North American tour – but I'm pretty much booked up until September.

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My thanks to Jordan Suckley for this interview. If you want to pick up Damaged Records Volume 01 2 disc compilation featuring 38 tracks mixed by Jordan and Mark Sherry, click here to buy it now via iTunes. 

Tracklist: 

Mix 01 - Jordan Suckley

01. Royal Flush – Humanity
02. Royal Flush vs Freedom Fighters - Walter White 
03. Shekinah - Get Out Your Self
04. Future Disciple - The Mayans Are Coming Back (Original Mix) 
05. Microsis - Anno Machina 
06. The Technicians - Re:sample (Original Mix)
07. Thomas Datt - Prana Flow (Original Mix) 
08. Allen & Envy - Coherent (Johnny Yono Remix) 
09. Jordan Suckley - Droid (Original Mix)
10. Future Antics - Twisted (Original Mix)
11. Kriess Guyte - Galactic (Original Mix)
12. Jordan Suckley - Elation (Original Mix) 
13. Jordan Suckley - Medic (Original Mix) 
14. Sam Jones - No Angel (Original Mix)
15. Jordan Suckley - Who Cares? (Original Mix)
16. Sam Jones & Will Rees - Oversight (Original Mix)
17. Tangle - Sahara (A.R.D.I. Remix) 
18. Daniel Skyver featuring Cat Martin - No One Else (Original Mix)
19. Reverse - Ultima (Original Mix)

Mix 02 - Mark Sherry 

01. Mark Sherry & Dr Willis - Here Come The Drums (Pedro Delgardo & Dualitik Remix) 
02. Mario Piu- The Code (Original Mix) 
03. Shelley - Talk About Drums (Original Mix) 
04. Alex Di Stefano - Ironclad (Spektre Remix) 
05. The Reactivitz - Techno Is Of The Essence (Alex Di Stefano Remix) 
06. Alex Di Stefano - No Pain, No Gain (Original Mix) 
07. Jamie Walker - Rojo (Original Mix) 
08. Ikorus - Nine Lives (Original Mix) 
09. Max Graham - The Evil ID (Mark Sherry Remix) 
10. Markus Schulz - Remember This (Mark Sherry Remix)
11. The Space Brothers & Mark Sherry - Let It Come (Outburst Vocal Mix) 
12. Mark Sherry & Clare Stagg - How Can I (Solis & Sean Truby Remix)
13. Alex Di Stefano - I’ve Got the Power (Original Mix) 
14. Corti Organ - Narrow (Original Mix) 
15. Mark Sherry - Vengeance (Tempo Giusto Remix) 
16. Mark Sherry - Vengeance (Lostly presents Audio Militia Remix) 
17. Mark Sherry - The Pillars Of Creation (Original Mix) 
18. Kaimo K - Mayhem (Original Mix)
19. Sam Jones & Rhys Thomas - The End (Original Mix)

My talk with Cosmic Gate about Wake Your Mind Sessions 001 (Interview)

2014 was a busy year for Cosmic Gate. They released "Start To Feel", a 17 track studio album just before summer festival season, they started their own record label and radio show, and went on their first North American bus tour.

Never known to stop being creative and pushing the boundaries, Cosmic Gate started off 2015 with a bang by releasing an ambitious 2 CD mix compilation called "Wake Your Mind Sessions 001". It's a 150 minute mix that starts off on the deeper side and slowly builds up momentum until you hear Cosmic Gate's biggest dancefloor hits including their hugely popular Club Mix of "Going Home" featuring Emma Hewitt. 

EDM Canada recently had the chance to talk to Bossi from Cosmic Gate to chat about their latest CD release and to get a sense on how he views the current scene today. So sit back and enjoy reading this extensive interview with a true trance legend. 

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EDM Canada: Can you tell the readers a little about your recent final show at the Guvernment? That must have been a special experience for Cosmic Gate and your Toronto fans.

Bossi (Cosmic Gate): Every DJ we talk to are sad to hear that the Guvernment in Toronto has closed. We played there for nearly 10 years and every show we've done there was good to super good. The last show we've done there was legendary and one of the best shows. The Toronto crowd once again showed why the Guvernment went so strong over the years because they raged, partied, and followed the DJ from A to Z. It's a shame and hopefully the new venue will come close to the vibe felt at Guvernment.

Yeah, hopefully.

You can only hope, you can't plan it. A vibe is something a club has and you only know it once the people are in there to find out if it's there or not. Money can't buy a vibe. So let's hope for the best.

Last year has been very busy for Cosmic Gate with your new label, radio show, album, and more. Can you reflect on your huge 2014?

It was certainly a lot of work. We released our album and went on our first bus tour, we started a new radio show which was a big extra from us. But we simply like it maybe because we're typical Germans and we gotta work and move things forward. We don't look back and we're so used to being on the road. We're out every weekend as we only take 3-4 weekends off a year. We're travelling, touring, and playing our music. So last year didn't feel that different but to release an album was something very special for us.

When it's a studio album you don't know how people will react because we put new influences into our production. But the album was received so well from fans and critics, so we were super happy.

You also recently released the club mix of “Going Home” featuring Emma Hewitt.

We released the down tempo version of “Going Home” on the album, but actually we originally started the club mix before the album version. But after talking to her people we realized we couldn't release it as one of the first singles. So we decided to create the down tempo version for the album knowing that the club mix will be released half a year later. We have a super good Gareth Emery remix of the track coming out soon and we're excited about that.

Now you're coming out with a new Wake Your Mind Sessions 001 compilation double album – can you tell me a bit about it?

It's a mix album for people that do not have the chance to see us at the club or they do see us and like what we do and want to hear more. For the 1st CD we started off things a little slower like what we do on our radio show with our “private playlist”. The 1st CD is more deep, progressive, while slow building things up. CD 2 is more our set when we party with the crowd with more energy. We have a lot of new music in there including our club mix of “Going Home” with Emma Hewitt and it's great listening to at home or on a road trip. It's a Cosmic Gate set brought to you in a CD mix.

You included a few chilled out tracks in the beginning of the album from the likes of 16 Bit Lolitas, Gus Gus, and Fehrplay – is this type of music becoming a major influence on Cosmic Gate?

We grew up with house, techno, and trance since day 1. So when people ask us if it's a new influence that we're now playing Maceo Plex, 16-bit Lolitas – we say no. We've always listened to this type of music. When designing this double CD, we knew we had 150 minutes so we went a little bit old school by building up progression into the mix with a proper build up. And how can you not have a proper build up if you're not starting with a lower BPM with a slower kind of mood? So the first CD is more is more housey, vibey while still having our touch on it. The first CD still has our sound that we stand for. But these type of tracks is definitely not a new sound for us and it's only becoming known now because of our promotion of the “private playlist” selection every week for our radio show.

Are you finding the crowd that you play for more than ready for this type of stuff mixed in in 2015?

It's not that we play this type of music in our sets because we only have an hour and a half to two hours. We also usually don't start that deep because we have opening DJs that end a little hotter in their sound. You probably won't hear us play Maceo Plex unless it's at the Space Terrace in Miami.

You just came back from the ASOT 700 massive in the Netherlands. Can you tell me your opinion on the current trance scene?

We felt based on the reaction from the crowd that it was the best ASOT in years. Sometimes as a DJ you have to push the crowd because sometimes they can be a bit flat. But at this year's ASOT the crowd was very energetic, they started clapping by themselves without having us to start it so it was super good.

After the show we talked to a few colleagues and they all felt the same. We don't see trance as this one thing as we see artists like Eric Prydz using trance influences in their tracks. It's not pure trance of course but we play it and fits into our sets. His tracks have a trancey vibe and for us it's all about the vibe and the feel of the track. We're unique in our sound and feel that trance music is anything from 138 BPM to elements of what Eric Prydz is doing at the moment. There are so many good producers making trance including Ilan Bluestone and Andrew Bayer – who are killing it at the moment. It's melodic and not cheesy.

Post by Cosmic Gate (official).

Are genres becoming less important now? Do you think artists such as yourselves are more free to experiment with influences outside of the trance scene?

It's about being free and playing tracks that you like. That's how we started and that's how we are more and more are. Of course we don't add tracks that people won't understand but it has to fit our style. There is really good music coming out like “We Got The Power” by Alex Di Stefano, which has an old school techno beat and break while still sounding very modern. It reached top 10 at Beatport and it shows that people are little more open minded in their style beyond sticking to only one genre. Sticking to only one genre is how the European scene was and we never really liked that. “Wake Your Mind” and “Start To Feel” was a statement telling people that we didn't want to limit ourselves.

And your latest “Wake Your Mind Sessions 001” is a continuation of that theme?

Yes of course. Why create a 150 double mix CD catering to only one sound? After half an hour it gets boring. So we started slower and built it up by layering in deeper beats that is still in the context of our music. We believe that's what DJ'ing is about.

What can fans look forward to in 2015 from Cosmic Gate?

Our “Wake Your Mind Sessions 001” is out, along with new singles like the club mix version with Emma Hewitt and our track with JES. We will be touring at all of the major summer festivals and we are slowly putting together another album that should be ready by Spring of next year.

So Cosmic Gate is continuing on the album release schedule rather than EP releases.

We are fans of albums but maybe we won't do another one with 17 tracks because that was too much. We released our last album in June and by August people were asking us when new music was coming out. We worked on “Wake Your Mind” for one year and 6 weeks later people were asking us about new music.

People don't understand how much work an album is because we write the music, and go beyond just creating the instrumentals of a track that is done within 3-4 hours. We are fans of albums because we can show our production skills and variety as producers. We can do singles and EPs but tracks like “No One Can Touch You Now” would never see release. Singles are more and less made for the dancefloor so an album gives us more artistic freedom. We get to try out different things and we feel the results are better. We also get to do more surprising things when we create music for an album.

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My special thanks to Bossi from Cosmic Gate for taking the time for this informative interview. If you happen to live in Ottawa, Cosmic Gate will be coming this Saturday to Barrymore's, for ticket information, click the link below: 

Saturday, March 21st - Cosmic Gate @ Barrymore's

To buy Wake Your Mind Sessions 001 from Beatport - click here.