00.00-01.00 Audio Noir
Since quietly appearing on the scene at the beginning of 2013, Audio Noir has slowly built up a strong reputation for creating atmospheric and dance floor friendly productions. In a short space of time, Audio Noir has gained support by many of the industries most notable DJ's; including: Paul Oakenfold, Solarstone, Airwave, Gai Barone, M.I.K.E Push, Matan Caspi & many more. Having received his "lucky break" by signing on with the ultra classic label - Bonzai Progressive, Audio Noir has gone from strength to strength releasing material on other respectable labels such as Perfecto, J00F & Green Martian, EDM Ravers & more. Releasing quality productions & remixes regularly, the Adelaide based producer shows no signs of letting up with his a number of releases so far on the finest progressive house and progressive trance imprints.
Tracklists and comments from Audio Noir
1.Bedrock - Heaven Scent – Original Mix
2.Leftfield Feat. John Lydon – Open Up _ Original Mix
3.Castle Trancelot – Indoctrinate – Original Mix
4.Peter Lazonby – Wavespeech – Junior Vasquez Mix
5.Inner City – I Believe – Laurent Garnier Mix
6.P.V.D – Beautiful Place – Original Mix
7.L.S.G – Netherworld – Vinyl Cut
8.Diddy – Small World – Trade Handbag Mix
9.Goldie – Inner City Life – RITM Vocal Cut
Bedrock - Heaven Scent. I've met John a few times, a surprisingly quiet, unassuming type of guy! Yet, he's deadly in the studio! the first release on Bedrock - Johns imprint - had to be special. And it was! A lovely balance of dark & light. One of my favourite examples of raw energy within a track! I added the silence acapella on a whim! I think it sounds ok!
Leftfield Feat. John Lydon – Open Up: Leftfield is one of my fav artists. Period! he's diverse, edgy and is somehow able to market his appeal to a broad audience. Some feat. Considering he's music was never meant to be crossover material Open up is notorious - as when it was released California was on fire! The vocals, Burn Hollywood burn were seen as the ultimate insult, although that was clearly not the intention. Just unlucky... or lucky timing! All the publicity gave the track a cult following! Still stands the test of time today. Solid, tight arrangement. Buffet of subtle sounds. BOOM!
Castle Trancelot – Indoctrinate – Original Mix: Indoctrinate... Patrick Prins wrote this. He's music was almost always cheesy. Then he did this and shocked everyone! A haunting, deep progressive track which was prominent any any prig DJ's box during those mid - 90s. The production is fairly simple. Yet the arrangement and elements a far from easy. Indoctrinate stands out to me because its a deceptively brilliant tune! (Listen closely!)
Peter Lazonby – Wavespeech – Junior Vasquez Mix: The ultimate example of a slam dunk, in your face piece of music! A rare excursion from Junior Vasquez from the depths of Twilo to progressive house! A very unique arrangement with a wonderful example of breaking down a track to almost nothing! A bold and massive remix that in my opinion outshone the original. Vasquez was known for his tuff, dark tribal house, deep house. So to come out with a remix of this calibre in a truly progressive genre, gained my respect for him greatly. Rock-solid production.
Inner City – I Believe – Laurent Garnier Mix: Inner City is one of my fav acts of all time. With countless hits and remixes. Yet Laurent Garnier grabbed this track by the balls and reconstructed it completely. Inner City - I Believe. Laurent Garnier Remix A deep, acid laced, atmospheric gem that still stands out today. I always got the impression that Laurent could produce something like this & polish it within a day! Laurent if anything, is a master storyteller. Something I'm trying to do with my productions today. Twists, turns, unexpected sounds, drops. He's a true journeyman. Especially his older material. Which I've studied many times!
P.V.D – Beautiful Place – Original Mix: PVD has been around forever! How is this guy now? 70!!! So many productions a DJ could put in their top 10 all time favourites. I chose Beautiful Place as its a fine example of his more mellow side (aka Love Stimulation) and also because the key mix really flows nicely! What I love about PVD is that he always seems to find the right balance in his sound selection. Not as bold as some producers maybe, but he's literally guaranteed to deliver a polished, warm sounding production, regardless if its progressive house or trance. This piece of music is another great example of lush atmospherics, bright, purposeful piano & heavy synth work & FX all coming together in unison. A PVD classic!
L.S.G – Netherworld – Vinyl Cut: I've met Oliver twice. I've been lucky to meet a lot of great producers. Some of them sadly, no longer with us. Oliver is all business. You can see that in his productions and this track is a great example. He has formula book and this is a wonderful example of less is more. Something I still struggle with sometimes! Netherworld is a serious track. Mystical, deep & energetic at the same time. I never did like its original tempo. I always pitched it down few BPM. I've heard other DJs do the same. By doing this, for me - it makes this track become a true progressive-trance anthem. Just wonderful sounds. You get the impression his has a vault full of unused and unheard elements just waiting to be unleashed! Oliver Lieb is a powerhouse. A writing & recording machine! Who knows how many releases he's been involved in. Perhaps over 1000. he has so many aliases.
Diddy – Small World – Trade Handbag Mix: Small world. Now thats an interesting one! Written in a bedroom by a clubber named Richard who visited Trade. A UK hard house (Although somewhat cheesy) club. Every so often Trade would release a beautiful piece of music that was far beyond the hard hitting beats of cheesy bangin' trance/hard house. Yet here is the thing. This beautiful track was NEVER released. Of all the records I own, YES! As in 12" vinyl. This was one of the most sort after. Djs have offered me $100s and $100s for this track. Rumoured to be only 250 copies of this test pressing ever made. This track back in the day could have been released on a dozen well know label imprints. But it never happened. Richard's Alias for this track was "Diddy". So he quickly received a cease & desist order (STOP!)from the other Diddy! (Puff Diddy)
So Diddy, as an artist, was in some respects over before it began. For me, Small World incapsulates the feel of the 90s perfectly. When there were still so many sounds to find, ideas to create and styles to produce. Well before the ideas began to dry up & become harder to find. Long before the cycles of music production became smaller and smaller. This track is simple. It really is. No hidden trickery, no over production. Just face-value reminiscent, nostalgic chords, classic 90's piano. Casio synths (All the rage back then) a fanatic percussive groove over a 909 kick. I would even recommend this track as a template for your own piano/trance productions. One of the best examples I can think of for creating a beautiful track out of sheer simplicity & brilliant conceptualisation.
Goldie – Inner City Life – RITM Vocal Cut: A vocal, atmospheric masterpiece. So sad that Diane Charlemagne passed away a few years back. She was an indelible talent. (Most likely better know for leading the top-40 dance group - Urban Cookie Collective. (I've got the key, I've got the secret) Yeah, that one! One of my fav vocalists of all time and the reason I wanted to finish off this set with a mellow feel. However beyond the vocal is a wonderful production team called RITM. Or more widely know as Rabbit In The Moon. Most ppl won't realise this but these guys.., from Florida USA were amongst the first producers to truly focus on progressive house out of the US. Look up their incredible back catalogue. Their remixes were always so clever. Often using street scene and sounds FX normally reserved for a movie. To this day, I still often use subtle sound FX or lifescapes in my tracks. (Subways, busy cafe, plane flying overhead, etc)
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