Tiësto

[Rob Williams]

I finally had the chance to see my favorite DJ in concert the other night, Tiësto, and all I can really say is 'wow'. I've been a massive fan of his for a while, but have never had the opportunity to see him perform live, but luckily enough, he finally came semi-close to here, so I couldn't pass up the chance.

If you are at all a fan of his or dance/trance in general, his concerts cannot be missed. Even though I've just came out of one, I need to see another one. I have never danced so much in my life, and I have the sore muscles to prove it ;-)

The pictures below are not from the concert I went to, obviously, but rather a Copenhagen show during the Elements of Life world tour.

http://tiesto.com/
http://www.last.fm/music/Tiësto

The last link has a slew of videos and samples if you are not familiar with his music.

 

[Merlin]

Man, You have great tastes

I listen to Dance/Trance/Remixes playing grid........tiesto is the best

, but other dance music I dubbed into the YouTube videos that I made from the game, playing

Here's two so far

Merlin
I have the two disk set of In search of Sunrise

 

[madmat]

I guess I'm either tragically unhip or just tonally challenged but I listened to a clip on that site and all I heard was noise. I guess I just don't get it.

 

[Merlin]

I guess I'm either tragically unhip or just tonally challenged but I listened to a clip on that site and all I heard was noise. I guess I just don't get it.

It starts out as sounds of the sea, most dance/trance music has one minute of prelude before getting into the melody.
I dont know why either, just that way....Maybe some rule?

Merlin

 

[madmat]

Maybe the prelude is key to getting into the trance. The sound of the sea, chant a bit of ohm waddy paddy and by the time the music hits you're all set.

Seriously though, it wasn't environmental sounds at all, there was some sort of choral sound that droned on with subtle shifts in harmonics. No melody, no real variety just a droning noise. I just don't get it at all.

 

[Rob Williams]

Hah, glad you like him and that kind of music Merlin!

Matt, not everyone will "get" this kind of music, just like I don't "get" country music. To each their own, really. We all have different tastes, and that's what keeps things interesting.

 

[slugbug]

I'm more of a Rock/Jazz/Blues guy myself. All that dance/trance/techo stuff sounds like nails on a chalk board to me

 

[madmat]

Hah, glad you like him and that kind of music Merlin!

Matt, not everyone will "get" this kind of music, just like I don't "get" country music. To each their own, really. We all have different tastes, and that's what keeps things interesting.

Dude, if you haven't ever said "Hold my beer" before doing something stupid and dangerous you won't get country music.

 

[Rob Williams]

Dude, if you haven't ever said "Hold my beer" before doing something stupid and dangerous you won't get country music.

I should rephrase. I actually don't "dislike" country music... I own six Johnny Cash albums and also dig Kristofferson, Robbins, Nelson and a few others. It's the new-age country music that I consider to be retarded.

But again, to each their own.

 

[Kougar]

Rob, that's pretty cool. DJ Tiesto has some good stuff...

As far as tastes go, trance fits so many different kinds of music under one label. I don't care for the endless repetitive, if random, noise especially during intros, but that's just one subset of it. Quite a few good ones from DJ Tiesto, although I prefer the more vocal tracks from him where he features other artists with their own songs.

Found a vid of DJ Tiesto with Andain on stage doing one of his usual feats with other artists, but this is a better quality track of the same rendition. The end/intro was remixed for the disc it was from, you can hear the other song start in before the end... Andain - Beautiful Things (DJ Tiesto Remix)

This one isn't bad either: http://www.last.fm/music/Tiësto/_/In+The+Dark

 

[madmat]

I should rephrase. I actually don't "dislike" country music... I own six Johnny Cash albums and also dig Kristofferson, Robbins, Nelson and a few others. It's the new-age country music that I consider to be retarded.

But again, to each their own.

Older country is not unbearable, I like cash, Hank Williams (Sr not Jr), Charlie Pride and their contemporaries (by and large) but the "new" country is more like southern rock with pedal steel guitar. It's not country any longer.

 

[Merlin]

I like both kinds of music.. Country and Western...and more

Somehow trance/dance gets me going. Like cleaning up around here and the music playing in the background. Urging action.
And as I had said. playing GRID with tiesto.....just rocks.
As for country and western I also like Wille, Cash and the good ole boys.
But most is sad songs and heartache. I have to get my past behind me instead of it revived with Country Western music. Gotta go ahead and not look back...I say.
But there's nothing wrong with others wanting to remember thier sad times.

Ole Merlin

 

[Rob Williams]

As far as tastes go, trance fits so many different kinds of music under one label. I don't care for the endless repetitive, if random, noise especially during intros, but that's just one subset of it. Quite a few good ones from DJ Tiesto, although I prefer the more vocal tracks from him where he features other artists with their own songs.

Trance can mean a lot of different things, but a general summary of the music he would be is trance. Some of it could be techno, a lot of it progressive and some of it house. Most of the stuff I tend to love a lot is more trance, though. I like the vocal tracks, but I don't really prefer them over the non-vocal... it really depends ont he song itself.

As for 'Beautiful Things' and 'In The Dark', I couldn't agree more. Awesome tracks. Here are a few of my favorite vocal tracks off his albums if you are interested. Many are remixes since most of what he produces are just that.

Way Out West - Mindcircus
Rui Da Silva - Touch Me
Tiesto - In My Memory
Tiesto - Battleship Grey
Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun
Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes
Tiesto - Love Comes Again
Mads Arp - Slow It Down
AM - Arise
Tiesto - Break My Fall

And most recently, off In Search of Sunrise: Asia, which came out last month:

Three Drives - Feel the Rhythm
Rachael Starr - To Forever

Older country is not unbearable, I like cash, Hank Williams (Sr not Jr), Charlie Pride and their contemporaries (by and large) but the "new" country is more like southern rock with pedal steel guitar. It's not country any longer.

That's what I'm saying. Not sure what it is... I just don't like that kind of music. It might be that I grew up listening to a lot of bad country music growing up (circa the height of Shania Twain's popularity) and it scarred me for life.

Somehow trance/dance gets me going.

That's what it's supposed to do :-D I write a lot of articles to this kind of music, especially the stuff with no vocals since it's easier to concentrate most of the time. There's mellower stuff to listen to also, for those who don't want to get energized from their music.

 

[Merlin]

I saw the movie xXx with Vin Diesel
and there was a scene of a dance place with the music that hit me, since then I liked it.
LOL...I'm in Atlanta and most likely there are some places around like that, I just hate to go into Atlanta anymore, traffic and undisireables, if you know what I mean
I'll just chill and activate with what I have at home

Ole Merlin

 

[Kougar]

Well, that's part of my problem. What exactly is the difference between techno and trance? Then it doesn't help much of that same music gets labeled as electronica or just tossed into "dance". Progressive I think I follow, and house is one I at least do understand, although not really prefer.

Anyway, most of those songs ya listed I've heard before and several are in my own collection, Motocycle As the Rush Comes and In My Memory. Good stuff! There are quite a few good mixes to the former as well...

Since we seem to have similar tastes (you probably already heard just about all of these), here's a few more for fun:

DJ Tatana - Words
DJ Tatana - Today is Tomorrow
ARMIN VAN BUUREN - Burned With Desire
Paul van Dyk - For an Angel

I don't mean to imply I prefer vocal music in general, it's just without the vocals the music has to be even better to stay captivating. A few of my favorite non-vocal tracks... You really gotta try the first one, it's simple but it's good and has a good pace! Most of these get stuck under the "Chillout" label...

Ganga - Sweet Morning
AIM - Cold Water Music
Armin Van Buuren Feat Gabriel And Dresden - Zocalo
Mirage - Moroccan Blonde
Lux - Northern Lights
Bedrock - Beautiful Strange

You know... half of these I just randomly looked up or saw in the related vids box and was reminded of. Could spend all day on Last.fm and Youtube finding songs, but of course they don't have the good ones from Ulrich Schnauss or most under the radar groups... Okay, time to go be productive again.

 

[Rob Williams]

Well, that's part of my problem. What exactly is the difference between techno and trance?

That's the problem with music in general... there are hundreds of sub-genres for some genres, so it's hard to know what's what. I love punk, for example, but it all falls into punk (NoFX), punk rock (Bad Religion), pop punk (Exploding Hearts), psychobilly (Tiger Army), ska (Sublime), ska punk (Planet Smashers), gypsy punk (Gogol Bordello), melodic punk (Rise Against) and so forth. It would be a lot easier if we just used the absolute basic of genres, but this keeps things interesting :-D

As for dance genres, most of the sub-genres are derivitives of another, most of which progress as time passes. It all began out with disco as far as I'm aware, then moved into synth, then electro, then techno and then to trance. Each genre and sub-genre has a history behind it, which makes it difficult to pinpoint if you are not familiar with it.

Trance in general is a mixture of different genres, but the overall genre represents high BPM music that has a trance-like effect, one that helps put you into a trance-like state of mind. I guess it's kind of hard to explain, heh. Techno on the other hand, is a 'simple' form of electronic music, which is derived from Electro and similar genres. I don't think any musician or band out there would be considered Techno and nothing else... there would always be something else that helps differentiate it.

As for House... that's more like dance that you'd actually dance to in a club. Ministry of Sound (and their remixes) and David Guetta are my favorites... then there is Progressive House which is a bit more 'hardcore' than house (like Brooklyn Bounce). Electronica is not even dance music at all, in my opinion. It's easier-listening, and not usually stuff you'd club to, like Daft Punk, Air, Chemical Brothers and Ladytron (although they are more electropop).

Since we seem to have similar tastes (you probably already heard just about all of these), here's a few more for fun:

Geez, I haven't heard DJ Tatana for a while... the dance channel up here rarely plays her. I am not gung-ho on all of her music, but those two songs aren't too bad (I prefer Words though). As for the other tracks, huge thumbs up here. 'Burned With Desire' is probably one of the best dance tracks ever.

I don't mean to imply I prefer vocal music in general, it's just without the vocals the music has to be even better to stay captivating. A few of my favorite non-vocal tracks... You really gotta try the first one, it's simple but it's good and has a good pace! Most of these get stuck under the "Chillout" label...

Ahh ok, I thought you meant you generally only listen to vocal. That first song is AMAZING though, I have got to add it to my collection. I am not usually a fan of chillout (I tend to like the more energetic stuff), but "Bedrock - Beautiful Strange" is also killer... really digging it.

You know... half of these I just randomly looked up or saw in the related vids box and was reminded of. Could spend all day on Last.fm and Youtube finding songs, but of course they don't have the good ones from Ulrich Schnauss or most under the radar groups... Okay, time to go be productive again.

Are you signed up for Last.fm? If you are, add me, my nick is Deathspawner. I don't do much there but track music, but I'd like to start taking better advantage of it.

 

[Kougar]

Hm, I'll have to save your post and look up some of those examples you gave.

I tend to think there is quite a bit of "energetic" chillout music, but for all I know there's a better label for it. I agree though, I do prefer that as well.

And actually I never made a Last.fm account, never saw a reason to. Any benefits to doing so, or do they give you the ability to put favorites in a library? I did notice recently Last.fm has been busy removing full tracks they used to offer, not sure if that is due to Warner Music Group yanking their music from Last.fm or not.

 

[Rob Williams]

Chillout in general doesn't have to be slow, it just has to be relaxing. BT, for example, has a good mixture of songs that are Chillout, a few that are Electronica and a few that are Trance. Some are a mixture of two, like this:

BT - Firewater

Here's another great one:

Air - Cherry Blossom Girl

What more energetic Chillout are you referring to? And before I forget, here's probably my favorite Chillout track ever, hopefully you will like it if you've never heard it before:

Röyksopp - Eple

It's not a traditional Chillout track, but I've always liked it.

And actually I never made a Last.fm account, never saw a reason to. Any benefits to doing so, or do they give you the ability to put favorites in a library? I did notice recently Last.fm has been busy removing full tracks they used to offer, not sure if that is due to Warner Music Group yanking their music from Last.fm or not.

I primarily use it for music tracking. It keeps track of all the music I play, then shows me clear-cut what I listen to more than others. It's also very useful because it gives you recommendations based on what you like. You can load a special URL in your media player that will run through your account and begin playing music automatically that's "recommended" to you.

Another pretty cool feature is that you can listen to a customized 'radio station'. When listening, it will play songs based off of what you like, which would be songs you probably actually already own.

http://www.last.fm/user/Deathspawner/

If you click "Play Deathspawners Radio Station", you can see what I mean. It's actually quite cool, and would be useful if you were out of town and didn't have your actual music collection with you.

http://www.last.fm/listen/user/Deathspawner/personal

Overall, it's just a cool service for tracking and discovering new music. I have bought quite a bit of music thanks to that site's recommendations, so I consider it a very valuable tool.