Oh Balance how we love thee… We promised ourselves we’d stop using the world “journey” when we review compilations. The whole concept of a journey has been so misconstrued that no one even knows what the hell that really means anymore. Instead, we just try to review music for what it is, and not what we think it should be, or use some shitty generic words in an attempt to fill up as much space as possible (as if this were a 11th grade writing assignment). In keeping with that, we thought it proper to review one of our favorite Mix series newest release out today (Tuesday). Deetron may not be known as well as Ricardo Villalobos or Sven Vath, but the guy has been putting out kick ass records since the early 2000′s. He may not have released 30 records a year, but he’s had tracks on Intec, Green, and Rejected, and that doesn’t include his aliases. Even Digweed commented on “listening to this guy for as long as I can remember” when Deetron did his guest mix for John’s Transitions show two weeks ago. So needless to say, we were super stoked when we heard he was putting together number 20 for Balance. So of course, it only made sense for us to break it down here. Shall we? Read more »
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Balance 20 – Deetron Announced
Balance Records is synonymous with quality dance compilations, constantly locking in quality DJ’s and producers to create their magic. Most mixes these days are made using Ableton so it’s tough for DJ’s to make compilations that stand out from an already flooded market of commercial dance music comps. Balance works hard to separate itself from the crowd as to not be forgotten like a lot of other series that have faded down that road (think Global Underground). For their 20th installment (it’s hard to think it is 20 already), Balance has called upon techno vet Deetron. Deetron was responsible for a mix entitled “Fuse” back in 2008 that was extremely popular on the European dance floors and has put out a flood of remixes for artists like Danny Howells. Growing up in Switzerland, he grew up in the clubs listening to techno DJ’s like Adam Beyer and Dave Clarke and honed his skills both on the DJ front as well as the production scene to make a name for himself in a tough market. Something that makes Deetron unique is that even though he does use Traktor in his gigs, he also will play vinyl and is an avid shopper to this day. Read more »
Nokturnalist Interview: Henry Saiz For Balance 019 + World Tour
We’ve been a fan of the progressive house scene for years. Going back to parties in the late 90′s, the sounds that were coming out of labels like Hooj and SAW were all the rave in New York, and clubs like Twilo were seeing 7,000 go through their doors each Friday night. Fast forward to 2011 and a lot has changed. Most of the clubs we remember are gone, and those 129 BPM synth heavy tracks have been shoved to the back of the record bag. But progressive house still has its place… still be championed by Digweed and a few others; in this case, Henry Saiz. Out of Spain, Henry has only come to the fore front in recent years, but he’s hit it hard, with one of the biggest highlights of his career coming in the form of him being asked to compile the 19th installation of Balance’s DJ series. When we first heard the mix, we were blown away (you can read that review here). We caught up with him to ask him some questions about the compilation, the tour, his production toys, and what else he has going on through the summer as he travels for his world tour. Read more »
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