Above & Beyond (band)
| Above & Beyond | |
|---|---|
 Paavo Siljamäki, Tony McGuinness, Jono Grant. |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | OceanLab, Rollerball, Tongue of God, Tranquility Base |
| Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Trance, progressive trance |
| Occupations | Disc jockey Record producer |
| Years active | 2000–Present |
| Labels | Anjunabeats,Anjunadeep |
| Associated acts | Anjunabeats, Dirt Devils, Free State, Nitromethane, OceanLab, Rollerball, Sad Lovers and Giants, Tongue of God, Tranquility Base, Zed-X |
| Website | aboveandbeyond.nu |
| Members | |
| Jono Grant Paavo Siljamäki Tony McGuinness |
|
Above & Beyond are an English trance music group formed in 2000 and consists of the members Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki. They have their own record label Anjunabeats, which releases trance and progressive music, and they also host their own weekly radio show Trance Around the World. The group's tracks are regularly played by DJs around the world, including Armin van Buuren, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten, ATB, and Kyau & Albert. On 20 October 2011 DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Above & Beyond placed at #5 in the world.[1]
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[edit] Formation
Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki met at the University of Westminster where they were both pursuing a degree in commercial music. Having discovered a common mutual interest for electronic music, they decided to collaborate in writing music together. Following Paavo's suggestion, they set up the Anjunabeats label in the summer of 1999 with the release of their first single 'Volume One' under the alias Anjunabeats. Initially, the Anjunabeats record label was founded as a medium to release their own music, however since the label acquired the same name as their production alias, they started to release music under different names, most notably as "Dirt Devils" and "Free State". The original mix of 'Volume One', packaged with their 'Tease Dub Mix', received immediate attention in various dance clubs, and quickly gained support from Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold, Judge Jules and Paul van Dyk.
Following the success of 'Volume One' and a string of singles and remixes under their 'Free State' & 'Dirt Devils' alter egos, Marketing Director & Manager of the Warner Music Group Tony McGuinness, was alerted to the duo by his brother, Liam McGuinness. Having been commissioned to remix Chakra's "Home" track, Tony McGuinness recruited Jono & Paavo to help him complete the remix.[2] When the group was searching for a name to use for their Chakra remix, the inspiration came from a web page belonging to an American motivational trainer coincidentally named Jono Grant. Jono had the poster stuck to his wall. The slogan used by the motivational trainer was "Above & Beyond", and they decided to use that as their name.[3] Although the group was relatively unknown at the time, their remix of Chakra's Home was picked over remixes by Rob Searle and Tilt to be the A side mix, and after plays by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, it reached number one in the UK club charts.
[edit] Early Productions
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Sample of Above & Beyond's video remix of Madonna's What It Feels Like For A Girl.
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Interest in Above & Beyond soon emerged from established trance labels and new remixes were requested: the trio remixed Aurora's "Ordinary World", Fragma's "Everytime You Need Me", Perpetuous Dreamer's "The Sound of Goodbye" and Adamski's "In the City". These tracks served as the foundation for Above & Beyond's reputation[4] as one of the UK's leading vocal trance remixers.
Above & Beyond's most famous remix was for Madonna's single "What It Feels Like for a Girl". Madonna was so impressed by the remix that the music video for her song was shot to the Above & Beyond remix instead of the album version. Later, Above & Beyond did remixes for Delerium, Three Drives and J-pop artist Ayumi Hamasaki.
Above & Beyond soon began collaborating with other artists, giving birth to a new production project named OceanLab (Above & Beyond with Justine Suissa) as well as collaborations with Andy Moor and vocalists Carrie Skipper, Ashley Tomberlin, Zoë Johnston and Richard Bedford.
Late in 2003 they remixed Tomcraft's "Loneliness", Motorcycle's "As the Rush Comes", as well as being asked back by Madonna to remix "Nobody Knows Me". Other remixes included Britney Spears's single "Everytime", Dido's song "Sand In My Shoes" and Delerium's "Silence".
[edit] Later Productions
Above & Beyond's single "No One On Earth", featuring the vocals of Zoë Johnston, soon followed. It was voted Tune of the year 2004 in Armin van Buuren's trance radio show A State of Trance.[5]
Early in 2006 the band released their debut artist album, "Tri-State". UK Dance magazine DJ Mag gave the album a 5 Star review, saying "A blend of sleek electronic rhythms, lush filmic textures and old-fashioned song writing. 'Tri-State' is the fulfillment of any dance act's ultimate album aspiration: a padding-free, skilled, diverse long-player. In a word, 'Brilliant'."
Singles from the album include "Air For Life" (with Andy Moor) which won "Best Underground Dance Track" at the 2006 Miami Winter Music Conference and was Tune of the Year for 2005, as voted by the listeners of Armin Van Buuren's radio show A State of Trance. Alone Tonight (featuring Richard Bedford) was nominated for best progressive house/trance track at the 22nd International Dance Music Awards held at the 2007 Miami WMC, reaching number 4 in the Finland National Singles chart and number 5 in the UK Dance Chart. Above & Beyond performed Alone Tonight at Global Gathering 2005 broadcast live on Radio One in the UK. Their single "Can't Sleep" was included on A State of Trance in episode 280, which featured at number 3 on the best 20 tracks of 2006 according to the fans that voted in its polls. Above & Beyond "Good For Me" (featuring Zoë Johnston) was voted Tune of the Year in 2006 on Armin Van Buuren's A State of Trance Radio show. In 2008, Above & Beyond won Best Underground Dance Track at IDMA Awards at the Winter Music Conference with their single 'Home'.
[edit] DJ career
In 2002 the team began their DJ career in Tokyo in front of 8,000 clubbers, on a bill featuring Ferry Corsten and DJ Tiësto. After a slow start to their DJ career, they are now considered headline acts and make regular appearances at some of the worlds biggest trance festivals and clubs including Creamfields and Godskitchen Global Gathering in the UK and Amnesia in Ibiza. Furthermore, on 31 December 2007, Above & Beyond unofficially hosted the largest DJ gig ever on Barra Beach, Rio de Janeiro, where they reportedly played to an estimated 1 million people.[6]
Above & Beyond won the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix twice in 2004 and 2011.
Above & Beyond were ranked #4 in the DJ Mag top 100 poll from 2008 and 2009,[7] having entered at #39 in 2004.[8] In 2010 they placed #5 in the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll.
[edit] Radio Production
Above & Beyond are also involved in radio broadcasting. Their "Trance Around The World" show is known to 30 million listeners in 35 countries who tune into the show weekly, making it one of the most listened to radio shows in the world.[9] TATW also enables Above & Beyond to promote new artists on their renowned Anjunabeats label. There have been various special programmes since the creation of TATW, including live Above & Beyond sets from festivals, and radio episodic milestones, such as 400th episode celebrated in November 2011 in Beirut, Lebanon bringing artists like Gareth Emery and Mat Zo alongside the band.
Above & Beyond have also appeared numerous times on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix since their debut in June 2004. Their mixes proven to be successful as they have been voted twice the winners of "Essential Mix of The Year" in 2004 and 2011 respectively. Both mixes have been the only studio Essential Mixes delivered by Above & Beyond. Furthermore, Above & Beyond have also featured on the Essential Mix during live sets, in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
Above & Beyond are also responsible for marketing and production behind Anjunabeats label and therefore are credited for creation of the Anjunabeats Worldwide radio show.
[edit] Discography
Above & Beyond's first artist album Tri-State was released in March '06, along with the single "Alone Tonight". The album features collaborations with the likes of Zoë Johnston, Richard Bedford and Andy Moor, known for his work with Tilt and as half of Leama & Moor. The first single from the album, "Air for Life", was released in July '05. In July '08 Above & Beyond released the album Sirens of the Sea under the artist name OceanLab, one of Above & Beyond's side projects. Then in July '09 they released "Sirens Of The Sea Remixed", a remix album for the OceanLab album Sirens of the Sea. Above & Beyond released their second album titled Group Therapy on 6 June 2011. The first single from this album, was "Sun & Moon" featuring the vocals of Richard Bedford.
[edit] Studio albums
- 2006 Tri-State
- 2008 Sirens of the Sea (as Above & Beyond presents OceanLab)
- 2011 Group Therapy (UK chart peak: #49)
[edit] Remix albums
- 2008 Tri-State Remixed
- 2009 Sirens of the Sea Remixed (as Above & Beyond presents OceanLab)
[edit] Compilations
- Anjunabeats releases
- 2003 Anjunabeats Volume One
- 2004 Anjunabeats Volume Two
- 2005 Anjunabeats Volume Three
- 2006 Anjunabeats Volume Four
- 2007 Anjunabeats Volume Five
- 2008 Anjunabeats100 + From Goa to Rio
- 2008 Anjunabeats Volume Six
- 2009 Anjunadeep:01
- 2009 Anjunabeats Volume 7
- 2010 Anjunabeats Volume 8
- 2011 10 Years of Anjunabeats
- 2011 Anjunabeats Volume 9
- Non-Anjunabeats releases
- 2009 Trance Nation (Ministry of Sound)
- 2010 AX Music Series Volume 15 - Mixed by Above & Beyond: Utopia (Armani Exchange Music Series)
[edit] Singles
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[edit] Remixes
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ's". DJ Magazine. http://www.djmag.com/top100. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
- ^ "Above & Beyond Interview from 2004". http://www.harderfaster.net/text/features/10694. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ "www.gurn.net/interviews/above_and_beyond/04-07-2004". http://www.gurn.net/interviews/above_and_beyond/04-07-2004.
- ^ The DJ List: Above & Beyond
- ^ "A State of Trance Episode 181 (Top 20 of 2004) Tracklist". http://www.astateoftrance.com/episodes/episode-181/. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ 365 Mag. (2008). ABOVE And Beyond Release Anjunabeats 100. Retrieved 20 November 2010 from http://365mag.com/index.php?pg=news&recnum=4545&Title=Above+And+Beyond+Release+Anjunabeats+100+on+365Mag+International+Music+Magazine
- ^ "Above & Beyond at DJ Mag Poll". http://www.djmag.com/index.php?op=top100dj&top100dj_op=results&results_op=2007&search_op=display&top_100_id=6&limit_num=250&page=1. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ "Above & Beyond new entry at DJ Mag Poll". http://www.djmag.com/index.php?op=top100dj&top100dj_op=results&year=2004. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ "Trance Around The World with Above & Beyond #301". Above and Beyond. 2009-12-29. http://trancearoundtheworld.com/tatw/301. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Above & Beyond |
- Official website
- Above & Beyond on Myspace
- Above & Beyond discography at Discogs
- Artist Site at Ultra Records
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