Jump to content

Gabriel & Dresden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lonelysoulq (talk | contribs) at 16:45, 19 October 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Gabriel & Dresden

Gabriel & Dresden was the project name of the DJs and producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden from San Francisco. Their popularity and activities are centered in the United States, they won the WMC award as Best American DJ twice in 2007 and 2008, the same day the group spilt-up.

History

Early Years (1980-2001)

Dave Dresden's music ability is due to training from being inside a deejay booth for fifteen years, while Josh Gabriel has an undergraduate college degree in music composition from the California Institute for the Arts. Josh founded the music creation tool Mixman in the 1990s. It was one of the first programs to use loops of digital audio for music making. Before he attended music school in Holland and Los Angeles and started experimenting with synthesizers and computers in the early 1980s. At the same time Dave was a club deejay in a suburb of New York City as well as a renowned US dance music journalist. He became the Music Director of grooveradio.com and met Pete Tong, who asked him to help find music for the Essential Selection.[2] They met at a party being hosted by grooveradio.com at the Miami Winter Music Conference in March 2001. Josh gave Leon Alexander a record, the record was "Wave 3", which Dave then gave to Pete Tong, and he played it on the Essential Selection and also used it for his compilation that same year. Pete gave Dave the opportunity to do a spec mix of New Order and Dave asked Josh to work on it with him. The two joined forces in 2001 and made a name for themselves by creating numerous remixes. In 2002 Gabriel & Dresden released their first single "Lament" (Saw Recordings) in the United States. The first gig presentation Josh & Dave had as Gabriel & Dresden was Arc in New York City.[3]

Rise to fame (2002-2008)

In 2004 they released their first Mix-CD Bloom. They entered the prestigious DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ's poll in 2003 at #43. After having their seventh #1 Billboard Dance Chart Hit with the Madonna & Britney Spears collaboration "Me Against the Music" they worked on their own group Motorcycle with singer and songwriter Jes Brieden, with their track "As The Rush Comes" in 2004. They have steadily climbed the chart every year since then, placing at 40 in 2004, 22 in 2005, and 33 in 2006. In 2005 the single "Arcadia" was released although it was also the first track on Bloom. At the end of the same year the track "Without You Near" was released at Coldharbour Recordings. This track was produced in cooperation with Markus Schulz and Departure.

"We make music with lyrics and choruses, music that is emotive with melodies and meaning."

- says Josh Gabriel.[4]

"We make songs that make you feel good about feeling bad."

- says Dave Dresden.[5]

In 2005 they created the Gabriel & Dresden logo, known for it's keyboard shape was designed by Bruno Silva. The logo features the pianos key notes with dots on the keys for the notes G and D.[6] It includes the name of the group, Gabriel above and Dresden below. They launched their record label Organized Nature that serves primarily to release their own music. Gabriel & Dresden produced the track "Zocalo" with Armin van Buuren which was released on his album/LP Shivers.

They presented "Gabriel & Dresden bring you Organized Nature", on March 24 during the WMC. The Winter Music Conference, Realivze Tribe Productions, and Polka Dot present the Official Record Label Launch of Organized Nature. The event lasted for five hours, Live PA From Motorcycle and BORIS MD of Departure; Appears on Without You Near by Markus Schulz on the track were Gabriel & Dresden has left a mark as well as Zocalo by Armin Van Buuren. Gabriel & Dresden were lauded as "America's Best DJs" at the Miami Winter Music Conference's International Dance Music Awards.

File:Gabrielanddresdenlogo.jpg
Logo by Bruno Silva.

They also took home an award for Best Alternative / Dance Single for their hit "Dangerous Power" featuring the voice of Jan Burton. This is not the first time they have been cited for their DJing, winning the Best New DJ award at the 2005 Dancestar awards and performing on the show as Motorcycle with Jes Brieden. They have also worked with Pete Houser, a friend from the California Bay Area which created the Alias Bigtop. They released ORG004 also known as Sub & Tidal, with Sub appearing on their DJ Mix Compilation "Bloom". Dave Dresden has appeared as Summit with Peter Lorimer. The self-titled Gabriel & Dresden was released in 2007 bringing them a great year as America's #1 DJ's, the same year saw the releases of "Tracking Treasure Down" and "Dangerous Power". They had a Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number one hit in July 2006 with the song "Tracking Treasure Down" which was written by Molly Bancroft who also the vocalist on the track. Bancroft also wrote and sang on their hit "Let Go." After the success of the album, the duo decided to tour around the globe to emphasize their support for electronic dance music which is still considered an underground genre.

Departure (March 30, 2008)

The duo finished their last tour with two appearances at the WMC in Miami. They played a 5+ hour set at the Pawn Shop on March 28, 2008 and a closing 1 hour set at the Beatport/Remix Hotel Pool Party at the National Hotel on March 30, 2008 (with visuals provided by VJ Psyberpixie). The Andain project will be completed and released in 2008. [citation needed] Josh Gabriel will now be touring solo and focusing more on his solo album due out later in 2008.

Yes, the rumor is true. Gabriel & Dresden have parted ways for the time being. Over the past year, Josh and I have been moving apart as artists and we decided rather than milk it and be moderately happy together that we separate and examine ourselves as individual artists for a while. Our final date was the beatport pool party in Miami on march 30. For those who were there, I want to thank each and every one of you for showing Josh and I the love and support that you did. A lot of the set was songs that we have individually been working on interspersed with a few fan favorites. I will remember that hour and fifteen minutes forever because I certainly felt the love with all the hands in the air and the well-wishes.
After WMC I went into the hospital to have shoulder surgery. I had a torn rotator cuff and after years of constant dislocations to my shoulder, I wanted to get that out of the way so that I can be 100% when I hit the road in mid-may as a solo artist.[7]

— Dave Dresden

Influences (2001-2008)

Throughout the career of Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, there has been a large influence from them to Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Unlike other deejay groupings/bands such as Above & Beyond who dedicates a trance based composition, Gabriel & Dresden remain mixing club and house music like Deep Dish which is another duo which has created many #1 charting songs and remixes. Gabriel & Dresden have both gained influences from various artists such as Alexander Coe, musically known Sasha which inspired them to write a more minimal tone of tracks which can be heard in their only self-titled studio album, Gabriel & Dresden (album) with tracks like uplifting "Eleven" with Scarlett Etienne, "Enemy" with Jan Burton and the repetitive "Mass Repeat", they have also rock based influences which make some songs sound indie. While working as Gabriel & Dresden rather than separate, they both needed to concur on how the track is going to be like when it is done, meaning the approval from two people is better than from a one peron persepective. Josh Gabriel has gained influence from producer James Holden, as well as Depeche Mode and The Cure. Dave Dresden has been also inspired by the same artists Josh admires but also Jonathan Peters.[8]

Gabriel & Dresden have been a great influence to various artists, like Christopher Norman, Blake Jarell, Tim Grube, Chephren Blake, and Brian Martinelli. In 2006 a compilation of Gabriel & Dresden remixes was created by Geyser & Massa, the compilation was release in Russia only through the label Music1st.[9] Christopher Norman who mixes under his own name and the alias Retrobyte, works as part of Organized Nature, the label which is owned by Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, due to the separation of the electronic band, the expected full length production album of Retrobyte was delayed to an unknown date in 2008. Gabriel & Dresden named Chritopher Norman as the breakthrough DJ of 2008 in the 2007 DJMag awards.[10]

Discography

Albums

This gallery contains studio albums, compilation albums and DJ mixes by Gabriel & Dresden.

Singles/EPs

This list contains singles by Gabriel & Dresden, Aliases and Co-Productions.

Remixes

Awards and nominations

2003

42nd Best DJs according to DJMag (Debut)[11]
2004

41st Best DJs according to DJMag[12]
Won WMC Best Producer - Gabriel & Dresden
Won WMC Best Progressive / Trance - As The Rush Comes - Motorcycle
Nominated WMC Best Underground Dance - As The Rush Comes - Motorcycle

2005

29th Best DJs according to DJMag[13]
Nominated WMC Best Remixer - Gabriel & Dresden

2006

20th Best DJs according to DJMag[14]
Won WMC Best Remixer - Gabriel & Dresden
Nominated WMC Best ProgressiveHouse/Trance Track - Without You Near - Markus Schulz (with Gabriel & Dresden Feat. Departure)
Nominated WMC Ortofon Best American DJ Award - Gabriel & Dresden
Nominated WMC Best Producer - Gabriel & Dresden

2007

23rd Best DJs acccording to DJMag[15]
Nominated WMC Best Progressive House/Trance Track - Tracking Treasure Down - Gabriel & Dresden
Nominated WMC Best Producer - Gabriel & Dresden
Won WMC Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track - Dangerous Power - Gabriel & Dresden
Won WMC Best Ortofon American DJ - Gabriel & Dresden

2008

Nominated WMC Best Progressive House/Trance Track - Dangerous Power - Gabriel & Dresden
Won WMC Best American DJ - Gabriel & Dresden
Nominated WMC Best Global DJ - Gabriel & Dresden
Nominated WMC Best Dance Artist (Group) - Gabriel & Dresden

References

  1. ^ "Notable Instruments".
  2. ^ "Dave Pearce Interview".
  3. ^ "First Gig".
  4. ^ "Profile". apple.com. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  5. ^ "Profile". apple.com. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  6. ^ "Logo".
  7. ^ "Departure".
  8. ^ "In The Spotlight".
  9. ^ "Various - Gabriel & Dresden Collected Remixes".
  10. ^ "Breakthrough DJ".
  11. ^ "DJMag Top 100 DJs".
  12. ^ "DJMag Top 100 DJs".
  13. ^ "DJMag Top 100 DJs".
  14. ^ "DJMag Top 100 DJ's".
  15. ^ "DJMag Top 100 DJ's".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gabriel_%26_Dresden&oldid=246312666"