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Above & Beyond (band)

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Above & Beyond

Above & Beyond are a British trance music group formed in 2000 and consists of the members Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki. The trio are popular in the trance scene for their uplifting trance productions and collaborations with several vocalists. They also host their own weekly radio show, Trance Around the World. The group's tracks are regularly played by well-known DJs, such as Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, ATB, Judge Jules and Paul van Dyk. On 28 October 2009 DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Above & Beyond placed at #4, for the second year in a row.[1]

Formation

Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki met at the University of Westminster and they set up the Anjunabeats label in the summer of 1999 with the release of the 'Anjunabeats Volume 1'. Anjunabeats Volume 1 was the very first track recorded by Jono and Paavo. This 'Original Mix' 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. Above & Beyond came together in 2000 when producer Tony McGuinness called in Grant and Siljamäki to help him complete a remix of Chakra's "Home" track while at the Warner Music Group.[2]

The inspiration for the name Above & Beyond 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 when the group was searching for a name to use for their Chakra remix, the slogan stuck out from the poster.[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, reached number one in the UK club charts.

Early Productions

"Madonna - What It Feels Like For a Girl (Above & Beyond Video Edit)"
Sample of Above & Beyond's video remix of Madonna's What It Feels Like For A Girl.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

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[4]. The video, directed by Guy Ritchie, Madonna's husband at the time, would go on to gain its own notoriety due to its theme. In it, Madonna is a fugitive from the law and at one point threatens two policemen with a gun which, however, turns out to be a squirt gun[5]. Later, Above & Beyond made 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".

Later Productions

Above & Beyond's single "No One On Earth", featuring the vocals of Faithless member Zoe Johnston, followed. It was voted Tune of the year 2004 in Armin van Buuren's trance radio show A State of Trance.[6]

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 Buurens 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 Zoe Johnstone) 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'.

DJ career

Paavo Siljamäki and Jono Grant during a performance in Miami, 2007.

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 the 31st of 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.[citation needed]

Above & Beyond made their live debut as performers at Passion in 2004 and went on to win the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of the year award in the same year.[7]

Above & Beyond were ranked #4 in the DJ Mag top 100 poll from 2008 and 2009,[8] having entered at #39 in 2004.[9]

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. Currently, Above & Beyond are working on a 2nd artist album called Group Therapy, projected for release around the second half of 2010 or early 2011. The first single from Group Therapy, called Thing Called Love and featuring the vocals of Richard Bedford, has been released on Anjunabeats Volume Eight.

Albums

Compilations

Anjunabeats releases
Non-Anjunabeats Releases

Singles

Remixes

See also

References

  1. ^ "DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ's". DJ Magazine. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  2. ^ "Above & Beyond Interview from 2004". Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  3. ^ "www.gurn.net/interviews/above_and_beyond/04-07-2004".
  4. ^ a b The DJ List: Above & Beyond
  5. ^ Madonna: What it Feels Like for a Girl Amazon.com
  6. ^ "A State of Trance Episode 181 (Top 20 of 2004) Tracklist". Retrieved December 16, 2009.
  7. ^ "Essential Mix of the year 2004". Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  8. ^ "Above & Beyond at DJ Mag Poll". Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  9. ^ "Above & Beyond new entry at DJ Mag Poll". Retrieved July 24, 2008.
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