Godskitchen. The annual dance music festival hits Australian shores for another year. This time around securing the cream of trance DJs with Above & Beyond, Mark Norman, Eddie Halliwell, Cosmic Gate and more.

CD 1 – Mixed by Steve Strangis

The CD promoting this year’s festival has taken on a slightly different appearance, with the CDs mixed by either well-known international DJs and/or Future Entertainment owner Mark James. Instead, local Melbourne DJ Steve Strangis was given the reigns, showcasing some of the tunes which had been gracing his record bag over the last year. This local DJ has been involved in the Melbourne dance scene for over four years and with this deserved opportunity is getting the opportunity to showcase his skills to the whole of Australia and also earn himself the right to some overseas gigs. Steve has been at the top of his game as a trance DJ within Melbourne, and despite having limited opportunities interstate has still managed to forge a more then reputable name for himself by securing major gigs at Melbourne’s top dance festivals, including Obsession, Summadayze, Two Tribes, Slinky and of course Godskitchen.

Admittedly I am not the trance fan I once was. As a genre it seems to have been on a bit of a decline in popularity since its glory days between 1999 and 2002, however I was still excited to rip open the Australia Post envelope which capsulated this latest release. The inner sleeve had crisp fresh smell and for a moment it was almost like purchasing a new vinyl. Eagerly I put on CD 1 and sat back to hear what Steve ‘Van’ Strangis had in-store for me. Kicking the CD off with the 2006 Intro Mix of Signum’s ‘What U Got 4 Me’ it immediately transported me to the middle of Rod Laver Arena. It was 1am and I was ready for an explosion of tough midnight sounds to blast out from my Sennheiser’s. Track one had enormous energy and I did feel as though the mix lost a bit of energy between the track one moving into track two. To me this raised the question – “Do all CDs require an ambient intro to achieve maximum impact?”

The CD moved into appropriate territory as track three was the Andrew Bennett Remix of ‘Your Loving Arms’ by Karen Overton. A little known fact for all you music connoisseurs is that trance giant Jose Amnesia was actually the brains behind the remake collaborating with close friend and vocalist Karen Overton to create this 2006 bomb. The Original Mix was one of my personal favourites this year, and although the Andrew Bennett Remix doesn’t quite have the same energy of the Original, it was perfectly placed in assisting the mix cd’s progression into track four ‘Ice Beach’ by Niklas Harding, which has been another very successful progressive trance tune this year.

Just when your thinking the disc is taking a leisurely stroll into ‘prog-land’ Strangis does what he is best known for and kicks the tempo up a few gears. The eerie seconds silence between ‘Ice Beach’ and ‘Control Freak’ works perfectly, and the listener is sent into a world of driving tech-trance goodness. Along with rolling beats the mysterious ‘Control Freak’ vocal instantly hooks you in and interestingly enough I had never heard this track before! Well Steve, if you are reading this I hope this tune gets a run on October 7th.

From track five onwards Strangis moves his mix into the sound that has defined him and the listener is smashed with big room baselines, and stomping kicks. A sound that characterises the path that trance has taken over the last couple of years. Belgium producer Mike Dierickx makes a triumphant return to the big leagues under his M.I.K.E. guise with a masterpiece called ‘Voices from the Inside’ which is one of the best tracks he has put his name to in a long while.

The CD is mixed flawlessly and Strangis has clearly put all his DJ experience to good use as the mix never drops its intensity during the seventy-eight minute trip. Stomping tracks including Sander Van Doorn’s remix of ‘Direct Dizko’ as well as the new track by Selu Vibra on the Somatic Sense label are the standouts, and in addition to those combined with tough, dark melodic monsters like the Airbase presents. Parc remix of ‘Arisen’ and ‘Neno Itome’ by German duo Marksun & Brian, Strangis rounds out the mix perfectly. This is a cd which shall most certainly satisfy all trance enthusiasts.

As the disc ejects I think back over the history leading up to this moment for the twenty-five year old Strangis. He has been a dedicated trance jock, pushing his sound around Melbourne. At times supporting the trance movement in Melbourne has been described as a “pushing shit up hill” type mission. The global trance following has certainly moved into hibernation since the house and electro popularity. This reviewer has no qualms in saying that the electronic music circle of life will once again shift another one-hundred and eighty degrees and the seasonal ‘fads’ shall die down again, and once again progressive and trance music shall begin its steady climb up to its formerly lofty heights. However all through these turbulent times, and after long stretches with limited opportunities for gigs and dwindling guest lists Steve Strangis has kept doing his thing and with this cd comes just reward.

Without some serious talent however, all the efforts of a passionate DJ shall fall on deaf ears. Strangis has also been doing the hard work behind the scenes and with good friend and trance colleague Scott Bateman the pair have been able to make their goals come to fruition as they have launched one of Melbourne’s most successful trance nights – Obsession, which if you haven’t been able to catch yet definitely demands some attention.

Trance fans will love CD one of the Godskitchen Australia compilation as they are offered a fresh selection of the best trance tunes to come out this year, and even trance sceptics like myself are given seventy-eight minutes of party trance which work as a great warm-up prior to heading out for a big club night out.

CD 2 – Mixed by Above & Beyond

Whilst the first disc was an explosion onto the Godskitchen dance floor, the second disc takes on a cruiser feel as Above & Beyond re-tag Anjunabeats Volume 4 for Australian shores. With the trance music sound evolving to what it has today, some producers and DJs alike have adopted to go one of two ways. Moving to a more progressive trance type sound, or creating yet another sub-genre along the way called electro-trance.

Above & Beyond are one such group who have adopted this new, fresh ‘electro-trance’ sound. The trio have gone from strength to strength over the last few years after entering into the DJ Mag Top 100 charts at #39 in 2004. The next year saw them jump twenty spots to #19 with plenty of energy and promotion being put into their label – Anjunabeats. As the ‘Anjuna’ brand name has been increasing in popularity they decided to launch a new sub-label called Anjunadeep, which served as a portal for the trio to release successful tracks that did not contain the big room trance sound that had seen them rise to fame. This disc acts as an excellent promoter as three of the tracks featured on this CD have been released on by the sub-label. My personal pick of the bunch is a big track with a light-hearted name – ‘Supermodels from Paris – Keep On’. A lively, bouncing deep house track with a catchy vocal riff and an almost nefarious melody make it everything “that works” on a dance floor. This is certainly a tune that I enjoy hammering out when playing to crowds in the clubs.

In a ploy of great marketing the Above & Beyond boys have put this mix together made up entirely of tunes from their label Anjunabeats. This could be seen as a fairly substantial risk, considering that there seems to be an overwhelming consensus that ‘trance’ nowadays has become a rather dull and monotonous sound. An even bigger risk, considering that labels usually release tunes of a similar nature. Anjunabeats have always attempted to keep their releases fresh and original, and considering they have mixed four albums in their time all containing ‘Anjunaonly’ tunes, I think we can safely say they have conquered the art of label diversity.

For those of you wishing to know the standout tunes from the album – as well as the aforementioned ‘Keep On’ my choices include the sexy, silky vocals of ‘Amsterdam’, the driving big-room sound of ‘Helsinki Scorchin’’ and also Super8’s new gem ‘Get Off’. This is a mix CD which flows extremely well, and will impress progressive and trance music followers alike. Godskitchen Australia – Disc Two is certainly a CD to enjoy in the car whilst cruising around on a glorious sunny day.

Above & Beyond continue to shine in this topsy-turvy, fickle world of electronic dance music and this CD contains an excellent array of the sounds that fans will be privy too when Above & Beyond tour for the Godskitchen party beginning in early September. As a side note for Above & Beyond followers is that as well as this release, coinciding with their appearance in Australia for the Godskitchen tour, they are also going to be releasing an Anjunabeats Worldwide compilation, which according to news from their Ministry of Sound radio show shall be released sometime in October.