Finally Nick Warren’s fifth Global Underground mix compilation sees its releases. The double CD compilation covering his impression of Iceland, a country and island that has produced the likes of Bjørk and Gus Gus. CD 1 sets off in this music universe and is a long mix of chil-out ambient music, break beat and slow moody tunes, including tracks from Atlas, Boards Of Canada, Momu and Grayerea. CD2 is full on progressive strait to the dance floor, Nick is not afraid to use tracks that has a melody, like Starkid’s “Crayons” and Subsky’s “Strawberry Fields” – simple brilliant – Nick Warren has done it again. Sadly though - this might be his last compilation. You can read more about this in the forthcoming interview with Nick that soon will be available here. The compilation is produced by Allan Bremner and is also released on a limited triple vinyl.

For many years Hooj Choons has been a major factor in the ever evolving club music scene, from epic trance to deep progressive tunes to tech house. The double CD features 27 funky, melodic disco tech house tracks. CD1 gives us tracks from Chris Lum "Feelin' High", Metro Area "Piña", Freeform Five "Perspex Sex" and Soul Mekanik "C'Mon Over". CD2 kicks off with Bermuda Triangle "Mooger Fooger", and you can also find tracks from 16B "Behind The Face", Blackwatch "I'm Here", Mirwais "Miss You" and Swayzak "Make Up Your Mind". No doubt Hooj Choons has been and is shaping the future of what to come.

The UK based trio Lexicon Avenue consists of Scott Bradford, Chris Scott and Mark Armstrong and have done an excellent debut mix CD for the Nite:life series. This compilation kicks off with the fantastic Weekend World  remix of CTRL “Case Del Regardo”, and sets the tone of what to come. The mix slowly moves into a more funky tone and tracks from Chris Lum, Chab, Marisa Turner and That Kid Chris are included. The last track on the compilation is System F “Exhale” in the Sander Kleinenberg remix mixed with acapellas from Little Green Men “Need” - MASSIVE. The compilation has also been released on double vinyl.

From Israel comes Yahel and with his forth album he established himself as one of the best within the Israeli psychedelic family. The interesting thing about Yahel is his ability to cross over between euro trance and psychedelic trance, he has produced some of the most fantastic tracks “Devotion”, “Sugar One” and “Massive Control” all released on Cyber Records. On “Hallucinate” he uses his knowledge of both worlds, and combines it into 9 fantastic tracks, with deep rhythms, breaks and nice melodies. This can especially be heard on tracks like “We Known”, “Run”, “Regesh” and on “Close Your Eyes”. On the track “Butterfly” the sounds get a little more progressive and with the last track on the album, “Hallucinate” the circle is brought to a perfect close. A very uplifting album.

The German trance duo Der Dritte Raum ("The Third Room") was DJs Andreas Krüger and Ralf Uhrlandt. They were signed to Sven Vath's Harthouse label, and debuted with “Mental Modulator”. Later Der Dritte Raum released "Raumgleiter" that includes the fantastic ”Hale Bopp”. On the Virgin label they released “Distanz” in 2000  Now Andreas Krüger is ready and solo with the newest release from Der Dritte Raum “Kulbraum” – and yes the sound is more club orientated but still has the sound of Der Dritte Raum. The best tracks of the album are “Tantzstanze” and “Spurrillen”, also as a double a-sided 12”.

The queen of pop is back. Once more she has teamed up with the French electronic wizard and producer Mirwais that also produced her previous album “Music”. The sound and feel of the new album are in a direct line from “Music” and nothing new is brought forward and I’m getting a little tired of the “auto tuning” effect of her voice. Not that this is a bad thing, but I love Madonna when she explores new sounds. Madonna is expressing herself more personal this time through her lyrics and she takes on the art of rap on “American Dream”, “Hollywood” and “Mother And Father”, mmmm I think she should keep to her singing. The album features 11 songs, including the James Bond theme song “Die Another Day” and her current single “American Life”, and there is a handful of songs that has potential to become future hits.

With their massive hit “David” hammering around the world, the Danish label Big Star has taken on the release of the GusGus “Attention” album in Denmark. It will hit the streets on the 2nd of June. The album was original released on Darren Emerson’s Underwater label last year and features 10 tracks of Icelandic blend of deep house electro music that only the four members of Gus Gus; Biggi Veira (Biggi Thorarinson), Buckmaster De La Cruz (DJ Herb Legowitz), President Bongo (Stephan Stephenson) and Earth (Urdur) can produce. Besides “David”, the singles “Dance You Down” and the forthcoming single “Call Of The Wild “are featured. Gus Gus will be playing a DJ set at this year Roskilde Festival.

From Tiësto’s label Black Hole Records comes a 2CD compilation celebrating the return of the Amsterdam superclub Kremlin @ the XL Venue. On the 29+30 of April the club had a blast of a party called “Two Days Of Kaos” and for those who weren’t able to attend or for those who came and wanted to recap the tunes of the night then this trance compilation is for you. The double CD is mixed by DJ Astrid and Don Diablo. CD1 is the melodic trance with tracks form, Flesh “A Spilt Second” in the Perfecto mix, Jan Johnson “Calling Your Name”, Hemstock & Jennings “Northen Lights”, Hiver & Hammer “5 million miles” and Mona Lisa Overdrive “Born to Synthesize”. CD2 we go into the hard side of trance, with tracks from Alex Gold “L.A. Today” with vocals from Philip Oakey (Human League), DJ Montana “Holla”, Filterheadz “In Your Eyes” and Underworld’s “Dinosaur Adventure 3D” in the Shapside remix. 

A double header from DJ Bossi and Nic Chagall. One CD with banging hard trance that only Cosmic Gate can deliver, full on from the start including a remix from the boys themselves and tracks from Svenson & Gielen “Answer The Question”, Joop “Act Of God”, Saltwater “The Legacy” and Marco V’s “Echoes”. The other CD kicks off with melodic trance, with tracks from Roland Van Gelderen “Proceed”, Hydra “Affinity” and Midway “Inca” in the mix and slowly gets harder and harder, but still melodic. The absolute highlight of this mix compilation is DJ Tiesto’s remix of Cor Fijneman’s “Venus” that includes the wonderful voice of Jan Johnson which also can be found on Cosmic Gate’s “Raging” that also is included in the mix.

 Trance Nation 2003 kicks off with Above & Beyond’s “Far From Home” that once more has shown that they are one of the masters of beautiful trance tunes. Svenson & Gielen remix of Divine Inspiration “The Way” takes over, and the CD keeps on going with easy accessible trance tracks, including tracks from Minimalistix “Magic Fly”, System F “Solstice” and  Energy 52’s “Café Del Mar” in the Marco V remix. The flow is interrupted by the banging Aquagen track “Take The Chance”, but the compilation is brought back on track with the brilliant “Obsession” track by Tiesto & Junike XL. Overall the mix compilation is too commercial for my taste.   

 A new series from Capitol Records collects the dance and trance hits of the moment. 31 standalone tracks are featured on the two CD’s. CD1 is called Dance and here you can find tracks from Queen + Vanguard “Flash”, In-Grid “Tue s Foutu”, IIo “At The End”, Kate Ryan’s version of Mylene Farmer’s “Libertine” and Orinoko (Timo Maas) ”Island”. Hey – isn’t Oxygen (Space Brothers) “Am In Your Mind” and Kirsty Hawkshaw “Fine Day”, trance tracks, anyway sometimes it’s hard to set the limit of what is what in today’s dance music. Turning to CD2 – the Trance - it starts with Cosmic Gate “The Wave” and continues with tracks from Driftwood “Freeloader”, Marc Et Claude “Loving You”, and our Danish heroes Michael Parsberg “The Evolution” and Michael Splint’s remix of Airbase’s “Gine” are to be found in it’s full 9 minutes version. CD2 closes with Fisherspooner’s electroclash hit “Emerge” and with Futureshock’s progressive “On My Mind”. A very nice way to bring the music of the moment out to listeners and to all the DJs – perhaps this kind of release can help stopping the home copying – only time will tell.

If a blend of vocal house, disco, trance and dance tunes is your cup of tea, then Spring 2003 is a compilation for you. It’s a mixture of hits to come and current hits from the dance floor. CD1 includes tracks from Jakatta “One Fine Day”, Bob Sinclair “The Beat Goes On”, Tim De Luxe “We All Love Sax” and the retro remix of the Michael Jackson hit “Billie Jean”, Black Box’s “Ride On Time” and Snap’s “Rhythm Is A Dancer” are all in the mix. CD2 continues where CD1 stopped, and includes the Danish monster hit “Soulmagic” done by Morten Tørst. Also included in the mix is Moby, Simply Red, Armand Van Helden, Moguai and Underworld. Once again a very commercial mix compilation from Ministry Of Sound that will appeal to the mainstream listener.

Taking on Riva’s “Stringer” smash trance hit of 2001 and turn into “Who Do You Love Now” was the signal of the return of one of Australia’s pop divas. “Neon Lights” is a pure album for dancing, with a blend of different styles, from pop, disco, electro, dance, house, trance and no Rap or R&B. On the album you can also find the hit singles “Put The Needle On It”, “Begin To Wonder” a hidden track, 3 videos and a photo gallery. The album is produced by Murlyn, the Swedish producers behind Jennifer Samantha Mumba and Jessica Simpson, Ian Masterson (Trouser Enthusiasts) and his production partner Terry Roland just to name a few of the many people who helped Dannii putting “Neon Lights” together.

 Mmmmmmhhhh is this really the new thing? Reto 80’s electropop with a twist – I prefer the original anytime. The compilation is compiled by Larry T, the driving force behind the New York cult club Limelight and the man how founded Electroclash and the arranger of the Electroclash festival in New York. Avenue D’s “Do I look Like A Slut?” a Kraftwerk impersonation, which is a big cult club hit in New York. “Hold Me, Touch Me” by WIT, Soviet “Candy Girl” sends me back in time and I remember when my interest for electronic music started. I can’t help thinking that this should be the new thing, but anyway it’s different and breaks from the traditional mainstream dance music that I’m totally fed up with. If it is going to be a hit in Denmark – that I’m not sure of – it’s not mainstream enough.

“American Life” is the title track to be lifted from the new Madonna album, an album produced by the man behind Music – Mirwais. The mix package includes a driving Missy Elliot remix, with rap by Missy Elliot herself. Paul Oakenfold takes the mix in the dirty direction with a massive bass and drum synth rhythm. Felix Da Housecat has come up with a straight forward driving house remix and Peter Rauhofer has made two long remixes that only he can do. A strong mix packaged, but not at the same height as “Die Another Day”.