I was originally hooked into trance music because of the futuristic vibe it had. It was also very cinematic with a strong sense of moving forward all the time. This month’s Radio Unity mix is dedicated to that cinematic and futuristic sound with also a few breakbeat tracks thrown in adding to the retrofuturictic vibe. Featured artists include Airwave, John 00 Fleming, King Unique, Luke Chable, Zoo Brazil, Shiloh, Tilt, Solarstone, Magnus and something from myself too… Remember you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and listen the mix this Saturday on Radio NRJ here in Finland. And feel free to join the live discussion with like minded music lovers on the Afterhours.fm forum during the airing.
Show: DJ Orkidea: Radio Unity 038
Time: 3rd Wed of the month @ 21-22 CET (22-23 FIN time)
I love many kinds of electronic music: balearic nu-disco, melodic progressive house, driving and deep trance, uplifting big room sounds and even banging psytrance. So for the January Radio Unity I wanted to bring all of these together for a proper journey kind of a DJ mix. And yes I know it’s the mother of all cliches but that just feels like the right description for this mix:) Tempo starts from 110 beats per minute and gradually build and build and end with pretty fast 138 beats per minute. Also mixing wise I took full advantage of Ableton Live’s mixing capabilities with lots of key changing, effecting and looooong mixes to make the flow nice and smooth. Track selection features selected goodies from last year back-to-back with most recent gems from artists like Sasha, Protoculture, Kolombo and Magnus. Hope you’ll enjoy the mix and feel free to join the live discussion in Afterhours.fm forum.
Show: DJ Orkidea: Radio Unity 037
Time: 3rd Wed of the month @ 21-22 CET (22-23 FIN time)
Press release for my new album “20”. Written by Tim Stark from DJ Magazine.
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‘20’ celebrates 2 decades of music from the Godfather of Finland’s always-flourishing trance scene. Orkidea’s new long-player takes a transfixing, episodic look at his personal sound experiences throughout the last 20 years of trance. Enter the world of ‘retro-futurism’. Enter the world of Orkidea.
(CD & DD released 11.11.11 on Solaris Recordings/Universal Music)
Possibly the greatest unsung hero in the genre ever, over his 20-year trance mission, Orkidea (DJ and master-producer Tapio Hakenen) has always been the man that’s let the music do the talking. In spearheading the rise of Finland as a force on the global trance stage, he paved the way for acts like Super8 & Tab, Darude, Alex Kunnari, Joonas Hahmo and numerous others to break into the scene. Notably, on his TATW radio show, Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond cited Orkidea as one of the reasons he started making trance music.
‘20’ delivers what Orkidea terms a “retro-futuristic” vision of trance music. Having played in the genre since its earliest dawn, it’s an area he’s as well versed in as any. The album re-examines themes and sounds spanning two decades, recalibrating them to 2011 levels and with the most up-to-date studio tech currently available. It shines a light into lesser-known corners of trance – there’s nothing that can be considered obvious or overt on ‘20’. Where he references or revisits the classics, they are of the double-deep underground variety – the tracks that Tapio considers to be the true anthems.
His third long-player (following ‘Taika’ and ‘Metaverse’) weighs anchor with the washing pacific equilibrium of ‘Beautiful’. With its profoundly progressive production bedrock, agile synths and spoken word vocal (which many will recognise from a famous space saga), it stands as a brilliant overture to the album.
Considered by many to be one of the most in-the-know trance tracks ever, Der Dritte Raum’s ‘Hale Bop’ is regularly discussed in hushed, revered tones from chillout rooms to website forums. Alongside fellow Fin JS16, Orkidea has reduxed ‘Hale’s sensational, rising/falling riff – advancing every element of the 1998 production reintroducing it to today’s floors. Likewise ‘Sun Down’ flashes back to 1993, and sees Orkidea reboot Sven Vath’s Eye-Q classic in glinting, ear-catching fashion.
If ‘Slowmotion’ (Orkidea and Solarstone’s last in-studio collaboration) paid ear-service to Sasha and Digweed’s Renaissance times, then its sequel ‘Slowmotion II’ will surely do the same for Mike Oldfield. Its looping, filmic bell-chime melody locks the attention before finally releasing outward into a powerful trance voyage. That provides a gateway to Orkidea’s remix of Art of Trance’s epic, dramatic ‘Chung Kuo’. Itself a cover of Vangelis’ track, it’s pulsates wildly and notably features not a single breakdown in its entire runtime!
‘Tw3nty’ – the album’s title track – grafts a bigger room mentality to a prog-trance backing, culminating in an enormous stabbed riff and soaring pitch bent sirens.
As the album hits its final third, so ‘20’s gears continue to shift upwards – moving away from prog-trance and into more rapturous areas. On Way Out West’s ‘Killa’, Tapio to all intents and purposes reworks his rework of Nick Warren and Jody Wisternoff’s dub-vocalled floor-conqueror – tweaking and retouching his remix 6 years on, especially for the album. ‘Hot Trigger’ meanwhile is a fast moving peak-time floor assault that uses running bass, loud claps and hats and holds back a knockout blow for its big post-break moment.
Crowning the ‘20’ album is Orkidea’s new mix of ‘Unity’. The track that started it all for him, it set an enormous precedent for his production career and was, in effect, Finland’s first trance release. On its original release the track was champed by the proverbial cross-section of DJs (Sasha, Tong, Oakenfold, Warren and Seaman included). With his elite 15th Anniversary remix, another chapter of ‘Unity’s legacy has been opened, with Orkidea intensifying the track into a sensational, 10+ minute kaleidoscopic soundscape.
If you’ve waited until now to discover the mastery of Orkidea music, the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year will be your best opportunity yet. ‘20’. Don’t miss it.
Tracklist:
Orkidea – Beautiful (Orkidea’s Whiteout Remix)
Orkidea & JS16 – Hale Bopp
Orkidea & Solarstone – Slowmotion II
Orkidea – Sun Down
Orkidea – Pacifique
Art of Trance – Chung Kuo (Orkidea Remix)
Lowland & Orkidea – Blackbird
Orkidea – Tw3nty
Way Out West – Killa (Orkidea 2011 Remix)
Orkidea – Hot Trigger
Orkidea – Unity (15th Anniversary Mix)
+ Every CD contains a unique code for downloading additional tracks, remixes and unmixed full length versions of all tracks.
Tonight’s Radio Unity will be a much more proggy and housey one than usually. This is partially inspired by the set I played with progressive house legend Nick Warren (of Way Out West fame) last weekend here in Helsinki. This sound also reminds me a lot of the golden days of Renaissance CD compilations which still stand as finest examples of the art of DJing. Happy to see the Renaissance Masters series also continuing with none other than Dave Seaman at the decks. Tonight’s mix features music by artists like Dousk, Underworld, Gabriel Ananda, Christian Smith and my remix of finnish vocalist superstar Lauri’s forthcoming single ‘Disco-Nnect’ – which hopefully has echoes of the great Brothers In Rhythm remixes from the past.
Show: DJ Orkidea: Radio Unity 034
Time: 3rd Wed of the month @ 21-22 CET (22-23 FIN time)
I did recently a guest mix to John 00 Fleming’s Global Trance Grooves show which turned out to be a nice success. I’ve been enjoying John’s podcast for years and it’s proper underground trance sound is always inspirational. Thus this month’s Radio Unity mix is leaning little bit towards that kinda sound. The mix starts off all proggy with a sublime new Sasha production. We soon move into more melodic territory and finally enter fast paced psy grooves. Featured are my heroes like Astrix and Jody Wisternoff, my brand new remix of Art of Trance and new 2011 remix of Winkee’s finnish prog trance classic ‘Whisper’. Tune in and join the live discussion on the Afterhours.fm message forum.
Show: DJ Orkidea: Radio Unity 033
Time: 3rd Wed of the month @ 21-22 CET (22-23 FIN time)
We have tomorrow once again our LOVE event here in Helsinki. LOVE is a collaborative club concept between Unity, Misc Management and The Circus venue. Our idea is to bring world’s best and biggest DJ talent to Helsinki and to do in a truly international setting. Big part of the concept is also to bring different creative talents of Helsinki scene together to create something special. Writers, stylists, dancers, fashion designers, illustrators, light designers and VJs are all parts of the feeling. And now after Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold, Eric Prydz and Sasha we have the honour to have as our guest AEROPLANE – the undisputed king of nu-disco. Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=222315974477832
Aeroplane has previously sold out Korjaamo with his memorable finnish debut gig in 2009 and he was one of the highlights of Flow Festival in 2010 so I am confident that he will deliver amazing music experience again this weekend. Here is a short video from his gig at Flow:
