Music Madness

I've been a house music lover for more than 2 years now. I've always loved trance ever since I learned how to drive... tsk tsk tsk... and it was late in college that I learned to embrace the bubblier side of trance. From albums such as Fragma's Tocas Miracle to Chicane, to ATB to the more acclaimed mixes of Paul Van Dyk and DJ Tiesto (his have got to be the best mixes), I've slowly resonated to the chillout beats of Kaskade, Bonnie Bailey, Frou Frou, Gyskard, Moony, Late Night Alumni. And who could ever forget the compilation of the best tracks? You'll never go wrong with Hed Kandi. Plus you'll love Kandi art!

Everytime I hear a new track either streaming over internet radio or in a local radio station such as Y101... or even just hearing the beats in let's say... Formo, I direly need to find out the title, artist and album. And since original CDs of this genre are very rare, and if indeed available are purty expensive, I search for them in Limewire with a matching 320kbps encoding quality... or else it's time to call a friend.

I've been hearing a certain song playing for quite sometime now. I always mistook it for David Morales' Here I Am (Kaskade mix). But for the two occasions I heard it, I said to myself, "Nah, this has to be a new track from Gyskard... or Sunset Daze... or it has to be a new addition to the Hed Kandi compilations that I do not know of." And today, just this lunchtime, I heard it again over at Y101. So despite their busy lines, I patiently rang them over and over again to try my luck... and voila, I have what I was looking for.

*** Samantha James - RISE ***
And yeah, I was right about it on one thing. I just found out late tonight that it is in the Hed Kandi Beach 2006 CD compilation... track 1!!! Told you, you can't go wrong with Hed Kandi.

So after my work shift today was over, I rushed home to DL via Limewire. I've found 3 versions of it. The 12" original Samantha James track, Eric Kupper mix ripped from the Tokyo Disco CD and ROCAsound mix. I first listened to the ROCAsound mix. Not bad really, except that I have a big feeling this is where radio edits will be ripped from.,, or maybe they are already. Dunno. I'm now listening to the Eric Kupper mix. Bold, vibrant, sophisticated with that subtle 3D surround sound effect... no wonder it is the more favored version. I love the original mix. Just simply uplifting, it makes me wanna.. RISE. How apt!

So if I could convince anyone reading this to appreciate house and chillout music, check out this track! And what did I say about Hed Kandi? Grab some trax now and get some nice headsets to match. And if you're heading off to the beach this weekend, find a nice breezy spot, listen to the gushing waves, breathe that fresh sea breeze, grab a cooler or some soda pop, lay back on the sand, push play and then close your eyes.

And don't forget to... chillout!