Some thoughts on this year's DJ Mag Top 100 poll

Those DJ Mag Top 100 poll results that were leaked over the weekend were actually the real deal, as the magazine posted the exact same list on their web site today.

So what's interesting about this list?

- Dash Berlin makes his first appearance on the DJ Mag Top 100 list, debuting at the #15 slot. Again, this poll is essentially a popularity contest, but his ranking proves that he's already more popular than longtime "poppy" trance DJ's like Sean Tyas, Aly & Fila, and Daniel Kandi.

- The Swedish House Mafia's three members appear four times in the top 100. Axwell at #10, Steve Angello at #14, Sebastian Ingrosso at #16, and as the Swedish House Mafia at #23. Some people wrote the name 'Swedish House Mafia' as one entry, while I think others weren't sure if they could do that, so they listed all three members instead. If you added all these votes together, the Swedish House Mafia as a group could be in the top 10, or maybe even the #1 slot.

- Markus Schulz said that Electric Zoo was his favorite new place to play this year:

I haven't really been to a lot of new clubs this year, so can I say the Electric Zoo festival in New York? It was about time the East Coast had a proper festival. That was the most important new event in clubland.

- Arty (#78) is the guy this year who makes it onto the list for his production ability; not his mixing or DJ abilities. It happens every poll, and you can count the number of nights Arty has played this year with one hand. He was mentioned by Above & Beyond, Kyau & Albert, Super8 & Tab, Mat Zo, The Thrillseekers, and Aly & Fila as their breakout producer of the year. [What's with all those &'s? Weird.]

- Wolf + Lamb didn't make this list. The audience they cater to aren't the ones that would read a publication like DJ Mag, but their popularity is undeniable.

More free music?

Junodownload is offering a free download of Dash Berlin's "Never Cry Again (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix)" for registered users.

Track reviews: The spaced-out emo edition

Over the past week I've picked up a variety of songs- some vocal trance, a trance tune, and a prog-house tune which now shares the honor of being my highest rated track on this blog. And if you get emotional, grab a tissue for this one (or skip #2).

1. Talla 2XLC feat. Skysurfer - Terra Australis (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix) [Addicted To Trance]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


This song gets its name from a mythical European continent that supposedly enclosed the Indian Ocean, according to Aristotle (and Wikipedia). What it has to do with this song...I don't know.

Jorn Van Deynhoven builds his remix of "Terra Australis" around a melancholy-sounding pattern of scales descending in pitch, but it fails to lead anywhere. The ending of this song doesn't mix up the main melody enough, leaving you with a track that sounds like the same thing over and over for a good three minutes.

Jorn has a knack for making catchy trance remixes, but this song is his weakest one I've heard yet.

Rating: 6 out of 10 [Average]

2. Dash Berlin - Never Cry Again (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix) [Aropa]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


"When you come home, I'll stop this..."

[Stop what?]

"When you come home, I'll hide it good"

[Uh-oh. What are you hiding?]

"I'll never cry again, when you...come home...to me"



Ok. If you can get past the ridiculously emo and cheesy lyrics in "Never Cry Again", you'll find yet another decently remixed tune with an uplifting vibe by Jorn Van Deynhoven.

JVD's remix is better than the original for two reasons- it has less vocals, and the instrumentals-only part in the middle of the song is extended to two and a half minutes.

The synth melody in this track is an alternating pattern of middle and low pitches, accented with a few nicely-placed high notes.

Jorn loses a few marks though for recycling the same distortion lead-in effect heard in his remix of RAM's "Ramsterdam".

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 [Good]

3. Gabriel Lukosz - All The Usual Things (Niklas Grosswald Remix) [Infraprogressive]

@Beatport


No one has uploaded this track yet to YouTube, so if you decide to take the $1.99 plunge on Beatport and pick it up based on the sample alone, don't worry- it's worth every penny.

Niklas Grosswald's prog-house remix of this tune has one of my favorite melodies of the year so far. As the song progresses, Grosswald teases this spacey synth pattern with a reverb effect that sends its pitch all over the place.

Then later on in the song, an upbeat bassline joins the fray as the reverb pattern alternates between two octaves.

Grosswald's melody here varies it up enough to where it doesn't feel like you're hearing the same thing twice, something uncommon in EDM.

Rating: 9 out of 10 [Choon]

4. Vast Vision feat. Fisher - Everything (Aly & Fila Remix) [FSOE Recordings]

@Beatport // @YouTube // @Discogs


"I only want to be your everything,
If you let me,
Will you let me?
I want to be your every fantasy
Could you love me?
Like I love you?"

Yes, this song is just as bad lyrically in the cheese department as "Never Cry Again", but I'll give credit to Vast Vision for enlisting Fisher as his vocalist on this one. Out of all the female singers in dance music, Fisher has one of the only two voices (the other being Justine Suissa) that you can distinctly recognize when you're hearing a song with them. The rest just sound like generic female singer #568.

For this song, Fisher's low-key voice is a good fit for Aly & Fila's uplifting sounds, as it prevents the song from becoming too flowery.

This remix of "Everything" also contains a few piano touches and some orchestral elements in the breakdown. As a whole, it's a pretty decent vocal trance song, but nothing unforgettable.

Rating: 7 out of 10 [Good]