Electronic Architecture IDMA Nomination:
Electronic Architecture – Solarstone’s futuristic, ground-breaking compilation album – has been nominated in the Best Full Length DJ Mix category at the International Dance Music Awards. In essence EDM’s version of The Oscars, in terms of nods, this is as about as big as they come!
Concentrating almost exclusively on discovering & A&Ring previously unheard talent from around the world, the 2009 album has succeeded singlehandedly in ushering in a new wave of progressive & trance producers.
Based around its inimitable music vs. art concept, and backed by a cutting-edge static & moving image visual array, it broke the down the walls between music, art and film. Critically acclaimed, DJ Magazine called it: “a two-disc journey through blissful prog, acidic grooves, lush breaks, soft tech textures and cliché-dodging, trance that is swathed in deep melodic elegance” and “a genuine gem, if given a chance”.
From a concept he’s nurtured for almost as long as Solarstone itself has existed, Rich was extremely happy to receive news of the nomination. Other artists running in the same category include Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk, Markus Schulz & Armin van Buuren, so Solarstone is in some fairly estimable company. If you’d like to see Electronic Architecture triumph in the Best Full Length DJ Mix category, waste not another moment, swing by the voting page and tell the world how you felt about E.A. in 2009. If it happens to make it first past the post, you’ll have put a huge smile on the face of a music producer from a small rock in the middle of the North Sea!”
Electronic Architecture: The Full Story:
In April 2009 Solarstone once again redrew the dance music map with the release of the first chapter of his new compilation series. Compiled from the veritable arsenal of forthcoming Solaris Recordings material, ‘Electronic Architecture’s double CD paints the definitive picture of Solarstone, the DJ.
Standing out in the overwhelming compilation field – really rising head and shoulders above the rest, required a herculean 6-month A&Ring mission. Matched by its super-immersive, multilevel mixing, that is exactly what Solarstone achieved with ‘Electronic Architecture’.
Far from just a neat idiom, ‘Electronic Architecture’ is Rich’s closely-held musical & spinning philosophy. A desire to conceive, design and then build a musical experience that aspires to the groundbreaking heights of ‘Northern Exposure’, Global Underground’ and (hushed tones please) ‘Renaissance’… An album that engages the mind before blowing the brain, and all within the first listen. One though that also continually reveals new layers and enthrals through repeated spins.
Such is the expanse of debutante artists that the first look at ‘E.A.’s track listing you could be forgiven for a brain-freeze. Bear in mind, this is a wholehearted attempt to bring YOU NEW music! Bot Cyprian, David Horne, Filigrio, Jahawi, Jox, Cormac Murphy, Souls in Motion, & LTN (who won Trance.nu’s ‘Solarstone’s Next Big Thing’ Competition); these are the progressive, breaks and trance names of the future – acts that Richard has discovered after sifting through thousands of ‘EA’-tagged demos. As your eyes adjust though, marginally more familiar names start to jump out… Katcha, Tarrentella, Saints + Sinners; underground classics, taken from the archives and rewired by remixers like Breakfast and Solarstone himself – solely for the purposes of the album. ‘E.A’ subscribes firmly to the journeyman compilation theory. Weaving with absolute fluidity between the subterranean layers of deep house & soft-tech, through breaks and progressive and then through onto the melodic plains of balearically-blooded trance from which Solarstone originally made his name.
The Imagery behind the Architecture:
Conceived as a cross-media release, both the ‘Electronic Architecture’ CD and tour elements are supported by stunning design visuals, which play an intrinsic part in the overall experience. Richard’s love of sleeve artwork has always run hot through LPs like ‘Exhibition’, ‘Destinations’ & ‘RainStarsEternal’. On ‘Electronic Architecture’ he has taken that element up multiple levels with a look that will be almost as much ‘Gallery’ as it is ‘Club’. ‘Electronic Architecture’ is Music & Art combined – the man himself goes on to explain: “For me, the visual aspect of this project was crucial from the outset. To have such a rich new musical tapestry and not represent it with an equally beautiful visual package would have been a huge missed opportunity. This album represents exactly what I stand for as an artist, producer & DJ. The musical progression through progressive house, breaks, soft-tech and trance is the CD equivalent of a 3Hr Solarstone club set, and it’s committal to plastic has been long overdue. This is the music I love to listen to. It is inspirational in its inventiveness, musically ambitious and never formulaic or predictable. This is an album that I want your finger to pause upon whilst browsing dusty CD shelves in ten years time, for both its aesthetic and auditory qualities”
Disc 1
01 Tarrantella – Jigsaw (Reconstruction)
02 Forerunners – Dragonfly (Ilya Malyuev Remix Reconstruction)
03 Cormac Murphy – Oversound
04 Filigro – Questinia
05 Katcha – Touched By God (Alucard Remix)
06 Under This – Black & White (Reconstruction)
07 Solarstone & Orkidea – Slowmotion (French Renaissance Mix)
08 Jahawi – Kenya
09 LTN – Outer Limits
10 Harley Soan – Long Drive Home
11 Edu – Before They Came (Escape Mix)
12 Dave Horne – What Lies Between (Retroid & Original Reconstruction)
13 Winterlight – Mirror (Solarstone Subterranean Mix)
Disc 2:
01 Reconstructed Intro
02 Leo G – Muttering Retreat
03 Majera – Believe
04 Stan Void – Transience
05 Bot Cipryan – Astral Breeze
06 Saints & Sinners – Peace (Breakfast Remix)
07 Solar Energy – Wanna Feel What You Feel (Instrumental)
08 Haylon – Starfighter (Observer & Heatcliff Remix)
09 Jox – Microbial
10 Solarstone & Alucard – Late Summer Fields (Forerunners Dub)
11 Gary Orvis – Try To Find
12 Souls In Motion – Sensual Illusion (Reconstruction)
13 Reii – Shocks