Armin van Buuren
Armin van Buuren (31) entered the Dutch Album TOP 100 with his new artist album “Imagine” at the 1 spot today. This makes him the first dance producer ever accomplishing this in the history of Dutch music.
The album was launched last Saturday during his sold out “Armin Only” show in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Earlier this year Van Buuren already received the prestigious Dutch Pop award and he was voted as 1 DJ in the world by the readers of DJ Magazine (UK).
Next to the album, the first single taken from the album “Going Wrong” is also available in the shops. The single “Going Wrong” already entered the Top 100 Single chart two weeks ago at 5.
Last week almost 200.000 copies of the album have been distributed in over 30 different countries!
Quote:(Armin van Buuren)"This is absolutely another highlight in my career and it shows me that Dutch dance music is finally taken very seriously."
The album “Imagine” is released by Armada Music.
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Following on from the success of his sophomore set Shivers, DJ/remixer/producer Armin Van Buuren returned with 2008's Imagine. More musically adventurous than its predecessor, the Dutch club hero continues to push the boundaries of trance to their limits on the set-opening title track. "Imagine" begins in, of all places, pomp rock, then storms into the clubs on battering beats and pulsing bass, but even after it settles into its groove, the majestic melody and synthetic guitar licks keep the excitement level at fever pitch. "Going Wrong" is just as inspired, New Romantic and new wave-edged but doused in house, with vocalist Chris Jones adding to the classic status of this obvious crowd pleaser. "Hold on to Me"'s melody line initially soars like U2, but then the piece breaks towards synth-pop while Audrey Gallagher bounces overhead. It's a stirring mix of wave, pop, and trance. "In and Out of Love" beautifully blends an angular post-punk rhythm with a New Romantic atmosphere, the latter emphasized by Sharon den Adel's soaring vocals and creating a glimmering, entrancing piece. Ethereal vocals float over the coursing "Face to Face," a number as beholden to its New Romantic mood as it is to its pounding beats; eventually, though, the number slides into house and even pushes towards techno. "Unforgivable," too, has a house-y tinge and a wonderfully squelchy bassline, the percussion adding a dollop of industrial to the sound, with Jaren's warm, sultry vocals adding heat to the number's fire. "Never Say Never" adds elements of old-school house to the mix, as does "What If," which also boasts a quite intricately arranged rhythm. "Fine Without You" increases the tempo and the tension, while "Rain" storms straight into trance. The set closing "Intricacy" is a roller coaster ride, skirting around gabba territory before shooting down into house and back up into trance, the insistent four on the floor beats driving the number to its ecstatic conclusion. For all its stylistic careening, Van Buuren's careful sequencing gives Imagine a phenomenal flow, much like his live DJ sets. The album's energy, its constantly shifting tones, rhythms, and moods, its strong melodies and excellent vocals: all keep the thrill factor high throughout.
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Finally. Five years after entering the Top 10 of our DJmag Top 100 DJs poll, Armin van Buuren has been crowned the World's No.1 DJ. After edging into the No.2 spot last year, he's now clinched the title.
"It's a really big honour, I'm kind of stunned, y'know?" smiles the top dog. "To be honest, I still haven't got it into my head yet, it's basically a dream come true!"
It's been another crazy 12 months in the life of the Dutch don. Having wowed an 11,000-strong crowd last November at his spectacular Armin Only event at Ahoy, Rotterdam, with an unprecedented nine-and-a-half-hour set, it's the trance superstar's taste for the spectacular, as well as his untouchable skills, that have placed him at the top of the pile.
"Armin Only is definitely different to anything else I do. It's a highlight of my career," says Armin. "Everything I do comes together for an event like that. I really want people to go home from that with a good feeling, a feeling that we did something special.
"Putting a DJ on for nine-and-a-half hours is something special, but it's been done before. What we wanted to do was to bring a whole show."
If the Rotterdam show wasn't mammoth enough, the top DJ road-tested the Armin Only concept with two more huge shows in the States this summer - just to see if it would work outside his native Holland. Suffice to say, it did…
"We did a few special things to test out the Armin Only concept this year," reflects Armin. "We did two big shows, one in New York City at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn Park, and one in downtown LA, in Giant Village. But this time, it was only me playing for eight-and-a-half hours, as I wanted to see if Armin Only would work in foreign country other than Holland.
"It really worked. It seems people are definitely ready for the Armin Only experience. It's something really special, more than just a DJ set."
Armin's Armada parties at Amnesia, Ibiza, have also gone from strength-to-strength this summer, with their most successful season yet on the White Isle.
"The numbers were definitely up," reports Armin. "We had 11 nights this year, with a bit of a rough start to the summer when Amnesia was shut down. But it was our best season so far, a very successful summer for us."
In fact, so scorching hot were Armin's sets there that he's re-instated his mix compilation series 'Universal Religion' with a live recording of one of his best sets of the season.
"'Universal Religion Chapter 3' is a live recording from my set at Amnesia this summer, the last one was in 2004," says Armin. "The idea behind the CD is to bring back the Balearic sound of Ibiza. It's a different approach. It's more about timeless tunes. It's a live CD, it's mixed live at Amnesia, there are no edits or whatever, and it just gives a really nice vibe. It's slower records building up to a big climax at the end."
It's perhaps Armin's versatility - his ability to flit between styles and shred genre boundaries - that has so endeared him to his legion of fans. Although he's a passionate advocate and defender of the trance torch, his sets typically incorporate techno, electro, minimal and underground house tracks, as well as his more traditional tech-trance fare, making for consistently exciting, surprising DJ sets that never fail to rock a floor and defy his fans' high expectations. And although trance is more often focused on melodies over grooves, Armin likes to keep it just as funky as he does musical.
"Trance has always been my main thing, but if you look at my set, everything that's labeled as minimal, techno and electro is in there. What I've found interesting is how all the styles are merging again, especially electronic basslines in trance records. The groove is definitely back in trance, which is a great thing."
In fact, as far as Armin's concerned, if you want to really master your art, you can't afford not to mix it up.
"Playing across the board gives a bigger pay off," reckons Armin. "If you're playing for nine-and-a-half hours you can't play just trance records for all that time. In order to keep it interesting for the crowd, you have to mix it up. People want to hear some classics, they want to hear some harder tunes, they want to hear an underground part of your set, to hear the odd vocal tune now and again. I'm not DJing for myself. They are coming to have a good night and that's what I'm trying to give."
Van Buuren's long-running, mega-hit radio show A State of Trance continues to grow in 2007, with its syndication spreading further than ever around the globe.
"I think we're up to 40 FM stations now worldwide," Armin beams. "It started in 2001 on a small Dutch station. It's grown to an international, weekly summit for trance music. It shows how strong the internet has been as a resource for getting my music out there.
On the production front, Armin's latest track 'Rush Hour' was specially commissioned as the theme for the UEFA European Under 21 Football Championships, which has seen his profile expand into yet another dimension.
"That was really big, I was on TV for that, and it was all over the world so that was kind of a surprise," says Armin.
He's also been locked away in the studio working on a new artist album for 2008.
"There's lots and lots of studio work at the moment. There are definitely some big names involved with the new album, which is really exciting."
It's fitting that the accolade of World's No.1 DJ should be bestowed on Armin at the age of 30. Having already achieved so much in his 12 years in music, this couldn't come at a better time for the affable champion.
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Armin van Buuren (born December 25, 1976) is a trance music producer and DJ. He was born in Leiden, Netherlands, but grew up in Koudekerk aan den Rijn. In 2007, he was voted number one DJ in DJ Mag's annual Top 100 vote.
Armin van Buuren pursued his career as a professional musician despite the promise of a career in law in his native country, the Netherlands, where he completed his law degree in 2004. Armin started working as a DJ in a local night club called Nexus, finished high school in 1995 and went on to university to study law. Meanwhile, he moved his studio equipment from his bedroom to a 'real' studio.The first tracks he produced in his new studio were, among others, tracks like "Touch Me" and "Communication". Van Buuren has been quoted as saying, "Don't be a prisoner of your own style."He has described his musical style as "liberating, euphoric, uplifting, melodic and energetic."He is also knowm to be an influencial christian trance artist known at clubs and other electronica events.
He hosts a weekly radio show A State of Trance, which mostly consist of progressive and other genres rather than trance. The show completed its 350th episode in May 2008, running for over 7 years.
In October 2002, van Buuren was voted Number 5 in the DJ Magazine 100 top DJs. The following year, he jumped up to the #3 spot, and held 3rd place for the next 3 years. His work left him at the #2 spot, just below Paul van Dyk in the 2006 polls, and in 2007 Armin reached Number 1, heading the 2007 DJ Mag Top 100.
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