Monday, November 23, 2009

Gabriel & Dresden's final DJ set at WMC 2008

If you know anything about dance/house music from the past decade, you’ve probably heard of Gabriel & Dresden. They won dozens of IDMA’s from 2005-2008, releasing a couple dozen #1 hits on the Billboard Dance charts, either as their own releases, or as remixes for other top artists such as Armin van Buuren, the Killers, Jewel, Way Out West, Madonna, Markus Shulz, Rachal Starr, Paul Oakenfold, New Order, Tiesto, Annie Lennox, Nalin & Kane, Sarah McLachlan, Coldplay, Deborah Cox, and Britney Spears. Well, maybe not all of those didn’t make it to number one, but many of them definitely did. Their music has helped define a generation of dance floor fans.

G&D’s last official show together happened at the Winter Music Conference (WMC) in Miami in 2008, at The Pawn Shop. Dave Dresden recently released a recording of that set, which is the whole point of this post. 

 




I was really disappointed to hear that they had stopped collaborating together. Their last live show together outside of WMC was (to the best of my knowledge) a night at Pacha in NYC. I was actually supposed to videotape that show, because I was working on producing a short video promo for them. On the flights there, I got delayed by a snowstorm in Toronto and missed my connection by about two minutes, so I didn’t actually make it down to that show. Needless to say, it was one of the most disappointing moments of my life. At the time, I thought that I could make it up at a future show. In retrospect, it was one of those opportunities that you never get to have a second time.

Perhaps it is better that they started working independently? Both are incredibly talented, and I'm pretty confident that after a bit of experimenting and reassessment, both of their careers will benefit from the new direction. There is no doubt that their work as a team was incredible, but like anything, change is inevitable, and people who embrace change can benefit. My take on their partnership was that Josh was always a strong producer first and foremost, and Dave’s strength was always as being a superb DJ who could read a dance floor. But that would be a gross over-simplification - in the past twelve months, Dave has already charged head-first into churning out dance-floor anthems, and Josh Gabriel has been confidently exploring his own space both as a DJ and producer.


Dave is now working on a new collaborative project with Mikael Johnston (formerly of the California trance/house group Mephisto Odyssey). Already, they’ve done some major remixes for Nadia Ali, BT, JD Webb, The Crystal Method, and Lily Allen. Their remix of Lily Allen’s “The Fear” is great, and I’ve really been enjoying that remix for some time since I first heard it on one of Dave’s monthly promo mixes. Here’s a link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGoglwhTh4
Embedding has been disabled for that video, so you won’t be able to watch it directly through this blog post, but you can check it out on the YouTube page. Also, if you're reading this on my Facebook feed, remember that Facebook doesn't import embedded videos so you'd have to click on the direct links anyway.

Here’s a link to the Dresden & Johnston remix of “Love Story.” If you are trying to figure out where you’ve heard Nadia Ali’s voice before, it was probably when she was the lead vocalist for iiO, with dance hits earlier this decade like “Rapture” and “The End.”

Nadia Ali, “Love Story” (Dresden & Johnston Official Vocal Remix)



Direct link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BEtZnfK-To


Josh has also been very busy lately. I believe that he relocated from California to Amsterdam this year, to continue his work with Different Pieces and other projects. Here’s a link to one of his releases from earlier this year:

Josh Gabriel present Winter Kills, “Deep Down”



Direct link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT9qMTX6c9k


Anyway, although I am very excited about their new independent careers and the tracks that they'll both be producing, I'll have to admit that it's nice to listen to another of their sets from back in the day. I was lucky enough to have seen them performing in several venues in 2006-2008: Phoenix, Boston, Edmonton & New York. But of course, their last set at The Pawn Shop will go down in the history books.


Enjoy ...


ETA: And here's a partial track listing, or what's been identified so far:

01. Donald Glaude & DJ Dan - Stick'em (Original Mix)
02. John Acquavida feat. Oliver Giacomotto - Sofa King (Fresco Remix)
03. Catz 'n Dogs - A Chicken Affair (Vinyl Version)
04. Francis Preve - Caboose (Original Mix)
05. System 7 - Space Bird (Dubfire's Deep Space Remix)
06. Faithless - Kind of Peace (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
07. ID
08. James Holden - A Break In The Clouds (Beat Tool)
09. Josh Gabriel - Azora (Original Mix)
10. Gabriel & Dresden - Like An Enemy
11. Dirty South - Let It Go (Axwell Remix)
12. ID
13. Josh Gabriel - River
14. Junkie XL - Stratosphere
15. Deadmau5 - Not Exactly (Dave Dresden Remix)
16. Gabriel & Dresden - New Path (Dave Aude Remix)
17. ID
18. Sander van Doorn - Sushi (Edit?)
19. Rachel Starr - Till There Was You (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
20. JF presents Smokecream - Retox (Wendel Kos Remix)
21. Sia - The Girl You Lost To Cocaine (Sander van Doorn Remix)
22. Josh Gabriel - Crosstalk
23. Just Jack - Writer's Block (Remix)
24. ID
25. Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Treasure Down (Remix)
26. Mescalkid - Magic
27. Depeche Mode - Little 15 (Gabriel & Dresden Remix?)
28. ID
29. Jude Sebastian - Rubberman (Miles Dyson Remix) (Krafty Kuts Re-Rub)
30. Gabriel & Dresden - Mass Repeat
31. ID
32. Marco V. - Sessions (Robbie Rivera Remix)
33. Gareth Emery - More Than Anything (Christopher Norman Dub Remix)
34. The Killers - Read My Mind (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
35. ID
36. ID w/ Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Acapella)
37. ID w/ Paul van Dyk - Let Go (Acapella) w/ Gabriel & Dresden - Let It Go (Acapella)
38. Josh Gabriel - Summit
39. Josh Gabriel - Tone Program
40. ID
41. 68 Beats - Replay The Night (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
42. Big Bug & Bastard Beat - TI 1.0
43. Martin Eyerer feat. Namito - Quipa (Etienne de Crecy Remix)
44. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo
45. ID



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