The Anjunafamily returns to Washington State’s most famous venue; The Gorge. This is the second time in the last couple years that Anjunabeats has taken over this stage. The ABGT weekender is the event of the year for the North American Anjunafamily who will be unable to travel to Prague for ABGT350. This weekends 2 day Anjunafest was loaded with some of the best rising talent that are further confirming Anjuna’s top tier standards. Day one started out with one of the newest additions to the producing/DJ roster. Qrion who is a good friend with Spencer Brown and opened the weekend up to really set the tone from the start.
Get Ready For Qrion
Her set began with slower tempo deeper house styles fused together. As time went on her set worked from a deeper house only to take a turn towards bouncy house music styles. 20 min left in her set and she delivered the gem we have been waiting for since Spencer Brown dropped the ID at ABGT300. (Play the SoundCloud link below at 3:18) Still to this day it is an unreleased song but you can’t miss the bubbly top melody layered with a variety of vocal chants making it easily recognizable. The bass line is pretty similar to the other collaboration with Spencer Brown called “Foggy August” in regards to how it has a rich sub bass and is extremely bouncy. After Qrion it was time for Tinlicker to take control.
Fast Rising “Tinlicker” Shows What Progressive House Really Means
Tinlinker came on and immediately set a more emotional progressive tone as to the housey beats that had come before. The change of pace was a welcomed one. A few more people were getting on their feet from the steep grassy hillside of the Gorge Amphitheater. The moody progressive hits were coming track after track. The anticipation was there as people first started to recognize the incoming mix of Tinlicker’s “Need To Feel Loved” remix by Reflekt & Delline Bass. This was the apparent turning point in the remainder of their set. Only exhausted campers were laying around. Although they did well at playing to the anjunacrowd, we’d be dishonest not to admit being pleasantly surprised to have been teased with a couple of their mau5trap releases. But not at this event. The DJ scheduled to play afterwards was the one and only Grum.
Some of our favorite influences we can hear in Grum’s music are nostalgic to retro 80’s synth-wave with a touch of PRYDA blends. From each artistically designed sound patch, all the way down to the kick drum it sets the tone of something from the past. He did phenomenal work to continuously build up the tempo and energy to get everyone prepared for the next acts. Gabriel & Dresden made their long awaited return to an Anjuna event followed by Jason Ross who really kicked up the tempo with his faster paced dubstep-psy-progressive trance blends. Next on deck came Audien.
Audien Seeks Redemption And Succeeds
A few months ago Audien played an Anjuna event in Denver. There was a shocking response where people took directly to reddit.com to share their thoughts. His set has been one of the most controversial sets in the Anjuna community in the last year for reasons that you can read on your own time but a link will be attached as a reference. His set at The Gorge seemed to be, if anything a heartfelt apology and a great redemption to his track record. To the anjunafamilies satisfaction he played his hits such as “Wayfarer”, ”Iris”, “Hindsight”, “Higher” and more. At least from our end he truly gave us what we wanted.
Then Came Andrew Bayer With Alison May
Photo by Taschka Turnquist
The Anjunabeats veteran Andrew Bayer took over following one of the best Audien sets that we have seen. To many of our surprises we finally saw the face behind the voice of the heartbreaking “Immortal Lover” by Andrew Bayer. Alison May made an appearance for a few of the songs that were released on the most recent album by Andrew Bayer titled “In My Next Life”. Side-by-side she and Andrew were jumping around behind the decks until her vocal parts allowed her to sing along during the breakdowns. If there is one song that has pulled the heartstrings on the album, its got to be “Open End Resource”. How that breakdown of “Who I Am” hits you in the feels. Each Andrew Bayer set carries so much emotion.
Alpha 9 & Spencer Brown Keep things Moving
Moving on into the evening Alpha 9 and Spencer Brown deliver some delights and as to be expected to the usual listener of Spencer Brown; a set with a few ID’s. As one could assume we did hear the recent releases from Alpha 9 and Spencer Brown playing their recognizable progressive hits such as “No Going Back” and “Before The Dawn”. The sun has set at this point and the visual effects paired up with the music made for a satisfying sensory overload. As the last rays of sunset light fall beyond The Gorge, Above & Beyond took the stage.
The Label Bosses Take Control
This set was yet another above & beyond words to deliver justice. (See what we did there?) The full track list was updated to a reddit thread. We will post a link to that as well for those eager to see the specifics. Some of the standout tracks that really caught our attention was Liquid Love (Maor Levi Remix), Alchemy (i_o Remix), Ilan Bluestone & Maor Levi’s unreleased “Can You”. There was a fear that we might have gone a lifetime without actually getting to see live “No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) (A&B Respray) but we did get that a few minutes before the classic “push the button” moment with “Sun & Moon”. Its always one thing to see the setlist but the experience of it live with the combination of lights and music was just beyond epic. Then came the closer.
Time For The Closer: Ilan Bluestone
Ilan Bluestone is one artist that makes it totally clear in his efforts that each major set is something new and unique but familiar. He opened with a track that would send any listener around their late 20’s back in time by showcasing a brand new intro mix to the new age classic “Sadness” by Enigma. It built up with its recognizable religious latin choir chants paired with the pan-flute answering the familiar listeners question: “Oh my hell is this Enigma?” You bet it is. Only to have it build up and drop into the signature sound of Ilan Bluestone’s “wall-of-sound” supersaws. Talk about a way to blow people away. To add to that, for the first time in what seems like forever he played “Sinai”. This was only the tip of the iceberg of audio pleasure that was provided.
If we are not mistaken there are 3 new ID’s he tested out at The Gorge. He also played for the second time in the evening (but for the first time in his set) the new collaboration with Maor Levi “Can You”. When a track gets played 2 times in one night by two different main acts on the Anjuna roster, AT AN ANJUNA ONLY EVENT, you know that you have a certifiable banger. This song doesn’t disappoint. (Play the Youtube Link from 39:00 to hear “Can You”) The last track of his beyond epic set was an unreleased remix of Armin Van Buuren’s “In And Out Of Love”. Keep your ears to the ground and follow the mentioned artists above to make sure to catch their new IDs once they are released. We thank the readers for following along in the “Day One” event review. The Day Two review is coming soon!
Connect with Above & Beyond:
https://www.facebook.com/aboveandbeyond
https://twitter.com/aboveandbeyond
https://soundcloud.com/aboveandbeyond
https://www.instagram.com/aboveandbeyond
http://www.aboveandbeyond.nu
Share On
