[i:Vibes] Armin van Buuren - A State Of Trance 2008 [Armada]

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Armin van Buuren - A State Of Trance 2008 [Armada]

00:30 - December 3, 2008

by Watts

The Number One DJ in the World, Armin van Buuren, has compiled a double CD album full of the tracks that have kept A State Of Trance so popular and outstanding so far...

:: Armin van Buuren - A State Of Trance 2008
:: Armada
:: ARMA160

Tracklisting
CD1 - On The Beach
01. Armin Van Buuren - Unforgivable feat. Jaren (First State Remix)
02. DJ Tatana - Spring Breeze - Martin Roth SummerStyle Remix
03. Mike Foyle - Bittersweet Nightshade
04. M6 - Amazon Dawn
05. Andy Moor - Fake Awake (The Blizzard Remix)
06. Blake Jarrell - Punta Del Este
07. Benya feat. Penny Nixon - Serendipity
08. Ohmna - Satori Waterfalls
09. Signalrunners, Julie Thompson - These Shoulders feat. Julie Thompson - Club Mix
10. Myon & Shane 54 feat. Carrie Skipper - Vampire (Club Mix)
11. Julian Vincent - Certainty (Mark Otten Dub)
12. Tenishia feat. Tiff Lacey - Burning From The Inside (Tenishia's Burning Dub)
13. Mr. Sam feat. ClAud9 - Cygnes
14. Lange - Out of the Sky (Kyau & Albert Remix)

CD2 - In The Club
01. Arnej feat. Josie - Strangers We've Become (Intro Tech Dub)
02. Sunlounger, Zara - Lost - Dance Version
03. Offer Nissim - For Your Love (Sied van Riel Remix)
04. Ilya Soloviev & Paul Miller - Lover Summer (Orjan Nilsen Remix)
05. Markus Schulz - The New World
06. Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi - Rewire
07. Giuseppe Ottaviani - No More Alone
08. The Thrillseekers feat. Fisher - The Last Time (Simon Bostock Remix)
09. Stoneface & Terminal - Blueprint - Club Mix
10. DJ Shah - Back To You feat. Adrina Thorpe (Aly & Fila Remix)
11. Andy Blueman - Time To Rest (Live Guitar by Eller van Buuren)
12. Thomas Bronzwaer - Certitude
13. 8 Wonders - The Return
14. Jochen Miller - Lost Connection - Original Mix
15. Armin Van Buuren - In and Out Of Love feat. Sharon den Adel - Richard Durand Remix

There's no denying the reach of Armin's A State Of Trance. 25 million listeners tune in around the world to listen to the radioshow which is in its 8th year. The record label is sporting well over 100 top drawer releases after 5 years. The compilation series itself has been going anually for just as many years and the Number One DJ, Armin van Buuren is at the helm of it all. I guess if you want to know what it takes to get to that coveted top spot, then just see the above!

Moving on to the album itself, A State Of Trance 2008, it is said, was inspired by Armin's summer in Ibiza this year. It takes on the familiar form of 2 CDs - Beach and Club - and Armin says "I heard all these beautiful lounge compilations and thought, why not do it in a trance way? CD1 is on the beach, the tunes are more mellow; CD2 is the harder stuff, preparing you for your night out..."

Well, 'harder stuff' might be a slight overstatement - the two discs pretty much cover progressive, and then, well, trance. However this is a selectionof tracks from the man at the very top of the pile, who has access to pretty much any track you can imagine, so it's oozing quality.

The first CD, On The Beach, is where the progressive is at. Progressive seems to be booming at the moment but is not to everyone's taste - sometimes I can find it a little tedious. However Armin's mix here is an elegant and seamless journey which explores this sound. It captures the 'beach' essence very well and was very good to listen to. The tracks are light and balanced, holding just the right amount of melody and chopped up half-vocals which can help make or break a decent track these days. The ones that made me do a double take (with my ears - huh??) were Mike Foyle's 'Bittersweet Nightshade', Blake Jarrell's 'Punta Del Este' (what a track!) and Myon & Shane 54's 'Vampire'.

CD2 takes you 'In The Club'. It picks up right where CD1 left off, at a BPM around a mellow 132 and moves forward with bigger, more groovy and bass-filled sounds. With fewer vocals and more melody, the journey takes you on a rise to subtle euphoria. Top tracks? Nickson & Kandi - Rewire, Stoneface & Terminal's 'Blueprint' and Armin's own 'In & Out Of Love', remixed by Richard Durand

Again it's a very balanced affair - and it's good to see this level of careful and measured control. This could have very easily just been made to cover a huge range of varying trance sounds but instead it stays true to the nature of A State Of Trance the label, the radioshow, and Armin's sets.

The mixing? What do you expect from the #1 DJ? :-) It's clean, very clean. Infact the whole album seems to exude cleanliness from its pure white covers, pure white CDs and clinical, accurately timed mixes.

Conclusion:
This is a key release in the trance scene - from one of the biggest labels, from the biggest DJ of the moment. If you consider yourself to have your finger on the pulse then I'd imagine this one will have, or will be, in your CD collection. Hats off to Armin.