Jump to content

Ferry Corsten this year


Neuro

Recommended Posts

He's certainly gone back to his melodic roots and yet still keeping it fresh - and that combo has really resparked my enthusiam in the dance music scene... so thought it would be worthy of a new topic!

I've been very impressed with Ferry generally this year. I have seen him once at Creamfields and also a 4hr set at Ministry last weekend in London, and both times he was superb. I would even go as far as to say at Creamfields he played the best set out of everyone, because he took the night musically in a totally different direction which just surprised and delighted me and my friends no end. Ministry last weekend was the best night I've ever had there, with Solarstone's understated 'simmering' mellow Trance warming up for Ferry perfectly. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Anyone else seen Ferry play this year? Am I alone in thinking this is a breath of fresh air? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He's certainly gone back to his melodic roots and yet still keeping it fresh - and that combo has really resparked my enthusiam in the dance music scene... so thought it would be worthy of a new topic!

I've been very impressed with Ferry generally this year. I have seen him once at Creamfields and also a 4hr set at Ministry last weekend in London, and both times he was superb. I would even go as far as to say at Creamfields he played the best set out of everyone, because he took the night musically in a totally different direction which just surprised and delighted me and my friends no end. Ministry last weekend was the best night I've ever had there, with Solarstone's understated 'simmering' mellow Trance warming up for Ferry perfectly. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Anyone else seen Ferry play this year? Am I alone in thinking this is a breath of fresh air? :)

I saw Ferry a couple of weeks ago @ Amnesia in Ibiza and he played a very mixed bag so his set was very interesting and not at all boring. He played both newish stuff and some classics which sounded great as they had been updated so sounded "fresh". There was a great line up @ Cream that night so wasn't able to listen to all the sets in their entirety. Deadmau5 was playing on the terrace but it was way too busy in there and as l am so short l was being pushed all over the place so l wasn't in there very long. However in my opinion the best DJ that night was Sied Van Riel who recently did "Radiator". He was on first in the main room and did a fantastic set. John O' Callaghan did the last set in the main room and Michael Woods did the last set in the Terrace so l was going back and forth as both DJs are very good. Deadmau5 watches his computer all the time so doesn't really interact with the crowd and he also went wrong several times and l must admit l found his set a bit boring, as it was too repetitive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ferry's always been my favourite producer. Saw his 6 hour set in August 2007 at Gods and to say he tore the place apart that night is a massive understatement. Playing all his classics and the best new stuff at the time finishing with Adagio for Strings with his remix of The Sweetest Dream as the one more tune. He's always been one of my favourite DJ's of the last 5-6 years or so.

Can't really say he's been at any clubs round my area this year. Someone needs to sort this out lol ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

with out a doubt ferry is the best producer and dj out there,the very 1st time i seen him was in judgement sundays back in i think was 2001 in ibiza he was great 10/10 seen him only a few months back in tripod here in dublin also on the nite was sander van doorn another top class producer and dj,as much as i love all ferrys stuff sander was far better on the nite but 2 top dj's playing in the 1 club :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear what you say sirs! I downloaded Ferry's "Once Upon A Night" album earlier this year and it was awesome - http://www.discogs.com/Ferry-Corsten-Once-Upon-A-Night/master/237291

He was at the very heart of Dutch Trance when it exploded over here in 1999, and I'm glad he has now finished from his rather raw Electro-experimenting era and gone back to the more melodic ingredients :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Nice post Tim and fully agree with all follow up posts.

I too have been feeling this of late and recall skim reading this and thus wanted to dig this up.

Ferry has probably been my fave producer this year and the mix compilations he has released. His Pulse guise is fantastic and Festival is one of tunes of the year closely followed by Rendition.

Also check his Summer Mix follow up to that mix, Quadrant, here.... Plus, if you like that, suggest also checking out - a belter of a mix - the follow up to Once Upon A Night Part 2, here...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

In my opinion, Ferry is the greatest Trance producer ever. That big, powerful, melodic riff that he used in the likes of Adagio For Strings, Gouryella - Gouryella, etc will never be beaten. That sound truly did make the hairs on the back of your neck stand. That was how Trance was meant to be - powerful, yet emotional. It put you in a Trance, literally, so it summed the genre up perfectly. Trance has been watered down over the years - its still a good genre, but nobody creates those huge powerful riffs any more.

Three producers in particular changed the Trance genre for the better in the late 90's - Ferry, Lange and Matt Darey. Without those, Trance would have struggled to take off and make it what it is today.

As a DJ, Ferry was superb from the late 90's until around 2006 - and then he changed to that 'LEF' Electro-Trance sound, and every time I saw him, he was rather bland and boring. In early 2009, he want back to 'proper' Trance, and he's become superb again.

Personally, I think when it comes to 'proper' Trance DJ's, he's the best (and most consistent) around. He's far better than Armin, PvD and Tiesto. Its very rare you hear Ferry have a bad set - and I think thats because he primarily plays what he wants to play - whereas Armin, PvD and Tiesto constantly change their sound every couple of years to stay 'current' because they think its what people want.

I believe the only reason Ferry has never become world number 1 is because he knows what he wants and sticks to it - 'proper' meaningful Trance. Armin, PvD and Tiesto all sold out over the years and dipped their fingers into the commercial market, because thats where the money is. If Ferry had done that too, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have become world number 1 because he's far better than the 'big three'.

Ferry is a DJ and producer, and I think other things like his label are just bits on the side. Armin, Tiesto and PvD are no longer DJs and Producers - they're also businessmen and just use their DJ'ing as a way of promoting their labels and other bits of work they're involved in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting Thread here. It makes me think I need to go and see Ferry again and give him another chance. Personally I think Briggsy sums up exactly how I felt about Ferry in the late 90's. I often say on here that around that time Jules was responsible for getting me into Trance and DJ'ing. However, Jules couldn't have had such an impact on me without the tunes he was playing and a huge number of the tunes that stood out for me at that time were in some way linked to Ferry Corsten. He was easily my favourite producer of 1999.

My problem was coming to clubbing quite late. I first saw Ferry DJ during the LEF electro period Briggsy refers to and I was really not impressed with it. For me the set was just boring and had no energy. There was nothing wrong with his mixing or set flow but it was just a good few notches down from the level of energy he used to bring in his tunes in the late 90's. I then saw him in Ibiza 2009 and I must admit the set was far better and I was impressed but I just put it down to a one off at the time since I'd seen a fair few other boring sets of his before. Having not seen a full set this year from him I'd be interested to see if he's raised the bar again. It certainly sounds promising from this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The LEF period I totally agree with, but still good for Ferry to dip into. Most DJs have experiemented with new styles - slightly - e.g. Eddie Halliwell and Judge Jules and Fergie. All of these don't seem to have gone back to their true roots. If you listen to Eddie 2003-2005 period it was trance - he used to actually spin quite similar stuff to Jules at the point we all know Jules was on prime. Fergie went from pure hard house to pure techno and now to more electro tech.

Ferry certainly have gone full circle - it is not the same trance, the scene has moved on since them, but tunes like Fesitval and Rendition are total sweetness :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was pretty much Ferry Corsten that got me into djing. I used to see his name on every other track on compilations back in 1999. So i had to check him out. His early sound, as briggsy said, is the way trance should be, but the fashionistas ripped the piss into it, and the producers making it - making it uncool etc. What did it get replaced with? Tribal (how boring was that!?!). Ferry's old tunes just seemed to sound so big, the synths so fat, they are still good records. As a DJ aswell, he was awesome, i remember seeing him at crasher in 2000 for the first time, and was quite taken aback by him being (at the time) about 26 years old, because his production was prolific and consistent.

I liked some of the "Rock Your Body Rock" era tunes too. Though they werent quite as good because they just didnt have the euphoria. At this time his djing went downhill too.

Nowadays, im into house/tech house, so dont really follow trance anymore, but i still do check the odd dj here and there, and i caught the Ferry Corsten essential mix from earlier this year, and i was quite impressed with it. It did seem like it was back to the days of old. Though they will never come back. I would agree that as a DJ and producer, i think he is better than Armin and Tiesto also. Tiesto isnt bad i must admit, but he just plays whats current and what everyone else is playing.

Whatever happens, respect to Ferry Corsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone who hasn't had a listen yet! Been out for a while but I still love this album.

http://www.djdownload.com/mp3-detail/Ferry+Corsten++Various/Once+Upon+A+Night/Premier/1076536

Ignore the "Original mix" entries in their tracklisting though, discogs has it right ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

tbh iv never heard a bad thing said about ferry corsten in terms of dj sets.

probably the most consistent trance dj out there, and his mixing is absolutely spot on, all the time.

Production wise he's ace too, went a bit experimental in the LEF stage, but still a decent producer,

sometimes i reckon he's not been given the credit he deserves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the nicest and top DJs too :)

He has had some great alias productions too, which often go unrecognised... Moonman, Gouryelle - Ligaya (I believe was just him as they split?), System F naming just a few...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I've had to bring this back up since I listened to Trance Nation 1 after reminiscing on the classic days...

I cannot believe that he is behind Pulp Victim artist! 'The World '99 (Moonman Remix)' kicked in and I thought what a great track - again. Digged a little deeper and thought the Moonman remix is just Ferry putting his magic on a great track he picked up and I found that's it's him all the way!

What are your thoughts on this track?

Considering this album was released in 1999 and Ferry was only 26, I cannot believe how many legendary tracks he used on this mix featuring as either producer or remixer...

Also, as Tim would no doubtably agree, this album also feauted the 'XCabs – Neuro '99 track :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A great, great album Aza, perhaps one of the all time best trance compilations. Pulp Victim - 'The World '99' (Moonman Remix) is just outstanding. It was one of the first vinyls I bought and actually one I got just before buying decks as I knew decks were on the cards and I was collecting a few bits in preparation. I only dug it out the other day in a mix in fact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had to bring this back up since I listened to Trance Nation 1 after reminiscing on the classic days...

I cannot believe that he is behind Pulp Victim artist! 'The World '99 (Moonman Remix)' kicked in and I thought what a great track - again. Digged a little deeper and thought the Moonman remix is just Ferry putting his magic on a great track he picked up and I found that's it's him all the way!

What are your thoughts on this track?

Agreed sir. I remember this track as Jules's Tried & Tested

Ferry, in my opinion, created the formula for Trance that was copied later, i.e. formulaic "layering" - namely: Long percussive intro, add bass, longer breakdown, melody (chorus), short breakdown, melody (chorus), percussive outro. I'm generalising, but it was lovely to mix with and it was later copied everywhere in Dutch trancers and then over in the UK where it exploded in 99.

I'm going to find my glowstick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...