UK EDM label, established in 2000 by Above & Beyond. Originally started as a strictly Trance label, but around 2010 they opened and widened their repertoir to various sub-styles.
In 2005, the trio and Jono Grant's brother, James Grant (4) started a deeper label Anjunadeep for the more Deep and Progressive shades of House.
Format guidelines: CDrs were manufactured on demand, so the packaging varied as well. Therefore, a different sleeve does not automatically qualify for a unique release.
The packaging variants for CDrs are:
- white Anjunabeats cardboard sleeve with sticker
- plastic sleeve
- release-specific cardboard sleeve
- grey Anjunabeats cardboard sleeve
- blue Anjunabeats cardboard sleeve (promos with sticker).
I loved this label back in its early days when they were releasing quite a bit of high quality Progressive and Uplifting Trance. Some tunes during that era have given me some great memories and I still listen to them from time to time. Though of course I became a bit disappointed when the label started to take a different turn around late 2011. At first I couldn't get used to the Big Room / EDM sound that Anjunabeats was starting to go for during 2011 to early 2014 since it didn't have the same vibe the label was known for.
Though when late 2014 came around, that EDM style sound was still kind of there but the quality of the releases were slowly improving and were only getting better especially when Gabriel & Dresden, Genix, Grum, Ilan Bluestone, and Spencer Brown starting gaining traction on the label. Even the regulars such as Above & Beyond, Kyau & Albert, Maor Levi, Oliver Smith, and Sunny Lax were pushing their productions further as time went on. The label may not be the same as it once was in its early days since music has to eventually evolve. But the quality is still there, especially with a lot of the talent they have been gaining whether new upcoming artists or established ones who have been already well known on Armada or Black Hole Recordings. Keep it up Anjunabeats. I'll be looking forward on what else you bring to the label in the future!
Is it just me or is every major dance music label and artist’s Discogs page filled with “why did he/she sell out and where were the good things they put out in 200(x)?!?” Just let artists do what they want to do and quit whining like little asses. The Discogs EDM community is a whining pool of purist snobs who start raging when an artist or label puts out something they slightly don’t like; always using that “commercial” pretext to attack artists for something that they dislike. This is why Anjunabeats has 27 comments attacking and defending the label, and Hardwell’s page has several comments attacking him for “going commercial”, which I think is complete shite. Why can’t we give artists any flexibility anymore?
Let's face it: Tech House and Techno are the new "cool", every major label that was once making EDM, Progressive House, Big Room House, Electro House, Techno House, Soul/Disco/Funk House, and even Deep House and Future House, is now making Tech House and Techno: Defected, Toolroom, CR2, Anjunadeep, etc. Although many will say (and I'd agree to a certain extent) that EDM is dead and gone and there is none of what there was back then today, I encourage all those who say that to try and appreciate and be grateful for what you can hear today. Although it's crappy compared to the "good old days", try giving these new artists and labels credit, find what interests/fascinates you the most, even if it isn't an entire label or even one artist, find a track, or two or many that although made in the modern day, have some way of inspiring you. And even if you don't, you can learn to tolerate the new EDM sound just like you learned to tolerate EDM at the very beginning (or at least most of you who grew up with acoustic music before electronic music), and like I learned to listen, appreciate, and tolerate almost every EDM genre out there today (although I'm still having a trouble with a few- Drum N Bass for example). Find what's out there, or don't listen to anything anymore, although I highly recommend NOT doing that because there are gems today, you just have to search out and find them, they don't just appear in front of your face in the commercialized way as they did back then. And to me- that's what a true gem is- something that is unique in its time, not just in its composition- something that one has to look out and search and find. In the "good old days" it was harder to find these gems because everything was awesome, but now it is easier to find these gems because everything is crap. Don't know if this made any sense or not, but I hope it does.
Still one of the greatest dance music labels around there! For the haters: look at the other famous labels around, and what are they doing. Compared to them, Anjunabeats still brings quality, just in a different way than before. Music evolves and changes, you have to accept and live together with that. If you are into the old stuff, then listen to that, and don't care about the new ones! There are definitely some average stuff nowdays at the label, but even these are better than the soulless EDM crap around. Not to mention Above & Beyond, who still knows how to make the crowd moving and kicking, playing for thoursands of people in the biggest stadiums. They are the best DJs around there who didn't sould themselves out, but staying true!
i loved anjuna beats back in the day. high quality tune after tune after tune. tunes which to me still stand the test of time. the label never faild for me, especially with the earlier releases. sadly, like everything, things changed and it began turning out the same EDM crap as the rest. boaring, samey, nothing to be bothered with. i suppose the world has moved on but you know what? its a great shame that they still aren't making tunes that will last the test of time like they once were. tunes that future generations of dance music fans could actually enjoy and take inspiration from. after all who is going to remember the EDM stuff in 20 years? still though, we have the good stuff in our music collections to remember a time when this label was great, so thanks for the memories and the good stuff anjuna beats. you once gave us quality, so thank you
I loved this label for his Uplifting / Progressive Trance releases back in the days though I discovered them like 3 or 4 years ago. Now is just shit. The same formula for all the tracks: a bigroom-ish intro, piano break, bigroom-ish outro. Lame. 0 originality. There's no feeling here. Anjunabeats was always a label of quality music, specially Trance, but the best thing of the music released here was that warm feeling of the songs of here. This doesn't exist anymore. Is just EDM crap, and these great artists who always released music here, the true anjuna family (Aspekt, Dan Stone, Daniel Kandi, Nitrous Oxide, Tritonal, the good old Arty, Mark Pledger, Mat Zo, Breakfast, Oliver Smith) are not on the label. The only ones who are here and deserves some attention are Andrew Bayer (ex member of Signalrunners), Super8 & Tab and Sunny Lax, though their music is not the same anymore. imo, this label is dead.
I really loved this label back then. Taurine, Alt + F4, Desert Eagle, P.U.M.A, 5 etc etc...these are still my favourite trance tracks till this day. I am so sad to see the quality of the releases dropping since 2007 or 08. The releases from these few years sound nothing like the original uplifting Anjunabeats anymore.
Edit: Anjunadeep's recent transition to deep house is bad too (don't get me wrong, I LOVE soul , funk and deep house, but the releases on Anjunadeep are just, well, lame and boring, a lot lamer than their early prog trance and later prog house releases), but not nearly as bad as Anjunabeats'. I can't even describe how much I cringed at Anjunabeats' releases since 2013... it's really that bad.
I find myself quite disappointed by how much Anjunabeats has changed in the last two or three years. It just doesn't seem the same as the awesome run of releases from the very beginning up to 2004/5... and maybe 2006. But lately, it seems Anjunabeats is putting out the kind of Trance I really hate. It sounds bland, generic, just like all the other labels it's competing with, which I believe will make it harder to come out on top.
I'm only greatful it didn't happen to the 'Beats releases quite as soon as it happened to the 'Deep ones. I hated Anjunadeep's conversion to "Progressive House", (or as I like to call it: Dead House. I don't think that needs much explanation) because before, there were some stunning Progressive/Ambient Trance releases. Maor Levi - Reflect/Illumina, Hawk - Need For Cognition. Even Supermodels From Paris - Keep On, I consider a huge step up from the House present on here nowadays.
OK, there is SOME decent stuff among the new, but it's very few and far between. The only artist I really keep up with on here is Oliver Smith. He seems to always blend the best of the old Anjunabeats with the new, a great achievement which gets my respect. People who like Anjunabeats nowadays probably listen to the many clone-like Trance radio shows. Sorry Anjuna, but I'm afraid you've lost a fan.
Takum
February 17, 2022Though when late 2014 came around, that EDM style sound was still kind of there but the quality of the releases were slowly improving and were only getting better especially when Gabriel & Dresden, Genix, Grum, Ilan Bluestone, and Spencer Brown starting gaining traction on the label. Even the regulars such as Above & Beyond, Kyau & Albert, Maor Levi, Oliver Smith, and Sunny Lax were pushing their productions further as time went on. The label may not be the same as it once was in its early days since music has to eventually evolve. But the quality is still there, especially with a lot of the talent they have been gaining whether new upcoming artists or established ones who have been already well known on Armada or Black Hole Recordings. Keep it up Anjunabeats. I'll be looking forward on what else you bring to the label in the future!