Anjunadeep

In this zone, prog house/trance one of my favourite labels. Beside to AVA Recordings, Infra Progressive, they are the best. They always give me a lot of fun. Michael Cassette, Jaytech, Paul Keeley & co. are the strong team. Everyone should check it. Try to open it with Hydroform-Shine (Andrew Bennet & Rico Soarez Mix), Boom Jinx & Jatech-Milano (Ad Brown Remix). Great songs...

Slowly but surely the Anjunadeep label has grown from the promising sibling of the institution that is the Anjunabeats label to a dynamic and influential imprint in its own right. Indeed, by showcasing and accommodating far more disparate sounds and influences than the main label fans such as myself have become acquainted with the delights of a pluralistic progressive sound much removed from the increasingly predictable mechanics and sonic structures of so-called 'orthodox' trance. Indeed, as electronic music (and in particular trance) progresses, it is labels such as Anjunadeep that producers should be looking at in order to discover how to incorporate a diverse range of influences into their work.

The label begin with a real flourish, turning out masterpieces such as the funk-filled 'Larry Mountains 54' and Hawk's 'Need For Cognition', which placed darting melodies across a speaker-destroying bass section, as well as introducing the prodigious young talent Maor Levi to the scene. A number of distinctly average releases followed, but since the artist roster was bolstered by the likes of Boom Jinx, Michael Cassette and Jaytech the label hasn't looked back. Currently the most prolific in terms of output it has ever been, the eclectic outlook of the label will surely mean that there are many more great releases to come.

Since 2009 we have seen Anjunadeep moving further away from its traditional progressive trance roots towards a housier sound. The 'Anjunadeep:02' compilation in particular has driven this transformation as a second 'new wave' of producers have signed to the label, including Hernan Cerbello, Jamie Matrix and Roddy Reynaert, plus the eminence of the 16 Bit Lolitas as one of the 'core' producers. Whilst I welcome the label's dynamism, I do pine for the days when the likes of Maor Levi, Boom Jinx and David West were defining the label's path and as such would like to see them mixing things up a bit, perhaps with some productions that could have almost been signed to Anjunabeats were it not for their progressive edge. Perhaps I'm just being nostalgic however, and for now it seems that the label has chosen to chart a different path. The insistence on quality is very much alive too, so I can only say that I'm very much looking forward to seeing where Anjunadeep travels to in the future.