The Scotch-Italian production team deliver a unique masterclass in high-energy progressive trance on Anjunabeats Worldwide 11.
My friend of close a decade has been making a name for himself in the progressive trance scene. His family happens to be from my hometown. One time when he came to visit, he showed me a new single he’d been working on, signed to one of our favorite labels, Anjunabeats.
I still remember his face as he pressed play. It wasn’t the face of someone bragging or showing off. It was someone who was proud of achieving a personal milestone in their career, of someone who can say, “I made something that puts me in the company of my heroes.”
We’ve chatted here and there since then. I ran into him again at a pop-up party on the beaches of Los Angeles last year in anticipation of Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy 500 celebration. We touched on our usual subjects — the state of our favorite labels, artists, and directions in trance and progressive — when he stops me and says, “Lance, I’m telling you right now, be on the lookout for this duo on Anjunabeats. These guys are the real deal.” The conviction in his eyes imprinted itself in the back of my mind in a way that I just couldn’t shake.
Fast forward to this past summer, and this duo’s rise had become unmistakable. Through an act of kindness I could only describe as one of the only true miracles I’ve ever experienced in my life, I got the chance to go to the Group Therapy Weekender. When I saw this duo on the lineup, I knew I had to be at their set even if it conflicted with one of my favorites.
As if the universe was guiding me, I got there just in time to see my friend, clear as day, at front of the stage with the same look of conviction he had sharing that single he got signed. He pulled me in, and said, “See? What did I tell you? Just wait til you see what these guys have in store,” with a smile that could thaw a frozen heart. The duo, whose set that Saturday became one of my favorites of the weekend, was Scotch-Italian progressive trance outfit Alex Sonata & TheRio.
Take a ride with Alex Sonata & TheRio…
When the pair were announced to be working on the latest Anjunabeats Worldwide compilation, speculation had run rampant for months but no one knew what to expect. An outfit known for their hard-hitting, tech-lined, progressive trance, sure — but what would they do with the opportunity to drive Anjuna’s latest Worldwide installment?
Then the tracklist dropped. On paper, a lot to love. Familiar favorites returning for the first time in a while, including Jason Ross, Oliver Smith, and notably, Nitrous Oxide? Check. Dream collaborations that have stayed in the Anjuna faithfuls’ playlists since release from the likes of Above & Beyond, Gabriel & Dresden, and Elevven? Check. A slew of long-requested IDs from the mixers? Check. So far so good. But how would it all mix? How would it ride? Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait that long to figure it out.
Starting the ignition with the aptly named “The Journey,” Alex Sonata & TheRio turn the key as Jordin Post provides a glittering progressive cut called “Your Intent,” leading into the classic house-tinged “Desire” by Tomas Heredia. After that, veteran producer Oliver Smith teams up with Tom Bailey for the crying-at-the-club anthem “Everything.”
This first section feels like the duo feeling out their new car in a test drive. The pair throttle and pace the dynamic range of what Anjunabeats has had to offer in progressive dance the last few years. But this isn’t where Alex Sonata & TheRio’s true strength lies. Seven tracks in, we get the first proper original from them — and it’s only full speed from there.
Stream Alex Sonata & TheRio – Anjunabeats Worldwide 11 on Spotify:
… And feel the wind in your face on a “Night Drive.”
If the first thirty minutes was progressive revving the engine, “Night Drive” locks in the pair for the next hour of high-octane progressive trance with something that feels written straight out of the light trails of a Need For Speed soundtrack. Jason Ross returns to Anjunabeats with the pulsating “Never Alone” alongside longtime collaborator Dia Frampton. The pair’s uptempo mix of P.O.S’ “Coming Home” then puts in a nice cruise control moment before an up-shift in the form of “Hanalei,” their thunderous collab with Elevven, and the long awaited follow-up mega-collab “Over Now” between Above & Beyond and Seven Lions.
Another Elevven sound system crusher in “Surrender to You,” feelsy summer anthem “Other Eye” by Andrew Bayer alongside Gabriel & Dresden and Sub Teal, and Sonata & TheRio’s “Drifting Light” keep the pedal on the floor. Then, label legend Nitrous Oxide’s slice of nostalgia wrapped in a modern progressive package, “The Center,” gives us a moment to settle before the final section.
A long-awaited ID from our mixers titled “Feels Like Home” sets up the final gear. It’s Sonata & TheRio’s bread and butter: high-pressure progressive trance with soft breakdowns and booming basslines. Above & Beyond’s modern classic, “Northern Soul,” gets the Ilan Bluestone belter treatment, finally emerging from the fabled Anjuna-dungeon after being first heard at the trio’s Group Therapy 500 set.
Giuseppe Ottaviani finally gets his first release on Anjunabeats. The anthemic “Tears of The Kingdom” sees the trance legend’s amazing chordplay combine with Sonata and TheRio’s massive basslines for a collaboration that showcases the best of the three producers’ talents.
Longtime fans of the label get a treat in the form of near 20 year old “Resolution” by Aalto (the Finnish dream team of Super8 and Above & Beyond’s Paavo Siljamaki) getting a fresh, updated remix by Sonata & TheRio for Anjunabeats Worldwide 11. The compilation maxes out the RPMs and cruises to a gentle stop in the form of an outro edit of their track, “Mantra.”
Last month, Anjunabeats recorded the Worldwide 11 listening party in Glasgow and live streamed it on YouTube the day before release. The result? One of the most promising looks into the future of the label in a long time. Seeing how this mix played out in the club before people could form their own opinions that night was an extremely smart choice on behalf of the label. Our shared first listen placed all of us in that Glasgow club in spirit, giving us at home the Worldwide 11 tour experience before letting us digest the album itself on our own time.
My solo listens reminded me of the late-night drives I used to take in my high school best friend’s manual transmission Miata while blasting our latest musical obsessions. I could almost feel the clutch releasing and gears shifting throughout the mix, the precision and control as we accelerated on those long stretches of the backwood straights, the tempering and throttling on the winding sections, our irrepressible grins as we felt the bass hit and rolled the windows down.
For me, one of the hallmarks of a good mix is how dynamic it feels in different contexts. A mix evokes different feelings when played with the full production of a modern nightclub than it does in your headphones or car speakers. It feels like there’s so much life in this mix. The originals from Alex Sonata & TheRio feel purpose-built for Worldwide 11, yet they hold up out of context. The tracklist feels like it’s been arranged like building and test driving a sleek, modern supercar. There isn’t room for filler.
Every piece is designed to be strong on its own, but as a part of the whole? It can stop and start on a dime, but has the control to give you the best ride possible. This level of attention to detail puts this year’s model of the Anjunabeats Worldwide series perfectly alongside its predecessors as a sign that the label, and progressive trance in general, is doing just fine with its new blood. Be sure to stay on the lookout for Alex Sonata & TheRio to hit some big stages in 2024, and some big tunes to get a full release on your speakers in the meantime.
Alex Sonata & TheRio – Anjunabeats Worldwide 11 – Tracklist:
- Alex Sonata & TheRio – The Journey
- Jordin Post – Your Intent
- Tomas Heredia – Desire
- Oliver Smith – Everything (feat. Tom Bailey)
- Avenue One – Sky Falls
- Sunny Lax – Raindance
- Alex Sonata & TheRio – Night Drive
- Jason Ross – Never Alone (feat. Dia Frampton)
- P.O.S. – Coming Home (Alex Sonata & TheRio Remix)
- Alex Sonata & TheRio & Elevven – Hanalei
- Seven Lions & Above & Beyond – Over Now (feat. Opposite The Other)
- Elevven – Surrender To You
- Andrew Bayer & Gabriel & Dresden – Other Eye (feat. Sub Teal)
- Alex Sonata & TheRio – Drifting Light
- Nitrous Oxide – The Center
- Alex Sonata & TheRio – Feels Like Home
- Above & Beyond – Northern Soul (feat. Richard Bedford) [Ilan Bluestone Remix]
- Alex Sonata & TheRio & Giuseppe Ottaviani – Tears of The Kingdom (feat. Tishmal)
- Aalto – Resolution (Alex Sonata & TheRio Remix)
- Alex Sonata & TheRio – Mantra
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