Anjunabeats Worldwide 09 (Mixed by Genix)

[marcuszeke]

Buy/Stream: Anjunabeats.lnk.to/AWW09yo
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Release Date: Friday 13th December
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Closing out a year of towering achievements both in and out of the studio, UK producer Damion Houchen, a.k.a. Genix, presents the ninth instalment in the Anjunabeats Worldwide mix series.

Establishing a tougher, techno-inflected trance sound in 2019, this reinvigorated artist has toured relentlessly: Anjunabeats tour stops across North America, the U.K. and Europe; to Tomorrowland and Creamfields; to 5,525 meters up Mount Everest where he earned a Guinness World Record for highest DJ set on land.

Genix joins an esteemed list of dance legends who have been invited to mix our Anjunabeats Worldwide series, which includes Mat Zo, Arty, ilan Bluestone and Grum.

On this edition, Genix powers through 17 tracks in an uncompromising fashion.

There’s six genre-blurring originals, including ‘Zuul’ and ‘Giant Steps’ (both debuted by Genix at Above & Beyond's Group Therapy 350 celebrations in Prague). You'll also discover two Genix remixes of bonafide rave classics: Golden Girls' ‘Kinetic’ and Slusnik Luna's 'Sun 2011’.

Other mix cuts come from label heads Above & Beyond, Genix's frequently flying partner in crime, Sunny Lax, and enigmatic bass warrior Mat Zo alongside legendary grime MC GQ with ’The Next Chapter’.

Anjunabeats Worldwide 09 is available on CD now via the Anjuna Music Store and wherever good music is downloaded or streamed.

Meanwhile Genix's global Worldwide 09 coninutes; dates across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia are selling fast. Listings and tickets at anjunabeats.com/worldwide09



Tracklist:

1. Matt Fax - Collide (Intro Mix)
2. Genix & Judah - Noir
3. EchoFly - Blazing Sun
4. Grum - Altered State
5. Genix & Sue McLaren - Free Love
6. Above & Beyond pres. Tranquility Base - Surrender (Genix Remix)
7. Mat Zo feat. GQ - The Next Chapter
8. Above & Beyond - Another Angel
9. Grum - Stay (Genix Remix)
10. Genix - Giant Steps
11. Slusnik Luna - Sun 2011 (Genix Techno Update)
12. Golden Girls - Kinetic (Genix Remix)
13. Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston - Love Is Not Enough (Fatum Remix)
14. Fatum, Genix, Jaytech and Judah - All In (Sunny Lax Remix)
15. Genix - Rave Daze
16. Genix - Zuul
17. Genix - Ba55 Camp

[solar]

music.apple.com/us/album/anjunabeats-worldwide-09/1483857488

Tracklist is looking promising!
Release date: 13th of December

[marcuszeke]

Yay this comes out on Friday

[theboz]

So after a full listen and a skim through the individual tracks, I'm not entirely in love with the mix yet. It lacks some of the cohesiveness and flow that 07 and 08 had. These are my initial impressions:

Starts out really strong with the absolute banger from Matt Fax - seriously, such an aptly named song. Perfectly sets the tone for the darker, punchier nature of this mix.

I get heavy Cirez D vibes from Noir, though the drop doesn't do it for me and I'm overall not impressed with the track. Luckily it's followed up by Blazing Sun, a seriously groovy tune with a catchy vocal on top of it. Love the use of the second verse and drop.

I never listened to the original Free Love from 250 much, so thankfully I'm not bothered by the tech update of the song. I think Genix did a good job at keeping some of the original, trancey spirit in this version.

Awesome to have Surrender and The Next Chapter in HQ finally. Both sound even better in HQ, but especially The Next Chapter. It's such a dark and brooding song.

The next two songs, Another Angel and Stay (Genix Remix), lose me a bit. While I love Another Angel on its own, it just does not fit on this comp imo. Feels forced in, especially considering it's between two techier, percussion heavy tunes. Was never the biggest fan of the Stay remix because it gets too repetitive. Having two drops was a bit much when the second one doesn't really add anything extra over the first one.

Giant Steps is quite the nostalgic track and really reminds me of the mid-late 90s trance sound, especially the breakdown and synth & piano in the drop.

The Kinetic remix has quickly grown to be one of my favorite Genix tune's this year. His take on old school acid works flawlessly with modern production and is so thick and warm. The second drop with the Orbital riff is nicely done too. He nails the old school vibes in this one perfectly.

Fatum's LINE remix, while nice to have in HQ, once again feels out of place in the mix. Going from heavy kick drums and acid grooves to Fatum's big room electro sound, then right back to some heavier hitting tech tunes detracts from the flow.

Sunny's remix of All In surprised me the most out of all of the new songs on the comp. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but another 303 remix from Sunny is greatly appreciated. Such a heavy drop.

Rave Daze is a lovely tune, though it's too short for my liking and I hope has a longer intro when released in full. It's too good of a track to be so short and leaves me unsatisfied. It's also got the coolest groove out of any of Genix's new minimal tracks. Zuul is a bit short too, though with a bit more of a fleshed out intro groove, it feels like more of a complete track. I love how heavy the drop is and how booming the kick drum is. The acid reminds me of a sweaty Detroit underground party. Out of all the styles Genix displays on WW09, his acid is my favorite for sure.

Also great to have Ba55 Camp in HQ now. Was a massive one from A&B's EDC set this year and the tight and punchy production is so satisfying. The drop feels like a really good blend of his old electro sound with his current techier sound.

As it stands now, my current favorites are: Collide, The Next Chapter, Kinetic (Genix Remix), Giant Steps, and Sun 2011.

Overall, I think my biggest issue with the mix is the flow, and that's for two reasons. The first is that some tracks feel a bit forced in with the rest. Altered State fits better than some, but to me, it starts to ramp the energy up and Free Love just doesn't follow up with the same energy. Then you go from the darker, techier tracks right into the light and happy Surrender remix, then right back to the dark stuff with The Next Chapter. It just doesn't flow well, especially once Another Angel comes on and really changes the mood. Same thing with the LINE remix. There was a nice thing going with the minimal tech tunes, and then LINE comes in all up in your face.

The other thing that detracts from the flow is how short some of Genix's tracks are. A lot of the tracks move too quick and don't give enough time to really appreciate what was going on, Rave Daze and Giant Steps especially. Seems like as soon as the track is mixed in you're already in the breakdown. I know Genix has been on a hot streak of short bangers recently, and for some it works (Mr H2O, Zuul, Death Valley) but for others, the tracks feel rushed. I would've also liked some more tracks like Zuul and Kinetic, with drops that aren't mainly focused on the percussion. I like more minimal techno, but typically I like it when it's at a higher BPM to give it more energy. At just 128, some of Genix's drops feel a bit too empty for me.

Overall, I think it's a good mix that doesn't quite stand at the levels that 07 and 08 do. While I'm not in love with the mix itself, I do still think a lot of the songs on here will be better when they're released in full. And regardless of all that, it's nice to have some fresh sounds on the label. Genix has really been leading the way on this tech uprising on the label, and I'm excited to see where the label continues taking this sound in the future.

[solar]

Can't agree more with the previous comment. It feels like the compilation lacks the flow. I think Genix was trying to avoid monotony, that's why the mood is constantly changing during the mix.
'Another Angel', Fatum's remix of 'Love Is Not Enough' are completely fall out of the rest mix, they just don't fit here.
On the other hand, I really liked 'Noir' (more than 'Collide') and 'Blazing Sun', while as I said, just as theboz, I don't like this order of the tracks.
'Surrender' remix and 'The Next Chapter' are also highlights here for me.
Overall, that kind of techtrance is > big room house for me. I like this comp much more than 08, but it doesn't stand nowhere near to 07.

[marcuszeke]

I'm currently as far as Stay (Genix Remix) and I'm loving it so far.

The Next Chapter into Another Angel was definitely a switch in pace but at least he mixed it well. I'm glad he waited until later in the outro so the energy naturally carried over to Another Angel instead of it feeling a bit more rushed.


This is SO MUCH BETTER than 08 so far. 

[neondischarge]

Now, I do agree that 08 didn't really age that well. I had a listen to it in the background while hanging out with friends and the flow was really off and the songs just felt like they would have been better as standalone songs than in that mix. Here's how I would rank the series:
02 > 01 > 07 > 03 > 06 > 05 > 08 > 09 > 04

Now for a few points:
- Uh oh. The Surrender Remix by Genix sounds like it has a classic case of "mediocre Genix mixdown." The sub bass is a little too loud and the spectrum curve is a little dipped like Open Your Eyes, Rogue, For Those We Lost, etc. I don't suspect it's near as bad as the Ripsaw/100 Miles EP in terms of mixdown/mastering, nor the bleeding treble and scooped midrange of Arrival or the weird panning of I Don't Wanna. Still a listenable track, but it's a little underwhelming compared to when it debuted at ABGT300. It seemed fuller then. But I will say this: the saturation/excitation game is on point here with this mix, as it's got a nice, crisp, yet warm harmonic edge to it.
- The Next Chapter is still as good as it always was, but way too loud. It seems as if Mat Zo has improved substantially with his mixdowns (or maybe it was just a really good, pushed master with a lot of saturation and excitation, which is how it sounds to me)
- Another Angel, as much of a masterwork as it is, seems terribly out of place on this disc and within the flow of the mix. It's a Trance 2.0 (, don't know how you guys would classify it, but that's what I call it) track thrown in the middle of a trance-ish tech house and techno mix. The same goes for the Love Is Not Enough (Fatum Remix). The two should have been paired back to back if the flow was to be better, but sadly this is not the case. And not only that but the mixing and flow of the disc is not top notch. The last time we had a really good mix was probably Worldwide 07 (which is a GREAT comp, near the top of my rankings), and even then I'd say the flow of tracks in the mix haven't been stellar since 2012, as most of the producers back then and before from the 2006-2012 time period who mixed those comps were more versatile, trained DJs (except for Arty, back then at least). 
- Giant Steps knocks it out of the friggin' park. What the whole scene needs is more classic-trance tinged tracks. Rave Daze continues this streak of creativity and nostalgia from Genix.
- Golden Girls - Kinetic (Genix Remix) is a banger and always will be. It'll be on repeat from me FOREVER.
- The Mastering of the whole disc is just not as cohesive in terms of normalizing track volumes. Not that this needs to be the case, but Surrender (Genix Remix) is so quiet and then The Next Chapter is so FRIGGIN' loud, that it's a bit offputting. At the very least, Worldwide 06 and 07 tried better at normalizing volumes with some compression across the mix. Let alone any Anjuna compilation from 2008 to 2014 as well.

The 2nd half of the disc is genuinely better than the first half on all fronts because it obviously has more Genix tracks, and he's the only artist on Anjuna who is currently innovating with his sound at the moment (IMO). So the whole disc just massively gets better after Another Angel. And the stretch of tracks starting with Rave Daze is a miniature party. With the exception of most Genix tracks and remixes, Altered State, and The Next Chapter, the flow of this mix and content is a little disappointing. Like, I think it would have been better had he removed Another Angel and the Love is Not Enough Remix and thrown in some No Mana, i_O, Matt Lange, PROFF, or Gabriel & Dresden tracks. Or maybe some Deep Artists like Qrion, Dosem, or Yotto. Or you know what would have really fit in this mix? Any of the tracks from that Spencer Brown & ilan Bluestone - Gatekeeper EP

I'm gonna give it a 5.5/10 (which I equate to a 'C' grade, NOT AN 'F' GRADE, which would be like a 1 or 2 out of 10). It just seems like a collection of random tracks at the time were hobbled together in a mix, and we've already heard nearly all of them anyway by ABGT350, so there's little to no surprises. It gets the job done, but not in style or remembrance. 

[neondischarge]

Dec 13, 2019 2:25:45 GMT theboz said:

So after a full listen and a skim through the individual tracks, I'm not entirely in love with the mix yet. It lacks some of the cohesiveness and flow that 07 and 08 had. These are my initial impressions:

Starts out really strong with the absolute banger from Matt Fax - seriously, such an aptly named song. Perfectly sets the tone for the darker, punchier nature of this mix.

I get heavy Cirez D vibes from Noir, though the drop doesn't do it for me and I'm overall not impressed with the track. Luckily it's followed up by Blazing Sun, a seriously groovy tune with a catchy vocal on top of it. Love the use of the second verse and drop.

I never listened to the original Free Love from 250 much, so thankfully I'm not bothered by the tech update of the song. I think Genix did a good job at keeping some of the original, trancey spirit in this version.

Awesome to have Surrender and The Next Chapter in HQ finally. Both sound even better in HQ, but especially The Next Chapter. It's such a dark and brooding song.

The next two songs, Another Angel and Stay (Genix Remix), lose me a bit. While I love Another Angel on its own, it just does not fit on this comp imo. Feels forced in, especially considering it's between two techier, percussion heavy tunes. Was never the biggest fan of the Stay remix because it gets too repetitive. Having two drops was a bit much when the second one doesn't really add anything extra over the first one.

Giant Steps is quite the nostalgic track and really reminds me of the mid-late 90s trance sound, especially the breakdown and synth & piano in the drop.

The Kinetic remix has quickly grown to be one of my favorite Genix tune's this year. His take on old school acid works flawlessly with modern production and is so thick and warm. The second drop with the Orbital riff is nicely done too. He nails the old school vibes in this one perfectly.

Fatum's LINE remix, while nice to have in HQ, once again feels out of place in the mix. Going from heavy kick drums and acid grooves to Fatum's big room electro sound, then right back to some heavier hitting tech tunes detracts from the flow.

Sunny's remix of All In surprised me the most out of all of the new songs on the comp. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but another 303 remix from Sunny is greatly appreciated. Such a heavy drop.

Rave Daze is a lovely tune, though it's too short for my liking and I hope has a longer intro when released in full. It's too good of a track to be so short and leaves me unsatisfied. It's also got the coolest groove out of any of Genix's new minimal tracks. Zuul is a bit short too, though with a bit more of a fleshed out intro groove, it feels like more of a complete track. I love how heavy the drop is and how booming the kick drum is. The acid reminds me of a sweaty Detroit underground party. Out of all the styles Genix displays on WW09, his acid is my favorite for sure.

Also great to have Ba55 Camp in HQ now. Was a massive one from A&B's EDC set this year and the tight and punchy production is so satisfying. The drop feels like a really good blend of his old electro sound with his current techier sound.

As it stands now, my current favorites are: Collide, The Next Chapter, Kinetic (Genix Remix), Giant Steps, and Sun 2011.

Overall, I think my biggest issue with the mix is the flow, and that's for two reasons. The first is that some tracks feel a bit forced in with the rest. Altered State fits better than some, but to me, it starts to ramp the energy up and Free Love just doesn't follow up with the same energy. Then you go from the darker, techier tracks right into the light and happy Surrender remix, then right back to the dark stuff with The Next Chapter. It just doesn't flow well, especially once Another Angel comes on and really changes the mood. Same thing with the LINE remix. There was a nice thing going with the minimal tech tunes, and then LINE comes in all up in your face.

The other thing that detracts from the flow is how short some of Genix's tracks are. A lot of the tracks move too quick and don't give enough time to really appreciate what was going on, Rave Daze and Giant Steps especially. Seems like as soon as the track is mixed in you're already in the breakdown. I know Genix has been on a hot streak of short bangers recently, and for some it works (Mr H2O, Zuul, Death Valley) but for others, the tracks feel rushed. I would've also liked some more tracks like Zuul and Kinetic, with drops that aren't mainly focused on the percussion. I like more minimal techno, but typically I like it when it's at a higher BPM to give it more energy. At just 128, some of Genix's drops feel a bit too empty for me.

Overall, I think it's a good mix that doesn't quite stand at the levels that 07 and 08 do. While I'm not in love with the mix itself, I do still think a lot of the songs on here will be better when they're released in full. And regardless of all that, it's nice to have some fresh sounds on the label. Genix has really been leading the way on this tech uprising on the label, and I'm excited to see where the label continues taking this sound in the future.

You're definitely on the money about the shortness of tracks thing. I also think that he could have removed the Trance 2.0 tracks (Another Angel, LINE Remix) and just lengthened some of his songs like Rave Daze and Giant Steps, and then that would have been ANOTHER way to make the comp sound and flow better than it currently does.

In regards to Free Love, I don't even fully remember what the 2.0 version sounded like from 250, but all I remember was that it had a bad/mediocre mixdown (typical Genix) and was really kind of dull. But it would still be kind of nice for that version to be released for those who liked it.

[marcuszeke]

Honestly, guys, I'm not seeing what you're seeing lol.

I usually always complain about flow on the compilations but it's near perfect here from start to finish. On my 2nd listen now.

Btw, tried listening to O8 a few weeks ago and literally could not finish it. It's so bad lol

[dspencer124]

Have listened through once and was not impressed - love the first three tracks, but otherwise the rest was pretty forgettable. Will give it another run through tonight but thus far this ranks pretty low down for me

[marcuszeke]

Really surprised Gatekeeper by ilan Bluestone & Spencer Brown didn't make it on here. Would have fit nicely on the comp.

[theboz]

Given it another full listen... and it still ranks low for me. The middle is too meh, and LINE and Sunny's All In remix kill the vibe after it starts picking back up. Too many tracks that don't belong. I feel like there were definitely better options to pick for this comp, like Gatekeeper, or hell, even Waltz if you really wanted an A&B song in there.

On the positive side, Rave Daze is really growing on me, I just wish it weren't so damn short! So much wasted potential in some of these songs.

[marcuszeke]

Top 5 tracks on my first 4 listens are:

1) Mat Zo feat. GQ - The Next Chapter
2) Genix & Judah - Noir
3) Genix - Ba55 Camp
4) Golden Girls - Kinetic (Genix Remix)
5) Genix & Sue McLaren - Free Love

I will try to post a full review of the entire compilation sometime in the next few days.

[dspencer124]

Been listening to this a lot over the past couple of weeks and I think my overall conclusion is, 'meh, it's not bad' - it's certainly not a standout compilation, but there are some really lovely tracks on there and taken in isolation the tracklist is excellent. The main problem I have with this compilation is that it just doesn't work as a complete mix; some of the transitions/track selections are just odd (Another Angel, anyone?), and the whole middle of the compilation is largely forgettable.

Everything up to 'The Next Chapter' is amazing, and then from LINE onwards works well, but the middle chunk doesn't really hold anything for me. Slusnik Luna was one of the first tracks I bought when I got into trance about a decade ago but I don't see what the update adds, Giant Steps is instantly forgettable, Another Angel is a good tune but why it was included here I will never know, and the Stay remix doesn't add anything to the original either.

All in all, this is probably a 6/10 from me - it's a pleasant listen, but not one that's going to last in the memory for long.