Genres: Electronica
Styles Progressive Trance, Goa Trance, Trance, Club/Dance, Acid House, House
Similiar Artists: Steve Osborne, Sasha, Paul Van Dyk, Pete Tong, John Digweed, Judge Jules, Danny Rampling, Trevor Fung, Farley & Heller, Seb Fontaine, Tony de Vit, Nick Warren, Anthony Pappa, Sander Kleinenberg & Max Graham.
Source: AMG All Music Guide (C)
From Duran Duran I entered my "Breakdancing" phase. Some of you may remember that. I remember listening to the song "Jam on it" by Newcleus over and over and over.
Breakdancing wasn't around too long. I soon started head-banging to Heavy Metal. My freshmen year in high school I started to skateboard. My friends introduced me to a band called "Agent Orange". This signaled another huge turn in my musical tastes. Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Dead Milkmen, Dagnasty, all invaded my tape deck.
The one Genres of music however that hit me the hardest was Techno. I was going to school in North Carolina for graphic design. I was sitting next to a guy named Ryan. He was listening to some Techno music and I was sort of drawn to it. I was curious. I asked to listen to a couple of his cds. By the end of the day I wanted more.
From Techno I started to listen to all the other styles that are out there. To this day I cannot tell you what the difference is. Techno, Acid, House, Jungle, Break Beat, they all sort of run together on me. But I like them all. I will blame it on my age, as lame as that sounds.
Enter stage right: 1 Road Runner Cable Modem
& 1 website called "Napster".
Ahhhh Napster. This changed everything. Suddenly I had all these bands that I could hear almost instantly. This is when I first discovered Paul Oakenfold. Whenever I downloaaad something I really like, I got on the web and looked the artist up. I would find out who they listened to and who influenced them.
I started to download Paul Oakenfolds songs and was floored by his chemistry. This guy really knew how to mix, and even more his mixes were long. I would download sessions of his that were over 2 hours long. This made for nice design sessions.
Well I really can't put it to words what Pauls songs mean to me. My old girlfriend joked that I was secretly in love with the guy. In love "with" the guy? Ummm no. In love with his music? Yes... yeesss... yesssssss... OHHHH YESSSS!!! Hehe.
I will end it at that. I know this doesn't give you anything to really go on. The best advice I can give you is go buy one of his cds or download something off Limewire. I recommend any of his Essential mixes or his newest cd "Swordfish Soundtrack". I included the AMG link in my Paul Oakenfold links. That will run down all of his work and go into total detail about each album. Hope it helps!
Paul Oakenfold Official Site AMG All Music Guide
Dave Dresden Interview
Mixmag Article