dancemania
10-21-2005, 04:29 PM
This is a review made by Thomas Schroeder, who went to Ferry Corsten's L.E.F. @ Avalon in Los Angeles, USA.
We got it by email and we publish it here with permission from Thomas:
Ferry-
Saturday night I attended your Launch Party for your residency at Avalon, in Los Angeles, CA. First off, the show was amazing, and I am a harsh harsh critic! I enjoyed your music considerably and am definitely looking forward to the next 6 months of shows. You’ve made it known that L.E.F. is to be party music and I believe that has already been accomplished to a certain degree. I actually wonder with great interest where L.E.F. will be in 6 months, and more importantly, what impact it may have on electronic dance music? My answer below:
(You may remember me, as I talked with you after the set and I “warned” you I was going to send you an email. My overdue apologies for a couple of things, but mostly for any over-enthusiasm I displayed while talking to you. My enthusiasm is hard to curtail, though, especially when talking to the DJ that just provided an amazing extended night of music! Being a super picky hardcore EDM fan for the last two years, it is pretty rare for me to experience such an amazing night of music. Anyway, I know that I chewed your ear off, so my apologies, but hopefully it was for good reason.)
L.E.F. Loud. Electronic. Ferocious. At first I was worried that L.E.F. meant that Ferry Corsten was going to join the ranks of several big name DJs and play harder trance, and mostly tracks with enormous monotonous bass and little to no melody. However, after experiencing L.E.F., I believe I now understand a lot of what L.E.F. is and what you are trying to do with it. The way I see it, you’re essentially showcasing a new sub-genre of music and, in doing so, you are combining several quality aspects of other genres in addition to giving clubbers the sound they want. The cool thing is that it is easiest to explain my understanding of L.E.F. by simply defining the acronym itself.
Let’s obviously start off with “L”, or “Loud”. The music you played was definitely loud, mostly due to the seemingly rolling double bass that is continually driving most tracks. At first I didn’t like this aspect of the music because I have had disappointing experiences from seeing other big name DJs who play the bass so excessively. In my experiences, nearly all the DJs that have done this end up playing tracks with little to no melody and, in my opinion, an empty string of below-average tracks. Saturday night, however, the songs seemed to have this loud element but they also thankfully had a great, often-dirty and gritty electronic sounding melody. Otherwise known as the ‘E” in L.E.F.
“Electronic”. The major aspect of this new sub-genre of music, in my opinion, is the electronic sound you require in so many of the tracks that gets played. You’ve taken a different approach to the now current craze of spinning and producing electro music by utilizing trance music infused with electro elements. This trance-fitting electro sound has a similar bite and fun level that the regular electro sound has, but it is tailored to be used in trance music. This adds an enormously exciting element to a trance market that has been losing out to house music for the last 2 or 3 years. Your preferred sound, it seems, typically is this great industrial "electronic" sound; very heavy sounding like steel and metal would make if used in some way as instruments.
The third letter of L.E.F., “F”, or “Ferocious” is a combination of the first two letters combined with high quality tracks from yesterday, today and tomorrow (I too love the tracks with symphonic elements or perfectly dropped piano/synth keys). The combination of quality tracks with driving “Loud” elements and hitting “Electronic” melodies produces a “Ferocious” new sound that could take the EDM scene, and especially the trance scene, by storm. In the set I heard on Saturday, you’re definitely putting together tracks that have big teeth and, especially when strung together, aren’t afraid to take a huge bite!
I also loved the fact that when L.E.F. is played, the music is greatly enhanced by a DJ really working the mixer knobs properly! I wonder if you are also using an effect to produce/amplify those dirty and gritty electronic sounds. Either way, it is great to see a DJ adding so much to the music via their mastery of the mixer and knowledge of the music. And, I must compliment you on such an awesome stage presence and the true love of your job you display….it shows quite nicely.
L.E.F. There you have it, stated briefly (most might say otherwise!), as I see it. A new sub-genre of trance showcased by Mr. Ferry Corsten. L.E.F. is definitely a welcomed and exciting new development for electronic dance music. Go Ferry! I would almost expect that you are already remixing killer trance tracks with infused dirty gritty electro elements. If so, I can hardly wait!
If you are interested in some ways that I can possibly help you make L.E.F. even better, I would definitely like to share some ideas with you. In fact, I would love to get a copy of your residency Launch Party set (or equivalent) so I could give it a good ear and really dial in my comments, observations and recommendations. What do you have to lose?
Thank you Ferry! And remember “melody, melody, melody”,
Tom
We got it by email and we publish it here with permission from Thomas:
Ferry-
Saturday night I attended your Launch Party for your residency at Avalon, in Los Angeles, CA. First off, the show was amazing, and I am a harsh harsh critic! I enjoyed your music considerably and am definitely looking forward to the next 6 months of shows. You’ve made it known that L.E.F. is to be party music and I believe that has already been accomplished to a certain degree. I actually wonder with great interest where L.E.F. will be in 6 months, and more importantly, what impact it may have on electronic dance music? My answer below:
(You may remember me, as I talked with you after the set and I “warned” you I was going to send you an email. My overdue apologies for a couple of things, but mostly for any over-enthusiasm I displayed while talking to you. My enthusiasm is hard to curtail, though, especially when talking to the DJ that just provided an amazing extended night of music! Being a super picky hardcore EDM fan for the last two years, it is pretty rare for me to experience such an amazing night of music. Anyway, I know that I chewed your ear off, so my apologies, but hopefully it was for good reason.)
L.E.F. Loud. Electronic. Ferocious. At first I was worried that L.E.F. meant that Ferry Corsten was going to join the ranks of several big name DJs and play harder trance, and mostly tracks with enormous monotonous bass and little to no melody. However, after experiencing L.E.F., I believe I now understand a lot of what L.E.F. is and what you are trying to do with it. The way I see it, you’re essentially showcasing a new sub-genre of music and, in doing so, you are combining several quality aspects of other genres in addition to giving clubbers the sound they want. The cool thing is that it is easiest to explain my understanding of L.E.F. by simply defining the acronym itself.
Let’s obviously start off with “L”, or “Loud”. The music you played was definitely loud, mostly due to the seemingly rolling double bass that is continually driving most tracks. At first I didn’t like this aspect of the music because I have had disappointing experiences from seeing other big name DJs who play the bass so excessively. In my experiences, nearly all the DJs that have done this end up playing tracks with little to no melody and, in my opinion, an empty string of below-average tracks. Saturday night, however, the songs seemed to have this loud element but they also thankfully had a great, often-dirty and gritty electronic sounding melody. Otherwise known as the ‘E” in L.E.F.
“Electronic”. The major aspect of this new sub-genre of music, in my opinion, is the electronic sound you require in so many of the tracks that gets played. You’ve taken a different approach to the now current craze of spinning and producing electro music by utilizing trance music infused with electro elements. This trance-fitting electro sound has a similar bite and fun level that the regular electro sound has, but it is tailored to be used in trance music. This adds an enormously exciting element to a trance market that has been losing out to house music for the last 2 or 3 years. Your preferred sound, it seems, typically is this great industrial "electronic" sound; very heavy sounding like steel and metal would make if used in some way as instruments.
The third letter of L.E.F., “F”, or “Ferocious” is a combination of the first two letters combined with high quality tracks from yesterday, today and tomorrow (I too love the tracks with symphonic elements or perfectly dropped piano/synth keys). The combination of quality tracks with driving “Loud” elements and hitting “Electronic” melodies produces a “Ferocious” new sound that could take the EDM scene, and especially the trance scene, by storm. In the set I heard on Saturday, you’re definitely putting together tracks that have big teeth and, especially when strung together, aren’t afraid to take a huge bite!
I also loved the fact that when L.E.F. is played, the music is greatly enhanced by a DJ really working the mixer knobs properly! I wonder if you are also using an effect to produce/amplify those dirty and gritty electronic sounds. Either way, it is great to see a DJ adding so much to the music via their mastery of the mixer and knowledge of the music. And, I must compliment you on such an awesome stage presence and the true love of your job you display….it shows quite nicely.
L.E.F. There you have it, stated briefly (most might say otherwise!), as I see it. A new sub-genre of trance showcased by Mr. Ferry Corsten. L.E.F. is definitely a welcomed and exciting new development for electronic dance music. Go Ferry! I would almost expect that you are already remixing killer trance tracks with infused dirty gritty electro elements. If so, I can hardly wait!
If you are interested in some ways that I can possibly help you make L.E.F. even better, I would definitely like to share some ideas with you. In fact, I would love to get a copy of your residency Launch Party set (or equivalent) so I could give it a good ear and really dial in my comments, observations and recommendations. What do you have to lose?
Thank you Ferry! And remember “melody, melody, melody”,
Tom