Gabriel & Dresden Playlist

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Early Years: 2001 to 2004

Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden first started producing together in 2001 following very different early careers. Josh Gabriel was the more technology focused of the two: he had studied for an undergraduate degree in music composition, started music production and had created a music production tool called Mixman. Dave Dresden meanwhile was a DJ and music journalist. But it was Dresden’s role as music director at grooveradio.com that brought the two together.

Dresden met UK DJ Pete Tong at a grooveradio party at the Miami Winter Music Conference party and the UK DJ tapped Dresden to scout new tracks to play on his long running BBC radio show the Essential Selection. Dresden passed on an early Josh Gabriel production which Tong both played on his show and featured in a mix compilation. In 2001 Tong followed up with a request to remix a New Order track. Dresden opted to bring Gabriel in on and the production partnership was born. The remix was such a success that Gabriel and Dresden remixed another two top tier UK acts that year: Way Out West and Groove Armada.

By 2003 Gabriel and Dresden were firmly established as sought-after remixers-of-the-moment with mainstream pop names under their remixing belt, including Annie Lennox, Evavenscence, Cold Play and Britney Spears and Madonna. Their growing success was such that their remix of Britney Spears and Madonna’s ‘Me Against The Music’ was their 7th US Billboard Dance Chart #1. In the same year they debuted in the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ's poll at #43.

Though Gabriel and Dresden had released their first original production ‘Lament’ in 2002, their breakthrough was a 2003 collaboration with vocalist Jes Brieden under the alias Motorcycle. The track ‘When The Rush Comes’ was a classic of its genre and stands out as one the key vocal trance tracks of the noughties. Its combination of hypnotic bass riff, sweeping pads and drug referencing female vocals made it an instant club hit and was signed by Armin van Buuren’s Armada records. As with Tiesto’s remix of Delerium’s ‘The Silence’, ‘As The Rush Comes’ remained a firm dance-floor favourite for years to come. No mean feat for a genre where many tracks come and go within a matter of weeks. Though a couple of new Motorcycle tracks followed in 2004 (‘Deep, Breathe, Love’ and ‘Imagination’) neither replicated the success of ‘When The Rush Comes’.

In 2002 Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden had also started another side project Andain with David Penner and Mavie Marcos. The first two releases (‘Summer Calling’ and ‘Beautiful Thing’) were both mainstream trance outings and achieved considerable commercial successOn the remixing front Gabriel and Dresden continued to go from strength to strength adding yet more big names from pop to their portfolio in 2004, including Dido and Nelly Furtado. 2004 was also the year they released their fist dance compilation album ‘Bloom’.

Later Years: 2005 to 2008

By 2005 Gabriel and Dresden had begun to reduce their remixing workload. In 2003 they had completed 17 remixes, in 2005 that number was just five, one of which was a remix of one their own tracks: Motorcycle’s ‘Around You’. A key reason for this change was a stronger focus on their own productions and an evolution and honing of their sound.

2005 saw 5 Gabriel and Dresden own productions, each of which stretched the boundaries of their sound a little further. From the electro house feel of ‘Arcadia’ through to the electro-rock-progressive-vocal-trance of Motorcycle’s ‘Around You’. The other key release of the year was ‘Without You Near’, a collaboration with Departure and fellow US trance-scene producer Markus Schulz.
With the exception of ‘Without You Near’ all of Gabriel and Dresden’s 2005 productions were released on their recently launched label Organized Nature.

The following year saw the release of their debut - and as it would transpire – only studio album, the self titled ‘Gabriel and Dresden’. The album is primarily a continuation of Gabriel and Dresden’s progressive trance sound but with the variety of house, electro and rock elements that they had already been increasingly weaving into their sound. The album also saw a strong vocal element with multiple contributions from vocalists Jan Burton and Molly Bancroft. Motorcycle vocalist Jes Brieden contributed lyrics but did not perform on the album. The album spawned multiple singles including ‘Dangerous Power’, the Kansas cover ‘Dust In The Wind’ and the hit ‘Tracking Treasure Down’.

An extensive global tour followed the album release and 2007 brought a collaboration with trance giant Armin van Buuren (‘Zocalo’), a new mix album (‘Toolroom Knights’) and a remix of the Killers’ ‘Read My Mind’. But the end was already in the making with personal factors and creative differences resulting in a 30th March 2008 appearance at the Miami WMC proving to be their last.

Dave Dresden has since gone on to release as half of Dresden and Johnson but the long standing side project of Andain remains unresolved. Though the 2003 singles had been mainstream vocal trance the group’s core direction was a more organic sound incorporating live instruments and a rock sound. Much material was produced over the coming years and an album release was much anticipated. As of mid 2010 the album remains unreleased, though ‘leaked’ versions can be found online, including an unreleased album from 2006 and a leaked album from 2007. Intriguingly Josh Gabriel released a remix of ‘Beautiful Things’ in 2010.