ambient trance song warning – chicane

ok. This is a music post for the people who like what is called ambient trance music.

A new cd came out from Chicane called Giants.

Chicane is a dj who creates music in the studio and invites singers to join on certain tracks. Chicane is a pseudonym used by the brit electronic musician and/producer Nick Bracegirdle.

You may not know Chicane but they/he is known for a song called Offshore which is an Ibiza dance anthem included in thousands of dance/ambient cd compilations, Saltwater which featured vocals by Clannad member Maire Brennan (and is ranked among the best ever trance singles), Autumn Tactics and Don’t Give Up featuring Bryan Adams.

Ok. Before I get to the new cd I will take a minute to talk about the first Chicane cd.

Behind the Sun. it was awesome.  And maybe one of the best ambient trance cds of all time.  Pretty much better than anything Delirium, Zero 7, Air, or maybe ConjureOne has ever produced.

I got introduced to Chicane in Kiev Ukraine in maybe 2000. There I was jetlagged on my first trip ever to Kiev.  I was crashed in my hotel room and turned on the TV (and the entire maybe 11 stations total available to me).  I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying (although it all sounded cool) except the channels with BBC news and MTV Europe.

And then a video came on MTV that had this incredible trance beat and a haunting vocal and, well, I met Chicane. The song was Autumn Tactics and to this day remains one of my favorite ambient trance songs of all time (and to the ad agency readers on my site the song is very good in a brand essence video).

That cd also had Don’t Give Up featuring Bryan Adams which was #1 on the European charts for a number of weeks and still is used in the clubs across Europe.

The cd also had Saltwater which was the song that was used for Ireland Tourism for a number of years.  A great cd.

On a side note it was the next night in a Kiev club with some friends from the US Embassy and a translator feverishly trying to tell me what everyone around me was saying and right after Don’t Give Up had filled the dance floor that I was introduced to Craig David music when Fill Me In came on and I had to send the translator up to the DJ to ask who the hell it was.

And that was the first time I ever heard Craig David.

Anyway.

Ok.

The new Chicane cd Giants.

I believe the first release is Chicane with Adam Young (the owl city guy) called Middledistancerunner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSnIi9iUJeI

Oh. And a short version of this song is a hidden track on the cd.

This cd may be as good as Behind the Sun. 

The first release is good.  But Chicane hooked me on a track where an Imogene Heap like singer combines with Chicane using Imogene Heap-like production techniques to create an eclectically beautiful trance song (oh, and I am an Imogene Heap fan) called What Am I Doing Here Part 1. Chicane uses a male vocal in Part 2 maybe 8 tracks later. Track 3 uses an awesome sample of Paul Young’s ‘Come back and Stay’ (a nice tribute to an underrated singer voice who passed away recently). And there are a number of other songs that (if you like this stuff) will stay in the cd player for a long time. My bet is track 10 (which samples Gary Numan’s Cars – Hiding all the Stars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9JfvwkFed8&feature=related) will end up in the European dance clubs very soon.

There you go.

Enjoy the new Chicane cd.