Within the confines of the United Kingdom, the influential minds of Anjunabeats graciously welcome back an old friend as their newest release promises to infuse the sounds of old and new towards pure, blissful magic. Levente Marton began his career as the Trance maestro Sunny Lax back in the early 2000’s and received his first break with his exemplary smash single, P.U.M.A. As one of Anjunabeats‘ essential figureheads during the early days of the label, his classic Proglifting style graced many tracks throughout the years such as Above & Beyond‘s Thing Called Love, Nitrous Oxide‘s North Pole and Oliver Smith‘s New Dawn and his graceful, yet confident presence was a glowing highlight throughout the entire Trance community. Over time, his sound changed dramatically towards the slower ends of Trance, and eventually transitioned into a full time Trance producer, releasing massive singles such as Isle Margarita and Hattori Hanzo. In mid 2013, Sunny left the label in order to set up his own imprint entitled Sounds Of Elysium, which has since featured upcoming Progressive Trance talents such as Stokstad and Arman Aydin. But the midpoint of 2014 has marked his return to the iconic label with the highly anticipated release of his new single, Karma, and his flawless execution of Trance and Progressive House finally cracks the code of genre infusion that has puzzled many Trance artists over many, many years.
Exactly what do we mean by that? It’s no secret that Anjunabeats have drastically changed their sound within the past year, as their sets have now dropped down to a cool 128BPM while freely integrating selected Progressive House tracks. Releases such as Norin & Rad‘s That Was Easy, Andrew Bayer‘s Bullet Catch and their own single, Hello, are far more adventurous and risky than their older sounds would have allowed and as a result, a majority of their fanbase shifted; with many of the older fans departing in order to make room for the new ones. Personally, I haven’t been a huge fan of the change, but I do understand that artists and labels need to change their sound to remain motivated both creatively and mentally, and I can certainly respect that. However, a part of me still yearns for that quintessential Anjuna flow that made the label what it is today instead of a semi-robotic formula that many tracks have been falling into. But when I heard the wonderful Karma by Sunny Lax, I was instantly transported back to the golden era of Trance as its warm melodies wash over me like a brisk waterfall. It may not be 132-140BPM and it might not have the same characteristics as Trance, but it contains the forgotten, vibrant spirit of Above & Beyond that so many people have missed and cherished. It’s easily one of the best releases that Anjunabeats has released in many months and we here at Your EDM are very eager to see if this magnificent sound will become a leading trend for the label.
Sunny Lax‘s perfected single, Karma, will be available on Anjunabeats via Beatport on June 9th, so make sure you grab a copy and support real talent!
Keep the music alive. -Q
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/karma/1296903
Sources
http://www.1001tracklists.com/artist/3689_sunny-lax/index.html
http://www.1001tracklists.com/label/6001_sounds-of-elysium/index.html
Ed note: Special thanks to Anjunanews for the photo in this article. If you are reading this and want it taken down, please go ahead and email me. Thanks. -Q
