CHICANE ( ambient trance )

[jana]

Chicane is a pseudonym used by UK-based electronic musician, DJ and record producer Nick Bracegirdle. He was born on 12 November 1979, in London.

Chicane is known for the singles "Offshore", an Ibiza anthem included in thousands of compilations in both chill-out and dance form, "Saltwater", which featured vocals by Clannad member Máire Brennan and is ranked among the best-ever trance-singles, "Autumn Tactics" and especially the #1 smash hit "Don't Give Up", which features vocals by Bryan Adams. His other hits include the fast-paced "Halcyon", and the dance melody "Love on the Run" featuring the vocals of Peter Cunnah of D:Ream fame.

Musical biography
While having trained in classical guitar and piano at an early age, Bracegirdle's earliest influences in electronic music came from early melodic composers such as Jean-Michel Jarre. A further influence was the dance hit "Anthem" by the house music group N-Joi; all this convinced him to pursue the creation of melodic dance music.

A partnership with Leo Elstob produced the first Disco Citizens single, "Right Here Right Now", in 1995, as well as the first Chicane single, "Offshore", in 1996, the first of Chicane's many releases on independent UK dance music record label Xtravaganza Recordings, then-newly founded by DJ and Bracegirdle's college friend Alex Gold. "Offshore" reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart (and #1 on other UK-based charts compiled by Mixmag, Record Mirror, and others), the top 40 in multiple European countries, and #5 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in 1997 upon re-release. Its inclusion on numerous Ibiza-themed trance music compilation albums (such as Café del Mar) attest to its popularity in the nightclubs on the island, one of the worldwide epicenters of club music.

"Sunstroke", the follow-up single, attained similar levels of popularity and chart numbers. A third single, "Offshore '97" (a separate item from the re-release of "Offshore") was actually a mash-up of "Offshore" with the vocal track from the Power Circle song "A Little Love, a Little Life", mixed by producer and DJ Anthony Pappa. Originally a bootleg, it was turned into an official release, credited to "Chicane with Power Circle".[4]

Following these releases, the first Chicane album, Far from the Maddening Crowds, which included multiple versions of the previously-released singles and new songs, was released in September 1997. This was followed by the additional singles "Lost You Somewhere", the Benelux release "Red Skies", and the non-album single "Strong in Love", for which Bracegirdle used vocals by British singer Sylvia Mason-James (after discovering that she was the vocalist on the Paul Oakenfold/Steve Osbourne remix of "Lemon" by U2) and first collaborated on production with Ray "Madman" Hedges" (producer for B*Witched and Boyzone).

1999 saw the release of "Saltwater", a song based on Maire Brennan's vocals from "Theme from Harry's Game" by the Celtic band Clannad. The version of the vocals used in "Saltwater", however, was a new recording by Brennan herself. It surpassed all previous Chicane singles thus far, reaching #6 on the UK charts and #1 on all five major UK dance charts.

Following remix work on Bryan Adams's "Cloud Number Nine" (#6 UK), Bracegirdle offered Adams the vocal position on the song "Don't Give Up". The vocals Adams recorded were subsequently heavily processed so as to play down his rock music vocal style; in fact, the single was initially released with no vocal credit.[8] It was also Chicane's biggest hit, debuting at #1 on the UK charts (and notably replacing "American Pie", Madonna's #1 single of the previous week),[9] reached #3 on the US dance chart and #1 on Australian and Russian charts, and made other charts across Europe as well.

The subsequent album Behind the Sun was a certified gold album by BPI certification, while "Don't Give Up" was certified silver.

The next Chicane album, Easy to Assemble, was originally scheduled for 2003; promotional copies of the album were released on WEA, alongside the single "Love On The Run", followed by a single of "Locking Down". However, the album was not actually released afterwards in most major countries.

As Chicane, Bracegirdle usually works in the studio with a partner. Some of his first productions, such as "Offshore", were made with the help of Leo Elstob, but since then, Bracegirdle has worked with co-producer Ray "Madman" Hedges (producer for B*Witched) and mixer Martin Brannigan.

In addition, Bracegirdle works alone under the alias Disco Citizens, whose tracks have a stronger progressive house sound, without any vocals, and so this project doesn't get the same airplay as the more radio-friendly Chicane. Working with singer Vanessa St. James and producer Mr. Joshua, Bracegirdle was part of the Mr. Joshua Presents Espiritu project, known for the song "In Praise of the Sun", released with both English and French vocals.

Bracegirdle's body of work for other artists includes working as a producer for Bryan Adams and Cher on her album Living Proof. He has also done a number of remixes for artists such as Everything But The Girl, Billie Ray Martin, Bryan Adams and Enigma. In addition, he composed the music for PlayStation's game Formula One.

In 2005 Burning Vision Entertainment created the video for "Something Wrong", in which the action was all shown in reverse to striking effect.

April 2006 sees the release of Chicane's new single Stoned In Love on Globe Records through Universal Music Group, featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals. (Press Release).

Music
The first two Chicane albums are known for atmospheric, ambient melodies and shifting moods and tempos, particularly Far from the Maddening Crowds, which is billed as "a soundtrack for an average day". Later releases have taken on a more house music-influenced sound, though with songs focused around vocal performances in the tradition of pop music.

Chicane often performs live concerts as a full-fledged band, with a full suite of musicians from vocalists (subsituting for the original vocalists) to guitarists and drummers. UK trance producer Tom Jankiewicz (Tomski), frequent musical collaborator with Chicane from 1995 to 2003, played keyboards in the band during this period. Drummers in the band, notably, include Shovell from M People and David Barbarossa from Bow Wow Wow.

Chicane is known to perform remixes (specifically, the "Tomski vs. Disco Citizens" remixes) live, as shown by a track listing from Chicane's January 22, 2000 performance at the Palladium in Cologne, Germany. This is unusual in that remixes, as products of audio editing, and not generally considered instrumental performances in their own right. At least some aspects of this are credited to Tomski himself, on stage.

Bracegirdle also made a guest appearance live with Bryan Adams at the 2000 Slane Concert, as seen on Adams' Live at Slane Castle DVD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicane_(recording_artist)

[jana]

As writer/producer/musician and all-round mastermind of Chicane, Nick Bracegirdle strikes an unlikely figure as the man that famously disposed of Madonna on the way to the #1 slot with his anthemic single 'Don't Give Up.' Instantly amiable, laid-back and passionate about music, Nick's demeanour is far more diamond geezer than diamond encrusted popstar. In fact the only thing about Nick that clearly points towards such a lifestyle is his sports cars - his garage boasts an Audi RS4, monstrously powerful and extremely rare, as well as a Ferrari 355 which can speed comfortably off into the distance at close to 200 mph.


With the success of 'Don't Give Up' (which featured vocals from Nick's long-term friend Bryan Adams), Nick found himself equally lauded by both the dance and pop press whilst becoming a regular fixture on TV and radio. He released his second album 'Behind The Sun' which hit the Top 10 and proved to be a major success across Europe.


It's been almost three years since Nick hit the top spot and now he's back with some of the best new material of his career.


"During the break between albums, I got fed up with bad dance records and pop records with no substance just being churned out one after the other," says Nick. "I wanted to create something that was different to my previous albums. They were more conceptual with a beginning, middle and end. This album is more a collection of vocal songs, lots of strong melodies. Not too much down-beat stuff, it's all pretty much up."


The first single to be taken from the new album is 'Love On The Run' (out February 17th) featuring Peter Cunnah and it's more than capable of providing Nick with another hit-single.


"That's probably the most commercial cut on the album. It's the track that marks the transition between the last album and this one," says Nick. "We were looking for someone to front the song who had a really good voice. Peter Cunnah was perfect - not only because he has a strong voice but he's also an excellent performer."

http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/CHICANE

[seno]

:salt water: , enak lagu nyah...

[Rendy]

i like chicane!! a lot...

[MkG]

Chicane keren...agak nge-trance tapi engga rusuh. Ambient gimanaaa gitu. Beberapa track-nya lebih cocok dimasukin ke kompilasi Café del Mar malah...
No Ordinary Morning sama Low Sun direkomendasiin deh

[dirtynumbangelboy]

gue suka yg tracknya love on the run

[Mario 78]

Behind the Sun jd soundtrack hari2 gw sekarang ini... ....thanx to danzadanzi...yg ngopyin behind the sun tuk gw......