Innercity. Oh, Innercity. What have they done to you? What was once a very successful event, was cancelled, and never revived. It died a horrible death, and was it a deserved death? Was it worth it? You tell me. But to me the event holds many memories, as the 2000 was such a memorable event for me personally. I went there, and had the time of my life. I remember it being cold, as it was in the middle of Winter, and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt (can't go raving in a hoodie and thick jeans)... that turned out to be a mistake. But all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And the CDs that followed were awesome, like the one I just decided to listen to again.
I am a sucker for music, especially music I grew up with. And this 2005 CD is a gorgeous one. But is it the best one out of the series? If you followed the series, you know it went through some changes. The first were focussed on Trance music, with the first two CDs live registrations of Ferry Corsten, and DJ Tiesto. It slowly grew into this dance focussed series, which some loved, and some hated. Obviously I LOVE the CD released after the 2000 event, but not all were as successful after this one. I think my least favourite was the 2004 CD and the 2003 one too.
2001 was also a great one, but a quirky 'hybrid' disc. One side was a DVD and the other the normal CD. Which never took off, and for good reason. What a load of bollocks. But hey ho, they tried, and failed.
But this 2005 edition, what's that all about? Why is this special? Well, to me personally, it contains records you don't hear that often. It's like the dance music from around 2004 to 2006 is forgotten about, and this CD contains a lot of excellent tunes you don't hear on the radio, and it makes me wonder as to why? The music was (and still is) great. Yes, it wasn't the underground sound we got accustomed to back in the early 2000nd, but it would still sound great though.
Now you are curious, what's on these two CDs? Well, have I got the answers for you!
CD 1
Tiga - You Gonna Want Me
Defender - Defender
Ernesto vs Bastian -Dark Side Of The Moon (Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso Remix)
Booka Shade - Mandarin Girl
Freeform Five - No More Conversations (Mylo Remix) (Ceasar's Scissors Edit)
M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Body Language
Moby - Raining Again (Steve Angello Remix)
Royksopp - 49 Percent (Angello & Ingrosso Remix Edit)
Jaimy - Cut Me Loose (Jaimy's Fatal Dub)
Marco V - Second Bite (Wally Lopez Remix)
Speedcats - Speedcats (Roel H Remix)
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix)
Orlando Voorn - Boomerang
Mox Codeta - Fresh
Mauro Picotto - Absofreakinglutely
Grafiti - What Is The Problem?
CD 2
Deep Dish - Say Hello (Angello & Ingrosso Remix)
The Drill - The Drill
Digitalism - Zdarlight
Benjamin Theves - Texas
James Mowbray & D. Ramirez - The Day Hip Hop Died
Depeche Mode - Precious (Sasha's Spooky Mix)
Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat (Axwell Remix)
Tomas Andersson - Washing Up (Tiga Remix)
Hiroki Esachika - Kazane
The Young Punx - Young And Beautiful (The Laurent Konrad Remix)
Anthony Rother - Father
Junior Sanchez - The Last Dance
Think Tank - Bomb
Benjamin Bates - 16!
Dogzilla - Without You
Ronald van Gelderen - F!lth (Broken Beats Cut Up)
Remember these songs? Do you actually remember them? Some I've completely forgotten about, because they weren't great songs to begin with, but there are a shit ton of excellent tunes in here, which I haven't forgotten about, but I could only wish I heard them more often.
This was the era when Tiga, Axwell, Ingrosso, and Angello ruled the dancefloor. I'm not sure if they already formed the Swedish House Mafia, but they were on fire. Look at the songs on these discs, just have a look, and you immediately recognise them. And you have to admit: they were solid dancefloor smashers. More focussed on the EDM side of life, but still. They didn't go amiss at Innercity. After all, it was going through some changes, which led to the ultimate ending of this glorious ID&T organised event.
It isn't the best out of the few albums, but it's certainly not the worst. It's still highly enjoyable. And I do enjoy hearing these underrated classics. Now the difficult task of choosing a favourite:
CD 1 = Royksopp - 49 Percent. Original OK, remix = the BOMB
CD 2 = Benjamin Theves - Texas . Makes me want to go to Texas.
A solid CD, with a few OK-ish records. But one thing has to be admired: the Swedish taking over. You can see the change happening. Was this music suitable for the Innercity people? Probably not. Some records were, and some weren't. It was changing, and unfortunately, ID&T pulled the plug.
Should it be revised? Nope. Should ID&T make their back catalogue available somewhere to download/stream/purchase? Yes. You just can't find this album anywhere. If you were lucky and you bought the album, hurray. If not... tough.
Artist: Various Artists
Genre/Style: Trance, Techno, Electro, Minimal, Tech House
CD Info: Innercity 2005
Length CD: +/- 2 hours
CDs: 2 (two)
Tracks: 32 (thirty-two)
Release Year: 2005
Label: Universal TV
Product Number: 983 584-2
More Information: Innercity 2005 - Discogs Page