Richard Durand with BT - In Search of Sunrise 13.5 Amsterdam

If, from its sequentially un-synched ‘13.5’ numerals, you were to guess that change was afoot with the mix-comp line that MIXMAG calls “the greatest trance series of them all!’, well… you might be right. 

Since the reigns passed from his former mentor Tiësto to Richard Durand, the I.S.O.S. helmsman’s search has sailed him to South Africa & Australia; to settings as contrasting as India & Vegas and most recently, in 2014, out to Dubai. Well versed in seeking sun-up in the most exotic and far-flung of spots, this year’s ‘In Search Of Sunrise’ though brings the search considerably closer to its spiritual home. In fact about as close as close gets, which of course means… Amsterdam! A native and resident, Richard’s had a ringside seat on which he sees and participates in the city’s year-on-year ascension to club, festival and electronic music metropolis. And with I.S.O.S.’s 2015 edition, he pays AMS its due! 

Change could also be sensed with the selection of this year’s co-host - a man who typically needs little in the way of introduction. Richard is thrilled in 2015 to welcome the one-&-only, in-the-dictionary-under-legendary BT to the I.S.O.S. decks! Brian brings with him an unparalleled sound, as well as a new stylistic, artistic tangent to the fabled series.  

Together Brian and Richard have sought, signed and woven a best-of-the-best trance/progressive/house nexus into ‘13.5’s disc triad. Across 47 tracks, they feature the latest, hottest and brightest from dozens of producers, Andy Moor, Tenishia, Arty, Moonbeam, LTN, Andy Duguid and Dimension being just a few. Additionally, it also features numerous ‘I.S.O.S. 13.5’ exclusives, including the forthcoming, ready-to-thrill R.D. singles ‘Typhoon’ and ‘Time Warp’.

Arriving at the latest stage of the mix-comp series’ journey, Richard says: “Amsterdam is my hometown and, since I started mixing the ‘In Search Of Sunrises’ the electronic music lights around here have grown brighter with each year passing. Recognition of that is long overdue, so with this edition, I’m bringing it back home!” As to the origin of the new edition’s 13.5 ‘code’, Richard reveals: “I’m not the world’s most superstitious guy, but I’m as ‘13-phobic’ as they come! So there’ll be no 13th floor at the ‘Casa del Sunrise’ and no 13th stop on the I.S.O.S. voyage on my watch! Be lucky! Stay lucky!” 

Richard gets ‘Amsterdam’s first mix underway with the savannah-like themes of Sue McLaren & Michael Badal’s ‘Recapture’. The box-fresh ‘Electrifying Love’ from Alex O’Rion, and latterly the Dutchman’s new single ‘Koi Koi’ further develop Disc 1’s sun-teased atmosphere. Through a triple hit of ‘Heaven’, ‘Memories’ & ‘Soulstring’, Russian duo Moonbeam stamp their enigmatic, quixotic mark on the cooler of Richard’s two mixes. In its latter stages, the ever-impressive pairing of Andy Duguid & Audrey Gallagher return with ‘This Is Life’, before Johnny Noberg’s ‘No One’ and ‘Love Your Scars Away’ from Somna & Michele C sign it off. 

Durand overtures both of his 2015 I.S.O.S. mixes with the music of recent discovery Vidda Deborras.

The contemporary chillout composer respectively supplies discs 1 & 2 with the beatific splendour of ‘Tower Of Tears’ and the beat-free radiance of ‘Bikini Atoll’. From there, palpably, the album’s heartbeat accelerates and becomes more floor-robust. Hot from his own studio desk, Richard charges its midfield with new productions ‘Time Warp’ and ‘Typhoon’. They, in turn, gateway Dimension’s Beatport chart-topping ‘Origami’, ‘A New Dream’ from Tenishia & Jonathan Mendelsohn and Airbase’s renovation of Arty’s ‘Hope’. Binary Finary vs. Three Drives’ ‘Icon’ & ‘Abhyasa’ from Menno de Jong lock some earlier I.S.O.S. influences in and bring proceedings to a turbulently trancey head!
 
With its third disc, I.S.O.S. 13.5’ tunes to a new and every bit as exciting frequency. On it, BT mixes up a brilliant ether-filled equation of progressive x house x trance. Ten Words’ engagingly vocalled ‘His Way, Right Way’, the thrall of Forerunners’ ‘Watching The Lights Go Down’ and DIRTYHERTZ’s tripped-out anthemia on ‘Forgiveness’ set a major sonic precedent. ‘The Girl With The White Shoes’, ‘Don’t Be Shy’ and ‘Cruisin’ come hot on their heels: a evocative, imaginative triple from the ever-so-hot LTN. NYC producer Lyon Hart works up a remix storm on JES & BT’s ‘Every Other Way’, before Luke Chable adds club edge to Oliver Englafjord’s amazing ‘Molntus’.