Above & Beyond – Anjunabeats Volume 14

Of all editions post Vol 7, this is my favourite. The sounds the label has been exploring and developing, with melodic house and festival trance mixed together, amalgamate hear into an absolute storming compilation -- in fact this mix got me paying attention to Anjunabeats after almost a decade of losing interest. Excellent track selection, sound and energy.

Disc 1:

Similarly to the editions since Vol 11, we start with a "deeper" side, but this side focusses more on melodic house and techno than deep house, which fits the energy of the series better. Nice opening tracks, lovely Is It Love remix, before the first standout track of the comp, the excellent PROFF and ESKF with For The Night, which I hammer home in my own sets. We get treats from Spencer Brown and Qrion, as Tinlicker absolutely DELIVERS on both Always and Reflekt's classic Need To Feel Loved -- probably one of the best remixes of this track produced so far. Strong showing by Arty and an excellent Grum cut. K&A and Judah keep the energy high, with another A&B cut adding some whimsy to the mix (and finally a club mix without the overdone "tape-stop" sound), before a strong ending with bangers by Genix and Andrew Bayer (which takes a lot of inspiration from the immortal Mirco de Govia's Vital Spark), with Maor Levi wrapping up the disc in style with a lovely progressive throwback to his early work. 5/5

Disc 2:

Disc 2, similar to its predecessors, takes the approach of an A&B festival set with the lads turning out 11 of the 17 tracks. That being said, the production quality is superb, for the first time in a decade I feel they were able to synergise their new sound with their old, and the disc is a delight to listen to. Excellent start with the atmospheric Liquid Love recut, right into one of my favourite recent tracks, A&B with Spencer Brown on Long Way From Home, which is a beautiful, haunting piece, and really sets the tone for the disc. Hideaway is a banger, and All In, with everyone and their mother on production, is a very decent track which I liked a lot more than I thought. Also absolutely goes off at a festival. There'es Only You and Curiosity sound great, keep up the driving energy, and Sunny Lax turns in a lovely mix of Volume One. Nice offerings from Jason Ross and Bayer, before Bluestone drops another festival banger with We Are The Universe which has a gorgeous melody and vocal line. The rest of the disc is an A&B showcase, with a decent update to Alone Tonight, that definitely fits the vibe of the set, so works here. Anjunafamily is charming, the gone-too-soon i_o delivers a techno-inspired interpretation of Alchemy, Prelude update fits the set, and the AvB collab, which took a while to grow on me, sounds excellent dropped in the end here. Genix pops up with a banger beforethe coup-de-grace Distorted Truth, one of A7B's finest instrumentals in a decade, rounds off the disc. Excellent stuff and very enjoyable. 5/5

Top tracks:

PROFF & EKSF - For The Night
A&B - Distorted Truth
A&B & Spencer brown Feat. RBBTS - Long Way From Home
Fatum, Genix, Jaytech & Judah – All In
Ilan Bluestone – We Are The Universe

Wish the Tinlicker remix of Need To Feel Loved would get a vinyl pressing, absolute bliss.

I so love the relaxing vibes on this CD! I purchased it to complete the series but I am very amazed with the quality of the progressive music. Not oldskool A&B trance but summer vibes!