Above & Beyond – Anjunabeats Volume 16

2022 delivers the 16th edition of the Anjunabeats series, and the shift in label sound, especially after the COVID19 pandemic, is remarkable. By this time we have melodic house and techno well defined, and Anjunadeep straddles the too. The big-room stadium trance scene has subsided and techno is king, which is reflected in a lot of basslines throughout the trance scene. Moreover, breaks are back in fashion and the experimental "Anjunabeats Rising" series sees acornucopia of new sounds and artists, which makes the label as exciting as ever. Perhaps the only criticism people have is that some of the stuff is a little "soft", but you can't please everyone.

Disc 1:

Disc 1 is a lot more "summery" than its predecessors, harkening back almost to Vol 7 in the "beachy" vibes and much less moody than the volumes in the previous decade. We start right off with some melodic breaks before launching into some great melodic house cuts from up and coming artists Deeparture, ANUQRAM and Avenue One. Fehrplay delivers a dreamy remix of You Got To Go before we see a name i never thought I would see on Anjuna: legendary French house producer Fred Falke. Delivering a cheeky French flavoured-house mix of Mat Zo. We get some nice summery melodic house cuts from POS (he's back!), Laura Van Dam and Sunny Lax, before an absolutely incredible remix by Jono Grant of A&Bs screwdriver, which sounds so refreshing and uplifting, absolute quality. With Grum and then G&D we start moving into melodic techno, with Influencer being another departure from the standard Anjuna sound, sounding more like an Amine Edge production. My friend round off the melodic techno as Sonin brings the mix into a trancier direction, finishing off with Damate and a PROFF breaks mix of the new Darren Tate-Jono Grant collab JODA. 4.5/5

Disc 2:

Vol 16 finally has a disc 2 not overfilled with A&B productions, which I think shows the healthy diversity within the label, whereas the last decade was basically them holding down the fort on the beats side. Starting with a very atmospheric breaks remix of Conjure One, before kasablanca and Harry Diamond set the tone. Lovely cut from BT and Bluestone establish the energy level with the driving bass, followed by Chains which has a nice melody although far from A&Bs best. Some nice but filler cuts before Oliver Smith really blows the roof off with Make Me Feel, which has an excellent driving synth-line. Good showing from Jerome Isma-Ae before a stomper from N2O keeps the energy levels high. Bayer brings us into much techier territory, with an almost acid-tech cut from Maor Levi and full on stadium techno from Genix. We end on a grandiose note with an A&B instrumental, newcomer Taygeto with a festival banger, and an A&B vocal number with a nice spin by Oliver Smith. I actually find Gratitude and Chains to be pretty dull, not their finest song writing and a little too generic, but the melodies save them. 4/5

As a general mix its interesting, lots of variation which is refreshing and bodes well for the direction the label is moving in. A little bit of filler here and there, but it doesn't feel one note, and I am hoping that variety gets matured in Vol 17.

Top tracks:

Above & Beyond – Screwdriver (Jono Grant's Summer Of '95 Mix)
ANUQRAM – Get On
Oliver Smith – Make Me Feel