Avatar Records (electronic music)

Last updated
Avatar Records
Avatar Wikipedia.jpg
Founded1997
FounderAvichay Avigal, Peter Eibenschutz
Distributor(s)Avatar Records
Ingrooves / Universal
Helicon (IL)
Arabesque (UK)
Wakyo (Japan)
Virgin / EMI (India)
EQ (Singapore / Malaysia)
Genre Electronic music, Psytrance, Goa trance, Ambient, Chillout, Lounge, Yoga
Country of origin Israel, Morocco
Official website www.avatar-music.com www.avatar-records.com

Avatar Records is a Tel Aviv-based independent record label and digital distributor specializing in electronic music, providing music to online retailers including Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify and Beatport. [1] The company was founded by Avichay Avigal and Peter Eibenschutz in 1997. [2] The label initially had an alliance with NMC Music, when it first started as its subsidiary. [3] Later, Avatar was in collaboration with BNE, before finally becoming a fully independent label. [4]

Contents

Projects released on Avatar include albums from Asia 2001, Goa Gil, [5] Nimba, [5] The Nommos, [5] Electric Universe, Toi Doi, Thomas Leer, Lumen, Ocelot, Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris, Jupiter 8000, Overdream, Enichkin, Celtic Cross, Becoming.Intense & Pharmacore, Prana, Sandman, GMS, Hux Flux, Orion, Indoor, The Infinity Project, Cydonia, Synchro, Sonic Scope, Psychoz, Astropilot, Elysium, Reflex. [6] and more.

History

Early years: 1997 - 2003

During its first years, Avatar focused on releases from big names. Later, it became more interested in discovering new names. Names like Toi Doi, Overdream, Psychoz and Astropilot have all started with Avatar. [6]

Avatar was the first label to release psychedelic trance music locally in India, Mexico and Poland. [7] [8]

Later years: 2004 - present

In 2004, Avatar had its entire catalogue available on The Orchard, and this remained so until the bankruptcy of BNE, and was followed by a lawsuit of Avatar against BNE. [9]

In 2008, Avatar became a fully independent label, and signed with Ingrooves/Universal.

Notable releases

Avatar Sublabels

Avatar Spirit

Avatar Spirit is the Chillout and Lounge label of Avatar. In addition it releases Yoga and Café music from India, Morocco, The Middle East, Arabia and The Orient. [6]

ProFile

The classics label of Avatar that features some of the best All Time favorite albums in psytrance and ambient. Releases from Goa Gil, [5] Orion, Pete Namlook, Indoor, Sandman, Space Cat, The Infinity Project, Total Eclipse, Celtic Cross, GMS, X-Dream, Hux Flux, The Kumba Mela Experiment, and more

Trans'pact

Established in 1992 with its sub labels Doss House and Subliminal Records.

Past and present artists

Related Research Articles

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe.

Psychedelic trance, psytrance, or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full on, darkpsy, forest, minimal (Zenonesque), hitech psy, progressive, suomi, psy-chill, psycore, psybient, psybreaks, or "adapted" tracks from other music genres. Goa trance preceded psytrance; when digital media became more commonly used psytrance evolved. Goa continues to develop alongside the other genres.

Goa trance is an electronic dance music style that originated in the early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa. Goa trance often has drone-like basslines, similar to the techno minimalism of 21st century psychedelic trance (psytrance). Psychedelic trance developed from Goa trance. The typically long songs built on progressive beat changes are said to put the listener in a “trance”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infected Mushroom</span> Israeli psytrance/electronica duo

Infected Mushroom is an Israeli musical duo formed in Haifa in 1996 by producers Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani. They produce and perform psytrance, electronica, dream trance and psychedelic music. They are one of the best-selling groups in Israeli music history in terms of both domestic and international sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrix</span> Israeli psy trance music DJ and producer

Avi Shmailov, known by his stage name Astrix, is an Israeli trance music DJ and producer. His specialty lies in the subgenre of progressive psychedelic trance. In 2006, Astrix achieved the 41st position in DJMag's "Top 100 DJs" annual ranking, alongside several other Israeli musicians, with Infected Mushroom ranking the highest at #9. The following year, in 2007, Astrix climbed to the 18th spot on the list, marking a significant representation of the Israeli electronic music scene in the global rankings.,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telefon Tel Aviv</span> American band

Telefon Tel Aviv is an American electronic music act formed in 1999 by musicians Charles Cooper and Joshua Eustis. Since Cooper's accidental death in 2009, Telefon Tel Aviv has continued with Eustis as the sole official member.

Etnica is a project originally formed by Carlo Paterno, Max Lanfranconi, Maurizio Begotti, and Andrea Rizzo. They are a very well known Goa trance project from Milan, Italy.

Goa Gil was an American-born musician, DJ, remixer, and party organizer. He was one of the founders of the goa trance and psytrance movement in electronic music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Goa</span> Music

Music of Goa refers to music from the state of Goa, on the west coast of India. A wide variety of music genres are used in Goa ranging from Western art music to Indian classical music. Konkani music is also popular across this tiny state. Being a former territory of Portugal, Goa has a dominant western musical scene with the use of instrument such as the violin, drums, guitar, trumpet and piano. It has also produced a number of prominent musicians and singers for the world of Indian music. Portuguese Fado also has significance in Goa.

Dimension 5 is a British Goa trance project. Dimension 5 was one of the first Goa trance groups and released vinyl and CDs. The group started in 1989, and around 1994 they released their first early Goa trance recordings, which they described as "space techno". Back then the group existed of four members: Charlie Clarke, Graham Franklin, Kerry Palmer and Nick Wenham. They started their own label, Intastella Records, in 1996 to have total musical freedom.

Dennis Tapper, better known by his stage name Hux Flux, was a Swedish solo musician. His style is an unusual blend of psychedelic trance and goa trance. Hux Flux was formed in 1998 when Tapper started making music after being influenced by the forest parties outside Örebro in Sweden. After a few releases on his own, including the hit "Time Slices", Tapper started to work with Jonas Petterson and they produced the album Cryptic Crunch together on the label Koyote Records. Later, Tapper moved to Stockholm where he started to work with his old friend Henric Fietz. Their work resulted in tracks such as "Idiot" and "Bring your own BIOS". Tapper also produced tracks such as "Reflux" and "Equivalent Equations" on his own under the name Hux Flux and has also worked on the ambient project Illuminus with Magnus Holte.

Acid trance is a genre of trance music that emerged in the late 80s focusing on using the acid sound. The trademark sound of "acid" is produced with a Roland TB-303 by playing a sequenced melody while altering the instrument's filter cutoff frequency, resonance, envelope modulation, and accent controls. This real-time tone adjustment was not part of the instrument's original intended operation. Acid trance is the best known form of trance music in Belgium. The form was first showcased at the popular Antwerp Rave 24 in Belgium, and has created four national number one singles in the country since.

Eraser vs Yöjalka are Julius Lehmuskallio (Eraser) and Simo Ojala (Yöjalka), a Suomisaundi-style psytrance project from Helsinki, Finland. Both studied music and classical instruments, went to goa parties since 1994 and started making music together in 2000. Since the beginning they' ve been interested in making innovative and always forward going psytrance, sucking influences from heavy, funk, classical and electronic music. They' ve released two albums and one EP on Helsinki-based record label Exogenic Records. The third album, Lords of the Liverdance and fourth album Virtuosi di Quosi were released by Australian record label Faerie Dragon 2006 and 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GMS (music group)</span> Dutch music duo

GMS were a Dutch psychedelic trance duo which has attained significant popularity, beginning in the early 1990s. Formed by Shajahan Matkin and Joseph Quinteros in the city of Amsterdam, located in the west of The Netherlands, the duo has attracted a large international fanbase. GMS founded Spun Records in 1999, the first psychedelic trance label in the United States and Ibiza, Spain.

Asher Swissa is a member of the band Skazi. Based in Israel, Asher Swissa, has been producing psytrance since 1998. Their first CD "Animal" was released in September 2000. He is the owner of the Chemical Crew label, and has worked with many artists, including Infected Mushroom, Astrix, GMS, Talamasca, Eskimo, Void, Exaile, Psychotic Micro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oforia</span> Musical artist

Ofer Dikovsky, better known by his stage name Oforia, is an electronic music artist and music producer from Israel. Besides having a solo career as Oforia or Ofer Di, he has been involved with various musical groups/formations such as Indoor, Tandu and OB1, and has worked on several musical projects such as Pigs in Space and Phreaky.

Perfect Stranger is the stage name of Yuli Fershtat, an Israeli musician, producer and DJ, born in 1970 in Moscow, Russia, moving to Israel at the age of 11.

Vini Vici is an Israeli psytrance DJ duo from Afula. The group was originally formed in 2001 under the name of Sesto Sento by the producers Matan Kadosh, Aviram Saharai, and Itai Spector; Spector left in 2011. In 2013, Kadosh and Saharai continued their musical activities under the name 'Vini Vici'.

Tristan Cooke, is a British psytrance and Goa trance DJ and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natraj Temple</span> Nightclub in Munich, Germany

Natraj Temple [] was a nightclub in Munich, Germany from 1996 to 2008. Germany's first steady psytrance nightclub belonged, besides the Tresor and E-Werk in Berlin, the Dorian Gray and Omen in Frankfurt, and the Munich-based clubs Ultraschall, KW – Das Heizkraftwerk and Millennium, to the most renowned clubs of Germany's 1990s techno culture, and was considered an international centre of the Goa trance movement.

References

  1. Frontpage Magazine, Germany July 1996, Tel Aviv Special (p. 50-54)
  2. Billboard International Buyers Guide, 2004 (p. 220)
  3. Yediot Aharonot / 7 Leylot, Feb 8 2001, "The Electronic Tendency" by Amos Oren (p. 2)
  4. "Avatar (ISRAEL)". TECHNO.TO (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 GoaHead Book Les annees folles, by Penny Ohana, 2010
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "Discogs" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  7. 1 2 Herald Tribune / Herald Friends, India, March 8, 1999, "Get Into A Trance"
  8. Trance iT Magazine, Mexico, April/May 2007 (p. 4)
  9. Time Out Tel Aviv, July 2007, "From Karahana to Nirvana" (p. 112)
  10. "Thomas Leer Biography" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  11. "Thomas Leer - Act". Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  12. "Thomas Leer on BBC" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  13. "The Kumba Mela Experiment, Review" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  14. "Retrodelic Vibes, Beatport" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  15. "Indoor - Progressive Trance, Review, Isratrance" . Retrieved 26 October 2013.