| DJ Sets ::Gabriel & Dresden (Josh Gabriel
& Dave Dresden)
Gabriel & Dresden was the project
name of the DJs and producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden
from San Francisco. Their popularity and activities were centered
in the United States. They won the WMC award as Best American
DJ twice in 2007 and 2008, the same day the group split-up.
Early Years (1980–2001)
Dave Dresden's musical ability was developed
during 15 years inside a deejay booth, while Josh Gabriel
has an undergraduate college degree in music composition from
the California Institute for the Arts.
Josh started experimenting with synthesizers and computers
in the early 1980s and attended music school in Holland and
Los Angeles. He founded the music creation tool Mixman in
the 1990s which was one of the first programs to make music
using loops of digital audio.
At the same time, Dave was a club deejay in a suburb of New
York City as well as a renowned US dance music journalist.
He became the Music Director of grooveradio.com.
Dave met Pete Tong at a party being hosted by grooveradio.com
at the Miami Winter Music Conference in March 2001. Pete asked
him to help find music for his radio show Essential Selection.[2]
Dave gave Pete a record called "Wave 3", which Josh
had given to Leon Alexander. Pete played it on the Essential
Selection and also used it for his compilation that same year.
Pete Tong then gave Dave the opportunity to do a spec mix
of New Order and Dave asked Josh to work on it with him.
Dave and Josh joined forces in 2001 and made a name for themselves
by creating numerous remixes. In 2002 Gabriel & Dresden
released "Lament" (Saw Recordings) in the United
States, their first single. The first Gabriel & Dresden
gig was Arc in New York City.
Rise To Fame (2002–2008)
In 2004 they released their first Mix-CD Bloom. They entered
the prestigious DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ's poll in 2003 at #43.
After having their seventh #1 Billboard Dance Chart Hit with
the Madonna & Britney Spears collaboration "Me Against
the Music" they worked on their own group Motorcycle
with singer and songwriter Jes Brieden, with their track "As
The Rush Comes" in 2004. They have steadily climbed the
chart every year since then, placing at 40 in 2004, 22 in
2005, and 33 in 2006. In 2005 the single "Arcadia"
was released although it was also the first track on Bloom.
At the end of the same year the track "Without You Near"
was released at Coldharbour Recordings. This track was produced
in cooperation with Markus Schulz and Departure.
In 2005 they created the Gabriel & Dresden logo, known
for its keyboard shape was designed by Bruno Silva. The logo
features the pianos key notes with dots on the keys for the
notes G and D. It includes the name of the group, Gabriel
above and Dresden below. They launched their record label
Organized Nature that serves primarily to release their own
music. Gabriel & Dresden produced the track "Zocalo"
with Armin van Buuren which was released on his album/LP Shivers.
They presented "Gabriel & Dresden bring you Organized
Nature", on March 24 during the WMC. The Winter Music
Conference, Realivze Tribe Productions, and Polka Dot present
the Official Record Label Launch of Organized Nature. The
event lasted for five hours, Live PA From Motorcycle and BORIS
MD of Departure; Appears on Without You Near by Markus Schulz
on the track were Gabriel & Dresden has left a mark as
well as Zocalo by Armin Van Buuren. Gabriel & Dresden
were lauded as "America's Best DJs" at the Miami
Winter Music Conference's International Dance Music Awards.
Logo by Bruno Silva.They also took home an award for Best
Alternative / Dance Single for their hit "Dangerous Power"
featuring the voice of Jan Burton. This is not the first time
they have been cited for their DJing, winning the Best New
DJ award at the 2005 Dancestar awards and performing on the
show as Motorcycle with Jes Brieden. They have also worked
with Pete Houser, a friend from the California Bay Area which
created the Alias Bigtop. They released ORG004 also known
as Sub & Tidal, with Sub appearing on their DJ Mix Compilation
"Bloom". Dave Dresden has appeared as Summit with
Peter Lorimer. The self-titled Gabriel & Dresden was released
in 2007 bringing them a great year as America's #1 DJ's, the
same year saw the releases of "Tracking Treasure Down"
and "Dangerous Power". They had a Billboard Hot
Dance Club Play number one hit in July 2006 with the song
"Tracking Treasure Down", written by Molly Bancroft,
who was also the vocalist on the track. Bancroft also wrote
and sang on their hit "Let Go." After the success
of the album, the duo decided to tour around the globe to
emphasize their support for electronic dance music which is
still considered an underground genre.
Departure (March 30, 2008)
The duo finished their last tour with two appearances at
the WMC in Miami. They played a 5+ hour set at the Pawn Shop
on March 28, 2008 and a closing 1 hour set at the Beatport/Remix
Hotel Pool Party at the National Hotel on March 30, 2008 (with
visuals provided by VJ Psyberpixie). The Andain project will
be completed and released in 2008.[citation needed] Josh Gabriel
will now be touring solo and focusing more on his solo album
due out later in 2008.
“ Yes, the rumor is true. Gabriel & Dresden have
parted ways for the time being. Over the past year, Josh and
I have been moving apart as artists and we decided rather
than milk it and be moderately happy together that we separate
and examine ourselves as individual artists for a while. Our
final date was the beatport pool party in Miami on March 30.
For those who were there, I want to thank each and every one
of you for showing Josh and I the love and support that you
did. A lot of the set was songs that we have individually
been working on interspersed with a few fan favorites. I will
remember that hour and fifteen minutes forever because I certainly
felt the love with all the hands in the air and the well-wishes.
After WMC I went into the hospital to have shoulder surgery.
I had a torn rotator cuff and after years of constant dislocations
to my shoulder, I wanted to get that out of the way so that
I can be 100% when I hit the road in mid-may as a solo artist.”
Influences and Legacy
Throughout the careers of Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden,
they have been a big influence on Electronic Dance Music (EDM).
Unlike other deejay groupings/bands such as Above & Beyond
who are dedicated to trance based composition, Gabriel &
Dresden mixed club and house music like Deep Dish, another
duo that created many #1 charting songs and remixes.
Gabriel & Dresden were both influenced by Alexander Coe,
musically known Sasha, who inspired them to write a more minimal
tone of tracks. This influence can be heard in their only
self-titled studio album, Gabriel & Dresden (album) with
tracks like uplifting "Eleven" with Scarlett Etienne,
"Enemy" with Jan Burton and the repetitive "Mass
Repeat". They also have rock-based influences which make
some songs sound indie. Josh Gabriel was influenced by the
producer James Holden as well as Depeche Mode and The Cure.
Dave Dresden was also inspired by Jonathan Peters.
Gabriel & Dresden have been a great influence on various
artists like Christopher Norman, Blake Jarell, Tim Grube,
Chephren Blake, and Brian Martinelli. In 2006 a compilation
of Gabriel & Dresden remixes was created by Geyser &
Massa and released in Russia on the Music1st label.
Christopher Norman, who mixes under his own name and the
alias Retrobyte, works as part of Organized Nature. Due to
the breakup of Gabriel & Dresden, the expected full length
Retrobyte album was delayed to an unknown date in 2008 or
2009. Gabriel & Dresden named Christopher Norman as the
breakthrough DJ of 2008 in the 2007 DJMag awards.
Even though they took separate tracks, on October 29 when
the results of the DJ Mag Top 100 DJ's of 2008 were announced,
Gabriel & Dresden came in at the 65th position.
