X-Dream

Not to be confused with X-Dreams.

X-Dream are Marcus Christopher Maichel (born May 1968) and Jan Müller (born February 1970); they are also known as Rough and Rush. They are some of the cult hit producers of psychedelic trance music and hail from Hamburg, Germany. The latest X-Dream album, We Interface, includes vocals from American singer Ariel Electron.

First work

Muller was educated as a sound engineer. Maichel was a musician familiar with techno and reggae, and was already making electronic music in 1986. In 1989 the pair first met when Marcus was having problems with his PC and someone sent Jan to help fix it. That same year they teamed up to work on a session together. Their first work concentrated on a sound similar to techno with some hip hop elements which got some material released on Tunnel Records.

Trance

During the early 1990s they were first introduced to the trance scene in Hamburg and decided to switch their music to this genre. From 1993 they began releasing several singles on the Hamburg label Tunnel Records, as X-Dream and under many aliases, such as The Pollinator. Two albums followed on Tunnel Records, Trip To Trancesylvania and We Created Our Own Happiness, which were much closer to the original formula of psychedelic trance, although featuring the unmistakable "trippy" early X-Dream sound.

In October 1996 X-Dream reached an agreement with the new UK trance label Blue Room Released. Working with Blue Room, they released the famous single "The Frog" (featuring authentic frog sound samples from Mexico) and contributed the track "No" on the Trip Through Sound compilation.

In 1997 both started experimenting with side projects, Marcus' The Delta project released the single "As A Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling", which became widely played by many top trance DJs including Mark Allen. Jan began Children of Paradise, also releasing on Blue Room. They also remixed several tracks for other artists including Koxbox and the Saafi Brothers.

Radio

In 1998 they released their most celebrated album Radio and two new singles, "Brain Forest" and "Radiohead". Instead of complex melodies familiar in prior Goa trance releases the Radio album featured a more industrial, darker, feel where the melody would become apparent only after several listens. In their review of the album ElectronicMusic.com described the track "Electromagnetic" as a "robotic orgasm sequence". The basslines were also harder in many of the tracks, making the music very danceable.

The trend set by "Radio" continued with the Irritant release on the Global Trance Network label in 2002, solidifying the X-Dream sound as a more electro/techno sound, and sold out all the copies within only a few days of the first printing.

Latest album

The latest X-Dream album, We Interface, includes vocals from Tennessee (Band) singer Ariel Electron. The lyrics are actually her poetry, written ahead of the album. The lyrics deal with subjects such as technology, censorship, cyberspace, cloning and robotics. Currently Ariel awaits the debut release of her new collaborative band KORE KOSMOU. KORE KOSMOU is a creative band in collaboration with an international collective of musicians . The core of KORE KOSMOU are Holeg Spies, Thierry Gotti & Ariel Electron, with special Jon Klein - Siouxsie & The Banshees / Specimen, East Bay Ray - Dead Kennedys, Patrick Savage - Royal London SymphonyThe album has a very much industrial sound and is in some ways similar to the work of Kraftwerk.

Actually

Since 2006 Marcus has been concentrating on side projects The Delta, Desonanz & Ministry of Primitive Arts with a new fresh style reminiscent of industrial Detroit techno.

Discography

Singles

• Children Of The Last Generation (Tunnel Records 1993)
• The Frog (Blue Room Released 1996)
• Radiohead (Blue Room Released 1998)

Albums

• Trip To Trancesylvania (Tunnel Records 1993)
• We Created Our Own Happiness (Tunnel Records 1995)
• Radio (Blue Room Released 1998)
• We Created Our Own Happiness (Avatar Records / ProFile, remastered 2001)
• Irritant (Global Trance Network 2002)
• We Interface (Solstice Music International 2004)

Other

• Trip To Trancesylvania - In The Mix (Tunnel Records 1996) - A re-release of the 1993 album.
• Panic in Paradise (Tunnel Records 2000) - A compilation of early Tunnel Record single.
• The Best 1991-2001 (Solstice Music International 2006)
• We Interface - The Mixes (Solstice Music International 2007)

As Children of Paradise

• Alien Nation EP (Blue Room Released 1997)
• Urban Alien (Nova Tekk Records 1999)
• Alien Nation part 3 EP (M.A.S.H Records 2000)

External links

• X-Dream Official Website
• Interview by Clubbing Magazine