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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
47
Above & Beyond
18

Despite it being a fair bit of time since trance was the sound du jour of the world’s main rooms, London trio Above & Beyond have, for the most part, stuck to their guns, and their consistency in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll proves they maintain a faithful following. 2016 saw the return of their acoustic show, following the release of their ‘Acoustic II’ album in June, which they have toured relentlessly, selling out iconic venues like The Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and London’s Royal Albert Hall. “The feedback we got from all parts of the industry was pretty overwhelming and very humbling,” Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuinness explains. “Playing live to a sold out Hollywood Bowl is a memory that will stay with us for a lifetime.”

As well as receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording for ‘We’re All We Need’ from their latest album, the trio also headlined the Silver City Stage at this year’s SW4 festival in London, and held their biggest ever event on the mainland of Europe in ABGT 200. Taking place at the 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, it was a party that proved trance remains in rude health. As well as continuing to push boundaries as Above & Beyond, the trio also keep unearthing new talent through their labels, Anjuna and Anjuna Deep. “With the waves Yotto is making, and new albums coming soon from Andrew Bayer and Ilan Bluestone, the labels have never been stronger,” McGuinness concludes. “Which we’re very excited about.” ROB McCALLUM

What have been the new frontiers for you this year?

“The first part of the year was all about our Acoustic Tour, during which we sold out some extraordinary, iconic venues. We also played lots of brand new electronic music from ourselves and our labels at our biggest and best ABGT party.”

Is electronic music taken seriously enough as an art-form?

“Electronic music is luckily such a broad genre, so we can include people like Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre, Cubicolor and even a lot of today's more commercial music.”

What’s the best new bit of DJ/production technology, and why?

“It's not really new, but with extremely fast internet connections now available, being able to remotely operate a studio and collaborate with people using great file-sync systems makes things easier for us travelling bunch.”

If you had to switch your style to another genre, what would it be?

“It would be music without a genre.”