Anjunabeats

About Anjunabeats

Anjunabeats is a British record label, started by producers Jonathan "Jono" Grant and Paavo Siljamäki in 2000 which releases Trance music. The first 12" record was titled Volume One,
released under Jono & Paavo's alias, Anjunabeats, in 2000. As the label got the name Anjunabeats, Jonathan and Paavo decided to produce under different aliases, such as Free State and Dirt Devils. They
were soon joined by Tony McGuinness to form Above & Beyond and the label have since become
one of the world's largest and most respected trance imprints. In 2005, Above & Beyond launched
the sub-label Anjunadeep aimed at releases that don't fit under the main label's focus on
trance, allowing more diversity within the Anjunabeats brand. The trio also launched 2 other
sub-labels, Anjunadigital that dealt with special remixes and releases of Anjunabeats and
Anjunadeep tracks, and Hard On Recordings that was focused on Hard House. Both have since
been retired - Hard On Recordings in 2004 and Anjunadigital in 2006.

Anjuna is the name of a beach in Goa, on India's western coast, which was a popular hippie destination in the 1960s and 70s, and is still popular with backpackers and other tourists. Also, Jono and Paavo were inspired by Paul Oakenfold's 'Goa Mix', after which they discovered their love for electronic musicelectronic music.

Anjunabeats was formed when Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamaki met at the University of Westminster in London, England and discovered a mutual love of electronic music. The label's first release was ‘Anjunabeats Volume 1’ in 2000.

Soon afterwards Jono and Paavo became friends with fellow producer Tony McGuinness and together the three went on to form Above & Beyond. When the Above & Beyond remix of Chakra ‘Home’ reached number one in the UK club charts, the trio were in demand from many of the world’s leading labels knocking at their door, offering some interesting remix opportunities. The most exciting came from Madonna, who invited the boys to give ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’ the Above & Beyond treatment.

As Above & Beyond’s profile as artists grew, so did the Anjunabeats label, which they used as an outlet for their numerous production projects – OceanLab, Aalto, Freestate, Nitromethane, P.O.S., Rollerball and Tranquillity Base.

In late 2002, James Grant joined the Anjunabeats management team and the label began to expand its output, signing a series of fresh artists. The first external release was Aspekt's "Mobetta / Something Else" (2002). Aspekt is a trance project consisting of producers Oliver Smith & Mark Pledger, however both "Mobetta" and "Something Else" was produced entirely by Oliver Smith, making him the very first external artist to be signed to Anjunabeats. Subsequent releases included Rusch & Murray's "Epic" – a track made entirely across Internet forums by two producers who’ve never met – with further signings including Finnish trance maestro Super8 (who has now formed a successful partnership with DJ Tab), Swedish trance producer Endre and Dutch Deep Tech artist Stephen J.Kroos.

The Anjunabeats roster has expanded to over 30 artists and Anjunabeats has earned a reputation as one the most consistent dance labels in the world [citation needed]. In February 2008, the label achieved 100 vinyl releases and celebrated with a series of Anjunabeach parties, including a return to the label's roots in Goa. Next year, 2011, will see Anjunabeats celebrate 10 years and also their 200th release, for which a number of new remixes of classic tracks by the current artist roster, have been planned.

In 2005, Anjunadeep was founded, a progressive trance and house offshoot of its parent label, Anjunabeats. It's focus are on records that don't fit the typical big-room, uplifting sound of Anjunabeats, but rather blur the boundaries of house & trance, and incorporate a mixture of different styles of electronic music.

Source: wiki