Vintage Beats: dance tunes turning 20 in 2023 [Magazine Featured]

We live in times of change. There are millennials, there are generation X, there are virtual worlds and currencies and everything seems to be cyclical. Everything is different and everything is being recycled.

The concept of old has gradually been erased from our dictionaries, especially when it comes to music. What is old is classic and what is twenty years old is vintage. Nowadays it is modern to listen to music from the past, but not all music. Only the big productions pass the hard test of time and some of them even make it seem as if time has not passed. In 2003 there was quite a lot of quality dance music released, so we look back twenty years ago to make a small snapshot of some tunes that stood out on the dance charts that year. These are some of the vintage beats.

Track: Forever More

Artist: Moloko

Label: Echo

Moloko were an Irish-English electronic formation consisting of iconic vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Formed in 1994, the duo achieved particular notoriety in the 2000s with the mega-hit ‘The Time Is Now‘. Three years later they returned to the limelight with ‘Familiar Feeling‘ and also with ‘Forever More‘, both singles performing excellently in the UK charts. Unfortunately, the duo ended their love affair in 2002 and disbandment came shortly after in 2004.

‘Forever More’ reached #17 on the UK Single Chart and topped the UK Dance Chart thanks to the uplifting and infectious energy it spread on the dancefloor. Róisín Murphy’s seductive and mysterious voice is the soul of this single which features a vibrant rhythm and iridescent sounds of brass and piano.

Track: Nothing But You

Artist: Paul van Dyk

Label: VANDIT Records

Trance royalty Paul van Dyk also has a special place on this list with the incredible and anthemic ‘Nothing But You‘. The German producer has always had a special gift for creating divinely uplifting and contemplative pieces and ‘Nothing But You’ is another valuable specimen of that. The single was produced with the collaboration of British group Hemstock & Jennings and was actually a rework of ‘Artic‘, released by the band a year earlier. The name of the original hints at the Norwegian origins of the vocals featured on this track which van Dyk translated to come up with the title ‘Nothing But You’. Listening to this track now is reminiscent of the trance empire of the early 2000s. Who wouldn’t want to step back in time sometimes? This Paul van Dyk single reached the #14 position on the UK Single Chart and #6 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. Its progressive and driving characteristics also granted it a feature on the soundtrack of FIFA Football 2004.

Image Credit: Christoph Köstlin / Provided by Stark Profiles PR