An iconic duo joins the Balance Selections family…
For over 25 years, Gabriel & Dresden have occupied a distinctive space in electronic music, combining new wave melancholia with the euphoric energy of progressive house and trance. Formed in 2001, the American duo of Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden established themselves through emotionally charged productions and remixes, earning 21 Billboard Dance Club Play number ones along the way.
Their catalogue includes enduring tracks such as As The Rush Comes, released under their Motorcycle alias, Tracking Treasure Down and Dangerous Power. More recently, their creative partnership with vocalist Sub Teal produced two albums, The Only Road and Remedy, with a remix of the former’s title track earning a Grammy nomination.
Drawing on decades of experience without becoming confined by nostalgia, Gabriel & Dresden continue to explore the emotional possibilities of dance music, balancing melodic introspection with the energy of the dancefloor.
On this edition of Balance Selections, the duo flex their considerable talents with a journey through the many shades of progressive music. Featuring tracks from Bicep, Simon Vuarambon, Guy J and more, this 90-minute excursion demands repeated listens.
Tracklist
1. Gabriel & Dresden – Fracture
2. Alice In Chains – No Excuses (Blake Jarrell Bootleg)
3. Kaspar Koman – Organist
4. Foglight – Coda
5. Guy J – Placebo
6. M.O.S. – Skywalkers (Paul Thomas Remix)
7. Infusion – Legacy (Freedo Mosho, Maze 28, GMJ & Matter Remix)
8. Books Shade – Night Falls (Jody Wisternoff Remix)
9. Rufus Du Sol – Always (Ezequiel Arias Rework)
10. Amtrak – High Speed Ring
11. Simon Vuarombon – Gray Area
12. Empire of the Sun – DNA (Maceo Plex Remix)
13. Ezequiel Arias & Durante – Dream Controller
14. Lifelike & Kris Menace – Discopolis 2.0 (Little Foot Extended Mix)
15. Matt Fax – To The Ground (Helsloot Remix)
16. Dosem – Morning Runner
17. Artemas – If u think I’m pretty (Jeremy Olander Private Remix)
18. Bicep feat. Lauren Duffus & SOARR – Gas
We both grew up on a steady diet of new wave and alternative music, despite growing up on opposite sides of the country.
Josh’s early influences included Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Ultravox, The Cure, Duran Duran and Art of Noise. For me, it was bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure and The Smiths.
What connected us wasn’t just the synthesizers or the electronic production. It was the emotional depth of the songwriting.
We both found solace in music growing up. Music was always there for us when other people weren’t, and I think that experience shaped the kind of songs we would eventually make together.
We’ve always been drawn to melancholy, but particularly that beautiful contradiction where a song can make you feel sad and euphoric at the same time.
We’ve often described the Gabriel & Dresden sound as music that makes you feel good about feeling bad.
For Josh, it was hearing Wendy Carlos’ Hooked on Bach for the first time.
For me, it happened completely by accident. I was growing up in Connecticut and trying to tune into the disco station at 92.3 FM in New York. Instead, I stumbled across this strange new sound coming from 92.7 WLIR.
It was Depeche Mode, and I was instantly hooked.
Within the next hour, I heard Visage’s “Fade to Grey,” and that was it. I had discovered an entirely new musical universe. The synthesizers, the melodies, the melancholy. It sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
Looking back, it’s pretty remarkable that a wrong turn on the radio dial ended up influencing the entire direction of my musical life.
It was 1986, and I’d just been kicked out of yet another high school keg party because I wasn’t cool enough. So I decided to check out The Cafe, a weekly Saturday night dance party for kids 18 and under, held at the Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The DJ was a then-unknown local guy named Moby, who played this incredible mixture of punk rock, new wave, synth pop, industrial, hip-hop and early house music. In fact, the first time I ever heard house music was in that church, in one of America’s wealthiest towns. The irony isn’t lost on me.
Walking into that place felt like a weight had been lifted from my soul. For the first time, I felt like I’d found my people. These were the kids who didn’t fit into mainstream America, and neither did I.
The Cafe ended at 11 PM, and we’d head over to Krypton’s afterward, where Ralphie Gomez was DJing.
Within four visits to The Cafe, I knew that dance music was what I wanted to pursue with my life. Nearly 40 years later, here we are.
We’ve always been inspired by artists who aren’t afraid to have their own musical identity.
Growing up, it was New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Jean-Michel Jarre and so many of the artists who emerged from the new wave era. They showed us that electronic music could be deeply emotional, that you could combine synthesizers with traditional songwriting and create something that felt completely human.
But we’ve never really worn our dance music influences on our sleeves. Some of our biggest inspirations have come from outside the genre entirely. The Postal Service was a huge influence on our debut album, particularly Ben Gibbard’s vocal approach. For example, the live bass guitar that became such a defining part of our sound was originally inspired by Stuart Price’s Thin White Duke remix of Felix Da Housecat’s “Silver Screen Shower Scene.”
Even today, we’re constantly searching for music that surprises us. There’s so much electronic music being made, but what really gets our attention is when somebody creates something with a distinct personality. Something that doesn’t sound like it came from the same template everyone else is using.
Ultimately, that’s what inspires us most: artists who make music that could only have come from them.
That’s a surprisingly difficult question to answer! The way we discover and consume music has changed so dramatically that neither of us really approaches music through albums the way we once did.
These days we’re constantly digging for individual tracks, discovering new artists, and following musical rabbit holes. Sometimes a single song will send us exploring an artist’s entire catalog. It’s the way we are able to keep up with multiple genres of music for our DJ sets.
There’s something we miss about the album experience, though. Sitting down with a complete body of work and hearing an artist’s vision unfold from beginning to end. It’s something we grew up doing, and it feels increasingly rare in today’s musical landscape.
Maybe this question is a reminder that we need to start doing it again.
Our studio is built around Ableton Live and a collection of about 20 analog synthesizers, many of them the same types of instruments used on our favorite records from the 1980s.
We’ve also got a collection of pedals and outboard effects boxes that we use to record effects live, giving us the ability to experiment with sounds in real time.
For DJing, we use Pioneer CDJ-3000s and the DJM-V10 mixer. We particularly love the EQ possibilities of the V10, but one of its biggest advantages is having a compressor on every channel. This allows us to give older classics more punch and depth when playing them alongside modern productions, without having to alter the original audio files.
It’s a great combination of old and new technology, which is pretty much what Gabriel & Dresden has always been about.
We’re currently in a really exciting period of musical exploration. Rather than focusing on another full-length album, which it’s likely time for, we’re shifting our attention toward singles, collaborations and EPs, giving ourselves the freedom to experiment with different sounds and work with different artists on different labels.
We’ve been spending a lot of time revisiting the music that originally inspired us, particularly new wave, indie dance and alternative electronic music, and exploring how those influences can inform something fresh and contemporary.
We’re also working on several new original productions and have some exciting collaborations taking shape as we speak.
Our goal is to make music that feels unmistakably Gabriel & Dresden while continuing to challenge ourselves creatively. We’re not particularly interested in chasing whatever sound happens to be popular at the moment. We’d much rather make something with its own personality that people can connect with emotionally.
There’s a lot happening behind the scenes right now, and we’re looking forward to sharing the results.
We’re still touring internationally, bringing the Gabriel & Dresden sound to clubs, festivals and special events around the world. Most of our gigs are in North America where we’ve almost completed a 28 city open to close tour called Stories We Tell, celebrating 25 years of Gabriel & Dresden.
Coming up, we’re closing out the Stories We Tell Tour in Seattle & Portland next weekend particularly excited about bringing our sound to the Anjunabeats Warehouse shows in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in December.
For this mix, we wanted to put together a collection of some of our favorite new melodic tracks from across several different genres that we’ve discovered over the past few months.
We’ve never been particularly interested in limiting ourselves to one genre, and this mix reflects that philosophy. What connects these records isn’t necessarily their tempo or style, but their musicality, emotional depth and ability to take you somewhere.
There’s so much incredible music being made outside the usual genre boundaries, and we love finding those records and bringing them together in a way that tells a cohesive musical story.
Ultimately, that’s what DJing has always been about for us. Finding great music, connecting the dots between seemingly different sounds, and creating something that feels greater than the sum of its parts.
Jody Wisternoff has done something really special with this remix. “Night Falls” is one of those records that helped define the Booka Shade sound, and Jody has managed to make it soar even higher musically while staying true to what made the original so compelling.
What I particularly love is how he’s treated that iconic bassline, giving it an almost Bristol-inspired character through the filtering. It adds a beautiful sense of depth and atmosphere while the melodies take the track somewhere completely new.
It’s a brilliant example of how to revisit a classic without losing its soul.
If we had to choose one production that represents everything Gabriel & Dresden is about, it would be “Beautiful Things.”
It brings together so many of the elements that define our sound: melancholy, emotional songwriting, atmospheric synthesizers, live instrumentation and the ability to create something that feels equally at home on a dancefloor or in your headphones.
More than two decades later, it still connects with people in a way that reminds us why we started making music together in the first place.
This is one of those rare, timeless records that never goes out of style. There’s something magical about its simplicity, the way it builds and unfolds, and how effortlessly it creates an emotional connection with the dancefloor.
It’s also one of those tracks that pretty much everyone can agree on, regardless of their musical tastes. Play it at the right moment in the night, and it just works.
A truly beautiful piece of electronic music.
You Can See Everything. The documentary about Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos. I’ve never seen another film or documentary quite like it. It’s one of those rare experiences that feels completely unlike anything that came before it, and it stayed with me long after it ended. You will leave the theatre mesmerized on many levels.
Breaking Bad and Mad Men are two of our all-time favorites.
Currently, we’re completely sucked into Entourage, which we somehow missed when it originally aired. It’s amazingly entertaining, especially how authentic the Hollywood world feels and how seamlessly all the celebrity cameos fit into the storyline.
And here’s the funny part: our song “As The Rush Comes” actually appears in Season 3, Episode 9. So we’re discovering a show 20 years late that we were apparently part of all along!
