Gabriel & Dresden

Thursday, February 21, 2013 (9:00 PM - 2:00 AM) | Ruby Skye 420 Mason Street San Francisco CA

Ruby Skye & TORQ Present
Gabriel & Dresden

It would have been simple to take the easy route. After all, Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden – better known as Gabriel & Dresden – boast one of the most impressive résumés in contemporary dance music, with over half a dozen #1 Billboard Dance chart hits to their credit, including remixes for Annie Lennox (Pavement Cracks), Jewel (Intuition), Sarah McLachlan (Fallen), and Me Against The Music by Britney Spears featuring Madonna. In addition, in 2003 they racked up an international pop hit with When The Rush Comes by Motorcycle (their collaborative project with vocalist Jes Brieden), and continued sending ecstatic surges through packed dance floors with underground faves like Lament.

For their debut album, the team could have simply assembled a Greatest Hits set. Certainly, many of their high-profile colleagues have gotten away with exactly that. But, as anyone who has scrutinized their music closely recognizes, the reason Gabriel & Dresden have attained this pinnacle of success – in a genre that is too often defined by clichés – is because they never follow the easy, predictable route. And they weren't about to start with Bloom.

We wanted to make an experience of new music, that people are going to remember, with maybe a couple things that they know from the past, emphasizes Dresden. A mix CD that would stand the test of time, a la the cream of the Northern Exposure or Global Underground discs. With this in mind, the duo chose a handful of tracks by other artists they felt passionate about, as well as select gems from their own catalog. Then, using those cuts as pivotal points, they rounded the program out by composing new material. We ended up producing several new songs specifically to fit a particular spot in the set, explains Dresden.

In order to focus on completing Bloom, Gabriel & Dresden enforced a blackout on all outside remix gigs. But even with two such determined individuals, nothing ever goes quite as planned. Very late in the game, the offer to remix Dido came about, Dresden recalls. The chance to put their stamp on Don't Leave Home, from her best-selling Life For Rent – and potentially reach a whole new audience of listeners who are less familiar with club music – was too tempting to refuse.

The result is a 10 minute masterpiece that marries the epic yet nuanced drama of Gabriel & Dresden with the intimacy of Dido's original, a rare feat that Josh Gabriel hopes will strike a chord with music lovers of all stripes. What we're best at is taking underground techniques, and applying them to pop songs, and making credible, vocal dance music. So far, the prognosis for the remix's reception is encouraging: Dido went out of her way to e-mail them directly to thank them, saying she listened to their version before her shows every night.

If I deeply affect one person, that makes me proud, Gabriel confesses. When you deeply affect somebody you respect, that's even better. I was a Dido fan long before we touched her track, so her gratitude meant a lot to me.