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The following is the cover story of d"ash - The Israeli magazine for English speaking young people around the world. To subscribe, click here

The cover of d"ash

Asaf Kliger and Omer Yaniv were there when Infected Mushroom came home.

The psychedelic trance duo, Infected Mushroom, are Israel's most famous rock artists. Just two years after breaking into the Top 100 of DJ Magazine, Erez Aizen (also I.Zen) and Amit Duvdevani (Duvdev) have smashed their way into the Top 10 No. 9 actually, on the all-comers list. They're mentioned in the same breath as greats like DJ Tiesto, Paul van Dyk and Armin van Buuren. They came home briefly for a 10th anniversary concert.

The show

Outside it's cold, raining. Inside, it couldn't be hotter. Duvdev and Erez are home at last. For two hours, they captivate the fans packed into the Ganei Hata'aruha hall in north Tel Aviv. A night to remember, a concert to relish, a celebration of creation the 10th anniversary of our home-grown, now internationally renowned phenomenon known as Infected Mushroom.

Infected Mushroom are now LA-based and perform all over the world. They're more a household name abroad than they are at home. But Israel remains extremely important to them, insists producer Eyal Yankovich. "Israel is world famous for some of its high-tech creations. Infected Mushroom is a different kind of export all human all creation. In creativity, we lead!" The show warms up with Beit Habubot (House of Dolls). They're only the appetizer.

The entrיe is mushroom, deliciously Infected Mushroom, energetically joined by the unique sound and movement of another internationally renowned Israeli export Mayumana. Madness strokes the audience when DJ Skazi joins Duvdev and Erez for a rendition of their famous I Wish. The wildest moment of the night comes for dessert. Birthday is dished up, as it first was, together with rock guitarist Berry Sakharof. The sounds of DJ Asterix ring in our ears as we leave sometime after 2 a.m. "tired but happy" as we used to say in sixth grade after the annual school trip.

People of all ages were enchanted. Liran Hutmacher is 24, a long-time fan: "I'd been a bit nervous that there'd be chaos, but the only heat came from the boys. Wow, did they ever get us to forget our everyday worries for a few hours and to enjoy some insane sound. It'll be in our ears for a long time." Dr. Malkin is a middle-aged guy: "As long as I can remember I've been an electronic music enthusiast, so I was pleased when my two daughters invited me to join them.

The atmosphere was good, people were enthusiastic. I enjoyed it." Talk about understating things, Doc! You can be sure there's not a soul who was there who doesn't now feel part of the international Infected Mushroom fan base. It ranges from the US through South America and Europe across to Japan. Meanwhile, the infected mushrooms had no time to rest, with gigs in Barcelona, London and Rio coming up next.

Roots

Erez and Duvdev have been together since 1996. They've released seven albums starting with The Gathering in 1999 and through to Vicious Delicious (2007). Duvdev's 33, Erez, 27. They were born in the Krayot just north of Haifa. Both had conventional and classical musical training as kids.

Erez learned to play the organ at age four and started studying piano at the age of eight. Duvdev, too, played piano for nine years from age seven until he made the switch to heavy metal and punk rock. He went to his first trance party in 1991, a week before being conscripted into the army. It was a life-changing moment, he says. From then on he could think only trance.

In 2004, the boys were joined by guitarists Erez Netz and Tom Cunningham. Tom plays with IM in the US, Erez plays the rest of the gigs.

Here and there

They are celebrities in LA and they've played at festivals all over the US including Ultra, Virgin and Coachella ("best on the planet," they call it). They've shared a stage with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas and the great Jewish rapper Matisyahu. "We've also been playing pure rock venues," they confess. "We're happy about that because we never wanted to be categorized."

They are especially fond of the scene in the US. Erez told DJ Magazine, "We get the most energy from our US shows. In the UK it can be an old scene for people. But in America, people don't know what to expect. The shows are a revelation."

Their breakthrough into Israeli rock awareness came in 2002 with Birthday. And, their links to home are getting ever stronger. The next IM album will contain distinctly Israeli titles. Black Shwarma refers to a famous shwarma snack stand in Haifa, and Sa'ed was inspired by a hummous joint in Acre.

Seven things you didn't know about IM

Birthday is Israel's best selling single ever

The group's MySpace page has been viewed more than a million times, more than half the viewings for Eminem's page

The band's name commemorates a disbanded punk rock band of the same name, in which Duvdev was once a member.

IM recently recorded five tracks of the legendary The Doors.

They sometimes get inspiration for song titles from their fans Internet forum.

They've been invited to perform in Jordan and in Dubai

Duvdev got married this year; Erez had his first child

Catch Infected Mushroom on YouTube!

Bahrain date for DJ Dermot

IBIZA-BASED club Pukka Up resident DJ Dermot C will play for the second time in Bahrain when he performs at BJ's at the Al Bustan Hotel, Adliya, on January 30.

The event will also feature a performance by house vocalist Tara McDonald who recorded vocals for the hits My My My by Armand Van Helden and Feel The Vibe by Swedish DJ Axwell.

Dermot started as a DJ when he was just 15 in his hometown, Limerick, Ireland, and at 17, was signed up to the Gutter Brothers label with dates at some of the country's biggest clubs including Homelands and Creamfields.

He moved to Ibiza in 1997 and gained residency at Godskitchen, playing alongside Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk and Tall Paul - in addition to performing on the Ritz After Dark tour with Agnelli Nelson.

He was nominated for M8 Magazine's 2006 Best Upcoming DJ award and has played across the UK, Spain, Finland, Helsinki, Russia, Estonia, Berlin and Andorra.

Tara McDonald has been singing professionally since the age of nine, starting her career in London's West End.

She performed in Les Miserables at The Palace Theatre and Bernadette at The Dominion, before representing England in international singing competitions. Her subsequent success resulted in her performing with Julio Iglesias at Wembley Arena, as well as singing with Harry Belafonte and filming the video for her debut single in Kenya. Entry is BD5 for men and free for women. Contact 39649590 for more information.

Winter Music Conference program set for 2008

Now in its 23rd year, the Winter Music Conference in Miami remains the leading ‘networking event’ in dance music. And, of course, a perfectly good excuse for getting wankered and attending pool parties. It’s back in 2008 from 25-29 March at Miami Beach Resort & Spa – and so is its troubled spin-off event, Ultra Music Festival.

Over the five days, there will be seminars and panels, remixing and editing workshops, exhibits and the International Dance Music Awards ceremony. Not to mention parties. Lots and lots of parties. To peruse the schedules for 2008, head to the WMC website.

The Ultra Music Festival is the WMC’s official closing event, and this year marks its tenth anniversary. With over 200 acts and 40,000 punters it’s a beast of a party, and reports tend to be mixed.

On his website, Damian Lazarus had this to say of last year’s Ultra: “If there is rain forecast on the day of an outdoor music festival, do you think it may be a good idea to have some covering over the DJ booths? Had the organisers prepared for this possibility they could have avoided the stage I was playing on from blowing up mid-Tiga set and saved an Allen & Heath mixer from floating down a sloppy mud slope as hundreds of ravers head for cover from the exploding heavens and equipment.”

That said, the line-up in 2008 (while heavy on obvious names) is not to be sniffed at:

Day One: Tiesto, Carl Cox, Justice, Richie Hawtin, Danny Tenaglia, Rabbit in the Moon, Steve Lawler, BT, Josh Wink, James Zabiela, M.A.N.D.Y., Erol Alkan, Boys Noize, Dirty South, Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Jackal & Hyde, Monk, Keven, Audiofly

Day Two: Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, Sasha & John Digweed, David Guetta, Benny Benassi, DJ Dan & Donald Glaude, Layo & Bushwacka, Fedde Le Grande, Andy C & MC GQ, Planet of the Drums, Goldie, Dillinja & Lemon D, Fabio, Shy FX, Ed Rush & Optical, DJ Fresh & MC Ivory, Photek, Adam F, Francesco Rossi

Godskitchen Trance Anthems, oldies but goldies

One of the biggest heavyweights of the global music scene, Godskitchen has been at the forefront of dance music since its inception in the mid 90’s. After the successful Godskitchen Global Gathering album released this summer, they return to deliver Godskitchen Trance Anthems, a journey into some of the biggest and best moments in the clubs history.

Godskitchen Trance Anthems is a triple CD featuring a varied mix of straight up anthems, fresh remixes and edits of ‘oldie …but goldie’ tunes, including rare mixes of much sought after anthemic tracks, AND showcases future anthems that have been vigorously road tested on one of the most influential dancefloors on the planet!

CD 1 includes Gabriel & Dresden’s remix of Motorcycle’s As the Rush Comes, the Monster Mix of the Faithless classic God Is A DJ, and a rare Tiësto remix of Extreme Ways by Moby. Classic Armin stadium trance is provided in the form of Communication 3 with Tiësto also providing the HUGE Adagio For Strings.

CD 2 opens with Greece 2000’s Three Drives, includes Oliver Leib’s rare yet still fresh sounding remix of Utah Saints Lost Vagueness, plus Ferry Corsten’s landmark electro-trance anthem Punk.

CD 3 starts off with Twilight, the epic, nu-skool trance meets house from Adam K & Soha, includes trance anthems in the making from Riley & Durrant with Candesco alongside Cosmic Gate with Body Of Conflict and has Filo & Peri’s Anthem, the biggest trancer from this year.

Track list:

Disc 1

Fragma - Toca Me (Club Mix)
Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Faithless - God Is A DJ (Monster Mix)
Conjure One - Tears From The Moon (Tiësto Remix)
DJ Sakin & Friends - Protect Your Mind (Lange Remix)
Cygnus X - Superstring (Rank 1 Remix)
Tillmann Uhrmacher - On The Run (Ocean To Shore Mix)
Paul van Dyk - Time Of Our Lives (PvD Club Mix)
Moby - Extreme Ways (DJ Tiësto Instrumental Remix)
Insigma - Open Your Eyes
Marc Et Claude - La (Moonman Flashover Edit)
Minimalistix - Struggle For Pleasure
CRW - I Feel Love (Jam X & De Leon Remix)
Goureyella - Tenshii
Armin - Communication 3
Mauro Picotto - Komodo (Megavoices Remix)
Blank & Jones - Cream
Tiësto - Adagio For Strings

Disc 2

Three Drives - Greece 2000
4 Strings - Into The Night (Gabriel & Dresden 4 Deep Remix)
Niels van Gogh - Pulverturm (Tomcraft Remix)
Solarstone - Solarcoaster
BBE - Seven Days & One Week (Club Mix)
Billy Hendrix - Body Shine
Moonman - Don't Be Afraid (Brittany Remix)
Utah Saints - Lost Vagueness (Oliver Leib Remix)
Ferry Corsten - Punk
Ernesto vs Bastian - Dark Side Of The Moon (Original Extended Mix)
Lange - Drifiting Away
Ferry Corsten - Indigo
Ralphie B - Massive
Members Of Mayday - 10 in 01
Jurgen Vries - The Theme
Rank 1 - Breathing (Club Mix)
Oceanlab - Satellite
Tiësto - Urban Train

Disc 3

Adam K & Soha - Twilight
Armin van Buuren - Sound Of Goodbye (Simon & Shaker Remix)
Deadmau5 - Arguru
First State feat. Anita Kelsey - Falling
Lange - Angel Falls (Lange's Firewall Mix)
Riley & Durrant - Candesco
Cosmic Gate - Body Of Conflict (Club Mix)
Sander van Doorn - Riff
Ayla - Ayla (Danny Nightingale Remix)
Bart Claesen - First Light
Marco V - False Light
Dogzilla - Without You
Paul van Dyk - New York City
Ferry Corsten - Galaxia
4 Strings - Catch A Fall (Club Mix)
Filo & Peri - Anthem
Above & Beyond - Home (Remix)
Mark Eteson & John Prior - Dynamic Stability (Aly & Fila Remix)

Ultra Music Festival releases first phase of lineup...

Via Miami Nights...

Here's the first part of the lineup for this year's Ultra Music Festival, which is celebrating its tenth birthday, and is repeating this year as a two-day event. No surprises on the names here, except acts like Justice get moved to headlining slots. Part of me, however, *is* a little surprised (and maybe heartened) that they're pushing the old-school D&B names as a big deal. Rewind selecta!

I'm also personally excited about Richie Hawtin (who provided such an amazing soundtrack last month when FutureMob brought him down to Pawn Shop) and Layo + Bushwacka! on a big stage. Oh yeah, and M.A.N.D.Y. (I absolutelyCANNOT wait until this year's Get Physical parties at WMC) and Deadmau5, who should really be a household name soon. -- Arielle Castillo

Day 1

Tiesto, Carl Cox, Justice, Rabbit in the Moon, Danny Tenaglia, Richie Hawtin, Steve Lawler, BT, Josh Wink, James Zabiela, M.A.N.D.Y., Erol Alkan, Boys Noize, Dirty South, Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Jackal + Hyde, Monk, Keven and Audiofly.

Day 2

Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, Sasha + John Digweed, David Guetta, Benny Benassi, DJ Dan & Donald Glaude, Layo + Bushwacka, Fedde Le Grande, Andy C + MC GQ, Planet of the Drums, Goldie, Dillinja + Lemon D, Fabio, Shy FX, Ed Rush + Optical, DJ Fresh + MC Ivory, Photek, Adam F and Francesco Rossi.

Trance Out

~ Change it up: Even trance king Tiesto has altered his style ~

�ve been avoiding it for some time, hiding this festering hatred behind my general love for all God�s genres. But I have to come out of the closet: I�m an anti-trancite.

In the beginning, I was wooed by the cyclone energy of early-�90s post-techno trance (namely that of Sven Väth and his Harthouse label). Then I was taken by the romantic, ivory strokes of BT and Robert Miles. (Who could deny the elegant innocence of the artists� Ima and �Children,� respectively?) Then, West Coast trance acts such as Sandra Collins, Deepsky, and Christopher Lawrence added driving, aggressive, straight-line momentum to the loopy, synthetic sound. It was hard not to be uplifted by this California wave.

But by the millennium, trance had melted down into an ecstasy-fueled orgy of synth arpeggios-gone-wild. If there�s good trance out there today, I�d like to know where to find it. It certainly isn�t in the super-clubs, where Armani Exchange-adorned dorks with glow sticks and bottle-service tables have turned the trance scene into a satire about the shallowness of contemporary capitalism.

Trance has come to embody the prog-rock-like excesses of the global club scene. While the image of overpaid DJs playing other people�s music for legions of glow-stickers is an old joke, it�s still a reality in trance. Nearly three years after the British indie film It�s All Gone Pete Tong sent up superstar-DJ culture for the vacuous farce it usually is, hands-in-the-air trance jocks are still dominating dance culture. Dutch trance icons vied once again for supreme position in the annual DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs poll � Armin van Buuren beat Tiesto � and Billboard dubiously dubbed Tiesto the dance-music story of 2007. Billboard was dead wrong. Daft Punk�s resurrection, the indie-kid invasion, and the hip-hop/dance reunion (via Kanye West�s sampling of Daft Punk on �Stronger�) overshadowed trance by far last year. The trade publication�s proclamation was, however, classically human, embracing the familiar, cash-register-ringing genre of trance over a fresh flood of indie hipsters who invaded clubland in search of the new. The fact that the millennial-generation kids were drawn to the dance-punk side of things � Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Simian Mobile Disco � should foreshadow the impending demise of trance.

Much in the way Sasha Frere-Jones describes the white flight of indie rock in his fall New Yorker essay �A Paler Shade of White,� trance represents an ultra-white, soulless faction of clubland, far removed from the black rhapsody of core dance music. Just as most contemporary rock has abandoned its black roots, ultra-synthetic trance is miles away from its daddy � Detroit techno. Trance long ago made it safe for white, suburban kids with spiky hair and momma-bought gear to indulge a once-ghetto pursuit: DJing. While there�s nothing wrong with embracing white audiences, trance has done so to an unhealthy extreme. Point out the black guy at a trance show, and I�ll buy him a drink. It�s a cheesy scene, one abandoned long ago by the American dance-music trade magazines, ranging from URB to BPM to XLR8R. L.A.�s leading super-club, Avalon, went so far as to quietly close its doors to trance for its recent �Fall Winter Series� of DJ performances. Good looking out.

Perhaps worse than the wannabe rock-star spinners and ecstasy-fueled audiences trance attracts, however, is the music itself. If electronic dance music is a beacon for the future path of pop music, trance has become an anchor of same-old sounds. In recent years even its leading men � Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, and Ferry Corsten � have eschewed the typical trance sound for more muted, approachable tones on their artist albums. BT long ago left the genre he helped to define; onetime Madonna producer William Orbit, likewise, left trance for more quasi-classical leanings. They know: The ultra-arpeggiated sound of trance hasn�t much evolved in the decade since it first appeared. And still, at their mega-hyped DJ shows, stars such as Tiesto, van Buuren, and van Dyk spin trance at its most audacious and grating � all victory signs, sky-high strings, and thin, jack-rabbit kick drums. If you�re not on ecstasy, you won�t get it.

It�s un-e-music-like to embrace the staid. It�s 2008. Time to face the (new) music, and move on