Rank 1’s Year One - ‘Airwave’: After a chance introduction at a party in the spring of 1997, Benno & Piet recognised much common musical ground and decided to work together. As the Dutch trance dawn rose up over Europe, the pair found themselves faultlessly positioned at its epicentre to reign. Championed by fellow fast-risers Armin van Buuren, Tiësto and Ferry Corsten, in 1999 the stadium-sized sound of ‘Airwave’ sent out an audio shockwave across the continent. It proved to be such a hit that just 12 months later ‘Airwave’ had been released, incredibly, in over 40 countries – jumping into the Top 10 in the UK and becoming the first Dutch track to top the European Dance Chart.
The Rank 1 Singles: Working at the pace of roughly one floor-carnivore a year, Rank 1 followed-up with ‘Such is Life’ (2001), ‘Awakening’ (taken from their debut album ‘Symsonic’ - both 2002), ‘It’s up To You’ (2003), ‘Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom / After Me’ (2004) and ‘Opus 17 / Top Gear’ (2005). After a year’s production break they returned to the fray in '07 with two monster collaborations: ‘Life Less Ordinary’ (in tandem with Alex M.O.R.P.H.) and the ‘This World is Watching Me’, co-produced with Armin. The year after that the duo took the dancefloors by storm once again through their electro-boosted monster collaboration 'And Then' with the talented Jochen Miller. In 2009 Rank 1 became the ‘go-to’ men for event anthems, remarkably producing them for not one, but two world-class festivals. In February ‘L.E.D. There Be Light’ became the wildly-popular, Beatport-smash anthem for Trance Energy, while ‘Symfo’ was selected to define Poland’s colossal Sunrise festival. In 2010 they followed up with 'The Great Escape', the grand theme song to Poland's Entrance Festival and '100', a harmonious triple collaboration between them, Nic Chagall and Wippenberg to celebrate High Contrast Recordings' 100th milestone release. Another production break year followed with the guys returning to full force in early 2012 with the releases of the bigroom club smasher 'Wild And Perfect Day' (their third collaboration with Jochen Miller with vocals provided by Sarah Bettens) and the more tender 'Witness' (a vocal collaboration with Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren for their new album). Before the end of the year, the gents took a detour back to the roots of the trance genre by unleashing '7 Instead Of 8'; an innovative oldskool trance style track built on a seven times 4/4 measure rather than eight times. It received much support and praise for its nostalgic power by fans and colleagues alike. In fact, this very track led to a fan's request for them to collaborate with Belgian trance giant M.I.K.E. after the latter complimented them on 7 Instead Of 8. In 2013, this energetic clash-of-the-trance-titans collaboration 'Elements Of Nature' was unleashed, giving the fans an even stronger Millennial Trance feel than its predecessor! The Bigroom inspired speaker-spanker 'Floorlifter' was released only three months later and caused some expected damage on the international dancefloors throughout summer '13. Then, right before the end of the year, their Trance epic '13.11.11' saw the light of day, cleverly combining its +13 minute duration with its illusive title, specific tempo and winter release date. In 2014, the year of Rank 1's 15th anniversary saw them unleash an archetypical High Contrast styleblender called 'Freudenrausch' (with label mate Dennis Sheperd) as well as a modern electric interpretation of their '99 Mega Classic: 'Airwave (21st Century Mix)' was released on August 8th and sought to take dancefloors in modern fashion much like the original had done some one and a half decade before it.
The Rank 1 Remixes: Rank 1 also has an estimable remix-o-graphy to their name. Freddie Mercury, Ferry Corsten, Push, Cygnus X, Delirium, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Marcel Woods, Cosmic Gate, Mr Sam, Ronald van Gelderen, Angelic, Ayumi Hamasaki, Nu NRG, Conjure One and more have all been given Rank 1’s studio re-touch.
Piet the DJ, Benno the Producer: Rank 1 now has two distinct branches to its operation. Benno is in charge of all the Rank 1’s production elements. He co-produced many of the tracks on Armin van Buuren’s long-players ‘Imagine’ (2008) and Mirage (2010) and has been working on the third for a while now. Piet meanwhile takes the role of the globetrotting DJ, spinning at tent-pole events like Dance Valley in his native Holland and numerous international tours (including the US and asia) for the likes of Gatecrasher & Godskitchen. In 2009 Rank 1 found themselves re-entering the DJ Magazine Top 100 at No.77.
Rank 1 LIVE: Over recent years, Rank 1 has increasingly come together on stage for their Live performances. They became the first live act to perform at Sensation and famously forced the closure of doors of Trance Energy’s main arena (when 25,000 clubbers packed it out to hear them play). Their kinship with the biggest event in trance music is widely-known and they are the only live act to have rocked Trance Energy 4 times! Outside of that Rank 1 has continued to thrill crowds live at some Europe’s best-known festivals including Mystery Land, Sunrise & Nature One. In 2012 they blew up the stages at the EDC festival in Las Vegas, the Sunrise Festival in Poland and Nature One in Germany respectively.
Rank 1 - The Mindset: When it comes to interviews, Benno & Piet are, in essence the ‘Daft Punk’ of trance! Now famously reclusive, they don’t like the term ‘success’ as it implies they have already arrived. Instead, on the few occasions they do speak, they prefer to speak in terms of ‘progression’ & ‘perfection’. Ultimately though they are far happier to let their music do all the talking. [Biography taken from their High Contrast Recordings.com page and edited/updated by R4Z0RM4N3]
Discography
Coming soon:
• Rank 1 - 13.11.11 > https://twitter.com/rank1official/status/389662015742279680
Singles:
• [2014] Rank 1 - Airwave (21st Century Mix) [High Contrast]
• [2014] Rank 1 & Dennis Sheperd - Freudenrausch [High Contrast]
• [2013] Rank 1 - 13.11.11 [High Contrast]
• [2013] Rank 1 - Floorlifter [High Contrast]
• [2013] Rank 1 vs. M.I.K.E. - Elements Of Nature [High Contrast]
• [2012] Rank 1 - 7 Instead Of 8 [High Contrast]
• [2012] Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren with Rank 1 - Witness [Armind]
• [2012] Rank 1 & Jochen Miller feat. Sarah Bettens - Wild And Perfect Day [High Contrast]
• [2010] Nic Chagall, Rank 1 & Wippenberg - 100 [High Contrast]
• [2010] Rank 1 vs. Jochen Miller - The Great Escape [High Contrast]
• [2009] Rank 1 - Symfo [High Contrast]
• [2009] Rank 1 - L.E.D. There Be Light [High Contrast]
• [2008] Rank 1 vs. Jochen Miller - And Then… [High Contrast]
• [2007] Alex M.O.R.P.H. vs. Rank 1 - Life Less Ordinary [High Contrast]
• [2007] Armin van Buuren vs. Rank 1 feat. Kush - This World Is Watching Me [Armind]
• [2005] Rank 1 - Opus 17 / Top Gear [High Contrast]
• [2004] Rank 1 - Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom / After Me [ID&T]
• [2004] Rank 1 - Conspiracy / Cosmomatic / Down From The Deep [ID&T]
• [2003] Rank 1 - It’s Up To You (Symsonic) [ID&T]
• [2003] Sensation - The Anthem 2003 [ID&T]
• [2003] Rank 1 - Breathing (Airwave 2003) [ID&T]
• [2002] Rank 1 - Awakening [ID&T]
• [2001] Rank 1 feat. Shanokee - Such is Life [ID&T]
• [1999] Rank 1 - Airwave [Free For All]
• [1999] Rank 1 - Black Snow / The Citrus Juicer [ID&T]
Remixes:
• [2013] Giuseppe Ottaviani feat. Eric Lumiere - Love Will Bring It All Around
• [2013] Conjure One feat. Leigh Nash - Under The Gun (2 versions)
• [2011] Super8 & Tab feat. Julie Thompson - My Enemy
• [2011] Cosmic Gate - Fire Wire
• [2010] Mat Zo - 24 Hours
• [2010] Velvetine - Safe (Wherever You Are)
• [2008] Leon Bolier vs. Jonas Steur - Lost Luggage
• [2008] Ronald van Gelderen - Embrace Me
• [2008] Marcel Woods feat. MC Da Silva - On Fire
• [2008] Anton Sonin & AMX feat. Sari - Undone
• [2007] Alex Bartlett & Guess feat. Anthya - Touch The Sun
• [2007] JOOP - The Future
• [2007] Cosmic Gate - Analog Feel
• [2006] Freddy Mercury - Love Kills (3 versions)
• [2006] Ronald van Gelderen - This Way
• [2005] ATB - Humanity
• [2005] Mr Sam - Lyteo
• [2004] Angel City - Touch Me
• [2003] Push - Journey Of Life
• [2002] Jam X & De Leon - Mind Made Up
• [2002] Marc Aurel - Sound Of Love (3 versions)
• [2002] Ayumi Hamasaki - Dearest
• [2002] NU NRG - Dreamland
• [2001] Delerium - Underwater (2 versions)
• [2001] Ayumi Hamasaki - Far Away
• [2000] Angelic - It’s My Turn
• [2000] Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy
• [2000] Cygnus X - Superstring (3 versions)
• [2000] System F - Cry
• [2000] Mary Griffin - Perfect Moment
• [2000] York - Reachers Of Civilization
• [2000] Tunnel Allstars - Blue Lagoon (3 versions)
Unreleased:
• [2009] Rank 1 vs. Lucid - I Can't Help There Be Light (Rank 1 Mash-up)
• [2006] Rank 1 - Brairwave (Rank 1 Mash-up)
• [2004] Rank 1 - Untitled Track [Experimental Hardstyle track]
• [2002] Gouryella - Ligaya (Rank 1 Remix) [Rejected]
• [2000] Chakra - Home (Rank 1 Remix) [Rejected]
• [2000] Rank 1 vs. Marco V & Benjamin Bates - Untitled Track
Albums:
• [2002] Symsonic (+ DVD -Live At Trance Energy 2002)
Mix Compilations:
• [2011] Trance Nation: Rank 1
• [2010] enTrance presents High Contrast (Mixed by Rank 1 & Jochen Miller)
• [2009] Trance Energy 2009 (Mixed by John O’Callaghan & Rank 1)
• [2008] Techno Club Vol. 28 (Mixed by Talla 2XLC and Rank 1)
• [2008] High Contrast Presents Rank 1
• [2004] A Trip In Trance 4
• [2004] ID&T Presents Rank 1
For a complete discography and sound samples of all their songs take a look at either http://www.bervoetsdegoeij.nl/ (much respect and credit to Gert Egscholten for having kept record of all Rank 1 releases throughout the years), http://ur1ft.blogspot.nl/ or http://www.discogs.com/artist/Rank+1.
A State Of Trance
Rank 1 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lyrics of Rank 1's song "A State of Trance" reflect the experience of being immersed in a state of pure ecstasy and tranquility, which can be achieved through the power of music and the blissful atmosphere created within a trance setting. The phrase "Your Destination" can be interpreted as an invitation to embark on a journey, a destination of euphoria and peace, where one can escape the troubles of everyday life and find solace in the realm of trance music.
The song describes the euphoric sensations that arise from being in this state, where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur. The lyrics emphasize the uplifting and transformative power of music, with lines like "Feel the energy surround you, let it take you on a flight," suggesting that the music can elevate the listener to a higher plane of existence. The repetition of the phrase "A State of Trance" reinforces the idea that this destination is not a physical place, but rather a mental and emotional state that can be reached through the ethereal sounds of trance music.
Overall, the lyrics of "A State of Trance" capture the essence of the trance experience, conveying the feelings of elation, liberation, and connection with oneself and the world around them that can be found within the genre.
Line by Line Meaning
Your destination
The place you are meant to reach
Will never change
It will always remain the same
Within this moment
Right here, right now
Life's rearranged
Life has been reorganized
The rivers flowing
The continuous movement of life
The wind won't change
The forces impacting us won't alter
Your longing blowing
Your restlessness pushing you forward
But these are just the tides we ride
These are simply the ebb and flow of life
These are just the fortunes we find
These are simply the opportunities we encounter
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
Aurora taking my mind to the sky
A captivating experience leading my thoughts to the heavens
Aurora taking my mind to the sky
A captivating experience leading my thoughts to the heavens
Euphoria coursing through with delight
Intense happiness flowing through with exhilaration
Euphoria coursing through with delight
Intense happiness flowing through with exhilaration
All worries fade away
All concerns disappear
As we dance among the stars
As we joyfully move amidst celestial bodies
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
The pulse aligning
The rhythmic beating coming together in harmony
With cosmic change
With changes occurring within the universe
This moment's blinding
This instant fills one with overwhelming awe
Our souls deranged
Our inner beings temporarily thrown into a state of confusion
But these are just the waves we ride
These are simply the ups and downs we experience
These are just the fortunes we find
These are simply the opportunities we encounter
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
Aurora taking my mind to the sky
A captivating experience leading my thoughts to the heavens
Aurora taking my mind to the sky
A captivating experience leading my thoughts to the heavens
Euphoria coursing through with delight
Intense happiness flowing through with exhilaration
Euphoria coursing through with delight
Intense happiness flowing through with exhilaration
All worries fade away
All concerns disappear
As we dance among the stars
As we joyfully move amidst celestial bodies
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
In this state of trance
In this state of profound mental absorption
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind