Customer Reviews

By Design

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first discovered Joshua Ryan when I was blown away by his track "All" on "Gatecrasher Experience". Ever since then I have always looked for Joshua Ryan releases at record stores and online, but have always been saddened by how little known he is. His melodic yet edgy style throbbing with spaced-out beats never fails to send me off to euphoric heights that no other artist can match.
Just ask world-reknown trance dj Micro, who includes at least one if not more of Ryan's tracks in just about all of his many mixed CD's. If you are like me and are over the tired kiddie-trance that dominates the scene and are starved for something original, look no further than "By Design".
New remixes of Ryan's "Buildings Inbetween" by himself and Luke Fair are a pleasant surprise, offering a smoother, groovier sound than the original, which was just a bit too crazy over-the-top for me. The CD builds (Ryan is a master of gradual buildups that finally explode) slowly into harder, darker tracks, most of which are brand new and never before released (Believe me I've looked!). Standouts include his collaboration with Brian Dietrich entitled "Kuro", the truly uplifting Ian Wilkie remix of "Fury", the outrageous and experimental "Yield", and of course, the James Holden remix of Ryan's now classic hard trance anthem "Pistolwhip". I have been listening to the whole CD over and over for days.
I just hope that with the release of this brilliant CD, Ryan will come to gain the worldwide attention and admiration that he deserves.

-J. Delanty, Electronic and dance music fan

By Design is such a worthy effort from Joshua Ryan. His style can come on blissfully etheral and then slam out of your speakers like an amtrak freight train. I strongly urge other enthusiasts to purchase this CD and then go find these other works:
1) Groove Tech Radio 05-27-00 Set ->....
2) Global DJ Broadcast on Party_931 09-30-2002 -> P2P Soulseek
3) Live at Respect -> P2P Soulseek
4) Quantum Beats -> This one is ultra rare. I acquired this off of Napster during it's golden age in 1999. I believe it to be a promo. RIP Napster... Good Luck! 8-)

Every so often I'll buy a bunch of used progressive trance/house cds for cheap off of Amazon. Usually I don't expect to much, especially considering the price. This cd is rock solid. If you like Marcus Shultz's style of progressive trance, then you'll love this. The set is well programmed and flows pretty seamlessly. You can't go wrong on this cd at any price...

This is one hell of a CD. Joshua Ryan has a feeling for music and moods that is very rare. He is a musician as compeling and atomoshperic as BT and Banco De Gaia.

This is a mixed cd. The CD begins slow and loungy but with a definate edge. It's prepping you for the onslaught ahead. Mr. Ryan does an excellent job of bringing you on a journey from warmup to full on party progressive music back down to soothing chill beats.

It's great from start to finish. I love this CD and I have been over Trance for some time now. This is just good techno/electronic dance music. He is the kind of DJ you can trust to keep things constantly fresh and moving along. The music is constantly changing and the drums/percussion are top notch. It's laden w/ melodies and atmoshperics but not overpowering.

Again this is a fantastic CD. Joshua Ryan is talented, talented talented - and he's only 24. First albums are sometimes the best work of an artist and this is definatly one of them.

buy it now!

This is the best cd that System Recordings has ever released. Joshua Ryan has made an amazing cd. It's really as simple as that.

Ten tracks of carefully carved, rhymthically-driven artistry. Every note is placed in just the right spot...as if laser-etched by robots that can feel human emotion. The cd is just overflowing with electrons of pure electronic genius. I've listened to it from start to finish a good one hundred times or more. I'm still trying to figure out how he did it.

I don't need to say much more. Just buy the cd. I'll buy it if you don't.

An excellant CD but aspiring CD DJ's should be aware that this CD is mixed and it will be harder to use the tracks in a set.