Gabriel & Dresden

Call it a true meeting of the minds, as Gabriel and Dresden have backgrounds that couldn’t be more different if it was scripted. Josh Gabriel studied music composition at the California Institute of Arts and has a very academic understanding of music and its conception, while all of Dave Dresden’s musical knowledge comes from 15 years worth of experience DJ-ing. Hailing from Stamford, Connecticut originally, Dresden met Gabriel, a San Francisco native, while attending the same party. Gabriel had started spreading some of his solo tracks around the San Francisco electronica scene, and after Dresden heard his first single “Wave 3”, he began keeping in touch with him.

After a few months, Dresden got commissioned to do a remix for New Order, and decided to rope in Gabriel to help out. The duo gelled so well that they began working on several remixes all throughout 2001, making a big name for themselves as a duo at the same time. Their remixes started becoming huge hits on the Billboard Dance Charts, achieving seven number one hits on that chart before their first compilation CD “Bloom” was released in 2004. Their first smash hit came the same year, as a single of theirs written in collaboration with the electronica singer/songwriter JES went to number 11 on the UK singles chart. 2005 saw them release their eponymous debut album and head out on tour for the first time, with some of their sets surpassing the five hour mark by 2008.

However, 2008 also saw the duo grow apart as artists, and they called it a day in March of that year. However, after stretching their legs with some solo work, they reconvened in 2011, and ever since then they’ve been getting back to what they do best, crafting hits and being one of the best live acts in electronica. They seem better suited to the current EDM fuelled pop charts than they ever did before; shown by the record crowds they’ve drawn at festivals like New York’s Electric Zoo Festival and Belgium’s Tomorrowland. They’re still releasing singles at a rattling rate, and remain at the very top of their game over nearly three decades into their career. For that, they come highly recommended.