Any Anjunabeats fan will tell you that the label does a fantastic job of marketing themselves. From new music to news about their roster of artists to upcoming shows, Anjunabeats knows how to create a stir for anything Anjuna-related. Which makes this all the more intriguing for us fans. Recently, the UK powerhouse label has been teasing a new… project… or artist… or sublabel… called ‘Deep State’. Each post has been no longer than fifteen seconds and none have revealed any sort of information pertaining to the nature of this new ‘Deep State’ project.
Naturally, the Anjuna world has gone haywire on Reddit with theories far and wide. The guessing game has gone from a new Above & Beyond side project to a new series of deep house events to a partnership with Deadmau5’s Mau5trap label. In any case, this is exactly what the folks at Anjunabeats want- to create an eruption of speculation only to blow us all away with the final announcement. In any case, we thought it would be appropriate to give you our hot takes as to what ‘Deep State’ might be. We list the possibilities after the jump.
A New Techno Sub-Label
Wouldn’t this be something? Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen Anjunabeats venture into the techno realm with Above & Beyond playing various techno tracks on their Group Therapy radio show. We’ve seen i_o helm the guest mix, we’ve seen Spencer Brown release tracks on Mau5trap, and we’ve seen Yotto and others venture further into techno. Being completely honest, Anjunadeep is for deep house and not so much for techno. Could we possibly be seeing Anjuna open up a whole new portal to the dark side of techno?
The Anjuna/Mau5trap Team Up
Remember that crossover I mentioned? Let’s look back on what Spencer Brown recently put out. He had a double-side, techno-infused EP that saw its release on… yup- Mau5trap. On the other side, Mau5trap mainstays No Mana and i_o recently done some work for Anjunabeats. No Mana recently mixed Anjunabeats Worldwide 591 along with remixing Gabriel & Dresden’s ‘Waiting for Winter’. i_o on the other hand was the guest mixer on Group Therapy 298 with Above & Beyond. It’s almost like each label did a temporary exchange of goods.
A New Techno Compilation
Here’s where things get really interesting. Based on the first two possibilities, this Anjunabeats techno compilation idea isn’t so far fetched. With Spencer Brown making some techno for Mau5trap and Above & Beyond promoting more techno on their show, it wouldn’t come as a big surprise to see the label showcase some new techno/progressive tracks. We’ve seen Anjunadeep go far and wide to bring in names from around the world for their deep compilations, so why not do the same for the techno world?
An Anjunabeats Event Series
Anjuna is one label known for creating some seriously awesome event series. During the summer, we saw the Open Air Event series along with the Anjunabeats All Night series as well. Add in Ilan Bluestone’s ‘Scars’ tour, Oliver Smith’s Worldwide 08 tour, and the upcoming Andrew Bayer ‘In My Last Life’ tour, we may be looking at the next series of events to take place. Oh and don’t forget Spencer Brown’s ‘Extended Sunset’ series as well. Seems like a series of fortunate events.
Tri-State Progressive Remix Album
For any die-hard Above & Beyond fan, this would be a dream come true. Their first studio album, Tri-State, was and still is beloved by their fans. We’ve seen classics like ‘Home’ and ‘Alone Tonight’ along with Oceanlab’s ‘Satellite’ all get their own modern day trance twists. Perhaps this will be the culmination of the album’s face lift. Not to mention we may have a play on words here- Tri State. Deep State. It’s a stretch but who knows, maybe it’s not. Maybe we’ll even get the infamous “Blue Monday” remix with Jono vocals.
In any case, we definitely know a few things. The ‘Deep State’ posts have come from Anjunabeats. Not from Above & Beyond themselves or any other artist on the label. Some have speculated that this ‘Deep State’ project may be for Anjunadeep. If so, I would imagine Anjunadeep would post ambiguous posts as well yet we haven’t seen any. Some have also said it may be promoting a new album or project for a specific artist yet we’ve never seen a promotion like this not to mention that artist would have posted something as well. And yet we have nothing except from Anjunabeats.
With ABGT 300 only a few weeks away, you can expect the announcement of ‘Deep State’ to come during the event. If your interest is peaked or your curiosity is taking over, you can sign up for whatever ‘Deep State’ is here. No matter what, this will blow us away. But in the meantime, keep the guessing game going.