Andy Blueman - Nyctolopia (Inc. Onova & Will B Remix)

[Addict-In-Trance]

THE breakthrough of Andrej Komatovic, better known as Andy Blueman!
It was this track that let to the start of Emotional trance.
My favourite mix is the Onova Remix which is the one people know most!
But this release also had the Original, Club and Will B mixes.

Onova Remix:


Club Mix:


Original Mix:


Will B Remix:

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

Well, I don’t agree with the part saying this is where ‘emotional trance’ was born. I don’t think thats a subgenre at all. And if it was, this wouldn’t be the start.

Orchestral parts was used before too, so he also did not invent that. If anything, he was one of the early ‘degga degga’ producers. A starting point of the fall of uplifting trance, with generic 138-beats, boring percussion loops, and the same pluck-rhythm in every track.

Dont get me wrong, before I’m called ‘negative’ again. Andy Blueman has a few great tracks. I like his orchestral parts and melodies. I listen to them sometimes still. In this generic subgenre he was one of the best.

 

[Magdelayna]

The original is still the best of this Orchestral style - nothing ever beat it imo. And there were a load of cheap pretenders after. The melody makes it,its just so epic. You could say something like Dawnseekers - Gothic Dream started this style years before..

 

[dmgtz96]

BRUH
I actually kinda like this one, even if I'm not a Blueman fan
Nice happy track. You can honestly tell that Blueman had fun producing this. The strings in the middle are beautiful and feel like they belong in a Disney movie.

The original is still the best of this Orchestral style - nothing ever beat it imo. And there were a load of cheap pretenders after. The melody makes it,its just so epic. You could say something like Dawnseekers - Gothic Dream started this style years before..

This is entirely off-topic, but I don't think that is true. Gothic Dream is a good predecessor to the "orchestral" style popularized by Blueman, but it feels like it's lacking something. Yes, there were a few anthem trance productions that used orchestral sounds and samples, but Blueman's specific style (or at least something resembling it) did not appear until Ace's Delight - The Mental Theme, released in 2003.

Orchestral parts was used before too, so he also did not invent that. If anything, he was one of the early ‘degga degga’ producers. A starting point of the fall of uplifting trance, with generic 138-beats, boring percussion loops, and the same pluck-rhythm in every track.

For 2007 this combination was a relatively new concept, so gotta give Blueman credit for that (even if things didn't turn out as we wish they would have).

 

[Magdelayna]

This is entirely off-topic, but I don't think that is true. Gothic Dream is a good predecessor to the "orchestral" style popularized by Blueman, but it feels like it's lacking something. Yes, there were a few anthem trance productions that used orchestral sounds and samples, but Blueman's specific style (or at least something resembling it) did not appear until Ace's Delight - The Mental Theme, released in 2003.

well yes true,this is a specific style with the orchestral section transforming into the melody - and i do believe Blueman mainly started it. You could even point to Ferry's remix of Adagio as the initial idea - but that was different as it was a remix of a famous classical piece.

 

[Archon]

I think someone pointed out on the old forum the track that was older but had the same concept. It wasn't a known one, but still could've served as an inspiration.

You could even say that Planisphere had similar ideas years before Blueman. Long breakdowns full of strings and pads, at least.

That's not to diminish Andrej's idea, it was probably unique in some way. Of course, it got very popular, and then copied and overdone afterwards, where it felt like a competition who would have a longer, more ambitious breakdown. There were some great tracks in that style, but the sub-genre as a whole was not made to last very long IMO.

This is the best in this style, or at least my favourite:

Gaia - Tuvan (Andy Blueman Remix)

 

[Toadcop]

the talks about "inventing a style" is just roflmao, the main issue with this "style" it just "works bad" and thats the main reason not many producers do it.

 

[Magdelayna]

the talks about "inventing a style" is just roflmao, the main issue with this "style" it just "works bad" and thats the main reason not many producers do it.

Correction - most producers couldnt do it 'right'. Blueman was the master at it and im glad he didnt do it for long....that left the cheap pretenders to keep doing poor rehashes of that style.

 

[Matrixmorpheus]

Who cares about who invented what. [REDACTED] Its a joke, the track is garbage. It was then and it is now

MOD EDIT: The user has been warned (again), the next warning will result in a one-week ban. The original message has been slightly edited, just a proof that you can indeed write something without excessive swearing and still have it make sense.

 

[Toadcop]

Correction - most producers couldnt do it 'right'. Blueman was the master at it and im glad he didnt do it for long....that left the cheap pretenders to keep doing poor rehashes of that style.

this track is from 2007 you can consider "the real producers stopped to do proper stuff" at this time, so not really much good competition. i mean "the pretenders" are just low skill school kids ofc they won't do really good stuff. guys like JXL moved long ago.

 

[definitelynotadj]

I like the original mix, unlike the remixes. The Onova remix sounds generic to me.

 

[dmgtz96]

this track is from 2007 you can consider "the real producers stopped to do proper stuff" at this time, so not really much good competition. i mean "the pretenders" are just low skill school kids ofc they won't do really good stuff. guys like JXL moved long ago.

Since those producers quit trance, they're no longer relevant to this discussion, and there is little point in bringing them up. This is about Blueman and what he contributed to the genre with Nyctalopia. The concept wasn't entirely new - after all, a lot of anthem trance used orchestral/classical samples, and the Black Hole guys had already made a precursor to Blueman's style.
What makes Andy Blueman stand out is that he reigned this specific style and many of his 2007-~2010 productions became classics of the genre, even if the competition was not as stiff as in the golden era. His ideas built up on previous work, but his execution was fresh, which is what gets lost in the discussion.
As @Gagi correctly pointed out, this sub-genre was not going to last long. The long, orchestral breakdowns are not dance-able, and you can only play so many of these in a radio or DJ set. That's one of the reasons it "works bad", in your own words. Even then, I still give props to Blueman for this direction in uplifting trance.