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Union Jack – 12 Essential Tracks

Union Jack – 12 Essential Tracks

Union Jack might not be seen by some of our followers as a natural choice for an article in Trancentral. But the truth is that while never really belonging to any specific genre in electronic dance music, Union Jack have been influencing so many musicians in so many genres of electronic dance music and Psytrance & Goa Trance among them. Simon Berry’s organic sound, precise production, amazing full spectrum melodic presence, and unique approach to writing dance music has in many ways shaped the way dance music sounds today. His music, and especially that of Union Jack captures in many ways the essence of the original 90s rave experience.

Union Jack originally started as a collaboration between Platipus label boss Simon Berry and Claudio Giussani. Simon was already known as “Art Of Trance” with the massive trance hit Madagascar’ , while Claudio was previously one half of Urban Shakedown, producing some top hits that shook the UK charts during the early 90’s.

Their first collaboration came when they remixed the track “Away The Throttle Pedal Stop” by Nicely in 1993, being the third release for Simon’s label. In early 1994, they finally had their first full release as Union Jack, which got instantly highly acclaimed. “Two Full Moons and A Trout” was an immense hit which has now reached classic status worldwide.

Simon Berry’s organic sound, precise production, amazing full spectrum melodic presence, and unique approach to writing dance music has in many ways shaped the way dance music sounds today. His music, and especially that of Union Jack captures in many ways the essence of the original 90s rave experience.

The follow up didn’t take long to come, with the single ‘Cactus’, a track that reinforced their reputation and inspired them with the confidence to record a full length album. ‘There Will Be No Armageddon’ was the result of that, containing unique ambient soundscapes which were blended with ethnic elements and vocals. These combined with the bumping classics and acid Trance driven influences created an album that is as much diverse as excellent. Despite their great success, the project was not very active during the following years, with Giussani leaving the project a while after.

In 2008, Union Jack reformed with a new member Paul Brogden alongside Simon, continuing the legacy that was left over… Their last release “Spasm” dates from 2014, retaining much of that old 90’s unique feeling. Undoubtedly, Union Jack is a pioneering project, that never jumped into the mainstream side of the scene, always driving forward unique ideas with their multi-dimension signature sound.
Trancentral gathered 12 Union Jack essential tracks that everyone should know.

Header pic by Greg Holloway Photoqraphy