GAIA
Moons of Jupiter
Album - Dance, Music
Armin van Buuren’s GAIA dates back to 2000—originally a solo project, later joined by fellow Dutchman Benno de Goeij—and though the duo didn’t release their debut album until 2019, the record is steeped in the sound of trance at its most timeless. Also its most intense: A world away from the pop-EDM of van Buuren’s solo releases like 2013’s Intense and 2015’s Embrace, Moons of Jupiter luxuriates in the sweet spot where trance, progressive house, and techno meet.
All instrumental, the album’s 21 tracks are titled after various moons of our solar system’s largest planet, and they are sequenced like a proper cosmic journey. The opening songs are regal ambient affairs whose cycling arpeggios recall Jean-Michel Jarre; track by track, the tempo gradually speeds up, passing through John Carpenter-like synth pulses, glinting acid, and shuffling triplets. It takes nine tunes to hit warp speed, and from there on out, GAIA is simply unstoppable, hurtling through fields of side-chained chords, tumbling drum grooves, and gravelly 303s. For armchair astronauts, it’s the trip of a lifetime.
All instrumental, the album’s 21 tracks are titled after various moons of our solar system’s largest planet, and they are sequenced like a proper cosmic journey. The opening songs are regal ambient affairs whose cycling arpeggios recall Jean-Michel Jarre; track by track, the tempo gradually speeds up, passing through John Carpenter-like synth pulses, glinting acid, and shuffling triplets. It takes nine tunes to hit warp speed, and from there on out, GAIA is simply unstoppable, hurtling through fields of side-chained chords, tumbling drum grooves, and gravelly 303s. For armchair astronauts, it’s the trip of a lifetime.
Moons of Jupiter
GAIA
Armin van Buuren’s GAIA dates back to 2000—originally a solo project, later joined by fellow Dutchman Benno de Goeij—and though the duo didn’t release their debut album until 2019, the record is steeped in the sound of trance at its most timeless. Also its most intense: A world away from the pop-EDM of van Buuren’s solo releases like 2013’s Intense and 2015’s Embrace, Moons of Jupiter luxuriates in the sweet spot where trance, progressive house, and techno meet.
All instrumental, the album’s 21 tracks are titled after various moons of our solar system’s largest planet, and they are sequenced like a proper cosmic journey. The opening songs are regal ambient affairs whose cycling arpeggios recall Jean-Michel Jarre; track by track, the tempo gradually speeds up, passing through John Carpenter-like synth pulses, glinting acid, and shuffling triplets. It takes nine tunes to hit warp speed, and from there on out, GAIA is simply unstoppable, hurtling through fields of side-chained chords, tumbling drum grooves, and gravelly 303s. For armchair astronauts, it’s the trip of a lifetime.
All instrumental, the album’s 21 tracks are titled after various moons of our solar system’s largest planet, and they are sequenced like a proper cosmic journey. The opening songs are regal ambient affairs whose cycling arpeggios recall Jean-Michel Jarre; track by track, the tempo gradually speeds up, passing through John Carpenter-like synth pulses, glinting acid, and shuffling triplets. It takes nine tunes to hit warp speed, and from there on out, GAIA is simply unstoppable, hurtling through fields of side-chained chords, tumbling drum grooves, and gravelly 303s. For armchair astronauts, it’s the trip of a lifetime.
