Mat Silver & Tony Burt
Encyclopedia
Mat Silver & Tony Burt are a German
& New Zealand
dance music
production team, composed of Matthias Scheffler (born May 1, 1977) and Tony Burt (born October 25, 1970).
scene but they have also produced other varied electronic music styles. They became increasingly well known for their hard and euphoric productions between 2000-2004 which were supported by some of the world’s leading DJ’s.
Matthias Scheffler originates from Bickenbach
, Germany while Tony Burt lives in London but is originally from Auckland
, New Zealand. Since meeting while DJ’ing at Electrowerkz, London back in April 2000 they decided to spend more time producing their style of trance music. Matthias was already producing in the late 1990s under the guise of Endymion, Mat Silver, Silver & Chrome and Stoker. Tony was running his own label full time as well as a specialist online music store for trance, progressive house, techno
and break beat
music.
The label featured artists such as Martin Eyerer, DJ Hinx, Mat Silver, S.H.O.K.K, Ferry Corsten
, Ralph Fridge, Apoptygma Berzerk
, Kuffdam & Plant, Shane 54
, Alphazone
, Audiowarp, Hiroshi Okada
, Progresia, Octagen, Mike Shiver, Menno de Jong
, Pervading Call, Informers, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Airbase
, Timeok, Danjo & Styles, Global Interference, Passiva, Sonicvibe and Abert Vorne.
All Mat and Tony's productions happened in Matthias’s basement studio called B.Beach – a loose translation or a play on words from the name of their home village Bickenbach
.
Their music arguable defined a new style of trance, particularly in the UK where the softer trance sound of the late 1990s had become increasingly unfashionable and commercialised to the underground club scenes. Hard house was increasingly popular with clubs like Trade and Frantic but lacked a lot of the sound production qualities found in trance. Matthias and Tony incorporated harder sounds and more complex percussion arrangements with soaring sythn lines. A fair reflection of their combined musical roots which was as varied as Jean Michel Jarre
, detroit house, 80’s electro, Frankfurt techno and rock.
Their remix of Shane 54
- Equinoxe 4 peaked at number 12 in the Spanish Charts when it was released in 2003.
All of their original work appeared on Above the Sky Records. A label originally set up by Tony but then later A&R’ed collectively between Tony and Matthias.
The harder trance
sound was to spread throughout early 2001 and German/Swiss artists such as Flutlicht
, S.H.O.K.K., Scot Project and DuMonde
were also seen as pioneers. (S.H.O.K.K. was to later remix Mat Silver vs. Tony Burt – Teardrops)
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
& New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
production team, composed of Matthias Scheffler (born May 1, 1977) and Tony Burt (born October 25, 1970).
History
Silvers and Burts main contribution has been to the trance musicTrance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
scene but they have also produced other varied electronic music styles. They became increasingly well known for their hard and euphoric productions between 2000-2004 which were supported by some of the world’s leading DJ’s.
Matthias Scheffler originates from Bickenbach
Bickenbach
Bickenbach may refer to:*Bickenbach, Hesse, a municipality in Hesse, Germany*Bickenbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, a municipality Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany*Bickenbach, a part of Engelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
, Germany while Tony Burt lives in London but is originally from Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand. Since meeting while DJ’ing at Electrowerkz, London back in April 2000 they decided to spend more time producing their style of trance music. Matthias was already producing in the late 1990s under the guise of Endymion, Mat Silver, Silver & Chrome and Stoker. Tony was running his own label full time as well as a specialist online music store for trance, progressive house, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and break beat
Break beat
Break beat may refer to:*the genre breakbeat*the technique break beat...
music.
The label featured artists such as Martin Eyerer, DJ Hinx, Mat Silver, S.H.O.K.K, Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten, also known under the alias System F, is a Dutch producer of trance music, in addition to being a DJ and remixer. He also hosts his own weekly radio show, Corsten's Countdown. He routinely plays at events all over the world with crowds in excess of tens of thousands. In 2009 Ferry...
, Ralph Fridge, Apoptygma Berzerk
Apoptygma Berzerk
Apoptygma Berzerk is a Norwegian musical group. They have achieved success with a brand of synthpop, and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene and referring to themselves as "futurepop". Apop has won awards and top-10 spots in Germany and Scandinavia...
, Kuffdam & Plant, Shane 54
Shane 54
Shane 54 is a dance music producer and DJ based in Budapest. He's known for his mashups, bootlegs and remixes. He's remixed such leading acts as Paul Oakenfold, Above & Beyond, and Lange amongst others, and worked with labels like Vandit, Anjunabeats, Nebula, AVEX Japan, Logic US and Lost...
, Alphazone
Alphazone
Alphazone is a German hard trance group, comprising Alex Zwarg and Arne Reichelt. The group was formed in 1995. In 1996 they released their first single - "Overload"...
, Audiowarp, Hiroshi Okada
Hiroshi Okada
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet . A native of Mito, Ibaraki and graduate of Ritsumeikan University, he had served in the assembly of Ibaraki Prefecture since 1986 and as mayor of Mito for three terms since 1993...
, Progresia, Octagen, Mike Shiver, Menno de Jong
Menno de Jong
Menno de Jong is a DJ and producer from the Netherlands. His production & remix career has seen him record for some of Europe’s biggest trance labels and he’s the owner of lauded Dutch independent Intuition Recordings. A Podcast pioneer, he’s produced and presented the much respected and...
, Pervading Call, Informers, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Airbase
Airbase
An airbase is a military airfield that provides basing and support of military aircraft....
, Timeok, Danjo & Styles, Global Interference, Passiva, Sonicvibe and Abert Vorne.
All Mat and Tony's productions happened in Matthias’s basement studio called B.Beach – a loose translation or a play on words from the name of their home village Bickenbach
Bickenbach
Bickenbach may refer to:*Bickenbach, Hesse, a municipality in Hesse, Germany*Bickenbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, a municipality Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany*Bickenbach, a part of Engelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
.
Their music arguable defined a new style of trance, particularly in the UK where the softer trance sound of the late 1990s had become increasingly unfashionable and commercialised to the underground club scenes. Hard house was increasingly popular with clubs like Trade and Frantic but lacked a lot of the sound production qualities found in trance. Matthias and Tony incorporated harder sounds and more complex percussion arrangements with soaring sythn lines. A fair reflection of their combined musical roots which was as varied as Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
, detroit house, 80’s electro, Frankfurt techno and rock.
Their remix of Shane 54
Shane 54
Shane 54 is a dance music producer and DJ based in Budapest. He's known for his mashups, bootlegs and remixes. He's remixed such leading acts as Paul Oakenfold, Above & Beyond, and Lange amongst others, and worked with labels like Vandit, Anjunabeats, Nebula, AVEX Japan, Logic US and Lost...
- Equinoxe 4 peaked at number 12 in the Spanish Charts when it was released in 2003.
All of their original work appeared on Above the Sky Records. A label originally set up by Tony but then later A&R’ed collectively between Tony and Matthias.
The harder trance
Hard trance
Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in Western Europe in the mid-1990s as the breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic music, all influenced by UK hard house, happy hardcore and jungle/drum & bass...
sound was to spread throughout early 2001 and German/Swiss artists such as Flutlicht
Flutlicht
Flutlicht is the artist name of Swiss trance music producers Daniel Heinzer and Marco Guardia ....
, S.H.O.K.K., Scot Project and DuMonde
DuMonde
DuMonde was a German trance duo, consisting of Jürgen Mutschall and Dominik De Leon .-Singles:*"Tomorrow" - UK #60 *"Fly To The Sky" with Anastasia*"See The Light" *"Just Feel Free"...
were also seen as pioneers. (S.H.O.K.K. was to later remix Mat Silver vs. Tony Burt – Teardrops)
More recently
Matthias and Tony took a break from trance production after the release of their final single ‘Waimea’. This was to be Above the Sky Record’s 18th and final release due to financial problems of the label.. It was at this time that they decided to step back from the trance scene, decline remix work and concentrate on exploring a new style and sound.Singles
- The Perfect Wave (12") Above The Sky 2001
- The Perfect Wave (12") Everlasting Records 2001
- Teardrops (12") Above The Sky 2002
- Teardrops (12") Everlasting Records 2002
- Ultimate Wave (12") Above The Sky 2003
- Ultimate Wave (12") Above The Sky 2003
- Ultimate Wave (CD, Maxi) Above The Sky 2003
- Ultimate Wave (12") Bit Progressive Music 2003
- Ultimate Wave (12", S/Sided, Pro) Above The Sky 2003
- Waimea (12") Above The Sky 2004
- Waimea (12") Above The Sky 2004
Remixes
- Shane 54 - Equinoxe 4 (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) DTF Recordings 2002
- Shane 54 - Equinoxe 4 (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Temprogressive 2002
- Shane 54 - Equinoxe 4 (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Above The Sky 2002
- Andora - Follow You (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) I Drop The Bomb 2002
- Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Above The Sky 2002
- Endymion - Running Again (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Above The Sky Limited 2002
- Next Exit - Rise Of Nations (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Resistance 2003
- Alphazone - Rockin' (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Waterworld 2003
- Alphazone - Rockin' (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Dreams Corporation 2003
- Alphazone - Rockin' (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Nukleuz 2004
- Barber - Adagio For Strings (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Above The Sky Limited 2004
- Bass Enchanters - Golden Moment (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Elevation Records 2004
- JX - Restless - Restless (CD, Maxi) (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Tidy Two 2004
- JX - Restless - Restless (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Tidy Two 2004
- Shane 54 - Equinoxe 4 (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) Addicted Music 2005
- Shane 54 - Kippenvelmeter (12") (Mat Silver & Tony Burt Remix) DTF Spain 2005
External links
- Tony Burt @ MySpace
- Mat Silver’s homepage
- Tony Burt music mixes
- Above the Sky Records and 020 Records at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...