Jes (Electronic/Trance)

It’s with rare exception that an artist captures me so completely with their voice that their music gets repeated play over a number of days. Progressive Electronic/Trance vocalist Jes’ has done just that. She is a vocal hypnotist who gets you into the mood of what she calls her Rocktronica music, whether it be wanting to get up and dance or to close your eyes and float away.

Jes is New York City born and raised Jes Brieden, a singer, producer, songwriter, and a frequent guest vocalist. Jes began writing songs and playing piano at age 10 and when she was 15 recorded her first song, Wasted On Your Love and by the age of 16, made her first recordings as a reference vocalist and was a back-up singer for several major record labels. But her career took another direction in 2001 when she met Mike Olson in while working at a popular recording studio. They would form the group Guardians of Earth and produce songs such as Star Children and One Moon Circling. Star Children was included on Paul VanDyks’ The Politics of Dancing series.

In 2003 Jes collaborated with electronic DJs and producers Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden,forming their own group called Motorcycle. In 2004, Motorcycle would score a hit with their 2003 cult classic single As the Rush Comes, a song that demonstrates how Jes’ soft enticing vocals can be the life preserver above the pounding waves of a dance beat. The single made number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay chart in 2004 and the same year won Best Progressive/Trance and was nominated for Best Underground Dance at the Winter Music Conference.

Jes moved into a solo career when she met Tiesto, a Grammy nominated Dutch musician, DJ, and producer of electronica music and in 2005, he signed her to his record label Black Hole Recordings. She released her electrifying debut album Disconnect in 2007 which included her earlier works such the haunting tracks One Moon Circling, Ghost, Living the Dream and Like a Waterfall. This incredible debut showcases Jes’ innate ability to grab you with her sultry vocals that bleed with emotional highs and lows soaring above a driving dance beat. The one track that screamed club hit, Imagination, was deservedly number one on Billboard’s Dance Airplay in 2009.

In January 2008, Jes released her second album with Black Hole Recordings called Into The Dawn - The Hits Disconnected. The album contains remixes of the songs Heaven, Around You, Like A Waterfall, Ghost, and As The Rush Comes In found on the Disconnect album. However, this album truly missed the mark with remixing these tracks. Each song has had the dance beat removed and made into a slower version of the original, ultimately disconnecting the original dreamy groove and the deep emotion of Jes’ vocals that made them so captivating to begin with. Despite that, her most recent work shows great promise and regenerates her hypnotic essence.

Currently, Jes has been performing on Tiesto’s Element of Life World Tour, and her third much anticipated album called Highglow is due out in March 2010. The first single released from the album is a refreshing remake of the The Cure’s classic hit Lovesong. The radio edit version stays close to the original in vocal interpretation however, several remix versions were also created. Among them, the Cosmic Gate remix which stands out because it doesn’t have an overpowering beat or tweak her vocals to sound robotic as the other remixes. A real treat is the Acoustic Love remix that brings you front and center of Jes’ exquisite voice.

Even if dance/electronic/trance isn’t your first choice of music, I think you’ll be blown away by her incredible vocal ability and depth of emotion that I have yet to find with other artists in the same genre. I hope that you will explore Jes’ body of work and if you agree with me, help promote Jes to get the recognition she deserves.

Check out Jes’ websites www.planetjes.com and www.myspace.com/planetjes.
Her music is available at Amazon.com and also on iTunes.