Cosmic Gate

All Music Guide:

German duo Cosmic Gate emerged in 1999 when DJ/remixer Claus Terhoeven (born 1972; aka Nic Chagall) and Stefan Bossems (born 1967; aka Bossi) decided to assemble a new project in the electronic music field. Cosmic Gate debuted with the release of the club/dance-oriented "The Drums." "Mental Atmosphere" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" followed soon after. Their breakthrough came after issuing the Top Ten single "Fire Wire." Locally released in 2000, the song started climbing the U.K. charts in 2001 and became a summer smash in the European club scene. Exploration of Space followed a year later, featuring the original version and DJ Isaac remixes of "The Truth."

Wikipedia:

Cosmic Gate is a German trance duo made up of Claus Terhoeven and Stefan Bossems. Both hail from Krefeld in Germany. On October 28, 2009, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records artist Cosmic Gate placed #19, 43 spots above the group's ranking the year before. For the 2010 DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll, Cosmic Gate moved to #24.

History [edit]

Formed in 1999, Cosmic Gate's first single was "Exploration of Space", followed by "The Drums", "Mental Atmosphere" and their "Somewhere over the Rainbow" remix using samples from the film, "The Wizard of Oz". However, Cosmic Gate did not become well known until their single "Fire Wire" was released in the UK in 2001.

Cosmic Gate have made many remixes for artists such as DJ Tiësto (Urban Train), Ferry Corsten (Punk), Blank & Jones (DFF), Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Somewhere Over The Rainbow), Svenson & Gielen (Answer the Question) and Vanessa-Mae (White Bird).

Over the past few years, Cosmic Gate's sound has developed and moved away from the harder edge trance through to their current, more subtle yet still driving energetic music style.