Josh Gabriel

• Genre: Electronica/Dance

About

One half of the duo Gabriel & Dresden, Josh Gabriel is one of progressive house music's heavy hitters, and a multitalented one at that. The duo routinely sweeps up International Dance Music Awards such as Best Producer, Best Global DJ and Best Dance Act, and its recordings tend to pepper both the Billboard dance charts and the top jocks' biggest mix CDs; the U.K.'s Toolroom Records tapped Gabriel & Dresden to compile and mix an installment of the imprint's popular Toolroom Knights series. Gabriel, who got his start making electronic music as a teenager, using Yamaha's DX-7 and primitive computers, has also been a member of the groups Andain and Motorcycle, and since 2001 he has released a string of successful singles. In 2008 he finally released his solo debut, Eight. Washed with the melancholic tones of '80s electro-pop and hardwired with the rhythms of peak-time techno, it's a perfect merger of split personalities.

- Philip Sherburne