Critical Choice is the brainchild of Filip Mardberg, Fredrik Gilenholt and Mikael Dahlgaard, and represents a natural progression toward creating something new and unique for the psy-trance scene.
Filip and Fredrik have been producing electronic music for years under the name Ticon, and Mikael under the name of DJ Emok and Phony Orphants. Mikael is also manager of the highly respected label Iboga Records.
With their electronic music roots going all the way back to the early 90´s, the guys have helped pioneer the genres “Progressive Psy-Trance” and “Scandinavian Trance” and have for years released music on their main labels Iboga Records and Digital Structures.
We have worked together a lot before and we thought it was time to make something together as all three of us enjoy the analogue sounds of “old school” Scandinavian trance.
Emok comes from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Filip & Fredrik from Malmoe, Sweden. The two cities are very near one another so it was natural for them to get together in the studio. After some wild discussions, studio sessions, gigs and lots of beers, they came to the conclusion that they had something special and unique to give the scene and they decided to form a new project together, and Critical Choice was born.
The Critical Choice sound incorporates the big old analogue sound that the trio all know and love. This foundation is blended with the emotion of the old Goa trance and techno that they grew up with, with a fresh new production incorporating unique musical ideas.
Critical Choice focuses on creating a magical live-act performance, employing an array of keyboards, controllers, effects, drum machines, and more. Expressing themselves live is always a great way to try out new ideas, while interacting with the crowd on the dance floor provides seeds for musical ideas that can be incorporated into future productions.