Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean formed in the Netherlands in 1993, when Lex van Coeverden and René van der Weijde built a track around a rolling organ arpeggio, a bed of pads and a breakbeat that refused to sit still. They called it “Waterfall.”

It started life as an instrumental on Eastern Bloc in the UK and Pegasus in the Netherlands, and it spread the way records did then — through club plays, white labels and word of mouth. By February 1994 it had entered the UK singles chart, peaking at number 22 and staying for twelve weeks. On the UK dance chart it reached number 2.

What followed was a run of singles that kept the duo on British radio through the mid-nineties: “Body in Motion” went top 20 in the summer of 1994, “Music Is a Passion” arrived that November, and “The Cycle of Life” landed in 1997. A remixed “Waterfall” returned to the chart in November 1996, peaking one place higher than the original.

The record never really stopped moving. It has been reworked more than sixty times over three decades — by ATB, Woody van Eyden, Peter Parker, Dave Moreaux, Dennis Quin and, most recently, Dr Packer — and it turns up across the Ministry of Sound compilation series. Lemon Jelly sampled it on ’64–’95, naming the track simply “’93.”

The EPs — Lorelei, Pegasus, Set You Free, Trance-Atlantis — remain the closest thing to a map of where the duo were heading.