Nice to have stumbled across this thread. I am often wondering what happened to the trance I knew and loved…I know sounds move on, but it’s not just an evolution of the sound with the balearic and uplifting trance of the late 90s (I am from Europe), it’s a complete confusion of name changes.
These days, “trance” gives me a lot of vocal, big room and – someone said this before – formulaic tunes. I like above and beyond, for example, but I far prefer the stuff from their sublabel AnjunaDeep, than from AnjunaBeats. The “uplifting” goosebump-giving sound that I miss has now been renamed “progressive house”. There are a few niche places to find stuff like this, but the artists are few and far between; Shingo Nakamura is this teenager from Japan or Korea or something, he has real potential. Recently I found some things by Mizar B, Lessov, Walter Fierce and others, but although I find it easy to stay in touch with all the other scenes – be it house, disco, dubstep or DnB – Trance seems to have been relegated into shady YouTube channels filled with unknowns.
When you do find it, like on some of the John Digweed “transitions” podcasts, it’s sandwiched between a load of other, albeit quality, non-trance. Why?
I am currently listening to Walter Fierce – Memories of Tomorrow (Kid Broke Likes it Cosmic Mix) and this is a piece of genius; unique synths, good and driving, and nothing too mental. I just wish I could find a reliable set of compilations to stick on and know that most tunes would be of this calibre.
First post on DDJT 🙂
@Xeva – that conv with Darey is a touch! Nice one!
