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CBM - Voltaic - good old fashioned trance?

surely this is what its all about?

Nice track, heard it both on GTG and Rush Hour

still has that undeniable whiff of new trance about it, but i guess it's probably better than most of the shit flying around these days.

here's a better example of new good old fashioned trance... has that 2003 sound, and i think you'd be hard pushed to identify any elements in the track that would betray that. the other track screams 2013 on the other hand.

Fucking crap tracks, this is better

Agree with Rubez, sounds too much like the new crap, nothing special about it. That track Rubez posted, btw, uses the melody from the movie, 28 Day Later, if I recall aright.

Okay, this is going to be a rant, but it encapsulates a lot of what I've been feeling about this "real underground trance" thing that everyone bangs on about.

I think people are so starved of good trance that whenever they come across something that isn't horrendous cheddar and sounds halfway deep or restrained they get over-excited and start hyping what would be seen as a very average track if it came out 10 years ago. I know you've got a vested interest, Jules, as you're pushing yourself as a Real Underground Trance DJ, but a lot of these prog-psy tunes you dig up and rave about are actually very bland.

I found myself getting sucked into this same J00F-inspired narrative of "real trance is coming back" a couple of years ago and I started going to trance events as much as possible again. I saw J00F about 8 times and Airwave 3 times in the space of a year. I bought a lot of psy-ish tracks and spent a lot of time digging in that sound. And eventually I realised that I was just fighting for scraps, and I was giving far too much credence to uninteresting records just because they were trance. It's much like how as a teenager I'd be much more forgiving of sci-fi shit because it was my niche interest that appealed to my particular niche identity. Actually, a lot of what I was spending time on was shit, and a lot of this trance is just shit. Just because it's a bit darker or less overtly cheesy doesn't mean it's actually any good.

There's really no need to obsess over this "trance" word anymore, because unlike the dark days of click 'n hiss minimal and tech, there's actually loads of great house and techno being made right now, and you can go see it with your mates and hundreds of people will be there and everyone will know what the fuck you're talking about when you mention tunes and DJs. Everyone in the "serious trance scene" is just as ignorant, close-minded and uneducated as in the Armin world, the music is still predominantly wank and hardly anyone turns up to the parties.

The funny thing is, on NYE I was unexpectedly treated to two local DJs bust out a prog classics set in a warehouse basement. Chable, Holden, Breeder, Hybrid - all that shit. I was blown away by how good it was, not because the DJs did anything special but because that era of prog/trance was just fantastic, and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of great records being made. This vacuous chuggy prog-psy coming out now filled with endless whooshes and side-chained white noise washes just doesn't compare. The halcyon days of trance and prog was a great period but it's over now, just as minimal is over and this bass-y deep house thing will be over. Just stop being deluded and move on, because there's great music elsewhere. There's no need to scrape the barrel for anything left with the word "trance" attached to it.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J The halcyon days of trance and prog was a great period but it's over now, just as minimal is over and this bass-y deep house thing will be over. Just stop being deluded and move on, because there's great music elsewhere. There's no need to scrape the barrel for anything left with the word "trance" attached to it.

I prefer fighting a futile crusade at taking the name "trance" back for the hypnotic, melodic techno being produced these days, even if it is a hopeless cause.

- the time are changing

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Okay, this is going to be a rant, but it encapsulates a lot of what I've been feeling about this "real underground trance" thing that everyone bangs on about. I think people are so starved of good trance that whenever they come across something that isn't horrendous cheddar and sounds halfway deep or restrained they get over-excited and start hyping what would be seen as a very average track if it came out 10 years ago. I know you've got a vested interest, Jules, as you're pushing yourself as a Real Underground Trance DJ, but a lot of these prog-psy tunes you dig up and rave about are actually very bland. I found myself getting sucked into this same J00F-inspired narrative of "real trance is coming back" a couple of years ago and I started going to trance events as much as possible again. I saw J00F about 8 times and Airwave 3 times in the space of a year. I bought a lot of psy-ish tracks and spent a lot of time digging in that sound. And eventually I realised that I was just fighting for scraps, and I was giving far too much credence to uninteresting records just because they were trance. It's much like how as a teenager I'd be much more forgiving of sci-fi shit because it was my niche interest that appealed to my particular niche identity. Actually, a lot of what I was spending time on was shit, and a lot of this trance is just shit. Just because it's a bit darker or less overtly cheesy doesn't mean it's actually any good. There's really no need to obsess over this "trance" word anymore, because unlike the dark days of click 'n hiss minimal and tech, there's actually loads of great house and techno being made right now, and you can go see it with your mates and hundreds of people will be there and everyone will know what the fuck you're talking about when you mention tunes and DJs. Everyone in the "serious trance scene" is just as ignorant, close-minded and uneducated as in the Armin world, the music is still predominantly wank and hardly anyone turns up to the parties. The funny thing is, on NYE I was unexpectedly treated to two local DJs bust out a prog classics set in a warehouse basement. Chable, Holden, Breeder, Hybrid - all that shit. I was blown away by how good it was, not because the DJs did anything special but because that era of prog/trance was just fantastic, and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of great records being made. This vacuous chuggy prog-psy coming out now filled with endless whooshes and side-chained white noise washes just doesn't compare. The halcyon days of trance and prog was a great period but it's over now, just as minimal is over and this bass-y deep house thing will be over. Just stop being deluded and move on, because there's great music elsewhere. There's no need to scrape the barrel for anything left with the word "trance" attached to it.

i think your reading a little bit to deeply into things. i like what i like and this tune really stands out to me. i thought id put it up on trance addict because it sounds like golden era progressive trance - listen for yourself and tell me that it sounds even remotely like prog psy or whatever. thats really about it.

im not really following or even buying into the whole trance is coming back thing - its a niche thing and will probably remain that way (underground & mainstream etc). but at least there is a niche now - 4 or 5 years ago there was barely that.
Now - yes - Joof & Airwave are killing it (joofs latest gtg contains only 1 tune that i would call prog psy - the times are changing) - but along with those guys other things are popping up - ben lost and lost language, daniel lesden, simon patterson is coming good- - i dunno its more than scraps to me mate.

im just into the trance sound personally and i get a lot of pleasure out of hearing the new stuff that hits me the same way the old stuff did and sitting in my little garage/studio fiddling with sounds trying to do it myself.

but yeah really the only reason i had in mind when i posted this was that this site is tranceaddict and this is a cracking trance tune imo.

Re: - the time are changing

quote:

Originally posted by Light The Fuse im not really following or even buying into the whole trance is coming back thing

Well, your DJ bio says this:

quote:

Style has always been the major point with Jules. He has spent nearly half a decade in an almost purgatory state as the style of music he finds most enthralling almost disappeared off the face of the earth... The light at the end of the tunnel is arriving quickly for Jules - progressive trance has begun to find its own niche again, the cycles of fashion and music are turning - and this time its in Jules' favour - and he is ready - and this time he comes with skills.

Whether it's as a "niche" or not isn't really relevant to me. Five years ago everyone just said trance was dead in the water but now there's this narrative that it's coming back, which encourages people to try and find these tunes and be overly optimistic about them because they simply can't let the old times go. You're not the only one I've seen do this, to be fair. As I said in my last post, I think you're giving average tunes extra value because they remind you of better records from a better era in the past, not because they're actually very good in their own right. I think it's inevitable you'll disagree though, isn't it?

people have been saying trance is dead from before a decade ago, and the OG's, a decade before that.

i didn't cling too long, as soon as the quality went, so did i - i was however in disbelief for years! returning periodically to see if things had improved, only to find worse and worse records, by producers i was unfamiliar with. it became a totally different thing. i suppose then, the term "trance" does hold a certain power.

what i do is go back and discover records that i've never heard before... believe me, there's tons of shit out there, even for an obssesive track collector like me.

more than 99% of 'trance' records that have come out in the last 7 or so years have been total and absolute guff. i attribute that to the rise of the bedroom producer, from there trance has become a form of pop music for young people.

but there has definitely been excellent records in the field since, i do although wonder who they are for! i suppose it kind of gives me hope, but i don't pedestal medicroity just because that's all there is - because it isn't.

i've always seen the wider genres of dance, of which there is an essentially unlimited supply, as a branch of trance.

here are two fine examples of a great trance records, although they are a couple of years old now

undeniable quality, that i'd have lapped up in the day... enjoy!



06R - Air (Green Martian) by Marnik Bonzai

People have been saying this about since the mid 90's, Trance is more lucrative...it'll never go anywhere if there's money to be made. Also, every generation will produce future producers and purists.

I keep saying this: JOOF should jut get rid of these psy-ish sounds.

Usually, the first hour of his GTG is enjoyable, with a good mix of Progressive and Techno (for Trance DJs :P). But when the turbo mix starts, it's just a load of pathetic crap tunes that sounds like Electro with psy basslines. What the hell? So loud and annoying these days. That vibrating and hypnotic vibe of Psy Trance is completely dead in my opinion.

And yes, i agree with Jack. It seems that 'Underground Trance Scene' is so desperate in making a 'Trance comeback' that every new Airwave tune is the best Trance ever made, according to the scene. Mostly are good though, including those 2 new tracks, Triangle and Tigris & Euphrates. Actually, the last one was stated by JOOF as THE BEST trance ever.

It's sad.

Yeah I heard the latest GTG and thought that was a pretty bold thing to say for all the music he has played...95% of the JOOF stuff released is pretty forgettable for me and the psychedelic stuff put out is abominable.

The last good Trance tune I remember was The Digital Blonde's remix of Point Zero in 2004, which I believe was first heard on J00f's GTG. I was already steering clear of Trance at that point, but that tune still did it for me. His subsequent album was a big disappointment, and the rest is history, as far as I'm concerned.

Prog-psy was pretty cool back in its heyday of 03'-04', but after that it pretty much lost its appeal, as did all subsequent Trance.

Come on guys...none of these tracks sound anything but modern.
Here's something that was released a few months ago by this dude I found on soundcloud. Really nice oldschool vibes.



As for the "when trance died" discussion, trance isn't dead because you've got people such as myself and D'Jack up there still producing in classic styles and mixing older stuff. Is it as commercially successful as it was in the late 90s? Certainly not. But that doesn't mean it's dead. It just means the commercial bandwagoners jumped another ship, and good riddance to them!

There's no easy way to say this, so I won't even try: your music is absolutely terrible, and the kind of cheesy nonsense that ruined the word "trance" in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J There's no easy way to say this, so I won't even try: your music is absolutely terrible, and the kind of cheesy nonsense that ruined the word "trance" in the first place.

So trance was ruined by the mid 90s?

There was bucketloads of great trance being made in the mid-90s by people like Andy Ling and Oliver Lieb, but the road to ruin was already being paved by the pizzicato cheesemongers like DJ Quicksilver whom you seem to adore.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J There was bucketloads of great trance being made in the mid-90s by people like Andy Ling and Oliver Lieb, but the road to ruin was already being paved by the pizzicato cheesemongers like DJ Quicksilver whom you seem to adore.

Well really, then you'd have to blame Faithless for that trend. Their track "Insomnia" was the one that really set that short lived trend off.
I really don't think I'd consider tracks like DJ Crack - Space People, The Alternative Creators - Rave Invention, Komakino - I Can't Stop The Motion, Q-Base - Everlasting, ...the list goes on and on...to be tracks that ruined trance.
I'd give the honor of ruining trance to the likes of early 2000s "progressive trance" types who would make 10 minute long hyper-serious pretentious tunes with drawly corny vocals all the way through.
Pizzi trance was one of the popular styles of the "celebration generation" since at that time, clubbing was simply all about having fun, and that fit with the often "happy" sounds of the genre. Doesn't make it cheesy imo...if you want the definition of cheese, have a listen to Special D, Basshunter, Smile DK, Groove Coverage, DeeDee, Tune Up, etc

In order words, you think this ruined trance:



But this didn't:



I'm sure you'll find a whole lot of support for that opinion 'round these parts.

Perfect title for this awesome track which will be released next month. I bet no-one agrees though, but it still is perfect trance to me:



I'm pretty sure that people who now still like the above, in the mid 90's liked the one below. I'm also pretty sure that some people here who claim to know what decent trance sounds or sounded like, never liked such tracks at all.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J In order words, you think this ruined trance: But this didn't: I'm sure you'll find a whole lot of support for that opinion 'round these parts.

Well, I'm of the "old school raver" mentality...I like fast placed tunes that go somewhere and don't make me listen to the same loop for 4-5 minutes before some new element kicks in.
There's a reason this slow-paced "progressive" stuff gained popularity at the same time everyone credits trance going to shit (though nobody seems to make the connection) and why trance was at its peak in popularity throughout the 90s while the kind of tracks like the ones I mentioned were being made. It's because these kinds of tracks were fun, you could party to them, you wouldn't just stand around with your arms in the air for an hour and a half, tapping your toe as the DJ played some set that was half Sasha tracks for a bunch of pseudo-hipsters that if you mentioned the name "Westbam" would think it was a city near Wales.
This is the kind of thing I'm into...sorry for piss poor quality but you get the idea.

Yes, we all start out like you. Most of us grow out of it.

quote:

Originally posted by kosmotika Well, I'm of the "old school raver" mentality...I like fast placed tunes that go somewhere and don't make me listen to the same loop for 4-5 minutes before some new element kicks in. There's a reason this slow-paced "progressive" stuff gained popularity at the same time everyone credits trance going to shit (though nobody seems to make the connection) and why trance was at its peak in popularity throughout the 90s while the kind of tracks like the ones I mentioned were being made. It's because these kinds of tracks were fun, you could party to them, you wouldn't just stand around with your arms in the air for an hour and a half, tapping your toe as the DJ played some set that was half Sasha tracks for a bunch of pseudo-hipsters that if you mentioned the name "Westbam" would think it was a city near Wales. This is the kind of thing I'm into...sorry for piss poor quality but you get the idea.

The true tranceaddict IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Yes, we all start out like you. Most of us grow out of it.

I don't know what you're doing posting here if you've "grown out of" the ability to enjoy trance.
According to you, what ruined trance was, er...trance itself! Honestly, I don't think you've got the slightest clue what you're talking about and you've got a misconstrued view of what trance is.
You're free to like what you like, but don't try telling me that the guys that practically shaped trance into an actual genre like Gary D, RMB, Ralph Fridge, etc are the types that killed trance. To say that kind of thing is disrespectful to everyone who was a part of the trance culture back then and even to the more modern sounding producers you're into, because without this "cheesy" 90s shit, they would probably never have started making anything at all. At least have some respect for the roots man.
Also, you mentioned Oliver Lieb was making great stuff back then...but isn't this exactly the kind of thing you're ripping on?

quote:

Originally posted by Trance-M Perfect title for this awesome track which will be released next month. I bet no-one agrees though, but it still is perfect trance to me: I'm pretty sure that people who now still like the above, in the mid 90's liked the one below. I'm also pretty sure that some people here who claim to know what decent trance sounds or sounded like, never liked such tracks at all.

For the first one, I like the virus sound and the lead...sounds a bit messy when all the pieces come together. Still, for uplifting trance, it's pretty nice.
As for the second track...first heard that one on Rave Now 4! It still holds up all these years later. Why isn't trance allowed to sound happy anymore? The heart's been ripped straight from it.

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