I don't normally make mixes. At least, not for public consumption. I can count on one hand the number of mixes I've made that weren't intended for friends or girlfriends (they make great Valentine's gifts. Far better than cards and chocolate).

Those of you who've known me for a long time are well aware of my feelings on trance. The common misconception is that I hate it. But truth be known, I don't hate what trance is -- I hate what it's become. It's my understanding that I received a lot of flack on this site for that opinion..... which has slowly transmogrified into agreement over the years (and something I accurately predicted would happen).

So, in preparation for Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music v3 which will be coming out soon, I'll be releasing a series of homely-crafted mixes on what I feel is the purest essence of a particular genre.... starting with trance.

This is mostly an experimental set, first and foremost. I joked one time that it would be great to see a trance set deliver 40 records in 80 minutes like house, hip hop and techno megamixes do. Also, I despise breakdowns. Any DJ who kills the momentum with a 1-minute+ lull in the music needs a serious cockpunch.

So I decided to make a set of what I consider to be pure trance. This is a set of (mostly) trance anthems, without the tedious breakdowns (and mostly without the anthems). The beat keeps bumping, the momentum keeps moving, everything pushes forward, like it should be. Repetitive, but addictive.

You can listen to the mix here.

This mix is also a chronicle of the history of mainform European trance, starting with the early proto-trance records in 1989 and gradually moving to the modern super mega anthems of the 2000s, so you can see how it's evolved.

Tracklist:
You don't get one. I want you to think of this mix as a conceptualized whole rather a bunch of loosely stitched together stand alone tracks, so no pre-perusing. This mix is greater than the sum of its parts. Nothing obscure is used -- it uses tracks that Oakenfold typically played in the 90s and what Armin would normally play today, but with a twist. Any longtime trance fan should be able to identify most of the tracks used.

You are free to trainspot what you can (heh). For the record, it is a 99 minute set using 44 tracks.


(I may post a tracklist if there's an overwhelming request...but really, you TAs shouldn't need one).