http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.p...831&IssueNum=45

04-15-04


It’s been a long strange trip for trance – that ultra-fast, ultra-melodic mainstay of after-hours dancing – and now it’s back again, bigger than ever. Some had the genre pegged as a fad when it came and went in the late ’90s, and critics derided its soulless synth crescendos and candy-craving crowds. Little did they know that the seeds were planted for a second wave, led by young Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren as well as first-wave mainstays Tiesto and Ferry Corsten.

Trance went from being a German offshoot of Detroit techno in the early ’90s, to a hippie, trippy scene in India and California in the mid-’90s, to the synonym for big-city raving in the late ’90s. By 1999, trance mix-CDs were dance music’s hottest sellers, and now they’re back on top. Except this time, trance is cleaning up its act. Fans seem to be trading in their glow sticks for Armani Exchange fashion. Superstar DJ Paul Van Dyk is stumping for Rock the Vote and encouraging ravers to be conscious of the world around them. Dutch trance producer Corsten is creating more refined, Timo Maas-style progressive house and “nu skool” breaks. And second-wave poster child Van Buuren is a one-man empire, running a successful record label, Armada, touring the globe at a pace of 120 dates a year, and signing a worldwide, 50-date contract with club giant Godskitchen, which recently bought America’s Spundae chain of party nights. (Judging by what top DJs get paid – and Van Buuren is widely regarded as a global top-fiver in terms of popularity – all that should put him in the millionaire’s club, if he’s not already there.)

“I’m a second-generation trance DJ,” Van Buuren says. “I grew up listening to Carl Cox and Sven Vath, a creative overdose that created a good vibe. In Holland, they had a really good dance culture. The government was open to raves and parties.”

His shiny young mug is the new face of trance, more club than rave, more dressed up than down, less ecstatic, but always melodic. The U.K.’s influential, baggy-pants-wearing “Gatecrasher kids” of yore have given way to the sexy, body-conscious Godskitchen girls of today, and Van Buuren is their Dutch Elvis. His new mix-CD, A State of Trance 2004, is surprisingly muted, with tougher, progressive beats; crisp, simple keys; wispy vocals; and little of the operatic, arpeggio synth storms of the past.

“Arpeggio riffs are so over,” says the 27-year-old as he sips a Heineken at the hotel Sofitel, “and still what I play is trance.”

His productions, including the angelic vocal track “Burned With Desire” (featured on A State of Trance), are driven more by solid, funky drums and basic chord structures than the after-effects that dominated the scene only five years ago.

Putting together the two-disc collection, including choosing tracks and mixing them on CD turntables, “was like giving birth,” Van Buuren says. He uses some modern software synths and sequencers, but his studio style remains surprisingly old-school, with the ’80s-era Roland TR-909 drum machine still the heart of his operation. He works from the drums up, and is very loop-happy. “I can never get rid of the 909,” he says. “It has that drive that everybody still uses.”

Van Buuren grew up in Amsterdam, the son of a stern father who nonetheless exposed him to the glory of music. “He used to play a lot of progressive music,” the DJ says. “My dad’s a classical-music fanatic. I regularly woke up to loud music – Kitaro, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, progressive from the ’70s.”

But, Van Buuren admits, his dad is not too impressed with his stuff. “I think I don’t challenge him enough. But my goal is to create something I like. I love creating. I love recording. The music I make, I make it for myself.”

Indeed, Van Buuren’s loving the trance life, even if his father doesn’t entirely approve. He globe-hops to perform in packed clubs. (Earlier this month, he drew a capacity Spundae crowd of 1,800, with hundreds reportedly turned away – typical of the reaction he gets.) Earns thousands for a few hours of playing records. Has up-and-coming artists handing him music fresh from the studio. And gets half-dressed women asking to pose for photos with him. What’s not to like?

Hoping to keep this trance on top, Van Buuren has some heartfelt advice for kids aspiring to be headliners of the future.

“Make sure it’s original,” he says. “I can’t stress that enough. The answer is not in other people’s records. It’s in yourself.”