this could be a topic of discussion, but i've gone through and through my trance collection of the years and have realized the trance music of today is nothing like it once was.
what seems to be gone is the uplifting progressive trance that made trance so popular. along with this the vocal and melodic trance mixes seem to be a way of the past. everybody it seems that i speak to agree that the music of today seems to be watered down from what it once was.
no wonder why we strive to goto parties that only play music from 2001 and earlier.
May-19-2010 20:14
xtr3m
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Vancouver
Services like Beatport resulting in an explosion of cookie cutter crap that's called 'trance' today. 95% of that stuff wouldn't see light if labels had to release it on vinyl or even CD's.
Sounds like every other Sean Tyas track. If that's ok with you though, more power to you.
Basically what has happened is back in the early 2000's, the "trance explosion" jettisoned several DJs to superstar status. With this status came a large fan base, with that came money. They realized this music was extremely accessible and with the assistance of ecstasy, pulling people into their fold was a snap. They all then began pushing out the same cookie cutter music that makes the trance fans go wild. This is still happening today as basically the same big name DJs top the rankings for trance, and it's been that way for years with little shift.
Then it backfired. To the fans and to them (probably) this is no issue, as they just looooove their saws and breakdowns, but to the rest of the electronic music world, it became a sideshow carnival. These big name DJs basically set the standards for the scene, established a bunch of unwritten rules, and from then on, bedroom producers and DJs that got excited by this music decided they had to emulate their heroes to make it. Making it usually entails getting their track played on a radio show such as ASOT.
So basically, what has happened, is for the last 7 years or so the entire genre of trance has stagnated. There is no innovation occurring, no new ideas, nothing really of any technical value other than DJs using new equipment and the productions becoming increasingly sterile, but people still love it, because hey, it's pretty accessible. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, it's just boring and contrived.
