Hey all, I just read this post (http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=425924&forumid=1&s=), and I have to say, I agree with some things John is saying, but I also disagree with some of it. I will preface this statement by saying, John is a good friend of mine who I've worked with extensively in the past. I have the utmost respect for him, and hence I think I'm qualified to disagree with him.

quote:

“The meaning of trance has been trashed,” John 00 Fleming tells Beatportal. With a DJ career spanning 20 years, there are few people out there more qualified than him to comment on the current state of trance. “In the UK trance has become a commercial commodity and magazines and clubs are guilty of turning it into pop music.” Never one to shy away from speaking out, John 00 Fleming is likely to upset a few folk – but J00F thinks sod it, it’s about time someone stands their ground and says what needs to be said. “When trance first emerged in 1990 it was pure,” says John. “But now it’s very difficult to find real trance – there’s so much music out there now that is labeled as trance, but how anyone can call it trance I don’t know.”

While I do agree that the majority of commercial or popular music is mostly garbage, I don't think you can really just clasify it as blanket statement just pertaining to trance music. Look at every genre of music, hip hop, rock, edm, whatever. The majority of the shit that rises to the top is, well shit. It's always been that way. Even with trance music. In the early 90s when I first started listening to it, you always had underground (read not discovered yet) music that was pushing the boundries and the artists who have been discovered rehashing the same formula that got them discovered. What makes an artist a long time success is the ability to evolve their music, to challenge the assumptions of what their music is supposed to be and to follow what they want to do - not what they think they should do.

Because of that I whole heartedly agree with John's statement that artists should follow what their hearts and not what they THINK they should be doing. I've always tried to do this, and always tried to encourage my fellow producers to do the same. What I don't agree with is a blanket assumption that because people are in the top 40s that they don't follow their hearts and that they aren't passionate about their music. I have never in my life met a musician that wrote a song just because they thought they should do it. Sure someone might have a sound that's commericially viable, but I'd find it hard to believe that people will spend 40+ hours working on a song just because they think it will sell. You can't do that. You have to have some passion for your music or you get bored writing it.

quote:

According to the online dictionary answers.com the word trance means ‘the condition of being so lost in solitary thought as to be unaware of one’s surroundings…a hypnotic, cataleptic, or ecstatic state.’ The term trance first came into common usage in dance music as a way to describe the type of electronic music that was emerging in underground clubs in the early 1990s – it was so powerful that it actually induced a trance-like state. As John 00 Fleming explains: “It got named trance because you got completely lost in a wonderland of music. “People tranced out and got lost in musical bliss. “That’s what trance used to mean, but now it means a cheesy vocal, an obvious breakdown and a rubbish video.”

I still have no problem finding good trance music, you just have to look in different places. For the longest time I always looked at the psy scene to give me the most cutting edge music, but these days I find myself pretty bored with most of the music coming out of that scene. Not that it's bad, just that I'm bored of it. I find that in the psy scene, most of the most cutting edge music is being done by the likes of the slower, deeper, more progressive style. Specifically I think the influence of electro as a sound has really made for some ass kicking progressive trance, but then again - that's just my personal taste. Music is subjective really, and that's my whole point. While John may be frustrated that he can't find that specific sound he's looking for anymore, alot of us have had that same experience. I'd just encourage him and anyone else to keep looking, and to look in places you wouldn't normally expect. One of my favorite tracks this year, I found on a progressive house label in the states. It's a sick sick sick prog / electro / trancey stomper by Audio Junkies. (check it out on Electric Candy).

quote:

Hippy ideals? Maybe, but the fact is unlike techno, drum & bass or house, trance creates a direct emotional response in the right environment. In a dark club that has a highly charged atmosphere complete with dance music’s eternal friends – the obvious stimuli of light and sound – trance can make you feel lost. It’s like the sun setting, except you can reach out and touch it. But the odd British culture of bandwagon jumping has ruined the trance scene in the country.

I can't really comment on British culture, since I'm a yankee bastard, but what I can say is that trance isn't any more unique than any other music genre. Trance might be what gets you into that state of bliss for some, but for others its drum n' bass, ambient, hip hop, whatever. I think it's kind of ignorant to assume trance music is the only genre that does it, cuz that's just not the case. Whoever decided to start classifying music into genres really did the entire world of music a large disservice.

Trance music has it's ups and its downs just like any other genre. I remember in the mid 90s when progressive anthemy trance got really popular, and i got really sick of it. That's when I started looking for some different stuff, and really found and fell in love with goa/psy trance. The point is, someone is always doing somethin unique, its just harder to find sometimes rather than others.

quote:

“If anything, I want this interview to encourage producers to make music they love, from the heart. “That is the key to the survival of trance music.”

This is great advice, but I would say it's the key to the evolution of music as a whole - and not just something that applies to trance music.

___________________
aka Jay Selway
myspace.com/jayselwaymusic

upcoming
Jay Selway & Magnus - Big Break [Pharmacy Music]
Jay Selway & Magnus - Light [Mikrokosmos]
Vibrasphere - Autumn Lights (Jay Selway & Magnus Remix) [JOOF]
Christopher Lawrence - Gotham (Jay Selway & Magnus Remix) [Audacious]
Jay Selway & Magnus - Stronghold [Ministry of Sound]

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Last edited by cyzum on Aug-02-2007 at 12:58