Born 1981

1981-1988
Absolutely nothing except really background music in 1980's video games.

1988-1993
Again, very little and didn't really care for most music. Mainstream pop mainly, I liked Kylie and Dannii Minogue.

1993-1995
In June 1993 one of my cousins was into what I knew at the time as "Techno" from Germany which was actually the early form of German trance by the likes of Kid Paul, Jam & Spoon, The Visions Of Shiva, Sven Vath etc. I initially didn't like any of this when I first heard it but he gave me a tape and tried to convince me that this was good. After being stuck at him with some shitty weather that summer I decided to have a few listens few the tape and the beautiful sound of what turned out to be The Visions Of Shiva - Perfect Day, Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (Kid Paul Mix), Humate - Love Stimulation (Lovemix by PvD), Cosmic Baby - Heavens Tears was something I really liked. Living several hundred KM away from my cousins it wasn't easy to see them very often so all I had was this cassette tape with this style of music I really liked which I rather vaguely knew as "techno" and had absolutely nothing else to go on to actually find out what the hell this was, I found myself constantly listening to this tape for months and months. In late 1994, I was looking at electronica albums in a shop when I found a "Logic Trance" compilation in which I was allowed to listen to in the shop, the sound of the music instantly rung a bell and when I heard the Kid Paul Mix of Cafe Del Mar on there I bought it instantly. I searched for more stuff by the artists who had tracks on this CD when and got Cosmic Baby's album "Thinking About Myself" and the track "Fantasia" on it became one of my all time favourites.

1995-1996
By the point of Summer 1995 after hearing Grace - Not Over Yet I started following releases along Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto label and my tastes from listening to the German Trance had broadened towards the UK style trance. I got Transa - Prophase with the X Cabs Remix One in April 1996 and played it literally every day till the Summer. Aged 15, I was speding all the money my mum gave me at the end of the week on CD singles.

1996-1998
Listening to LOTS of UK made Epic Trance/Progressive Trance on the Perfecto, Hooj, Platipus and Xtravaganza labels and buying nearly all the releases on CD. I also liked the more mainstream side of Trance such as "Seven Days & One Week" and "Flash" by BBE.

1998+
Not much has changed, still listening to every style of electronic music I was listening to in the previous years. But those years were really the rise of Dutch and "Anthem" trance when Ferry Corsten and the likes started to really shine in productions. I was also listening to a little bit of this before but not so much. Nowadays I'm finding myself back-collecting more and more old stuff that I missed back in the day as I feel that a lot of Trance they're making now doesn't have the "soul" of the old trance. I'm currrently searching for older Barry Jamieson and Johnathan Sutton aka Evolution and Andy Ling productions. Would also like to hear more stuff from Lee Milleare and John Horrocks aka Amethyst. Though for new stuff I especially like Lemon 8 stuff and the Hemstock & Jennings, Steve Gibbs and Solar Stone trance. I do also like some cheesy vocal trance they're making these days, and am not not afraid to admit it.

Fuck, that took ages.