quote:

Originally posted by Floorfiller i know a LOT of people are gonna disagree with this but i have to say... Delirium - Silence (DJ Tiesto's In Search Of Sunrise Mix) ever since that tune...trance as slowly been deteriorating because i think it put the idea that "hey lets just make a huge super saw synth" in everyone's heads in attempts to mimic the success of tiesto's remix. from then on out, people started trying to make these melodies that were a little too overdone and ridiculous and took focus away from more important things like rhythm and flow... it totally put the wrong ideas in young producers and trance listeners and killed the genre...

+1 (and i'm a Tiesto fan lol)

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Tiesto Tracklist Archive - Independently Online

what track(s) can we blame for the start of the mcprog/ASOT revolution?

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This is trance...
Jose Amnesia - The Eternal (Pulser Remix) / Chicane - Saltwater / Photon Project - Illumination / Gouryella - Tenshi / Altitude - Altitude (SHOKK Remix) / Rank 1 - Airwave / The Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia (En Motion Mix)

quote:

Originally posted by eRRaTiK what track(s) can we blame for the start of the mcprog/ASOT revolution?

i'd say...

Holden & Thompson - Nothing


great great song...but everyone loved it so much they tried and copy that sound and they sucked at it...

anything where lyrics overshadow the tune itself .... like that stupid ridgewalkers - find ....

im an out and out armin fan but hes starting to head the oakenfold way slowly as he become more popular by cramming out such lyrically infected rubbish ... last time in toronto he redeemed himself but only time will tell ..

btw there still some pure trance artists out there like chris lawrence, joof and marcel woods

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0915 Rythm and Flow, I am definately not in the majority when it comes to this music. I was always attracted to this style for the synthplay and the repitition, which I always enjoyed mainly because it would allow me to hear a neat noise more than once. The recent move from synthplay in EDM is what causes me alot of sadness. Everything is all about small blips and hits, the idea beaing that those create an environment more conducive to dancing than the wild unreal melodies and synths. I came to this music for the overdone melodies which as I have learned over the years is not what most of the other people came for. Dont get me wrong I enjoy a skillfully crafted rythm but I have always felt like the meat was the synthplay and the rest was just a fun little garnish. I am the opposite of most everybody is seems, most people feel that synthplay can just be completely removed and it makes the music better. Which was why I never took to enjoying prog or techno or most house music. Something about how a sequence of numbers could incite an emotion always fascinated me, but everybody else seems to be more interested in synchronization. But I find that the synthplay I once enjoyed is gone now, I no longer hear wild unreal sounds that only machines can create, I just hear the same noises over and over, perhaps there are no more possibilities for fun electronic noises, maybe this is why people are only enjoying rythm and bass these days. I guess I have been functioning off of these totaly wrong ideas the entire time and that is why the new cool styles have alienated me. Even the old "better" songs had alot of synthplay in them, granted they werent quite so sing songy, but there was a pleasant balance between drumming and synthing, now days I find that drumming has become much more prevalent than synthesizing, and yes I am aware that drums are also considered as synthesizing but drums mostly sound the same to me and the synthplay I remember always seemed to have more variety in it, until maybe 2002 or so. I just dont think that a oneshot beat has the same beauty in it as a continuos noise. Maybe I should have gotten into ambient instead, unfortunately I like energetic synthplay, is there a different genre I might feel more at home with than epic trance? I cant force myself to enjoy prog and techno and the other drummy boomy styles, they sound like they dont have any real feeling or inspiration in them to me. I guess I was just never a big drum loving guy, but the energy that radiates from dance music still managed to attract me somehow(the 4/4 beat is friggin perfect for doing this). I have tried branching out into so many other styles recently only to find myself still unsatisfied, I get bored by brooding prog music, I get annoyed at twinkly prog music, techno makes me feel like I am stuck in traffic, I find IDM too awkward, DnB and breaks are enjoyable in small doses but I find that most of that music is quite obnoxious, trance was my happy medium for everything for such a long time but I cant find good trance anymore either. I am getting a bit desperate for enjoyable music, and it seems more and more that the bulk of the EDM crowd is not interested in the things that I am interested in, but I dont know where else to go to find the sounds that I like. Everything outside of EDM seems to come in 3 minute chunks and I like them longer. I bet by reading this post you can deduce that I am not much of a dancer. gawd damnit this thing grew into another essay, I am so sorry guys but please read it and help me find what I am looking for.

I'd say give GOA a try.. sure it's more tripped out and "hard" melodically.. but I'm sure you'll enjoy the synthplay.

But I don't think we can blame a certain song or producer for the whole shit of a scene we have nowadays. Although there are some real good points in this thread but in my opinion it's the producers fault for not being creative enough to begin with and trying to copy shit off instead of innovating or inventing. Seriously .. shitty producers = shitty releases (from money hungry labels) = shitty dj plays = viola you have a shitty scene.

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Music for your Mind

quote:

Originally posted by Floorfiller i'd say... Holden & Thompson - Nothing great great song...but everyone loved it so much they tried and copy that sound and they sucked at it...

Really, you think? I'd have to say most, if not all of the Ozgur Can, Benz & MD, Leama & Moor, and Markus Schulz productions that came out around the beginning or so of 2004 I would credit the most for the whole influx of mcprog and the watered-down twinkly "progressive" sound. Not to mention, that is right about the time when both the GDJB and ASOT radio shows skyrocketed in popularity and started to get whored day in and day out here on TA. Then, I noticed towards late 2004 and early 2005, every producer and their dog decided to hop on the bandwagon and the resulting music over the last year and a half has been, well, quite lackluster and uninspiring (at least in the now so-called "prog" style).

Oh, if you want a specific track per say, I'd go with:

Markus Schulz pres. Elevation - Clear Blue

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"...the major problem in the past was to locate the settings of the ancient plastic city. referring to our latest findings plastic city wasn't a city built of stone or metal but more kind of built out of ideas.... (PLASTIC CITY) can't be found by our archaeologists. we will have to examine the ideas and then try to re-construct plastic city in out minds..." (EXCERPT FROM "SCIENTIST REPORT NETWORK" #12.587, YEAR 2495)

anything ferry corsten has made in the last two years

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Intrigue Markus Schulz pres. Elevation - Clear Blue

I agree on this one. Here trance really started getting boring.
A real turning point.

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My new oldskool TRANCE mix!

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Intrigue Really, you think? I'd have to say most, if not all of the Ozgur Can, Benz & MD, Leama & Moor, and Markus Schulz productions that came out around the beginning or so of 2004 I would credit the most for the whole influx of mcprog and the watered-down twinkly "progressive" sound. Not to mention, that is right about the time when both the GDJB and ASOT radio shows skyrocketed in popularity and started to get whored day in and day out here on TA. Then, I noticed towards late 2004 and early 2005, every producer and their dog decided to hop on the bandwagon and the resulting music over the last year and a half has been, well, quite lackluster and uninspiring (at least in the now so-called "prog" style). Oh, if you want a specific track per say, I'd go with: Markus Schulz pres. Elevation - Clear Blue

what i meant was that i think that the sound that the people you mentioned were attempting to mimic was first successful and rightfully so in Holden & Thompson - Nothing. i think, like tiesto remix of silence, that holden's track at the time was great and was so wonderful people wanted to make something similar...so i just think that is where they got the idea to make the super reverbed twinkly stuff...holden did it right and when he did it...it was fresh and new and then all the people you named are the people that overkilled it and made it mcprog...

but i still think they were trying to create a sound similar to that of holden at the time...

quote:

Originally posted by Floorfiller what i meant was that i think that the sound that the people you mentioned were attempting to mimic was first successful and rightfully so in Holden & Thompson - Nothing. i think, like tiesto remix of silence, that holden's track at the time was great and was so wonderful people wanted to make something similar...so i just think that is where they got the idea to make the super reverbed twinkly stuff...holden did it right and when he did it...it was fresh and new and then all the people you named are the people that overkilled it and made it mcprog... but i still think they were trying to create a sound similar to that of holden at the time...

Ok, I see what you're talking about. I thought you meant which tracks initially started using the watered-down twinkly sound, not the tracks of possible influence for the current mcprog movement.

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"...the major problem in the past was to locate the settings of the ancient plastic city. referring to our latest findings plastic city wasn't a city built of stone or metal but more kind of built out of ideas.... (PLASTIC CITY) can't be found by our archaeologists. we will have to examine the ideas and then try to re-construct plastic city in out minds..." (EXCERPT FROM "SCIENTIST REPORT NETWORK" #12.587, YEAR 2495)

quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0915

quote:

Rythm and Flow, I am definately not in the majority when it comes to this music. I was always attracted to this style for the synthplay and the repitition, which I always enjoyed mainly because it would allow me to hear a neat noise more than once. The recent move from synthplay in EDM is what causes me alot of sadness. Everything is all about small blips and hits, the idea beaing that those create an environment more conducive to dancing than the wild unreal melodies and synths. I came to this music for the overdone melodies which as I have learned over the years is not what most of the other people came for. Dont get me wrong I enjoy a skillfully crafted rythm but I have always felt like the meat was the synthplay and the rest was just a fun little garnish. I am the opposite of most everybody is seems, most people feel that synthplay can just be completely removed and it makes the music better. Which was why I never took to enjoying prog or techno or most house music. Something about how a sequence of numbers could incite an emotion always fascinated me, but everybody else seems to be more interested in synchronization.

A BIG +1 to your statements mate!!!

True, synthplay and quality melodies is the only thing that matters, who cares about blips and booms anyway! If you feel that nowadays "trance" doesn't musically "covers" you or is not doing it for you anymore, perhaps... maybe its time to move away from EDM and start searching a bit for more melodic styles in general. Now im sure that there would be a lot of stuff you could like if you want energetic and powerfull emotional synth-lines so... why not try the following album:

M83-"Before The Dawn Heals Us".
Its an album under the label "post-rock/experimental" but for me its much more than that!It has collosal reverbed quitar lines and synths alltogether and generally it is quite spacey, trippy and emotional. They have described as a cross between a shoegazer rock group called my bloody valentine and ulrich schnauss. Actually, it is like a more energetic and artistic ulrich schnauss. If you haven't heard of the later artist than same on you! Its almost like layered and complicated trance with no 4/4 rhythms. Ulrich schnauss is generally known to create a quite beautifull melodic "big room ambient" music.Try the following albums:
Ulrich Schnauss- "Far-Away Trains Passing-By"
Ulrich Schnauss- "A Strangely Isolated Place"

Because i've mentioned the label "post-rock before, well... its generally a quite strange-but-good type of rock which actually doesn't sound at all like...rock! Well yes it's played with quitars and yes it has energetic drum play blah blah blah but its deadly melodic (almost ambient sometimes)its very "orchestrated"(layered, symphonic) and almost always voiceless(they don't sing!). Typical examples are:
Godspeed You Black Emperor!-" Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven" (Loooong complicated symphonic tunes)
Mogwai- "Happy Songs For Happy People" (Quite good)
Explosions In The Sky- "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place" (almost ambient played with quitars BUT with energetic dramatic crescendos) although , a very very strange band that has made a large impression on arty circles lately its a band from iceland called Sigur Ros. Very very strange music. Typical resposes after listening can be as follows
"This is boring and strange crap"
or "This is angelic music made by non-human beings!"
Try listening to samples in amazon or their website: www.Sigur-ros.is

Their latest album "Takk" is simply an outstanding piece of art in my opinion although their previous efforts "( )" and "Ageatis Byrjun" are also good.
Because we mentioned a lot of rock bands and abandoned synth lines well, why not try the grandfothers of trance? Im talking about Vangelis, Jean Michael Jarre and Klaus Schulze! They have Big symphonic synth-lines and romantic melodies as good trance is supposed to have: Here are some reccomendations:

Vangelis: "Opera Sauvage" (My all time favorite synth-album!)
Vangelis: "Blade Runner OST" (An absolute must. Contains Blade Runner end-titles anthem!)
Vangelis: "Voices"
Vangelis" "Direct" (A very good synth-album")
Vangelis: "Antarktis OST" (another good synthy soundtrack)
and of course the forst two trance albums made in the 70s!
Vangelis: "Albeido 0.39" and "Spiral"
Of course Jarre's work
Jean Michael Jarre: "Oxygene", "Equinoxe"(His best album in my opinion), "Rendezvouz", "Magnetic Fields". They all contain energetic synth-play!
If you want to explore minimalistic powerfull melodic music (trance is like that you know. ) why not go further and explore 20th century minimalistic symphonic (classical) music that started it all! Steve Reich actually( a famous composer)made music that sounded like making trance (and sometimes techno!) played by a real orchestra. Try:
Steve Reich-"Different Trains"
Steve Reich-"Early Works"
Philip Glass-"Qoyanisqatsi"
Philip Glass- "Symphonies no.2 and 3"
Philip Glass- "Glassworks"
John Adams-"On The Transmigration of Souls"

Well, there i gave you some more avant-gardy solutions to trance and EDM in general. Well you know i used to like trance very much and i kinda found myself in a similar position. I feel that the genres i mention have something in common. Try Amazon or other places for samples of these things! Good luck in further musical explorations.