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| quote: | Originally posted by rattymouse
Greetings all,
I'm new here and do not see a specific forum for those who are complete and total noobs when it comes to trance music. Apologies if I have missed this and am posting in the wrong place.
I have recently discovered trance music and am totally enthralled with it. However, I grew up firmly in the rock world and so have am coming to this art form from this perspective and find it somewhat difficult. My introduction to trance has been through the Sirrius radio shows by Armin Van Buuren and Above and Beyond. From browsing this forum, I get the feeling that I've listened to only "pop" type trance and not the real deal.
I would very much like recommendations on trance music that now has reached "classic" status. In rock music this would like naming The Beatles "Sgt. Peppers", The Rolling Stones, "Beggars Banquet", Led Zepplin "IV", etc.
Often when I find an artist I like they have no albums, just singles. I find it very hard to get traction with an artist when there's just a few singles. I'm an album type listener and so am somewhat floundering at times in my efforts to dive deeper into trance.
Web searches have only taken me so far and so I'm looking to this forum to help me learn more about trance.
Many, many thanks in advance.
RM |
Boy, oh boy, where to start... Great question and here we are 20 years later after the "Golden Years" of trance (arguably). Thing is, you can see and hear tracks being produced today that harken back to the early 00s and, of course, if you follow the rabbit-hole, you will find tracks from the late 90s being influence by early 90s acid house, Chicago House, 80s synthpop, etc... and of course those are influeced by early 80s punk, disco, underground hip hop and house, which in turn was in turn influenced by rock and roll and etc etc etc..
So glad to have you on board. I applaud you for being able to go outside genres. I honestly have the same background where I grew up in mostly hard rock, alternative, grunge etc before I stumbled upon electronic music in 1995. But I think it takes a special listener to appreciate the different genres. Music is universal and affects people in different ways. I still enjoy my classic rock, heavy metal and punk (2 weeks ago I was at the Dropkick Murphys/Flogging Molly show here in Seattle, the next night I was at Solarstone). So I can appreciate the differences in music.
Enough rambling. Here are some posts from this thread that I want to add some color around:
(PS you are # 205,152, welcome to TA)
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Glad you like it. If you can appreciate something that's twenty years old, there is a whole galaxy of music that awaits your exploration.
In all honesty, it's been a long, long time since I tuned in to anything Armin or A&B have played, but I find the stuff being made under the "trance" moniker in 2018 to be very crass, emotionally limited and lacking in any degree of subtlety. On a technical front I also find it really over-produced with far too many layers and no space in the mixdown. To me, trance these days is incredibly shrill and silly.
Of course, trance has never been the coolest genre of electronic music, and its critics down the years would say it's always been emotionally over-blown and overly busy. Even in 1997, there were people in the house, techno or jungle scenes who detested the kind of music PVD is playing in that Essential Mix. And those criticisms are true to some extent. There are big "cheesy" moments in that set as well. What has steadily happened in the 20 years since that era is that these aspects of the music have become amplified and amplified as each generation of musicians tries to raise the bar above their predecessors, and the restraint the older music had - which balanced out the cheesy moments - has long since been lost.
I think it's important with trance to note that this is, to some extent, inherently silly music. However, if you acknowledge that, you can get swept up in its exhilarating rush of sound. The expression I use for this double-think, this surrender to its charm, is "Putting your trance trousers on". Because even melodramatic music can be extremely well made, and the best trance music has some wonderfully complex, unique, twisted sounds in it that never get boring to listen to.
The biggest problem with a lot of trance fans is that they have been guilty of taking it all far too seriously. |
THIS THIS THIS
great post and well said. Its hard to encapsulate in words the vibe & spirit from the early years, but this is the closest I've ever seen written. Much like my brother in law who was a huge Metallica fan back in the late 80s/early 90s and he saw Metallica live with Guns n Rose in 1992.. I've heard his stories and wish I could have been there, but I know the bands arent the same today as they were back then. You just had to "be there"
| quote: | Originally posted by wotyzoid
What?! You skipped one of the best decades if not the best. The birth of House, Techno and Hip-Hop music and era of piping hot Italo Disco, RnB and Electro and just generally good Pop music even. |
This. You will go down a pretty big rabbit-hole with the amount of influences that EDM has.
| quote: | Originally posted by aufenglishbitte
The beauty of electronic music is that if your ear is curious enough, which is likely the case because you're here, you'll always stumble upon gems you haven't heard before - tracks, albums, sets, whatever. You'll start with trance and eventually open other doors. Those pathways will lead to discoveries that deepen your search within this wonderful world. I still consider myself a relatively new listener of electronic music - nearly a decade. While I've sometimes wished I knew about it earlier so I could have danced during the so-called golden years, I love that I have myriad unheard artifacts to uncover. It's an endless stream of sound that never gets tiring to swim in. Just float, and enjoy the ride.
On that note, welcome to TA. Here's my small contribution to the thread. Cheers 
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Great first post AufEnglishbitte! well said and BTW you are TA # 205,149 beating out OP by 3 subscribers!!!
Lastly OP you said you grew up in the 70s/80s? Please check out Jeff Wayne's musical rendition of War of The Worlds. Start with that and move up the ladder.
Cheers
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