some people just don't get it, headstrong if you will.

a "hands-in-the-air" anthem isn't anything to write home about. There is absolutely tons of them, until you see what pretentious garbage they are. What is to put your hands in the air about? Cos some guy changed the sample banks? That's the deviation of most of the "trance" bull thats out anymore.

Look at M.I.K.E., PVD, ARMIN, any of them; they all follow a formula so rigidly that their sound virtually hasn't changed since they began producing. How is that innovative, or artistic, or something to be impressed about? That's stagnating... Their works are very single-minded and, well shallow from a listening perspective.

Some of them are (admittedly) good, but by limiting themselves they are either doing 1 of 2 things:

a.) Suggesting people want to listen to a static music format indefinetely (milking all who follow).

b.) Suggesting that dance music is mainly disposable and it's just the people who give the music a face, not the music (means to an end).

Both of them are frighteningly familiar to the pop formula, hell it's almost a direct copy they have on their hands.

Being categorized as "trance" is probably one of the worst things you can do for your career. There is really little difference between the Ian Van Dahl bullshit that nobody can stand and the "peeveedee" music that only trancers can stand.

Look at any of the successful (sorry, in my opinion) artists that have any sort of trance based sound.

Sasha, Holden, Gabriel and Dresden, Junkie XL, Infusion, Hybrid etc...

these people ARENT LIMITING THEMSELVES TO THE SAME DAMN THING OVER AND OVER. There is inevitably commonalities (For example, G&D tend to make vocal tracks, if you doubt their vocal less production capabilities take a listen to grayarea - one for the road (G&D interstate 5 mix)) in their productions but they are overall eclectic, amd interesting

note: flame away...

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quote:

Venus: And there are troops of savage giraffes whose necks are on fire, like the starry ejaculations of fireworks in the very pale sky of childhood ... Venus: Enter, enter here - men of all kinds and races, victims of reality! You who have the thirst for dreams. ... Venus: You, on life's bitter road, drenched in hard sunlight who have the thirst that once more the dark marvel of dreams...

The Cheeky Girls - Have A Cheeky Christmas

Now there's innovation and originality.

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quote:

Originally posted by SuperFarStucker Look at M.I.K.E., PVD, ARMIN, any of them; they all follow a formula so rigidly that their sound virtually hasn't changed since they began producing. How is that innovative, or artistic, or something to be impressed about? That's stagnating... Their works are very single-minded and, well shallow from a listening perspective.

Compare Push work to Calling 'The Freak' or Dark City tracks and tell me they sound alike.

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Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

Variation people!!

If you listen to trance non-stop, you will most likely get bored. If you listen to progressive non-stop, you will also most likely get bored. However, vary your listening habits, and you will definitely come back to trance or any other genre that you considered "dead" and got tired of three months ago. It's that simple.

Also, if you really love trance as much, don't just fob it off as dead without doing the proper digging. There are enough good and diverse tracks out, but as previously stated, you just have to dig deeper to find them.

Ricky Fobis - No Regular
everything from Detox Recs.
Nu NRG - The Mind
Ferry Corsten - Rock Your Body Rock (F Massif Remix)
Rewinders - Pacific Dance
Miika Kuisma/AR52 productions
J00f stuff
Progresia - Stockholm
The That Mucho-sound

quote:

Look at M.I.K.E...follow a formula so rigidly that their sound virtually hasn't changed since they began producing

Or for that matter:

Calling The Freak - Your Time Is Up
X-Scape - T.E.B.S
new Liquid Overdose production
The Gift - Love Angel (M.I.K.E Remix)

Hell even Benni Benassi deserves a mention here. So there's a list over trance that sounds new and refreshing in my ears, and there's a lot more out there. So start broadening your taste and dig deeper, and you'll see that trance is far from dead, despite the fact that ASOT bores you. And it's funny that I never see any threads on this over prog for instance, since it has exactly the same creativity problem as trance (everything sounds dull and over-used)

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"Wenn du dich zum Untergrund zählst, reicht es nicht, es nur zu sagen. Du musst auch viel graben, um es zu werden."

too meny mediocre club trance

too meny m.i.k.e works
too

music is like fashion and this year it was prog trance.

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James Holden / Katana / Gabriel & Dresden / Sander Kleinenberg / Lemon 8 / Don Diablo / Infusion / Luke Chable / Nathan Fake / Michael Burns / Eric Prydz / Steve Angello / Tomcraft

James Holden is my only GOD!

quote:

Originally posted by Cobalt Aside from a couple productions by Holden, Sasha, Way Out West, and Gabriel and Dresden, progressive trance has been quite dead since 2000.

humm, i would say exactly the opposite, since 2000 there has been loads of good progressive trance tracks.

and i have to agree with trance being most complex nowadays than in 1999. the production quality is definitely better, you can hear more layers and such. but on most cases there is almost no originallity, they just copy the 1999 formula and produce it well.

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sempre contra a corrente do jogo

quote:

Originally posted by Sand Leaper Variation people!! If you listen to trance non-stop, you will most likely get bored. If you listen to progressive non-stop, you will also most likely get bored. However, vary your listening habits, and you will definitely come back to trance or any other genre that you considered "dead" and got tired of three months ago. It's that simple. Also, if you really love trance as much, don't just fob it off as dead without doing the proper digging. There are enough good and diverse tracks out, but as previously stated, you just have to dig deeper to find them. Ricky Fobis - No Regular everything from Detox Recs. Nu NRG - The Mind Ferry Corsten - Rock Your Body Rock (F Massif Remix) Rewinders - Pacific Dance Miika Kuisma/AR52 productions J00f stuff Progresia - Stockholm The That Mucho-sound Or for that matter: Calling The Freak - Your Time Is Up X-Scape - T.E.B.S new Liquid Overdose production The Gift - Love Angel (M.I.K.E Remix) Hell even Benni Benassi deserves a mention here. So there's a list over trance that sounds new and refreshing in my ears, and there's a lot more out there. So start broadening your taste and dig deeper, and you'll see that trance is far from dead, despite the fact that ASOT bores you. And it's funny that I never see any threads on this over prog for instance, since it has exactly the same creativity problem as trance (everything sounds dull and over-used)

yep, that's exactly the kind of trance that i like and sounds like its moving forward.

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sempre contra a corrente do jogo

quote:

Originally posted by Sand Leaper Also, if you really love trance as much, don't just fob it off as dead without doing the proper digging. There are enough good and diverse tracks out, but as previously stated, you just have to dig deeper to find them. Ricky Fobis - No Regular everything from Detox Recs. Nu NRG - The Mind Ferry Corsten - Rock Your Body Rock (F Massif Remix) Rewinders - Pacific Dance Miika Kuisma/AR52 productions J00f stuff Progresia - Stockholm The That Mucho-sound

No, I agree that the tracks you listed are at the forefront of trance right now. I think tech-trance is where the genre needs to go. But if you look at the playlists, that's not what is getting rotation. Thus there is little incentive for more to be produced. And I don't see other talented producers shifting in this direction. Instead the uplifting is still getting hammered do death.

I somehow get the impression that people think those of us bored with most trance listen to ASOT regularly. This isn't the case, at least not for me. I listen every few weeks just to see if something new has appeared. I've been increasingly disappointed. I also shuffle my music tastes, but have needed to shuffle them more often in recent months. I see this not as a result of my tastes changing, but of increased stagnation in trance production.

quote:

Originally posted by paranoik0 humm, i would say exactly the opposite, since 2000 there has been loads of good progressive trance tracks.

I don't mean progressive house with some synth washes and subdued breakdowns. I mean the 98-00 style of Sasha, Seaman, Warren, etc. It's been virtually nonexistent since all those playing it moved to a deep progressive house sound, as reflected in Global Underground. There have been very few tracks of this type since late 2000 and early 2001. Exceptions include Holden & Thompson - Nothing and Cultivate - Broken Pieces.

Yes it's trailing off for sure, in part due to mp3 piracy I think. So many labels are buying cheap remixes due to dwindling revenues from small artists willing to remix almost for free to get their name out there. I am sure many are not as good as the big artists, but we're seeing few big remixes these days I think. We're seeing more and more of these 'remix competitions' so the labels get them free! I personally don't like the software synth sound either and that's getting very prominent amongst lots of the new artists because hardware synths are so expensive!

Another point due to a label's dwindling profits is that they're less willing to gamble on a tune they think might be a winner but aren't totally sure so we see less originality.

But what's the alternative? R&B/hip-hop? It's a downturn, not a death. Patience!

quote:

Originally posted by SuperFarStucker some people just don't get it, headstrong if you will. a "hands-in-the-air" anthem isn't anything to write home about. There is absolutely tons of them, until you see what pretentious garbage they are. What is to put your hands in the air about? Cos some guy changed the sample banks? That's the deviation of most of the "trance" bull thats out anymore.

Man im not one to argue at all here.. i completely agree because thats the way i feel about certain things..im on the fence about certain topics..namely this

So when read this I was thinking to myself..well sure hands in the air isnt anything to write home about.. but isnt it proved its worth?

I mean if u think about it..thats the driving force behind Trance, the euphoric breakdowns and epic buildups. Im not trying to prove you wrong.. its actually a matter of me staying up to late and thinking about all this. hehe

It seems the formula still works ( 4..or 5 years later).. so is it our "elite" status to say Trance is dead or is it the market and society to say so?


hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

sorry i threw more wood on the fire here... just thinking

quote:

Originally posted by Mebot Man im not one to argue at all here.. i completely agree because thats the way i feel about certain things..im on the fence about certain topics..namely this So when read this I was thinking to myself..well sure hands in the air isnt anything to write home about.. but isnt it proved its worth? I mean if u think about it..thats the driving force behind Trance, the euphoric breakdowns and epic buildups. Im not trying to prove you wrong.. its actually a matter of me staying up to late and thinking about all this. hehe It seems the formula still works ( 4..or 5 years later).. so is it our "elite" status to say Trance is dead or is it the market and society to say so? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sorry i threw more wood on the fire here... just thinking

Hands in the air stuff is still good. Especially in the club.
But does it really have to always have the same patterns, same sawleads etc.? Tracks could easily be made hands in the air material AND sound fresh at the same time.

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Latest releases:
Endless Cycles [Capital Heaven]
The Charlatan [Morphosis]

yes! trance is dead. and now, it's only a matter of time until powernoise dominates the entire musical scene. bwahahahahahaha

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