Let me begin by saying that I am not ragging on Armin. I realize that the top 20 has nothing to do with Armin as they are entirely voted upon by listeners. The only thing that tells me though is that the show has become overly mainstream.

After reviewing the top 20 and reviewing some of the best tracks I heard in 2007 I have to say that this top 20 is almost an insult to the trance community. The amount of cheese present in this year's top 20 is enough to make me lactose intolerable.

Mind you I have been a dedicated listeners of the EDM scene for over 6 years now and realize all the different genres and sub-genres of EDM, which make it so great IMO. However, 75% of the tracks in this year's top 20 were boring and formulative vocal tracks. I do not mind vocals, although I prefer non-vocals, but artists like Maor Levi and Andy Moor have taken the elements of vocals and turned them into something unique and creative. A lot of great artists were left out and deprived of their respective credit for enhancing the sound of trance and progressive. This top 20 seems like something z103.5 would manifest, to put it simply. I do realize there were a couple tracks on the top 20 that were a fair representation of this years music in trance but they were scarce.

No one says it better than one of my favourite bands, Mogwai:
"I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can't do that with us they can get a bit upset."

welcome to five years ago.

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quote:

Originally posted by RebeL9 welcome to five years ago.

There are many artists that have contributed positively to the EDM scene this year. Just to name a few: Deadmau5, Maor Levi, Eric Prydz. I did not see any of these names in the top 20.

quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa There are many artists that have contributed positively to the EDM scene this year. Just to name a few: Deadmau5, Maor Levi, Eric Prydz. I did not see any of these names in the top 20.

Theres hundreds more, and I doubt any of those are in the list either.

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quote:

Originally posted by ******** Seplling don't demonstrate intelligence and educatoin - knowing does.

quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa After reviewing the top 20 and reviewing some of the best tracks I heard in 2007 I have to say that this top 20 is almost an insult to the trance community.

it's the ASOT top 20, not the international trance top 20. the preferences of one radio show's listener base do not represent that of an entire genre.. i wish more people would start realising this & stop paying so much attention to what is really quite a localised poll

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Originally posted by isoterra it's the ASOT top 20, not the international trance top 20. the preferences of one radio show's listener base do not represent that of an entire genre.. i wish more people would start realising this & stop paying so much attention to what is really quite a localised poll

As much as I agree with you, you still have to realize this is the most popular trance radio show on the air. The music portrayed on this show is a projection to the rest of the world of what "trance" is composed of. Regardless of whether that may be an accurate depiction of trance/progressive or not (I believe it is not obviously) is irrelevant because the connotation of trance music will be formed on the basis of things such as this show.

quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa As much as I agree with you, you still have to realize this is the most popular trance radio show on the air. The music portrayed on this show is a projection to the rest of the world of what "trance" is composed of. Regardless of whether that may be an accurate depiction of trance/progressive or not (I believe it is not obviously) is irrelevant because the connotation of trance music will be formed on the basis of things such as this show.

and since when did we care about the portrayal of what we listen to by other people? Sure, I'll correct someone when they say something to me directly that is completely wrong about the music I like, but I don't really care about how it's portrayed.

quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa There are many artists that have contributed positively to the EDM scene this year. Just to name a few: Deadmau5, Maor Levi, Eric Prydz. I did not see any of these names in the top 20.

Unfortunately the show is not A State of EDM, it's A State of Trance, and a sub-genre of trance at that.

Btw Deadmau5 - Jaded amazing song

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quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa I realize that the top 20 has nothing to do with Armin as they are entirely voted upon by listeners.

well yes, voted by the listeners, but those are the same listeners that were bombarded to hell with big-sky-cheese every week and almost only that. So yes, Armin has a lot to do with it ... Stuff like Jim Rivers - I Go Deep, if played more and presented all the time would eventually get voted for top20 too...

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quote:

Originally posted by Umezawa There are many artists that have contributed positively to the EDM scene this year. Just to name a few: Deadmau5, Maor Levi, Eric Prydz. I did not see any of these names in the top 20.

I thought it was A State of Trance.

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it's A State of Commercial cheese

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