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John ‘00’ Fleming on the superstar DJs killing trance (pg. 2)
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| djnitride |
| I think he has a point about dropping the name "trance". He would be better off calling his sound something else. I no longer tell people I like trance either for some of the same reasons. |
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| Bierheld |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
House and techno are the mother and father of the whole thing, they're too big to really unbalance. Techno, always the more high-minded and serious scene, simply rejects anything worryingly commercial out of hand, effectively policing itself through ideology. House is simply so large and so universal it can always have an unashamedly populist sector without it taking over the steering wheel. All the smaller offshoots and mutations have been more volatile because of their limited size and more specialist characteristics. Some have managed to survive and adapt, others have gone horribly wrong. |
I guess so. What you do see in house music is a lot of sub-genres. Something like deep house for instance sometimes feels like it solely exists because the producers wanted to distance themselves from the more party-hardy forms of house music rather then there being a clear and consistent difference in musical ideas.
Techno really has nothing of the sort, it's funny that such a seemingly purist and ideological scene has actually become one of the most varied and free-minded genres in dance music. Yet there's hardly anyone calling for more sub-genres there, I mean there are some but beatport doesn't want to know at least.
Maybe deeptrance or preferably something catchier then that should be a thing. I mean there's progressive trance but we all know what happened to that little prefix in the house world, prone hijacking material. |
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| djnitride |
Even techno isn't immune to having its name polluted. In the states for a long time people who didn't know much about dance music called pretty much everything that sounded electronic "techno"
Nowdays they call everything EDM, thank god. |
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| 2techs |
| J00f. He's a one-dimensional artist who's been producing the same for the last 15 years. |
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| djnitride |
| quote: | Originally posted by 2techs
J00f. He's a one-dimensional artist who's been producing the same for the last 15 years. |
As a producer he is overrated. As a DJ though he is quite good. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by Syntonic
Kinda sucks to see John capitulate to the soul sucking mainstream. This didn't surprise me at all seeing the latest JOOF release. |
I don't think he's "capitulating". Trance, both as a scene and a label is a lost cause, and J00F more than anyone has fought tooth and nail against that. Simple fact is there's a lot of music in other scenes that has the characteristics we would associate with good trance, so why bother keeping a redundant word and getting booked on line-ups and only exposing yourself to the wrong crowds as a result? J00F's been playing a lot more techno in his sets the last couple of times I've seen him, and it works really well. I'd much rather see him on a techno line-up as the DJ who isn't afraid of a few big "moments".
I think the most important part of this article is where he says there's been a huge upswing of good underground dance music, and trance hasn't been part of that at all. When K-hole minimal and sleazy electro ruled the roost it felt legitimate to lament the demise of melodic, feel-good, sweaty sounds in dance music that trance encapsulated. In 2014, banging on endlessly and forlornly about trance is starting to sound really ing tragic because there's so much great coming out everywhere else. |
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| Syntonic |
Well you kind of feel the angst in some of his statements. I think it's better that he leans more towards Techno, considering it's more entrancing and has an easier groove. I can't see the word Trance ever going away just because it's so catchy. It would take some fine wordsmithing to relabel it.
I still look for new "real" Trance music and it's harder than ever to find. It just seems like todays listeners and producers have lost the ability to dream and get lost in music. It really does feel like a 'spirit of the times' thing. |
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| Psyshell |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Simple fact is there's a lot of music in other scenes that has the characteristics we would associate with good trance, so why bother keeping a redundant word and getting booked on line-ups and only exposing yourself to the wrong crowds as a result? |
While there are a similar genres that people like, sometimes people just like the structures and nuances of a genre. If people are really into intelligent progressive trance then there might be no genre of house or techno that does it for them. I think sub genres may be the answer to clearly differentiate different trance styles. Alternatively, it seems like a lot of the trance scene is invading certain styles of progpsy, and with it bringing certain trance elements, both online and offline. It used to be rare to hear key changes and harmony (among other trance elements) in progpsy but in the last year or two there's been significant crossover between cheese trance and progpsy. For instance You never used to see cheese trance listening gym junkies at psy clubs even 2 years ago. I think essentially the scene will just continue to splinter into several groups i.e. the following:
-From traditional uplifting trance with all the cheesy vocals that won't have much of a following
-To cheesy trance 2.0 that will be played alongside electro/house but generally be a follow up act
-To crossover progpsy stuff that will somewhat piggyback on the psy scene in certain parts, but have a strong producer base and niche scene
-To traditional prog trance that will be very niche and not really growing in any way
I think if a revival is going to happen it's gonna be a long way away at this stage. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| I actually think Michael Mayer had the best idea with his "neo-trance" label, and he still openly states that he considers the music he and most of his peers play to be trance by any other name. Neo-trance was saying the techniques might have changed somewhat but the spirit is still the same. |
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| rubez |
j00f is just as bad. trance to me has been dead for a long while. i'm aware that j00f and airwave are still doing something - what exactly, i'm not sure - but i wouldn't call it trance... simply because i don't like it, and i LOVE trance.
they both have adopted that kick-dominated loudness wars mastering to their tracks. that sucks the soul out of any track. to me this type of music is completely unlistenable.
they need to drop the fancy techniques and get back to good honest music. tracks that are allowed to breathe and have actual instruments in them.
in the absence of any trance today to listen to, i find myself going back and rediscovering (or just plain discovering) tracks from 20 years ago. some of them are blowing my mind and show up these try-hard techniques that trance producers of today are using - both commercial and "underground".
these old tracks are music, today they are producing processed noise. |
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| Titanium |
| quote: | Originally posted by rubez
j00f is just as bad. trance to me has been dead for a long while. i'm aware that j00f and airwave are still doing something - what exactly, i'm not sure - but i wouldn't call it trance... simply because i don't like it, and i LOVE trance.
they both have adopted that kick-dominated loudness wars mastering to their tracks. that sucks the soul out of any track. to me this type of music is completely unlistenable.
they need to drop the fancy techniques and get back to good honest music. tracks that are allowed to breathe and have actual instruments in them.
in the absence of any trance today to listen to, i find myself going back and rediscovering (or just plain discovering) tracks from 20 years ago. some of them are blowing my mind and show up these try-hard techniques that trance producers of today are using - both commercial and "underground".
these old tracks are music, today they are producing processed noise. |
I honestly cannot listen to some old tracks these days because mastering is so ing bad my ears start to ring. |
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| rubez |
i don't know what you are talking about to be honest.
bad mastering? explain?
you like your music artificially beefed up? that's what hurts my ears.
the older tracks have a softer, more natural sound. |
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