The 'state' of trance music today

[Bob Slydell]

Been getting back into trance production after a long lay off from even listing to it for years. Have been listing to a few new compilation albums which I have found very uninspiring to say the least. I have just listed to every track on the beatport monthly top 20 for trance going back to June and out of all of them there was only 5 i was remotely interested in buying! It seems to me that alot of tracks seem to be either very generic or just without much substance or just seem abit 'flat'. Maybe im just getting old? seems to me that the genere needs abit of a boost somehow.Whats been happening and what am i missing?!

The 5 tracks i liked btw were
cold blue - shine
amir hussain - to the lost (kinetica)
talla 2xlc - elevation (extended)
john o;callaghan Choice of the angels (sean tyas)
Nikolauss - area (kiyoi and eky)

[recursive one]

Stopped listening to trance at all about 5 years ago because it indeed became very uninspired and generic.

Still love the old sets/compilations by Ferry Corsten, Blank and Jones etc circa 2000 to 2005, some occasional tracks released up to 2014 (Leon Bolier, Sean Tyas, Thrillseekers and others) but it seems that the essence of trance is gone and will never return.

[Bob Slydell]

Stopped listening to trance at all about 5 years ago because it indeed became very uninspired and generic.

Still love the old sets/compilations by Ferry Corsten, Blank and Jones etc circa 2000 to 2005, some occasional tracks released up to 2014 (Leon Boiler, Sean Tyas, Thrillseekers and others) but it seems that the essence of trance is gone and will never return.

Yeah, really cant understand why though - some incredible technology these days re synths etc that should make producing some decent stuff reachable for any producer who is any good.

What you listening to these days?

[vurt]

Stopped listening to trance at all about 5 years ago because it indeed became very uninspired and generic.

Still love the old sets/compilations by Ferry Corsten, Blank and Jones etc circa 2000 to 2005, some occasional tracks released up to 2014 (Leon Boiler, Sean Tyas, Thrillseekers and others) but it seems that the essence of trance is gone and will never return.

Yeah, really cant understand why though - some incredible technology these days re synths etc that should make producing some decent stuff reachable for any producer who is any good.

What you listening to these days?

they're not dancing and sweating in clubs.
theres no "authenticity" these days.

[Bob Slydell]

Stopped listening to trance at all about 5 years ago because it indeed became very uninspired and generic.

Still love the old sets/compilations by Ferry Corsten, Blank and Jones etc circa 2000 to 2005, some occasional tracks released up to 2014 (Leon Boiler, Sean Tyas, Thrillseekers and others) but it seems that the essence of trance is gone and will never return.

Yeah, really cant understand why though - some incredible technology these days re synths etc that should make producing some decent stuff reachable for any producer who is any good.

What you listening to these days?

they're not dancing and sweating in clubs.
theres no "authenticity" these days.

That maybe the case but that should not make any difference in regards to some producers making some quality stuff rather than just turning out generic supersaws

[recursive one]

Indeed, we have decent emulations of some of the classic synths and some new stuff the oldschool producers could only dream about. I don't know, probably at some point it became too commercialised and not attractive to people who wanted to express themselves and didn't want to fit the current trends.

I mostly listen to psytrance, goa trance, psychill and such now. Can't say it's all good with these genres, also very high percentage of boring and generic stuff, but here i have more chances to find something I actually like.

Still may listen to some old Ferry Corsten set every now and then.

[chk071]

The current "state of Trance" sucks indeed.

For me, it's almost exactly the same as recursive one described. Except that i would replace Ferry Corsten with Armin van Buuren. He did some absolutely class mixes in the early 2000's, and, that's about as good as it gets for me.

I recently watched a bit of a State of Trance show, i think it was #937 or so... absolutely gruesome. Can't listen to that stuff. And, i can't stand the way they present themselves either. Such acting, and, especially, such absolutely bad acting. Makes me wonder why they still do those shows. If i would have done such a vast amount of money, i wouldn't twist myself like that.

I think it all started when they didn't twist those knobs on their machines anymore, but only did it for the show.

[recursive one]

For me, it's almost exactly the same as recursive one described. Except that i would replace Ferry Corsten with Armin van Buuren. He did some absolutely class mixes in the early 2000's, and, that's about as good as it gets for me.

Yes, early ASOTs (CDs and radioshows) did have some classy stuff. Up to 2007 i think. Thing is that in 2019 I have hard times saying that I liked Van Buuren, it's like saying one loves wearing pink underwear or something (not that Corsten is any better now ).

My introduction to trance was this CD, therefore the "real" trance is always associated with the Corsten's name for me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=096o_R6aqBE

The latest track I know that did have something of that "real" trance, was this
Not very original but still really well made, coudl have been released in 2003-ish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHUrNAjT9DQ
This one was still ok... too much sidechain, too much EDM, the melody was too cheesy but still it had something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Acuhd0FO4
2012-2013 i think.

[DJ Warmonger]

seems to me that the genere needs abit of a boost somehow

That's why I'm here

Well, from my point of view it's very difficult to sign something that's not a copy-paste of another 100 tracks released last month. The market is oversaturated and tunes are just cliche. No place for experiments. That's a privilege of producers who already have a big name. No one is going to risk something unique from a random guy.

Nobody but my label. However, it seems to have small reach. New labels pop up every month, but the scene is already taken by established labels and producers. Nobody is waiting for "new classic". It's impossible to tell anymore which tune it the "hit" so everyone could agree. It's more of a marketing wrestling about who will take over the charts this week.

[recursive one]

Well, I guess younger folks are enjoying current trance for what it is and we are just a bunch of old farts who think it used to be good only when we were young

Anyways, I think we need to thank midi loops, construction kits, track starter packs and Nexus (later Avenger) one finger presets for turning trance into sh!t

[DJ Warmonger]

Well, I guess younger folks are enjoying current trance for what it is and we are just a bunch of old farts who think it used to be good only when we were young

The thing is, in my town the scene is full of "veterans" who organize "classic nights" and recycle same local artists every time, with old repertoire and lack of coherence. This way it's a success to have 200+ people in a club :v

Whereas psytrance events easily attract 1000+ people, most of which are just around 20.

Anyways, I think we need to thank midi loops, construction kits, track starter packs and Nexus (later Avenger) one finger presets for turning trance into sh!t

These products are created and sold because people want it. They want to sound just like their favourite artist, and right now.

It's just a matter of scale. If there were only 10 artists on trance scene, each one could be somehow unique. If there are 1000, unique ideas get lost in mediocrity.

[Googly Smythe]

...some incredible technology these days re synths etc that should make producing some decent stuff reachable for any producer who is any good.
...

Therein lies the rub. It doesn't matter how good your gear is, it's just a pile of junk without some talent in the compositional department.
Currently, I'm enjoying, if you'll pardon the phrase, Stine Grove.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzsbtvqd8NM

[recursive one]

Currently, I'm enjoying, if you'll pardon the phrase, Stine Grove.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzsbtvqd8NM

Could have been a decent song. Not great but decent - if I wouldn't have heard exactly the same synths, exactly the same harmonies, even exactly the same vocal intonations in 1000 other tracks before.

This one is from 2002, sounds almost the same (except less layering, less compression, less massive supersaws because 2002)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgT_mayq3I

[Lolostudio]

Not the musicians fault if they get kicked out of their own circuit after 20 years by a certain group,of influencers who excluded anything that’s not 135bpm+. then I hear frankfurter berliner trance from 93 and I remember why I loved the genre so much. True story that happened here. It really hurts to say that trance is dead due to poor industry moves and narrow minded opinions exposed publicly on social media.

[Googly Smythe]

Currently, I'm enjoying, if you'll pardon the phrase, Stine Grove.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzsbtvqd8NM

Could have been a decent song. Not great but decent - if I wouldn't have heard exactly the same synths, exactly the same harmonies, even exactly the same vocal intonations in 1000 other tracks before.

This one is from 2002, sounds almost the same (except less layering, less compression, less massive supersaws because 2002)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgT_mayq3I

I agree. But I said I enjoyed it, not that it was great. I just like her voice

Like my post said, there's a lot of technology today, just not a lot of musical talent.

Also, I think that trance (and most modern genres) are pretty restrictive, with not a lot of room for maneuvour (maneuver?). I mean, syncopate the beat, add a few "jazz" style chords - is it still trance? Or is it jazz? Add guitars? Wait, then it's a rock song! Slow it down to 90 bpm? Isn't that house?

I think most modern music is stagnant. For example, I love Sam Fish, but what she does was done to death by the end of the 60s. Hey ho.