The 'state' of trance music today

[Bob Slydell]

I used to love trance but for some reason the vast majority of trance from the last 10-15 years or so just doesn't do it for me. It's got the big saws and euphoric sound but it doesn't get me buzzing.

IMO the best trance record ever made is the 2000 remake of Strange World by Push, I've not heard a single trance record since that equals it for sheer euphoric energy and intensity. When the breakdown ends at 3:41 it sent dancefloors absolutely potty. Perhaps I've not looked hard enough but I don't think anyone's making trance like that anymore.

That track was my number 1 for a long long time....
There is plenty around these days you just need to know where to look amongst alot of mediocre tracks....

[4damind]

Psytrance, Melodic Trance, Progressive Trance, Goa Trance ...?
I already like to listen to trance, but sometimes I change the genre. In the past I liked the Israeli Psytrance or "Full On" in the style of Astrix very much. But since all things really sound the same they just get boring at some point.
The people who used to be good like Astral Projection stopped releasing new music many years ago.

There are still a few more in progressive trance/melodic trance like Steve Helstrip (Thrillseekers) that I still like. But otherwise? The big names like Armin van Buuren... horrible! Sounds like produced in 10 minutes and I can understand that many people don't like it anymore.

[Passing Bye]

A lot of those CD’s are breaks, progressive, trance, etc... but to me theyll always be “trance” because thats what 11year old me knew it as. If it spaced me out, it was trance, of different flavors. Think that might be part of the “problem” now; everything is put into a strict category. If it doesnt have this. It isnt trance. If it doesnt sound like that, it isnt Micro-Minimal-LoFi house or some dumb shit.

Absolutely agree, than to make things worse, some of those strict defined trance sub genres started getting influences outside trance umbrella or got EDM-ized, which is sad state of it today.

Really hope more and more people will come back to it for the sake of it and not trying to fit in some particular strict thing, but making something anyone who ever loved trance can enjoy, like this is what trance is for me.

I'm kinda into doing that right now, caught myself making versions of all my personal chill tracks for "floor" and vice versa, than just went with tempo changes instead and eureka, let all my influences coexist in same tracks, eliminated everything I hated about particular sub genres and went with everything I loved about them, hope time will allow me to get through with it.

[recursive one]

In the past I liked the Israeli Psytrance or "Full On" in the style of Astrix very much. But since all things really sound the same they just get boring at some point.

I liked Astrix when he was making downright cheesy stuff in the 00's, like these tracks


20 секунд, полёт нормальный

Not really pscychedelic but there was some genuine fun in there. There were also Andanda Shake, System Nipel and others making similar stuff, probably more appealing to regular trance than psytrance fans. It was my gateway from trance to psy

Astrix' recent stuff doesn't appeal to me much for whatever reason. It's properly psychedelic, has all the genre-defining elements, is very well produced but for some reason I don't really enjoy it. Same with Outsiders, Tristan and the like. May listen to a track or two but it quickly bores me.

I'm more into progressive psy, there are more melodic elements to be found here and overall it has some of the qualities I used to love in regular trance. Some progressive psy tracks i think may be actually interetsing to regular trance fans

[Faiky]

The music, the sound, the frequency responses, the mixing changes with time in general.
Also the tools change, as you can see here on KVR and the computer takes over more and more, this has an influence on the music.
The kids, who have so much energy, want bass, contrasts and energy. And above all, they mostly don't want old music.
The trend goes towards less reverb, noisy soft hihats, crisp kicks, distorted bass.
And there is something to note here. Our tastes and values are not very flexible. But there's something for everyone if you're looking, it's great!

[perfumer]

Psytrance, Melodic Trance, Progressive Trance, Goa Trance ...?

This thread is for mainstream trance, AKA 'tarnce' - just check the first posts. Not the psy varieties. But there's nothing new there either. Just the production gets better because the tools get better. What's left to look for is compositional talent - a well-composed track that follows the known cliches. And those are not that many.

Was listening to the first Chi A.D. albums yesterday - heavily compressed and somewhat limited to bring the background to front and turn the kick and bass down - got properly stunned by his/her skills. Not all tracks but most. Wow!

[DJ Warmonger]

The kids, who have so much energy, want bass, contrasts and energy.

Loudness war is still a thing in trance. Especially since the EDM got so much popularity in USA.

Suprisingly it's more difficult to craft hard banging track than just create a beautiful synth melody for trance. So melodic tunes are lost in mediocrity and the most powerful tech bangers stand out.

[Faiky]

I actually agree with that. I once tried to recreate a powerful part from an edm-song, I thought it was just a stab with a lot of reverb, easy. Haha.
But there are all the tricks that are used that nobody tells about. And then it's like 8 layers instead of 3 and so on.

[Passing Bye]

John 00 Fleming spins good trance

[Vortifex]

Edited

[Rastkovic]

Not really Trance, but also not pure Techno.

If Trance would evolve in a good and interesting way, this could be the new Hardtrance....

Both tracks are 140 BPM.

KlangKuenstler - Weltschmerz

KlangKuenstler - Himmelreich

[kritikon]

There is some variation out there but you have to search long and hard to get it. Recently I thought I'd have a look at some of the new trance to see what's what - I got around 7 or 8 tracks which were really rather good and then it just dried up. So much of everything is derived from the odd good track. The same structures, the same sounds even. I dabbled in some of the psytrance stuff - again, got a handful of good tracks but soon gave up because literally everything had exactly the same bassline with the same sound. I think I found 1 single track that didn't copy everyone else's bassline. I don't have to hear more than 1 bar of a psytrance track to know it's psytrance because the bassline is identikit even if there is some good synthwork going on (and even then the same sound is repeated again and again).

I hear some really good breakdowns - beautifully arranged and mixed...but that's all the track is - 5 mins long breakdown with a few beats thrown in to fool us into thinking it's got something else. I actually applaud the musicality that goes into some of the atmospheric stuff, but for god's sake do something else with it!

I followed links to all the usual Astrix, Talla etc and they have pretty well one very good track each then every other track is indistinguishable from it. I get it - you need to make a certain style and continue something similar if it works but you also need to have some variation within that style. The copying seems to be rigid. I bet an awful lot all of these trance artists have a template they pull up every single time for every single track - and it'll include the bassline, the kick, the hats, the length of the breakdown/intro/build up, the stupid build up drums, leaving not much for new music in there.

TBH I usually hate geetar music - that's why I got into electronic stuff, but guitar and even some pop still has more originality than most dance shite nowadays and that saddens me. That's the thing - pop songs (good ones at least) have a definite hook a listener can latch on to. Too much trance simply does not have a hook. The equipment is definitely there. The talent is definitely there, but the talent mostly only copies other talent. Just the fact an artist makes just one style says everything - should be doing lots of other things too.

[N__K]

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.

This echoes my current knowledge of trance scene as well.

I believe the problem is a human one: there are so many artists, making so much music, that the paradigm of "few to many" does not function quite as it used to.

Same applies to may other genres nowadays, and arguably the direction towards that has been set decades ago. Making music has become a hobby of millions (hence success of DAWs and plugins); and of those millions, at least many tens of thousands are very good at it. So it is hard to pick out individual stars from a sky full of them.

And whereas some amount of "few to many" phenomenon remains - Armin perhaps being still the most known DJ? - much of the scene is basically a hobby to partakers. In terms of money, one could get more [streams] for a review of some gear/plugin than for a track made with it. Which in the big picture seems to predict a future where almost everyone makes some music, but to a fairly narrow group of listeners.

[kritikon]

Don't get me started on DJs. I think the saddest thing I see is DJ shows where there's a whole crowd (who may or may not be off their conkers, but if they are they should be ashamed of themselves) all facing forward watching a DJ do nothing particularly interesting at the front. Don't get me wrong - DJs have their place and a bad DJ can kill a venue just as easily as a good one getting everybody going. But they're simply spinning other people's tunes. They should never have become/be the star. The guy who sets up the music gear and the cables etc should have a bigger billing because some DJs are no-talent shysters who stand on the shoulders of others. I've known some very dodgy people who are DJs.

Is that people's idea of a good time with electronic music - standing like sheep nodding their heads, drooling over a numpty at the front? Please tell me festivals etc aren't like that too...

[vurt]

Don't get me started on DJs. I think the saddest thing I see is DJ shows where there's a whole crowd (who may or may not be off their conkers, but if they are they should be ashamed of themselves) all facing forward watching a DJ do nothing particularly interesting at the front. Don't get me wrong - DJs have their place and a bad DJ can kill a venue just as easily as a good one getting everybody going. But they're simply spinning other people's tunes. They should never have become/be the star. The guy who sets up the music gear and the cables etc should have a bigger billing because some DJs are no-talent shysters who stand on the shoulders of others. I've known some very dodgy people who are DJs.

Is that people's idea of a good time with electronic music - standing like sheep nodding their heads, drooling over a numpty at the front? Please tell me festivals etc aren't like that too...

if you don't watch the dj, how do you know when to put your hands in the air?
this ain't hip hop, no one is telling you when to act like you don't care.