do u like the direction trance is taking? such as with the kind of tracks being released, compared to with tracks say from early 90's.

Trance is always evolving. Tunes are still produced in the style of the early 90's, although technology now means we get a much more complex and quality sound. And also people still try and recreate tracks from 99. However i prefere the way the music evolves. Trance always stays fresh, and the evolution is what keeps us involved, and addicted. If iproducers were still producing the same old style from 99 we would get bored 6 years in. I like how the new producers who got into the music in 99 are showing us a new era in the trance world, and i look forward to hearing what some of the fresh tallent produces. You cant stop evolution

which direction is that

Just about to ask the same.

I really dont think trance is evolving and it hasnt for a long time.

There is less commercial trance now as it is no longer flavour of the month (thank goodness). But, todays trance genres and tune structures are the same as those in 1999. I'm not saying there havent been any good tunes since 1999 but there is nothing fresh and groundbreaking around and hasnt been for a long time. This leads me to get bored with good new tunes pretty easily.

i do. and im sure many people have noticed tiesto trying to take us in that direction, some like it some dont. tiesto said it on numerous interviews, he wants the whole world to experience and see what trance is. although i voted armin, i dont see the number one position changing. if it does, lets hope the next dj can top tiesto as far as bringing more people into trance.

well like the tracks from which tiesto is producing, which imo are different and unique from the types of tracks that were produced in the 90s by Digweed and Sasha. i like the direction which trance is heading, like TacticalManual said djs such as Tiesto is "switching" ppl to trance.

Hell Yes I Do!!

2005 has been an amazing year for trance

I Agree,

To Be Honest i moved away from the sound for about a year and half (about late 2003 to early 2005) because i wanted a change from trance, its not that i stopped listening to it, i was just more interested in other areas within dance music, ie, house.

But, I think this year has been amazing and my interest has never been as strong as it has over recent months, there are loads of tunes that i feel are evolving the sound.

It's amazing how many musical variations can be crafter from one's imagination. Trance grew out of pre-techno tunes in the mid 90s, and who knows which way Trance will head. Wherever it goes, I feel excited and eager to hear new sounds. 5 years from now, people who are just listening to today's tunes will be influenced and may decide to add their touch to this music scene. With the next generation, we are sure to have changes!

I've not really followed the trance scene this year...could you tell me some of the amazing releases? To be honest I thought this had been another s**te year, but like I said, I haven't really been follwing the scene.

Yes...Lets just hope that trance keeps evolving and stays fresh, i'd be lost without it...

I have to disagree. Ive been into the scene since the early / mid 90's. Sure, there have been many good tunes this year but to my mind they dont live long in the memory and I get bored of them easily. Maybe Im missing something - just how is it evolving? What is new?

yes 90 % and no 10% ... ( i like a lot the tracks made 2-3 years ago but there are great tracks today also )

I think that's because there are too much good tunes, then people need a new level of tracks and see a huge tune just as a normal tune

example: 'Yahel - Voyage' wouldn't be a huge hit when it was released in 2005 just because there are way too much tunes which have the same impact because it isn't surprising enough anymore

I don't understand. Are you saying Voyage wouldn't be a huge hit if it was released this year? If you are I disagree. Voyage is so simple yet so much better than most things that have been released recently.

ya i thought its been a pretty s**tty year, i was listening to forbidden paradise 7 and i was like and some sets some back in '99 damn that was awesome!

production wise for individual tracks trance is advancing extremily slowly..
however the mixing, and overall quality of DJing i think has shot up over the last 2 years. i find myself now listening to mixes a lot more, but 2/3 years ago i found myself listening to individual tracks a lot more and no my inet speed hasnt increased one bit for 4 years

there's alot of house influanses in todays trance music, well not in the uplifting / nrg genre of trance, there it sounds the same as always hehe

look,,, even Factoria - Kissed by an Angel (Arksun remix) is hyped around eveywhere cause it was Armin's favourite or something,,, come on..the tune is DECENT,,, don't like the way trance is heading anymore,,, lack of quality and originality

I think trance has evolved. I think it has gone more the progressive route the past couple of years, and has improved. You can tell some of the elements of the full on trance tracks of today sound much diffent then the one's from 99. I've enjoyed alot of new artists like Hydroid, Santiago Nino, Mike Foyle, Pillow One, etc....

I think there are some good productions coming out, but also a lot of reptative and overplayed sounds are today's fabrication. Overwhelming mix of pads and synths that turn trance into an electronic shockwave, rather than melodic and atmospheric as that of yesterday.

After the breakdown of many of today's tracks, a boring non-melodic beat of simply bass drum and snare flood the speakers for 4-8 whole beats, before once again climbing its finishing peak.

Take that track "True Form" on ASOT's label...after the cool melody breakdown, it ventures into nothingness for like 8 measures. I like the old loops, and tracks that never let you rest...like Blue's "Intensity" on the Fast Moving label...or most of Ayla's works, or Jet-Set's, Pedro & Benno...basically tracks that always have a melody whether between breakdowns or not. Variety is key...not just repetition.

The breakbeat gets old too, although it works fine with many tunes.

simple answer... no.
thats why i've lately developed my music taste into other areas such as indie. i blame tiesto for when i first heard him go tech trance a few years back, just after he released southern sun.
if trance is like it was during 99-00 i would die a happy man...

who makes classics like seven cities, madagascar and out of the blue anymore?
i blame progressive bastids! lol

I blame Armin and all the ASOT whores who worship the bland music that he plays every week.

now do you want to blame the progressive bastards or those who produce "techtrance"?

lol that's like 90% of all trance forums..

I know, I've seen it on tranceaddict, every time there's an ASOT on the tracklisting thread gets like 600 replies of muppets typing OMMMMMGGGGGG TUNE!!!!!!! to some run of the mill tune.

I try to keep this short, but readable:

What I like in Trance is the feeling it creates, you gotta move your body you feel *good*, thrilled, bursting energy, enjoying every second of your life. Ok. Thats how I experience this music on its best.
I see the trance has few basic elements that it gets created : bass-rythm, melody, background, some extra, meaby some vocals too. Blending these up betweeen the tracks makes the music vary alot. The same tunes can be used, mixed etc and be implemented to different tracks so it creates a whole new song.

As long as I find these elements in this music, and the fact that the Dj really enjoys doing this music, playlist etc. it is good. If, say, Tiesto is getting some experimental play,let him do that, we never get any thing new unless it gets experimented. Mean while we can listen to Marco Schulz

Personally I just love the tracks on Greece 2000 Three drives on a Vinyl (or some thing like that, I suck with names, artist names etc. song names I barely remember. Ah DJ Joop Act Of Good ). In mid 90's I was say in my early teens and I did listen alot of dance music, nothing else was available and this was only served on saturday 11 pm to 4 am on a radio channel.. so there was not that much to choose from. P2p what was that in those days, meaby C-cassettes. The late 2000 trance is close to me as I had some strong personal history going on back then and it gave me (now dont you giggle there in the back row) some strength to carry on. Oh and currently I do still find good s*it that gives the wibes like in 2000 so I think it is good still.

Oh I got worried As I saw TIesto mentioned on a pop-based "NRJ"-kinda CD addy. *Brrrr* That was baad.

Things do seem to be a bit stagnant at the moment, it seems ages since i heard a tune that raised the hairs on the back of my neck - you know that feeling when you hear something really good. maybe my tastes are changing I dunno but I still find myself playing tunes from at least a year ago and beyond but very little new stuff.

Sasha was playing prog trance back in 96. Nine years on you can hardly say that part of the scene is evolving.

Hours 1&2: Armin Van Buuren - megamix of most requested tunes by listeners

01. Intro: Dead Can Dance - The Host Of Seraphim
02. Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden's Unplugged Mix)(Blackhole)
03. Nu Frequency - 808 (Dub Mix) (little mountain)
04. Perasma - Swing 2 Harmony (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) (Data)
05. Tilt - The World Doesn't Know (Lost Language)
06. Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Sweeping Strings Remix) (Positiva)
07. Mike Foyle vs Signalrunners - Love Theme Dusk (Mike's Broken Record Mix)(Armind)
08. Max Graham featuring Jessica Jacobs - I Know You're Gone (Shine)
09. Adam White & Andy Moor presents The White Room - White Room (Liquid Asset)
10. The Cranberries - Shattered (Arctic Quest Bootleg)
11. Way Out West - Mindcircus (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) (Blackhole)
12. Solar Stone - Seven Cities (Armin van Buuren Remix) (Lost Language)
13. Airbiscuit - Lately (Riley & Durrant Remix) (Zenith Cafe)
14. Scott Bond vs Solar Stone - 3rd Earth (Made in England)
15. Lost Tribe - Gamemaster (Lost Language)
16. Armin van Buuren feat. Ray Wilson - Yet Another Day (United)
17. Paul van Dyk feat. Second Sun - Crush (Vandit)
18. Humate - Love Stimulation (Paul van Dyk Remix) (MFS)
19. Ridgewalkers feat. El - Find (Andy Moor Remix) (Baroque/Armada)
20. Synergy - Hello Strings (Armind)
21. Ralphie B - Massive (Blackhole)
22. The Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia (Adjusted)
23. Gouryella - Tenshi (Tsunami/Purple Eye)
24. Solid Globe - Sahara (Fundamental recordings)
25. Sarah McLachlan - Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Anti Gravity Mix) (BMG)
26. Bossanova - Stonecold (Agnelli & Nelson Remix) (Tsunami)
27. Ernesto vs Bastian - Darkside Of The Moon (Be Yourself)
28. Kyau vs Albert - Made Of Sun (Kyau vs Albert Hard Dub) (Euphonic)
29. Oceanlab - Satellite (Anjunabeats)
30. Tranquility Base - Razorfish (Above & Beyond Banging Remix)(Anjunabeats)
31. Whirlpool - Under The Sun (Solar Stone Remix) (Deep Blue)
32. Mr Sam vs Fred Baker presents As One - Forever Waiting (Magik Muzik)
33. 8 Wonders - The Morning After (The Thrillseekers Remix) (Somatic Sense)
34. Plastic Boy - Silver Bath (Banshee)
35. Kyau vs Albert - Velvet Morning (Aalto Remix) (Anjunabeats)
36. GTR - Mistral (Five AM)
37. Enmass - CQ (Seek You) (ASOT)
38. Midway - Monkey Forest (Blackhole)
39. Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (DJ Tiesto Remix)
40. Iio - Rapture (Armin van Buuren Remix) (data)
41. Armin van Buuren feat. Justine Suissa - Burned With Desire (Rising Star Remix)(United)
42. Young Parisians feat. Ben Lost - Jump The Next Train (Kyau vs Albert Remix)(Euphonic)
43. 4 Strings - Diving (Hiver & Hammer Remix) (Spinnin)
44. DJ Tiesto - Flight 643 (Magik Muzik)
45. Yahel feat. A-Force - Behind Silence (fundamental)
46. Active Sight - The Search For Freedom (Armada)
47. Above & Beyond - No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Mix) (Anjunabeats)
48. Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (Marco V Remix) (Lost Language)
49. Jonas Steur - Castamara (Intuition)
50. Pulser - My Religion (ASOT)
51. Paul van Dyk feat. Hemstock & Jennings - Nothing But You (Vandit)
52. Randy Katana - In Silence (Txitxarro Remix) (Spinnin)
53. Signum - The Timelord (ASOT)
54. St. John vs Locust - Mind Circles (ASOT)
55. Armin van Buuren - Shivers (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix) (Armada)
56. Oceanlab - Clear Blue Water (Fery Corsten Remix) (Anjunabeats)
57. Gaia - 4 Elements (Warner music)
58. Outro: Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm (Accapella)

is this the bland music u talk about? in that case.. as peg stated, that would mean, 90% of us would be ASOT "whores" i personally loved this set. not all the sets. but the majority of them.

I think that the future development of trance will be linked by elements of classic music, combined with more chill-out note

That's a megamix of new and old tunes...it hardly counts as typical ASOT.

then you need to restate your previos statement. you said everyweek. regardless.. those tunes were previously played in ASOT by armin numerous amounts of times.

Despite my earlier comments, I actually enjoy alot of what Armin does . But, being popular does not neccesarily mean he is good or that Armin is the best at what he does. To me popularity in edm increasingly points towards commercialism, playing safe and earning sacks of cash. I think what alot of us are crying out for is some originality and real positive evolution in the trance scene.

well i'm changing music style anyway, maybe thnx to the current trance market,,

well that might be true in the sense that in europe this statement is true. it doesnt work in the states though. tiesto PVD and much less armin r pretty much names unheard of, compared to crap remixes of djs that release stuff like the gorillaz, kelly clarkson, rihana, bodyrockers... these remixes suck. if only trance music was as popular here as in europe.

well , i think the uplifting trance we all heard in the 90's is the same as today just a better producion (which is good sometime) but trance has been evolved to other styles i mean its not exactly something i can call it a style for example :
matthew deckay - digifruitella

it has the progressive feel but also some housy elements and some trance and stuff these blendings that we hear today , in the 90's we did'nt have those stuff that's why i think trance created some new styles when it was blended with house , prog etc.

also i don't think that in the 90's there were tracks that are unfogetable compared to the tracks today , its just that in the 90's there we'rent so much producers and the big ones (which produced alot before) we're above the others that's why their tracks wer'e unforgetable but today there are tons of producers which are good as they big jocks we had......can you plz tell me if Jonas stuer - silent waves was released on the 90's , do you think it was'nt unforgetable today?? or andy moor - halcyon???? if you guys think that way you're totally wrong!
as i said the problem is there are a lot of producers these days which try to make the same stuff (the known stuff) to get some attention they think that if they'll do a&b style or probspot style they will be big....but that's not the case here , they should be original then they'll get their name.

anyway that's my opinion....

^ And let's not forget the labels part in this game. But I agree with your sentiments, Itay.

Trance is progressing. All you have to do is listen to what was produced in the 90's to tell there is a difference. In 10 years we will look back to this time and it will have a different flavour. I don't think any genre of music evolves noticeably in spans of years, more like decades. If it does it's evolved into a new genre all together, like progressive (that's not trance btw).

If you've been listening to trance for a while it's understandable you might think it has stagnated. Ask someone who's just discovered trance and they won't know what you're talking about. Trance is all about the feeling. A trance newbie will be getting that feeling even from the most lame cheese because it's new to them. Experienced trancers are conditioned; they've built up an immunity to the feeling. How will trance solve this problem? Perhaps by evolving into a form that is more intense than before to conteract the conditioning. Who knows? Trance does have that sameness problem. Rock, pop, rap, indie have sameness too, but they have the human voice for a bit of endless variety. Trance can always come up with new synth sounds I guess. Then again, classical music's popularity hasn't waned in centuries and there's no voices in it.

Whad'ya think? Am I making any sense? I'm optimistic trance will be around for a while yet doing what it does best, goosebumps, euphoria, ecstasy etc.

I think that last year was better.
But on topic: I think that the trance from this year hasn't improved a lot. i think that there isn't a single track this year that is as good as the whiteroom from last year. I talk about the uplfiting stuff now.
Prog has the future imo, but trance will never die.

About which artists would we be talking then?

Anyway, trance has gone downhill since 2003, as far as I'm concerned. Sure, there have been good releases in the past 20 months as well, but it simply hasn't managed to head to the level before. Most of the trance nowadays is bland, even though I don't want to imply that there was no crap among the releases a couple of years ago, far from that. Nevertheless, I prefer focusing on the few good releases nowadays.
We had the Schulz-hype for a moment (basically trance at 130 BPM), but that sound got stale within 6 months, as a whole army of producers decided to start producing in that style, sucking all the life out of it (again, there are one or two exceptions there as well).
But in general: do I like where trance is going? Not really, but I try to make the most out of it.

R u kidding me? Ok first I may have misinterpreted you, but as I understand because there were not as many producers back in the 90s, it is easier to remember the tracks from that day...

Well, my comment is that I will never forget the 90s with talents like I. Kunzi's "Ayla" or his Dj Tandu sounds, Kamaya Painters, Jet-Set...."Travelling w/o Moving is still among the greatest tracks in my opinion.

Today, particularly among Somatic Sense's productions, there are so many pads and synths that overwhelm the bass lines. Many labels are producing an over abundance of noise. The epitome of epic/melodic trance is the atmospheric ambiance, and the smooth melody which breaks down with a nice bass line that is nsync with the melody.

Also, I dislike when a nice breakdown is followed by only the bass line before the last uplifting climax. Waiting 4-8 whole beats before the song uplifts again kills the momentum.

kamaya painters, to bad thijs isnt what he was back then

True, but I still think he has the ability to create decent tunes. Allure - The Loves We Lost is quality and better than pretty much all the other trance tunes I've heard this year.