Just in case you had forgotten that “Let It Go” song from Frozen, Armin dropped this a little over a week ago. While I’m certainly not the first to post this, I want to emphasize, there is a trance remix of a female led Disney movie. I think every part of that sentence illustrates how far Western culture has progressed in the last 20 years when it comes to being more inclusive of non-heteronormative narratives. Also, it’s catchy as hell. (via EDMTunes)
Tonight, we’re going back to the time when Formula 51 was a movie & Samuel L. Jackson still had both eyes. This absolute gem of a trance track comes from Lee Haslam, an institution in his own right. I think I discovered this track when I was actually in . The punch of the trance chords explodes like sonic fireworks after a particularly droll but delightful sample of Samuel L. Jackson discussing the best drug ever. The sample is hilarious in its reminder of how Hollywood doesn’t understand both rave & drug culture. This is true, classic trance in all its glory. Put this into your face then go listen to trapstep and tell me which one makes you want to dance (Note: Grinding does not count for these purposes, so no yelling at me about how Diplo is awesome).
If you look up sugary anthem trance in the dictionary, right there under Robert Miles & Darude, you’d see some of Tiesto’s most successful work. The Club Life podcast has showcased his slow shift into the middle space between trance, house & electro, but this anthem gets into your head and doesn’t leave. It’s big room pixie stick progressive at its best. So if you’re fretting work tomorrow, or you had to work today, crank it and let this take you away for a few more minutes.
This week for the Throwback Thursday edition of Midnight Music, I’m delighted to present a track that’s started getting radio play again. Ferry Corsten has started putting it back into his sets after a huge request for it during his weekly mix show. It shot back up in the Beatport trance charts and I’ve started to hear it again. This collaboration between two of the hottest names in trance was an instant classic that you’ll love. Also, check out my favorite Gouryella track from after Tiesto had left the group, Ligaya, which is Filipino for “happiness.”
This is one of my & Armin Van Buuren’s favorite Trance tracks of all time. I’m not going to mince words but to say that it’s quality from the beginning to the end and really captures what I think modern trance is capable of, while maintaining a reverence for the classic sound. It’s from 2008, so enjoy the throwback & get at Alex M.O.R.P.H. for a LOT more.
While some of us had the good sense to not miss their debut performance at A State of Trance 600 (reported on here), the rest of the dance music world got their first taste of the New World Punx, the new mega-collab between Ferry Corsten & Markus Schulz, at either Roseland in NYC or Palladium in LA. The act is harder, more in your face and definitely way less ethereal and smooth than an act like Above & Beyond or something of the like. However, this is by design, as the two mega stars relayed to Billboard last week.
Romper is an intense, stompy track that infuses a serious amount of “you’re two steps from hardstyle” energy into the dance floor. They are acutely aware of the stagnation of mainstage dance music these days, and as Billboard reports, they’re down to drop the drop as it were. Keep the energy up throughout the set, and not wait for the same build/drop/blowout formula that caught trance, electro, house and is slowly entangling trap within its unimaginative tentacles.
While I can’t speak to the research methodology or rigor of the double-blind population, Heineken has given me a reason to pay attention to them for a moment or two. I saw this #DMDS hashtag pop up yesterday when Armada dropped Armin Van Buuren’s latest video (below). The Armin Van Buuren tune is solid, as always, and we’ll probably hear it a lot in the coming weeks as it filters through the trance podcast universe. What got my attention though, was the continued emphasis on #DMDS.
Apparently, people listening to non-shit music drink more slowly. This was proven by having some random DJ spin one evening at an unnamed Miami club, then have AvB spin the next night. Drink purchases dropped by 40%. This definitely goes into the “needs a crapload of further research” bin, but it is true that dancing people drink less. If Heineken wants to get behind this kind of PSA-style promotion, with dance music being at the forefront of the campaign, getting people to cut it up instead of drink it down, sure, what the hell, I’m in. #DMDS
Tiesto, the man behind Club Life, In Search of Sunrise, the Parade of Athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and pushing the Adagio for Strings back into the ears of everyone who was even semi-conscious in the mid-oughts, has dropped a trance track. Any serious trance fan would understand how earth-shattering of an occurrence this is. The trance is 7min long, it’s gorgeous, there’s this wonderful, familiar production values that remind stunningly of In Search of Sunrise #1. Listen and remember that, for all the shit people talk, he said he’d drop a trance track in thanks for the support he got in the DJMAG awards. He was also given the Legend Award, which, while it’s not the #1 that Hardwell received, he thanked his fans just the same. Good of him, and please, everyone, yell about how good this is, so he stops playing electro and returns to his joyous trance roots.
The rain came down as the bass seeped out of the doors. My companion & I, safe under an umbrella, waited to get in as the Santos Party House massaged another Friday night event into itself. Esscala Entertainment has done the work slowly but persistently, building a name for itself over the last year and they are now my go-to for trance in Gotham. Tonight, I was delighted they’d scored Giuseppe Ottaviani, a rising star in the trance community. A fun producer who could do his fair share of spinning besides dropping a couple of clever tracks that have gotten picked up by Armin and others doing the weekly trance podcast thing, I couldn’t wait.
http://www.armadamusic.com/news/2013/04/trance-essentials-2013-vol-1/
Armada Music has been an institution for a decade now, bringing the best in trance, tech trance & progressive to the people. While keeping up with the 20+ hours of podcasts your favorite DJs put out each week can be exhausting, there are a number of tracks in these sets that always stand out. Armada took 50 of the best trance tracks from late last year, early this year and fired them off, ready to land in your lap and explode in an orgy of sparkle, vocals, chromatic chords, uplifting, massive & progressive bass. The first CD launches with huge tracks, with Nehalennia, The Spiritual Gateway, Kudawudashuda & the MaRLo edit of “Perfectly” hitting your ears one after another. The Love Comes again remix, the Pure Mix edit of Seven Cities by Solarstone & the radio edit of Andrew Rayel’s Musa are gorgeous mixes of recent crowd favorites that have blown up dance floors from Dublin to Dubai & Sao Paulo to Shanghai. They keep the energy going along with a half a dozen tracks in between that you’ve probably not heard but probably should. Superfly by Jorn van Deynhoven is a spectacular hard trance track that pushes the party to a higher level, buy anyone that’s a fan of my writing can tell you that Jorn van Deynhoven can do no wrong in my eyes. The tune is one of 2 dozen that are exactly what trance needs to be right now. Anthemic, big room and explosive with the energy to push back against the forces of trouse and top 40 infused commercial chomp-back that true trance fanatics shake their heads at. New York City by Alex M.O.R.P.H. is of course a favorite and the mix that’s offered at the end of the CD is a great choice for just putting on and leaving on while you dance around in your underwear in your bedroom before hitting the town.
Terry Gotham 