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Saturday, November 01, 2008

You can't deny another fine year for Trance...

Despite the onslaught of pointless media-concocted genres and trendy flavour-of-the-moment music styles like NuWave... on particular electronic music form has once again withstood the test of time and has garnered even more strength with each passing year. Say what you want, the record speaks for itself. And as Armin said recently, "... secretly, House DJs are also playing trance records."

Besides owning 70% of the Top 10 positions, here are some other impressive achievers in this year's Top 100 list.

BOBINA NO.28 - HIGHEST NEW TRANCE ENTRY

For over 5 years, Bobina has formed the leading edge of the Russian EDM breakout. His DJ adventures have taken him around the planet numerous times, playing tent-pole events like Gatecrasher Summer Soundsystem, Trance Energy, and the WMC. Ferry Corsten sums Bobina up as “one of the most talented producers ever to come out of Russia".

KYAU & ALBERT NO. 22 - HIGHEST CLIMBERS

Steven Moebius Albert and Ralph Kyau have been shaping their unique take on the German trance sound since they first met in 1994. Responsible for a litany of scene-defining tracks ('Made of Sun', 'Velvet Morning' & 'Always a Fool' among the many), the pair have continued to rise to prominence over the last 10 years. In 2006, off the back of their hugely-received 2nd album 'Worldvibe', Kyau & Albert broke the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs chart in 2006, landing at No.48. Just two years later they've become the highest climbers on the chart, jumping 35 places up to 22.

LEON BOLIER NO. 95 - NEW ENTRY

Leon is one of the leaders of Generation Trance 2.0. As a producer his speaker-spanking productions have graced Dutch mainstay labels like Spinnin’, Be Yourself, Black Hole Recordings and Armada. Behind a set of CDJs, Mr Bolier is also the architypal crowd-pleaser, rocking a record number of clubs this year including nights and festivals all over the world.

SOLARSTONE NO. 93 - NEW ENTRY

Solarstone has been creating dance-floor traffic jams with a convoy of revered club classics, all-out anthems & critically-acclaimed artist albums for years. As a DJ, he spins weekly at clubs around the planet and for global super-brands like Cream, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher & Full-On-Ferry. Releases from his label projects Solaris & Insatiable are constantly championed by the trance & progressive spinning elite. Solaris International, his weekly show, is broadcast across some 34 FM & Internet stations.

THE THRILLSEEKERS NO. 45 - UP 7

The Thrillseekers have stood at the very forefront of both club and electronic dance music culture. From his debut Top 20 hit 'Synaesthesia' through to latter club anthems ‘NewLife’, 'By Your Side', ‘Waiting Here For You’ & his latest epic ‘The Last Time’, Steve Helstrip’s music ranks as some of the most affecting, inspiring ever made. With artisan mixing skills and an innate, individualistic music selection, he’s conquered clubs around the planet, playing in 70+ countries and notching up over 500 gigs in his career.

RICHARD DURRAND - FROM 91 TO 66!

Richard has jumped a whacking 25 places up the chart, shifting from 91 in '07 to this year’s 66! From massive festivals across Europe, to un-chartered dance music hotspots such as Mongolia. From his debut residency at Judgment Sundays in Ibiza to his debut BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. Richard Durrand has had internet cables working overtime for his tunes as well as his bootlegs.

And so why are we not seeing a healthy flow of such acts here? Because it's gravely misunderstood and stereotyped by the club bookers that it's about the same tried-and-tested soaring euphoric synth-riffs and huge breakdowns. If you think so, I suggest you remove your head from your arse. If electro was meant to be the next big thing (last year), why is it still struggling like a fish out of water? Personally, it was a flash-in-the-pan... like many others before and those yet to come.

Cheers to the close friends that came for the really cosy get-together last night. End of the day, no other genre is able to unify people like Trance does. Clue, it's something to do with a certain frequency that hits the cerebral cortex at a specific time intervals. Humans react better to melodies than distorted noise or monotonous drone (i.e. minimal). And that's scientifically proven.

And I kind of miss everyone... those days when we raise our hands and sang as one. When we grin ourselves silly even though we're not familiar with the tune that was playing out. And I sort of miss being the mastermind behind all your drunken escapades! Hahahaha!

Till the next one on 22 November at Cafe Del Mar... keep on tripping!

In the meantime,
here's a public service announcement :

4 Comments:

At 1:02 PM, Les said...: despite all the new wave heat i'm surprised steven Aoki isn't in the top 100
At 2:59 PM, Adminstrator said...: it's called... "trend" as the noisy-generated genre is a rootless base. Concocted by media so as to be the season's "flavour". Historically, much like speed-garage, big beat, dirty house, electro trance and etc. They will come. They will go. How many albums you think a nu-wave artist can have when the well isn't even deep enough?
At 3:46 PM, Les said...: yeah i felt like they just came out of the blue and started to storm the scene. it'll be interesting to see what will happen to those Nuwave artist/dj who jumped on that bandwagon, and what kind of music/trend they will adopt in future... maybe also in relation to the current dress sense
At 4:09 PM, Adminstrator said...: it's juz tacky, cheap hooks and drawing in a lot of fashion and trend victims.