It's Trance Week!

[Paedantic Basterd]

Originally Posted by Moodbook

While there is no strict definition for trance, songs of this genre are usually characterized as being accessible and having anthemic and epic and rifting and psychedelic qualities. Using that as a starting point, a basic trance track could then be described as being comprised of a particular melodic or vocal hook which is given presence over a bassline, a drum pattern, which often includes snare or kick drum rolls to mark important moments, and perhaps one or two other semi-quantified aural elements to provide texture and enhance the rhythm. However, not all trance fits that profile, and often times a song's classification as trance has just as much to do with who is playing it as what it sounds like.

The best way to generally describe the trance genre is that of dance music based around rifts and anthems, which can be either highly energetic or very chilled out. Trance tracks often intermix major and minor chords to create "epic" sounding, similar to classical organ music. Most trance is built around the 4/4 beat, and a lot of trance can be very uplifting. Uptempo, uplifting and often euphoric energetic synthesized sounds pumped by a beat and massive hooks, often with long breakdowns building slowly to create a tension and expectancy on the dance floor. Often with driving off-the-beat basslines and utilizing major and minor chords in sequence, trance tracks can take a central epic form of commercial trance or the form of one of several sub-genres including Euro (Epic) Trance, Goa (Psychedelic, Psy) trance, Hard Trance, and Progressive Trance.

Trance music. A definition of genre. Trance, goa, psy, house, progressive and more...

Trance music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RYM's top Trance albums

Neither of the resources I use had an adequate definition for the genre,

[CanwllCorfe]

I shouldn't even post videos. That would just be a bad idea. I'll upload some .RARs and grace all of you with them.

Here's what I had to say about it forever ago:

Trance all started in the early 90s when artists such as Paul van Dyk, Cosmic Baby, and Dance 2 Trance all began making hypnotic synth driven music. By today's standards most of it would be considered "Goa" but at the time there weren't any types.. there was just Trance. As it became more and more popular the sound got more refined and the songs became more energetic and more accessible. The original hypnotic, or "trance-inducing" sound was more or less out the window. In this commercial era pretty much all trance was either Epic, Progressive, or Hard. This dominated the trance sound from pretty much 1998 to 2004. In 2004 many artists stopped sticking to being "Trance artists" and started creating their own sound. Armin van Buuren started producing much more Progressive stuff, Ferry Corsten practically made a new genre called Electro trance, Tiesto combined a lot of House influence to his songs and made a tune called Traffic.. one of the first tech trance songs ever, and Paul Oakenfold was doing his own damn thing. Nowadays Epic Trance is much less common because it is no longer the commercial electronic genre of choice, although it is still being produced and still relatively popular.

Here's what I had to say about Tech Trance:

When the commercial era of trance began to fade, artists started trying new things trying to change with the times and keep from being stale. It was at this time when Tech Trance came about. In fact it came in at 2 different angles: from Hard Trance producers who didn't migrate to Hardstyle or further on to Hardcore, and Trance producers like Cosmic Gate. Tech Trance gets its name from "techno" and as such, is an influence. Some are more Trancey and some have more of a Techno tinge, it all depends on the artist and how saucy they are feeling. It was at this time when Trance artists like Mike Koglin would play alongside Hard Trance legends such as Scot Project. There were hardly any artists who would produce ALL Tech Trance but if one did, it was usually a former Hard Trance producer. Of course this wasn't always the case. Nowadays it is still being made but is also influenced by Electro and House, which is pretty much the same story with all of Trance. I'm looking at you Tiesto and Armin van Buuren. Former Hard Trance producers are also, strangely, going from Tech Trance to Progressive Tech House and Tech Dance. Don't ask why. Huge names like Kamui, A.S.Y.S. (Frank Ellrich), Yoji Biomehanika, and Joe-E are good examples.

[CanwllCorfe]

Epic
Tech
Tech/Hard
Progressive
Progressive 2

[CanwllCorfe]

Sure is lonely in here.

[CanwllCorfe]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

Sure is lonely in here.

Yeah it is. Hear any good songs lately?

[CanwllCorfe]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

Yeah it is. Hear any good songs lately?

I was surprised by W&W's latest song. It almost reminds me of their older stuff, like Countach or Mustang, but with newer flourishes. Like the kick/hand clap layered with the main melody. Speaking of which, I still give credit to Joop for that kind of melody. He was the first to do it with The Future. Still a cool song for what it is, regardless.



I also heard this track from Cymatics, which is one of the most melodramatically uplifting tracks I've heard in quite a long time.

[CanwllCorfe]

Best theme week ever!

[CanwllCorfe]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I've been a big fan of Trance for awhile. Thanks for the uploads!

Really? I didn't peg you as a trance fan. And no problem!

Originally Posted by TheBig3

I really like this stuff. I'm surprised I haven't listened to it for longer.

Glad you got into it! I've been into it for awhile. It was the first EDM genre I was really into.

Originally Posted by These guys

It's pretty cool, but I wouldn't listen to it for an extended amount of time.

Yeah that's understandable. Most people usually don't. I'm definitely in the minority haha!

[jayshreddz]

it must be lonely with all those techno songs sounding the same over and over again for extended periods of time.

[CanwllCorfe]

The fact that you can't distinguish between songs is more on you than on the genre. People say that about every genre. I used to say that about Hip-Hop.