Trance now vs trance then

I got really lazy so I'm just copy paste my post from a few months back. This is more of a breakdown of trance by eras and how I see things. Since my original post didn't focus much the 1997-2002 era, here's my short take on it:

This period was seen by many at the time as a huge sideways step with respect to what trance should sound like. Until 1998, most of the tracks didn't feature a breakdown and drop structure as we now know it. There was a constant beat and melody with a progression in the track that had a climax towards the end, and this gave birth to the name of "TRANCE". Come 1998, one track changed the entire face of trance forever: System F - Out Of The Blue. This is regarded by many as the first track that had a clear intro, melodic hands in the air breakdown, drop, and outro. Soon after, tracks like 1998, Gouryella, Eternity Universal Nation, all used the same template and "classic" trance as we know call it was born. At the time, people were calling it Dutch trance is most of the new producers were from Holland (Armin, Ferry, Tiesto, to some extent M.I.K.E. & Airwave - they're from Belgium, so close enough) and they were using this sound structure, which was a huge deviation from the German and UK tracks. Looking back at this time period, it gave us the majority of tracks that are now featured in the top 1000 trance song lists, but at teh same time it completely killed groups like Age of Love, Energy 52, Robert Miles L.S.G. (the last two still made music after, but it was never the same)

Below you'll find my original post


Well, I've been listening to trance since 1999, so I have quite a bit of knowledge on this topic. 1) You are right. Trance in the old days was not about the bassline, which is why it was quite subdued on most of the tracks. Instead, the producers were focusing on creating original melodies and percussion (kick drums, snare etc). The 2002-2006 prog trance sound is best defined by this and as a genre, it's my favorite era

2) At the same time, artists like Tyas, JOC, Kearney started on the scene and they brought a more in your face kind of trance. 140BPM, wall of sound, rolling basslines, tech-infused basslines etc. At the time I thought this was a very fresh sound and these artists quickly became my favorites, hence why I think a lot of people on this sub still look up to them even today.

3) Around 2008, tech-trance was in full swing with artists like W&W, Ummet Ozcan, even Patterson (which is more of a blend between tech and uplifting). Yet again, the sound was fresh, but it still remained original and most importantly, trancey (extremely key factor)

4) IMO, everything started going sour with Trance 2.0. The genre had gained momentum by this time and it was possible to actually make decent money out of it, so everyone decided to make the type of tracks, at least from the artists that were already established in the scene. This got even worse later on with the infusion of big room and electro sounds. Basically, once you hear an Armada track nowadays you heard them all since they're all created by a handful of people.

5) Of course, I can NOT talk about Uplifting. It all started around 2004, and imo Aly & Fila are the first group to produce proper Uplifting. Bring out the long breakdowns, hands in the air, extremely joyful music. Basslines are quite minimal, and in that respect it's the closest to classic trance. The problem with Uplifting is the same as with Trance 2.0. Way to many people are doing it, and this happens even today. Tracks are very samey and hard to ID, especially if you listen to a 3h set. Same bassline, everyone has a piano melody that's not that interesting. However, there still are artists that put out exceptional Uplifting trance. Aly & Fila are still leading the genre into new interesting directions, just like they did 10 years ago.

6) Now, what has happened over the last 2-3 years is that a lot of up and coming producers have decided to pull a complete 180 and go in the tech-acid-psy direction. I think this has both it's positives and negatives. Positives: The music is influenced by more underground sounds, which is good. Trance is at it's best when it's not commercial. This also allows it to maintain a high BPM, which to some is essential. Tracks are also a lot more interesting now since there are so many different elements that you can use. And of course, it gave us Angry fucking Man!!!!!! Negatives: Seems like everyone is jumping on this bandwagon as well!! Prog-psy especially, the genre to me has been almost killed in a matter of 1-2 years. This might be a personal preference, but this new type of music has forced DJs to quick mix. Apart from very few exceptions, I'm not a fan of this as trance music at it's heart is not about the drop, it's about the journey: the intro, the break, the build-up, the change in melody etc.

7) So you see, there quite a few other genres that struggle with repetitive sound, not just Armada. Heck, Atkinson works with quite a few Mental Asylum guys and you can tell his tracks from a mile away. Benno is behind a lot of Armada projects, wouldn't surprise me one bit if Faruk Sabanci is as well. All in all, if you feel that the music you're hearing is way to repetitive, try a different label or genre. There is quality out there, you just need to search for it. On a personal note, I'm quite sad that all these evolutions and blends have killed the prog-trance scene. Whatever you heard DJs tag as prog-trance nowadays is anything but that in 90-95% of the cases.

Anyway, didn't want to type such a long post but I usually get very into it whenever these type of posts are made as I'm quite passionate about the scene. I guess after 15 years of listening to a particular type of music you end up getting attached to it

/r/trance Thread