REACH FOR THE LASERS
Trance is back in a big way. Yep, 2009 may well be the year of melody intermingled with pounding rhythm. Okay, for some it never went away; reaching for the lasers is still a weekly experience. What I mean is that reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated. The dance genre most quintessentially “rave-friendly” is experiencing a renaissance of late, with more and more producers releasing material that challenges the stereotype: y’know, fluffy melodies, soaring female vocals, a vague pop sensibility. The kinda stuff that was big back in 2001/2002. Big European parties are also coming this way for NYE (such as Sensation in Melbourne), trance is back. With all this change afoot, it seemed prudent to speak to someone who knows the genre inside and out. I spoke to Clare Dickins, erstwhile trance columnist, editor of Zebra Magazine and an expert on all such matters.
While you might consider guys like Tiësto or Paul Van Dyk as the game-changers here, surprisingly Dickins believes it’s Armin Van Buuren at the forefront. “There's no doubt Armin has been leading it. On a local level he's sold out his Armin Only / white party shows the last two years I was quite shocked at this and had certainly underestimated his popularity. A lot of the Brits are also leading the charge, ie. Above & Beyond, John O'Callaghan, Simon Patterson, Gareth Emergy, plus Kyau & Albert from Germany. Check out the DJ Mag Top 100 list for this year, there's more trance names than ever before and it will give you a good idea of who is tickling everyone's fancy.”
Armin Van Buuren - live
Does she believe it’ll ever be the dominant paradigm of dance a la electro was a year or two ago? “It may have that potential, but I doubt it. It was certainly saturating the commercial airwaves back in the early part of the 2000s. It's interesting to see the melodic aspect coming back into house music in recent times. Even TV Rock made mention of producing trance a hybrid house, tech and trance sound. In my opinion a lot of the space/cosmic disco stuff sounds like old skool trance circa 1995. Lindstrøm would be outraged to hear me say this though.”
Of course, what does this trend mean for music as a whole? Will it lead to an increased fanbase over time? Will it end up being a blip on an otherwise downward trajectory? No one can really say. What matters is that it’s changing the contemporary musical landscape, whether it hangs around or not. Of course some people aren’t fans and will never be. But for those who hold a passing interest, now is probably one of the best times to discover what can be a truly innovative genre.
“For what it's worth, I don't think trance has ever been this interesting,” Clare agrees. “But on the downside you do have artists such as Jon O'Bir and Sean Tyas who are producing really fluffy reach-for-the-laser type of stuff that it completely derivative and could well have been released in 1998.” Some things never change, it seems.
JimmyJames