Briggsy Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 So, we've got the ultimate year for Trance - but what does everyone feel was the worst year for Trance? Personally, i'd say 2010. Last year was appalling - far too much slower Tech-Trance with breakdowns that were rather poor and lots of Anjunabeats-style fluffy rubbish that had vocals for the sake of having a vocal - there were also lots of regurgitated remixes of classics (Unlike a lot of people, I have no objections to classics being remixed - but if they are, then they should be done well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 I say last year, but when this year is out it'll be this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 Yeah this year hasn't been much better than last really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 I stopped caring (by and large) last year so I'll go for that (although this year could be far worse and I wouldn't really know) Techno ftw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 Techno ftw! This! ^^ Trance bores me these days. I'm really into my harder side of Techno now. David Moleon and Omega Drive are absolutely superb at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 I've found myself immersing myself more and more into deeper music and techno. Some of the releases on labels like 1605, Sabotage, Binary 404, Blu Fin and Tribal Vision have been fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 After Global last year where there were the various choices of genre to attend I realised I'd had it with Trance and the Trance Dj's and I was on the DnB/Dubstep, like a bit of Nu skool jungle, but also by and large I'd done my time with clubbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 but also by and large I'd done my time with clubbing. That applies to me too really. I've been out clubbing once in the past 12 months - whereas before that, I was out once or twice a month. I get bored too easily now - and thats simply because Trance nights don't progress now that every DJ has slowed down (apart from Kearney, Askew, Patterson, Indecent Noise & occasionally Activa). By 4am, i'm screaming out for the night to be faster/harder - but these days, they're only playing slightly faster at 4am than the warm-up DJ did at 10pm :thumbsdown: All the DJs I once liked are now crap. I only go out now if Bryan Kearney or Simon Patterson are playing. Not that arsed otherwise - the rest bore me too easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 Last proper "Trance" night I went to was PaSSion's birthday last year (Feb '10). I only really went as I was playing but it was a good night. Sied van Riel and Jon O'Bir both played decent sets and Greg Downey was superb in the Red Room - only problem was a certain young "up & comer" called Jules completely ruined the night by playing cheesy nonsense. It seemed to affect Tyas who started off in the same vein before finishing it off pretty nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted July 21, 2011 Report Share Posted July 21, 2011 I can't bothered and some of that is due to my age, and some of it money, but the main reason is the music, it's not worth losing sleep and money for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Trance lineups are just lacking in creativity and inspiration now anyway. It's not entirely promoters' faults as trance nights will only do well with one of Armin, Ferry, Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz or (in some cases) Jules on the lineup. Gone are the days of interesting leftfield type bookings and the desire to promote and develop future talent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 The problem is, when promotors do drop the bigger names and go for 'lower-profile' DJs, they either stick to the same names all of the time (like Godskitchen always going for Simon Patterson, Greg Downey or Jordan Suckley) because they get block booking 'deals' from agencies, or a deal where if they book 3 DJs from the same agency, they'll only pay one booking fee - but they don't reflect that in the price and still expect people to pay £15 and £4.50 for a drink. Nobody is gonna pay £15 to see a few 'lower-profile' DJs when they can see a headliner and a few support DJs for a few quid more elsewhere - whereas if they dropped the ticket price to £7-£8 and made the drinks prices more reasonable, people would turn up - and the nights would still make a profit. Godskitchen don't seem to grasp that expecting people to travel to Birmingham, many of which stay in hotels afterwards - and then expecting them to pay £4.50 a drink (from a poor selection of water, Corona, Bacardi Breezer or Jack Daniels which aren't even chilled once the first lot out of about 80 bottles from the fridge have sold out) and £15 a ticket isn't going to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number2Fan Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 I think it's just had it's day tbf. It's run it's course. Ten years after it's highlife, ain't bad going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 There is still a market for "indie" trance nights - Digital Society proved that. Unfortunately (imo) they have gone for the bigger bucks and started the O2 events with the same old headliners. I don't blame the guys (they're good friends) but DS lost a lot of what made it so special when they moved from Stinky's/MyHouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Yeah, Digital Society were the prime example of what I was talking about - they used to have around 5-6 lower-profile DJs that hardly anyone else in the UK booked, had drinks promotions at most events, and it was run by clued-up people that knew what times to put the DJs on to get the best out of them. If a few more promotors followed that example, the Trance scene could re-ignite itself again (Yes, Godskitchen and Gatecrasher with your bland, samey, line-ups, i'm talking about you). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted July 28, 2011 Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 (edited) A lot of very good points mentioned above all of which I tend to agree with. I certainly haven't been clubbing for a fair while now and don't actually miss it. I'd certainly say the last year or two has been the worst in trance. I would say this could be down to a few reasons; too easy to produce tracks nowadays, there is no creativity or innovative approaches to production unlike the older days. Also, generations are changing and with that artists - more so newer ones - are producing tripe that seems to get people buying and requesting more of the same! I think also times change and maybe our time is passing. We maybe are growing out of stuff as well as the people we've grown to love changing and not hitting the nail on the head like they used to. I find myself listening to more of my older stuff than following 'today's' music now and not even feeling in the mood to mix like I used to. But that may just be me growing out of it... Nonetheless, I still always have a place in my heart for the music that has played a significant part of my life and given me so many great times and experiences as well as a drive to mix and be creative! Edited July 28, 2011 by Aza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 28, 2011 Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Let's all just blame Arty How he is so popular is beyond me :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 I think the biggest problem with tunes now is that people are no longer producing because they want to have something unique in their sets that nobody else is playing or because they've thought of a cracking melody whilst having a crap - they're producing because they know that if they have one bit of luck along the way, the DJ bookings will start coming in - and thats where the money is these days. I think that is backed-up by the fact that most "producers" don't even produce their tunes these days - they pay someone else to make a tune for them, and then they release it under their own name instead. If you really wanted your own unique 'sound', then you'd learn to produce yourself surely rather than paying Steve Allen or Ben Nicky to use a 'template' sound. No wonder everything sounds the same these days when you've got 30 "producers" (that didn't produce) that have all used to the same 2 or 3 artists to make their tune for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyndon Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 the modern trance just seems to have lost it's edge. for me the odd daniel kandi stuff ain't too bad plus that max graham/nev kennedy one that jules has been playing latley, but it's few and far between these days. sadly the music that's big now hasn't got the same impact as trance did in the late 90's and early 2000's, and i'll bet it won't be as trance is right now 10 years down the line, it will be long gone. you also have to consider that the people who were in their 20's going out back then are older now with families, and the people from around 18 - 25 who are clubbing now just don't understand trance because they were too young to listen to it in 2001. i do think it has a future somewhat. it's grim now, but a bit like northern soul if you like. the kids will grow up and mom & dad won't fancy sitting in the pub playing darts on saturday nights. so i think there will be trance classics nights in a few years time, but it's still a bit off right now. but for me though the worst year for trance has to be this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 J00F has been posting some really interesting blogs on the problems he sees within current trance music. I loved this quote from him in an interview I read yesterday: "Also, it’s time for people to go back into clubs to start listening to music again. Stop staring and pointing your camera phone at the celebrity DJ – let’s go back to the roots and hide the DJ in a corner, get a huge sound system, make it dark and let people get back into dancing again without any distractions" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 The baffling thing about Trance is that its at, in my opinion, the weakest point it has been for years - everyone complains about the tunes being generic, samey and lacking imagination - yet the Trance tents are always still the biggest at the festivals, and over recent years, its been Trance DJs dominating the DJ mag poll. Bizarre! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 It's as J00F says though; certain "superstar" DJs dictate tastes and seem to whore themselves out - the general public love this but it's drifting further and further away from what trance was. Hence the awful genre definitions such as trouse and (bar far the worst) Trance 2.0 :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted July 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 Very true. Its shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.