Classic trance tracks
From the earliest trance through to modern takes on the sound, we trace the evolution of the genre through ten classic tracks
THE AGE OF LOVE - THE AGE OF LOVE (JAM & SPOON MIX), 1990
A strong contender for the title of first proper trance track. A lot of the key elements here had been used before, but Jam & Spoon’s remix combined many of the components which we now take to be staples of trance: lush pads, relentless melodies, gating effects, pounding kick drums… an instant classic.
PAUL VAN DYK - FOR AN ANGEL, 1994
Undoubtedly a high point of trance’s mid-90s heyday, from one of the masters of the genre. Simplistic piano riffs and pulsing synths are underscored by propulsive bass and drums, somehow ending up simultaneously blissed-out and energising.
JOSH WINK - HIGHER STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, 1995
Is this techno or is this actually acid house? Maybe neither. Higher State can stake a claim to various genres, but it’s certainly indebted to the loopy repetition of trance, showing that acid can be trancey too. There’s a subtle dividing line between the styles (and many people would probably file anything with a 303-style acid line under house or techno) but there are huge similarities in terms of structure, builds and breakdowns.
ATB - 9PM (TILL I COME), 1999
Late 90s commercial trance is where things start to get a bit dubious. The sound was huge across Europe for a few years, but things soon turned stale. To some, the slightly childish melodic hooks and vocal samples of tracks like 9PM (Till I Come) are the turning point. It has a certain charm, but there’s no doubt things were starting to get tired around this era.
SASHA - XPANDER, 1999
The perfect antidote to cheesy commercial trance came in the form of Xpander, which signalled something of a dividing line between progressive trance and the progressive house sound with which Sasha became associated with. Eleven minutes of rolling, wistful magic.
INFECTED MUSHROOM - BUST A MOVE, 2000
Weird and wonderful stuff from the Israeli trance veterans. Acoustic percussion and guitars meld with synths and slamming kicks, proving that trance doesn’t just need to be about the obvious sounds. If anything, the genre is always at its best when breaking away from the rules and conventions.
NATHAN FAKE - THE SKY WAS PINK (JAMES HOLDEN REMIX), 2004
On a similar note, Fake and Holden’s left-field trance classic showed there was still huge creative potential in a genre that some had already written off. Oddball melodies. Sidechained noise. Wonky beats. Glorious.
MAGNETIC MAN - I NEED AIR, 2010
OK, it’s certainly not straightforward trance as we know it, but there’s no denying that on tracks like I Need Air and Anthemic the dubstep supergroup brought trancey stabs, arps and sawtooth synths to their bass-heavy sound, proving the huge crossover potential. It’s hard to think of any genre that couldn’t be fused with some of the broader ideas of trance, from repetition and structural tricks through to specific sounds.
LORENZO SENNI - THE SHAPE OF TRANCE TO COME, 2017
Senni’s ‘deconstructed’ trance experiments explore the extreme, minimalist limits of trance’s potential. On The Shape Of Trance To Come he fuses hardcore punk attitudes with classic JP-8000 supersaw synths. One of the artier takes on trance, no doubt, but deeply engaging and uniquely comforting in its own way.
BICEP - GLUE, 2017
The duo are dance music scholars, open to a bit of everything. On tracks like
Glue and Orca, they flirt heavily with trance, bringing the classic sounds to new generations. With the resurgence of more mainstream interest in trance, house and techno audiences are once again receptive to what might have been written off as cheesy a few years ago.
MOBY - GO (WOODTICK MIX), 1991
You can argue until you’re blue in the face about what constituted trance back in ’91 but, whatever, Moby’s Go brought the genre – or a version of it – to the mainstream. Indeed, with just a couple of sampled vocals and a chord progression lifted from Twin Peaks, it arguably shaped that entire decade of repetitive beats.