Uplifting Trance - yesterday VS today
Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 3:46 pm[align=justify]Some trace back the origin of contemporary Trance to the Goa Trance movement of the early 1990s...
Others single out the production of Dance2Trance entitled We Come In Peace as the one mothertrack that started it all...
Some even trace Trance to much older forms of electronic music, to pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre...
Few push the envelope even further, regressing it to the very first attempts at electronic music post-WW2...
The exact origin of Trance is most likely a combination of all of the above, as each, in its own way, contributed in the shaping of this modern sound.
But when speaking of the origin of Trance, we cannot possibly leave out the early days of Uplifting Trance, the sub-genre that Ferry Corsten (arguably) single-handedly pioneered. The inauguration of Uplifting Trance, and its consequent infiltration of DJs' record bags (the likes of Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold), was a landmark phenomenon whose consequences were unparalleled, as it was solely responsable for extracting that melodic Trance sound from unknown producers' studios to the crowd masses. The birth of Uplifting Trance in Holland, in parallel to the Progressive Trance sound (Airwave's ProgTrance, not the modern one) that was being developped in Belgium and the Hard Trance sound of Germany, was the immediate cause to the rise of DJs, producers, record labels, party concepts, events, radio/internet stations/shows, compilations, and an ever-growing fanbase.
Uplifting Trance of the late 1990s offered a fresh sound that dancefloors were in desperate need of, given the decline that the House scene was witnessing at that time. The sound was emotional, energetic, and dreamy at the same time, through the careful blend of emotional synths, energetic beats, and dreamy pads. It was not easy bringing these three diametrically opposed modes of feeling together and making a track out of them, one that actually sounded good, but Trance producers succeeded and set new production standards that were yet unexplored. One word was used to describe this new sound: euphoric.
Without going into details in order to avoid ending up with a thesis, that euphoric Trance sound kept evolving ever since, both music-wise and popularity-wise, without venturing into a debate over the term "popularity" for the sake of sticking to the topic. Uplifting Trance approaching Progressive House resulted in the modern Progressive Trance sound (that of Markus Schulz for instance), while Uplifting Trance approaching Techno resulted in Tech Trance (an example of which would be today's Marco V), but Uplifting Trance persisted to exist solitarily as well, through both production and DJ support.
2004 witnessed a Progressive Trance revolution, with virgin sounds getting introduced and receiving very positive feedback from trancers, away from the "old school" Belgian feel, just as 2005 witnessed a Tech Trance uprising in the same manner as well, and just as 2006 is now witnessing a Psychedelic Trance reshape, particularly in its Full-On genre. But throughout this necessary and inevitable evolution, Uplifting Trance continues to mark its presence, but is today more debatable that it has ever been, which is the main reason behind this topic.
How is Uplifting Trance doing today?
Are the other Trance sub-genres shadowing it?
Are its productions sounding more like imitation than innovation?
Is it becoming the result of stale formulas applied in all the tracks making them sound the same?
Does it no longer represent the authentic Trance sound, the one that started it all, the one that you would use as an example for introducing Trance for someone who's not familiar with it?
Has it become a thing of the past that doesn't keep up with the modern sounds?
Do we still need euphoria in Trance?
Is not Uplifting Trance satisfying us any longer?
Note: This topic serves both as an informative role and a discussion. However, regarding the informative part, I chose to refrain from documenting the topic, i.e. mentioning names of producers, productions, DJs, labels, events, shows, stations, etc, in order to make it as brief as possible. It would have been much more educative were I to take the time to document it, but since it serves both above-mentioned purposes, the first of which setting the ground for the second, then this content should be enough for the desired ambition of the overall topic.[/align]
Others single out the production of Dance2Trance entitled We Come In Peace as the one mothertrack that started it all...
Some even trace Trance to much older forms of electronic music, to pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre...
Few push the envelope even further, regressing it to the very first attempts at electronic music post-WW2...
The exact origin of Trance is most likely a combination of all of the above, as each, in its own way, contributed in the shaping of this modern sound.
But when speaking of the origin of Trance, we cannot possibly leave out the early days of Uplifting Trance, the sub-genre that Ferry Corsten (arguably) single-handedly pioneered. The inauguration of Uplifting Trance, and its consequent infiltration of DJs' record bags (the likes of Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold), was a landmark phenomenon whose consequences were unparalleled, as it was solely responsable for extracting that melodic Trance sound from unknown producers' studios to the crowd masses. The birth of Uplifting Trance in Holland, in parallel to the Progressive Trance sound (Airwave's ProgTrance, not the modern one) that was being developped in Belgium and the Hard Trance sound of Germany, was the immediate cause to the rise of DJs, producers, record labels, party concepts, events, radio/internet stations/shows, compilations, and an ever-growing fanbase.
Uplifting Trance of the late 1990s offered a fresh sound that dancefloors were in desperate need of, given the decline that the House scene was witnessing at that time. The sound was emotional, energetic, and dreamy at the same time, through the careful blend of emotional synths, energetic beats, and dreamy pads. It was not easy bringing these three diametrically opposed modes of feeling together and making a track out of them, one that actually sounded good, but Trance producers succeeded and set new production standards that were yet unexplored. One word was used to describe this new sound: euphoric.
Without going into details in order to avoid ending up with a thesis, that euphoric Trance sound kept evolving ever since, both music-wise and popularity-wise, without venturing into a debate over the term "popularity" for the sake of sticking to the topic. Uplifting Trance approaching Progressive House resulted in the modern Progressive Trance sound (that of Markus Schulz for instance), while Uplifting Trance approaching Techno resulted in Tech Trance (an example of which would be today's Marco V), but Uplifting Trance persisted to exist solitarily as well, through both production and DJ support.
2004 witnessed a Progressive Trance revolution, with virgin sounds getting introduced and receiving very positive feedback from trancers, away from the "old school" Belgian feel, just as 2005 witnessed a Tech Trance uprising in the same manner as well, and just as 2006 is now witnessing a Psychedelic Trance reshape, particularly in its Full-On genre. But throughout this necessary and inevitable evolution, Uplifting Trance continues to mark its presence, but is today more debatable that it has ever been, which is the main reason behind this topic.
How is Uplifting Trance doing today?
Are the other Trance sub-genres shadowing it?
Are its productions sounding more like imitation than innovation?
Is it becoming the result of stale formulas applied in all the tracks making them sound the same?
Does it no longer represent the authentic Trance sound, the one that started it all, the one that you would use as an example for introducing Trance for someone who's not familiar with it?
Has it become a thing of the past that doesn't keep up with the modern sounds?
Do we still need euphoria in Trance?
Is not Uplifting Trance satisfying us any longer?
Note: This topic serves both as an informative role and a discussion. However, regarding the informative part, I chose to refrain from documenting the topic, i.e. mentioning names of producers, productions, DJs, labels, events, shows, stations, etc, in order to make it as brief as possible. It would have been much more educative were I to take the time to document it, but since it serves both above-mentioned purposes, the first of which setting the ground for the second, then this content should be enough for the desired ambition of the overall topic.[/align]
*thx dio for this topic *