Tag Archive for trance at Illusive Mind

Tag Archive for 'trance'

SOTW: Aeden - Search for Time

Published at October 15, 2007 in SOTW. 2 Comments

‘Aeden’ or ‘Open Mind’ is a trance / hard trance artist I had the pleasure of encountering on the DJ Pi forums. As a big fan of both genres I knew I was in for a treat listening to the tracks from this French DJ.

There are so many good tracks to choose from, available by downloading via DJ Pi.net, Aeden’s website or his EP ‘Connecting People‘ which you can buy from all the major legal download sites.

‘Search for Time‘ is perhaps one of Aeden’s more progressive trance tracks, with a great buildup featuring interesting percussion and a pulsing bassline.

The chorus has poetic Japanese lyrics and a majestic guitar which morphs into a synth arpeggio. It’s soaring well crafted music and all his tracks are crisp, powerful and melodically driven. Aeden’s proficiency is something I aspire to achieve in my own music.

Check him out on Myspace at myspace.com/aedenakaopenmind or go to his website: www.aeden.new.fr

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SOTW: KLF - What Time is Love (Pure Trance)

Published at July 8, 2007 in SOTW. 3 Comments

KLF - What Time is Love (Pure Trance)

This is one of the tunes that helped spawn the electronic sub-genre known as ‘Trance’. It may not sound like much but think back to 1988/89 and you’ll see this track was ahead of its time. The rap vocal version is certainly redolent of the eighties but that acid synth bassline is etched into the recesses of my mind.

I’m pretty sure it was the background music for a music video TV show that aired on Saturday mornings in my youth. I’ve wondered why it took me so long to move my tastes from the mainstream dance/pop of the nineties to the melodic trance of today, now I realize the genre wasn’t invented yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYbpGqF1Kaw

From Wikipedia:

Trance Music

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of What Time Is Love? and 3 a.m. Eternal (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound - as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave) and the 1988 track Kylie Said Trance.

Their use of the term ‘pure trance’ to describe these recordings reinforces this case strongly. These early recordings were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and ‘underground’ in sound. While the KLF’s works are clear examples of Proto-trance, two songs, both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first “true” trance records.

The first, Age of Love’s self-titled debut single was released in early 1990 and is seen as creating the basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany. The second track was Dance 2 Trance’s “We Came in Peace”, which was actually the b-side of their own self-titled debut single. While “Age of Love” is seen as the track which cemented the early trance sound, it was Dance 2 Trance (as a result of the duo’s name) that probably gave the sound its name.

The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon mix)

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Check Out: Synthex

Published at June 8, 2007 in accolades. 0 Comments

Synthex

I was thinking to myself that the music I’m working on currently is sounding very decent and then I happened onto Synthex over at mp3unsigned.com for an almighty humbling.

The key word is ‘atmosphere’ and this duo’s track ‘Astria‘ has got it in spades. As soon as the track starts you can hear it, yeah you’ve got the kick snare, hi-hats and bassline but there is also an evocative pad or two and a hint of the melodic synth.

As the track progresses you can hear the layers and the effects and the diligence and care with which the track has been constructed. Before it has time to linger it breaks down and some melody is brought in and it fits like a glove.

This whets your appetite before another breakdown and an awesome distorted trance arpeggio arrives on the scene with some angelic choir like strings to back it up and smooth as silk the chord progression is introduced. As the rhythm is developed your anticipation is peaking as the snare rolls and then boom, the kick comes in and the progressive trance comes into its own.

Masterfully produced and composed Astria never feels repetitive and manages to both ‘uplifting’ and ‘chill’, I would expect to hear a track like this on an episode of A State of Trance.

Illusive Mind