iLove Trance Musicjohn o’callaghan | iLove Trance Music

New Trance Tracks | 12 October 2009

Stuart — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:12:34 +0000

Hope you are all enjoying the first day of the week (at time of writing Haha!). Very much a busy week for lots of producers on Twitter tweeting they are getting their heads down in the studio, and we all like the sound of that as it means more of the following tracks listed below.

This week I’m inviting you all to make a comment and in return I will let you pick a new release and write a few sentences about it to be featured on the site next week. Get your thinking caps on as to what has not been already placed on here in the past week, or a track you know is going to be released in the next 7 days.
So go simply make a comment at the bottom and then on the contact page send me your short review including the track details (Artist, Title, Mix and Label) and a link to the track or where it is going to be released

Vengeance – Dawn Of The Uprising (Lehm & Gras Remix)
A State of Trance
DJdownload.com link

This weeks first track has been brought to my attention by TrackItDown.net having a later release date than DJdownload.com (but I’ve loaded it up in their player anyway above). A nice driving number and I love the trademark trance claps and rolling bassline throughout the Lehm & Gras Remix.

Ron van den Beuken – Euphoria (Club Mix)
RR Recordings
DJdownload.com link

The Club Mix is a mighty fine trancer for the hands in the air folk who like to up the tempo! I’ve also added in the player the Dub Mix that is some what progressive with a nice groovy swing.

Tom Colontonio – Lifetime Connection (John O’Callaghan Remix)
Liquid Recordings
DJdownload.com link

JoC action on the remix…nice! If you have been begging for some of his techier side that has been missing due to releases like Never Fade Away then you’re in for an Irish treat.

Hodel – Last Wish (Andy Tau Remix)
Perceptive Recordings
DJdownload.com link

Nice BIG uplifting trance music here…loving the whole lot but Andy Tau is the one in the bag for me!

Leigh Brooks & Fabio Stein – Razor Edge (Original Mix)
Couture
DJdownload.com link

Leigh Brooks hooks up the fabulous Fabio Stein and drop a bomb off a track on the label of the moment when it comes to tech-trance. Big sounds all round from the bass kick to riff that kicks in and carries on through the break. Perfect speaker damage!

Organ Donors – 99.9 (Scot Project’s Under The Kniife Remix)
Nukleuz
DJdownload.com link
I know the likes of many people will pick the Mark Sherry & James Allan Remix, but to me Scot project is the daddy of hard trance sounds! Take your pick of either but the Scot Project mix flicks my switch with the massive kick and subtle breakdown that slowly but surely builds back into a hard as nails track – not for the faint hearted trance fan

Wade Bennet – Amber (Beta Blokka Remix)
Spaced Out Recordings
DJdownload.com link
Taking it down a notch (or three) is Wade Bennet’s Amber. I really must do a better job at keeping up to date with Spaced Out Recordings releases, they always surprise me with their melodies and quality of productions.

Lange feat. Tracey Carmen – Happiness Happening (Lange 2009 Mix)
Lange Recordings
TrackItDown.net link
We all know this one surely?? All join in when your ready… “Everything will be perfect, tonight and forever!” Spruced up by Lange for 2009, this classic vocal breaths again!

Dave and Oliver – Fascinante
Only One Records
TrackItDown.net link
Only One Records pushing more fine uplifting trance out of their stable door…love the guitar work and floating synth work in the background.
The other release Magic Garden that goes with this is completely weird, I really do hope they concentrate on the finer releases such as this as they really could go far making this stuff the staple sound of their label.

Cosmic Gate feat. Aruna – Under Your Spell (Duderstadt Remix)
Black Hole Recordings
TrackItDown.net link
Taking it down to something progressive at the end… I could of picked the Myon and Shane 54 Monster Mix, but to be honest, as much as it is a good track it is nothing new from them and this remix does the track more justice in my opinion Let me know if your view is different down below of course!

If you are still here and reading this, then well done on sticking with me! Do remember to leave a comment and then fire me a message through the contact page of what you would like featured remembering what I said to include at the start of the post

Stuart

If you see this post and you are releasing a trance track anytime soon that you would like me to consider putting in the list, please be sure to mail me on the contact page with release date details and which download site(s) it is being released on.
I also have an Email address that I will happily give to you personally for adding to your Email newsletter, or point to me where to sign up if I need to opt-in.

Photo credit: Ben Sutherland

New Trance Tracks 11-05-09

Stuart — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:17:53 +0000

Soo many good tracks out there right now I nearly threw caution to the wind and threw them all on here! I dug my heels in though as it is getting late into the night, so here is my Top 5 New Trance Tracks for the 11th May!

There are many great tracks as I say, but disappointments I felt with John O’Callaghan’s ‘Find Yourself’ and the collaboration of Sander van Doorn & Marco V with their release ‘What Say’. I was so disappointed in both that I nearly went on to find a further 3 tracks and rename this weeks list as My Top 5 Trance Tracks Not Doing It For Me…

Thankfully I came across many beautiful releases and worked hard to just bring what I believe to be 5 fantastic tracks that should be in your life.

Matt Hardwick – I Am DJ (Ben Gold Remix)
Kill The Lights
TrackItDown.net link

Two of the UK’s finest on one track! Pure unadulterated uplifting tech-trance with Ben Gold doing the remix duties on Matt Hardwick’s ‘I Am DJ’ has left me weak at the knees and it is only the first track in the list!

ATB – A New Day
A1 Music Oy
TrackItDown.net link

Well I was not going to miss giving the lovely Betsie Larkin a shout out on her latest track with ATB. More lush vocals and I can just feel myself clapping away in a club to the percussion and kick that ATB has laid down making you realise why he demands a No. 14 spot in the Top 25 Trance DJs list.
Betsie Larkin interview for something to read after you have finished the next 3 tracks if you have not already done so

Gareth Emery – Exposure
Garuda
TrackItDown.net link

Wam! Bam! Thank you Ma’am! If all first releases on new labels were this good imagine how much more good music there would be? Yeah, I’m getting hot flushes just thinking of it!
Gareth Emery is stamping his authority on the scene and here is why – he oozes quality and with his recent appearance on Armin’s A State of Trance 400 show, the world is getting to hear about him even more.

Dave Walker – Sunshine At Night (Steve Anderson Remix)
SAME Progressive
TrackItDown.net

Don’t be fooled by this release being under the progressive side of SAME Recordings, Steve Anderson leads it down a dirty path with his unique style and lush synths spread out all over the track. The Original Mix is also one to check out.

Yakooza – Cocaine 2009 (Dr Willis Remix)
Traffic Tunes
TrackItDown.net link

I’ve left the hard one for the end and what a classic! Traffic Tunes throw up a collection of remixes to suit all tastes with ‘Cocaine 2009′. Dr Willis really struck out for me and has a real nice groove to boot!

Thank for reading and please leave a comment on what you think of the above selection and any tracks you have bought recently!

If you like this post please don’t forget to subscribe by RSS or Email, retweet and share.

Stuart

Photo credit: mstefano80

Top 50 Trance DJs

Stuart — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:13:34 +0000

I was not entirely happy with compiling the Top 25 for a number of reasons. Mostly because it was made up of known names, many new artists who had broken the scene were missing and I felt it was a bland read because of that. So I went back through the list at DJmag.com and spotted a number of artists who should be noted.

If you did not catch the Top 25 Trance DJs post I made please click here before delving into the second half which includes those from 26-50.

Here I have now compiled the list further to complete the Top 50 Trance DJs as voted by DJmag.com readers!

…26. DJ Feel
27. Yahel
28. DJ Shah
29. John O’Callaghan
30. Blank & Jones
31. Cosmic Gate
32. Simon Patterson
33. Gabriel & Dresden
34. Richard Durand
35. Matt Hardwick
36. Signum
37. Tiddey
38. Greg Downey
39. Marcel Woods
40. Solar System
41. Skazi
42. Mike Koglin
43. Solarstone
44. Astral Projection
45. Leon Bolier
46. Ronski Speed
47. Alex M.O.R.P.H. & Woody van Eyden
48. John ’00′ Fleming
49. Christopher Lawrence
50. Bt

The last three were just outside the official Top 100 list.

DJs in the list I was glad to see…

Artists I was particularly glad to see in this list were Simon Patterson, Richard Durand, Leon Boiler, Marcel Woods, Solarstone and John ’00′ Fleming. Also worth noting the continuation of psy-trance being featured as it continues its popularity across the globe.

As mentioned in the comments for the Top 25 Trance DJs list, there are again a high number of DJs in the list who are well known for their productions, and more so for their productions than their ability as a DJ in many people’s opinion.
My thoughts are that in any part of the music industry you have to be accomplished as an artist releasing music (if your actually writing it is another matter) to be taken seriously and climb the stardom ladder. Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Kings of Leon, Metallica, Madonna, Lilly Allen, none of them would of got anywhere if they had stayed in a pub/club singing covers. For that reason I think it is wise to assume the same goes within the electronic music industry and the top lists reinforce that idea.

My advice if you want to make the Top 100 DJ list is; start learning to produce music with the intention to release some tracks and worry about your DJ skills being polished and refined later

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Hard dance loves trance?

Stuart — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:53:58 +0000

I maybe lagging behind here, but when did the hard dance scene become so interested in trance? Many promotions I agree have over the years have mixed it up between hard house, hard trance, hardstyle and thrown in the trance DJ as their warm up typically, or hosted trance at multiple day/room events. I attended Tidy Magna Homecoming on the 7th march… I was not attending for their trance line-up of course (you may throw stones here), but I was once a fan of hard house and love the act Lab4 who were making a comeback at this event after a two year split.

Now back to the trance…

At Tidy Magna on Saturday the 7th of March they had the following trance sets:

Agnelli & Nelson vs. Solarstone
Guyver vs. Garbo

I was really surprised to see these were not the first sets of the night, the doors being open from 8pm. If the biggest hard house brand in the UK is paying such attention to trance at its one night event and then releasing the Agnelli & Nelson vs. Solarstone live set on a 3 CD pack (alongside Lab4 LIVE and Paul Glazby), then what does the future hold?

In recent years there has been a major turn around with many brands crossing genres. We have already seen, during 2007, Tidy Trax release a Bryan Kearnley remix of Tony de Vit’s ‘The Dawn’ and then we have Riot Recordings adding an impressive list of trance to its catalogue. What interests me is the fact that Riot Recordings have not only released some great trance music, but have drafted in some of the major names in the hard house/dance scene such as BK and Amber D to work alongside trance greats in the form of Ali Wilson and Judge Jules. Nukleus also have been back on form with some great trance releases. The later half of 2008 saw Yoji (formerly Yoji Biomehanika) release Tech Dance Euphoria which had a whole lot of trance included, along the lines of Stoneface & Terminal ‘Volcano’, 4 Strings ‘Catch A Fall’ and Ronald Van Gelderen ‘Dirty Rocker’. When someone such as Yoji, who is always at the forefront of trends and developing sounds, seems to be pushing trance music, then I’d be sitting up and paying attention. I have always found him to be way ahead anyone else in the hard dance industry. You only have to look at where hardstyle is now and note that he was playing that genre years ago, infused with his melodic sound!

Will this crossover continue as has already been championed by Goodgreef? I think they have to be the most respected event out there for making this vision happen! I’d like to think some of the diehard hard dance fans could thoroughly enjoy some tech-trance from the likes of John O’Callaghan, Eddie Halliwell and DJ Choose and start to fully understand that not all trance is strictly hands in the air Kevin & Perry stuff (or Human Traffic for that matter). To be honest we could even do with re-educating a few techno heads whilst we are at it – it’s not called tech-trance for nothing surely?

What are your views on trance filtering through the hard dance scene? Do you think it will give rise to another commercial success in the years to come, such as that of the late nineties, if this trend continues?

Photo credit (thumbnail): jmsl08