Trance in general

Maybe if I wanted to be really original, I’d open my opinions by getting straight to the point and being immediately relevant. Y’know, rather then making the usual, side-ways, long-winded attempt to be different, as is so common among myself and other members of the dooyoo semi-elite who are all trying to be as good as Alk (with varying degrees of success). But I’m not. I’m a fragile, in-secure little writer. I have to zigzag. I have to serve you my thoughts in a unstable dish of tongue-in-cheek arrogance and subtle quirkiness, complimented by a (confident) conversational tone, and finished with a generous sprinkle of muted naivety that you ...  Read the complete review

Trance is such a wide subject to talk about. Trance has so many different levels, that it is going to take quite a while to talk about. There are two main levels, but within those levels there is a never-ending type of Trance. This is going to be difficult writing about a whole genre of music, but hey someone has to do it. So sit back and grab a cup of tea. Trance (along with drum and bass), is one of the newer additions to the global dance tree. It developed out of early 90’s techno dance, and has since split into two distinct strains - psychedelic (or Goa) trance and progressive house. Under both of these there is a lot more sub categories e.g. ...  Read the complete review

Trance has exploded in popularity over the last few years and is today the undisputed face of dance music and club culture. What was a niche genre back when dance music as a whole was still finding its feet has become a catch-all phrase covering a massive spectrum of styles and quality. I'll not go into how good trance is because it's already been dealt with and can be taken as read. This opinion is an attempt to describe what, to me, is the single most important differentiator within the genre. For want of better terms, let's call the opposite ends Quality and Cheese - no disrespect intended to the fromage industry. The main ...  Read the complete review

Writing an opinion on an entire genre is never going to easy. The "in general" bit just makes it a lot more er, general and expands the boundaries of the category yet further. Call me a hypocrite, but I have another genre-type opinion in the pipeline - that though, is already shaping up to be a hell of a lot easier than this. Well, at least it's not 'Music in general in general', at least. I might struggle in that one. Right then. Genres in music. It's all a bit icky and journalist-dictated, y'see. What they say, goes. If something is placed under one particular genre, then you don't argue. Something to do with trends and stuff. ...  Read the complete review

You know, I was just reading something about the relative merits of all forms of trance music - Cheese or Quality as the reviewer put it. Now if you asked me three years ago, I'd have said all dance music was shallow and derivative, a view probably representing my knowledge of the Cheese. Back then, I'd have said 'Rock!!' was the only way to go. In some respects, I haven't changed. I still love anything from Nirvana to (real metal) Machine Head, but my views have opened up more. My route into Dance music in particular was the very cheap samplers you can find - you won't have heard of most of the artists, but that's a good thing! ...  Read the complete review