1993 - An incredible year in trance history

[TheTranceHistorian]

The year where everything truly began. 1993 is one of my favorite years in the history of trance. Here, I present to you my top 10 from this incredible year. As for why no Café del Mar, and Superstring? Well, I think those tunes reached their peak with their later remixes, but their early versions simply lack that oomph to be truly outstanding or memorable in my eyes. And yeah, The First Rebirth, How Much You Can Take?, and all the other big ones are good too, I'm just much more into the following bangers. Oh, and how about all the cool stuff that happened this year? The founding of Platipus Records, the filming of MFS Berliner, the release of Trance Europe Express (both the festival and the albums with their 192-page booklets), or the release of such influential albums such as Sven Väth’s Accident In Paradise and Orbital’s Orbital 2. 1993 was awesome. What are your favorite tracks and memories from this year?

Top 10 (in alphabetical order):

1. 4Voice - Eternal Spirit (Northern Mix)
2. Andromeda - Trip To Space
3. Dance 2 Trance - Take A Free Fall (Beyond The Stars Mix)
4. Datura - Eternity (Nidana)
5. Final Fantasy - Control Your Fantasy
6. State Of Grace - Not Over Yet (Perfecto Mix)
7. One Dove - Breakdown (Secret Knowledge Light Mix)
8. Quench - Dreams
9. Scooter - Cosmos
10. The Source Experience - The Source Experience

 

[Magdelayna]

Its quite weird now thinking about it,that i was just 11 years old in 1993,and i had no idea what Trance was and no idea these tracks were getting released. I suppose Trance was never played in the UK charts until around the mid 90's with Robert Miles - Children.

 

[Magdelayna]

Btw,the glaring omission youve seemed to have made here is this incredible record - surely one of the most important Trance tracks ever - way ahead of its time.

 

[Hot Tuna]

Humate - Love Stimulation
Bedrock feat. KYO - For What You Dream Of
Atlantic Ocean - Waterfall
Jaydee - Plastic Dreams
L.S.G. - Fragile/Hearts
Paragliders - Paraglide
Blue Amazon - Hyper Sleep

It was the first year that Sasha & Digweed started DJing as a duo. Paul Oakenfold was hired as the warm-up act for U2's global "Zoo TV" tour. Way Out West formed and released their first track Shoot. Jam & Spoon released their Tripomatic Fairytales album. Spooky released Gargantuan and the single Little Bullet, which would later lend itself in part to Xpander. System 7 - 777 and Rabbit In The Moon - Phases Of An Out Of Body Experience were big on the more tribal/psychedelic side of things.

 

[Dmoore]

I was only 8 years old at the time. Clueless sprout, awhile before I would discover Trance. I have to admit I am woefully out of touch with Trance before 1995, although this forum has helped a lot. Nice that Sasha and Digeeed started this year, was it progressive music? I always thought that started a little later.

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

first of the 3 greatest years of Trance music (the others are 94 and 95,)) ...the major labels don't see the potential of the genre so the start is very healthy and diverse.. here some personal picks:

K2 - The Journey [Vibraphone Records]

Virtual Symmetry - See You [Eye Q Records]

Dave Angel - Original Man [Aura Surround Sounds]

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

first of the 3 greatest years of Trance music (the others are 94 and 95,)) ...the major labels don't see the potential of the genre so the start is very healthy and diverse..

Indeed. This three-year period was incredible due to a high dose of musical experimentation that resulted in a wide variety of sounds. I love how many trance tunes from this era also incorporate elements from other, at the time more developed electronic music genres, including acid, techno, happy hardcore, ambient, and more, while still keeping that trance sound in the forefront. The years between 1993 and 1995 represent one of the historic peaks of trance music, but I'd argue that 1999 was just as excellent, as this was the year where the quality of the tracks was the highest when being compared to their massive quantity and to the genre's overall popularity.

 

[aSeb]

Easily one of the best tunes I have heard.

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Here are some other incredible tracks from 1993. Yes, previously I didn't mention Café Del Mar 'cause I wasn't aware of this specific remix (I was mainly thinking about Kid Paul's original version). It's brilliant. BTW, The Sky Is In Your Hands, Sometimes, and Control Your Fantasy all came out on the same vinyl (Sometimes I See Your Mind E.P.), making it one of the first trance-only releases (and also hard trance), and making it one of the coolest records of the early 90s.

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

ok, here is another bunch of my favourite '93 tunes, maybe not the typical ones for the 'Trance' genre now, but in the days this was TRANCE.)

Nail - Cassiopeia [Warp Records]

Ramin - Moonchild [Save The Vinyl]

Bio-Dreams - Dream Sequence 1 [EXperimental]

Third Eye - New Life [Save The Vinyl]

Lazer Worshippers - Lazer Worshippers Theme [EXperimental]


more recommends soon.)

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

big all timer right here:

Air Liquide - Liquid Men With Liquid Hearts [Blue]

 

[Propeller]

Very interesting topic. I guess 1993 was the year when trance came into its own. The first year with a large number of high quality releases. The period from 88 - 92 is thus probably best viewed as an embryonic, pro-trance period.
Were any DJs playing trance exclusively prior to 1993? I don't know but probably unlikely. However, some classics were indeed produced prior to 93. Examples include Age of Love (Jam and Spoon mix), Stella, Taucher - Happiness, and We Came In Peace.

Regarding my favourites from 93, a lot of the best ones have already been mentioned here. The early Eye-Q releases would be my highlight. Also, an early Platipus release Poltergeist - Vicious Circles.

 

[Spacetime]

The year where everything truly began. 1993 is one of my favorite years in the history of trance

A nice perspective. I really don't know as much of 1990 -1996 trance as I should. I am sure a lot of change happened in this period, it was a very dramatic period for electronic music as people experimented with the new tools that had become available. I did look in the classics area of this forum but there is not many posted in 1993. You should continue to add there, your top list has some great tracks, and I only heard 4 of them. This is the main reason I use this forum, to find old music that I can never stumble across on Spotify. The suggestions basically refuse to show this music. Likely they don't have much of it.

This is a lit vocal one. Was there much vocal Trance in this period?

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

The period from 88 - 92 is thus probably best viewed as an embryonic, pro-trance period.

Yes, 1988-1992 represents the proto-trance era. There are a few actual and noteworthy trance tracks here and there, as well as some hybrids and proto-trance tracks, but the overwhelming majority of these tunes tagged as trance on Discogs have nothing to do with the genre.

Were any DJs playing trance exclusively prior to 1993?

The next phase is 1993-1995, which was the era of experimentation where artists started to figure out and discover the sound, spirituality, and characteristics of trance, and incorporated that sound as leading parts in tracks that often contained elements from other genres, such as techno, happy hardcore, ambient, etc. So trance started to become its own distinct musical genre, but I'm not sure there were DJs who exclusively played trance tracks, even during these years - well, maybe in 1995.

I really don't know as much of 1990 -1996 trance as I should.

I think this is/was the case with most people, as I think many of us here only really started to learn about trance music when it went mainstream in the late '90s. And, as our interest grew in the genre, and as it started to transform (die) in the mid/late 2000s, we slowly started to gravitate towards earlier, more experimental records.

This is a lit vocal one. Was there much vocal Trance in this period?

There were many trance tracks even in the early days (1988-1995) that featured some type of vocal, sampled a monologue/dialogue from somewhere, or at the very least, had some human touch to them. If you think about it, this is true for one of the earliest and most influential trance records too.

I guess it's a common misconception that early trance records did not have any vocals, but it's not true. Early trance tracks quite often had vocals, it's just that the approach towards vocals was heavily different. If you want to know what that difference is, I wrote about it here.

 

[SaltAcidFatHeatAcid]

Just made a 1993 mix for a comp, thanks for all the suggestions in this thread, definitely used a couple of em:

A992 Presents: 1993 Trance (Beginnings)

1. The Carl Cox Concept - The Planet Of Love (Red Jerry Vocal Mix) [1993]
2. Effective Force - Illuminate The Planet (New World Order Mix) [1993]
3. Effective Force - Punishing The Atoms (Remixed By Paul Van Dyk) [1993]
4. Coloured Vision - Violet Rain (139.2104 BPM-Mix) [1993]
5. Jam & Spoon - Stellas Cry [1993]
6. Cosmic Baby - Stellar Supreme [1992] w/ Scaefa - Locate [2023] *
7. State Of House - Ceratopsia (Pteranodon Mix) [1993]
8. Transform - Transformation (Irresistible Trance Mix) [1993]
9. Cygnus X - Positron [1993]
10. Java - Cosmos (C-Mix) [1993]
11. Airscape - Cruising (At Night Mix) [1993]
12. Humate - Love Stimulation (Lovemix by Paul Van Dyk) [1993]
13. L.S.G. - Fragile (Remastered) [1993]
14. 4Voice - Eternal Spirit (Northern Mix) [1993]
15. Brainchild - Synfonica (Original Version) [1993]
16. L.S.G. - L.S.G. (Remastered) [1993]
17. Union Jack - Two Moons & A Trout (Original Mix. A992 Edit) [1993] w/ In2stellar - Baby Bump [2023] *
18. Renegade Legion - The Weeping Waste [1993]

 

[HTY]

I got about 5 of the tracks to memory, the rest all new to me. Will play this during the grind tomorrow. Positron as a 93 track surprised me honestly. And the LSG album as well actually.

 

[brandonl]

Just made a 1993 mix for a comp, thanks for all the suggestions in this thread, definitely used a couple of em:

A992 Presents: 1993 Trance (Beginnings)

1. The Carl Cox Concept - The Planet Of Love (Red Jerry Vocal Mix) [1993]
2. Effective Force - Illuminate The Planet (New World Order Mix) [1993]
3. Effective Force - Punishing The Atoms (Remixed By Paul Van Dyk) [1993]
4. Coloured Vision - Violet Rain (139.2104 BPM-Mix) [1993]
5. Jam & Spoon - Stellas Cry [1993]
6. Cosmic Baby - Stellar Supreme [1992] w/ Scaefa - Locate [2023] *
7. State Of House - Ceratopsia (Pteranodon Mix) [1993]
8. Transform - Transformation (Irresistible Trance Mix) [1993]
9. Cygnus X - Positron [1993]
10. Java - Cosmos (C-Mix) [1993]
11. Airscape - Cruising (At Night Mix) [1993]
12. Humate - Love Stimulation (Lovemix by Paul Van Dyk) [1993]
13. L.S.G. - Fragile (Remastered) [1993]
14. 4Voice - Eternal Spirit (Northern Mix) [1993]
15. Brainchild - Synfonica (Original Version) [1993]
16. L.S.G. - L.S.G. (Remastered) [1993]
17. Union Jack - Two Moons & A Trout (Original Mix. A992 Edit) [1993] w/ In2stellar - Baby Bump [2023] *
18. Renegade Legion - The Weeping Waste [1993]

Do a set for 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999.

 

[SaltAcidFatHeatAcid]

Do a set for 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999.

I will eventually, though it takes a fair bit of time to go through the tracks. I sifted maybe 1800 tracks for this one . 1999 Mix Here, more loose/fun though.

Another stellar 1993 track I missed though for this one, released in crispy digital format this year: