Sophisticated trance/progressive music

[erickUO]

Sophistication could come in different aspects for me. This one is a case where it simply means the opposite of cheese.
FM/organ bass & offbeat bassline are usually cheese alert in my case. But this track put them in a context where they really shine, as if they had a makeover.

 

[Redrot]

Much of James Holden's work, trance and otherwise, has a few extra layers of things going on in them. I actually prefer his new non-dance music stuff to his old trance (which I'm sure will result in an immediate ban) but some of his Border Community work is a master showcase of doing so much with so little, with such unique soundsets too (not to mention this song is bonkers on acid):


He actually has returned to 4 on the floor music from time to time, not quite trance or progressive but I think it warrants being in the thread:


IMO you could leave his entire Balance mix in here too. It's not perfect (I could really do without Do What You Want, think the tunes awful) but some of the sequencing ideas in there are really next level in my eyes, things that DJs in the trance scene still won't do today.

Finally, kind of trance-adjacent but I'd wager Kiasmos (Olafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen) falls in that category. This remix gives the percussion a bit more oomph but preserves the spirit of the original well.


edit n: While people in the vein of Jon Hopkins, Max Cooper, Four Tet, Floating Points and so on aren't really trance, sometimes you get progressive tunes with that more complex analog (sounding) style of production. I found this guy back during the pandemic - he'd been producing nearly 10 years prior but most of his stuff wasn't really dancey (a few exceptions but mostly unremarkable), kind of a Max Cooper-esque sound. Around 2020 he tried his hand at progressive and the results are quite unique and fresh IMO:

 

[Daysleeper]

Border Community was a little hit n miss for me, and still is, but lots of it is still up to date imo and sitll sounds original. I remember the time when the tunes came out, and traditonal trancenerds/supersaw wankers were totally clueless about it. I was prolly one of those back then 2004/2005 haha.

I love/d swedish Petter. Such a clever producer. "These days" can get on my nerves though. He actually reminds me a little of Tim Hecker (if he made club-music)in a weird way. They could have switched bodies and discographies in a parallel universe. Just listen to "less exciting" by petter. Not too far off. I just had to put this here because the above post. Its not really an all-fit for the OP.

Just listen to this, totally brillant in all ways. I love basically all his work.

Finally, kind of trance-adjacent but I'd wager Kiasmos (Olafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen) falls in that category. This remix gives the percussion a bit more oomph but preserves the spirit of the original well.

Same love/hate for this as gollum has for the ring. Its hard to pinpoint why. Its as musically credible as it is the opposite for me. Its not minimal enough to be minimal, but not colorful enough to be musically rich. The arrangements are really thin wth just a bit texture from repetitiv short piano fragments or whiny violins/strings. But the thing I "hate" most about is how the drums sounds. So sterile, but so clean, and so loopy, dry,snappy. I feel like calling kiasmos nordic/arctic house. . But its still a pleasure to listen to with a good pair of headphones somehow. I feel like the last 6-7 vol's of anjunadeep has embraced this sound, for better or worse

 

[Daysleeper]

Sophistication could come in different aspects for me. This one is a case where it simply means the opposite of cheese.
FM/organ bass & offbeat bassline are usually cheese alert in my case. But this track put them in a context where they really shine, as if they had a makeover.

Cool tune, that jawharp/acid sound is kinda annoying though, coming in a 7 min haha. Apart from that it has some really nice sounds

 

[Redrot]

Same love/hate for this as gollum has for the ring. Its hard to pinpoint why. Its as musically credible as it is the opposite for me. Its not minimal enough to be minimal, but not colorful enough to be musically rich. The arrangements are really thin wth just a bit texture from repetitiv short piano fragments or whiny violins/strings. But the thing I "hate" most about is how the drums sounds. So sterile, but so clean, and so loopy, dry,snappy. I feel like calling kiasmos nordic/arctic house. . But its still a pleasure to listen to with a good pair of headphones somehow. I feel like the last 6-7 vol's of anjunadeep has embraced this sound, for better or worse

Yeah, it certainly isn't sophisticated compared to say, actual classical or neoclassical. But it's still sophisticated compared to your average trance tune

I'd say Anjunadeep going for this sound is a pretty cheap imitation most of the time but I generally like to dismiss Deep as much as possible, so maybe that's an overreaction. For me, I think the main difference stems from both members of Kiasmos (and a few other related groups/projects) actually having a classical background (even if it's pop-classical) - it's noticeable in both the arrangement and the melodies. Granted, yes the arrangements are extremely simple but they still are so much more developed on the melodic front than your average Deep piano-heavy tune. Maybe the Bonobo remix was a bad example of that.

The tradeoff there is that they're less experienced on the production side of things (perc), but I don't see it as that much of a downside because it forces them to make the main focus of the tune the instruments, which IMO they do extremely well. Compare that to most modern (real) progressive which has great drum programming even if it's quite clinical, but the melody is more just something to add to the ambiance. The perc really is just something to give the music some forward lean.

This stuff (as well as Olafur's solo work) is definitely comfort food to me - not the most musically complex but still sophisticated, restrained, and thoughtful enough for me to give it a lot of merits, and when I'm feeling down or stressed it *always* helps out. There's stuff that probably deserves more recognition for me but this (not just Kiasmos/Olafur, but in that vein) is what I keep coming back to.

Another one that fits in the above (maybe not in this thread, but maybe) is this remix album from a neoclassical composer Poppy Ackroyd, Resolve Reimagined.


A handful of the remixes are in the "progressive" sphere of things. Also worth noting Ben Lukas Boysen's remix (my personal fave in the album). Kiasmos recently remixed one of the tunes from BLB's most recent album but I don't rate it that much.