Why you should listen to pre-1995 trance (+ some pointers)

[brandonl]

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

I have this tune the whole day in my head, released in 1993 on 'Frankfurt Beat'.

Ephedra - Eve (Ceres Mix)

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

overlooked beauty

Jon Ryman - Codeine Bullets [Millennium Records] 1994

 

[SaltAcidFatHeatAcid]

Hadn’t heard of this one until last week! Such a good record. Way ahead of its time.

 

[brandonl]

 

[brandonl]

 

[Daysleeper]

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

another oldie is reissued on vinyl via STROOM label bandcamp

Biotrans - Frehnor [Stickman Records] 1995

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

fresh new vinyl reissue of 'Governed By Rhythm' from 1995 via 'Seven Hills Records' bandcamp

Governed By Rhythm was an outlet for Andy’s faster, trancier dance tracks, as opposed to the grooving techno and tech house of PDR.

Governed By Rhythm - Synergy [Prime Directive] 1995

 

[Progrez]

Cos scooter made some good catchy shit.

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

Roland Klinkenberg's 'Trance Textures 2' from 1995 will be remastered and repressed on vinyl very soon!

Originally released as the first record on his own Sim label in 1995, these tunes were part of the beginning of Roland’s long and illustrious career. You’ll understand it when you hear it. No remixes this time, just the four OG cuts remastered from the DAT tapes with love, respect, and tenderness.

Roland Klinkenberg - Encountings [Sim] 1995

 

[nightslapper]

main difference with the early days trance (and it's not even about music itself, more like a sign of the times) is that it allows itself to be moody, to not hurry, but its repetitiveness feels alive, fluid, not your 4 bars static loop getting played exactly the same over and over like you can hear in some modern tracks pretending to sound oldschool

 

[facade1984]

listening to all these got me feeling very inspired. anyone who knows me knows that I really can't stand trance in its current form but it's great to see people paying attention to this type of sound again. the freeform structures, simple sound design, emphasis on hypnotic hooks and overall mood you can just get lost in, I wanna do more of that just for my own amusement. i love that with these tunes you never knew what was coming next, again most trance these days is the exact opposite of that

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

new repress of a classic on vinyl

2024 Repress !

Originally released in 1995 on Loop Records, ‘More Love’ by Agent Orange aka Cari Lekebusch is a warm and intimate Acid Techno/Trance record that has been in high demand for over 25 years. Now the original tracks have been remastered backed by a remix from label head Blue Hour.

Agent Orange - Warm Love [Loop Records] 1995

 

[Slipmat]

Excellent thread, i was smack in the middle of all this during my 'gigging' period from 1987 to 1995, of course back then Techno was God, followed by House, then we had the Italo piano house but the lines between Techno and the early sounds of what we call Trance was slowly fusing and merging.

I'd have to dig through the old collection and find a few examples of which tunes caught my ears and made me perk up thinking 'this isn't the usual 140+ BPM in your face style...

Sil - Windows caught my attention with it's hypnotic beat and the breakdown at 1:30, the original mix still holds its own


Throwing this one in there as it's one i somehow still remember.


Plenty of more i've forgotten, i'd have to go through some old sets and separate the Techno from the early Trance.

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

'ADSR - Mind Mirror (Fantasy Mix)' was released in 1993 on 'Rising High Records' .. now 30 years later is the '1993 live Mix' reissued on vinyl/digital via 'Childhood Intelligence'

ADSR - Mind Mirror (1993 live mix) [Childhood Intelligence] 1993

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

another new reissue on vinyl via 'Sound Metaphors Records':

Originally released in 1993 on Muzak, an Italian label founded by Leo Mas, Fabrizio Lazzari and Andrea Gemolottoand, which was fundamental in establishing a new Italian dance floor electronic sound in the early 90s strongly intertwined with US influences from what was happening in Detroit and New York at the time. Officially re-issued with new remix of "Fearless" by Berlin based Trent, stripping down the feisty banger from its breakbeat elements and implementing a new Acid feel to it.

Saurus - Futureless [Muzak] 1993

 

[Progrez]

Airwave also thinks so too

In the mid-90s, Europe was experiencing a fantastic moment. The fall of "communism" in Germany and a consequent economic upturn gave us one of the best times of our era.
The reason was, of course, and as always, a major cultural evolution. After decades of white-collar supremacy in the 70s, the time had finally come for the counter-culture to shine brightly on the Western world.
The '80s gave us the basis for access to creation like never before, and advances in digital audio, with the start of recording to this format at the expense of tape, gave rise to twenty glorious years of creation.
We've seen the fruits of the hard work of the previous generation of independent creators, who had virtually nothing and succeeded in changing codes and forcing popular admiration.
To ensure that today we are able to create and perform music without depending on a whole host of people and expensive equipment, these people went over their limits, and I can't thank enough the icons of New York, Chicago, Detroit, Frankfurt, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Lille, London and Manchester for giving us this unique legacy.
End to end, hundreds of passionate and resilient people brought the various evolutions to the greatest number of people and shared them without expecting anything in return.
Many of them have never enjoyed great success or even gained any kind of media recognition.
They are simply anonymous, yet it is they who have given us the most. And it is to them that I dedicate this written work.
Many of them have chosen their own paths in today's creative world, and have flourished even more despite the lack of media coverage. I'm so happy for them. Many others have disappeared prematurely, or no longer have the chance to be in our ears, and I miss them daily.
If I tell you about Ralf Hildenbeutel, Mathias Hoffman, Johnny Klimek, Klaus Jankuhn, Steve Osborne, Andy Grey, it's extremely unlikely that you'll know exactly who I'm talking about. This is a non-exhaustive list of artists who nevertheless left their mark on the same era I'm talking about. Some may have changed direction, and in a future chapter I'll look at the reasons why.
Fortunately, there were a few exceptions, such as Mijk van Dijk, Oliver Lieb, Pascal FEOS, Humate and Cosmic Baby, to name just a few I can think of directly, whose music is an integral part of my own culture, and no doubt yours too. The one I wanted to share.
Many Frenchmen I've been in contact with in the past, such as Greg de Windt, Philippe van Mullem, Emmanuel Top and Bruno Sanchioni, are also extremely talented artists who haven't always had the popularity they deserve, despite the sometimes surreal sales of their titles. Fortunately, all these people were able to build a career, but not all of them were lucky enough to be able, like me, to maintain it. Here too, there are things to tell.
Art, at all levels of the social ladder, is also a career, which neither abuse nor technological change has the right to destroy. Why not? Because if we don't have the right, the time or the means to leave a trace of our life on earth, there will come a time when future generations will have no history. It may sound grandiose to think so, but I wonder what my culture would be like if Zola, Sartre, Mozart, Beethoven or Bach hadn't had the right to make a living from their art. We only live for the present, without thinking about the consequences of some of our choices.
1995 will remain a pivotal year for me. The year that saw the birth of a host of club classics, driven by their creators in search of an image and recognition, and who, for the most part, achieved the fame their work deserved. It was also the year that saw the emergence of some very avant-garde music. The culmination of an unusually prosperous artistic period. The year before everything changed and became what we know today: a scene full of artists with a very strong image, but whose substance is often reduced to its minimum, smooth and unanchored, or stolen from the work of others, some of whom I've mentioned above.
1995 was the year when electronic culture gave a huge middle finger to white-collar industries, symbolizing total independence from the so-called mainstream business. We thought we'd gotten rid forever of what we hated: hypocrisy, politics, intolerance, racism, swindling, or the law of the strongest, things that made way for tolerance, peace, inclusion, love, values, respect.
1995 was the year I discovered the ease with which I could create with very little equipment. My passion for new technologies applied to creation did the rest and set the course for my career. With no samplers, drum machines, mixers or effects by hand, and just two sound boxes linked to a computer, I was able to create tracks as I heard them, something almost unthinkable at the time.
I was signed to a label at the end of 1996, shortly before my 19th birthday, on the basis of this same work. I was already very late in the game, and lacked both technical and cultural baggage. Worst of all, I was naive and gullible. It took me another 10 years to find my own sound.

 

[juracid]

Well, trance music from that time was a completely different kind of art as it has to become slowly in 1997 when Eye Q from Offenbach / Germany closed its doors and sister label Harthouse moved to Berlin just for producing crap from then on. After this 'incident', everything started to change and moved away from the roots for good.

After the success Of Robert Miles' Children, Europe started their Dreamhouse Sound in 1996, completely changed the root style from the Eye Q days. (Yes, there were other great labels during that time like MFS, Rising High- or R & S but for me Eye Q was the blueprint for the first wave of trance music.)

Also in 1997, The Netherlands slowly began with their signature sound with the likes of Armin, Ferry, Tiesto, VDM. It exploded in 1999 with Out Of The Blue, Communication, Theme From Njorfell and blah. You know what I mean. Back then, ancient trance was indeed... dead.

Coming back to the topic, the early 90s had some real hidden germs, hardly known to the public (even today). Despite being the Era of (German) hardtrance mostly (until Sasha & John Digweed came up with their Northern Exposure story) some artists completely ignored the hype and continued being original.

Today, I like to show you 3 tracks which fits to this description:

GRIDLOCK - Rocket Trip (1992)

Australian duo, later becoming famous with their own bands. This one emerged from the then-KLF hype a bit but despite the stadium house vibe is present, it has a real trancy atmosphere with an Orbital-esqued theme. It's even psychedelic in a way. Completely unknown, also for myself before. I discvered this jewel only weeks ago. Unfortunately too short and only one version exists. :/

MELT - Radioactivity (1989)

No, trance music was not born in 1992 with the infamous Jam & Spoon Remix of Age Of Love, trance already exists in 1989. I do not need to imform you about The KLF classic "Last Train To Trancecentral" of whom the original was released already in '89. This 10 minute Kraftwerk cover is also really unknown to the public but a big alltime fave of German trance legend DJ Dag. It's also his vault that I found this song.

D.I.D. - Alcyone / Orbital Walk V2 (1993)

A bit more famous than the other two, this track is a (nearly perfect) fusion of early trance and goa style. V2 Version is the killer here and the freaks already know why. Still, too short for such a tune.

So these are 3 hidden germs from my personal archives.
As a bonus I like to present 93er Style with an classic release from the above stated Eye Q Records from Germany - just Eye Q's own BRAINCHILD with lesser known track 'Synfonica' (1993). Enjoy it and see why trance was already amazing back in that day:

 

[Unjungle]

Does anybody have suggestions for Mix Comps pre 1995 in the style of Sasha&Diggers/Cosmic Baby/…?