When dance music was good
Back in the day I used to go clubbing, it used to be brilliant. Fantastic tunes, a great atmosphere, and good people. Somewhere around 2001 the dance scene went downhill in a big way. The people in the clubs stopped being people out for a good time with great music and started being people out for a shag or a fight. The majority started drinking alcohol not water. The tunes lost any impetus, lost power, lost imagination, lost grace, lost buzz. For a while I jumped into Hard House which lasted a bit longer before dying a death. Today there are two types of dance music in clubs: re-mixes of the classics (poor remixes), and 100% commercialised euro-rubbish. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, when times were better…
Classic trance and dance
Freefall - Skydive (I feel wonderful)
First things first; this is what clubbing was like, and should be like. OK, this is a poor recording and you can barely hear the tune (an utter classic), but check out how everyone is singing along, how the beat drops, and the lighting. Classic. When in a club, you live for that dropped beat. It’s all about the long slow build and the drop of a dirty flat-4 beat. This particular one hits like a punch in the face. The drop after the build is what DJs forgot in 2002 onward.
Tucan - Light a Rainbow (Limited edition ATB remix)
The first time i heard this was also the last time I heard this until today; six years ago I was working at Iceland, Rich and I were listening to Radio 1, when this track got dropped (though a much easier to get into radio edit). It was such a brilliant bit of vocal trance that I memorised it there and then, and remember it to this day, despite never being able to find it before. The audio quality is terrible, it’s a compressed recording of a vinyl played through a microphone. It’s still awesome though.
Planet Perfecto - Bullet in the Gun
This was massive in a club
Olive - You’re not Alone
Despite how lame Top Of The Pops make this look, it was in fact an absolute genre defining classic. The 9min version is even more deliscious, but I figure you won’t have the patience for that one.
Rui Da Silva - Touch Me
Beautifully surreal trance. It’s not pounding, but it is unrelenting. It’s a ‘close your eyes and dance’ kind of track.
The Space Brothers - Shine
More vocal trance.
Getting into the harder side of trance
Once the night wore on a bit things tended to move from the melodic and vocal trance into slightly harder and darker stuff. I love darker and harder stuff.
Tomcraft - Lonliness
Easing us into the harder side of trance
BK - Revolution
Awww yeah
Onyx - Every Little Time (Rezonance Q Remix)
Drops nicely in a club at about 1am
Miss Behavin’ - Such a good feelin’ (Lee Haslam vs Guyver Remix)
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- Thu, 19th Jun 2008 at 21:06 UTC
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skip to comment formOh dear!
Matt says: I thought that might be your opinion on the subject
Give your audience some credit - the Oakenfold/Osbourne mix of 'You're Not Alone' is both excellent, and heavily recycled to make the Big Brother theme. Pretty accessible!
Seriously though, there's some great dance out there - it's just not in every club like it was at the turn of the century. www.trashmenagerie.com have been putting out some excellent mixes over the last month - bass heavy, with a bit of a retro vibe. If you're after old trance it might seem an odd replacement, but there's only so long you can reach for the lasers before your arms get tired (and you run out of chewing gum).
Love the site, by the way