Top Trance Tunes List
Submitted by djpileup on Mon, 11/28/2005 - 10:28
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- credit to darktremor and tranceaddict as their top trance lists have inspired me to create one of my own. This was a spontaneous decision so it's not complete yet. Heh, already I have ran up against an issue - defining individual tracks genres is a minefield. Some of the tracks i'm including are not pure trance.
- dj pileup's Top Trance Tunes List
- System F - Out of the Blue 1999
- The whale tune. It's dreamily perfect trance. Straight forward and trueness that makes it the ultimate theme.
- Westbam - Wizards of the Sonic 1995, 1998
- Swirling spacey rhapsody that floats along then unleashes a bold tune that blows your socks off. A much greater work of love than 'out of the blue' and perhaps more deserving of the number one spot. The Matt Darey 1998 version is good but I still prefer the 1995 Red Jerry remix.
- Blank&Jones - Beyond Time 2000
- Good by the numbers trance with polished execution that probably should have been massive but wasn't.
- Energy52 - CafeDelMar 1997, 1998
- That Ibiza tune. It's on every compilation under the sun and has been played to death. But don't worry Mr.Elite DJ it's not against the law to play it! Great build up and an amazing tune that everybody will recognise but hardly anybody will know its name.
- Gouryella - Gouryella 1999
- Another of those classic trance tracks that they've all heard but don't know it's name.
- Darude - Sandstorm 2000
- The title sums it up perfectly. Definitive anthemic trance tune that batters and stabs it's way through your head. Every now and then a catchy track comes along that's a wee bit different and it reaches out and grabs you saying 'mmmm, chocolate donuts'
- Touch Me - Rising Star 1999
- Gentle wee tune with an uplifting theme. Nobody knows it and i can't get it anywhere.
- Kamaya Painters - Endless Wave 1999
- Not a lot of people have heard of this one either but hey I like it.
- 4 Strings - Daytime 2000
- Brilliant trance that flys along with a dreamy wee vocal.
- binaryfinary - 1998
- Nalin&Kane - Beachball
- Another title that describes the track perfectly. The driving bass bounces you along like a ball. The perfect atmosphere of waves and seagulls team with the floating vocals taking you to the beach. superb.
- Ayla - Ayla
- Veracocha - Carte Blanche 1999
- Motorcycle - As the Rush Comes 2003 Positiva
- Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun 2002 Perfecto
- Three Drives - Greece 2000 1998
- Pulp Victim - The World 1998
- Space Brothers - Shine 2000 Manifesto
- Des Mitchell - Welcome to the Dance 1999
- Push - Strange World 2000, Apr2001 Inferno
- Sash - Encoe Une Fois Sep1997 Multiply
- Paul Van Dyk - For an Angel 1998
- William Orbit - Barbers Adagio for Strings
- Loops of Infinity - Cosmic Baby
- Watergate - Heart of Asia
- Gouryella - Tenshi
- BBE - Seven Days and One Week
- Blank & Jones - Cream
- Minimalistix - Magic Fly Jul2003 Data
- Safri Duo - Played Alive (The Bongo Song)
- Lost Witness - Happiness Happening
- DJ Sakin & Friends - Protect Your Mind 1999 Positiva
- QFX - Alien Child 1997
- Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence
- Da Hool - Meet Her at the Love Parade
- Watergate - Infinity
- Agnelli & Nelson - El Nino
- Minimalistix - Close cover
- Sash - Ecuador
- ATB - Don't Stop
- DJ Tiesto - Theme From Norejfell
- Mauro Picotto - Lizard
- Atlantis - Fiji 1998
- ATB - 9 PM (Till I Come)
- O.T.Quartet - Hold That Sucker Down 2000 Champion
- Voodoo & Serano - Blood is Pumpin
- DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima
- Rank 1 - Airwave
- La Primavera - Sash! 1998 Multiply
- State One - Forever and a Day
- Lost Witness - Red Sun Rising
- Orion - Eternity
- Tilt - Invisible
- Matt Darey - Beautiful
- Lost Witness - 7 Colours
- Marc van Dale - Recordable Feelings
- Lovechild - Gloria Dec1999 48k
- Airscape - L'Esperanza
- Planet Perfecto - Bullet in the Gun
- Barthezz - Infected
There is no hardhouse at all in Sandstorm, this is definitive anthem trance.
You're not the first to say this of Sandstorm, so I challenge you: where is the hardhouse?
Do you hear: 1)Stupid circus melody
2)Crowd cheering samples
3)Pathetic MC samples
4)Little WOO! noises
5)Offbeat bass stabs
or 6)Little slapping noises
anywhere in the track? In that case, this is not hard house.
Or maybe you mean real hard house, but you couldn't possibly, this is a virtually melody-less genre consisting primarily of a distorted 909 bassdrum, and a few other big, angry, scary noises.
There is no hard house in Sandstorm.
Otherwise, awesome list, it's good to see other people documenting trance music.
cheers!
and thanks for putting me right on 'Sandstorm'. I don't feel as guilty for including it in the list now.
There's quite a lot of tracks I would like to include on my list but as you can see i'm not too great at defining a tunes correct genre.
Put them in regardless. My and darktremor's list have songs which aren't 'exactly' trance but are just to good to leave out. That's what is so great about it: there is such a wide variation to it and an endless amount of sub-genres that your songs are probably trance anyway.
Great alternative list anyway, there's a few songs I don't actually have, which is nice to know.
right i'll add some more tunes then and i'm sure you guys will set me straight if i'm way off the mark
Agreed - don't leave tracks out just because you don't think they're exactly trance, just put in anything you think fits, anything that sounds like it might be trance. Trance shouldn't be a pigeonhole, I think of it more as a certain atmosphere. However, here are some general characteristics of trance:
1)Arpeggiating melodies
2)Buzzing synths
3)Beat-stopping for a short time (this is so unneccesary, older trance didn't do this nearly as much)
4)Acid
5)Anthemic melodies
6)Inorganic sound (unlike house's warm, earthy, human feel), but not blatantly technological like techno. It's right in between house and techno.
7)An engrossing atmosphere - but not a machine-sounding one.
Depending on the genre of trance, songs will mix and match between those characteristics, some being more important than others. Number 6 is the dead giveaway (ALL trance has this aspect), but also the most difficult to put your finger on.
To summarize everything in a completely irrelevant way: trance is music to get lost in.
Yes, tis indeed a difficult genre to describe...
But when you've been listening to the style long enough, it becomes blatantly obvious what is and isn't trance, as there are a few atmospheres the whole style hops around (all generated by category 6).
I don't really know if I've helped (or if I've just talked out of my ass, as seems more likely), but here's a good rule of thumb: if you think it's trance, it probably is (and everything currently on your list is).