From Irene McC Sent Tue, May 4th 1999, 09:01
From Irene McC Sent Tue, May 4th 1999, 09:01
On 3 May 99, Darren Keast wrote re: (idm) Intelligent trance???: > The only trance I hear is really > obnoxious and pop-ish...is that all there is? I'm NOT *defending* trance. Just a few comments. There's a healthy and alive trance 'scene' here in South Africa (as is in Israel, I believe) and this is probably partially due to the fine weather allowing open-air gatherings and all-weekend raves somewhere in some scenic place out in the bush far enough for the noise not to bother locals and out of the way of snooping cops. I have a very close friend and part-time DJ whose musical taste overlaps largely with mine, except that he is also into trance and has dragged me along to a few events. Of these, I have been most impressed by the recent Suzuki gig - but then, he wasn't playing straight-up trance (in fact, the majority of trance-heads there were very disappointed) but some of the Matsuri stuff is well worth investigating if you want to broaden your musical cathment area. Simon Posford (Hallucinogen/Shpongle) puts together some interesting sets live and what I've heard on disc (check his "Twisted" label) is also impressive from the amount of work that he obviously puts into it. Where techno (for example) is made up of repeated loops, so is trance, but every time the loop comes round, something subtley changes - there are an enormous amount of layers and textures and millions of little things going on. I can hear and appreciate this, but it generally leaves me cold without connecting. You mention "obnoxious and pop-ish" - (no, that's not all there is). There are several sub-genres of trance, just as there are in other formats. There's goa - with insanely high BPM's, there's also progressive trance, uplifting trance - you-name-it trance. My favourite would have to be ambient dub trance, most of which could happily sit in anybody's IDM collection. In fact, as we speak I'm listening to an album on the German mainly trance label Spirit Zone by an outfit called Patchwork (Album "Odeon: 1998) which I'd classify as IDM rather than trance. This was lent to me by the friend I mentioned above and I've been enjoying it a lot. It's unobnoxious, very pleasant and well crafted. Would fit well into any set that goes the Kruder & Dorfmeister route. Go investigate it. I *