This Is Inside Of Me

For the past few months I've been listening to this amazing trance track by Russian trance-master Arty a.k.a. Artem Stoliarov in collaboration with fellow Russian trance producer Misha Kitone a.k.a. Mikhail Kitavin. I'm making an exception to my Russia boycott when it comes to music which necessarily ought to transcend geopolitics. "Inside of Me" is a 2009 progressive trance masterpiece which will give you goosebumps if you listen to it when in the right mood, preferably nocturnally with your sound system cranked up. Over the past several months I've discovered some rather amazing trance tracks from several years ago which escaped my notice at the time as well as several new tracks from Arty in his Alpha 9 side project, the latter of which have my restored my near-term faith in the sub-genre. 

Trance Is Back In Higher Place

I have not shared music here in quite some time. To kick off my return to doing so, I'm reconnecting with my trance roots by sharing the stunning progressive trance gem "Higher Place" released last May by Russian progressive trance and progressive house master producer Artem Stoliarov a.k.a. Arty under the auspices of his long-abandoned/newly-resumed Alpha 9 alias/side project. There is a point in this track where it is impossible for me to not get chills. Can you guess at which point that is? In recent years I have come to fear that trance music was wholly passé now. I feared that there was no more new beauty and quality left in the sub-genre by artists producing the new stuff as it has become mostly saturated with commercialism and imitation. Arty has generated several progressive trance gems, last year into this year, not one whole month done. I intend to share some of them here with you in the coming weeks. Crank up your sound system and enjoy!

Extraordinary Ordinary World

I first heard the 2000 Aurora trance cover of Duran Duran's 1993 rock gem "Ordinary World" featuring the haunting vocals of the incomparable Naimee Coleman in one of the many electronica mix compilation CDs I picked up in the early 2000s, many of which feature this original track featured above or the Above & Beyond progressive trance remix of it featured below, both of which are utterly amazing and take me back to the Golden Age of trance in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I had the privilege of discovering this genre of electronica in early 2001 in a now-defunct Wherehouse in Atascadero as I previously shared HERE.

Not-So-Innocente

This 2001 trance classic "Mr. Sams' The Space Between Us Remix" of Delerium's "Innocente" featuring the haunting vocals of Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer fame  was one of my early favorites when I began listening to trance in 2001. I found trance incredibly therapeutic to what ailed me at the time. I found this rare track on the amazing Delerium remix collection Odyssey: The Remix Collection, the same year. Back in 2012 I shared the Tiesto version of this song HERE.

My Sweet Surrender

Today I rediscovered this trance gem while listening to parts of the mix tape Party Time: 2002 Continuous Mix by DJ Escape which parts I had not listened to in years. This cd was released in 2001 and thus the music contained therein is from 2000 or earlier, or in other words, the golden age of trance before it got over-commercialized and raves became less and less a thing. In this track which is a remix of Sarah McLachlan's 1998 hit single "Sweet Surrender", Tiesto or rather his ghost producers DJ Dennis and H.W. Mallon created trance magic for the relatively short but magical time they collaborated. Ignore the prologue and start listening to the magic at about the 1:38 mark and turn up the speakers.

I Really Choose To Be Free

Yesterday, the 2000 trance track "Be Free" by Trance Cowboys came to my mind fairly out of thin air. I only know of it because it is featured in Taucher's 2000 live concert recording Live @ Webster Hall New York City which I purchased only a few years after it was released. Upon thinking of this I realized I needed to listen to it again and I also realized it was a repetition (for emphasis) of the liberation them God has been communicating to me lately as it pertains to both myself and my best friend. I say "repetition" because recently I unexpectedly encountered another track titled "Be Free" which God used to communicate to me the same message which I shared HERE. The above version of "Be Free" starts at 19:11 and ends at about the 23:52 mark.
*NOTE: there is another trance track on this recording which I have shared before on this blog HERE which track I consider the theme (or one of the themes) musical scores to my life titled "Winter Love" which starts at about the 28-minute mark.

Auralphilic Aquaphobic

I recently changed my music selection in my car's cd changer, placing some older 2000s electronica stuff. An early surprise has been the 2005 compilation cd Perfect Remixes Vol. 3 featuring DJ Tiesto remixes. One of the surprises rediscoveries has been this fine specimen of late 1990s trance, to wit, "Aquaphonic" remixed by Tiesto and DJ Jim in 1998. This is a longer version than even the one featured in my cd but it is great stuff, probably best suited to listening to at night or while driving over distance. I recommend skipping the first 1:08 and get to the real heart of the track which has an atmospheric and moody and haunting quality to go with a good trance beat which alternatingly builds tension and breaks down with a drop or two. Note: the background image is by George Grie and entitled "Final Frontier Voyager" (2005) and is an example of Neosurrealism.

Lovely Lonely Lullaby II

Night-before-last I posted Russian trance producer Denis Kenzo's 2012 progressive trance gem "Lullaby Lonely" featuring the haunting vocals of Sveta B. a.k.a. Svetlana Pisareva HERE. That was the original version and was accompanied by some visually stirring video footage of our planet captured out of the various windows of the International Space Station. By chance I have subsequently stumbled upon an equally gorgeous extended version of the original track accompanied by footage of a nocturnal thunderstorm. Crank up your speakers on this super awesome chill-out track, click on the full-screen mode, and enjoy!

Lovely Lullaby Lonely

Tonight late I discovered this beautiful example of progressive trance from Russian trance producer Dennis Kenzo featuring Russian singer Svetlana Pisareva a.k.a. Sveta B. As previously stated on this blog, I'm boycotting all things Russian due to the actions of the corrupt regime governing that imprisoned land. However, I make an exception when it comes to electronica. Married to this sumptuous trance track released in 2012 is some amazing footage of our planet captured from the International Space Station in recent years. Crank up your speakers and enjoy! Note: best listened to in the middle of the night such as right now as I compose this post. Enjoy an extended chill-out version of this track posted a couple of days later HERE.

This Opened My Eyes

I have been aware of this progressive trance track "Open Your Eyes" by Russian trance outfit Aurosonic for a few years now. However, for reasons I cannot now fathom, I never felt like sharing it heretofore here despite its abject "epic-ness". This sublime example of progressive trance (the best type) was released in 2013 and features the haunting vocals of Englishwoman Kate Louise Smith. Crank up your speakers and listen, feel, and dance. As hauntingly beautiful as this is, it is also difficult (at least for me) to catch every word of these soulful lyrics, so I include them below courtesy of songlyrics.com:

It's dark out here
In the pursuit of love
Completely unabridged
This silent fortress

My mind escapes me
Feeling it in my bones
The ties that bind
Deny us this love

Open your eyes
Open your eyes
I started blind
But now they're wide open

Open your eyes
Open your eyes
The ties that bind
Deny us this love

And how it breaks me

In the pursuit of love
Completely unabridged
The silent fortress
My mind escapes me
Telling my story well
The ties that bind
Deny us this love

(Alt )

Open you eyes
Open your eyes (open open)
The story's closed
Our love has broken down
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
The ties that bind
Deny us this love

I Found Around You

It has been since before last Christmas that I shared any new trance or progressive house music here. Although I continue to observe a boycott of all things Russian, I make an exception for trance and all electronica progressive. Yuri Kane is one of those exceptions I make and here he justifies it with his 2010 trance track "Around You" which I only discovered just now. Crank up your speakers!

Flowtation Notation

I love this track once it really gets rolling which is at about the 2:30 mark and a big drop hits at about the 3:30 mark. I've been listening to this track lately on my Volvo's CD player in which I have Blank & Jones' 2004 album Monument in which this trance track "Flowtation" appears. This was one of the last music CD's I ever purchased before I went broke in the Great Recession and imposed emergency fiscal martial law upon myself  in order to survive. Anywho, crank up your sound system and play this!

This Star Shines Bright

This trance track strikes me as being superbly suited for play at or near the start of a deejay set in order get club guests/concert attendees warmly welcomed and in the mood. I love this track once it really gets rolling which is at about the 1:20 mark and a big drop hits at about the 2:20 mark. I've been listening to this track lately on my Volvo's CD player in which I have Blank & Jones' 2004 album Monument in which this trance track "Stars Shine Bright" appears. I would argue this track could also be described as having a house music sound with some electro-funk elements. It is worth noting that Monument was one of the last music CD's I ever purchased before I went broke in the Great Recession and imposed emergency fiscal martial law upon myself in order to survive. Anywho, crank up your sound system and play this!

Love Is Not Enough

This is an aurally and emotionally beautiful and heart-wrenching song and the accompanying video is quite effective, too. It captures the sense of devastating loss and emptiness associated with a breakup even when it is engineered amicably. This 2012 Above & Beyond trance track (which features elements of progressive house) is titled "Love Is Not Enough" and features goosebump-inducing vocals by long-time collaborator Zoë Johnston.

Mind of the Wonderful

Another trance CD I have unearthed from my music archive is Blank & Jones' 2004 album Monument which features three gems, the best of which is "Mind of the Wonderful" with vocals by Elles de Graaf. This wall of sound track sounds great and successfully builds the tension longer than most. 

Sky Falls Down Again

Recently, I have taken to pulling old trance CDs out of my music archives and listening to them on my car stereo. Trance Nation Future released in 2003 has revealed three gems I had entirely forgotten about with one of them being the 2003 Armin Van Buuren remix of OceanLab's 2002 track "Sky Falls Down" with haunting vocals by Justine Suissa. This is wonderful classic trance from the golden age of the genre. To enjoy the equally goosebump-inducing 2008 Roger Shah remix of the same OceanLab track, visit my 2011 post titled "Here On Earth & Sky Falls Down." The song "Sky Falls Down" is not to be confused with Dash Berlin's 2009 gem "Till The Sky Falls Down."

Greatest Trance Track Ever?

While listening to the 2003 CD Trance Nation Future,which I recently pulled out of my music archive, I rediscovered this aurally overwhelming 2003 Ferry Corsten remix of Push's great trance track "Universal Nation" released in 2002. I consider it to really start at the drop at 2:19 mark..... from that point on crank up the speakers and imagine a nocturnal laser light show synced to this track. Some opine this is one of the greatest trance tracks ever from the classical period.

Awakening

I recently pulled out some old trance CDs from my collection and popped them into my car's CD player not knowing what to expect, as in would I even like this stuff anymore? Questioned answered in the Dutch trance group Rank 1's 2002 hit "Awakening." This Cosmic Gate remix, which I found in the 2003's Trance Nation Future, must be played LOUD!

This Is Never Gone

Tonight I found my first major electronica musical discovery in quite some time and despite my more recent turn towards progressive house this is a 2007 trance track, perhaps one might even argue it is progressive trance. "Never Gone" comes from Polish deejay Adam Nickey remixed by English progressive group Above & Beyond. This track really gets going at about the 2:00 mark. The longer versions don't get really rolling until over a third of the way into their 9-minute runs. I get annoyed at even greats tracks that take too long getting going. This one is worth the wait or just fast-forward.

Lately On A Good Day

After an extended run of a rough stretch in life, things have been a bit better for me the past several days. Above & Beyond's wonderful progressive trance track "On A Good Day", which in the past I've shared with specific friends in difficult periods of life, I now share with you all as it is a great anthem about surviving oft-alienating and oft-isolating post-modern life and overcoming existentialist angst. Ignore the silly-at-times montage of band fan home video accompanying this official video and focus on the awesome lyrics which I have included below:

"Little bit lost and
A little bit lonely
Little bit cold here
A little bit feared

But I hold on
And I Feel strong
And I Know that I can

Getting used to it
Lit the fuse to it
Like to know who I am

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter
And it feels like me
On a good day

And it feels like me
On a good day

I'm a little bit hemmed in
A little bit isolated
A little bit hopeful
A little bit cold

But I hold on
And I Feel strong
And I Know that I can

Getting used to it
Lit the fuse to it
Like to know who I am

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter

And it feels like me
On a good day

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter
And it feels like me
On a good day"