Music Review: Above & Beyond - Trance Nation

Trance Nation - the long-time trance imprint for the Ministry of Sound label - has been collecting dust for the past few years. Trance itself has largely chugged right along, but the Trance Nation series all but died when it over-reached itself and tried to become Harder, Deeper and farther from how it started.

In the early days it was championed by Ferry Corsten. As the years have progressed, trance music has fallen under new management, namely that of Armin Van Buuren and Above & Beyond. The latter, especially, have proven their cross-appeal as DJs, artists and label heads for both the Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep labels. So it seems only reasonable that if the Trance Nation series can be resurrected, its best chance is to entrust it to the current leaders of the scene.

Although no strangers to mix compilations, Above & Beyond's usual working ground of the Anjunabeats series displays an obvious nod towards nepotism in the selection of tunes. The trick for Trance Nation is to extend that same parental care to the rest of the current offerings in the trance circuit.

Their weekly "Trance Around The World" radio show and podcast give some hint as to what that can be, although the obvious lack of flow in a radio show allows for more experimentation without it devolving into a stylistic train wreck. Proper mix albums need a bit more care and attention. So let's see how they do here.

Disc One is the more eclectic of the two, dabbling in the group's signature brand of euphoric trance while also making stops for straight-up electro and some progressive breaks. A remix of Passenger 10's "Mikado" opens things up in familiar Above & Beyond territory. A lush rise of synth pads breaks the dawn and steadily ushers in a pulse to follow for the next hour-plus.

Marco V's "Unprepared" is the first sign that we should probably expect a few detours, as the robotic vocals help deliver an electro-trance cut that is left of center. For the most part it works, but marks an eclecticism usually found in the group's radio show, as opposed to their slickly focused Anjunabeats series.

Progressive rears its head a few times during this half, first with the surprisingly minimal "Santiago" by Stoneface & Terminal. And later Josh Gabriel's new moniker Winter Kills injects just a hint of progressive house into "Deep Down."

Another interesting point about this set is how Above & Beyond have minimized the use of their own output. With the exception of a remix from OceanLab - their side project with vocalist Justine Suissa - on each disc, they step back and represent what's going on in the rest of the trance scene.

Article Author: David R Perry

Lost somewhere in the rolling hills of Tennessee, David R Perry can occasionally be found doing dark, unspeakable things to words. Printed words, spoken words, electronically mangled words... really any kind but twittered words.

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