Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 160 bpm, featuring repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track, often crescendoing or featuring a breakdown. Sometimes vocals are also utilized. The style is arguably derived from a combination of largely electronic music and house. 'Trance' received its name from the repetitious morphing beats, and the throbbing melodies which would presumably put the listener into a trance-like state. As this music is almost always played in nightclubs at popular vacation spots and in inner cities, trance can be understood as a form of club music.
| Name Of The Sub-Genre | Description | Noteable Artists | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acid Trance | An early '90s style. Characterized by the use of a Roland TB-303 bass machine as the lead synthesizer. | Hardfloor, Art of Trance, Union Jack, Eternal Basement, Emmanuel Top, Solar Quest, Kai Tracid | ||||||||||||
| Anthem Trance/Uplifting Trance | Style of trance that emerged in the wake of progressive trance in the late 90s. Characterized by extended chord progression in all elements (lead synth, bass chords, treble chords), extended breakdowns, and relegation of arpeggiation to the background while bringing wash effects to the fore. | Vincent de Moor, Ronski Speed, Tiësto, System F, Pulser, 4 Strings, Ayla, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, ATB, Neo & Farina, Blank & Jones, Marco V, Matt Darey, Sean Tyas | ||||||||||||
| Buchiage Trance | Popular club style of trance in Japan currently, using more eurobeat-esque synths and peppy vocals. | Maeken Trance Project, Arpeggio, DJ Kaya, DJ Kosuke, Ryu* | ||||||||||||
| Classic Trance | Original form of trance music, said to have originated in the very early 90s. Characterized by less percussion than techno, more melody, arpeggiated melody, and repetitive melodic chords/arpeggios. | Cygnus X, Dance 2 Trance, Jam & Spoon, Sven Väth, Oliver Lieb, Cosmic Baby | ||||||||||||
| Euro Trance | Euro Trance is a hybrid of Hard Trance and Eurodance music incorporating hardstyle bass drums and trance elements. The trance synths at times sound like techno hoovers with trancey effects and strings backing it up. The vocals are often pitched up for the most part, but sometimes they can be heard as in normal pitch range. This is often confused as vocal trance because of its use of vocals. The lyrical content is usually pretty simple, containing an introduction to the song with usually no or little drums, and often includes renderings of classic Happy Hardcore anthems or melodies. Also some of the middle 90s Happy Hardcore producers started to produce tracks in this style. | Jan Wayne, Nemystic, Rob Mayth, Milk Inc., Special D, Starsplash, Mark'Oh, Pulsedriver, Lasgo | ||||||||||||
| Goa Trance | Originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa. It is characterised through its attempts to assist the dancer in experiencing a collective state of bodily transcendence, similar to that of ancient shamanic dancing rituals, through hypnotic, pulsing melodies and rhythms. | Astral Projection, Asia 2001, Ethnogenic, Fractal Glider, Hallucinogen, Juno Reactor, Shpongle | ||||||||||||
| Hard Trance | Aggressive and faster trance sounding, Originating in Frankfurt, includes influences from hardcore. This style has its first tracks in 1993 and decline in the late 90s. | Andrea Montorsi, A*S*Y*S, Derb, Hennes & Cold, Kai Tracid, Legend B, Nostrum, Gary D, Genetic Line, Trance Generators, Flutlicht, Mat Silver & Tony Burt, Jones & Stephenson, Yves Deruyter, Cosmic Gate, S.H.O.K.K., Mauro Picotto, Warmduscher | ||||||||||||
| Hardstyle | Closely related to nu style Gabber and Hard Trance. Its sound is usually characterized by a mix of gabber and hardcore like kick/bass sounds, trance like synth stabs and sweeps and miscellaneous samples. However, Hardstyle usually has a lot slower BPM (between 140 and 150). | Blutonium Boy, Dana, DJ Luna, DJ Isaac, Technoboy, Trance Generators, The Prophet, Zany | ||||||||||||
| Progressive Trance | Style of trance that originated in the early-mid 90s. Differentiated from the then "regular" trance by breakdowns, less acid-like sound & bass chord changes that gave the repeating lead synth a feeling of "progression". | BT, Humate, Sasha, John Digweed, Sander Kleinenberg, Slacker, Breeder, Narcotik, Markus Schulz | ||||||||||||
| Hands Up | Mixture of the two category Trance and Hardstyle is roughly said. From this category above all the hard, roaring Bassdrum plays a strong role, while the melodies and the singing remind rather of classical Dance music. In contrast to the "genuine" Trance the rather short instead of laminar Synthesizertoene remind also far away of Hardstyle. The melodies originate frequently from older hits, often also from child songs. | Cascada, Verano, DJ Manian, Alex Megane, Marco Juliano, Rocco, Rob Mayth | ||||||||||||
| Pizzicato Trance | This style of trance that originated in the mid 1990s. It's a Progressive Trance variant with pizzicato violin sounds from the late 1990s, especially 1997 and 1998. | Faithless, Sash!, Dj Quicksilver, Brainbug, Future Breeze. | ||||||||||||
| Tech Trance | A merge of Techno and Trance, Tech Trance is a fairly new genre that originated in the late 90s and early 2000s. | Marco V, Mark Sherry, Fabio MC, Fred Baker, Randy Katana, Marcel Woods, Ron van Den Beuken, Sander van Doorn | ||||||||||||
| Vocal Trance/Epic Trance | Broad term referring to trance with a full set of lyrics, which may or may not be any of the above genres. Often an artist will borrow a singer's talents as opposed to the singer himself or herself (vocalists are typically female), or sample from/remix more traditional pop music. Note that there is some debate as to where the divide lies between vocal trance and Eurodance. | 4 Strings, Lange, Ian Van Dahl, Above & Beyond, Fragma, Lost Witness, Armin van Buuren, Oceanlab, Chicane, Lasgo. | ||||||||||||
| Electro Trance | This style has been influenced by electroclash and takes some elements from Uplifting Trance. Originated around 2004. | Ferry Corsten, Elevation, Marcel Woods, Gabriel & Dresden | ||||||||||||
| Ibiza Trance/Chill Trance/Ambient Trance | This style has been influenced by various relaxed music genres, especially linked to Ibiza's (Spain) chill-out style of life parallel with the huge rave scene that is present in the islands. Very melodic and mellow, sometimes with ethnic features, it often samples seaside elements like seagulls and ocean waves. Also known as balearic house. | Chicane, Solar Stone, Chiller Twist, York, Miro, Salt Tank |