TranceFix Award 2020

Congrats to Coredata, what a great year for this underground Trance producer, releasing his Art of Trance inspired, debut album ‘Wander’, and a string of quality releases on JOOF Recordings, Horizon Landscapes and Forescape Digital. His production style has been on a different level, combining insanely good modern techniques with familiar oldskool sounds and textures. You can really hear the passion and maturity in the musical ideas and he's for sure one of the leading producers in delivering the true essence of authentic underground Trance music. Check Out: Picorri Dreams, Theta and Wander (Warehouse Mix).

Gardenstate is Marcus Schossow new(ish) alias alongside co-producer Matthew Felner, both showing their diversity by releasing tracks in the genres of Prog House, Prog Trance, Melodic Techno and Trance Breaks. Surreal featured on Anjunabeats 15 and was one of the best of the year. Hoping they continue to release of Trance/Prog labels in 2021. Check out: Surreal, Delta and Bloom.

Pure Trance had by far the biggest output of quality releases throughout the entire year compared to the other labels and for that it deserves no1. Rich personally vets every single promo he receives and you’ll pretty much hear him showcase every expression of Trance and Progressive music through the label, from the banging to the downtempo. Great to see the diversity. Many of 2020’s best tracks were from this label and often coming from completely unknown artists, which is also something we love to see. You can feel the passion and dedication from Rich even after 25 years in the scene and it doesn’t look like he is going to slow down anytime soon.

Forescape Digital, run by forum favourite Enlusion, gave us a huge amount of great underground Trance and Progressive music this year, with extremely high level of consistency in each release. Actively supporting unknown and emerging talent (alongside the underground scene familiars) is exactly what the Trance scene needs and it’s a blessing we have labels like this one taking that role. Forescape probably comes closer than any Trance label out there in capturing the authentic trance sounds and essence of the original scene ideas and its only going to get better for them as they grow. Much respect to them and look forward to 2021.

Wander is a sensational record, with a bunch of epic soundscapes, hypnotic rhythms, punchy 303’s, banging percs, psychedelic licks and vivid music ideas that pay a true homage to the Art of Trance 90's sound. Production technique on offer is 10/10 material, you can literally taste and feel every sound, getting you both heads-down stomping and head-in-the-clouds wandering all at once. It’s a modern vs oldskool endeavour and the results are pure magic (as are the Youtube album visuals). One of the best records in recent times.

Misty Shadows is an excellent showcase of Enlusion's passion for deep progressive music, both dark and melodic, plus some sprinkling of breaks and downtempo. Like Coredata his production technique and skill separates him from most in the scene, with the same kind of spacious and balanced sound dynamics which allow all the driving and gritty stuff to breathe alongside the melodies and details. Its an album that definitely gets better with each listen and we highly recommend it for anyone into the deep Trance and Prog worlds.

Pure Progressive is the First volume in a new compilation series from the Pure Trance label, with CD1 showcasing Orkideas latest progressive work and the even stronger CD2 which contained many of Pure Trance’s best Progressive releases from the year from exactly the kinds of artists you want to see, both newcomers and regulars. The mixing is excellent on both CDS as Orkidea successfully creates that seamless and atmospheric experience you would come to expect from him.

VII Vol. 2 is full power Trance music from 4 of the scenes best DJs. Each mix has its own energy and has been assembled very well, with styles and tracks across almost every sub-genre of modern Trance music. Great idea to bring Orkidea in to expand the range of sounds even more (his mix is quality) and its likely that almost all the best high BPM Trance of the year can be found in this mix.