Back catalogue: Trance

Review: Shout out to Greek powerhouse Kinesthetik Recordings for making it all the way to a half a century of releases there. They celebrate in the best way they know - with more tranced-out sounds from artists in their orbit. Giorgio & Andreas open things up with 'Nice One' and its thudding tech drums and cosmic synth lines. Diskinesia gets much more raw and moody with the edgy drums of 'Back & Forth' and Interphase then drops a pair of industrial tech thumpers. Giorgio & Andreas reappear with a raw, roughshod and deep groove and Marcelino Sanchez's 'Motive One' offers dub techno to close.

Review: This compilation celebrates the label's influential role in shaping uplifting trance, gathering four of its most iconic tracks. On Side-1, LSG's 'Hidden Sun of Venus' stands out as one of Oliver Lieb's seminal pieces, drawn from his highly regarded album and filled with atmospheric depth and emotional resonance. Following that, Moogwai's 'The Labyrinth (Part One)' takes center stageia 2001 classic that seamlessly blends progressive house and trance, maintaining a perfect balance that dominated dancefloors that year. Side-2 kicks off with Terra Firma's 'Lunar Sunrise (Real Oboe Film Mix)', a track known for its sublime orchestral elements mixed with a driving trance backbone, providing a moment of expansive beauty. For all we know though, this remix is a new version. The compilation concludes with Adam Dived's 'Headfirst', a highly underrated 2002 gem that builds tension with incredible precision, culminating in an epic release. There aren't many labels who can rival Platipus for the amount of classic material coming from their label.

Review: Quinoa Cuts's fourth release combines some smart nostalgia with plenty of modern innovation. Side A opens with two analogue-driven tracks reminiscent of the 80s synth-wave era, so rich with electro-inspired nuances that evoke a bittersweet and rather romantic atmosphere. It transports you to a dreamlike, neon-lit past then Side B takes a darker, more introspective turn by exploring shadowy, progressive sounds. These haunting tracks come with deep, emotional layers and show Marvin to be quite the producer.

Review: Amazing next-gen cyborg dance music from sibling duo Mathame (Amedeo Giovanelli, Matteo Giovanelli) , a self-described "audio project" working in ultra-clean progressive house sounds. 'I Will Find You' sounds like a progressive anthem from an Arcadian alternate timeline; think what might happen if Tiesto performed a DJ set in the Halo universe, to a stadium full of Super Soldiers. Its front cover model - a cyborg girl with an augmented plate face mask - is indicative enough of the sound you might expect, but the brothers Mathame's music touches on more than just futurity, with tautly squeezed vocals and "ouch" synths adding to an already impressive uplifter.

Review: In short, anyone and everyone's idea of a feel-good chart topper. Synth brasses, piano weaponry and finger clicking pulses are all ingredients in its stew; Babert's Italo Disco mix, meanwhile, is a subtle departure from the original, but proves summerier and groovier, perfect for your next rooftop rave or beachside bash.

Review: Hailing from the brilliant, tangled web orbiting Future Sound Of London, Mental Cube was one of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans' short-lived side projects which found them indulging in the bleep and acid house sound. Given the talent at the controls, it's little wonder this release became such a holy grail - a misfit twist on the conventional formula of club records at the time and yet still as satisfying as any of the more widely played early 90s hits. This is the first time the release has been reissued in its true original form, meaning both mixes of 'So This Is Love' and the 'Santa Monica Mix' of 'Q'. Listen out for the cheeky nod to 808 State on 'So This Is Love' - a respectful tip of the hat rather than a cheeky lift, we'd say.

Review: Alpha Tracks introduces the new label Airways as an open platform celebrating the full range of electronic music. Dedicated to exploration, it promises to offer a creative space where innovative sounds and new musical visions can flourish without genre restrictions. Launching this new imprint is Scandinavian trance artist and avant-garde talent Mikkel Rev who delivers an impressive debut that captures the label's unbound creative spirit. 'Ocean X' opens with turbocharged beats and euphoric pads, 'Submerger' has a darker heart and 'Anhedral unfolds in overdrive with glossy, psychedelic synth colours before the moody depths of 'Internal Unrest'.

Review: Miro Sundaymusiq was behind the first release on E2-E8 and has also turned heads with his scintillating sound designs and full-throttle synth scapes on Carl H's Animals On Psychedelics. He is in searing form once again here with the undulating synth modulations of 'ITWT' which tear up the cold, broken drum machine grooves next to blasts of fizzing energy and trance-like vocal shimmers. On the flip, S O N S 'sindang' remix is a more deep and driving techno workout for mind, body and soul. It's a powerful two-tracker for peak time and big speaker stacks.

Review: The Model brings great form and function to this arresting new EP on long-running French label Partout. It kicks off with 'I Am Always On Your Mind' which has bright, glass melodies and snappy snares that very much get your attention while 'Crossover' is a more frazzled bit of synth-laden techno with sci-fi motifs and withering melodies. 'Six Days Of Heat' is a slower groove with another big focus on the melodies, this time they are rather eerie and unsettling. Last of all is 'Global' with its smeared pads and dusty drum work.

Review: Poet, librarian, Mancunian, father, husband, uncle, brother. Mike Garry is many things to many people, but tonight, Matthew, his voices guides our eyes upwards, inviting us to stargaze to one of Orbital's most emotionally resonant and timeless pieces of rave noise. Belfast Revisited would be one way to describe it, taking some of the classic and unmistakable elements of that anthem and turning it into something new. First and foremost freshness comes with the spoken word addition - a thoroughly positive, passionate and amorous declaration of unending love that could feel jarring depending on whether you always felt 'Belfast' was reflective and slightly melancholy, or not. Gone too are the breaks, replaced now by stadium-sized four-to-the-floor turning what was once the end of the night walking home at dawn into something that sounds way more 11PM at the concert.

Review: Hot on the heels of its digital release comes the fifth top-up to Melody Of The Soul's repertoire. The actual melody of the soul has an infinite song, unending as the universal spirit that unites us all; any representations therein can only be incomplete and numbered, though this four-track home-in is more happy to revel in this limitation, and find a kind of ethereal beauty in the fact. This time focusing on the production efforts of Proff, his progressive number 'Three Sisters' takes centre stage (the album cover is its namesake) and fundamentally proffers a kind of May Day queenly house, with rounding, ascendant female vocals bounding about the mix like a circlet - or coven, even - of magical sisters incanting a rejuvenative dirge.

Review: A classic return for The MacKenzie, this double 12" features essential tracks like 'Apregia,' 'I Am Free,' and 'Trance Dimanche,' celebrating over two decades of trance legacy. Bonzai Classics curates this sleek, monochrome release. A must-have for collectors, it's a definite tribute to trance's enduring power, designed with minimalist elegance and letting each track speak to the genre's unforgettable pulse.

Review: Dutch electronic outfit Tinlicker hails from Utrecht and is made up of Micha Heyboer and Jordi van Achthoven. They have been serving up the heat for more than a decade on labels such as Anjunadeep, mau5trap and Armada, which gives you an idea of their accessible, medically rich sounds. Back during ADE 2023, they hopped on stage with the renowned Metropole Orchestra to play the opening concert. You can relive it in all its glory now with this limited edition release featuring plenty of progressive house highlights from the show, all of which bring together the acoustics and the digital in a seamless fashion.