I’m going to see DJ Armin Van Buuren at the Roseland on Sunday evening, the 11th. Wouldn’t it be nice if you were there, too? If this is your sort of thing?

Here’s one for my friends who like the straightforward progressive trance with female vocal. Simple enough. Starr is responsible for the rather popular 2005 track “Till there was You” and there are still vestiges in this newer track of the darkness therein, an interesting minor scale the vocals climb and descend. Still, it’s nothing that will change my outlook forever and ever. There’s an nice progressive fatness to the bassline, but expect trance.

• Trance-iness: Yes
• Progressive-ness: Yes
• Dance-iness/Intensity: Medium
• Vocals: Female
• Lyza-ness: Medium high
• Cheesiness: What you would expect; fairly lame lyrics

Rachel Starr “To Forever” (MP3 Sample)

Doing this a bit differently today and embedding a YouTube clip.

Jose Amnesia gives us a straightahead trancer that isn’t ditzy or tiring. It’s simple and ongoing, not “song”-y or “track”-y as Mr. Pencil has come to lament about my recent picks.

Genre: Trance
Progressiveness: Debatable. I think so, but might be something to argue about.
Cheesiness: Not too bad
Dance-iness/Intensity: Medium
Lyza-ness: Medium-high

I heard a weird mashup of this song recently on Another State of Trance (#342, a few weeks ago), with a cheesetacular track by chintzy, suburban-sounding Melee. On its own it’s cringe-worthy, but mixed with “Follow Me”…well, it’s weird. Armin Van Buuren even calls it “weird” (or something like that). It’s the first track in the mix, and you can listen to the mix here.

If you’ve been around me and heard me talk about music in the last several weeks, I probably have mentioned Morgan Page’s “Longest Road” (feat. Lissie), especially the essentially perfect remix by Deadmau5. Turns out the guy is diverse.

Today I’m feeling not so super, so the single “Fuck was I” is perfect. Sort of effete, regretful, winsome. Way downtempo with a fairly indie-sounding female vocal, it’s perfect for these rainy days when winter won’t quite let go. Sort of gives you a championing feeling. Depression vindicated.

Genre: Chilled/Atmospheric Downtempo
Cheesiness: Not exactly, but sad female vocal
Dance-iness/Intensity: Very low
Tranciness: Low
Progressiveness: Low
Lyzaness: Medium

Fuck Was I (Morgan Page remix) (MP3 sample)

Believe it or not, “Longest Road” is from the same EP. In case you haven’t heard it, you really should. Especially if you were taken by Iio in the early 2000’s. It kind of fills that hole for me.

Genre: Progressive House (with Trance undertones)
Cheesiness: A bit; not too bad
Tranciness: Medium
Progressiveness: High
Danciness/Intensity: Medium
Lyzaness: Very high

Morgan Page feat. Lissie - The Longest Road (Deadmau5 Radio Edit) (MP3 Sample)

Both of these tracks are off of the EP “Elevate”, which by all means seems to be eclectic and fairly awesome so far. Get it at BeatPort!

Now for something at least almost completely different: a very non-subtle electro house rework of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Cities in Dust” by Junkie XL. Note that the Junkie XL version never actually credits that the vocals are Siouxsie’s but I think it’s pretty clear.

Two samples here: first, the main riff of the song; second, the trancey-ish breakdown.

Trance-iness: Fairly low, except for breakdown
Vocals: Yes, distinctive female
Progressiveness: Yeah, fairly
Dance-iness/Intensity: High
Cheesiness: Pretty low
Lyza-ness: Medium low

Junkie XL - Cities in Dust (Original Mix) (MP3 Sample)

Junkie XL - Cities in Dust (Original Mix) (MP3 Sample — Trance-ier bit)

Go get it on BeatPort.