New releases last four weeks: Trance

Review: 'Age of Love' by Age of Love' is something or a rite of passage tune that has converted many people to the thrills of dance music, and often more specifically the euphoric joyous of good trance. For that reason it has endured across the ages but has never been bigger than it is right now, much like trance itself. Here we get the crucial original, as well as a subtly tweaked remix from KNTXT label boss and modern techno queen Charlotte de Witter with her life and musical partner Enrico Sangiuliano, as well as the pounding, dubby, essential Jam & Spoon Watch Out For Stella mix that Sasha & Digweed loved so much.

Review: Kas:st is known for an array of music from uplifting jungle to cavernous techno. But on this remix bundle of their most recent EP 'A Magic World', every producer contributing their own interpretations to Kas:st's masterworks leans towards the latter. 'Outomorrow' gets an stairway-to-heaven style deep house remix from Anyma & Kevin, while our favourite has to be a loose tie between Radio Slave's deft rework of 'Never Looks Away' and Chris Avantgarde's version of 'Vtopia'. This is a wax slab of deep, emotive club cuts for the emotionally scarred.

Review: Sasha & Digweed are known for their heavy hands in pop and trance, but the former's best known work has to be 'Xpander', which set him apart from his myriad remixes of Madonna, Moby and The Chemical Brothers back in the day. Now the 4-track EP version of 'Xpander' sees a double 12" reissue from Music On Vinyl, showing off Sasha's taste for advanced breaks-trance, psychic themes and everything in between.

Review: Safe Trip's first Planet Love compilation did a terrific job in showcasing the wide variety of psychedelic, colourful club cuts that emerged during the formative years of the trance movement, before the sound was rigidly defined. This relatively speedy sequel picks up where its' predecessor left off, with curators Marco Sterck (AKA Young Marco) and Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan MacDonald offering up a mixture of sunrise-ready ambient ('Lazer Worshippers'), breakbeat-driven euphoria (Sven Vath, Innertales), progressive house/techno fusion (Dance 2 Trance, Moody Boyz), rushing IDM positivity (Alien Signal), late-night hypnotism (Revelation), acid-flecked heaviness (The Deep) and arpeggio-sporting proto-trance (The Obsession Project). Simply essential.