New releases last four weeks: Uplifting Trance

Review: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Dutch titan Armin van Buuren's legendary trance anthem 'Eternity,' Music on Vinyl has hooked up with his Armada Music label to release all four versions of the track on vinyl for the first time ever. Armin has remained a dedicated servant to trance even while it fell out of favour but it is now very much back in vogue so this one is sure to get back into heavy rotation again. Originally released in 2000, 'Eternity' is a joyous and uplifting sound with lashings of Ibiza sunshine, bright melodies and rushes of euphoria all making it irresistible.

Review: Bassland Prophecy was a Southern California music collective featuring Alex Xenophon, Stuart Breidenstein who is ex-Skylab 2000, vocalist Alissa Kueker and Maxx Vaxx of Euterpre and Butterfly Garden. Their 1996 tracks 'Nine/Deeper' and 'Blue and Purple Starship of Trust' were thrilling genre collisions that have since become hard to find. The originals were long thought lost but have, in fact, turned up and been remastered and reissued by Bristol's Sex Tapes From Mars. Their sound was crafted using gear like the Juno 106, Yamaha FB-01, Roland S330 sampler, Sequential Circuits Pro-One with external MIDI, and various guitar pedals, all tools that helped forge their distinctive, otherworldly prog house sound.

Review: A timeless German trance anthem receives a fresh twist with two new extended remixes. Amirali's remix brings a deep, melodic reinterpretation. It slows the tempo slightly, trading the euphoric urgency of the original for a more introspective atmosphere. Subtle synth layers ripple through the mix, while a haunting arpeggio dances delicately over a driving yet restrained beat. REZarin's version keeps closer to the uplifting trance roots. The iconic melody is front and center, with shimmering pads and a pulsating bassline that builds towards soaring peaks. The breakdown retains the nostalgic essence of the original, swelling with warmth before bursting into an energetic drop that's tailor-made for festivals. Both remixes nod to the chilled legacy of Ibiza sunset mecca Cafe Del Mar while adding modern textures i Amirali offers reflection, REZarin delivers exhilaration.

Review: Ukrainian producer Volodymyr Gnatenko returns to Kalahari Oyster Cult with 'Mershiy' - a long-awaited follow-up that trades the drive of his last appearance on the label for something deeper and more exploratory. Spread across six tracks, it drifts between ambient dub, acid and pointillist electronics, with flashes of trance and IDM woven through. There's a widescreen, cinematic quality to it - detailed, immersive and immaculately spaced. Ushering in faded memories of 90s ambient, only re-imagined through a hi-def lens. Repeated listens reveal ever more off-world textures, insect rhythms and a creeping sense of unease. It's introspective, meticulous and beautifully produced.

Review: Italian producer J.P Energy resurfaces with a reissue of two rare late-90s works-deep, percussive hybrids from a fertile moment in underground Italian club culture. Originally released in 1997, 'Prima Dell'Alba' and 'Forbidden Planet' blur the lines between early trance and stripped-back techno, brimming with cinematic tension and pulsing groove. 'Prima Dell'Alba' is the more mysterious of the pair: tribal rhythms, eerie pads and a gradual rise in intensity evoke a kind of sunrise ritual for the dancefloor. The original mix of 'Forbidden Planet' delivers a leaner, more mechanical energy-icy and forceful but with a meditative undertow. A 2025 revisited mix by J.P Energy himself kicks things off on the A-side, reimagining the track with updated production and added spatial depth, without losing the spirit of the original. As part of the Sound Migration series, this reissue pays tribute to a singular voice in Italian electronic music-subtle, rhythmic, and visionary.

Review: Italian duo Mathame return with a new single, which they wrote to embody the essence of summer through its energetic melodies and uplifting vibe. It was created during their 2024 tours across Mexico and Asia and was refined through live performances in New York City and Ibiza. It has all the hallmarks of a summer anthem, frankly - the sentimental dance-pop vocals, the big synth waves, the happy melodies and the big, bold, accessible drums. It's well produced, bright and shiny and is easy to sing back when dropped on vast festival stages.

Review: Italian producer Cesare Muraca, based in Calabria, makes his debut on London label The Comfort with a four-track suite that slips between electro, house and cinematic groove. 'Calabrian Flow' opens with eerie restraint, all melodic shimmer and off-world tension, while 'Cosmic Odyssey' pushes deeper into the void, its synth stabs and haunted chordwork riding a shadowy rhythm. The flip offers release: 'Dynamic Dance' shuffles into kinetic high gear with bright pads and rolling percussion, before 'Working' steers into something murkierichoir samples warped into strange forms, distortion used like pressure. Muraca's sense of form is precise yet openieach track revealing more with every pass.

Review: As well as being a dance music figurehead. Paul Oakenfold is a devoted film buff who brought cinematic flair to his soundtrack for Dominic Sena's action-thriller Swordfish. Crafting a moody, high-tech sonic landscape and blending the tense energy of Dope Smugglaz's 'The Word (PMT Remix)' with the chill sunrise vibes of Lemon Jelly's 'Kneel Before Your God' and his own electro rework of 'Planet Rock' with Afrika Bambaataa, Oakenfold paints a vivid picture of early 2000s Los Angeles nightlife. Tracks like 'Stanley's Tune' and 'Password' evoke neon-lit scenes of decadence and danger. Subtle yet imaginative, this record rewards headphone listening for max impact.

Review: London DJ and producer Jules Von Daniken sets his phasers to fun, returning under his Phase O'Matic alias for another fresh EP-label inauguration (Blur Detection Program). His third release for 2025 (it's only May, god damnit), 'Behind The Glass' smashes through two-way mirror with gloomy glom-on acid, sparky redux design, slithery melodies and claspy 909 snareology, all of which together increment in intensity over a four-step dance inductor, seconding with the speak n' spelt post-new wave pranger 'Retroflex' and ending on the Robo-voiced 'Finetune (Darkest Day)'.

Review: Bulgaria's Prarhamansah is a duo that last released back in 2004, but they have remained active in the intervening years on their local scene. Their return is somewhat epic with this 11-minute-plus new single 'Bouncing Off The Van Allen Belts' a real comic odyssey. It rides on proggy drums but has an ever-shifting eco-system of synths that bring sci-fi twists and intergalactic colour that keeps the mind locked in. After that, the tune comes as various remixes, from the more far-sighted and trance-tinged subtleties of Waterblip remix part 2 to Charter Murphy's Homemade Pulse Drive remix, which is dark, hard techno for strobe-lit raves.

Review: Promising/Youngster and Sound Synthesis take charge of one side each of this new outing from Maltease label Wave Modulation Series. Lush, high-grade electro is the order of the day and 'Eleoky' soon sweeps you off your feet and up amongst astral motifs where the zippy synths provide the movement. 'Theryneas' has an organic piano line to offset the synthetic synths and corrugated rhythms, then 'Wunterbow' cuts loose with spiralling synth arcs and kaleidoscopic colours. On the flip, Sound Synthesis goes more direct with zippy electro rhythms on 'Nature Of The Dreamer' and serene acid on 'Tifkira', before a closer full of lament sends you off wanting more.

Review: In the early 90s, Danny Griffiths, Darius Keeler and Jiten Acharya formed Shikasta before dropping just one release on the now-defunct Swarm Music label. REZ34thirtyfour digs deep into that rare gem and gives it a fresh Rezpektiva polish. The EP features four tracks in all, three of which are from the original record plus a previously unreleased version recovered from DAT tapes. It's a thoughtful, atmospheric journey crafted for the dreamers and the deep thinkers who crave textured, immersive soundscapes. Trance is back and bigger than ever, but you can rarely beat OG get like this.

Review: Originally pressed in 1997 on Manchester's Pleasure Records, this reissue of James Zeiter's 'Spacer IV' EP marks a detour from his dub-techno calling card into richer house-rooted terrain. A pivotal figure with deep ties to trance, ambient and the deeper ends of techno, Zeiter's work here sheds the fog of his more monolithic material, turning instead to emotional clarity and rhythmic warmth. 'Sirocco' is the opener and the standoutia halcyon blend of dubbed-out breaks and airy pads that drift and glimmer above a slow-motion acid line. 'Mono' edges further into house, with its loopy Detroit swing and sunset-kissed bassline nodding gently to Italian dream house. On the flip, 'Jetson' steps back into more familiar, trance-inflected territory: spacious, hypnotic and driven by crisp, propulsive drums. 'Dust' closes the set with writhing acid lines and spaced-out FX, balancing tension and lift with Zeiter's signature restraint. All four cuts, originally sequenced with just an Akai S950, ESQ-1 and a Novation Bass Station, still sound uniquely vitalimelodic but unshowy, club-focused but never rigid. Slush's remaster preserves the nuance while the full-fat 2x12" format gives these deep cuts the dynamic range they deserve. A stunning archival rescue from a true underground operator.

Review: Talla 2XLC and German composer, producer and songwriter Torsten Stenzel (who is still best known for his work as YORK) revive the 1997 trance classic 'The Wave' by Sosa with a big new remake that realigns it with contemporary sounds. Landing on bright coloured vinyl via Technoclub Retro it has two extended mixes that reignite the energy of the original with brilliantly euphoric flair. On Side A, York's 'Back to the Roots Extended Mix' has already been getting heavy plays in clubs and on festival stages around the world with its high-octane melodic rush an utter thrill when played nice and loud. Side B brings an exclusive new remix by Talla 2XLC that is only available on this pressing.

Review: Electric Ballroom proudly introduces Tommahawk, a rising force from Germany's next generation of peak-progressive house producers. 'Unfolding' lends a heart-in-mouth pre-drop choir motif to an antecedent stab centrepiece, whose vestiges linger long after the refrain tapers off. Label head Thomas Schumacher remixes the track in airier and floatier tones, meanwhile, creating an abiding minimal progressive ballast to contrast the A-side's intense eschatology.

Review: Iowa's Zuul hand modulates the proverbial Pressure Control with a five-track slab of tightly wound menace, shifting gears from his earlier appearances on Exarde and White Scar. As head of Laik, Ollie Burgess has previously shown a taste for precise, brooding rhythms; but here, he leans rawer, drawing on EBM, new beat and the wave-inflected electronics of the late 80s, invoking spirits of early Frankfurt and Ghent while keeping an eye firmly on the functional demands of contemporary sets. There's a nitty tension running through each cut, making them as suited to murky warm-ups as to teeth-gritting peak hours.