Trance is a type of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 155 BPM short melodic synthesizer phrases and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. It is a combination of many forms of music such as industrial, techno, and house. The origin of the term is uncertain with some suggesting that the term is derived from the Klaus Schulze album Trancefer 1981 or the early trance act Dance 2 Trance. In any case the name is undoubtedly linked to the ability of music to induce an altered state of consciousness known as a trance. The effect of some trance music has been likened to the trance inducing music created by ancient shamanists during long periods of drumming. The trance music branch of electronica share a fondness for open ended marathon dancing, fluorescent colors and neo hippie fashion as well.Early in the 1980s the German composer Klaus Schulze composed several albums of experimental space music which was highly atmospheric and sequencer driven. Some of these songs share many similarities with early trance music and are sometimes categorized as trance. Two of his albums from the 1980s include the word trance in their titles 1981 Trancefer and 1987 Trance. Predating Schulzes 1980s releases however was Jean Michel Jarres Oxygene from 1976 and Equinoxe in 1978. Jarre who experimented with the similar styles of atmospheric experimental that gave rise to Schulzes 1980 efforts and the many others that followed is widely regarded as the godfather of the genre.
In retrospect, some of the earliest identifiable trance recordings came from the acid house movement which was pioneered by The KLF The most notable of these were the original 1988 1989 versions of What Time Is Love? and 3 a.m. Eternal along with the aptly titled Kylie Said Trance 1989 and Last Train to Trancentral 1990. The KLF labeled these early recordings Pure Trance and they share many similarities with The White Room album 1991but are significantly more minimalist nightclub oriented and undergroun in sound. While the KLFs works are clear examples of proto trance two songs both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first true trance records. The first is Age of Loves self-titled debut single which was released in early 1990 and is seen a basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany Some consider The Age of Love to be the first true trance single. The second track was Dance 2 Trances We Came in Peace, the b-side of their own self titled debut single. Another influential song was Future Sound Of Londons Papua New Guinea 1991.
The trance sound beyond this acid era genesis is said to have been an off shoot of techno in German clubs during the very early 1990s. Germany is often cited as a birthplace of trance culture. Some of the earliest pioneers of the music included Jam El Mar Oliver Lieb, and Sve Vath who all produced numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q Harthouse Rising High Records and MFS Records were Frankfurt based. Arguably a fusion of techno and house music early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones. Also the songs did not bounce around in the same way that house did and often contained unpredictable shifts in beat structure. These early forms of trance are now referred to as classic trance and were longer and more abstract than the more danceable trance that was to follow.