I’ve been intimidated by the thought of writing about trance music. My grasp on the genre doesn’t deserve an A+, my listening experience doesn’t go much beyond a limited list of classics, some occasional hits that feel impossible to run away from as an active listener of anything electronic (e.g. “The Air I Breathe”, “Till The Sunrise”, “Saving Light”), and the trance tunes I danced to at the Miami Music Week Virtual Self show some days ago. Also, trance elitist and all-knowing haters make up for quite the irritating group of fellows I’d rather avoid having a dispute with.
This time, I couldn’t resist from giving more exposure to a criminally underrated trance piece of art called “Another Life” which I consider the best song I heard in months.
Cold Blue (real name Tobias Schuh) is a key player in John O’Callaghan’s Subculture label roster, and to many, he’s the biggest breakthrough in the recent history of the trance scene. Hailing from Germany, Schuh is to modern trance what G Jones is to bass music, what MYST and Phuture Noize are to hardstyle, and, hell, what DubVision were some years ago to popular melodic house.
For sake of introducing this talented son of one of the greatest trance countries in the world, it’s worth to take a look at Schuh’s secondary offering for the new year, which came in the form of “… And Madness Remains”, shortened as “Madness”.
With a Metallica-sounding title, this single embodies the relentlessly stomping tech house power that Subculture has been bringing to the masses since 2009/2010, and that Cold Blue has been mainly known to fuse with its uplifting trance flair. It picks up where the unstoppable weapon “Symmetric”, a fall 2018 collaboration with label head O’Callaghan, had left. The adventurous sound of what sounds like a bass guitar and the cinematic trance lead help a superb set of drums build up the atmosphere, one as eerie and echoing as the cover art scenario of a foggy winter forest on the verge of getting rampaged by a thunderstorm. The drop itself hits like one, and without straying away from its fashionable minimalism.
Less is more. Cold Blue takes quite the good example from this way of saying, encapsulating all the right elements in his March release “Madness”, a love-deserving tech trance tune which doesn’t leave one minute behind without pulsating energy.
81/100
With this premise, I go back on my main focus on how “Another Life” gave me a different type of experience; an actual experience.
Right off the bat, the Extended Mix mid-intro hits at 0:54 with well thought out textures of angelic vox, a traditional trance hard kick, and, well, everything that you would expect from a 7-plus minute long trance tune. But Cold Blue brings these formulas to a higher level of tension-building and in-your-face groove. What follows the fitting tech mid-intro is an uplifting chord progression which blessed me with one particular type of moment. It was one of those moments that reminded me only certain types of electronic music could make me feel so light and rich with all types of emotions, and definitely, trance proved worthy of the podium of those types of electronic music.
It’s not important if this tune isn’t a classic, because it already feels like one at two months of age. It felt authentic, almost as if Cold Blue had a dream in which wind was slashing his face and arms on top of a countryside high hill or a snow-covered German mountain, and whilst on that peak, the notes for a to-be-remembered melody started to cascade down his ears. It’s a simplistic modern masterpiece I’d stand up for in the face of the critics.
“Another Life” spoke to me in a different language, gave me a sudden kick of life and a high of life few compositions could; and most importantly of all, it sparkled a hunger for musical discovery. Now, for me, this song’s value is up there, scratching the surface of absolute all-timers of the likes of “Ramsterdam (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix),” “Heart Is King,” and “Opus.”
Only a 90+ rating could bring this Cold Blue’s gem justice, and I hope that despite all my human flaws and imperfect judgment, I am valuing its time, replay, and production value in a proper manner.
92/100
Best song of the year so far, a little above “Utterly Butterfly” by Key4050, “Atlas” by ARTBAT, and PURGE’s remix for ODESZA’s “Just A Memory.”
Bring it on, trance music. I’m not scared anymore.
What do you think?
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