Tranceport
Of all the genres within electronic music, trance probably gets the worst rap. The music is guilty by association with the hippies that worship it with a religious-like fervor. And if executed poorly, its dramatic crescendos sound like pretentious, pompous pap. But a good trance DJ can save a string of the genre's records from falling down the drain of all-too-common gargantuan breakdowns and endless wind-ups. Paul Oakenfold might be the DJ to rescue trance from itself;Tranceportfeatures a veritable who's who of trance records and producers--Sasha's remix of Gus Gus's "Purple," a few tracks from seminal trance producer Paul van Dyk, and the driving, impenetrable "Enervate" by Transa. Oakenfold's mixing is impeccably suited to trance: long, drawn-out bleeds of sound seep from one transcendent track to the next.--Tricia Romano