From Renaissance and Global Underground to Gatecrasher and Trance Energy, these stories cover both sides of the archive. Complete trance articles need Members Club access.
Some things need more room than an Archive entry — usually the arguments you and your mates were having at the time. Why did Global Underground make a city feel like part of the mix? What happened when progressive house crossed the Atlantic? And why did the sound you loved fall apart so quickly after the turn of the millennium?
That's what the Features section is for. If you want the actual mixes, go to the Archive. If you want the people behind them, start with DJ Profiles.
Article · October 2026
A 1990s progressive record that gets darker the longer you leave it alone. Slacker's Scared was already out on Loaded in 1996 before XL issued a four-version twelve-inch in 1997. The Lonely Traveller is the long cut, and it's all about tension rather than a big easy release. I reckon it is one of those records that makes far more sense in the middle of a proper DJ set than pulled out for a quick nostalgia clip. There's a reason those early progressive nights could feel so different from the obvious anthem-driven sets.
Article · October 2026
Swayzak's State of Grace, with Kirsty Hawkshaw on vocals, is a proper slow burner. This Van Bellen Vocal mix runs for more than ten minutes and gives the voice room to drift through a deep, atmospheric groove. You can file it under house or progressive, but the label matters a lot less than hearing the thing unfold without interruptions. It's also one of those tracks where the exact mix name is essential: the Vocal and Main treatments aren't interchangeable, and later digital catalogue dates don't necessarily tell you when people first heard the record in clubs.
Article · October 2026
Before the Positiva remixes, Trisco's Musak was a 2000 twelve-inch on Vinyl Addiction, with the Original Mix and a Wonderland Avenue remix. It's a repetitive, strangely addictive club track: no big emotional hook, just a groove that works its way into a room. Nick Warren used the Wonderland Avenue mix in his long October 2000 HR3 Clubnight broadcast, which makes a brilliant listening comparison, but it isn't the same version as the original linked here. I love these little distinctions, because one remix could completely change where a track fitted in a night.
Article · October 2026
Rhythm Invention's Chronoclasm is one of those records people know from a classic mix without necessarily remembering the sleeve. It appears on CD1 of Sasha and John Digweed's Renaissance: The Mix Collection from 1994, sitting between Bedrock's For What You Dream Of and The Disco Evangelists' De Niro. This post picks out the JZ Knights Mix, while the famous Renaissance tracklisting doesn't consistently identify that particular version. That distinction matters: the record is part of the same early progressive conversation, but I wouldn't claim the uploaded remix is exactly the one on the CD without stronger evidence.
Article · October 2026
Evolution's Phoenix is part of the classic progressive house vocabulary, but this particular recording is much newer. Guy J uploaded his remix on 31 December 2016, describing the original as a record that had changed his life. Hearing the newer interpretation beside the older track is a lovely way to trace what stuck around as the scene changed: patience, atmosphere and the willingness to let a groove develop. It's not a newly unearthed 90s version, and pretending that it is would miss half the appeal. This is two different generations of progressive house in conversation.
Article · October 2026
Endless Wave comes from the early Kamaya Painters project, before the names behind it became huge on their own: Tiësto and Benno de Goeij, who was also part of Rank 1. The record appeared on Black Hole in 1998 and received UK releases the following year. It's a softer, floating side of late-90s trance, with a melody that takes its time rather than pushing towards the biggest possible breakdown. I love digging out these early aliases, because the music makes sense on its own but also shows how much was happening before the superstar names took over.
Article · October 2026
Not just the anthems: the records, DJs, clubs and a nine-mix listening route that explain classic trance, and where progressive house fits in.
Article · September 2026
Fifteen records, from Heaven Scent to Why R U Here?, picked to show how the original progressive sound actually worked inside a DJ set.
Article · September 2026
Hooj, Bedrock, Stress, Jackpot, Renaissance, Global Underground, Baroque, Hope, Silver Planet and Yoshitoshi: the label identities behind the era.
Feature · September 2026
Red Jerry, Café Del Mar, Lost Tribe, Miro, Medway and Tilt: one London label moving through progressive house and trance without asking permission.
Feature · September 2026
Ten Sasha sets from 1995 to 1998 that let you hear the shift from warm progressive house into the darker, spacier progressive-trance sound.
Article · September 2026
Talked about as one unit for years, but never interchangeable: melody, tension, GU009 vs GU006, and why the contrast made the partnership work.
Feature · September 2026
Ten years when clubs, radio, mix CDs, labels and residents all backed patient music, and why what came after was a branching, not an ending.
Feature · September 2026
Pappa, Howells, Lawler, Kleinenberg, Burridge and Tomiie: how Global Underground's second series caught progressive house turning darker and techier.
Article · September 2026
What the term originally meant in early-90s Britain, the records and DJs that defined it, and why searching for it now turns up something quite different.
Feature · August 2026
Two hours of Radio 1, a blank cassette and no guarantee you'd hear it again: why the Essential Mix felt bigger before every set lived on your phone.
Article · August 2026
Café Del Mar, Gamemaster, Xpander, Push, Tilt and the records where progressive house and trance kept nicking each other's record boxes.
Feature · August 2026
Twilo all-nighters, LA raves, a San Francisco GU and Tranceport on the car stereo: how the music crossed America without ever becoming one sound.
Feature · August 2026
Why later mixes hit harder but feel less warm than your 90s tapes: Twilo, CDJs, Bedrock, breaks, minimal and the end of one shared progressive centre.
Feature · August 2026
Two CDs, one DJ, one city and a ridiculous amount of atmosphere: how Global Underground made mix CDs feel like a passport, and which ones still earn the hype.