A State of Trance with Armin Van Buuren

Until 2006 I was co-owner of the now defunct Deep Blue Records, it was my first record label and there were quite a few amazing tracks which I signed to that label. Last year I approached several of the artists behind those tracks (whose original contracts with Deep Blue were now expired) if they would be interested in releasing new, fresh mixes on one of my current labels. 'Perfect Destiny' was actually my favourite signing to Deep Blue, it was such a beautiful melodic track which was - fact fans - Tune of the Week on ASOT237. Finland's Winkee are one of my current favourite acts and they were perfect to give the track a modern, Pure Trance revamp while remaining sympathetic to the original composition. I opened my disc of Pure Trance 2 with this too. It's pure class.

Well there are bound to be a few of my own productions in this list, because if I don't personally think they are great then I wouldn't have released them! Vangelis is one of my favourite composer / producers of all time, and earlier this year when I about to play at ASOT600 Den Bosch I wanted something new and exclusive to play at the event. My manager & friend Paula suggested a Pure Mix of Bladerunner's Love Theme, and I completed this remix in an afternoon - incredibly fast for me, but it was hardly going to be difficult when the original is so good. I never expected it to be released, but Arny from Black Hole approached Vangelis' publisher and to our surprise they gave us their blessing, so we released it together with an awesome video which was a 4 minute recap of the entire BladeRunner movie.

Not a dance music release, this band made a huge impression on my in 2013. Vocalist Hannah Reid has a silky smooth very English sounding voice, the band's sound is a warm and fuzzy mixture of muted piano, sparse guitar and electronics. My favourite tracks are 'Strong' and 'Wasting My Young Years', both have huge, beautiful soaring choruses.

Álbum de London Grammar en iTunes

This is one of the best examples of to-the-point instrumental Uplifting Trance records to be released in 2013 in my opinion, the production is refined and spacious, the riffs and melodies all have a deserved place in the mix (many tracks like this are just packed with sounds for the sake of it) and it has a great arrangement too - well thought out. More importantly, the lead riff is hugely euphoric and it has graced many of my club sets. Ultimate has remixed something for one of my labels as a result of my hearing this track.

The original of this was possibly my favourite track of 2012, such a stunning chord progression and that glorious choral vocal! Alex asked me to remix a different track for his 'Prime Mover' Remix Album - I don't remember which one now but I immediately went back and asked to remix 'Eternal Flame' instead, it was a no brainer. I've found that an intense passion for a track can result in an extraordinary remix, rather than an ordinary one. So my approach was to focus on the lead melody and, rather than layer the choral vocal over the top, to turn it into a pulsing, filtering riff layer instead which complimented the main melody. Most of the big elements in my remix were transplanted from the original version - the strings etc - I just sped it up a bit and gave it the 'Pure' touch. Together with my remix of Lemon's 'We Can't Fly', 'Eternal Flame' is my favourite 'Pure Mix' so far.

Erkka is one of the guys who comprise Michael Cassette, and he is also a friend of Orkidea. Tapio and I discussed this track at length earlier on in 2013 when it was released, I was bowled over by the groove and the hypnotic spoken vocal, it's simply brilliant! Orkidea played it at our Pure Trance party in Helsinki and it sounded amazing. There are so many records released these days that it is easy to miss genuine gems such as this, if you love deep real progressive house music I strongly advise you to search this one out.

This was a cheeky edit I put together early in 2013. The Forerunner's remix of 'Aftersurf' has this really gorgeous tinkly piano breakdown, & when I first heard it I began muttering the famous Rikki Lee Jone's sample from The Orb's 'Little Fluffy Cloud' rave classic over the top. A very protracted internet search led me to a very rare bootleg release of the entire Rikki Lee Jones interview from which the sample was taken, and I then sampled it myself and edited it together with the Aerium track, I think it worked really well. Sadly, due to the popularity of this edit a lot of people missed Aerium's Original Version, which was brilliant in it's own right. We released this on my Social Network Record Label - Solarswarm Recordings.

This song is a total heart stopper to me. The lyrics really hit home and - coupled with that brilliant video - it couldn't fail. Above & Beyond have been criticised for their move away from trance to the 'EDM' sound, but those boys know exactly how to write a poignant melody and the production on this track is perfection itself. This is one track I would have loved to remix (if I had been asked).

This is my side-project with Ben Lost (vox) Dave Sullivan (guitar) & Sascha Darroch-Davies (drums). This track marked a bit of a turning point for the band as we started stripping the Federation sound right down, a bare minimum of electronics, acid, guitars and driving percussion. Also we started running the stems of our tracks through a load of vintage analogue analogue equipment courtesy of Harry 'War Rooms' Purser which warmed everything up and gave the record a more raw and dirty sound. 'Quiero' is Spanish for 'Love' and I like the simple lyric; "You got love... you got everything". We made a live video at our gig at The Opera House in Bournemouth too.

Tapio bravely tackled this classic for his '20' retrospective which was released on Solaris, the original by Der Dritte Raum is one of my all-time favourites, and when Tapio told me he was going to cover it I had no doubt that he would do it justice. This track is all about the 16th beats arpeggiated bassline - and Tapio is the king of arpeggiated basslines! It has a very long and drawn out intro which is great for mixing as a Dj - I had a lot of fun playing this out throughout 2013.

Singer Claire Boucher's voice has something other-worldly about it, she seems to sing in that phonetic style similar to Cocteau Twin's Elizabeth Fraser, where there is only the occasional 'real' sounding word or sentence. I discovered this track when in Australia on the Stereosonic tour (or it might have been in Singapore I don't remember which). The track is sort of lo-fi breaks with ethereal pads and chanted vocals, it's very murky and infectious - very original. The album it's taken from is called Visions, check it out if you get a chance. The video is a bit unsettling too.

Darin really hits the spot with his Detroit-influenced remix. The snare rolls and groove in this are very Derrick May - records like this are the reason I set up Molecule Recordings in the first place. It's clearly not the kind of thing I play in my sets, but music like this deserves to be heard. Everything about Molecule Recordings is done for passion - the artwork is by a guy named George Bitiusca who also built the gorgeous website. Nobody really makes any money out of this label, least of all me - it's just about the love of music really.

I loved this fabulous vocal track. Jess Morgan is a folk singer, I have no idea how she ended up working with Sneijder (one of my Pure Trance colleagues) but it was definitely a good pairing, her vocal soars over Andrew's punchy melodic production. I'm also a fan of Amsterdam Trance generally, it is run by Raz Nitzan, a really decent guy responsible for countless vocal top-lines over the past 10 or so years. If you want a vocal trance hit, ask Raz!

When Jussi Paasonen of Winkee sent me Meltwater Pts I and II, I was completely blown away. I didn't think that expansive progressive trance music like this still existed. Pt I has a very unusual intro and structure, and just builds and builds with an unrelenting drive which completely absorbs the listener. It's got a huge yet understated riff - if that is possible (it is in my head anyway). Pt.II is much darker and deeper, the two combined makes for a +20 minutes journey of musical bliss. It's my favourite release on Touchstone Recordings so far. The sleeve is fabulous too. Unfortunately pretty much everybody else ignored this record...

I had to include this in my Top 20 - this record sums up what the Solarstone 'Pure Trance' sound is all about - it is lush and melodic, with peaks and breaks that do exactly what you want them to when you close your eyes, raise your arms and listen to this music. The lead melody is based upon the mandolin solo in the dying moments of The Smiths 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' - hence the title. This is invariably the biggest track of mine when I play it out during my sets... it's defiantly optimistic.

This really was a great track! Much more 'Trance 2.0' than I usually play, or even like, but this was so melodically infectious that it had me hooked from day one. It's actually too tough for me to play out in my sets, I tried a few times but it completely changed the atmosphere of the club no matter what time I dropped it, so it's one for the radio show instead. Damian could probably produce some really good Pure Trance if he chose to (hint hint!). Enhanced generally has gone down the 2.0 road too, but they do still occasionally release brilliant records which are more up my street - not taking anything away from them of course, they are brilliant at what they do - Will Holland has turned Enhanced into one of the 4 most important dance labels in my opinion, together with Black Hole, Anjuna & Armada - and is a great guy too.

Talking of Enhanced, this is one of their signings which I signed for Pure Trance 2. It is classic Suncatcher - beautiful uplifting trance with a hint of Solarstone in the lead virtual-guitar synth. Bogdan aka Suncatcher is one of my go-to producers for the radio show, everything he releases seems to go in my box. We played together at Trance Sanctuary in London and he played a blinder. He was taller than I expected for some reason.

My favourite track from Pure Trance 2 - this is absolutely huge in the clubs. The original version which Driftmoon sent to me was very good, but it lacked a certain polish to the production. I am very anally retentive about things like that - but also after so many years in production and engineering I'm pretty good at getting the best out of a production without compromising the intentions of the artist, so I asked them to send me the stems. A days work in the studio really brought out the majesty of this record. Melodically it is stunning, cascading arpeggios and complimentary melodic layers make this a fine example of Pure Trance music. It is the first single release on my new Pure Trance label and has created a real buzz in the trance world, especially as Armin has given it a couple of spins on ASOT too.

This remix pushes all the right buttons for me, when John sent it over I think he knew I would go for it. The bassline is very retro, and the simple plink-plonk riff over the top is a djs dream, I can loop that for ages over a following record in my sets! I love the way he's used the Kate Bush sample just in the breakdown in its entirety, then switching to his inspired riff after the track kicks back in. It's a very beautiful and simple record. I guess there's a bit of a them running through my selection here - one of simplicity. I guess this is partly what I love about 'Pure' trance, the pushing aside of fiddly and complicated production tricks and instead a focus on a few simple ingredients. This track will probably still be in my box for a few months yet, especially as it is a bootleg and few other djs have it!

Currently unreleased at the time of writing, I've included this because it's being blowing up in my sets over the past few weeks and musically it is quite unusual. It's got very delicate and gentle melodic passages in it, but somehow becomes a monster on the dancefloor. At Energy Box in London recently this was a highlight of my set - and that is something unusual when you know for a fact that the people have not heard it before. It is Pure Trance music, it's all about the melody and the emotion, and it's a good track to wrap up this 'Best of 2013' list. Thanks for listening