#12 Feat. Staff Picks in Trance (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

Were off to Leeds for LOST197 where JESH makes his EL-EL debut with the 21st-century-deep-trancer AFTERGLOW. Beautifully crafted, with a nod to the late 90s / early 00s big room prog of Mark Shimmon, Miller & Floyd, Christian West et al - its an exercise in build and restraint, with a melodic martian sunset payoff in the widescreen sci-fi breakdown. SUNDA, last seen on the label with his gorgeous remix of Q00Bs Suns Horses, has continued to build a reputation for producing deep soulful melodic trance. His remix here is no exception - a classy rework, that dials up the trance whilst preserving the progressive nature of the original. HALCYON is a name to watch, and weve got a stunning original of his on the way very soon, but here he twists Afterglow into a new breed techno / trance crossover, that draws heavily on the likes of LSG / Oliver Lieb. Hard and beautiful in all the right places. We love a strong bonus track here at LL towers, so rounding things off we have another JESH original: MY MIND - pushing his sound deeper into analogue-driven Techno territory.

Jesh

#53 Feat. Staff Picks in Trance (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

Ukrainian deep trance hero OTTO K returns with his third EP on EL-EL, delivering two slabs of underground, forest-tinged prog, both packed with psychedelic tension and widescreen detail. Portugal 99 leads the charge with eerie top-line melodies and sharp percussion, carving out a cinematic space between progressive trance and forest psychedelia, receiving early support from Standard Form and Mr Wright on their acclaimed Sunset Sessions 2024 mix. On the flip, Isolated Island ups the energy with a driving, percussive groove, mixing brooding atmospheres with melodic restraint- a heads down tool built for long, late hours. First up on remix duties is Jake Grace, whos Meteor Shower was a much loved cut on 2024s Plymouth Brethren EP (LOST191) - and hes back here with a peak-time take on Portugal 99, stretching out the central riff into an expansive, big-room moment. Lawn Jarre, an exciting young talent from China, completes the package with 2 versions of Isolated Island. The first is a deep, hypnotic interpretation soaked in mid-90s post Goa / pre World Tour 99 era Oakey textures (think Ecano, Dream Traveller, Pink Bomb…) while a sharper, club focused mix rounds things off, dialling up the intensity whilst maintaining the hypnosis.

Otto K

#90 Feat. Staff Picks in Trance (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

There would be no EXHIBITION : RAW, at least not as we know it, without the spectral presence of DAVE MOTH, a name that threads itself, unassumingly yet insistently, throughout the architecture of BEN LOSTs award-winning compilation. But, as with all hauntings, the origins are displaced, nonlinear. The beginning, if such a term can even be applied, goes back to 2020; a year already thick with collapse and strange opportunity. It was MOTH who introduced LOST to Archie - who together were operating under the brief, brutish banner of HARDBODY - with Archie simultaneously farming hard trance pastures that would soon go on to bloom under the alias CLAIRES ACCESSORIES. And for LOST, it was CAs 2021 remix of Venus by FEDERATION that signalled a shift towards a tough, speed-drenched sound that circled back to what initially excited him about trance in the wild 1990s. But DAVE MOTH was never simply a producer. He emerged from the art-damaged debris of the early 2000s, co-founder of THE FILTHIEST PEOPLE ALIVE alongside GAVIN IT, a project less musical act than acid-drenched détournement, somewhere between DIVINE and SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK. From there, Peterboroughs hardcore scene swallowed him whole, going on to tour Europe with the old school / communal HHH on lead guitar. The early 2010s offered another shift / reconnection. MOTH reunited with LOST, alongside SOLARSTONE, joining aforementioned trance romos FEDERATION on guitar, just in time to cowrite and perform on their debut album F, a record saturated with the residue of rave utopias and post-punk entropy. Parallel to this, MOTH straddled space / acid / hard rock projects in RIDDLES, MAGIC MOSS, and MARSHES - the latter fronted by LOST - before taking a 180 4/4 turn in 2024 to collaborate as SIDE WOUND, whose Leftfield and Lydon after a handful of mitzis debut Tremor Dollar (with Paul McGregor of ULTERIOR) sounded like a late capitalist death disco in an abandoned Meadowhall shopping centre. Now, RACKET SPORTS (LOST194) marks DAVE MOTHs solo debut on LOST LANGUAGE: full throttle, high-speed drama, foot to the floor at 154. Haunted wails under steel city kicks and warehouse clangs, channelling the gated spirit of REACTIVATE-era chaos. Its the kind of gear LARRY THE LOBSTER mightve smuggled up his CERVICAL GROOVE in a warehouse circa 1996. FACTORIA, whose DARKSKYE remix was pitched up into the Gods by LOST on his latest EXHIBITION comp, returns with a technicolour remix that finds that sweet spot between peak-time euphoria and undercurrent tension - FSOE via AA Meeting, if you like. While Norwegian talent AFGANG, whose original RACKET SPORTS remix helped set the tone on EX: RAW, brings a club-ready dreamy donk twist alongside a darker, swampier Forest Flip version. Rounding off the package is another DAVE MOTH original CRYSTAL DAWN. A riff-heavy hard trance trip, filled with PSY-FI FX, unhinged fills, and dangerous / playful drops, a record that points backwards and forwards all at once, into raves unresolved future. Mrak E Fischer (T-Punk 25)

Dave Moth