It’s that time of year again: DJ Mag is doing their top 100 countdown, and voting is open to the public! Every year, DJ Mag allows for you to vote for your five favorite DJs and then compiles the results into a top 100(!) list–but the best part is that your vote comes with a complementary track pack of exclusive tunes and remixes from many big-name producers, brought to you by Trackitdown! You won’t see these songs anywhere else, so it’s definitely worth it to take a look at these awesome tracks!
Russian superstar Arty is back with The Slide, a song that’s a bit uncharacteristically heavy for him: straying towards a moombahton tempo and a bit of an electro edge, this is almost like Armin‘s We Are Here to Make Some Noise meets Dillon Francis‘s funky moombah meets Arty‘s own euphoric progressive trance. I’m not the biggest fan of Arty‘s somewhat derivative sound, but The Slide is certainly something different–and great! Cosmic Gate also appears on this compilation, with Wezz Devall‘s remix of the duo’s tune Perfect Stranger from their recent album Wake Your Mind. Duvall‘s treatment of this track is a stunning, smooth trance progression, with a dark and captivating sound that is sure to evoke memories of mid-90s trance.
The legendary Ferry Corsten also supplied a new track for this compilation, entitled Don’t Be Afraid. In true Ferry style, it’s a melodic and progressive trance track, with a euphoric drop and lots of white noise goodness. This is actually one of the better tracks that Ferry has produced in the past couple of years, so it’s definitely worth looking into! Another trance icon, Gareth Emery, appears here with Arnej‘s remix of his beautiful track Concrete Angel with Christina Novelli. Preserving the smooth and stunning breakdown of the original, Arnej throws a wrench into the gears, adding classic trance energy into the drop and elevating the track into a club-ready trance banger.
Hardwell‘s Spaceman is another one of those tunes that you really just hear everywhere, so it’s refreshing to hear Nishin Vardiano‘s remix on the DJ Mag pack. Retaining structural elements of the original, Vardiano adds heavier electro and dub elements, making the track even groovier than it was originally. Marco V strays a bit away from his usual tech trance style in Speakfreak: a hard-hitting fusion of trance and electro, Speakfreak is a massive hands-in-the-air banger, with an infectious melody and undeniable danceability.
Richard Durand takes over the tech trance arena here in Marco V‘s stead: in the captivating Sphere, he constructs a carefully thought-out tech trance tune, alternating between a plunky melodic arpeggio and minimal tech-inspired drops. But my favorite track in this compilation must be Australian up-and-comer tyDi‘s Jelly. I’ve always been a big fan of tyDi‘s moody progressive trance sound, and he keeps getting better with every tune he releases: Jelly is an exquisite vocal tune–perfect for a sing-along–and its melodies and beats are infectious. You can stream all of these tunes below, and download them for yourself after voting in DJ Mag‘s top 100 contest!
