New York-based DJ Victor Dinaire’s newest album, “Timeless Trance: Morning Sessions,” captures the spirit and sounds of the last 10 years of trance, one of electronic music’s most beloved, yet at the same time, hated styles today.
“I wanted to show the finer moments of trance, the extremely important songs from their time,” said Dinaire, a 27-year-old native of Staten Island, N.Y.
Trance, a euphoric, melodic style of electronic music that features massive buildups and dramatic breakdowns, exploded all over the world in the late 1990s. Championed by superstar DJs such as England’s Paul Oakenfold and Germany’s Paul Van Dyk, trance evolved from its underground roots into dance music’s most commercial commodity. Yet, because of its immense popularity in the mainstream, it is often regarded as cheesy or overly predictable by many industry purists.
“Morning Sessions” strays away from the more generic trance sounds of today, reliving instead, some of the genre’s finest moments.
Dinaire’s seamless mixing blends together tracks such as BT’s “Mercury and Solace,” Lustral’s “Everytime,” and Sasha’s eternal classic “Xpander,” into an album that is good from beginning to end.
Still, in an album full of massive hits, two tracks stand out as highlights. Energy 52’s revolutionary “Café Del Mar,” and Solar Stone’s “Seven Cities” both are songs which define the essence of the Balearic, Ibiza-like sound which made trance so popular in the last few years.
Dinaire, who along with his DJ schedule, works as a promotions manager at Logic Records. He has been a part of New York’s club scene since the early 1990s. Working as a promoter, Dinaire throws parties at many of the city’s top clubs, including Limelight, Palladium and Tunnel.
After watching many of the city’s top DJs play at his parties and other clubs, Dinaire found himself drawn to the music and the art of mixing records.
“I always found myself saying ‘I would have done something different,’ ” Dinaire said.
Intense practice eventually led to Dinaire landing gigs in New York, and today he is one of the city’s top DJs, having played at clubs such as Exit and Earth.
Influenced by DJs like New York’s Junior Vasquez, Dinaire described his playing style as “very engaging.”
“I like to change tempos, (and) I think it’s important to play everything,” Dinaire said.
“Morning Sessions” captures Dinaire’s wide variety of tastes. Mixing together songs from the dawn of trance, he provides an excellent history lesson to more recent fans of electronic music. To older trance fans, the album serves as a reminder of some of the genre’s best songs ever
In a time where “Best of” compilations fill record stores to a bursting point, Dinaire delves a little deeper with his track selection. Smoothly interweaving an assortment of chart-topping, incredibly influential songs, he has produced a mix album that transcends the individual tracks.
The album, released this week, is the second in a series following Dinaire’s “Timeless Trance: Midnight Sessions,” which was released in February.
Dinaire has released two other albums, “Logic Trance 4” and “N-Trance.” He is also planning a tour later this year.
