Music

It doesn’t get ‘purer’ than this, Solarstone’s majestic ‘4Ever’ is an embodiment the Pure Trance sound; an evocative lead melody, a heartrending chord progression backed up by incessant, driving production. Originally released way back in 2008 as part of Solarstone’s ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ album it is a firm fan favourite. Now the brilliant ‘Photographer’ drops a gorgeous new 138 bpm remix(as part of Solarstone’s Pure Trance Vol. 10 album) that whips up the tempo & fires up the synth – rockets propelling this beauty into the stratosphere one more time!

Pure Trance Vol. 10 tracklist.

Disc 1.
01. Stoneface & Terminal – Lose My Need (Robert Nickson Chillout Mix, Intro Version)
02. Solarstone vs. Aquarius – Arpeggiator Shards
03. Pablo Gargano – The Breeze
04. Macker – Arrakis
05. Barrett & Bridger – Classic Dreams (Solarstone Stripped Retouch)
06. Siskin – Connected (Standard Form’s Waiting for Stars Mix)
07. Alucard ft. Amara – Moontribe
08. Deepcry – Delta
09. Sinful Biz – Magnetic
10. The Conductor & The Cowboy – Feeling This Way (Siskin Remix)
11. Solarstone – Leap of Faith (Collide the Sky Remix)
12. Sherpa – Perception
13. Yuji Ono, Masaya & Discordia ft. Casska – Reverie (PTX Version)
14. Orkidea – Xciter (Deestopia Remix)
15. Adam Nickey – Escape

Disc 2.
01. Allende – Fading Light
02. Tim Verkruissen – Velvet
03. Oliver Imseng – Metaversal
04. Jimi Python ft. Iida Niini – Dream
05. Proteus – Lost Love
06. Brian McCalla – Stones
07. Solarstone & Super-Frog Saves Tokyo – Rust (Luke Terry Remix)
08. Temple One – As The Sun Breaks
09. Stoby & G Coulter ft. Liz Cirelli – Sun is High (Greg Murray Remix)
10. Dave Begic – For What It’s Worth
11. Luke Terry – Unconditional
12. Slipstream & Sonic Element – Forgiven
13. Charles Tsai – Prevail (Solarstone Retouch)
14. Bjorn Akesson – Language (Factoria Remix)
15. Solarstone – 4ever (Photographer Remix)

Disc 3.
01. Wavetraxx – Million Miles to Go
02. Chris Connelly – Aurelion
03. 892NOW – Felt
04. Lostly – Sawubona
05. The Digital Blonde – Untitled Dub
06. Young Parisians ft. Ben Lost – Jump the Next Train (Acapella)
07. Super-Frog Saves Tokyo – Reactivate (Solarstone Retouch)
08. Robert Nickson – Transcend
09. Derek Ryan & DNCR – Hatsuyuki
10. LostLegend – Running Man
11. Chris Johnson & Grant Trowbridge – Cocktail
12. Solarstone ft. Lucia Holme – The Last Defeat PT II (Sam Laxton Remix)
13. Solarstone & Super-Frog Saves Tokyo – Existence (Pierre Pienaar Remix)
14. John Askew – Push It (Dawn Mix)
15. Stoneface & Terminal – Lose My Need (Robert Nickson Chillout Mix, Outro Version)

Sharper eyes (and ears!) will have spotted that Pure Trance was absent from its regular autumnal release spot last year. Double-digit milestones take time to reach … but also time to perfect, hence Pure Trance took a preparatory 365 off in 2022. This allowed Richard Mowatt the latitude to plan, map and exactingly pull-off what he views as the most important instalment in the series to date.

All-good-things though, as the triumphant 10th edition of Solarstone’s Pure Trance music-manifesto / movement reaches stores and streams on November 3 …

Over its decade + crusade, the albums have been co-mixed by many a fellow puritan – Bryan Kearney, Orkidea, Activa, Sneijder, Stoneface & Terminal, Gai Barone and Giuseppe Ottaviani among them. For its epic tenth though, Richard Mowatt decided to take it entirely upon his own shoulders … PTV10 is, as you will see, is a ‘Solostone’ affair …

Talking about its landmark, Solarstone says: “The number 10 seemed like a sort of punctuation point, which is why I decided to fully take the reins of this 3-disc edition and curate, compile and mix it myself. Across its discs I wanted to echo the flow of a PT show, which moves across the span of the four Pure labels (Progressive, Breaks, Trance & NEON). So, we have the deeper sound on Disc 1 (Pure Progressive and Breaks), leading to the dreamy sound on Disc 2 (Pure Trance) and the harder sound…. well, you get the idea, I’m sure! Overall, though, it’s all about celebrating the sound of Trance music – the journey, the emotion of it. This is of course why Pure Trance exists, which is something I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of !”

Behind the scenes the releases have always been involved undertakings, but ‘10’ turns that up to 11. Allowing him to fully ‘get under their hood’ and fine tune each track to the album’s mix, Solarstone uses a process of ‘stem mixing’. This allows him to weave together isolated layers of each track to ensure each mix-movement is not just excellent … but is also a flawless, seamless transition.

As its customary “this is Pure” greeting skates across the chill of Robert Nickson’s mix of Stoneface & Terminal ‘Lose My Need’, which embarks Disc 1. The first of many unique Mowatt moments throughout, it’s followed by ‘Arpeggiator Shards’ – an elegiac gathering of Solarstone’s ‘Shards’ and his recreation of Jean-Michel Jarre’s ‘Arpeggiator’. ‘The Breeze’ follows, heralding the return of EVE Records legend Pablo Gargano, as well as ‘Moontribe’ – Alucard’s first from his 2024-upcoming album. As it reaches its cruising midpoint, Rich feeds Siskin’s hypnotic take on Conductor and The Cowboy classic ‘Feeling This Way’ into the mix, before Sherpa’s remake of Cass & Slide’s ‘Perception’ further swirls its atmospherics.

Marking his 16th release on a Solarstone label, Disc 2 overtures with Allende’s ‘Fading Light’. Flow established, it calls back trance purists like Temple One, with his bliss-fest ‘As The Sun Breaks’ and Greg Murray’s reformation of ‘PTV8’ highlight ‘Sun is High’ from Stoby & G Coulter. Those more forceful vibes keep rolling as Factoria elevates one of Rich’s favourite PTR outings, Bjorn Akesson’s ‘Language’.

Drizzly Music legend Wavetraxx commences Disc.3 with his latest, ‘Million Miles To Go, before Solarstone’s newest collaboratory alias 892NOW makes its debut felt … with ‘Felt’. Super-Frog Saves Tokyo returns with ‘Reactivate’ (one of his three showings on PTV.10), before Robert Nickson supplies ‘Transcend’. Inspired by the eponymous 1987 sci-fi movie, ‘Running Man’, young buck LostLegend momentarily summons some tonal shadow, before John Askew’s Dawn Mix of ‘Push It’ ramps it back up. Pure Trance Vol.10 concludes its epic 45 track, 240-minute run with a neat loop-back to its SF&T’s ‘Lose My Need’ start point.

With PTV10, it was never the ‘when’ … but the ‘how’ that mattered. A fittingly fine landmark release, you can find ‘Solarstone Presents Pure Trance V10’ wherever good music is sold or streamed from Nov 3.

PURE TRANCE – HOW IT HAPPENED: By this point Pure Trance means much to many, but to Solarstone it comes down to four simple words: ‘knowing your own mind …’ When the spectre of genre’s second popification rose in 2010, he decided it was do-or-die time … and pinned his Pure Trance colours to the mast.

Originally intended as a one-off ‘test-the-waters’ show, Pure Trance resonated big … and it resonated fast. Within 12 months it’d graduated to a themed series of globetrotting shows and latterly events and festival stage hostings. Its clarion call first mixcomp inspiring the direction of new producers and DJs, while influencing many an established name to keep the faith and stay the course. The Pure Trance Recordings label (currently approaching its 300th release) expanded from one to four imprints (adding Progressive, NEON and Breaks arms) and its weekly radio show is currently heading towards its 400th episode. That along with its now 10 albums (and a decade) propelled it from one artist’s rallying cry to a fully-fledged movement.

The new Sovereign of your playlist has arrived: Ultimate’s remix of this 2022 Solarstone fan favourite is out now on Black Hole! Dmitry Lomakin a.k.a. Ultimate has been making waves with releases on Infrasonic, Regenerate Future Sound of Egypt and Monster Tunes – but this one is surely amongst his best work so far. Ultimate reconstructs Solarstone’s majestic piece into a dancefloor ruler.

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Bolstering the legacy of one of Solarstone’s greatest classics, DIM3NSION and DJ Nano turn in an incredible version of ‘Seven Cities’. Repurposing the magical lead melody to fit the modern, progressive-tinged production, this nostalgia-infused reimagination will resonate with trance fans on dance floors worldwide.

Bristol’s Super-Frog Saves Tokyo follows up his 2022 ‘Straw Man’ album with the majestic #140bpm ‘Reactivate’ which fuses 90s trance sensibilities with layers of modern modular inventiveness. Label boss Solarstone has given the track some extra oomph with his pin-sharp Retouch, making the track 100% floor-friendly and ready for the big guns.

What would the world look like if adults built relationships in the same carefree manner as children? Drawn from her recollection-themed Ghost Of The Light album, that’s the intriguing focus of Emma Hewitt’s new single.

With the song-centric album version already beguiling fans and baiting radiowaves, Emma has teamed up with Solarstone to cross ‘Children’ over into the clubs.

Musically, Emma and Solarstone have built a production that sets its crosshairs squarely on primetime. Driven by an accelerated tempo, pulsating bass and an energized sub-riff, it’s opening minutes brilliantly build ‘Children’s mood. As it drops into the break, they strip it all back to put the spotlight on Emma’s spirit-filled words, before Solarstone’s spinning melodies and aerodynamic synths take it to peak rapture.

Emma Hewitt and Solarstone’s ‘Children’ collaboration hits stores and floors from today.