Excelsior Ruth

As a commissioned response to Simon Denny's exhibition Dotcom Séance, DJ, sound artist and composer Excelsior Ruth produced 2001 Trance Mix.

The mix maps the emergence of trance music into popular culture around the turn of the century and the contexts of how it became what it was by 2001. First airing in 2000, Paul van Dyk's original composition for the show, Big Brother, challenged the view of trance music as euphoric, instead referring to ideas of surveillance and suspicion. Contradicting 90’s analogue, euphoric sci-fi and fantasy driven origins. Those dreams had failed to materialise, and trance had potentially come to adopt a very different reality than the one it had previously envisioned.

Opening with a version of ‘Strange World’ by Push, named as the anthem of the 2001 edition of the Dutch festival Trance Energy. The Airwave version features later this time the large supersaw pads carried by drums. Moving through big synth lines and expensive reverbs a cavernous, a voice repeats ‘I’m coming home’, Coast 2 Coast – ‘Home (5am Mix)’. The only 2001 reissue included in the mix is ‘Dreams’ by Quench. Church bells chime over hard trance, calling communion and leading into a darker world in the form of ‘Conact’ by Contact. Finally, the last track is the original mix of ResuRection, a trance track that went global and still features in contemporary reworks.
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Excelsior Ruth is a DJ, sound artist and composer from Sunderland. Her work has appeared on BBC Radio 6 and Resonance FM. Last year exhibiting at the ICA London, IKLECTIK and Abject Gallery in Sunderland, where one of her choral works was performed by Bella Canta Ladies choir.

Excelsior Ruth's Soundcloud can be found here.

Tracklist

Push – Strange World (Tranquilo’s Chill Out Mix) Alphascan – Mass Effect

Enigma – Turn Around (Northern Lights Club Mix) Moogwai – The Labyrinth (Part One)

Signum – In Progress

Push – Strange World (Airwave Mix)

Coast 2 Coast Feat. Discovery – Home (5am Mix) Quench – Dreams

Contact – Contact (Sourmash vs Blu Peter Mix) PPK – ResuRection (Full Version)