(Josh & Friends Presents)

There are a broad collection of trance nights, both big and small, in good old Sydney town, and many such events offer punters a sample of a typical night at their establishment in the form of a CD – typically mixed by one or two of their famed resident DJs. The latest Sydney brand to take this approach is A Night of Trance, who have joined forces with one of the city’s most recognisable trance/hard dance DJs Yoshi, to deliver a fun, energy-charged release titled A Night of Trance: The Anthems. Given the fact that I have yet to sample the full A Night of Trance experience, I cannot comment on how the selected tracks resemble a typical ANOT event. However, I’m more than willing to give Yoshi the benefit of the doubt as on the whole he has delivered the goods.

Yoshi has put together a mix that flows relatively well, starting with the softer side of trance to warm things up before putting the pedal to the metal and taking the audience for a ride into the harder sides of trance. There really isn’t anything overly dynamic here, as generally Yoshi stays true to the tried and tested ‘big synth’ trance sound. But his intention with the CD is to have fun as opposed to knocking down any boundaries. And even though it’s called The Anthems it’s far from another of the ‘classics’ CD’s that have flooded the market in a huge way over the past year. The intention, as indicated by the title of the CD, is to give its listener an experience of A Night of Trance, and Yoshi has definitely lived up to the challenge and done it well.

Yoshi kicks off the mix with Lost in Paradise by Psychologica aka DJ Shadower & Omer. This is one of those drifty trance tracks that comes complete with a staple female vocal put through an effects filter, but it’s far from a lightweight track as the beat is defined enough to suggest the energetic mix that is about to unfold. HyOi’s Is It Cold immediately follows, sucking you in with its simple yet effective chilled out melody that lies atop its pumping bassline. These two introductory tracks are relatively short and, if not for Yoshi’s bumpy mix between the two, almost seem like a single track. He then pushes up the momentum with Aftermath by p.e.g, definitely a standout track for the mix with its double-decker buildup featuring an enigmatic melody and climax that will have any listener raising their arms in a passionate celebration of life. If its composer had chosen a more bass heavy synth sound for the melody then Aftermath would border on perfection.

The bittersweet, loving and melodic sounds continue with Aftermath’s successor, Static Blue’s Under the Sea with Oliver Leigh on remix duties. Any worries of the listener will be instantly blasted away by the escapist nature of this track. One of the few flaws I could pick from this mix, and it really is only a minor one, would be that it would have been awesome to hear Yoshi continue with tracks in this vein for a little longer. Instead he directs the momentum upwards as it heads into the UK hard trance sound he’s best known for. Following a couple of simple yet effective hard trance thumpers Yoshi delivers Calling Your Name, which is Neon Lights’ cover version of one of the biggest dance tracks of all time, Anomoly” by Libra pres. Taylor.

It is quite a surprise, a pleasant one at that, to see only a few such cover tracks featured throughout Yoshi’s mix. There are certainly plenty of CD’s in the shops at the moment that feature many such covers, Technikal’s mix of Delirium’s Silence being a good example, but the inclusion of Calling Your Name only adds depth to a CD that for the most part is chock full of big, swirly build-ups. Next Yoshi ups the ante yet again with Make It Work by E-Tek, perhaps one of the more forward thinking and unique tracks in the entire mix with its bassline and percussion featuring a meatier array of sounds.

Yoshi closes out A Night of Trance: The Anthems with two of his very own productions: the fun loving and slightly cheesy Who’s My DJ? and Mental Atmosphere, the latter of which brings the mix to a bouncy conclusion. A Night of Trance: The Anthems will no doubt reignite old memories of dance floor experiences for those who have attended ANOT parties, whilst it will most certainly entice clubbers who have never been before to come and join in with the fun.