This year, Ministry of Sound is taking no prisoners; no longer content to ride on the back of its ever popular Annual compilation, each month has seen the uber-popular imprint release a new compilation – it seems intent on spreading its wings to all corners of dance music with Progression, The Underground, Mashed, Sessions and now a their first ever Australian Trance Nation release, introducing the succesful UK brand (that’s already had plenty of succesful overseas releases) to Australia. And they’ve done it properly, enlisting UK heavyweights Above and Beyond and reigning Sony inthemix50 #1 Tydi for mixing duties.

Above and Beyond have just released the UK version of the same compilation, but have done their Aussie fans a service by compiling a mix all our own. And it is exactly what you’d expect. Their mix starts with a Mikado prog-tance bullet straight between the eyes full of chunky chords, crisp hi-hats and enough warmth to blow away those winter cobwebs. The boys continue on their bass-driven, tech-laden prog-trance journey, with tracks from Andrew Bennett, Matan Zohar and their own production outfit Oceanlab combining to from a solid trance groove. Half way through, it seems the boys forgot how to vary their mixing; each new track is introduced through a massive bass drop at each transition – not exactly subtle, but when the music is this good, who really cares.

By the time we’ve hit Gareth Emery’s Exposure, the mix starts to get the air and space it deserves and the mood becomes less frantic. They build to a melodic conclusion with their own reinterpretation of On A Good Day before throwing down some luscious synths with Nitrous Oxide’s Aurora to finish things off. This is a quality mix no doubt, but falls just short of the consistently awesome annual Anjunabeats compilation that Above and Beyond dish up on the back of their own label’s releases.

Tydi’s compilation is perhaps the better crafted of the two, with more considered transitions and programming – but it’s not exactly cutting edge. A conscious decision perhaps, to put the focus more on trying to capture the musical mood of the moment, though some tracks on his mix have been doing the rounds for a while and have started to loose a touch of their sheen (although I could listen to Man on the Run from Dash Berlin on endless repeat). Either way, there are some definite highlights to be had on this mix, including some of Tydi’s own efforts. The Queenslanders reinterpretation of the 4 Strings Take Me Away classic is solid; he adds his distinctive tech-trance energy while retaining the exuberant warmth of the original (and apparently completed this mix in only 12 hours). His remix of Rank 1’s L.E.D has much the same result. We also get trance belters from Tritonal, Armin van Buuren and young-gun Simon Patterson.

However, this mix does suffer from the common trance affliction known as “femalevocal-itis”; symptoms include toothache, hyperactivity and a sugar induced ice-cream headache. One too many croons from the ladies does add enough fluff to make this compilation a suitable stuffing for one of those lush extra large pillows you can order at fancy hotels.

This is a Ministry release, so it was never going to be particularly underground or cutting edge. But it is an excellent snapshot of some of the prevailing sounds dominating trance at the moment, compiled by two artists with enough talent to lift this release way above the generic. This is trance at its accessible best – light, airy, warm and pulled together with enough integrity to make it well worth a look.