Standout trance and/or techno pleasurable sober or otherwise

[WKL]

Cygnus X - Superstring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9VHsdTX9zI
Brainchild - Symmetry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYn3kfSWluA

Darshan - Phased Transition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlTTJE7aV30
Atmos - Klein Aber Doctor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsZJvUUecT4
Darshan - The Beast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_S-z3A2op4
Twisted Travellers - Strange Creatures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BC5X-zgJVk

Technohead - The Passion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsz835stPU
Kektex - Godstopper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2sj1ycuLA

Whether listening to the track solely in appreciation of its outstanding composition or looped as an occasional alternative soundtrack to your vertical shoot'em up of choice...

[szycag]

This for me please k thz guyz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0__b6LYyz24
perfect 5 minute mode song for your soldiering needs

[WKL]

Decent enough track szycag.

My preference in these overlapping genres leans more towards those demonstrating a certain urgency.

[guigui]

Deck Wizards ! Mark Allen is volume 1, there are 5 others :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DSCVVawpn8

[Vexorg]

I've been listening to a decent amount of Loscil lately. I found it indirectly based off a recommendation in another thread here for Boards of Canada, and have found that a lot of the stuff is quite good. It definitely makes for some good chill-out music. A couple of samples:

Endless Falls

Cloister

[Skykid]

Pretty sure cools should be in this thread, he's the trance/techno authority iirc.

[szycag]

There are good artists in every genre that transcend whatever generic trappings make it up, but on the whole I absolutely loathe trance. I know the builds and stuff can create that urgency, but I feel like it's so utilitarian by design that there's hardly any room to change things up compositionally. At least psytrance has eastern inspired melodies and stuff like that but it's still not really for me. That's why I like acid and some DnB, there's usually more layers there and you can break the 4/4 trap if you want, maybe 7/4 for that jittery start/stop feel. That being said the stuff WKL posted isn't too bad.

Check out Deaf Center if you like Loscil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve5LC_QeCPo

Limewax - Jupiter (urgent enough for you? ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWCtWjTG_Gw

[Vamos]

For techno right now its all about sandwell district . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=245edaBPV8Q

[lilmanjs]

If you like Loscil, I'm sure you can find yourself a copy of Air Texture Vol. 2. He picked out the artists for one of the discs Loscil is just the tip of the iceberg for great Ambient artists.
Currently into:
Sage Taylor - Raintime. Sold out at this point, but if you like this, shoot me a message and I'll pm you at least mp3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkJ1FLoyCo

Taylor Dupree - Faint(this album is woah!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1KJccySA-k
My favorite from the album Dreams of Stairs.

[mesh control]

http://youtu.be/ypLDyM6KdVU

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

http://youtu.be/HUHECyaOOs4
http://youtu.be/yfRq3j2tvxY
http://youtu.be/zs33sYYkYxE
http://youtu.be/5zlpB6V-yYs
http://youtu.be/vtw2-kL32YM
http://youtu.be/hcP5Mm916nY
http://youtu.be/n-De1YFmLEQ
http://youtu.be/IvwAJxM2O6Y
http://youtu.be/MMofDrNXkEA
http://youtu.be/UcsqoPiSF5Q
http://youtu.be/UjBwe6IL10o

[Vexorg]

If you like Loscil, I'm sure you can find yourself a copy of Air Texture Vol. 2. He picked out the artists for one of the discs Loscil is just the tip of the iceberg for great Ambient artists.

Thanks, found the album on Zune, listening to it now.

[WKL]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Numerous sublime examples of the lighter and darker side of trance/techno are already here to be given the proper attention in due course.

[greg]

My favorite trance album is Paul Oakenfold's Tranceport CD. I made an MD of that and have listened to it so many, many times over the past 13+ years. Second up is the 2 disc Lost Language: Exhibition compilation. So much great stuff.

My favorite trance tune of all time is Eugena by Salt Tank. Listening to this tune, in any of its wonderful mixes, brings me back to a happy place in the mid-'90s when I was discovering electronica music because crappy grunge had shat all over the alternative music scene. I discovered ambient music, space music, techno, and trance at that time, and it was a good, clean feeling. Here's Eugena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1z8iCa6JGc

Does anyone else think that the best years for trance was in the '90s?

[Ed Oscuro]

I don't know if it fits the bill but this:
http://5against4.com/2012/08/07/navigat ... he-cosmos/

Posting it in part because I think I've linked the "other" release (the terrible Sounds of the Planets bootleg) and getting the real thing, finally, is very nice.

[szycag]

Remembered this tune today, really fun one:
Cabbageboy - Donkey Kong

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Cybotron Cosmic Cars
Drexciya - Hydro Theory
Ferry Corsten - Twice In A Blue Moon
Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost (1 -
Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost (9 - 13)
Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost (14 - 20)
Shpongle - Are You Shpongled [Full album]
Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressable [Full album]
Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries

[RNGmaster]

High five, Shpongle is pretty cool. Good meditation/trip music but I don't know how you'd dance to it.

I'd recommend Alien Protein by Etnica and Family of Light by Pleiadians. Both really good psytrance albums.

[mesh control]

RNG, if you could recommend one Shpongle record to listen to, which would it be?
I don't want to sift through a discography that dense.

[RNGmaster]

Kind of torn between Nothing Lasts... and Are You Shpongled, leaning towards the latter because ...And the Night Turned to Day is fucking brilliant.

[lilmanjs]

Great Psytrance album from Psymachine. sadly they'll never make more than this because one of the brothers died. But at least we got one amazing Psytrance album.
Psymachine - Mathematical Random Experience:
http://cfmlabel.com/2009/cfm006

[emphatic]

AEON - Masterpiece Of Emotion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsBGHF-l75s
Paul Van Dyk - Vega (Starecase remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkbfBrpPZM
Sebastian Brandt - Technology (Daniel Kandi remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hmBYZRv73o
Hardfloor - Mahogany Roots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MazeLutrEwg

[WKL]

Edited my original post to incorporate additional tracks for the purpose of providing my definitive playlist.

[ArmoredCore]

Evryones gotta have this legendary track on their cards/cpu/smart phones etc

Smith & Pledger - Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTbYKa1qgJ4

hit me up if you want other legendary trance tracks names.