Trance charts

Review: The 21st edition of this ing running series comes at a time when dance has been back en vogue for a while. Armin is the original Dutch don who never left the scene, and has very much defined it over and over again in the last 25 years. Here he delivers a thrilling, boundary-pushing journey through across six sides of wax, opening with an inspiring intro narrated by Moby. This mix captures the soul of the year's music and offers up trance classics with innovative sounds of the day. The man himself contributes as do greats old and new such as Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten and Ben Hemsley and together they bridge trance's legacy with fresh, transformative influences.

Review: Given that he's been active as a producer since the dawn of the 90s, it would be fair to say that Sven Vath is well worthy of an authoritative, expansive retrospective. That's certainly what we get here on this quadruple-vinyl mix of classic productions and fresh, eye-catching remixes. It's the latter that dominate the early stages of the collection - see Adam Port's hypnotic, didgeridoo-sporting revision of 'Ritual of Life', Speedy J's acid-fired stomp through 'Ballet-Fusion' - before Vath showcases some of his choice cuts. There's naturally to set the pulse racing, from the twisted, sub-heavy thump of 'Cala Llonga' and the tactile hypnotism of 'Sounds That Control Your Life', to the electroclash-meets-Kraftwerk flex of 'Dein Schweiss' and the ambient techno excellence of 'The Day After', a 21- minute epic from 1995 produced alongside Steffen Britzke as Astral Pilot.

Review: Anetha's Mama Told Ya label has given the French techno provocateur the perfect space to shape out her particular vision of techno in the 21st Century. It's a taut, sexy kind of peak time with plenty of space for rhythmic intrigue and bold curveballs, as perfectly demonstrated on the MTY series of compilations. This third entry brings together a whopping 22 different artists across four slabs of wax, taking in some heavyweight talent from Zoe Mc Pherson to Benjamin Damage, Boys Noise and way beyond into the cutting edge of the modern techno scene.

Review: Boys Noize has been tearing up dance floors and serving up arresting electronic assaults for ages, often on his own self-titled label. He branches out here though with a new one, Ones & Zeros, which he has said is a "concept label reflecting new modes of creative and subcultural circulation". it launches with a bumper compilation featuring 22 blistering sounds across six sides of wax. Two of them come from the bas himself, one is a collar with Locked Club, and elsewhere new school and more established names like Skee Mask, Safety Trance and Manni Dee all offer up the sort of high impact tracks that will always be useful to have at your disposal for when the rave really is ready to peak.