A State of Trance 383 (Top 20 of 2008) – deculture!

This is what trance is all about deculture!

It’s that time of the year again folks, when the best of the best is selected. The cream of trance. And it’s all done by you, not some lame ass panel of judges who think they know better than the actual fans themselves!

Since it’s a really special episode, I have included more goodies than usual 🙂

First off I won’t rate any songs here. There’s no point. All songs are kickass, have been tune of the week throughout the year and are 5 stars and beyond! Whether I agree with their placement in the Top 20 list is a different matter altogether :p

So without further ado, here are the Top 20 trance tracks of 2008 as voted by the listeners:

25. A State Of Trance – Intro
24. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston – No One on Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) [Tune of The Year 2004]
23. Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor – Air For Life [Tune of The Year 2005]
22. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston – Good For Me [Tune of The Year 2006]
21. John O’Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher – Big Sky [Tune of The Year 2007]

20. Armin van Buuren feat. Susana – If You Should Go (Aly & Fila Dub)
19. Leon Bolier – Ocean Drive Boulevard
18. Akesson – Perfect Blue
17. Andy Duguid feat. Leah – Wasted
16. Armin van Buuren feat. Jaren – Unforgivable (First State Smooth Remix)
15. Mr. Sam feat. clAud9 – Cygnes
14. DJ Shah feat. Adrina Thorpe – Back To You (Aly & Fila Remix)
13. The Doppler Effect – Beauty Hides In The Deep (The Blizzard Remix)
12. The Killers – Human (Armin van Buuren Remix)
11. Armin van Buuren & DJ Shah feat. Chris Jones – Going Wrong
10. Oceanlab – Sirens Of The Sea (Above & Beyond Club Mix)
09. Alex M.O.R.P.H. – Walk The Edge (Alex M.O.R.P.H. B2B Woody van Eyden Remix)
08. Lange feat. Sarah Howells – Out Of The Sky (Kyau & Albert Remix)
07. Oceanlab – Miracle (Above & Beyond Club Mix)
06. Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren – You Never Said (Dash Berlin Remix)
05. Ferry Corsten feat. Betsie Larkin – Made Of Love
04. Oceanlab – Breaking Ties (Above & Beyond Analogue Haven Mix)
03. Orjan Nilsen – La Guitarra
02. Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon den Adel – In & Out Of Love
01. Sunlounger feat. Zara – Lost (Club Mix) [TUNE OF THE YEAR]

So there it is, in all it’s progressive glory. DJ Shah’s Lost won tune of the year. No complaints there. That said, I would’ve rather seen Going Wrong at number 2 and You Never Said at number 3. Oh well. As it stands, I love each and every track on this list. The perfect blend of balearic, vocal and progressive trance on the planet, right now.

By the way, I almost guessed correctly when I called Sunny Tales best album of the year. Close enough :p

And props to Armin, amongst other things, for including Tune of the Year from ’04 to ’07. A nice way to reflect how much the genre has progressed and refined itself over the years.

Now to shed some more light on the top 3 tracks of 2008. We start with…

…and the 3rd best trance track of the year, La Guitarra.

Next up, we have…

...Armin Van Buuren feat. Sharon Den Adel...

…in this year’s second best trance track, In and Out of Love.

See the mirror in your eyes
See the truth behind the lies
Your lies are haunting me

See the reason in your eyes
Giving answer to the why
Your eyes are haunting me

Huhh
Huhh
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
In love, in love,
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love, your love,
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love, your love,
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love

See the mirror in your eyes
See the truth behind the lies
Your lies are haunting me
See the reason in your eyes
Giving answer to the why
Your eyes are haunting me

Huhh
Falling in and out of love
In love, in love, in love
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love, your love, your love
Your love, your love, your love
Your love, your love, your love
Your love, your love, your love
Your love, your love, your love
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love, your love, your love
Huhh
Falling in and out of love
Your love, your love, your love

Why can’t you see it
Why can’t you feel
In and out of love each time
Why can’t you feel it
Why can’t you see it
In and out of love

I keep keep running
I keep keep falling
Love is fade away

You keep keep running
I keep keep falling
Love is fade away

Keep keep running
I keep keep falling
Love is fade away

Huhh
Away, away, away,
Away, let ït fade away

And finally, we have…

...DJ Shah...

...feat. Zara Taylor...

…with the number 1 trance track of 2008, Lost.

Forget the peace inside
You’ve given way to the gods of destruction
Full of desire
You feel afraid that there’s nothing left

Oh oh, oh no
Oh oh, oh no

The ocean is dry
Do you feel hollow?
Nowhere to hide
And nothing to swallow

And when you can’t recognize
Anything solid
Where do you turn?
When you can’t buy it?

What can you believe in now
With no love to follow?
Now that you have lost yourself
Oh, can anything help you now?

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

What did you learn?
What was it worth?
What did you yearn for?
Everything’s lost now

And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

You can get this epic episode at the following places:

• Megaupload
• RapidShare
• mininova

Incidentally episode 350 was voted best ASOT of the year. Like I said before, this was cheating cos an 8 hour special > every ASOT this year :p And this year there were 12,050 confirmed votes! For more stats, go here.

Now we look forward to another year of trance pwnage!

Love life, live trance. And with that…

...see you next deculture!