By the early 21st century, trance music had certainly seen better days. After all, by this late stage of the game, seemingly every electronic beep and blip had been done to death. But it didn't prevent others from having a go at it, as evidenced by such acts as Analog Pussy. Comprised of members Jinno and Jiga, the duo (who are based in Germany) have been issuing releases on a somewhat regular basis since 1999, yet their first domestic release did not hit U.S. shores until 2006 -- the ten-track Trance N Roll. Like most releases of the genre, Trance N Roll is best suited for being blasted at a dance club, rather than being listened to intensely at home on headphones. Kicking things off with the album's title track, Analog Pussy immediately fall prey to a gimmick that has been around for ages -- inserting the main riff of a renowned classic rock song into one of their own (in this case, Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"). Not a lot of new ground is broken here, folks, but if it's trance with a pop/mainstream edge you're looking for, Trance N Roll fits the bill.
© Greg Prato /TiVo