One of the most beloved trance projects whose music evolved through a variety of styles is the German project known as X-Dream, presented here with their huge hit, ‘Create Your Own Happiness’.

Marcus Maichel and Jan Müller first met in 1989 – Maichel had already been making electronic music from 1986 – and released some techno-like music on Tunnel Records. When they came across the trance scene in Hamburg in the early 1990s, they switched their focus and released two more albums on Tunnel, Trip To Trancesylvania and We Created Our Own Happiness, before moving to the Blue Room Released label in late 1996.

The project always had a wonderfully full-bodied sound and a variety of styles, though their earlier work was decidedly more upbeat with an infectious bounce and polished sonorities. Their epic album Radio on Blue Room features an incredible array of moods, from introspective to dark to uplifting to ecstatic, all at a wide range of BPMs.

The current track, Create Your Own Happiness, first issued on the Tunnel Records album We Created Our Own Happiness as ‘Our Own Happiness’ [thus giving us three permutations of the title], was also issued on Flying Rhino’s epic first compilation First Flight in 1996 and is one of their most popular tracks and a fine example of their earlier work. Transparently textured yet with richly voiced synth sounds, the track features a morse-code-like mid-range riff that has an affirming energy to it, with other lines also trumpeting the positive vibe of the spoken sample and title (samples were well chosen in the early days of this scene to trigger a mind-expanding concept for those in a psychedelic state), together with the beautifully vibrant percussive elements and some lovely harmonic and melodic features. The work’s structure, as well, is wonderfully proportioned, with a natural flow that is not as boxy and repetitive as what we generally hear today.

A beautifully uplifting classic from the Golden Age of trance from one of the greatest projects to grace the scene!