Paul Oakenfold Southern Sun (Phynn Remix)

Paul Oakenfold and trance. For the best two decades, these two forces have been synonymous with each other. With an album of trance covers and a brand new artist album in the pipeline for this year, the world's premiere DJ is having a great 2014.

He recently spoke with me about trance, DJing, and the future of electronic music. With the imminent release of Trance Mission, Oakenfold was eager to talk about his brand new project made up of covers of ten of his favorite trance tracks.

"We've taken tracks from the past twenty years or so and completely reworked them, taking the leads  and putting everything back together so people may or may not recognize them. Some of the tracks are being called 'new school trance,' so there's a few tracks I've done in that style on the Trance Mission album," he said. Sadly, he wouldn't divulge any particulars on the titles of the ten tracks. "No, I'm afraid I can't tell you that," he said. "It's a surprise."

I asked him why trance was so important to him, and why the emphasis on Trance Mission. Oakenfold said, "Emotion, passion, feeling, soul, happiness.  You don't listen to trance, you just open your heart and connect to it.  Once you put your barriers down you can be taken anywhere.  Trance does that.  I've seen people cry on this tour.  It's really touched me.  That's when you really know you can connect with people."

When I asked about his up-and-coming artist record, Pop Killer, Oakenfold said, "I nearly finished it, it's near now.  I find it difficult to make artist records.  It's such a process.  If you give me pressure, you'll get the best out of me, that's probably why my albums take fucking forever to make."

Oakenfold also went on to talk about how the music industry has changed since his last two artist releases, saying, "Collaborations, house music, that was left field in the pop world.  Now that's mainstream.  My album will be perceived more as a pop album, which for me is great.  Why not share my music with a bigger audience?"

I also asked Oakenfold how he has maintained he relevancy over the years, in the ever-changing world of electronic music.  "You have to be ahead of the curve," he said.  "The problem now is everyone is copying everyone.  As soon as you hear a sound that becomes the current sound, everyone copies the sound and it gets burned."

Oakenfold also explained how important being a DJ is to him: "If you're DJing, it's important to educate and entertain.  Why do I want to go and play all the music you hear on the radio? I like the idea of moving forward and helping new talent.  I'm on the frontlines globally, playing to the current and the next generation. I love playing music, there's nothing better than seeing the reaction of the crowd and getting a response."

He also went on to discuss his big move a few years ago when he  set up a two-year residency at Rain in Las Vegas and why Las Vegas was the perfect place for electronic music. He said, "Finally America has its hub for electronic music. In Europe, it's Ibiza.  [Vegas] was always in the cards.  It's not rocket science.  People come to Vegas to party, you just didn't have the club.  It's your holiday destination."

From what it seems, Oakenfold is not only the past of electronic music, but is still very much the future.  Keep an ear out for Trance Mission and Pop Killer -- you'll see why.