Transwave – 10 Essential Tracks

Transwave – 10 Essential Tracks

Transwave is a French Goa-Trance project formed in 1994 by Christof Drouillet (aka Absolum) and Frederic Holyszewski (aka Deedrah). Both having been raised in a family of musicians, they were involved with music from their young age.

Transwave @ Goa Dupa Festival 2015 (Poland) -Photo by Styropian-

Christof got involved in various New Wave bands where he was the singer among other things, until he discovered Techno music which shifted his musical taste. During his teen years, Frederic was influenced by many iconic artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode and got his first synth after working at night in bars as a piannist.
The two met at a French Rave party and soon after, they formed the Goa trance act Transwave in 1994. A few months later, the first Transwave work “Datura EP” was launched on the small French label, Transpact, featuring a sound more on the Hard Trance tip, with pumping bass lines, but already with some Goa-ish melodies and acid lines dropped in. Over the next couple of years, they slowly shifted towards Goa-Trance music, releasing in total 3 albums during that time -Hypnorhythm (1995, Step 2 House Rec.) Helium (1996, Distance rec.) Phototropic (1996, Matsuri Productions)- During that period, Transwave produced some of the most memorable tracks such as “Land Of Freedom” (A tribute to Man With No Name), “Cycles of Life” etc.. and started touring extensively the globe spreading their signature melodic sound.

The Goa trance movement owes a lot to Transwave… with more than two decades of musical experience together, Christof and Frederic have been inspiring countless artists throughout the years.

However, in 1997 Christof and Frederic took their own separate paths leading to the dismantlement of the band. Christof, apart from focusing on the Absolum project, also launched his record label 3D Vision Recordings in Paris in 1998, releasing artists which were more dancefloor oriented, and quickly became one of the most demanded labels of the scene. Frederic ventured out and started his own record label and production studio, Questionmark RDS. In 1997, the label released his first solo album “Self Oscillation” under the name Deedrah which marked Frederic’s first break from the original psychedelic Goa trance sound he was producing before.

Transwave @ Goa Dupa Festival 2015 (Poland) -Photo by Styropian-

After focusing on their successful solo projects, both reunited in 2006 for the Boom Festival in Portugal and started again to extensively tour the world under the project name Transwave. In 2007, they launched the “Frontfire” album on Fineplay Records which featured classics, singles and rarities from the earliest releases by the group but also more modern tracks such as Uplifter, Rising High and Organic. In 2014, Liquid Soul made a remix to the legendary “Land Of Freedom” track released on Perfecto Fluoro while Greek artists Chris Oblivion and Astro-D also provided their remakes of the track. Having enjoyed something of a renaissance recently thanks to the heavy support from John 00 Fleming, they released a couple of Trance oriented music tracks such as “Destiny” EP on Fleming’s label JOOF Recordings in 2015 and a remix to Solarstone’s “Herald” track on Black Hole Recordings in 2016, proving once more their long time dedication and talent to the more pure form of Trance.

Transwave @ Goa Dupa Festival 2015 (Poland) -Photo by Styropian-

The Goa trance movement owes a lot to Transwave, establishing themselves as one of the true pioneers of the scene with more than two decades of musical experience together, Christof and Frederic have been inspiring countless artists throughout the years. Today they continue to spread their signature melodic sound around the globe in major events and smaller parties.
Trancentral has prepared for you 10 essential Transwave tracks.