The 138 lane does not forgive a soft hand, and this rework knows it. FAWZY and Wavetraxx took Alexander Popov’s Attractive Force and pushed it onto Armin van Buuren’s harder imprint, and the first thing I noticed is how little fat is left on it. Everything is bent toward the drop.
It sits right at 138 and drives the way the label name promises. The lead is taut and metallic, the bassline pumps under it without ever getting sludgy, and the break does the thing I love about proper tech-trance: it pulls almost everything out, holds you in the quiet a beat too long, then the kick comes back and the room tilts forward. There is real craft in how the energy is rationed here. This is a record for the hour the festival tent gets serious, not the warm-up.
It has the ASOT pedigree to back it, carried across A State of Trance 1266 and 1276 and Popov’s own Interplay show. If you have been here a while you can trace the through-line back to the A State of Trance Russia live sets and the rest of the Popov archive.
Attractive Force (Extended Mix) is out now, released May 22 on Who’s Afraid Of 138?!. Turn it up and let the 138 do its work.
