Solarstone and Orkidea unveil ‘Pure Trance XI’ – a 4-hour live-mixed odyssey out now

Solarstone has officially unveiled ‘Pure Trance XI‘. The new entry in the iconic series is co-mixed with Orkidea, and is out now via Black Hole Recordings. As the series navigates its second album decade, the new edition brings major changes to its mixcomp marque — although musical purity remains strictly intact.

Crucially, Pure Trance XI closes the circle on a 15-year story. Having solo-helmed the milestone tenth Pure Trance outing, Solarstone reflected at the time that the moment was “a transitional moment for the series. A natural temporal point, where one chapter would close and another open.” As a result, the new edition opens that new chapter directly.

Notably, the new chapter doubles down on the original Pure Trance ethos. The aim has always been to compile and mix in the spirit of Global Underground and Northern Exposure — so detailed, so thought-through and so experience-led that it enshrines the 20/20 club experience as close to 1:1 as humanly possible. Furthermore, with ‘XI’, Solarstone returned the series to the drawing board to make that mission flesh.

Recorded live at Fabric London

Meanwhile, the production process is the headline change. A heaving February Saturday at London’s Fabric supplied the live backdrop. There, every in-the-moment blend, fader glide, filter release and EQ twist — and every reciprocal crowd whistle and cheer — was captured in the wild. Indeed, the result is a live-recorded mixcomp at one of the toughest scales any DJ team can attempt.

Equally important, ‘XI’ marks the first time Pure Trance has recalled a former co-mixer. Solarstone closes the circle between this release and the very first Pure Trance by reuniting with producer, DJ and composer Orkidea. The pair bonded on their very first meeting over a shared love of mixed-live compilations, making the co-mixer selection feel pretty much pre-written.

Inside the 4-hour journey

Furthermore, the stylistic make-up still hits all the Pure Trance sweet spots. New, established and establishment names sit alongside exclusive 2026 monsters-in-the-making and underground weapons aplenty, with judicious bring-backs of imaginatively selected classics also on board, plus a wealth of new Solarstone and Orkidea material.

Crucially, the duo framed the philosophy directly. “Most of the tracks on Global Underground, Northern Exposure, Renaissance and the like had already been released by the time the albums came out. People fell in love with them through the compilations. It’s when you present tracks in a mix that they’re heard differently,” Orkidea shared.

“In fact, they often don’t sound as good without the other elements of another record on top,” Solarstone added. “It’s one of the aspects we paid most attention to on ‘PTXI’ — there are some truly memorable ‘one plus one equals three moments’ on there.”

Notably, the mix weighs in at an unbroken 4+ hours digitally, with the project also available across triple disc and triple vinyl editions. The opening tranche houses many of the more underground artists and records, with early deck-service paid to Tiësto‘s rework of Delerium‘s ‘Innocente’ and Glenn Morrison‘s take on TasteXperience‘s ‘Frustration’.

Meanwhile, the mid-section pivots from progressive-trance backfoot to a trance-progressive front, packed with new Solarstone, Orkidea and close-associates material. As ‘Pure Trance XI’ passes the 2-hour mark, classic sonics from Matt Darey‘s Tekara (‘Breathe in You’) and Matti Laamanen‘s mesmeric ‘Flakes’ raise the stakes.

Equally, ‘Haunt Me’, the most recent pairing between Rich and Susie Ledge, gives the mix a vocally-driven and emotionally charged element. Solarstone‘s ‘Energy Field’ adds kinetic propulsion, before Bryan Kearney‘s firestorm-like spin on Orkidea‘s ‘Beautiful’ delivers a truly epic finale.

Still, the bigger picture is permanence. In electrifying form, ‘Pure Trance XI’ launches the next phase in the series’ fantastically storied 15-year history. In short, it’s out now via Black Hole Recordings in digital, triple disc and triple vinyl formats.