Kimball Collins

Like stoopid summer blockbuster flicks, trance music has wide appeal because it’s so damned unsubtle: Grandiose melodramatic melodies, over-the-top arpeggiated synths, boom-boom-boom-boom kick drums and the occasional diva wail suck in the gullible. Kimball Collins, who began spinning in Florida in 1987, is one of America’s most popular trance DJs. After helping to ignite Orlando’s rave scene, Collins hauled his wax throughout the United States, Asia and Europe, including stints at English superclubs Ministry of Sound and Renaissance. He has six mix CDs under his belt, including the first United DJs of America comp, and he’s heavily involved in ICU’s Generation Trance series. These discs’ relentlessly uplifting spirit can be uniformly depressing if you’re not in the mood to party (or if you think about how Collins likely makes more in a month than you do in a year), but those looking to prance to trance will find few better opportunities.