Matt Darey at the Church

Trance DJ, producer and radio host Matt Darey is probably best known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Day,” but he’s been a force in the dance-music world for close to fifteen years: He was releasing tracks like “From Russia With Love” and remixing such trance classics as Binary Finary’s “1998” and ATB’s “9 PM (Til I Come)” in the late ’90s. These days, he hosts the popular radio show Nocturnal, which features trance mixed with breaks, electro and progressive. Late in 2009, he started the Nocturnal Global label to release his own tracks and collaborations. Darey’s sound leans toward the harder, more driving side of trance and progressive, generally eschewing the candy-floss melodies and synth pads so common to the fluffier side of the style. That said, it’s still trance, with nothing that’s going to scare off the candy kids here. He’ll bring the Nocturnal sound to Denver on Friday, April 30, when he plays the Church.