On December 10th, Holland’s leading party troupe returned to Rotterdam’s 100-year-old Maassilo complex to pull off another extraordinary showstopper of an event. Inside the historic silo, with their final epic party of 2016, 15 DJs and 5,000+ clubbers musically celebrated Grotesque’s big 250.

Arguably their most impressive show/experience to date, three of ‘250’s DJs have teamed up to commit all the energy, excitement and electricity of the night to a triple disc mix-comp. Stateside bastion, Sean Tyas, Vini Vici - one of the scene’s fastest risers of 2016 and the Grotesque kingpin himself, RAM serve ‘Grotesque 250’, the album. Bringing the night vividly back to life, over 3½ hours and across 48 tracks the three spinners have summoned the best, most seismic, most ‘250’ characterizing trance available!

Precision-mixed across its discs, you’ll find releases & reworks from a host of the scene’s most revered names, Andy Moor, Mark Sherry, Astrix, Robert Nickson, Ace Ventura and Ronski Speed amongst them. There’s much from the nu-guard too, with the latest studio-ware featured from (deep breath!) James Dymond, Allen Watts & Amir Hussain, Daniel Skyver, Matt Bukovski, Chris Metcalfe, Adam Ellis + dozens of others. Leaving their own individual marks on the discs too you can count on plenty from the production desks of Sean, Vini Vici and RAM too.

Aside from the event itself, and its album compadre, ‘250’ is of course a big old cheer for RAM’s strength-to-strength weekly Grotesque broadcast. Shifting Disc 1 immediately into high gear, he embarks with ‘Nordic Nights’ - his and Mark’s Sherry’s 250th show commemorating anthem. In tight formation behind comes ‘Heliosphere’, courtesy of Robert Nickson, Ciaran McAuley’s ‘In Memory Of You’ and Simon O'Shine/Ahmed Romel collab ‘Erytheia’. Alongside James Dymond & Aelyn on ‘Paradise’, RAM’s back at his mix’s midpoint, latterly working in his Stine Grove-sung ‘Forever And a Day’ for good measure. Weaved in and amongst those you’ll find masses from recent breakers too, with Davey Asprey’s ‘Sunbreaker’, ‘Heatwave’ from Daniel Skyver and Matt Bukovski’s Energia’ all summoning ‘250’s rapture.

Frisson shades of Psy see Sean Tyas’ disc cooking on napalm from the off. Liquid Soul & Neodyne’s ‘Believe’ and ‘Clockwork’ - the latest from Freedom Fighters’ seize the disc’s opening minutes. They cede to ‘Start Over’ and ‘Perfect World’, as everyone’s favourite Degenerate works in a pair from his own 2016 canon. Adam Ellis’ remake of the Ronski Speed/Sun Decade classic ‘I’m Alone’ and Andy Moor & Somna’s ‘Look Back’ deal the midsection a deuce of big anthems, before ‘Cyanosure’ from Magnus and his own ‘Turbo’ bury the mix’s needle into the red.

With Vini Vici’s arrival at the decks, ‘250’ mix-matters spill over into full-blown Psy-trance. The duo’s rewire of ‘Free Tibet’ from Hilight Tribe, their Ace Ventura co-op ‘The Calling’ and Astrix’s ‘Deep Jungle Walk’ together set a major precedent for the mix. Further sonic potency isn’t far behind, with ‘E.B.E.’ from Captain Hook & Ace Ventura and ‘Ambition’ from Coming Soon!!! psy-spiking the punch. Bryan Kearney-collab ‘We Are The Creators’, Liquid Soul team-up ‘Universe Inside Me’ and the dazzling Static Movement/Off Limits remix of VV’s ‘Namaste’ collectively bring the Israeli duo first mix-disc to a mighty conclusion.

‘Grotesque 250’ is the first essential trance compilation of 2017. Better still, it’s available here & now!