Classic trance record labels and the catalogues they built.

Major-label money behind club records — including 'Xpander'. Deconstruction Records was the British dance label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst and distributed through BMG. It gave club music major-label resources at exactly the right moment, releasing Sasha's 'Xpander' EP (1999) and handling the UK release of Robert Miles' 'Children' — two of the most-played records of the classic era.

Oakenfold's imprint, and the bridge from Balearic house to arena trance. Perfecto Records is the London label founded in 1989 by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. It began as an outlet for the pair's Balearic and indie-dance remix work and became, through the 1990s, one of the defining homes of British trance — releasing Grace, BT and Man With No Name, and giving Oakenfold the platform that made him the era's most visible DJ.

Masterminded For Success — the Berlin label that launched Paul van Dyk. MFS (Masterminded For Success) is the Berlin label founded in 1990 by British expatriate Mark Reeder. It released the earliest records by Paul van Dyk and Cosmic Baby, and issued the original 1993 pressing of Energy 52's 'Café Del Mar' — making it the single most consequential trance label of post-reunification Berlin.

The connoisseur's label — where Café Del Mar became an anthem. Hooj Choons was the London independent founded in 1991 by Red Jerry (Steven Sutton). It specialised in melodic, progressive and Balearic-leaning club records, and its 1997 licensing of Energy 52's 'Café Del Mar' — in the Three 'N One remix — turned a 1993 German techno cut into the most-remixed record in trance history.

Frankfurt, 1991 — where trance stopped being a rumour. Eye Q Records was the Frankfurt label founded in 1991 by Sven Väth with Matthias Hoffmann and Heinz Roth. Alongside its harder sister imprint Harthouse, it is where the German origins of trance were formalised: Dance 2 Trance, Barbarella and Väth's own productions established the hypnotic, arpeggio-driven template the rest of the genre inherited.

The Belgian engine room of hard, driving, unapologetic trance. Bonzai Records is the Belgian label founded in Antwerp in 1992. It became the centre of the hard-edged Belgian trance sound of the late 1990s — faster, more percussive and less concerned with crossover than its British counterparts — and released Push's 'Universal Nation' (1998), one of the era's most enduring uplifting anthems.

A club night that became a compilation series that became a canon. Renaissance began in 1992 as Geoff Oakes' club night in Mansfield and grew into one of the most influential compilation and label brands in British dance music. Its 1994 Renaissance: The Mix Collection, mixed by Sasha and John Digweed, effectively invented the modern DJ mix compilation as an artistic format.

Producer-run, sleeve-art obsessed, and unmistakable on a turntable. Platipus Records is the London label founded in 1993 by producer Simon Berry, who also recorded for it as Art Of Trance and Union Jack. It built a cult reputation on melodic, slightly psychedelic trance and on a house style so consistent — instantly recognisable sleeves, a producer's ear for arrangement — that regulars bought releases unheard.

EMI's dance imprint — the route from club record to Top 10. Positiva Records is the dance imprint launched by EMI in London in 1993. It specialised in licensing club records — often European trance and house — and pushing them onto UK daytime radio and the singles chart, a route that took Binary Finary's '1998' in the Paul van Dyk remix from an underground twelve-inch to a national hit.

Ferry Corsten's imprint — System F, Gouryella, and the Dutch peak. Tsunami Records is the Dutch label founded by Ferry Corsten in the mid-1990s. It released his own defining work — System F's 'Out Of The Blue' (1999) and the Gouryella project with Tiësto — and in doing so set the template for the bright, supersaw-led Dutch uplifting sound of the genre's peak years.

The label built around Chicane's Balearic trance. Xtravaganza Recordings is the British label most closely associated with Chicane, whose 'Offshore' and 1999 UK number-one collaboration 'Saltwater' with Máire Brennan defined the Balearic-trance crossover. Its catalogue is small but disproportionately influential on the melodic, guitar-and-strings end of the genre.

Tiësto's label, and the home of In Search Of Sunrise. Black Hole Recordings is the Dutch label founded in Breda in 1997 by Tiësto (Tijs Verwest) and Arny Bink. It became the base for Tiësto's own catalogue through the Magik Muzik sublabel, for the In Search Of Sunrise compilation series, and for a large share of the Dutch trance output that defined the genre's commercial peak.

Digweed and Muir's imprint for the slow, patient end of progressive. Bedrock Records is the London label founded in 1999 by John Digweed and his production partner Nick Muir. It is the definitive home of the darker, slower, more patient strand of progressive house and trance — records built for the long middle of a set rather than for peak time.

Paul van Dyk's label — Berlin melody at 138 BPM. Vandit Records is the Berlin label founded in 2000 by Paul van Dyk. It gave him full control over his own releases after a decade on other people's imprints, and became a reliable home for the melodic, emotionally direct German trance he had established at MFS — with a roster including Jörg Schmid's Ronski Speed and Giuseppe Ottaviani.

Above & Beyond's label, and the last great classic-era institution. Anjunabeats is the London label founded in 2000 by the three members of Above & Beyond — Jono Grant, Paavo Siljamäki and Tony McGuinness. It carried the melodic, vocal-led strand of trance through the mid-2000s and beyond, and its Anjunadeep sister imprint extended the same A&R philosophy into deeper, slower territory.

Named after its three founders, and built around a radio show. Armada Music is the Amsterdam label founded in 2003 by Armin van Buuren, Maykel Piron and David Lewis — the name is built from their first names. Structured around the A State Of Trance radio show, it became the largest independent dance label in the Netherlands and the main institutional home of trance after the commercial peak.