Allen Watts emerged from Roden in the north of the Netherlands in 2012 with the single "Split Second", a track quickly picked up by Armin van Buuren on A State of Trance. The support catapulted him from local promise to the front line of European trance club nights, and by the late 2010s he had become one of the most consistently top-selling trance artists on Beatport.
His catalogue is anchored at the harder, more technical 138 BPM end of modern uplifting. Tracks like "Inferno", "Algorithm", "Resonate", "CDMX", and "Mainframe" have all become Pure Trance and Who's Afraid of 138?! mainstays — Armada sub-labels which have effectively defined the harder uplifting register over the past decade. Watts has remixed Armin van Buuren three times, an unusual mark of in-house credibility, and his sound regularly anchors A State of Trance compilations.
In 2022 he co-mixed the Who's Afraid of 138?! compilation with Blastoyz, a release that consolidated his position as one of the central editorial voices of the 138 BPM scene. He continues to release prolifically and tour the global trance circuit, frequently appearing at ASOT festival editions, Luminosity, Dreamstate, and Transmission.
For listeners interested in the technical, peak-time end of contemporary uplifting trance — the territory between Bryan Kearney's tech-uplifting and Andrew Rayel's vocal-melodic peak-time — Allen Watts is one of the most reliable current names. His productions are designed to function on big systems, and the ASOT and Pure Trance trust placed in him by Armada is a fair signal of the quality of the work.
Sound Style
Modern uplifting at the harder, more technical 138 BPM end — driving acid-tinged basslines, bright supersaw leads, and breakdowns built around emotional mid-melodic content rather than the softer Anjuna ballad register. Mixdowns are reference-loud.