The Psy- and Goa-trance Thread

In the late 80s and early 90s, in the beaches of the Goa province in India, the ultimate hippy resort in the world, Goa Trance began. There were three main groups of hippies there, the German tourists, the British tourists, and the Israeli tourists. What all three had in common was the need for counterculture for the 80s - a high pressure, hypercapitalistic time. The stereotype was that Germans wanted to escape the conformity which was at a peak for German culture back then, the English wanted to escape the dreariness of the Thatcher era, and the Israeli post-military "oh god I need to clean my head from the fucking army". The historically hippy attitude of that place, with the cheap psychedelic drugs and high quality hash, low cost and beautiful weather and beaches was the right place, and it was the right time.

The parties there were fueled by LSD, due to the hippy roots of the place. The Germans and English brought Acid House and Techno, and the Israelis brought their unconventional mix-and-match attitudes. Using DAT recordings and mixers, the acid loops with techno grooves, DJs developed a unique style there, tailored for the acid culture. It was centered around the high energy, free-flowing sounds and not on the monotone roots of acid house and techno. Named after the location, Goa Trance was born. People returning from Goa brought it home in the form of mix tapes, and musicians started making this music from the ground up, not just basing it on loops and recordings from other genres.

Goa Trance became focused on an organic sound, based on flow rather than a strict structure. It was about sounds that made your brain explode when tripping, not about the simple euphoria of the MDMA fueled dancefloors of Europe. Each country developed it's own style and feel from a local scene, and they all melded together again and again at the Mecca of psychedelic culture. Goa became a mixing pot of ideas coming from all over the world now, Japan gaining influence, but still, the three countries that started it all were dominant. It was still a small scene relatively speaking, and artists met up there, at the heart of it all, and the parties there became legendary, lasting for days. This was the pre-internet days, and the source of the cutting edge music was mixtapes people brought back home from those parties. The music changed and became more refined on what seemed a daily basis, as this was a totally new music genre with nothing to be based on. You can recognize what year a track was made by listening.

By 1994, Goa Trance had evolved it's own unique sound, exemplified by the three major sounds:

The Israeli sound, led by Astral Projection (and to a lesser extent MFG). It was based on high energy, euphoria, with a distinct feel of getting people to jump as high as they possibly could while dancing. The Juno series of Roland synthesizers and of course the tb303 were the dominant sounds.

+ Show Spoiler [Astral Projection - Mehadeva] +

The German sound on the other hand was the most serious of the three. X-Dream and Planet BEN were the leaders of the scene, and twenty years later, to a large extent they still are. It stuck a lot closer to the acid house and techno roots of the music. It was focused on intensity, and if the Israeli sound was about jumping, the German sound was about kicking up some dust.

+ Show Spoiler [X-Dream - Children Of The Last Generat…] +

The English sound was about the psychedelia, with the band The Infinity Project, who had opened their own (and the most influential on the scene from 1994-1997) record label, and the still active and possibly the best known of all goa era acts, Juno Reactor. It was about an eclectic combination of sounds, and creating trippy atmospheres. Just as in the 60s, the English took the psychedelic movement and pushed it forward by giving a richness and theatricality to the music. They were also the middle ground between the controlled intensity of the German sound and the organic euphoria of the Israeli sound, and as such, perhaps represent the goa era best.

+ Show Spoiler [Juno Reactor - Contact] +

And then, when the Goa Trance scene was rapidly growing, with three major sounds emerging, we reach 1994. The English goa trance scene was already pushing Goa Trance out of it's original feel and into something new. The scene had grown by an insane amount. It was no longer just hippies, freaks and people who stumbled into the Goa province when travelling. There were parties dedicated to the genre all over the world now, with a center around the outdoor parties, leaving the clubs to the techno and house crowds. The sound and feel of psychedelia lent itself well to natural surroundings, and at this point, the vast majority had not been to Goa, but rather, met the music in the forests, fields and deserts where parties lasted for twelve hours or longer due to the length of the LSD experience. Music for night and day evolved into different sounds (nighttime was more psychedelic and introspective music, while the daytime was more emotional and free-flowing. The sunrise, to this day, remains a special time when anything can happen in these raves). And a new generation of partygoers was looking for something to suit them just as well as Goa had suited the people 4-5 years older than them.

A single was released by a relatively unknown young bloke from England, who wanted to be a guitar player until he saw Ozric Tentacles perform and though "well, the keyboard is pretty awesome, I want to learn that". Growing up on English psychedelia, he released a single that changed the scene forever. This is of course Hallucinogen - Alpha Centauri / LSD single. This was not goa trance. It was not centered around the psychedelia, but rather about creating what can be dubbed as "soundscapes". His music did something new, and unheard of in electronic music. He created stories through sound, to take the listeners on an emotional roller coaster, while maintaining the psychedelic nature of the sound. LSD to this day remains the single most played track of all the offshoots and subgenres the scene has spawned. It has the German controlled beat, the Israeli euphoria, and the English psychedelia of the earlier Goa Trance sound, distilled and combined into a new genre.

+ Show Spoiler [Hallucinogen - LSD] +

This is how Psytrance was born. At the time, it was still labeled goa trance, but in historical review, that one track created a new, different genre. A year later, Hallucinogen - Twisted, his first album was released. It still had a little bit of goa in it (Snarling Black Mabel), but his distinct sound took the scene by storm. That album revolutionized the scene. One album changed everything. This is the first real Psytrance album. Other acts soon followed the lead, focusing on creating soundscapes and not just interesting combinations of sounds. Koxbox, Juno Reactor, X-Dream, basically all the big names found a new way to think about making music and doing their own thing. The leaders of the scene started sounding a lot less alike, but developed their own unique takes on the exciting new concept of Psytrance, which also created some interesting innovations in Goa Trance, but by 1996, that feel was sidelined.

Just as 1994 was a peak of the six years of evolution of Goa Trance from a collection of loops and shoddy DJ mixes into a totally new and fully fleshed out genre, by 1997, the year of Hallucinogen's second album, Psytrance had evolved into a new and unique sound. Again, the English, German and Israeli acts were the strong names, but now joined by a new group, the Scandinavians.

The Israeli scene was still creating hybrids of Goa and Psytrance, since it's own goa sound was unique and very close to the soundscape feel from the very start. Israeli Psytrance still had a lot of that energy left in it, but was now much less a world of it's own, and had definitely matured. Astral Projection still remained the leaders of the scene, but many new talents started popping up, people who grew up at the psychedelic raves that Israel remains famous for. The need to let loose with full-power after the mandatory three year military service kept the Israeli sound honest to it's roots.

+ Show Spoiler [Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy] +
+ Show Spoiler [Tandu - Alien Pump] +

The German sound was still about the depth of the music, and was still more influenced by the monotone techno/acid house roots of the genre than others. Picking up also a lot of the explosiveness from the Israeli sound, but in a much more controlled fashion, X-Dream still led the German scene forward, along with a slew of newcomers. Electric finally got outside of the party circuit enough to actually start releasing their music, along with many other notable artists, including an influx of people from the German metal and techno scenes, which we will talk about later.

+ Show Spoiler [X-Dream - Panic in Paradise] +
+ Show Spoiler [Electric Universe - Technologic] +

England though, that was where Psytrance as it's own genre was born. Simon Posford cemented his legend in the release of his second album, The Lone Deranger. He had broken every single dancefloor mold while remaining true to it's spirit, and set a new high standard for musical expression in electronica (hence earning him his nickname at the time: The Hallucinogenius). Juno Reactor had finally hit their stride, finding their own unique blend of tribal drumming and Psytrance beats, and the entire scene there was flourishing with fresh artists headlining parties all around the world. This was England's golden age in the Psytrance scene.

+ Show Spoiler [Juno Reactor - Conga Fury] +
+ Show Spoiler [Hallucinogen - Deranger] +

The budding scene in Scandinavia was led by their main Goa Trance stars, Koxbox (and their darker side project, Psychopod with Graham Wood of The Infinity Project), who evolved to create some of the most unique sounds and exciting sounds. New talent started gaining some traction, some guy named Tomasz Balicki, which at 1997 was unknown, but would later be a huge part of the scene... Scandinavia was just building up at the time for the most part.

+ Show Spoiler [Psychopod - Friagram] +

The year 1997 signified a change in the scene. It had matured. Record labels that were overly excited and threw around too much money started going bankrupt, and the huge stars that at this point all knew each other and in many cases spent time in the studios with their friends created a much more global sound. But something happened. Some people wanted to take the music back into the clubs, back to the masses. People from the techno and metal scenes which found their place in Psytrance parties were gaining influence and wanted a bit more punch to the music. And then there were the people that didn't really care about anything other than just the over-the-top melodies and loud kicks (which existed as a means to an end in the scene). What followed was a massive fracturing into subgenres.

German rocker and now Industrial artist Tim Schuldt, building upon Psychopod's fresh new explosive sound took it to a whole new level. Electric guitars, super high energy, and just a pound-as-hard-as-you-can no nonsense attitude, and thus Full-On was born. X-Dream had discovered the power of bass heavy, techno monotony when combined with the psychedelic sound and created some of the most powerful music heard back then, and back in 1997 released the first music by their side-project The Delta. It should come as no surprise that the German scene brought the metal and techno influences into psytrance. They were quickly joined by scene new-commers Growling Mad Scientists, and soon enough, this subgenre gained not only traction with the Psytrance crowd, but also the people fresh into the scene saw it as a natural progression forward. Soon enough, there were parties dedicated to just this sound. It had not yet become cheesy and commercial, but rather was all about unrelenting power; as such, it was much closer to what people today call the Darkpsy and Techtrance subgenres. It had reached it's peak in the original incarnation around 2000, with Tim Schuldt's Singles Collection and GMS's prolific releases.

+ Show Spoiler [Tim Schuldt - Absurd] +
+ Show Spoiler [GMS - On a Mission From God] +

But something else happened during that time. Remember when I talked about an obscure guy named Tomasz from Sweden? Well, people know him better now as Atmos. He created the first incarnation of Progressive Psy, and while his first release was in 1998, his influence grew gradually with his releases. What he started doing alone caught on. With every single he released, more people were converted. He brought a clubbier sound, cleaner structures and a softer touch to the music. In 2000 he exploded onto the scene Headcleaner, the album that brought progressive from a tiny subgenre a few Scandinavians did (and some Germans joined in on), into a new revolution for the scene. Atmos, Son Kite, Shiva Chandra, Vibrasphere and many more became the headliners of the parties and festivals. It was about creating a state of trance via monotone beats and then building up an atmosphere. At the start, it was darker, but as the genre grew, so did the Progressive House influences. But for the peak of this subgenres dominance in the 2001-2002 era, Shiva Chandra and Son Kite led the way, the first representing the German progressive sound, the latter the Scandinavian sound.

Scandinavia at this point had displaced England as one of the three major centers of Psytrance influence, due to Son Kite and Atmos having more influence in this period of time than any other act. This also signifies the time when the LSD use in the scene started to fade in favor of more traditional dance-friendly drugs in the mainstream of the Psytrance scene.

+ Show Spoiler [Son Kite - Aiwana (DJ Nukem Remix)] +
+ Show Spoiler [Shiva Chandra - BSB] +

As to Israel, well, Israel also got a bit on the full-on boat, but not nearly as much as the other countries. Israeli Progressive developed later on for the most part. But to this day, a regrettable thing happened. Psytrance had become "cool" in Israel, after the post-army trip to India had become standardized, and not just a thing for people wanting to look for a new and different perspective on life. This was also the start of the local crackdown on drugs and the hippy market. The place had lost it's position as Mecca of the Psytrance world, and had people who were interested in a place they heard was great for taking drugs and partying on the beach. And what they took from that was "well, taking drugs with uplifting melodies and strong kicks... that's awesome". And generally, most people who try that agree. But it was not the message people originally took from the place.

What followed was the creation of Nitzhonot. To this day, most of the Israeli scene that can remember this subgenre reacts with a heavy handed facepalm and "I can't believe people used to listen to that". It started out as crude, simple and tried as hard as it could to be over the top. It later evolved into more complex and better music, but at the start, it was a downright evil caricature of Psytrance. Later it evolved into what people today call Uplifting Goa, which centers upon the euphoric nature of oldschool Israeli Goa Trance and Psytrance, but still contains the over-the-top breakdowns which I guess some people just love. Eyal Barkan was the exemplification of the facepalm moments in the music, and on the other hand, we had some serious talents, like Shidapu who just used the subgenre to gain traction due to the popularity of the genre.

+ Show Spoiler [Shiva Shidapu - Power of Celtic] +
+ Show Spoiler [Eyal Barkan - Good Morning Israel] +