There has been a lot of music threads popping up lately, most of which are electronic music genres. Its my impression that people are getting more and more into it, with the huge wave of House and later Dubstep that has been going on over the last years. This is why i want to share my love for what i consider to be the cremé de la cremé of up-tempo electronic music, namely psy trance. I hope every other Goa Head out there posts some of their favorite artist and tracks too.
What is psy trance? Psy trance has its original roots from hippies that migrated to Goa, India, at the end of the 1960's. Hence, the original term was Goa trance, but both terms are more or less interchangeable. However psy trance real break-through came in the mid-90's, and is largely considered the golden age of the genre. The music and culture is still retains many of it's original ideas, such as spirituality, drug-use, intense dancing session and psychedelic imagry and patterns.
What distinguishes psy trance? First off, psy has a pretty intense feel to it. The tempo is usually between 130-150 BPM (beats per minute), and is characterized by complex and evolving melodies accompanied by fast paced bass-lines. The sound usually has an overall theme to it that either resembles something organic or interstellar/sci-fi (Goa is usually attributed to the former and psy to the latter). A lot of songs also often fall in the category of either being spiritually uplifting or some kind of introspective nightmare.
Without further ado, lets get to it! Introductory songs to new and old psychedelic trance + Show Spoiler +
Older songs:
Hallucinogen - LSD
Astral Projection - Enlightened Evolution
Infected Mushroom - Disco Mushroom
S.U.N. Project - Out of My Brain
Man With No Name - Teleport
Juno Reactor - God is God
Jaïa - Maï Maï
Newer:
Filteria - Rotate to Vibrate (Ze remix)
E-Mantra - Dansul leleor
Ajna - Art of Happiness
Over the years there has also developed a few sub-genres in psy-trance. Some are great, some are horrible. I'll leave a few examples of those as well: + Show Spoiler +
Soumi, Finlands take on psy. By far much wackier and doesnt attempt to replicate the usual psy sound. + Show Spoiler +
Texas Faggot - Back to Mad
Luomuhappo - Rauhaa Veltje
Dark psy Much more intense, has fewer melodic elements and (perhaps you've allready guess it) is extremely dark. Its like being raped by aliens while on acid. But for some reason it seems to be all the rage now. I dont usually listen to this, so just took the first tracks from youtube. + Show Spoiler +
Atriohn - Rigns of Fairy
Encephalopaticys - Red Ball
Progressive psy Has less of the intensity and is more agreeable to the ears than regular psy. Still its good genre, especially when your mind is fed up with all the wierd and random stuff. + Show Spoiler +
Vibrasphere - Forest Fuel
Jaïa - Out of Orbit (Vibrasphere remix)
Solar Fields - Black Arrow
Full-on poppy shit This is what it sounds like when you break every unwritten rule on what psy really is about while still retaining a somewhat similar sound. (Yes i realize these might not be the best examples, but i just had to post them) + Show Spoiler +
Infected Mushroom - IM the Supervisor
Skazi - Hit and Run
Psybient/Ambient This is what it sounds like when Psy artists and producers halves the tempo, get in their pajamas, rolls up a fat one and starts making music. It should have a thread in its own right, because there is so much good stuff, but i'll leave a few examples here as well. + Show Spoiler +
Shpongle - DMT
Solar Fields - Times Are Good (Sometimes Remix)
Ott - Joyful Wonder
Chronos & C. J. Catalizer - Ice Hearts Age
Carbon Based Lifeforms - T-rex Echos
A flowchart made by Anoebis, the founder of Suntrip Records, for a complete and ubiased overview of the development of subgenres. + Show Spoiler +
/spoiler]
I've also made a list of good psy on Grooveshark for your listening pleasure. If you like what you heard in the initial spoiler, you'll like this too. Its a bit easier if you wanna game or do other stuff while listening to the music. (Some of the tracks and artist names aren't proper, but blame Grooveshark for that)
psynews.org Psynews is one of the largest, most well run community sites out there. Its been up for well over a decade (i think), i would consider it the TL of psy.
Psychedelic Mind Expander (psydb.net) Psydb.net is like the TLPD of psy. It extensively covers artists and any psy-related release. If you cant find the release you're looking for, you can't find it anywhere.
isratrance.com Another great community site. Has a good database, forum and probably the best overview of psy parties throughout the world
ektoplazm.com Your best source for "under the radar" psy out there. A shitload non-labled or obscure label artist publish their music here. Much of it is free, and a lot is pretty cheap. A very good source if you're looking for legitimate music.
IF YOU POST MORE THAN TWO TRACKS, PLEASE PUT THEM IN SPOILERS Or else this is going to be pretty chaotic very soon, and makes it very hard to comment on specific posts/tracks.
edit: Kazius took the time to further expand on the history, scenes and genres of psy/goa. It was so good that everybody should read it. Thanks! Also, thanks to vGl-CoW for putting it in.
On July 15 2012 20:50 Kazius wrote: OK, psytrance and goa trance are NOT interchangeable. Here is a short explanation as to how the scene evolved, genres of the music, and the such... with examples, to give you a feel for what made each genre unique.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxNryu7DKPM *added note: The name is rumored to be "Fry A Graham" shortened, a mention of Graham Wood's time with the Koxbox duo and their psychedelic drug habits. This track is also hugely influential on what happened later in the scene.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjP0FhmKPfg * Shidapu started out as four friends, Shiva Shidapu was one of them with DJ Jorg. That one, along with a friend called Duvdev, later became Infected Mushroom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpIwj0oCw * this track was a huge hit. People went apeshit over this. It makes me lose faith in humanity.
At this point we reach the early-mid 2000s, Suomi Saundi and Darkpsy subgenres begin to emerge, Techtrance as well (led by X-Dream/The Delta and Spirallianz). Full-on gets influenced a lot by the Nitzhonot subgenre (with Astrix, who started out making Nitzhonot becoming a new star), and taking on some of the clubbier aspects from the Progressive Psy scene which had dethroned it successfully.... fueled by the spike in MDMA use at parties and the return to indoor parties, it returns with a vengeance. Those same trends made the Progressive Psy subgenre move from dark and droning to take a lot more from it's Progressive House cousins. Suomi Saundi went back to the goa and psytrance roots, and decided to take the crazy one step further, completely ignoring the existence of Full-On, Progressive Psy, Nitzhonot and Techtrance at the start, but at some point becoming a bit more standardized. Darkpsy started out as a revolt against Full-On and Progressive leaving their dark and pounding roots behind for the clubbier sounds, and eventually became distilled pounding. Techtrance has become another subgenre in it's own right, being closer to techno than it is to any of the other subgenres.
The only reason people call these subgenres Psytrance is because that was the name of the father, before they all split apart to become different. Excluding the Suomi Saundi, none of these subgenres are in any way psychedelic, and have very little to do with trance (excluding full-on).
I have left out a lot of names and acts that were hugely influential (Har-El, Green Nuns of the Revolution, Dragonfly Records, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Infected Mushroom and so on). This is a very short version of what actually happened, getting extremely lazy after the explanation of what happened post 2002. Still, I believe that it's a bit less lazy than just giving a one line explanation and an example . This was fueled by people thinking goa trance and psytrance are interchangeable. It's not. They are distinct styles, with distinct cultures behind them.
On August 02 2011 20:42 Crazyboogie wrote: Shpongle - Behind Closed Eyelids
That's not really psy trance, but Psybient/Ambient. But i understand your point. I'll make a list of that in the OP as well. Btw, it's a friggin amazing track. I listened to this while i walked to school for six months straight while is was in middle school.
On August 02 2011 20:42 Crazyboogie wrote: Shpongle - Behind Closed Eyelids
That's not really psy trance, but Psybient/Ambient. But i understand your point. I'll make a list of that in the OP as well. Btw, it's a friggin amazing track. I listened to this while i walked to school for six months straight while is was in middle school.
Ye I know, but since you already mentioned Infected, it was my best contribution. I think psychill is the genre, but i'm not sure.
Awesome. I was just waiting for someone to make a thread like this! I usually listen to goa/psytrance on di.fm when I play SC2 or just normal trance.
I am mostly a fan of "old" psytrance from the mid 1990´s, though some of the new stuff is pretty good as well. When it comes to subgenres and artists I like both israeli psy (NOT Skazi), dark psy such as X-dream and most other psy really. Here are some examples:
Very nice OP with good examples (also love the Full-on hate), but I'm a little surprised to see you're from Norway and you didn't mention Forest Trance? Maybe because you don't like dark...
A few dudes who make bad ass Forest Trance, all of them Scandinavians:
edit: love seeing all the goa fans suddenly coming out of the woodwork just waiting for this thread to be made haha
Kojaimea: I'm extremely biased here but I feel there's no harm in giving people threads to discuss their favorite music, as long as we don't go overboard. In this case, I feel that goatrance and psytrance are different enough from regular trance to warrant their own thread... They have their roots in trance but have grown out to form a completely different sound and community.
On August 02 2011 20:58 Kojaimea wrote: Are we really going to have a different thread for every sub(sub) genre? Doesn't really seem necessary.
I don't mean to split hairs here, but it's a genre in its own right. The music is so different that it warrants its own thread.
You don't post Grunge in a Thrash-metal thread. You don't post Eurobeat in a Electronica thread. You don't post western Pop in a K-pop thread. etc. etc.
It so unique that it has to have its own place.
If we should get our own music subforum (hint hint admins) i guess the problem would be solved.
I don't think Infected Mushroom breaks ALL the rules... >>
God they are such a great group. This is by far my favorite music genre, and Infected Mushroom is right at the top. I love UX as well...
They only made one Album iirc (Ultimate Experience) and it's a compilation group...I think the leader of Juno Reactor and some other electronic style groups wanted to really experiment with this kind of music so they got together and threw out an album. It turned out AMAZING.
edit: More! Haven't seen these guys in the thread yet. ^^
On August 02 2011 21:00 vGl-CoW wrote: yay, a thread about my favorite music!!
Very nice OP with good examples (also love the Full-on hate), but I'm a little surprised to see you're from Norway and you didn't mention Forest Trance? Maybe because you don't like dark...
Perhaps i could have included a few more genres, but after over hours of typing my head was pretty mashed up. Maybe I'll edit them into OP some other time.
On another note, friggin love Tigerhill. I was going to include it in my grooveshark list, but unfortunately is wasn't there. Its a really kick-ass track.
On August 02 2011 21:20 Torenhire wrote: I don't think Infected Mushroom breaks ALL the rules... >>
God they are such a great group. This is by far my favorite music genre, and Infected Mushroom is right at the top. I love UX as well...
They only made one Album iirc (Ultimate Experience) and it's a compilation group...I think the leader of Juno Reactor and some other electronic style groups wanted to really experiment with this kind of music so they got together and threw out an album. It turned out AMAZING.
Dont get me wrong, IM's three first albums are simply amazing. Also all other compils they were on in that era of their group. But since Converting Vegiterians it's all been downhill.
Edit I forgot this video existed. I found it quite hilarous (the first five times i saw it). + Show Spoiler +
It has some racism in it, so if you think you will be offended, don't watch it. And FYI its not the racism thats so funny.
Didn't realize Juno Members had other psy projects. Will definitely check out UX.
On August 02 2011 21:00 vGl-CoW wrote: yay, a thread about my favorite music!!
Very nice OP with good examples (also love the Full-on hate), but I'm a little surprised to see you're from Norway and you didn't mention Forest Trance? Maybe because you don't like dark...
Perhaps i could have included a few more genres, but after over hours of typing my head was pretty mashed up. Maybe I'll edit them into OP some other time.
On another note, friggin love Tigerhill. I was going to include it in my grooveshark list, but unfortunately is wasn't there. Its a really kick-ass track.
oh, I wasn't expecting you to type out a full list of every subgenre or anything (I think you gave a good overview), just a little surprised to see a goahead from Norway who isn't into Forest Trance, because your country is known for it... It's gotta be played at a lot of parties in Norway, right? I don't think I know any Norwegian artists who don't produce forest or dark.
edit: agree with your comment on IM, I also feel it's been way downhill since Converting Vegetarians.. Didn't know the Juno Reactor sideproject either, also checking it out!
I feel like psy trance is one of those music genres that i really appreciate alot more when i'm under the influence.
my first experience with psytrance was when my friend dragged me to a bush doof a couple of years ago (a rave in the bush with 3 stages and a hippy theme) that went over a weekend. had my first trip there and my first exposure to psy trance and it was amazing
On August 02 2011 21:00 vGl-CoW wrote: yay, a thread about my favorite music!!
Very nice OP with good examples (also love the Full-on hate), but I'm a little surprised to see you're from Norway and you didn't mention Forest Trance? Maybe because you don't like dark...
Perhaps i could have included a few more genres, but after over hours of typing my head was pretty mashed up. Maybe I'll edit them into OP some other time.
On another note, friggin love Tigerhill. I was going to include it in my grooveshark list, but unfortunately is wasn't there. Its a really kick-ass track.
oh, I wasn't expecting you to type out a full list of every subgenre or anything (I think you gave a good overview), just a little surprised to see a goahead from Norway who isn't into Forest Trance, because your country is known for it... It's gotta be played at a lot of parties in Norway, right? I don't think I know any Norwegian artists who don't produce forest or dark.
edit: agree with your comment on IM, I also feel it's been way downhill since Converting Vegetarians.. Didn't know the Juno Reactor sideproject either, also checking it out!
I've never really considered looking into Forest Trance, and that is entirely due to lack of knowledge and/or laziness.
On another note, there are very few forest parties in Norway. Very few psy parties in general. As far as i know, my rl friend and tl-user, Brundlefly is the only one that organizes psy on a regular basis in Oslo. There are perhaps a few crews, but forest parties and psy parties are in general a rarity. It kinda died out about 8-10 years ago i think. I think Sweden has a much bigger scene when it comes to that kind of stuff.
Excellent news for anyone who still remembers the masterpiece from 1998, Toï Doï - Technologic!
Toï Doï is back and has released new EP and it's free to download! It also includes remix of D-liss, which everyone who owns Technologic, probably remembers since it's such a eargasm.
For people who don't know, the difference between goa and nitzho-goa is that nitzhonot/nitzhogoa is faster and more energetic while still focused on meledies. Really amazing music:
also, i used to listen to Infected Mushroom and similar music a few years back. Now it's more House/Trance (Armin, Tiesto, Markus Schulz, Dash Berlin, etc)
I laugh at some of the songs i have on there... but then i go "aweeeeeee yeaaaaaah" to others. Most of it isn't goa-psy, but it's just more music (most electronic) if that's what you're looking for http://www.playlist.com/playlist/17143779339/standalone
Very nice OP with good examples (also love the Full-on hate), but I'm a little surprised to see you're from Norway and you didn't mention Forest Trance? Maybe because you don't like dark...
A few dudes who make bad ass Forest Trance, all of them Scandinavians:
edit: love seeing all the goa fans suddenly coming out of the woodwork just waiting for this thread to be made haha
Kojaimea: I'm extremely biased here but I feel there's no harm in giving people threads to discuss their favorite music, as long as we don't go overboard. In this case, I feel that goatrance and psytrance are different enough from regular trance to warrant their own thread... They have their roots in trance but have grown out to form a completely different sound and community.
YES YES! Who the hell is this psystarcraft nerd? kekeke Anyway when I first came across di.fm a few years ago I discovered goa-psy trance and maaaaan most people would get a headache after listening to it for a while but i can fall comfortably asleep to this. I'm glad this thread was made and I'll listen to every track posted on here.
Since I listened to goa-psy on di.fm, anyone know of Kameleon & Labyrinth and have some stuff by them? They have to be my two favorite artists so far.
The Summer Solstice that happened a month or so ago on DI.fm was sweet. It brought me back into goapsy from like a two year break from it. Some of the recent artists I've discovered are Jikooha and Ra. Good to see this thread pop up. Going to be fun listening to these songs you guys post.
I never found trance or techno music attractive but after a few goa festivals I saw the beauty of goa trance(and many other things ;D), forest psy sounds interesting, I'll indulge in it =)
Ive been moving slowly away from my trance love of the past 10 years into a more classic/goa style, because I hate this new electro-house-chunky-pop-trance crap that is going on. Its not not so much that electronic music is more mainstream (which it is), but more that its really dumbed down recently .
I look back to popular trance from 2000-2005 and compare it with the stuff that is popular this year, and I hate it
So I've actually listened to all the suggestions that i hadn't heard before (hooray for me \o/, jk i skipped in songs i didnt like).
And this Dark Psy, Forest psy really doesn't rub me the right way. The tracks by Ka-Sol, Electric Universe, Protoculture we decent enough. UX showed some promise. The dBu track was actually pretty cool, def. gonna check him out. Also the Nitzho-goa had its momements, perhaps a bit fast paced, but gonna check that genre out. Also downloaded the Toï Doï EP. I remember them as some one i wanted to check out when i started listening to them, but never found any of their music. That will be interesting.
well here in switzerland, the psy scene is pretty big. every weekend all summer long more than 5/6 festivals. started listening to psy 6 or 7 years ago.
for my personal taste:
Avalon feat. Cosmosis - Destiny Awaits (loving this style for gaming or driving a bit faster - pretty straightforward progressive buildup, not much variation, more into details, hypnotic)
Neelix is for sure one of my recent favourites! He/they remixed Galaxy Traveler by Felguk, then there is another fun song called Taxi Driver. I think it is classified as prog psytrance (if we're getting picky) but i'm a hardcore goa/psy fan and its great enough for me.
I'm suprised to see no mention of 1200Mics yet! They have some trippy psytrance
i happened to find some website just now called psymania.com but have never been so can't recommend it as supremium quality, but it mayyyy be good :D
this thread...was a really good idea at the time %)
Edit: a lot of glovers/lightshows are set to trance or house...man Psytrance lightshows really zone me in tho! It can be a lil intense for the viewer especially with my hot colors and red Freedoms !!
A little bit too much infected mushroom in this thread for my tastes. Like everyone else, I love all the classics: Shpongle, 1200 mics, Hallucinogen, Shulman, etc.
I think psytrance is at its peak when creative people mix it with elements of other genres to form transcendent, meaningful tracks with more interesting rhythms(this is where most Infected Mushroom fails). No one has linked any Younger Brother yet so:
The only thing that annoys me is a lot of these people don't make more live material available. I saw one of the Shpongle DJ sets in NYC this spring and the second set he played as Hallucinogen was really some of the best psychedelic music I've had the privilege of listening to.
ok gonna stop now or I end up breaking the thread .. I could easily add in another 100 tracks but these are some of my all time favorites.
Or you could just do this, like OP suggested in bold and caps lock. But thats just my 2 cents...
On August 06 2011 06:55 Fleebenworth wrote: A little bit too much infected mushroom in this thread for my tastes. Like everyone else, I love all the classics: Shpongle, 1200 mics, Hallucinogen, Shulman, etc.
I think psytrance is at its peak when creative people mix it with elements of other genres to form transcendent, meaningful tracks with more interesting rhythms(this is where most Infected Mushroom fails). No one has linked any Younger Brother yet so:
The only thing that annoys me is a lot of these people don't make more live material available. I saw one of the Shpongle DJ sets in NYC this spring and the second set he played as Hallucinogen was really some of the best psychedelic music I've had the privilege of listening to.
themixingbowl.org is a great site for live mixes. Not psy in particular tho, but they have some mixes by hallucinogen, MWWN, etc etc. Its free and legit. A frequent problem is that some of the live mixes have mediocre sound quality. So if you're audiophile you might be disappointed.
Also, if you go ~15 names down you will find Ott's live at Gnomelandia mix here. Its really good.
BTW OP, the definition of full-on is abit misleading and i dont think the examples represent the style. Here's better definition from wiki: + Show Spoiler +
Full on is a form of psychedelic trance that originated in Israel during the late 1990s. The expression “full on” is taken from the first out of a seven compilation albums series[4] and the first album ever to be released under Hom-mega Productions in 1998, titled Full On. Other sources say it comes from the "Full" "moon" festival's name, whilst others argue that it is derived from a phrase widely used to describe particularly high-energy music ("That tune is really full-on!"). It may also refer to the drug use sometimes witnessed ("full-on drugs") on the festivals, as this music is regarded "pushier" than other psytrance styles, thus more exhausting to dance to and the requirement of bodily stimulating drugs is more apparent. Full on usually has higher bpm than other psytrance.
The most easily recognizable element of full-on psy-trance is the so-called "rolling" bassline, which crams two or three short bass notes in between each hit of the 4/4 drum.
Some commercial morning artists associated with the following style:Sesto Sento, Gataka, 1200 Micrograms, Astrix, 40%, and Vibe Tribe.
Some Full On Record labels: PsyShark, Phantasm Records, Hommega, B.N.E, and many more.
And here's a picture with different substyles and important releases (AFAIK this was made by one of the wonderful guys at Suntrip records label, who are responsible for the "second coming of goa trance," but im not 100% sure): + Show Spoiler +
And then, some muzak so this isnt merely rantpost about genres.. First some stuff from Suntrip records (new school goa): Merr0w - Citrus Circus + Show Spoiler +
I do believe you're right, that picture was made by Suntrip's Anoebis. As you probably well know, Suntrip Records is a Belgian label and Anoebis seems to play at virtually every goa trance party in the country, haha. Suntrip is great for the Belgian goa community, regularly getting Ra, Khetzal, Filteria, Merr0w etc to perform here, as well as for the goa community in general, by being one of the very few labels to still produce goa trance, like you indicated.
What are the interests of the Finnish psy/goa community like? Do you guys have a lot of goa trance parties or is it just suomi trance pretty much all the time?
On August 06 2011 21:44 vGl-CoW wrote: What are the interests of the Finnish psy/goa community like? Do you guys have a lot of goa trance parties or is it just suomi trance pretty much all the time?
Im prolly wrong person to answer this, since im abit too old and lazy for going parties, but from what ive seen: parties are very rare and favor too much Suomisoundi for my taste (cant stand it, at all), also i live long way in north from capital city, so mehh.. Maybe some other Finnish person knows better?
On August 06 2011 18:03 jormando wrote: BTW OP, the definition of full-on is abit misleading and i dont think the examples represent the style. Here's better definition from wiki: + Show Spoiler +
Full on is a form of psychedelic trance that originated in Israel during the late 1990s. The expression “full on” is taken from the first out of a seven compilation albums series[4] and the first album ever to be released under Hom-mega Productions in 1998, titled Full On. Other sources say it comes from the "Full" "moon" festival's name, whilst others argue that it is derived from a phrase widely used to describe particularly high-energy music ("That tune is really full-on!"). It may also refer to the drug use sometimes witnessed ("full-on drugs") on the festivals, as this music is regarded "pushier" than other psytrance styles, thus more exhausting to dance to and the requirement of bodily stimulating drugs is more apparent. Full on usually has higher bpm than other psytrance.
The most easily recognizable element of full-on psy-trance is the so-called "rolling" bassline, which crams two or three short bass notes in between each hit of the 4/4 drum.
Some commercial morning artists associated with the following style:Sesto Sento, Gataka, 1200 Micrograms, Astrix, 40%, and Vibe Tribe.
Some Full On Record labels: PsyShark, Phantasm Records, Hommega, B.N.E, and many more.
And here's a picture with different substyles and important releases (AFAIK this was made by one of the wonderful guys at Suntrip records label, who are responsible for the "second coming of goa trance," but im not 100% sure): + Show Spoiler +
When i wrote the OP it wasn't meant to be an unbiased history of every psy genre. More a quick look at what the subgenres might sound like, etc. Gonna leave it as is, but i'll OP the flowchart.
On August 06 2011 21:58 Aphasie wrote: When i wrote the OP it wasn't meant to be an unbiased history of every psy genre. More a quick look at what the subgenres might sound like, etc. Gonna leave it as is, but i'll OP the flowchart.
Yeah, wont hold it against you. I just think its abit unfair to catogorize all full-on as "poppy shit," while theres plenty of different kinds of full-on as well as plenty of poppy shit from artists who used to do psy/goa which isnt full-on at all (all IM releases after BP Empire for example).
I'm more of a metal guy, but I love infected mushroom, they make my ladder sessions so much better, been looking to find more music of that type, so this thread is awesome!
On August 06 2011 21:58 Aphasie wrote: When i wrote the OP it wasn't meant to be an unbiased history of every psy genre. More a quick look at what the subgenres might sound like, etc. Gonna leave it as is, but i'll OP the flowchart.
Yeah, wont hold it against you. I just think its abit unfair to catogorize all full-on as "poppy shit," while theres plenty of different kinds of full-on as well as plenty of poppy shit from artists who used to do psy/goa which isnt full-on at all (all IM releases after BP Empire for example).
Ye, but it wasn't intended to say that all full on was poppy either. I remembered this vid and couldnt help myself ^^. I mean i also enjoy 1200 mics and stuff like that, but its a fine line between good full on and the most horrible stuff you've ever heard. ^^
Infected Mushroom are best served LIVE!!! seen them few times, musical orgasm omg... Here is a video of a show I was, I was few meters from the guy with the camera. Truly Israeli pride!
I used to really like psy a lot back in the late 90ies when I was in high school: early Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, etc etc. However it seems to be that since the decade had changed, there were no longer any real prominent artists releasing actual full blown albums worth listening to.
Yeah, sure, there are tons and tons of individual tracks released since then that are ridiculously awesome, but then I look up the artist and realize he just happens to have 1-2 good tracks total and all the rest is complete garbage. The fact that psy bands these days don't seem to actually release actual albums, but instead release singles and EPs doesn't help at all.
I want to be able to see a name I recognize, see them come out with a big new album and know for sure that at least half of the stuff on the album is going to be great. Right now looking for good long albums is just so hopeless and takes so much time that I simply can't be bothered.
Trance/psy/goa and demoscene electronic music is what I listen to the most 15+ years after I first hear about this kind of music.
I still have 20 or more cd's from TIP ect. in a box.
Its not that I hate normal rock/heavy ect, but what really makes electronic music better for me is the layers and the variations of sounds, and how they are made. I rarely think much about what genre a track is, if I like it I like it.
I think the demoscene and electronic music is linked together very closely and the big boom in free tracker music software on the old computers. (yay C64 and amiga )
Here are two cool demoscene tracks, where the visuel part if running realtime on a computer next to the music.:
I got introduced to the finnish Psy-trance scene yesterday. Went to a small trance festival for the first time and afterwards to some really obscure afterparty under a bridge. Met some really nice people and enjoyed the music a lot. Now I just need to download some psy-trance to my phone .
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
It's not really my field, and i dont have many tips beyond Vibrasphere and that Solar Fields - EarthShine. But some are Aes Dana - Manifold (its only two songs on that EP, but they are really good). Also, PhasePhour might be worth it to check out. You might also find what you're looking for in this progressive psy group. Like perhaps Ace Ventura or Son Kite..
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
I'll just provide a list of some similar groups:
Aes Dana H.U.V.A. Network (collaboration between Aes Dana and Solar Fields) Asura Carbon Based Lifeforms Cell Entheogenic L.S.G. Androcell Shulman Bluetech Kaya Project Vibrasphere
There are many many more but all of those are a good start if you're into psytrance with more complex beats and instrumentation.
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
Yep, Earthshine album from Solar Fields is absolutely amazing from start to finish. But is it really considered progressive psy ? I always thought it was psychill. But, if you are into solar fields, you might want to look at the other Ultimae Records artists too (Aes Dana, i.e.).
I really fell in love with this type of music (psychill particularly). Its so relaxing, it gets me out of this world ... no drugs needed .
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
I'll just provide a list of some similar groups:
Aes Dana H.U.V.A. Network (collaboration between Aes Dana and Solar Fields) Asura Carbon Based Lifeforms Cell Entheogenic L.S.G. Androcell Shulman Bluetech Kaya Project Vibrasphere
There are many many more but all of those are a good start if you're into psytrance with more complex beats and instrumentation.
If he's spesifically looking to get into Progressive Psy, and yet knows nothning about it, you shouldn't be feeding him false information. None of those artists, save Vibrasphere and L.S.G., is considered progressive. They are ambient/psy chill/psybient or what ever you want to call it. The BPM is much slower than prog. The basslines are also more inconsistent.
It is kinda of an elusive genre, with a lot of downtempo producers and artists make a track or album now and then, but the rest of their stuff isnt Prog.
On August 08 2011 21:32 vGl-CoW wrote: well, Thorakh was just asking for similar artists to Solar Fields, which he thought was Prog while it's Ambient/Psybient (lol categories)
I think it's a very good list for what Thorakh was really asking!
Yeah I have no idea about the genres, that Solar Fields song was listed under progressive psytrance in the OP, so
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
I'll just provide a list of some similar groups:
Aes Dana H.U.V.A. Network (collaboration between Aes Dana and Solar Fields) Asura Carbon Based Lifeforms Cell Entheogenic L.S.G. Androcell Shulman Bluetech Kaya Project Vibrasphere
There are many many more but all of those are a good start if you're into psytrance with more complex beats and instrumentation.
If he's spesifically looking to get into Progressive Psy, and yet knows nothning about it, you shouldn't be feeding him false information. None of those artists, save Vibrasphere and L.S.G., is considered progressive. They are ambient/psy chill/psybient or what ever you want to call it. The BPM is much slower than prog. The basslines are also more inconsistent.
It is kinda of an elusive genre, with a lot of downtempo producers and artists make a track or album now and then, but the rest of their stuff isnt Prog.
It seems to me as if he was looking for artists and music similar to Solar Fields, which is what I provided.
I love psytrance in general (as in 90% of the songs that are actually psytrance), but I honestly think goa trance is totally garbage (as in, 98% of all goa trance songs).
But of course, when you're intoxicated with something a little stronger than alcohol, the goa trip is pretty nice as well.
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
I'll just provide a list of some similar groups:
Aes Dana H.U.V.A. Network (collaboration between Aes Dana and Solar Fields) Asura Carbon Based Lifeforms Cell Entheogenic L.S.G. Androcell Shulman Bluetech Kaya Project Vibrasphere
There are many many more but all of those are a good start if you're into psytrance with more complex beats and instrumentation.
If he's spesifically looking to get into Progressive Psy, and yet knows nothning about it, you shouldn't be feeding him false information. None of those artists, save Vibrasphere and L.S.G., is considered progressive. They are ambient/psy chill/psybient or what ever you want to call it. The BPM is much slower than prog. The basslines are also more inconsistent.
It is kinda of an elusive genre, with a lot of downtempo producers and artists make a track or album now and then, but the rest of their stuff isnt Prog.
It seems to me as if he was looking for artists and music similar to Solar Fields, which is what I provided.
But i dont want to start a flamewar over this. He asked for Progressive Psy, and seeing that OP included an Ambient subsection, i guessed he would have asked for that too if that was what he wanted. The sound Solar Fields have on EarthShine isn't their regular tempo (nor sound to some extent). I merely pointed out that if he was looking for Prog, those artist are not what he's looking for. Dont get me wrong, SF, CBL, Aes Dana, etc. are among my favorite artists, but they aren't prog.
It's the greatest thing I've ever heard, this 'progressive' psy. The real thing is a little bit to much for my ears but this is great.
I'll just provide a list of some similar groups:
Aes Dana H.U.V.A. Network (collaboration between Aes Dana and Solar Fields) Asura Carbon Based Lifeforms Cell Entheogenic L.S.G. Androcell Shulman Bluetech Kaya Project Vibrasphere
There are many many more but all of those are a good start if you're into psytrance with more complex beats and instrumentation.
If he's spesifically looking to get into Progressive Psy, and yet knows nothning about it, you shouldn't be feeding him false information. None of those artists, save Vibrasphere and L.S.G., is considered progressive. They are ambient/psy chill/psybient or what ever you want to call it. The BPM is much slower than prog. The basslines are also more inconsistent.
It is kinda of an elusive genre, with a lot of downtempo producers and artists make a track or album now and then, but the rest of their stuff isnt Prog.
It seems to me as if he was looking for artists and music similar to Solar Fields, which is what I provided.
But i dont want to start a flamewar over this. He asked for Progressive Psy, and seeing that OP included an Ambient subsection, i guessed he would have asked for that too if that was what he wanted. The sound Solar Fields have on EarthShine isn't their regular tempo (nor sound to some extent). I merely pointed out that if he was looking for Prog, those artist are not what he's looking for. Dont get me wrong, SF, CBL, Aes Dana, etc. are among my favorite artists, but they aren't prog.
Okay since my first submission was kinda at the edge of genre, my next will be more spot on. This track was one of my first psytrance tracks. Hope you guys enjoy it.
I love how the first answer just won this thread! Anyone know any other psy(trance) like Shpongle, that's not THAT uptempo? I just get stressed by listening to most of the music you guys have posted Also, I really enjoy it when there's REALLY much going on in the sound, so your mind gets all wobbly.
On March 03 2012 22:24 Arnstein wrote: I love how the first answer just won this thread! Anyone know any other psy(trance) like Shpongle, that's not THAT uptempo? I just get stressed by listening to most of the music you guys have posted Also, I really enjoy it when there's REALLY much going on in the sound, so your mind gets all wobbly.
On March 03 2012 22:24 Arnstein wrote: I love how the first answer just won this thread! Anyone know any other psy(trance) like Shpongle, that's not THAT uptempo? I just get stressed by listening to most of the music you guys have posted Also, I really enjoy it when there's REALLY much going on in the sound, so your mind gets all wobbly.
You're looking for psybient, the psychedelic version of ambient/chill music. The Wikipedia page has a good list of prominent artists.
Specific albums you'll probably like:
- Younger Brother - A Flock of Bleeps - Younger Brother - Last Days of Gravity
(Younger Brother is Simon Posford, who is the best half of Shpongle, plus another dude called Prometheus)
- Ott - Blumenkraft
(One of his other albums, Skylon, isn't bad either, but I much prefer Blumenkraft)
Tegma - Desert Tale, from Around the World in 80 Minutes Both "002: Avant.Garde" and "Around the World in 80 Minutes" are great albums. + Show Spoiler +
Perfect Stranger - Those Days, from Learning = Change A little more laid back and relaxed. + Show Spoiler +
Beat Bizarre - Urban Disturbances, from Pandora's Groove Box Very progressive, or minimal psy-trance? Progressive minimal? + Show Spoiler +
On March 03 2012 22:24 Arnstein wrote: I love how the first answer just won this thread! Anyone know any other psy(trance) like Shpongle, that's not THAT uptempo? I just get stressed by listening to most of the music you guys have posted Also, I really enjoy it when there's REALLY much going on in the sound, so your mind gets all wobbly.
Yo!
I was going to respond to this at work today, but couldnt find the time. I guess it's quite specific what you're looking for. Digging trough my library i've come up with a few things that more or less exactly match what youre looking for. (I take it its more like the last two of shpongles albums) Ive also added some albumsuggestions from one who intensely enjoy Posfords work.
Matching
Adham Shaik - Indu. His other songs are generally more laid back, but this fits pretty well.
Androcell - Overall great. Check out his albums Effloressence and Enthemythic. You can spot check the songs Neurosomatic Circuit and Ganja Baba to see if you like it.
Cell - Magic Karma
Deep Forest - The Music Detected album somewhat fits. Its pretty good, but a lot more cheesy than the usual ambient. I just had to put it out there, as i've been listening to them for almost 20 years.
Electrypnose - Sublimian Melanchlies (album)
Enthegenic - every album. Very shpongle-like stuff although they use fewer real instuments. Start with their early stuff.
Hilight Tribe - Their albums retains a high similarity in sound. Check out their best song Free Tibet and see if you like it.
Those were the one's i came up with that sorta match. All my other ambient it more chill, and the psy is way more uptempo.
Other recommended albums:
Chronos & C. J. Catalizer - Quid Est Veritas?
The Infinity Project - Mystical Experiences
Solar Fields - Movements
Aes Dana - Aftermath
Ott - Mir
Carbon Based Lifeforms - World Of Sleepers
All those are ultra high quality ambient albums.
Also when youre browsing, check out astrangelyisolatedplace.com. They have alot of high quality mixes. Especially Helios, Tripswitch, 36, Reflections on 2010. And you MUST check out Parks mix. Its so god damn amazing.
On another note. Ive listened to SOOO much Astral Projection these last months. Theyre so awesome. They were gonna have a 6 hour set in Oslo this fall/winter but the guys organizing it couldnt raise enough cash to pre-pay them. Bummer of the year. Hearing Enlighened Evoltion, Ionized, Aqua Line Spirit ect. played live would probably have been the best live music Ive ever heard. What a bummer!
Edit: Arnstein: If youre really into Si, also chekc out Industrial Suicide Tribe - Aqua Sufi and The Kumba Mela Experiment - The Kumba Mela (Himalayan Dub) which are amazing songs he also made. And Dub Trees which he is also a part of.
On April 06 2012 22:10 NagAfightinG wrote: Whats the point of having a new thread for every subgenre :S
Country is Rock and is also Metal because they all often have a singer, drummer, guitarist and bassist. And to be fair, this thread does cover several subgenres.
Space Cat - Snorkel Blaster, from Shapes of Sound '00
Infected Mushroom - Unbalanced, from B.P.Empire '01
Chi-A.D. - Liquid Neon Sky, from Earth Crossing '02 A Zombie album, was never actually released in '02, rose from the dead in '06 with a digital release.
On Infected Mushroom, they peaked for me with B.P.Empire, not really liked their works past that. Converting Vegetarians had some nice ideas, especially on The Other Side but they never stayed for long on a theme.
On March 03 2012 22:24 Arnstein wrote: I love how the first answer just won this thread! Anyone know any other psy(trance) like Shpongle, that's not THAT uptempo? I just get stressed by listening to most of the music you guys have posted Also, I really enjoy it when there's REALLY much going on in the sound, so your mind gets all wobbly.
You should check out Vibrasphere especially Manzilla and San Pedro.
I've been listening to a lot of Above and Beyond remixes while laddering though I don't know whether they count as psy/goa. I'm going to give a shout out to Sesto Sento, I've been listening to a bunch of their stuff recently (including while laddering) and I'm a huge fan. Oh and here's a question, does anyone know of any good free software for creating electronic music? I've had an interest for a while in trying to mix stuff together myself. I'm unsure whether a background in conventional music (music theory, piano and singing) would be particularly useful. Any thoughts?
Ah!!!!! Just the thread I was looking for! I would normally dislike tracks like these but this brought me back to my high school days where I was really into goa psy! Thanks for this XD
I remember being turned onto this stuff just surfing around the net looking for net radio stations to listen found some Goapsy trance channel and just found it fantastic for relaxing and gaming marathons. Hell this thread poping up is going to get me back into it as I've been kinda at a loss for music I want to listen to while I game.
OK, psytrance and goa trance are NOT interchangeable. Here is a short explanation as to how the scene evolved, genres of the music, and the such... with examples, to give you a feel for what made each genre unique.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxNryu7DKPM *added note: The name is rumored to be "Fry A Graham" shortened, a mention of Graham Wood's time with the Koxbox duo and their psychedelic drug habits. This track is also hugely influential on what happened later in the scene.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjP0FhmKPfg * Shidapu started out as four friends, Shiva Shidapu was one of them with DJ Jorg. That one, along with a friend called Duvdev, later became Infected Mushroom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPzpIwj0oCw * this track was a huge hit. People went apeshit over this. It makes me lose faith in humanity.
At this point we reach the early-mid 2000s, Suomi Saundi and Darkpsy subgenres begin to emerge, Techtrance as well (led by X-Dream/The Delta and Spirallianz). Full-on gets influenced a lot by the Nitzhonot subgenre (with Astrix, who started out making Nitzhonot becoming a new star), and taking on some of the clubbier aspects from the Progressive Psy scene which had dethroned it successfully.... fueled by the spike in MDMA use at parties and the return to indoor parties, it returns with a vengeance. Those same trends made the Progressive Psy subgenre move from dark and droning to take a lot more from it's Progressive House cousins. Suomi Saundi went back to the goa and psytrance roots, and decided to take the crazy one step further, completely ignoring the existence of Full-On, Progressive Psy, Nitzhonot and Techtrance at the start, but at some point becoming a bit more standardized. Darkpsy started out as a revolt against Full-On and Progressive leaving their dark and pounding roots behind for the clubbier sounds, and eventually became distilled pounding. Techtrance has become another subgenre in it's own right, being closer to techno than it is to any of the other subgenres.
The only reason people call these subgenres Psytrance is because that was the name of the father, before they all split apart to become different. Excluding the Suomi Saundi, none of these subgenres are in any way psychedelic, and have very little to do with trance (excluding full-on).
I have left out a lot of names and acts that were hugely influential (Har-El, Green Nuns of the Revolution, Dragonfly Records, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Infected Mushroom and so on). This is a very short version of what actually happened, getting extremely lazy after the explanation of what happened post 2002. Still, I believe that it's a bit less lazy than just giving a one line explanation and an example . This was fueled by people thinking goa trance and psytrance are interchangeable. It's not. They are distinct styles, with distinct cultures behind them.
Ehh, not so sure about Twisted/Simon Posford parts. I can agree with LSD as the revolution starter and Simon as the person who popularized the genre the most. But as far as I know, KoxBox' Forever After predates Twisted. KoxBox took a more laid back approach to this new style. I find the direction of their sound interesting, both groups didn't quite drop the Goa influences on their first albums. Their second albums have only minimal traces, if any, of the old Goa sound. Regardless of who copied who; Twisted, Forever After, The Lone Deranger and Dragon Tales are in my opinion (the) genre defining albums.
On July 15 2012 22:18 GaiaCaT wrote: Ehh, not so sure about Twisted/Simon Posford parts. I can agree with LSD as the revolution starter and Simon as the person who popularized the genre the most. But as far as I know, KoxBox' Forever After predates Twisted. KoxBox took a more laid back approach to this new style. I find the direction of their sound interesting, both groups didn't quite drop the Goa influences on their first albums. Their second albums have only minimal traces, if any, of the old Goa sound. Regardless of who copied who; Twisted, Forever After, The Lone Deranger and Dragon Tales are in my opinion (the) genre defining albums.
God, I feel old when writing this. I loved Forever After when it was released, but it was not quite as clean-cut Psytrance as Twisted, and didn't have nearly as much impact. It was in that way similar to The Art of Trance's (Simon Berry) early stuff. It was a step away from the Goa sound, but it didn't define the genre. Similar in a way to Elvis is credited with revolutionizing Rock and bringing it to the masses: he was NOT the first, but he did push the boundaries until people accepted a new definition for that specific sound.
I agree that Koxbox had an important role in the transition from Goa, but if you look for early pioneers of the sound, you can go back to the late 80s. Hallucinogen defined it. In general, I prefer Koxbox to Hallucinogen (much prefer Shpongle, Younger Brother and Celtic Cross when it comes to Posford), but as someone who was already quite involved with the Israeli scene (I know a lot of the musicians and label people), I know for a fact that Koxbox were not nearly as influential. We could also name MWNN as another pioneer, and The Infinity Project were already pushing the boundaries as well. In general though, it was the English Psytrance scene, led by Posford.
As I mentioned in my post, I got rather lazy with all the details.
Hey Kazius, that was an absolutely fantastic post. Really. I wonder though, what is the state of music actually like in Goa these days? Is Goa still a hippy paradise? Has it become commercialized? Or something else? It would be great to go there if it's still worth going to...
On July 16 2012 00:10 Fighter wrote: Hey Kazius, that was an absolutely fantastic post. Really. I wonder though, what is the state of music actually like in Goa these days? Is Goa still a hippy paradise? Has it become commercialized? Or something else? It would be great to go there if it's still worth going to...
It's still got parties, but it's not quite the hippy paradise it was since the local crackdown on the hippy market. It is no longer the influential Mecca of the psychedelic trance. It has become more commercialized, but not by too much. The equivalent of Goa nowadays is the big international festivals, where the truly massive parties go on for days. That being said, there are still parties, hippies and plenty of ehm... party materials available there. India is an awesome place to travel, it's relatively cheap and has some amazing places.
Gah, I love furious but couldn't get into crazy astronaut at all. So cheesy!
Also hallucinogen did not define psy... his first album was 95, first goa/psy stuff was 93/94. It'd probably more be the first flying rhino compilations, distance to goa, juno reactor, total eclipse and stuff like that.
Check out this guy's set, it's a recording from prime time (4-5.30am) at a party i was at saturday night/sun morning. http://www.sendspace.com/file/4k36ca
On July 16 2012 21:21 xodarap wrote: I'm sure there are some online radio stations geared toward psych/goa trance. Anybody have any links? So far I've been using pandora and although pleased, I'd like to expand my horizons.
biggest and bestest online electronic music radio station: di.fm (http://www.di.fm/).
This is from their first album Persistence and has an awesome intro track right before it using a sound segment of Fox Mulder giving a 5 minute synopsis of the X-Files storyline that transitions perfectly into this one :D
Also GMS is coming to South Africa! :D Can anyone recommend me some good tracks / albums to listen to beforehand? (Sadly enough I've only ever heard Arabian Nights by them, but are interested buying / getting more )
On July 17 2012 00:27 Liamgamer55 wrote: Triplag radio is a good darkpsy radio station. They also have a chillout channel(which I believe is psybient, ambient, dub etc).
There's also schizoid.in which has psy, ambient, prog and other edm channels.
+1 for triplag, Eastern European Darkpsy is the best. Also, this man needs some more credit. Darkpsy that will blow you away: + Show Spoiler +
I recommend listen to John"00"Flemings Global Trance Grooves, fantastic person(met him IRL) and DJ. He has been a DJ for such a long time. In GTG he plays prog, dark trance and psy. And always some great guestmixes, last show he had Lyctum on a really good upcoming producer. Also listen to the guestmix by Tristan(ep107 i think), awesome oldtime UK DJ. You can find all mixes on soundcloud. http://soundcloud.com/john00fleming
[QUOTE]On July 17 2012 01:52 Liamgamer55 wrote: Well john 00 flemming I reckon is a hypocrite. He constantly blogs about how commercial trance is getting, then makes a mix for ministry of sound. [/QUOTE
First of all its Fleming, second so what? And if he was a "hypocrite" he would do it every year and charge for his mixes etc, he is not. Not everything is black & white. But If you feel so, go ahead.
The Festivals are all super great just for those who never went, an absolute amazing thing to do.
My favs are so far BOOM(POR), Antaris(GER), Full Moon Festival(GER), Ozora(UNG), Transsilvania calling(ROM).
VooV is kinda to big for me in a bad way also too much police to enjoy (last time a friend of mine was dragged off the festival and into a police station becouse he had like half a gram of weed on him :/) poor guy.
But every festival is great i guess, just didnt went to them all yet.
Im from Munich BTW if anyone has some hints where to go around here i am not very aware whats going on here but miss the events a lot.
Gonna have to say I have some significant issues with what kazius has said. Like for one, lots of full on is psychedelic, try listening to that shit on acid, it works, sure there's some cheesy shit out there that's just all about being dancey but that's not all of it. There's definitely some darker full on that has a focus on psychedelic moods as well.
Also, that x-dream track is too early to be concidered goa trance.
On July 17 2012 02:10 Chilling5pr33 wrote: The Festivals are all super great just for those who never went, an absolute amazing thing to do.
My favs are so far BOOM(POR), Antaris(GER), Full Moon Festival(GER), Ozora(UNG), Transsilvania calling(ROM).
VooV is kinda to big for me in a bad way also too much police to enjoy (last time a friend of mine was dragged off the festival and into a police station becouse he had like half a gram of weed on him :/) poor guy.
But every festival is great i guess, just didnt went to them all yet.
Im from Munich BTW if anyone has some hints where to go around here i am not very aware whats going on here but miss the events a lot.
Agreed, festivals are the best! I've been to Ozora, Sonica (in Italy) and Boom. It was awesome every time.
I have taken a particular liking to Boom, I've already been there three times and I'll be going there again in less than two weeks. They only organize it once every two years, so I have been looking forward to this trip like crazy. It's in Portugal, so the weather's great, everything is relatively cheap compared to Belgium, the festival has a very nice and varied selection of music, plus it's lakeside, so you can go swimming whenever you want.. It's pretty much heaven to me. I seriously can't wait.
On July 17 2012 02:10 Chilling5pr33 wrote: The Festivals are all super great just for those who never went, an absolute amazing thing to do.
My favs are so far BOOM(POR), Antaris(GER), Full Moon Festival(GER), Ozora(UNG), Transsilvania calling(ROM).
VooV is kinda to big for me in a bad way also too much police to enjoy (last time a friend of mine was dragged off the festival and into a police station becouse he had like half a gram of weed on him :/) poor guy.
But every festival is great i guess, just didnt went to them all yet.
Im from Munich BTW if anyone has some hints where to go around here i am not very aware whats going on here but miss the events a lot.
Agreed, festivals are the best! I've been to Ozora, Sonica (in Italy) and Boom. It was awesome every time.
I have taken a particular liking to Boom, I've already been there three times and I'll be going there again in less than two weeks. They only organize it once every two years, so I have been looking forward to this trip like crazy. It's in Portugal, so the weather's great, everything is relatively cheap compared to Belgium, the festival has a very nice and varied selection of music, plus it's lakeside, so you can go swimming whenever you want.. It's pretty much heaven to me. I seriously can't wait.
Oh man i have to work full on TT, but have a great time and a good trip back and forth and also there well i will hopefully manage to find some underground events around munich so i can manage to get the experience without spending too much money.
soo jelly but happy to see there are Psy people @ TL :D
Sonica was awesome when i went i guess it was 2008 or 2009
Nitz-ho goa - the best subgenre of this entire family in my opinion. The most energetic, with crazy indian melodies, with original goa and acid sounds. Jawdropping and filling with pure joy at the same time.
So how many of you guys actually goto psy festivals/clubs/doofs/raves? Personbally I love them, not just for the music, but for the chill atmosphere and the crowd.
I've been to several outdoor events here in South Africa which are really awesome, but seeing that I'm a huge psybient / chillout fan (my favourite artists are literally all from the whole Ultimae Records group) I would love to attend one of their parties in Europe. Sadly enough we don't get that much psychill here - it's mostly just full-on-ish trance and Darkpsy :/
1995 was my first first Goa Party, have been to a lot since then...not much anymore though :/ So much great fun back then...Just hopping into a car with a couple of friends and nothing more than a mobile nr. which served as a hotline to guide you to the location, since most of the parties weren't exactly official :D Ending up in random fields or warehouses and spending the weekend there ♥
Favourite of all times is probably the whole "Freq - Strange Attractors" LP. Great tunes and top notch production.
I love psytrance and its subgenres... the vibe, the people, the music, everything is fantastic.
My friends and I will be attending Eclipse Festival 2012 (Canada) : July 27-30... The site is amazing, a nice valley, a beach, 3 stages on a nice camping ground... about 4 hours from toronto/montreal Let me know if any of you guys are going... It's going to be a blast
Has anyone listened to the new Infected Mushroom album? Being a huge Infected Mushroom fan I've always treated lightly among other psytrancers when admitting to listening to IM as the general feeling is that they have become somewhat sold-out (which I can sortof agree to listening to their past 3 albums). I think, however, that most people will agree that they were big names in the psytrance/goa scene at some point, especially in their earlier albums.
Now my question is, when do you guys feel have they lost their "psytranciness?" or do you still think they are still part of the psytrance genre? The reason I'm asking this is because most of my non-trancer friends always refer to IM as psytrance and although its probably correct, IM doesn't in my eyes exactly represent the scene anymore (especially with Army of Mushrooms). Any thoughts?
On July 20 2012 22:49 Hoender wrote: Has anyone listened to the new Infected Mushroom album? Being a huge Infected Mushroom fan I've always treated lightly among other psytrancers when admitting to listening to IM as the general feeling is that they have become somewhat sold-out (which I can sortof agree to listening to their past 3 albums). I think, however, that most people will agree that they were big names in the psytrance/goa scene at some point, especially in their earlier albums.
Now my question is, when do you guys feel have they lost their "psytranciness?" or do you still think they are still part of the psytrance genre? The reason I'm asking this is because most of my non-trancer friends always refer to IM as psytrance and although its probably correct, IM doesn't in my eyes exactly represent the scene anymore (especially with Army of Mushrooms). Any thoughts?
IM stopped being real psytrance with the vicious delicious album for me. It's not a bad thing as such (I like a lot of their songs post-2007) but its definitely branched out into a multitude of different sounds and left the 'pure' psy behind.
As the poster above me said, IM is popular enough that people know of them as psytrance before they know anything about what psytrance actually is.
I just started getting into the genre a few days ago and im really liking a lot of the foreign stuff being posted here. I.E. Khetzal, Mahamudra etc.. I just wish i didnt have to scour the entire internet to find a download xD Heres the playlist im listening to atm, loving the indian melodic influence here.
On July 20 2012 22:49 Hoender wrote: Has anyone listened to the new Infected Mushroom album? Being a huge Infected Mushroom fan I've always treated lightly among other psytrancers when admitting to listening to IM as the general feeling is that they have become somewhat sold-out (which I can sortof agree to listening to their past 3 albums). I think, however, that most people will agree that they were big names in the psytrance/goa scene at some point, especially in their earlier albums.
Now my question is, when do you guys feel have they lost their "psytranciness?" or do you still think they are still part of the psytrance genre? The reason I'm asking this is because most of my non-trancer friends always refer to IM as psytrance and although its probably correct, IM doesn't in my eyes exactly represent the scene anymore (especially with Army of Mushrooms). Any thoughts?
Well Im very biased because IM has been an integral part of most of my life (25 now, been listening for 12 years). Here's the gist of why they are so despised by the psy community. Erez Aizen has been a poster boy psytrance ever since he broke into the scene in the late 90s. He first formed Shiva Shidapu with Jörg Kessler (although he had prior projects) and their two albums VA - Shiva Space Technology and Shivasidpao: The Album has was recognized as some of the best psy ever created. He then went on to create IM with Duvdev which came from a heavy metal background (i believe) and the results speak for themselves. I mean, in my humble opinion, any of the first three IM albums or any compil they appeared on they fucking killed it. It was so good! Hallucinogen had more or less stopped putting out trance at that time and people were looking for some new saviors! However people widely recognized Erez as being the brains behind IM (which i believe is true) and Duvdev was just "around" i guess. The story (according to psy-people) was that Duvdev wanted to play a bigger part, but his musical skills dident suffice. He also felt a need to gain more popularity and money so they started to dumb the sound down. I guess you know what happened after, Converting Vegetarians was the beginning of a looooong road downhill. People say Duvdev just ran over Erez and started calling all the shots, but i dont know what really happened.
All I know is that my second favorite psy act of all time (only slightly after Hallucinogen) started making candyfloss trance instead of intricate, exciting and melodious psy. I used to go into fits of rage like you wouldnt believe, but ive now come to terms that what once was is now gone. I just have to be happy with the great stuff they made, and not this crap they put out now. And lets be honest, i can see why money, fame and all the stuff that comes with it would appeal instead of playing for a few hundred drugged out wanna be hippies. Just too bad they had to sacrifice their music and what made them great for it.
Most of my rage has now subsided, but what i find utterly disrespectful is how they now start taking classic and amazing IM tracks running through the meatgrinder-candyfloss-machine just to sell more albums. Why would just destroy something beautiful's legacy like that? Its the same Hollywood does nowadays. They take classic movies, add some shit that isnt neeeded just for an extra buck. Thats why i was enraged they put IM - The Messenger (new awful in comparison version) in the GSL and not the Jörg on Mushroom original. Actually i wrote a lengthy mail to the sound director but i havent received any reply.
Whoa Aphasie, you just made me realise that those two "albums" in my IM collection are actually Shiva Shidapu and not bootleg compilations of IM singles! It feels like I've been living a lie
To be honest what actually got me into psy was IM's Converting Vegetarians (I was a late adopter of trance ) and I'm pretty sure it's the same for a lot of people. Listening to the new album a second time now, I must say I'm starting to find it a bit more tolerable (first listening session made me very sad :/) I must admit I was also quite disappointed with the remix of The Messenger - something that I really enjoyed of IM's older chillout work was the jazzy feel they had, especially in this track - I want my cheesy saxophone-playing back :/
Perfect opportunity to link the original and reminisce... The Messenger (Original) - Jorg on Mushroom + Show Spoiler +
On July 22 2012 04:01 Hoender wrote: Whoa Aphasie, you just made me realise that those two "albums" in my IM collection are actually Shiva Shidapu and not bootleg compilations of IM singles! It feels like I've been living a lie
To be honest what actually got me into psy was IM's Converting Vegetarians (I was a late adopter of trance ) and I'm pretty sure it's the same for a lot of people. Listening to the new album a second time now, I must say I'm starting to find it a bit more tolerable (first listening session made me very sad :/) I must admit I was also quite disappointed with the remix of The Messenger - something that I really enjoyed of IM's older chillout work was the jazzy feel they had, especially in this track - I want my cheesy saxophone-playing back :/
Perfect opportunity to link the original and reminisce... The Messenger (Original) - Jorg on Mushroom + Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDUVpliTuU
NP man. If you come to Oslo early in September you'll hear that song played live by Jörg. Its a long fucking trek from South Africa, but if you have the cash I think it'll be worth it.
On July 17 2012 05:31 Liamgamer55 wrote: Gonna have to say I have some significant issues with what kazius has said. Like for one, lots of full on is psychedelic, try listening to that shit on acid, it works, sure there's some cheesy shit out there that's just all about being dancey but that's not all of it. There's definitely some darker full on that has a focus on psychedelic moods as well.
Also, that x-dream track is too early to be concidered goa trance.
Of course Full-on works on acid. So does techno, so does prog-house, so does rock. A lot of things "work" on acid. Psychedelic within the historical Psytrance culture is something else; it is a certain "twisted" feel to the music, when full-on nowadays is all about keeping all the sounds up-front and in your face, melodically simple, and bass driven. Sure there is darker and more psychedelic full-on; it's just the minority and gets played less at parties. What was said was a generalization; we are agreed on that. But given the music out there, it's the closest a generalization can get.
That X-Dream track is not too early to be considered goa trance, at the time it was a goa trance hit that everyone in the scene knew and loved. If you want questionable on the goa scale, go back to the 80s, when it was just considered a new form of "electronic dance music".
What is considered the closest thing to the first goa release is KLF's What Time is Love? (Pure Trance Version), released in 1988. It's not really Goa as we know it, but the main elements are there:
There's plenty of morning stuff that's trippy and very psychedelic (e.g. sun control species - spines) that you wouldn't describe as "twisted" so I don't think you could categorise things quite that easily.
I don't think there's many people who concider klf to be goa... I met a guy who said he'd been listening to psy trance since the 70s once though. Hell I've never even heard of the KLF being on any 80s goa tracklists, apparently it was all new wave and ebm back then.
Hey guys just a bump to let you guys know about the ektoplazm kickstarter campaign to launch version 2.0 of the site http://www.indiegogo.com/ektoplazm-2012 If you didn't know about ektoplazm it's a site with thousands (if not more) of releases in various psy styles that you can download for free (and is legal) in flac, mp3 or wav. Apparently it's also the biggest site of it's kind (2x larger than bandcamp for instance)
Nitz-ho-goa is something nice that ive found just recently. Most notably i acquired a compilation called VA - Prozoa 2.0 from Sita Records, who seem to be focused solely on this subgenre. Its awesome, and i recommend it for anyone who likes this kind of sound. Few tracks from it:
So I was watching the new GSL season (day 1) today and noticed that there's two more Infected Mushroom tracks that they used for their pre-game "advertising" segments - "Sailing in the Sea of Mushroom" and "Dracul" (both from the "Classical Mushroom" album). I'm guessing someone in GSL really likes IM :D
These two and the other 3 (Pretender cover, Poquito Mas and Messenger 2012 remake) make up 5 IM tracks that I've heard played on GSL so far , but the last two are from their second oldest album. Here's hoping to more old school Infected Mushroom in the next couple of GSLs!
Whats even better is that i might hear them on a sweet PA later tonight, as ShivaJörg (of shiva shidapu) and Lemurians are playing! Its gonna be the best Goa party Oslo has seen in years. So. fucking. excited!
Aww awesome wish I could go! Funnily enough they actually played a remix version of Area 51 at Sprung trance party here in SA today! I reckon its probably because of Shidapu playing there in Oslo...
Any other TLers going to the twistival?. Its a one day festival nov. 3rd in London. It has an amazing line up, Shpongle (dj) Hallucinogen, Younger Brother, Prometheus, Lucas. Im really excited to hear The Zap (Benji + Raja) too.
Also, you guys must hear Avalon. Its the best fucking psy Ive heard in years. A real treat! Both his album and the the remix album are a _must hear_ for any psy-lover
Contains _a lot_ of protoss samples. Dragoon, Fenix Cut scene (in the temple with the hydra), probe, forge music, Zeratul, dark templar, psi storm, zelot death, judicator Aldaris and some toss music (maybe from the campaign briefings?)
If you're gonna hate on a genre in its designated thread you should put a little more effort into your posting. Maybe you actually check out the names of the most popular artists too.
I think there's a lot of good/cool sounding artist names in the genre:
GMS - Growling Mad Scientist (probably my favorite band name of all time) MFG - Message From God TIP - The Infinity Project Hux Flux Koxbox Logic Bomb Man With No Name Jaïa
On October 19 2012 03:22 vultdylan wrote: i like how a lot of the artists/songs are named after drugs. very... creative.
Yea, all the artists/songs are named after drugs if you ignore the names about nature, space, other life-forms, feelings, spirituality, meditation, love, energy, sychronicity, etc... You are right my friend.
So I've been listening to some really awesome old school (1995) trance and I must say I'm really liking it so far - especially Total Eclipse's Delta Aquardis album
"Free Lemonade" - a really awesome song with an awesome quote aswell: + Show Spoiler +
Do you guys have any suggestions for artists / albums similar to Delta Aquardis?
Oh man, some really nice tracks have been posted here, especially Time simulation and Dracul.
Haven't been keeping up with new psy in the last 4-5 years, unless some of my friends recommends something good and new. Nowadays I mostly listen to prog like Egorythmia, E-Clip, Ace Ventura and oldies like Son Kite and Ticon.
These are tracks from his latest album "Patience for Heaven" released in october, last year. You can also download his 2007 album (remastered) "Inner Cyclone" for free (legal) from Ektoplazm.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XTu1q.jpg)
/spoiler]
. This was fueled by people thinking goa trance and psytrance are interchangeable. It's not. They are distinct styles, with distinct cultures behind them.
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.. I could easily add in another 100 tracks but these are some of my all time favorites.
