Psychedelic trance, psytrance or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of synthetic rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs.
Psytrance lies at the hardcore, underground end of the diverse trance spectrum. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full on, darkpsy, Hi-Tech, progressive, suomi, psy-chill, psycore, psybient, psybreaks, or "adapted" tracks from other music genres. Goa trance preceded psytrance; when digital media became more commonly used psytrance evolved. Goa continues to develop alongside the other genres.
History
Origins
The first hippies who arrived in Goa, India in the mid-1960s were drawn there for many reasons, including the beaches, the low cost of living, the friendly locals, the Indian religious and spiritual practices and the readily available Indian cannabis, which until the mid-1970s was legal. During the 1970s the first Goa DJs were generally playing psychedelic rock bands such as the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and The Doors. In 1979 the beginnings of electronic dance music could occasionally be heard in Goa in the form of tracks by artists such as Kraftwerk but it was not until 1983 that DJs Laurent and Fred Disko, closely followed by Goa Gil, began switching the Goa style over to electro-industrial/EBM which was now flooding out of Europe from Frontline Assembly, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb as well as Eurobeat.
The tracks were remixed, removing the lyrics, looping the melodies and beats and generally manipulating the sounds in all manner of ways before the tracks were finally presented to the dancers as custom Goa-style mixes.
By 1990â€"91 Goa was no longer under the radar and had become a hot destination for partying. As the scene grew bigger, Goa-style parties spread like a diaspora all over the world from 1993. Parties like Pangaea and megatripolis in the UK helped spawn a multitude of labels in various countries (U.K. Australia, Japan, Germany) to promote psychedelic electronic music that reflected the ethos of Goa parties, Goa music, and Goa-specific artists, producers, and DJs. Goa Trance as commercial scene began gaining global traction in 1994. The golden age of the first wave of Goa Psy Trance as a generally agreed upon genre was between 1994â€"97.
Development
By 1992 the Goa trance scene had a pulse of its own, though the term 'Goa trance' didn’t become the name tag of the genre until around 1994. The Goa trance sound, which by the late 1990s was being used interchangeably with the term psychedelic trance, retained its popularity at outdoor raves and festivals, but also permanent psytrance nightclubs emerged such as Natraj Temple in Munich. New artists were appearing from all over the world and it was in this year that the first Goa trance festivals began, including the Gaia Festival in France and the still-running VuuV festival in Germany.
In 1993 the first 100% Goa trance album was released, Project 2 Trance, featuring tracks by Man With No Name and Hallucinogen to name two. Goa trance enjoyed its commercial peak between 1996 and 1997 with media attention and some recognised names in the DJ scene joining the movement. This hype did not last long and once the attention had died down so did the music sales, resulting in the failure of record labels, promotion networks and also some artists. This ‘commercial death of Goa trance’ was marked musically by Matsuri Productions in 1997 with the release of the compilation Let it RIP. On the back sleeve of the album at the bottom of the notes, R.I.P : Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, William Burroughs & Goa Trance was written.
While the genre may have been incubated in the goa trance scene it went on to proliferate globally. Its impact was felt in western Europe, Israel, North America, Australia, Japan and South Africa. Psytrance is linked to other music genres such as big beat, electroclash, grime and 2-step. The genre evolved in conjunction with a multimedia psychedelic arts scene.
Styles
Psychedelic trance has a distinctive, energetic sound (generally between 135 and 150 BPM) that tends to be faster than other forms of trance or techno music. It uses a very distinctive resonated bass beat that pounds constantly throughout the song and overlays the bass with varying rhythms drawn from funk, techno, dance, acid house, eurodance and trance using drums and other instruments. The different leads, rhythms and beats generally change every eight bars. Layering is used to great effect in psychedelic trance, with new musical ideas being added at regular intervals, often every four to eight bars. New layers will continue to be added until a climax is reached, and then the song will break down and start a new rhythmic pattern over the constant bass line. Psychedelic trance tracks tend to be six to ten minutes long.
Full-On
Full-on is a psychedelic trance style that is particularly popular in Israel. Full-on psychedelic trance is a High-energy music for peak moments. Often having melodic, energetic and crisp basslines with a high bpm (usually 140 to 148 bpm). There are some related styles that are derived from this style and are distinguished as different varieties of full-on: twilight and night full on (or dark full on) playing bolder and lower notes in their basslines, morning (light), and uplifting.
Progressive
Progressive psytrance, is among the common party themes, normally distinguished between a psytrance (often fullon), and progressive dance floor. Example progressive artists include Astrix Protonica or Ovnimoon.
Darkpsy
Dark psychedelic trance is the heavier end of the psychedelic trance spectrum with BPMs from about 148 and up. Related styles include psycore (fast and crazy), hi-tech (bouncy and glitchy), and forest (organic and earthy). Characterized of having obscure, deep and more eschatological background that leads into profund meditation of death, night and transcendence. Often with dismal sounds and heavy basslines.
Festivals
Large psytrance festivals are both culturally and musically diverse. They have attracted a following amongst international backpackers. Earthdance, the world's largest synchronized music and dance festival for peace, has its roots in the psychedelic trance scene. In Australia, pioneering outdoor festival Earthcore began in 1992 and runs a yearly event predominately featuring psytrance amongst the long list of international performers. Rainbow Serpent Festival and Maitreya Festival are also held in Victoria.
The Boom Festival in Portugal was originally a psytrance festival but now includes world music. It is held every second year in August and combines social activism with cultural and spiritual elements. In 2004, the Glastonbury Festival dedicated a full day on the Glade stage to psytrance.
Ozora festival in Hungary is held every year during summer days on a private estate near village Dadpuszta, and it originally started as a party called Solipse which was held during the August 1999 solar eclipse.
Noisily Festival in the United Kingdom is an electronic music festival in the UK. Held in July the festival features a large psychedelic trance stage. Noisly 2015 featured a rare appearance in the UK by Parasense.
South Africa has numerous psytrance festivals. The favourable weather and beautiful landscape have made it part of a number of global destinations for the party traveller.
There are multiple well-known recurring psytrance festivals in the USA. On the East Coast, Massachusetts-based Fractaltribe hosts their annual Fractalfest while New York State's Radial Engine Tribe has Smoke On The Water. Chilluminati's Sacred Earth Open-Air Festival covers the Midwest, and T.O.U.C.H. Samadhi's Equinox is in North Carolina. On the West Coast, Psytribe's Freakshow has been a Halloween fixture for 16 years. Northern California hosts Symbiosis which is in its 11th year. The Burning Man festival in Nevada has also featured a number of psytrance-oriented camps and DJ performances.
Sub-cultural research
In 2007 research was conducted on the global psytrance scene. 600 people from 40 countries provided detailed information via an online questionnaire. The results were published as "Beyond Subculture and Post-subculture? The Case of Virtual Psytrance" in the Journal of Youth Studies.
In 2013 Graham St. John published Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance on Equinox Publishing.
See also
- Suomisaundi
- List of electronic music genres
- Return to the Source
References
Sources
- St John, Graham. (ed) 2010. The Local Scenes and Global Culture of Psytrance. London: Routledge. (ISBNÂ 978-0415876964).
- St. John, G. 2011. DJ Goa Gil: Kalifornian Exile, Dark Yogi and Dreaded Anomaly. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 3(1): 97â€"128.
- St. John, G. 2012. Seasoned Exodus: The Exile Mosaic of Psyculture. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 4(1): 4â€"37.
External links
- Psychedelic Trance at DMOZ
- psytrancefestivals.com - listing the world's most popular psytrance festivals!
