1. How did it all start?Life is everywhere we look, from worms in the soil beneath our feet to tiny plants in the purest spring water, in the air we breathe. Where there is life there is evolution; it's a part of the deal. Evolution affects not only the physical forms life takes but also its behaviour, and homo sapiens has certainly developed some remarkably complex cultures and societies over the millenia. But also music is constantly evoluting... That's why there is Goa-Trance right now!!
Now let's jump to the sixties and remind ourselves of a place called Goa in India. During the late sixties Goa has turned into a beach for freaks, rock stars, travelers, and various other excitement hunters, who lived by the ancient mantra of "sex, drugs and rock and roll". Although the fab of Goa has dropped by the late 80's, a hard-core group of Europeans and Americans have remained in that place. By the early 90's, people in Goa have found out the wonderful effect of the Acid music on a stoned head and started to further develop the style. The first people to do so were Goa Gil (It's really THE Goa-guru and a completely insane hippie from San Francisco) and his friends, who were living in Goa and experimenting with various musical styles to dance to since the late 60's (They made a LP with their post-industrial band Kode IV on Belgium's KK label).
Anyway, in the 80's there was still no Goa-Trance in Goa, at that time you'd be likely to hear Talking Heads or Yello. The turning point was Techno, in the times before it was cool or had even been named. The days when it was Industrial or New Beat. While Acid House was shaking the UK, Goa was being pounded by the Belgian group Front 242 or A Split Second."It had the type of stomping groove that people could settle into for hours and hours" explains Mark Allen, famous Goa-DJ, owner of the Phantasm-label and member of Mindfield.
But there were more influences as the New Wave/Industrial music of Front 242, Einstьrzen Neubauten, Killing Joke and the likes. At the same time there was the electronic disco of Detroit and because of all the hippies there was still a psychedelic influence from the music from the 70's. All those styles were mixed together till there was a new kind of music. The people discovered that this music was still very psychedelic and XTC and LSD-friendly! Since that day this Trance-music had a name: Goa-Trance!
2. The Psychedelic Goa-Trance...To start I want to say that I'm using the words "Psychedelic Trance" and "Goa-Trance" for the same kind of music! But what really is Goa-Trance? Because Goa-Trance came out of New Beat, Gothic, New Wave, Industrial, Electro, Detroit & Psychedelic Rock it has an unique sound that is more complicated as the most modern Electronic dance music!
I can't give you a definition of Psychedelic Trance simply because there's NO definition!! But I can give You some typical things of Goa-Trance :
-The time of a track is generally around 8'30", but can be between 6'00" and 12'00" ... sometimes more, sometimes under 6'00" (especially on mixed compilations), but too short tracks are generally hard to get into.
-The beat is generally 4/4 and around 135-150 BPM ... sometimes less, rarely more!
-In the music there's a constant use of strange and psychedelic sounds, and that gives a strange atmosphere. Sometimes those sounds are frogs, barking dogs, crying baby's but mostly you can't describe it... You simply have to hear it!! Also used are the famous acid or 303 sounds, and even guitars, who drive people completely crazy!
-Most Goa (but NOT all) is also very melodic.
-The music is mostly very full on, good to dance...
-The basslines are mostly harder and deeper as from normal Trance or Techno.
-The combination of all those things make this music very good for dancing, tripping and listening...!
So like you see Psychedelic Trance is something different. Before I end this part it's maybe good to know the explanation of some terms used in English for some kinds of Goa-Trance:
"Nizhonot" = The cheesy, pretty simple and happy Goa-trance, the most famous Nizhonot producer is Holy Men
"Minimalistic Trance" = A rather new and progressive style, it's made out of a hard bassline, with only a few but well chosen Psychedelic sounds, very good to dance! Famous artists are Intact Instinct, Son Kite, Die Sonne,...
"Morning Trance" = The melodic dream-trance, it's good to dance during a sunrise and after... And mostly the melodies are really touching! For example: Yahel, MFG, Shidapu, Hyperion,...
"Psychedelic Ambient" = This is the softer Psychedelic Trance, great for chilling or listening at home when you're tired.
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