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Where does psytrance need to go?


Qualium

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Can you explain (in any terms you like) any particular directions you would like psytrance to head and what musical regions you would like it to explore? Feel free to use poetic, metaphorical, subjective language to describe it if you like, as this can be the best way to describe the nebulous aesthetic qualities of music.

 

And if you possess theoretical and/or production knowledge you're most welcome to offer your your views in that kind of jargon too.

 

 

Now for stream of consciousness of a few of my views:

 

Personally, I'd like psytrance that's a little funkier - I like music where I can loosen up and groove a bit. Rigid rhythmic structures can feel too mechanical to me. I want to be enjoying myself on the dancefloor rather than feeling like I'm performing a chore. Mind you, there's a certain level of rhythmic regularity, a kind of musical gridwork, that grounds psytrance, and I don't think it should be lost in a chaotic mess of breakbeats.

 

I also like hearing sounds that aren't familiar, or at least hint at a certain element of unfamiliarity. I find that there's too much of the same kinds of synths and effects used in more or less the same kinds of ways. There's a lot of new synths, softsynths and production tools around that have the ability to yield realms ripe for psytrance exploration. And just because the sounds are unfamiliar, it doesn't mean that they have to be made to sound self-consciously so.

 

Actually self-consciousness seems to be an easy trap to fall in. Producers can resrict themselves by defining the kind of music they make or want to make and thereby wall themselves into a certain kind of sound that has already been done to death.

 

Perhaps the self-consciousness manifests itself most obviously in attempts to be 'extreme' or superlative in one respect or another - dark, hard, melodic, full-on, deep, psy, minimalist, progressive, warm-and fuzzy, whatever. By trying to create the be-all and end-all of a certain kind of music the result can all too easily come across sounding try-hard and/or uninspired. Some of the best results can emerge from taking it to the brink and then pulling back and adding a splash of the opposite, or something else entirely. I think that there are so many places on the planet of sound where lakes of yin can be found in mountain ranges of yang and islands of yang can be found in seas of yin.

 

I say these things not to point an ungrateful finger at all 'those producers out there', but to speak as a producer myself who is on his own search and who wants to point out the many technical and creative blockages he has encountered in bringing the fullness of the soundscapes in his mind into consensual reality. I am someone who loves psytrance, and in particular, the potential of psytrance, and has spent many years and dollars learning about and experimenting with psytrance production. I wish to voice how I feel about the sparks of inspiration, oceans of bliss, forests of wonder, and caverns of the bizzare I have visited, and all those grooving, partying beings I have encountered there in this most life-affirming of journeys. I'm attempting to clarify where I feel rigidity could give way to more fluidity in the world of psytrance.

 

I know that this is electronic music, but the machines are just the instruments - they might make the [/i]sounds but they don't make the music. I want to hear the ghost in the machine. For music to be genuinely psychedelic (meaning literally 'mind-manifesting') it has to take us to places of revelation, where our consciousness expands, our preconceptions dissolve and the very core of our being is revealed.

 

Anyway, that's a bit of my humble opinion for you. :)

Cheers, Q

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i like it when music makes sense to my brain. my brain reads and understand music that has a certain logic. if the track follows certain "geometries", then it is accessible to the brain and the brain sends the information and effects to the rest of your body. so this way you find yourself enjoying a track more or less.

i'd like psytrance to stay that way.

my taste is very variated, i dig psytrance, some full-on, prog trance, minimal, tech-trance, dark psy, finnish psy, tech-house, and who knows what else. i can find melodies in the weirdest tracks, if my brain finds the "geometry" of it.

 

i would not like psytrance to go running up the hills and become all about "who's got the most psychedelic samples" or about "let's load this track with as many psychdelic samples as possible, blow people's minds off", or "who's more powerful in bass line and kicks" or "who's faster" .. cause then psytrance would become just noise, squirls, scratches, and other weird noises on some bass line. i would not like that.

 

i guess every music producer is hoping to bring something new in the scene with his/her music. psytrance needs to go in the "brain accessible" way.

 

also, psytrance needs to go the "less drugs usage" way. or we'll have more and more cops around us while dancing.

 

i hope nobody starts contradicting me, just mind your own bussiness and post your damn opinnion on this topic.

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Where does psytrance need to go?, How do you want it to develop?

 

just how it goes... I have no opinion... you can't change it so...

 

let's see what happens and experience... ;)

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Why does everyone whine at this wonderful genre so much? :o

 

Sure, there will always be subgenres and styles that disgust me... but the good stuff is pretty darn enjoyable. At least for me. As long as fullon or commercialism in general doesn't stop the underground styles from developing, I'm happy :o

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I wrote what I want in many topics, I don't want to repeat myself but everything is in IDEA, story, variation and precision.

 

I want TRANCE to be able to put me in the STATE OF TRANCE again, finally... :)

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I wrote this in another thread some months ago:

 

I would like the evolution to be less genre focused and more focused on psychedelic music. A mix of serious head music and light hearted extroverted groovy fun music would be lovely. My dream party would be a blend of deep house, techno, psy-trance and the new interpretations of samba, tango and jazz. People gathering to enjoy the borderless psychedelic music experience, rather then the genre specific psychedelic trance experience.

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i think it would need more complicated rythms and beats, using little bit longer with the drum machine than putting the kick drum to every beat.. also some real musical ideas not just a simple bass line and some simple leads, it sounds so dead and sequenced nothing alive

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1. I would like to see more tracks in the 140-142 bpm range. People either make slow prog or fast fullon these days. I like the middle ground, because it get's both crowds on the dancefloor.

 

2. A return to psychedelia - less vocals and pop melodies. Less guitars and more creative synth sounds. I like to be sent on a journey out of my world, not reminded of it.

 

3. Less remixes of Pop stuff and more remixes of psy-trance stuff. Psy remixes push the scene forward. Someone has an idea and then another artists improves on it. This is progress!

 

4. More originiality. Sensient and Black and White's albums have really stood out for me this year, eventhough they are not pushing the boundaries of creativity that hard. I guess there's a lot of mediocrity and "sounds like" stuff out there these days. We need a few bands/artists out there to break new ground and raise the bar.

 

5. New tools. When the Fender Stratocaster came out it changed rock music. Psytrance has been developing with technology. So we need a technological breakthrough to influence a psytrance breakthrough. New gear, software, sequences and fx will bring new sounds and styles.

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I want dynamic bpm that changes in the same track, it feels more alive then. Shpongle is good but too slow, I want 160+ bpm that isn't linear, the bass beats need much more complexity.

Edited by Patrick82
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There needs to be more change in the tracks. That's what psytrance is about, right? Ever changing, fractal creations. A dynamic BPM would be interesting, as would constantly different melodies.

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It would be interesting to hear more psy with break beats, like Digitalis (Seb Taylor) started on a few years back, but it seemed like this style never hit a larger audience... Kiwa made some interesting tracks in this style too...

 

I would also like to hear more of that Younger Brother sound. So much variety, and quite different from most other psytrance.

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Guest Le Lotus Bleu

I'd like to see more ambient, chill-out & morning psy (by opposition of the actual ultra dominant darkpsy trend, things more close to Weirdo Beardo, Trold or Snap,Crackle & Pop for example) to be released.

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It would be interesting to hear more psy with break beats, like Digitalis (Seb Taylor) started on a few years back, but it seemed like this style never hit a larger audience... Kiwa made some interesting tracks in this style too...

361970[/snapback]

more breakz indeed .....

 

can you give me some names of those kiwa tracks

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Take a listen to some of the tracks on their first album:

 

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=2699

 

Very enjoyable in my ears..:)

 

Kris Kylven (UX) on drums by the way!!!

361985[/snapback]

Yeah I have that album too it's good but not greath ....

 

don't know if you know their planet of the apes track its not really breakbeat but it is their best track imo , the problem is that this is also the first track made by them I have heard ...

 

http://saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=1837

 

^ out standing cd btw

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Guest Le Lotus Bleu

I'd like to see labels taking more risks releasing more albums or at least joint-albums if they'd prefer but definitivly less compilations.

I don't count anymore the number of artists which only got released through compilations and never got signed for a debut album whereas you cumulate all their tracks appearing on comp & if you'd gather them, it could constitute a full album instead :angry:

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