The Most Influential Psytrance Songs of All Time

[Basilisk]

Similar to what Mike A was trying for in this recent thread, I would like to ask the Psynews community for help in developing a list of the most influential tracks in psytrance history. I do not speak of songs that influenced the original conception of Goa trance, but rather, songs within the extended psychedelic trance family that pushed the movement forward in some way, opened new sonic pathways, and so on. 

[Previously I had posted a list in this area and asked for some responses... at this stage I am going ahead with compiling something close to final from which articles and other content will be generated.]

If you're growing a bit weary of all these lists and "best of" topics, I understand. What I think would be interesting here is developing something of a top 25, uploading samples of all the tunes, and writing a bit about the history of each--ultimately to provide trance fans new and old with a bit of history they can actually listen to. I would suggest that electronic music culture suffers from ahistoricity--the denial or disregard for history. New listeners hardly ever gain a familiarity with all that has come before, which just feeds the increasingly disposable nature of the releases that come out. Plus, if you scour the web looking for any similar resource to what I imagine, you'll end up with Ishkur's Electronic Music Guide, and really, couldn't we do better?

Your thoughts are very welcome. Thanks

[seraph]

Your list sums it up nicely, but I would go even a bit earlier and beginning of 90's to see who influenced the psychedelic trance musicians...

 

DANCE 2 TRANCE - WE CAME IN PEACE ( 1990 ) - The very beginning of mellow trance, later defined as old school trance, very warm introduction to it.

HARDFLOOR - ACPERIENCE ( 1991 ) - Huge acid track, the very beginning of acid trance, massive, defining track.

ENERGY 52 - CAFE DEL MAR ( 1993 ) - Need I say more ?

SVEN VATH - L'ESPERANZA ( 1993 )

VERNON - WONDERER ( 1993 )

CYGNUS X - SUPERSTRING ( 1993 )

HARDFLOOR - TRANCESCRIPT ( 1993 )

SPEEDY J - PEPPER ( 1993 )

DER DRITTE RAUM - STELLA ( 1994 )

EARTH NATION - ALIENATED ( 1994 )

ART OF TRANCE - GLORIA ( 1994 )

SVEN VATH - THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ( 1994 )

UNION JACK - TWO FULL MOONS AND A TROUT ( 1994 )

AFROTRANCE - SPIRITUAL ENERGY ( 1994 )

BRAINCHILD - SYMMETRY ( 1994 )

PLASTIKMAN - KRAKPOT ( 1994 )

[seraph]

BTW, I am missing from your list :

 

UX - MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE ( 1996 )

MFG - MAGNETIC ACTIVITY ( 1996 )

HALLUCINOGEN - DERANGER ( 1997 )

MFG - WHY ? ( 1998 )

[Jikkenteki]

For the X-Dream choice since everything on Radio was pretty influential, the obvious choice might be "The Frog" since it came out much earlier than the rest of the album and was influential in the minimal boom (or at least so I was always lead to believe).

[Otto Matta]

Great list!

 

With X-Dream I think Psychomachine was more influential overall than The Frog. I also might include some later Juno Reactor for the highly tribal sound, maybe something off of Bible of Dreams or Shango.

[Oopie]

for suomi saundi, you have to go all the way back to '96.

 

Flippin' Bixies - Sörkkä Sonic

http://www.discogs.com/release/815450

[Drosophila]

about suomisoundi (I'm no expert) but I can't help of thinking about the early Aussie weirdos like Shaolin Wooden Men and Psyko Disko and in particular:

 

Shaolin Wooden Men - Remember The Slime (released on several compilations in 97 but I dunno when it was actually created).

 

ED: (and released on the 12" EP Shaolin Wooden Men - Trickster EP in 97)

 

(and there might be other even better choices among SWM's tracks from that period or earlier )

 

and then there are the album released by Psyko Disko (on Psy-Harmonics in 96 and Flying Rhino in 97):

 

Psyko Disko - Psycho Disco

 

and the best known track from that CD might be Nobody but not sure its the most influencing one...

[frozen dream]

Also i am trying to find out wich goa/psy track that first used the now classic "trance gate" effect wich for those who dont know what it is, is an effect that back then was made manually with a ghost midi track in cubase for example, programmed with notes and velocity that affected an audio track, often voices that get chopped up, similar to to the famous side chain effect but with more rhythmical effects, now a days its like the most commonly used effect ever and is available to anyone via presets on VST synths and also on real synthesizers and effect units. Anyone who have a suggestion on early track using this? The usage of the effect is mentioned in the flying rhino article i posted here in general forum to.

me thinks hellowcinogun was one of the first to do that!

[Bahamut]

Cygnus X - The Orange Theme ---> the original version, an awesome track btw

Legend B - Lost in Love (sysex style mix)

are typical early trance tracks (1994) that use same sort of gate effect, I guess

[no-nonsense]

The earliest use of the gated vocals effect I recall is "Animal (Gate)" from Front 242 (1993).

[Drew05]

i think this is a good idea Basilisk, especially for people new to the music

 

i agree that Freq should get a look in, CBL is a good one or maybe Short Life Again (made a huge impact from memory)

 

I think that Son Kite (Kob Adjustment) track is overrated, but there is a need for some minimal showcasing. maybe Stereo Sound by Cujorious One? (i think that track even originated here at psynews)

 

 

also +1 to Shaolin Wooden Men

[rino]

Very nice list you made there Basilisk, and seraph added some bonafide golden oldies there too!

 

However, I wanted to add a little contribution to this very extensive list:

 

I think that Boris Blenn's (AKA Electric Universe) track Online Information is the origin of psy-breaks, rather then Z's Uncle Mavis. I even think Boris' track is older and much more influential for that sub style.

 

And another thing is I just think that as far as the whole tech/minimal/prog discussion goes, the list cannot be complete without Organic Noise's 1997 12" Labyrinth Of Colours/Acid Soul on TIP Records!

[Basilisk]

seraph said:

BTW, I am missing from your list :

 

UX - MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE ( 1996 )

MFG - MAGNETIC ACTIVITY ( 1996 )

HALLUCINOGEN - DERANGER ( 1997 )

MFG - WHY ? ( 1998 )

Thanks very much for your list of early influences, Seraph. About MFG, for example, what do you think their impact was? As much as I love their work, they always seemed to follow Astral Projection. UX might cover what I think of as the "industrial/psytrance crossover" (Atomic, Aurinko, Tim Schuldt, Cydonia, etc.) for which I have no specific track as of yet. I might be more inclined to go with Life Support Technology however. What do you think?

 

Jikkenteki said:

For the X-Dream choice since everything on Radio was pretty influential, the obvious choice might be "The Frog" since it came out much earlier than the rest of the album and was influential in the minimal boom (or at least so I was always lead to believe).

Radio is pretty much essential--for me, it is just a question of getting at which track was most influential from the lot. The argument that The Frog wins precisely because it was first holds water, but I think Psychomachine might be the track to beat precisely because it is completely synthetic, without any sort of spiritual feel to it.

 

Oopie said:

for suomi saundi, you have to go all the way back to '96.

 

Flippin' Bixies - Sörkkä Sonic

http://www.discogs.com/release/815450

Now THIS is a grand revelation for me! Thanks, this is exactly what I was seeking! Now to determine what track might serve as the best example... would I be right in assuming T. Bentley is Tim Thick? Where does Pasi Hartikainen fit in? Was Pepe involved in this old CD at all? I see that Mac Mavis was. Perhaps Peruna Is Round would serve as a good example?

 

Diaks said:

Nice project, especially the effort to try and locate where the different sub genres emerged, i would say Xenomorph-Obscure Spectre from his firs CD Cassandras Nightmare made a great impact as well since it also appeared on different compilations , i first heard it on psychdelelic demons vol 1 today this style wouldnt be on the same compilation as more pure goa trance i think, but back then since there wasnt really something called dark psy it was.

I think Xenomorph is very influential, so it is just a question of selecting what track really made it in the world... Obscure Spectre is a good choice, perhaps better than Neurotoxin. I'll check into it.

 

Drosophila said:

about suomisoundi (I'm no expert) but I can't help of thinking about the early Aussie weirdos like Shaolin Wooden Men and Psyko Disko and in particular:

 

(and there might be other even better choices among SWM's tracks from that period or earlier )

 

and then there are the album released by Psyko Disko (on Psy-Harmonics in 96 and Flying Rhino in 97):

 

Psyko Disko - Psycho Disco

 

and the best known track from that CD might be Nobody but not sure its the most influencing one...

I really think Nobody could have had more influence than it is traditionally credited with, but it is also hard to say. I find the Hacking The Reality Myth compilation extremely influential on a whole host of alternative psytrance sub-variants.

Shaolin Wooden Men intrigues me. Like many people, I suppose I had heard only their later, more experimental output, and generally disregarded that first CD of theirs. After listening to it, I think it serves much as Flippin' Bixies does for Australian trance, as a key release from which other artists developed their own way of thinking. Ohar and S.W.M. strike me as the most completely expressed songs on the self-titled debut; does this square with what others perceive?

 

Drew05 said:

i think this is a good idea Basilisk, especially for people new to the music

 

i agree that Freq should get a look in, CBL is a good one or maybe Short Life Again (made a huge impact from memory)

 

I think that Son Kite (Kob Adjustment) track is overrated, but there is a need for some minimal showcasing. maybe Stereo Sound by Cujorious One? (i think that track even originated here at psynews)

also +1 to Shaolin Wooden Men

Short Life Again was also on my mind, and it was released a year earlier. I vividly remember the buzz surrounding FREq's initial success--it was quite obvious, even then, what a strong impact his return made on the scene.

For minimal, I think Jammy Wizard covers the UK, so it is just a matter of sorting out Germanic/Scandinavian influences (precisely because minimal was so strong from central Europe). Planet B.E.N. may have this covered with the earlier release of Ant Invasion, or Atmos might have it covered with the highly influential Klein Aber Doktor. Son Kite, for example, wasn't exactly doing anything new--they were just bringing an old influence back into vogue. At least, this is one way of looking at it. In the liner notes to Perspectives Of... they speak a little of their early influences... and in fact, now that I think of it, I'd be amiss without including something from Robert Leiner on this list. Anyone have a suggestion for a key contribution from The Source Experience?

 

rino said:

However, I wanted to add a little contribution to this very extensive list:

 

I think that Boris Blenn's (AKA Electric Universe) track Online Information is the origin of psy-breaks, rather then Z's Uncle Mavis. I even think Boris' track is older and much more influential for that sub style.

 

And another thing is I just think that as far as the whole tech/minimal/prog discussion goes, the list cannot be complete without Organic Noise's 1997 12" Labyrinth Of Colours/Acid Soul on TIP Records!

Organic Noise has been resting in my notes for some time. Shpastic Elastic, for instance, made huge waves in the scene. But after thinking about it, earlier work from both artists seems to have been more decisive... which is why I threw Ant Invasion on the list. It was released in 1996 but originally produced in 1993.

Good point about Online Information.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback, this is really helping

[rino]

Another thing that popped into my mind today as I was giong through some of my older records is that I know an old school goa trance track dating back to 1995 which uses heavy guitar riffs. I do not know whether you are familiar with it or not, but Dans Ta Figure, a 1995 track from Cosmosis' "Cannabanoid EP" on Transient Records, has some really intense guitar work on it...

 

While S.U.N. Project most definitely made it big and official, I think that electric guitars in trance were "alive" even prior to their arrival. I even think (not positive though) that an ancient Ubar Tmar tune had some electric guitars in it too!

[seraph]

Thanks very much for your list of early influences, Seraph. About MFG, for example, what do you think their impact was? As much as I love their work, they always seemed to follow second-step to Astral Projection, as I see it. UX might cover what I think of as the "industrial/psytrance crossover" (Atomic, Aurinko, Tim Schuldt, Cydonia, etc.) for which I have no specific track as of yet. I might be more inclined to go with Life Support Technology however. What do you think?

You are somehow right about MFG, but take WHY ? which is for me huge, massive track, and I noticed that innovation of this track is such dirty, cyber feel, I haven't heard such psy cyberpunk style before ( in fact whole album has the same feel ), but for Magnetic Activity you are right. As for UX, Life Support Technology is a stunning track, but Master Of The Universe was bigger hit and has much more complicating structure,music wise and for sure was influential for industrial/psytrance crossover.

[fosku]

I've been listening to psy for many years now but don't know much about "the scene" so to speak. But I would add some tracks:

 

Psychopod - Universal Mind (Or something else from the Headlines EP?)

 

Beat Bizarre - Pony Sauce (Or perhaps Brain Drain RMX? I think the whole Lewd album was highly original, though I haven't heard anything else quite like it..)

 

And then some minimal tracks by Shiva Chandra (or some sideproject?) and Intact Instinct. They were both very original, and I reckon Shiva Chandra was quite a pioneer in the (german) minimal trance scene which I love very much.

[Basilisk]

.

[Colin OOOD]

Also i am trying to find out wich goa/psy track that first used the now classic "trance gate" effect wich for those who dont know what it is, is an effect that back then was made manually with a ghost midi track in cubase for example, programmed with notes and velocity that affected an audio track, often voices that get chopped up, similar to to the famous side chain effect but with more rhythmical effects, now a days its like the most commonly used effect ever and is available to anyone via presets on VST synths and also on real synthesizers and effect units. Anyone who have a suggestion on early track using this? The usage of the effect is mentioned in the flying rhino article i posted here in general forum to.

The first trance track I remember hearing that effect on was Jam + Spoon's "Follow Me", back in 1993. It wasn't used on a vocal sample but on a long evolving synth line that provided the main lead in the track. I'm sure it was used in a trance track earlier than that though; it's a technique that has been around for as long as there have been noise gates. For example check out the 1988 William Orbit remix of Hard, by George Clinton's Well Red project.

 

By the way your description of how this effect was/is achieved doesn't make sense

[Mike A]

I don't think MFG was second to AP. AP was more popular because their sound was much more mainstream than psyish MFG.

I'd say 3 tracks of MFG should be considered for the list:

 

MFG - Magnetic Activity / Shape The Future (original, not remix)

for defining the sound of psychedelic yet melodic but without too much mess (something which the lost a bit in their next album)

 

MFG - When We Dream

for making killargh melodic fullon when astrix was still playing with his barbie dolls

 

MFG - Why?

for taking the goa sound into a harder more psy and crunchy sound

 

You should also add Astrix - Kali for inventing the VB1 sound which was an important (yet controversial) evolution in psytrance.

 

Some classics: Art of trance - octopus, Union Jack - Red Herring/Two Full Moons

 

AP - Mahadeva, MWNN - Teleport, Hallucinogen - Shamanix/LSD for goa

 

Psychaos - Chaos to Order!!!

 

Modern .il stuff - Cosma (find out? out of range?), Sub6 (El Novasion probably).

 

The Delta - Stranded (Johann Remix) <-- or vice versa, not sure

 

Nerve - Channel 59

 

1200 mics - DMT

[Basilisk]

.

[NEMO.BOFH]

Koxbox - Acid Vol. 3 released in 1993 on the not so famous label Outloud Records, Denmark. Later re-released under Sven Vath's Harthouse label in 1994 (the Harthouse release being a little bit different in Track listing). This track for me has a lot of influence on how future trance would be sounding.

 

Genetic - Trancemission first released on Dragofly's Project II Trance in 1993 (Later renamed to Transmission on the EP that followed in 1994). This track for me has influenced more than Hallucinogen's LSD ever has, I dare to say that this track influenced Hallucinogen to make LSD.

 

Microwave Prince - Cyclic Evolution This track changed the world in matters of using a 303 to make trance. It first circulated on mixtapes and orignates back to 1991/2. The track was later released on Le Petit Prince in 1993.

 

Vapour Space - Gravitational Arch Of 10 A track that was played at a lot GOA/Trance parties around 1993. Mark Gage not being a goa nor trance producer sure did not know what he did when he did this track, but i am sure it has influenced some people in terms of trance.

 

Another track that was widely played at GOA parties in Hamburg around 1993/4 was Plastikman's Krakpot. A very minimal acid track that just goes on and on. I remember hearing this on the Pooja party in 1994, and was very surprised. I dare to say that this track has influenced many artists that later became masters of Minimal psy. I know it influenced a lot of Swedish artists for sure.

 

Sorry to be of few words when describing, so much music, so much words, so much to do

 

I am actually surprised that a lot of Oldschool people dont seem to know the above tracks hehe.