Malachyte Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I'll start off by warning any potential readers that this rant will probably be very random and convoluted as I've had a few drinks... I fell in love with Goa back when the "new-school Goa" movement was just starting out - Suntrip had released only a few things - A couple of Filteria albums, Khetzal, Ka-Sol, and the compilations Apsara and Twist Dreams. Khetzal's Corrole album was a huge influence on me - I connected with this kind of music more than anything I had heard in my life. Prior to discovering Goa/Psy I was into more "mainstream" trance, like older Paul Van Dyk, Mauro Picotto, Darude, etc.... but that scene totally went to shit once everyone started adding cheesy and clubby vocals to everything, so in search of something new to follow I discovered Goa and Psy Trance, and in turn a lot of ambient/"psychill"/"goachill" stuff as well. Unfortunately for my these musical tastes, I was born and raised in southern California - (a few years ago I moved up to northern California...) I'm an avid discogs user. Here's my collection: http://www.discogs.com/collection?user=Ignite You know what's awesome? SIX HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO releases in my collection... guess how many of the artists are from the US? ONE! ME!!! Well, I'm sure there are a few compilations I own with artists from the US (Aerosis comes to mind...), but still, how pathetic is this? Not a single album from a US artist?? I don't go out of my way to avoid music from my home-country. I use Discogs, Psyshop, Psynews, etc. etc. to discover new music... and I'd be thrilled to stumble upon anything released by an American artist that I actually enjoy... but nearly 10 years of being interested in these genres and it hasn't happened yet! Back when I first became interested in Trance, everyone here just referred to ALL electronic music as "Techno", which pissed me off. These days everyone refers to it all as "Dubstep", which pisses me off even more. At least Techno and Trance are SOMEWHAT related... but Dubstep? Seriously? Yea, of course a genre as shallow and immature as Dubstep is the first genre in a decade to even become remotely popular here because people like the "bad ass" sounds and let's not forget, lots of BASS. Because that's all that really counts in electronic music. BASS!!!! Fuck. "I write my own electronic music." "Oh, you mean like Dubstep?" FUCK YOU! There is no scene in this country for the music I love, and it's becoming apparent that there never will be. I'm not even dead-set on Goa... I'd love even some good ambient festivals... or even some fucking Full On... I've gotta admit... as long as Full On doesn't have crappy vocals I can't deny that I enjoy a lot of it... like Ananda Shake, Vibe Tribe, etc... sure, it's not anywhere near as deep as Goa, but it's catchy and fun. I've been to like 5 parties in my life because I don't want to go to just random ones - I only want to go when there's an artist or DJ that I actually admire. I saw Astral Projection in LA a few years ago... they were awesome, but the crowd was full of drunk morons... I saw Wizzy Noise at an outdoor psy festival hosted by PsyTribe in SoCal - small crowd, but great people - really spiritual and down to earth... and of course Wizzy played an amazing set as well. I was psyched when they played my favorite track of theirs at the time, Oceanica. I also saw Infected Mushroom in LA once, but it was a similar experience to Astral Projection - their set was decent, but the crowd was full of LA retards that didn't seem like they belonged or connected to the music at all. I guess Infected Mushroom is partially to blame themselves since they had already started becoming Americanized... this was after Vicious Delicious... Finally, I did go to one Friday-through-Sunday Psy-Tribe outdoor event purely because Bobby Ognyanov from Aerosis was playing a set at it. That's right, I tolerated THREE DAYS of virtually nothing but Dark Psy for ONE HOUR of Goa. That hour was amazing though... Bobby played virtually nothing but Suntrip material, and I loved every second of it... I'm starting to realize that there's really no point to this rant other than a bunch or whining and complaining... but seriously... I order CDs from Psyshop and of course they always come with these flyers or booklets with events all over Europe (or even Canada) that I'd LOVE to be at... I see so many artist names I recognize and just get a great feeling about many of the advertised events in general. I've also seen several YouTube videos from Suntrip events, etc... all I want is a LITTLE of that without having to spend the money to fly half way around the world... just ONCE IN A WHILE... but no, there's never ANYTHING anymore... at least that I'm aware of. Dubstep has taken over. The best I can hope for when referencing Trance to a random person is that they remember Sandstorm by Darude. Great. A song that's well over 10 years old. That's the boring and repetitive piece of shit that stuck with you over the years when it came to Trance? Fan-fucking-tastic. Yes, the synth sounded bad ass at the time. I get it. Really gritty and awesome sounding. What else did the song have going for it? Nothing! Why is it still played in clubs here over 10 years after it's release? I have no fucking clue. But Sandstorm became more popular in the US than any other trance song. Evar. WTF. Then Skrillex came along and took over. What's it gonna take to start even a small Goa scene here in the US?? I've completely lost the motivation to write music lately because I feel completely alone in this place... if only I could have just a couple of parties a year to go to where they played music I actually liked... where I could connect with likeminded people who were just excited to hear Goa as I was... I'm listening to Land Of Freedom by Transwave right now... as soon as that square synth comes in I just fucking close my eyes and disappear in the music. It's beautiful. Powerful. Freeing. I love it! And it's depressing as shit to realize that there's no one else within thousands of miles who feels the same way. This is my song, Protostar: Imba was kind enough to release this EP of mine on his net-lable, UAF (Underground Alien Factory) Records. About 6 months after it's release, Persistent Aura (another UAF artist) contacted me to ask if he and Agneton could do a remix, and that they were planning to play the track at some festival in Belgium. Awesome! I'm not sure it it was ever actually played... and I know that they never finished the remix, but still, that's a festival I would have loved to be at, with or without my own track being played. Maybe my isolation as far as musical taste in this country is just becoming an excuse for not writing new material... but I can feel a part of me that really wants to get back into it... I just wish I could go out and feel like I was part of a community who felt the same way about this amazing music that I do. Is there anyone else here from the California, or even the entire US, who feels the same way I do? :-( /End drunken rant... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exotic Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Lets be honest coz they're too gangsta and ghetto for electronic. Also arent Ocelot and Mubali from the U.S ? ... oh i guess you arent into darkpsy ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopie Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Man that does sound like a frustrating situation. Indeed I've always wondered US being such a big and developed country why they had no goa artists. Okay couple exceptions can always be found... from the 90s I recall Symbiote who released this 'Phantasmagoria EP' which is some of the most inspiring goa ever made. My advice to change the current situation is to be the change. I reckon psytrance could be much bigger thing there if people were more exposed to it - especially full-on with it's simplier structure and catchy bassline. Naturally you'd need an artist or two who'd like to co-operate in organising a party, if that's possible then all the rest will take care of itself, trust me. They could be also artists from hardtrance/techno scene to broaden your possibilities. I'm not sure if this is such an interesting story for you but here it goes: In the summer I also wanted to attend goa party here in Finland but there was nothing on the menu. Some new school happens here time to time yes... but I'm not such a big fan usually (Lol, maybe sounds spoiled to you? ). I wanted a real goa party with the _best_ psytrance that was ever made - basically the 90s stuff. I talked about this with another old school geek and we were like: who not do it ourselves?... one thing leads to another and before I knew it, we had 6 djs all playing only 90s goa/psy on an island near by Helsinki. Over 200 people attended and made us realise old school has not lost the spice, quite the contrary. Now your turn. ;--) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JISNEGRO Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I know what it is like to live trapped in a city/country with bad musical taste. In Colombia all you can hear now is reggaeton, and I must say I hate it! :angry: Some years ago the only psytrance parties we had around was the ones some friends of mine used to organize, but now seems that everyone have given up, so no more parties or good music for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panoptes Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I live in virginia and I have experience more or less the same as you have amongst the people here. I've already gotten over my issues with the fact that they all call electronic music with a 4/4 beat techno or that they are so artistically and intellectually deprived. As some of you have already mentioned americans aren't too bright; In fact they're like sheep who flock together worshiping trends and mainstream media/music. This also explains why they're all "Christians", yet few actually uphold a genuine christian moral code. They go to Church only when they want there sins to be forgiven so they can live in eternal bliss after there pathetic lives back in reality. The fact that americans are a bit narrow sighted explains why there is no scene here. Too few people actually know about the genre because they're flooded with a mainstream product that is made for the masses. This product (has a distinct image)targets certain crowds arousing sexual desires/boosting confidence/materialistic boasting/gangster music?/ and others. Goa trance has a lot more deeper meaning than any of the music people listen to here. In my opinion most people won't understand it. I am a young polish-american goa trance artist and I plan to keep making it as a hobby as long as I can; given that I am financially stable. American economics and foreign policy paints a bleak picture of its future and luckily I have a dual citizenship (polish and american) so if things ever go to shit here I'll just come over and handout with you guys in Europe! Also, I'm almost good enough to start my eps, so you guys better watch out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraneFreeze Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 The US musical scene is so large, and has so many "home grown" genres, that Goa barely moves the needle. Unlike Europeans and Israelis, very few Americans ever went to Goa, and why should they? There was plenty of music, parties, dope, and sunshine a lot closer to home. Still, thanks to the internet, there are probably a fair number of Goa fans in the US today, but they're not concentrated in any one location. The issue of whether or not Goa is better than other types of electronic music in the US is a matter of personal taste. I could just as easily make a similar statement that most Goa sounds moronic compared to jazz (comparing, for example, rhythmic complexity). There are plenty of good electronic music producers in the US (eg, Chromatone, Bird Of Prey, Phutureprimitive), but they just have different interests. Instead of complaining about lack of Goa, why not try to enjoy other kinds of music as well? (You might also consider the possibility that Goa is fading around the world, and the lack of Goa in the US is really not that unique.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuser Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I love the tags you put below the topic title Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veracohr Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 (edited) Yeah, it's frustrating. There are small regional "scenes" around, but if you're talking about artists from the US, it's rather deficient. There's occasional psy parties here in Portland and in Seattle, and there's at least one artist around here named Squee I think, but it's all fullon and darkpsy in the NW, no goa. Edited January 10, 2013 by Rotwang http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Soviet_censorship_with_Stalin.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panoptes Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 American public school have a lower learning standards compared to those in Europe ---^ Not to mention social trends that discourage being educated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healium Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I hear ya man - I live in SoCal and have had to search out the goa/psy scene - I'm down in Orange County which barely does electronica, let alone goa. Psytribe is the call, and Greensector used to put on some good forest parties.. Come to the Lightening in a Bottle festival this May down here in Irvine - there's no real goa or psytrance there, but there is some good electronica of other sorts there, and a great Burning-Man-esque atmosphere.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veracohr Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 and there's at least one artist around here named Squee I think, Correction, the name I was thinking of is Secret Society. Squee is the username of one of the members on my local psy forum. You can't be normal if you listen this here. Thats super commercial and she is a legend here. Amazing how much more watchable that video is when I mute it and put on the hardest metal I have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoLoUr DoTZ Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 You can't be normal if you listen this http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxHFzrNeNk. Is that your country bet for Eurovision?? You´ll have no chance!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richpa Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 To be honest I live in small town with 10k peoples and on summer near my town 2 psytrance / goa festivals happens (one of them is Lost Theory with awesome lineup) and I won't be able to come. That is pain in the ass right? In Croatia many people during summer season work on the coast and probably this year won't be exceptional in my case. However, there is always other way and that is Internet, I really met virtualy a lot of cool people, musicians, DJs and label owners who are doing their best to spread word about this music and that is something that we should care. Without that, without connections between people we wouldn't have what we got now, rich scene with enough releases per year, with couple of extra artists and guys who are playing on festivals. Speaking about USA, I'm not very much familiar with party scene there but what I know is that many Americans love Goa trance and stuff that we're doing in Europe and I'm glad that each new day we reach more and more people, and that is important! Do what you love, believe in it and I'm sure one day you'll get all back P.S. Some Goa from Seka. You might like it bahahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormion Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Correction, the name I was thinking of is Secret Society. Squee is the username of one of the members on my local psy forum. There is an artist name Squee. And he's one half of Secret Society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franki Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 There's some good psytrance coming out of the US (albeit mainly of the darker variety) from the likes of Dragon , Ghreg On Earth & Mubali. This site has some info on North American Psy: http://dharmaharmony.com/about.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procyon Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 On the topic: Goa is not doing well in USA, but other than real mainstream music - say La Gaga, for instance - some music genres have 'corners' around the world. Can I complain that samba is not doing well in Japan and China? After all, samba is well known, there are lots of Brazilians in these countries, and etc...I don't think I can. So, I can't see why Goa is expected to be a big scene in USA, if it isn't a big scene even in the countries that embraced it once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veracohr Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 There is an artist name Squee. And he's one half of Secret Society. Yeah, that's what I meant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolmot Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I wouldn't call US that hopeless regarding electronic as a whole. Starting from early history, pretty much every big black music genre was either invented or popularised there. You can hardly deny the role of disco, soul, RnB and hip-hop (you know, original beat-splicing and turntablism) in what later became house and techno. Disco scene gave us stuff like the 12", extended edits, dub edits and so on. US was churning out early house and Detroit techno while Europe was still largely stuck in hair rock, schlager and an odd Kraftwerk thrown in for experimental value. Many of my favourite house labels are still from the US. So what happened then? Why didn't that forerunner role carry on into the 21st century? Maybe the club scene had already grown old and uninteresting? After all, legendary places like Paradise Garage and Studio 54 closed already in the 80s. Disco and house were dad music in the 90s. Another factor I can propose just for musing is how heavily commercial and marketing-based everything seems to be in the US. They're doing marketing extremely well. There's no denying it. Just look at the number of US brands with worldwide recognition. And Hollywood movies. And top-x0 hits. The latest hits are distributed everywhere and battling against each other until only the worldwide winner stands. However, this leaves little room for truly odd stuff. Good luck getting radio play for 8 minute tracks based on a single bass pattern and assorted weirdness. Besides, stuff pressed in less than million copies already counts as "indie" and is special enough for people who want to be hip. I don't think goa ever sold more than maybe 10 000 worldwide. Nowadays it's less than thousand. It's marginal everywhere but in countries with higher population density people can join each other and build the scene more easily. And returning to the intro part, I think US has a tradition of picking its latest UG music fads from the black scene. Goa may tell about Asian religions, Mayas or aliens, but it's produced by white Britons and it's among the least black genres I know. Trends just don't seem to move that way over the Atlantic. But hey, at least a few people like Spook keep trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procyon Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Such a nice discussion I was having with IMBA and it got deleted . FYI, we PMed each other and we are gonna drink something strong etc...Well, at least you Mods could wait the discussion having an end, it could be a Happy End that would bring tears of joy to your eyes. Back to the topic. Nice point Dolmot, reading your post I decided to listen to an American gem I have: Inner City's "Paradise" album, a perfect blend of soul, funk and techno. American artists are good at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotwang Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Such a nice discussion I was having with IMBA and it got deleted . FYI, we PMed each other and we are gonna drink something strong etc...Well, at least you Mods could wait the discussion having an end, it could be a Happy End that would bring tears of joy to your eyes. One of the thread's participants repeatedly asked us to remove the posts in question. Otherwise I wouldn't have done so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procyon Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 One of the thread's participants repeatedly asked us to remove the posts in question. Otherwise I wouldn't have done so. Yeah, he PM all excusing, thinking his opinion and consequent replies could cause some fuss. But what forums are for, then? I told him. We are not living in a perfect world, so many of good things that arise in our society rises from mud throwing, initially. Edit: I don't know if I had to use "arise" or "rise", but you guys can figure out what I meant. Edit #2: I need to apologise to IMBA on my comment about personality x Goa scene. He'e entitled to emit opinions, and his opinions do not affect his efforts to boost the Goa scene with hard work at all. May Goa live forever, and IMBA live till he's 130 years-old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imba Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 No need but thanks. And i don't want to be galapagos turtle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reger Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I love the tags you put below the topic title Same here Didnt notice there are tags, now I know there are ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozen dream Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 this thread needs a badass techno dubstep song with cheesy clubby vocals there's good music in every genre, you just got to look a little further Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phlange Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Wow I've come to the right place!!!! yay :-) Was making music for most of my life. Then one of my AOL friends told me to check out Shpongle. Then infected mushroom. It was always obvious that most of the music was coming from pretty much everywhere else but the US. There was always trance or whatever, and house. Sasha & Digweed, the list goes on. But there's nothing like goa. I have to admit though, because I have a need to learn "how" new things are done, I had an extremely frustrating odd hiatus from music in general when dubstep happened. I was like "how is this done?". I learned abletonLive , and actually..i fkn hate the app, lol. I'm a Cubase/Reason user. It is actually very similar to what happened to music when electronica happened. Everybody who "remembers" something else hated it. But..you know genres go through cycles. dubstep isn't new by any means. It just felt right for some people. i really think certain tools lend themselves to certain styles. My f*ing iPad battery is dying right and i have to sign off. But I'm DEFINITELY back to what is happening with MUSIC rather than what is happening with the music industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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