Goa's Second Golden Age?

[HappyHorse]

Goa's second golden age is yet to come.

 

 

Nailed it: we have a long way to go.

In Belgium/Croatia(?) and Israel there is a much active scene that invites many (old skool/neo) Goa acts.

 

BUT why I don't believe there is a Goa trance revival or resurgence?

I have been puzzling long time with this question too. cause word spreads there is a revival, but I can hardly believe it.

 

1) In the rest of the world - and believe me I asked arround with people (artists and dj's) from Brasil, USA, Canada, Japan, Greece, Sweden, Norway, India, Spain,... - that there are almost no Goa parties (if you concider goa as neo or old skool).

They all agreed goa isn't on the raise again, but only a small number of people still interested in it. And yes they are very passionate about it, and even are willing to loose money on booking big names: but a big name on a flyer doesn't make the scenes revival It is just a name on a party flyer and good promo

Again: yes there are some parties outside Belgium and Israël, but mainly organised by the label owners, dj's or artists themselves.

Even in Japan for example, a country that had a massive scene: label parties hardly attrackerd 50 - 100 people (I saw the pictures). Dissapointing few people, but it is what it is.

Even in Brasil, where 5000 or more stand on the dance floor, but in the end very few goa acts play there and maybe in the end 200 people come for that style. On the rise again? I think it needs more...

2) If you see that labels are hardly survining, or turning just break even or have small profit margins. Not only Spiritzone, Twisted,... went down, but also the newer labels have to be carefull. Yes we sell, and yes people are enthousiastic, but I hear every label manager - who prints CDs especially - that is is hardcore to survive.

A Belgian guy who has also a CD shop on parties had contact with Avatar Rec. at some time. He told me this story: they printed up to 5000/8000 copies of one CD (and sometimes more). Lol - what is printed now? between 100 and 1500 copies? How many Cds really need a reprint like some CDs 'in the golden age'? How long does it take to sell all the CDs we print now?

3) Yes an argument can be that a few selection of acts are playing, but that doesn't indicate a global movement. They are big names and are a sure thing for the organisers (due to good promo?). But that doesn't mean that your acts are an indication of revival. BUT I hope it is a sign to that - believe me

4) a) If you check the discogs database you can see there is much goa produced between 1999 and 2004. Goa really didn't die out at all. Yes, it was mainly on mp3 or free on certain p2p sites. But check it. there was enough Goa produced to state it didn't die out or was gone. So in that case I don't think Goa needs a revival now; but it can grow. that's for sure.

There were a massive amount of underground and smaller goa parties with (old skool) goa. I have a collegue who made parties in that time too.

Goa trance was always there, but less visable...the movement was always there.

 

 

We keep on believing Goa ftw!!! Grow baby grow.

Cause as stated before: there are many goa producers nowadays, and that is good. But let's wait and see.

[abasio]

For people who claim it's the second golden age, do you feel more of the number of quality releases or the size of the scene?

[Padmapani]

Ok, honest question towards the younger crowd of Goa. If you hear a track from M-Run (that you have never heard before) and a track from Celestial Intelligence or Imba (again, you've never heard before) can you actually tell the difference and guess to which artist it belongs?

i don't know about m-run (i don't listen to his music often, not my cup of tea), but i could easily distinguish between imba and celestial intelligence. imba has a more playful style, sparser arrangements and an oldschool vibe that many newschool artists lack. celestial intelligence has very dense arrangements, is very melodic, very newschool and always intense music. but i might have problems differentiating celestial intelligence from cosmic dimension or maybe psy-h project at times. imba on the other hand i could confuse with other tracks if it were on a dat records compilation

there are also many artists with a much more unique style, that makes recognising their music as easy as recognising a tree when you see one. artifact303, nova fractal, blackstarrfinale, artha, ra, khetzal and filteria come to my mind. there's no way i'd guess another artist for one of their tracks.

[MrAnarchy]

 

 

Nailed it: we have a long way to go.

In Belgium/Croatia(?) and Israel there is a much active scene that invites many (old skool/neo) Goa acts.

 

BUT why I don't believe there is a Goa trance revival or resurgence?

I have been puzzling long time with this question too. cause word spreads there is a revival, but I can hardly believe it.

 

1) In the rest of the world - and believe me I asked arround with people (artists and dj's) from Brasil, USA, Canada, Japan, Greece, Sweden, Norway, India, Spain,... - that there are almost no Goa parties (if you concider goa as neo or old skool).

They all agreed goa isn't on the raise again, but only a small number of people still interested in it. And yes they are very passionate about it, and even are willing to loose money on booking big names: but a big name on a flyer doesn't make the scenes revival It is just a name on a party flyer and good promo

Again: yes there are some parties outside Belgium and Israël, but mainly organised by the label owners, dj's or artists themselves.

Even in Japan for example, a country that had a massive scene: label parties hardly attrackerd 50 - 100 people (I saw the pictures). Dissapointing few people, but it is what it is.

Even in Brasil, where 5000 or more stand on the dance floor, but in the end very few goa acts play there and maybe in the end 200 people come for that style. On the rise again? I think it needs more...

2) If you see that labels are hardly survining, or turning just break even or have small profit margins. Not only Spiritzone, Twisted,... went down, but also the newer labels have to be carefull. Yes we sell, and yes people are enthousiastic, but I hear every label manager - who prints CDs especially - that is is hardcore to survive.

A Belgian guy who has also a CD shop on parties had contact with Avatar Rec. at some time. He told me this story: they printed up to 5000/8000 copies of one CD (and sometimes more). Lol - what is printed now? between 100 and 1500 copies? How many Cds really need a reprint like some CDs 'in the golden age'? How long does it take to sell all the CDs we print now?

3) Yes an argument can be that a few selection of acts are playing, but that doesn't indicate a global movement. They are big names and are a sure thing for the organisers (due to good promo?). But that doesn't mean that your acts are an indication of revival. BUT I hope it is a sign to that - believe me

4) a) If you check the discogs database you can see there is much goa produced between 1999 and 2004. Goa really didn't die out at all. Yes, it was mainly on mp3 or free on certain p2p sites. But check it. there was enough Goa produced to state it didn't die out or was gone. So in that case I don't think Goa needs a revival now; but it can grow. that's for sure.

There were a massive amount of underground and smaller goa parties with (old skool) goa. I have a collegue who made parties in that time too.

Goa trance was always there, but less visable...the movement was always there.

 

 

We keep on believing Goa ftw!!! Grow baby grow.

Cause as stated before: there are many goa producers nowadays, and that is good. But let's wait and see.

These are some great points! Thanks for the more statistic input. I didnt really think about that.

I basicaly thought that this is the beginning of the second gold age because of the sheer increase in number of quality releases.

You're right. This isnt it, but we're getting there. I really do believe that!

[2Spirals]

I think Goa is making a resurgence, yes, but I don't think it is the same sound as Classic Goa trance from the 90's/early 00's.

I think that the new stuff is great, but it has a more "polished" sound. I really liked Proxeeus' s album from last year. That was a

good example of new good stuff.

[HappyHorse]

I think Goa is making a resurgence, yes, but I don't think it is the same sound as Classic Goa trance from the 90's/early 00's.

I think that the new stuff is great, but it has a more "polished" sound. I really liked Proxeeus' s album from last year. That was a

good example of new good stuff.

 

 

Give me some arguments plz I'd be happy to hear'm.

I've been in the goa music since '99, and I've never seen any prove of a real resurgence in the last years...

I think labels these days just made the produced goa of today more visible buy printing it on CDs (what wasn't done by many - small labels and underground productions - from 2000 to 2005 and being dropped on p2p site etc.).

The rest of my arguments you can read above...

 

Plus, there were official real life goa shops in Belgium for years, packed with people and party organisers. i visisted them reguraly starting from 99. But all went down, no supporte nough to stay a live. No resurgence imo. And I'm sure the online market didn't compensate to talk about a massive output of sales (strickly speaking for Goa music).

[SixZeroFou4]

Every ufomatka track I've heard has been amazing. Would buy.. so far I think that's a good start to second age. However I haven't made the proper attempt to listen to all the new stuff

[Padmapani]

 

 

Give me some arguments plz I'd be happy to hear'm.

I've been in the goa music since '99, and I've never seen any prove of a real resurgence in the last years...

I think labels these days just made the produced goa of today more visible buy printing it on CDs (what wasn't done by many - small labels and underground productions - from 2000 to 2005 and being dropped on p2p site etc.).

The rest of my arguments you can read above...

 

Plus, there were official real life goa shops in Belgium for years, packed with people and party organisers. i visisted them reguraly starting from 99. But all went down, no supporte nough to stay a live. No resurgence imo. And I'm sure the online market didn't compensate to talk about a massive output of sales (strickly speaking for Goa music).

 

comeon, have you ever looked on party and festival lineups since 99? i've been going to psy parties since the early 00s (regularly since 06) and i have never seen as much goa as now. we have regular goa parties, we have goa artists at pretty much every festival, we have festivals with goa trance only. ten years ago we have nothing (except mwnn at ozora). i remember a festival in 09 where i was the almost the only guy dancing at the second floor (which had a really shitty pa) to a dj set by digitoxin. that was the first time i heard goa trance at a party (except for mwnn and hallucinogen at ozora).

[HappyHorse]

 

comeon, have you ever looked on party and festival lineups since 99? i've been going to psy parties since the early 00s (regularly since 06) and i have never seen as much goa as now. we have regular goa parties, we have goa artists at pretty much every festival, we have festivals with goa trance only. ten years ago we have nothing (except mwnn at ozora). i remember a festival in 09 where i was the almost the only guy dancing at the second floor (which had a really shitty pa) to a dj set by digitoxin. that was the first time i heard goa trance at a party (except for mwnn and hallucinogen at ozora).

 

 

How many festivals in the world - percentage wise - book (mainly) acts with goa, besides full on, dark, prog,...?

Well, I'd be happy to see all those festival and party flyers.

In Belgium and Israel I know the scene.

But what other countries do you also find goa parties each week or every 2/3 weeks with only goa?

[Padmapani]

 

 

How many festivals in the world - percentage wise - book (mainly) acts with goa, besides full on, dark, prog,...?

Well, I'd be happy to see all those festival and party flyers.

In Belgium and Israel I know the scene.

But what other countries do you also find goa parties each week or every 2/3 weeks with only goa?

last year we had:

https://www.goabase.net/festival/connection-2015-open-air-goatrance-festival/81661

https://www.goabase.net/party/balkan-goa-fanatics-a-rise-of-balkanix/85750

 

with goa only.

 

out of the festivals in 5h driving distance last year we had:

4 without goa (rather small ones)

1 medium size with plenty of goa acts

2 bigger ones with goa acts

and 1 with only goa (balkan goa fanatics).

 

that makes 50% of festivals offering goa. and those 50% are way better than the other 4, even if all of them played the same music.

 

here in vienna we have a monthly goa only party series and another party series that plays goa every 4th time.

 

i'm not saying goa is the dominant subgenre, but 5 years ago+ we had exactly zero goa!

 

edit: forgot about lost theory. thanks to imba for reminding me.

[Imba]

Lost Theory have enough Goa Trance, on festival and on their parties. They have one of best and most conceptual lineups ever. S.U.N festival is filled with Goa artists, same goes for Transylvaliens, main accent is on Goa trance on both festivals then you have in Space Music Drops in Portugal with huge events every few months, in few days mini festival will start and they have Nebula Meltdown, Artifact303 and ShivaX.

 

 

And why would they book Goa trance mainly when most people consider it as 'dead' style... ofcourse they will choose Astrix or Vini Vici instead of me or you becaues they will bring 10k people and we will bring how much... 15-20? Plus music is not that 'tight' according to today standards and what people want... clean sound and rolling basslines.

 

 

We had Filteria playing around world, played on Boom and Ozora, presented Goa Trance for masses... Goasia too. Now last years and specialy this we have more new school acts playing on important festivals... myself, artist who don't have an album yet, played on Lost Theory last year and played much longer than other more 'famous' acts, now i am playing on S.U.N too... im so unknown to masses, yet big and important festival giving me chance to play them goa on main stage. I see that as golden age for us now, for new schoolers. And some local djs who are unknown outside their countries will play...

 

 

In 90s there was only goa so it was dominant, now you have 12905192512 substyles and ofcourse its hard to have only one substyle... and somehow is boring to listen to same music for 5-6-7 days.

 

 

And then we are getting huge support from legendary names from 90s for keeping goa spirit alive with a 'new touch'. Some legendary names that arent Goa anymore are forcing and fixing some bookings for us new guys. When you see GNOTR, Graham Wood, Prana, Shakta, Power Source, Etnica, Dimension 5 and many more dancing, screaming and clapping to new goa trance... when some of the legends send you msgs and ask/request you to remix some of their classic tracks, or when they invite you to their studios and homes... or when some of them tell you how proud they are about young and new goa generation (us)... when you play with legend and he tell you how good your track from soundcloud is... it is more than GOLDEN

 

 

Things changed much last years. Things we dreamed about now are real and that is so inspiring and motivating. So much things going on in 'backstage' that non-artist don't see. Not to praise myself or anyone, but i stated some of things above so people have idea whats going on 'behind curtain' these days. Your legends and heroes are now your friends, showing you respect and giving you support, helping you to keep goa alive even if they moved on. There is nothing more inspiring than this to the artist and to dj!

 

 

 

I don't see golden age of goa as something materialistic like CD sales or percentage of people wearing space tribe shirts and sandals, number of goa tracks shared on their facebook on daily base, or number of goa names on flyers or how many hours of goa per party... it's more like state of mind where i am for couple of years now and that state of mind i will try to represent trough my album soon

[SixZeroFou4]

Lost Theory have enough Goa Trance, on festival and on their parties. They have one of best and most conceptual lineups ever. S.U.N festival is filled with Goa artists, same goes for Transylvaliens, main accent is on Goa trance on both festivals then you have in Space Music Drops in Portugal with huge events every few months, in few days mini festival will start and they have Nebula Meltdown, Artifact303 and ShivaX.

 

 

And why would they book Goa trance mainly when most people consider it as 'dead' style... ofcourse they will choose Astrix or Vini Vici instead of me or you becaues they will bring 10k people and we will bring how much... 15-20? Plus music is not that 'tight' according to today standards and what people want... clean sound and rolling basslines.

 

 

We had Filteria playing around world, played on Boom and Ozora, presented Goa Trance for masses... Goasia too. Now last years and specialy this we have more new school acts playing on important festivals... myself, artist who don't have an album yet, played on Lost Theory last year and played much longer than other more 'famous' acts, now i am playing on S.U.N too... im so unknown to masses, yet big and important festival giving me chance to play them goa on main stage. I see that as golden age for us now, for new schoolers. And some local djs who are unknown outside their countries will play...

 

 

In 90s there was only goa so it was dominant, now you have 12905192512 substyles and ofcourse its hard to have only one substyle... and somehow is boring to listen to same music for 5-6-7 days.

 

 

And then we are getting huge support from legendary names from 90s for keeping goa spirit alive with a 'new touch'. Some legendary names that arent Goa anymore are forcing and fixing some bookings for us new guys. When you see GNOTR, Graham Wood, Prana, Shakta, Power Source, Etnica, Dimension 5 and many more dancing, screaming and clapping to new goa trance... when some of the legends send you msgs and ask/request you to remix some of their classic tracks, or when they invite you to their studios and homes... or when some of them tell you how proud they are about young and new goa generation (us)... when you play with legend and he tell you how good your track from soundcloud is... it is more than GOLDEN

 

 

Things changed much last years. Things we dreamed about now are real and that is so inspiring and motivating. So much things going on in 'backstage' that non-artist don't see. Not to praise myself or anyone, but i stated some of things above so people have idea whats going on 'behind curtain' these days. Your legends and heroes are now your friends, showing you respect and giving you support, helping you to keep goa alive even if they moved on. There is nothing more inspiring than this to the artist and to dj!

 

 

 

I don't see golden age of goa as something materialistic like CD sales or percentage of people wearing space tribe shirts and sandals, number of goa tracks shared on their facebook on daily base, or number of goa names on flyers or how many hours of goa per party... it's more like state of mind where i am for couple of years now and that state of mind i will try to represent trough my album soon

Hey man I have to say.. reading your post brought a smile to my face. It was beautifully written and it was from the right place.. your heart. I think good things are coming your way. !!

[Kitrinos]

Goa trance is more alive than ever post-2000. That's obvious. More releases, more artists, more parties/events playing goa, more people listening to the music. Not a golden age of course, but resurgence, yes. Maybe HappyHorse lives in a parallel universe or something.

[HappyHorse]

Goa trance is more alive than ever post-2000. That's obvious. More releases, more artists, more parties/events playing goa, more people listening to the music. Not a golden age of course, but resurgence, yes. Maybe HappyHorse lives in a parallel universe or something.

 

 

You still didn't convince me. Keep trying Haven't had any valid argument. Cause I also don't believe in parallel universes

If you can post me a list of more festivals and more parties around the globe, where we can see there is a global movement, than I'm in. Still didn't see it

 

Ask arround in all the countries around the globe. Besides Belgium and Israel there is no solid scene where you can find goa parties every week or every 2/3 weeks with a large amount off people.

Yes there are countries where you have maybe one goa party every few months with - if you are lucky 100/300 people.

 

Fact that some older acts cheer for some few neo goa guys, doesn't prove any point. The fact that there are a few festivals (who are only there in summer - so a very short period of time) are booking some neo goa doesn't proove a resurgence.

Most of the acts play for only a few labels or the labels themselves co-host the line up and the festival: a resurgence means the scene spreads out more globaly and it needs more active labels imo and more festivals that are label independent and book a broader variaity of goa acts, cause they want it, not cauyse they are aflicted to a label or certain dj's or artists.

 

Plus: before 2000 buying CDs was vital to support the scene. It means a lot. Cause if you sell your music, it means people really want it and support it This is how a scene (a small one as here) works. Local support so labels can put out new things and artists can invest it back into their music. Many labels went defunct cause of the 'all for free' attitude' of most people, and they went down.

And again: goa never died out, and it didn't need any resurgence: check the discogs database: goa production after 2000 didn't die out, it went on, but was just mainly put out by many underground labels who put their music on p2p sites.

The labels now, put music back on CDs with proper art work and started making goa more visible. Plus there were also goa parties after 2000, enough to state goa never died and didn't need a resurgence.

I think this resurgerce thing is purely psychological.

 

Maybe if you visited the parties before 2000, you'd know what I mean.

[Kitrinos]

I see your point HappyHorse. I didn't say there is a global movement, or that this is a 2nd golden age for goa trance. I am just saying what you admit: there is more music output and more goa acts play in festivals (even if these are just label parties or they co-host the line up).

It might have not completely disappeared, but for a few years there were almost zero official releases and no goa was played at events, so the only way to listen to new music was through p2p sites (right?). Now the music is much more accessible through label releases and Ektoplazm (you know that thousands of people d/l music there), and events (Connection festival and Balkan goa fanatics were 100% goa festivals if I'm not mistaken).

So, yeah, I don't think the situation is the same as it was 12-13 years ago, and I see this style of music being revived.

[Neogoa]

Golden or not, new breed of Goa trance is in some weird, but very good state at the moment - it went out from underground shadows, but it hasn't become mainstream either. That kind of balance is something I hoped for 10 years ago.

[Padmapani]

Plus there were also goa parties after 2000, enough to state goa never died and didn't need a resurgence.

I think this resurgerce thing is purely psychological.

on one hand you want evidence that goa is becoming popular on a global level and on the other hand you take the situation in belgium as your only basis. there were no fucking goa trance parties anywhere between here and belgium for many years. except for belgium and probably israel there was only a big vast emptyness.

 

also i don't see how it makes a huge difference if the parties are every 2-3 weeks or monthly. if you count monthly events you'll have goa trance in many places. if you don't count them, you're effectively saying that monthly parties are no parties at all, which doesn't make a lot of sense.