Help me find my new psy-home :p

[annica]

So, my name is Happy Ram, I lived in London for about 3.5 years, and met the psy scene there, and was great. Now I've been living in Argentina for some time and there's really no psy scene here which makes me an unhappy ram.

 

Im looking to relocate, anywhere in the world really, so I'd like to find a good psy-scene for me, please help:

 

(ps. I tried to post on Travel section but wouldn't let me)

 

I wantz:

 

+ Awesome psy-trance music (full-on, uk-psy, tribal, progressive, celtic), with good local djs/artists and weekly parties

+ Very Friendly, mixed international crowd (multi-cultural), more towards the fluffy/colorful as compared to darkpsy

+ Located in beautiful place (town surrounded by nature, rivers, mountains, somewhere where you can see the night sky, forests, jungle!)

+ Eco-friendly/conscious town/city. Vegetarian/Vegan/whole-food options, friendly people, rooted culture.

 

I say city but maybe im looking for something smaller (town), unless city is somehow in tune with nature (if this is even possible

Im thinking.. South East Asia, Latin-America, maybe Europe, but I'm open to other suggestions

 

+ Possible to squatt is a big plus. Somewhere where there's squatter's rights, or its commonplace to squatt and no problem with police/etc.

 

+ Alternative/progressive hub, things like grassroots social movements, new ideas, etc

 

Methinks dats it. Unless of course im forgetting about.. rams! there has to be rams roaming free thru my backyard, while I sip my cup of tea and talk to them cause im a ram.

 

Somewhere that advocates for Ram rights.

 

That is all.

 

Thxs

 

Happy Ram

[healium]

Well, Los Angeles CA USA will have all those things, except a lot of psytrance - maybe 1 show a month and usually not the best artists..

[annica]

Well, Los Angeles CA USA will have all those things, except a lot of psytrance - maybe 1 show a month and usually not the best artists..

 

True dat. My sister lived in Cali for some time, and loved it.

 

However, difficult to get permission to live there (green card, etc). And yeah, psy scene in US is still gathering momentum, not many parties/resident artists yet unfortunately.

 

Thanks tho, I'd like three doses of healium plz. Send to Happy Ram, Mountain number three, Da ridge.

[Purple Sunray]

 

+ Awesome psy-trance music (full-on, uk-psy, tribal, progressive, celtic), with good local djs/artists and weekly parties

+ Very Friendly, mixed international crowd (multi-cultural), more towards the fluffy/colorful as compared to darkpsy

+ Located in beautiful place (town surrounded by nature, rivers, mountains, somewhere where you can see the night sky, forests, jungle!)

+ Eco-friendly/conscious town/city. Vegetarian/Vegan/whole-food options, friendly people, rooted culture.

Check out switzerland.

+ There are several parties every weekend, ranging prog to hightech/core

+ The 'normal' swiss people are a bit strange.. they are very friendly and obliging.. IF you have moneh. If you have no moneh they rather want you out of their country..

Switzerland is kind of the hippie-collecting-point for central Europe, so there are quite a lot of them and hippies are like they are everywhere.. no problem to find friendly fluffy/colorful folks

+ Just check out pictures and articles about switzerland.. they are in the middle of alps. Beautifully nature with lakes, mountains, ect and everyone takes care about the nature very much. Awesome public transport system, probably half of the country is a national park ( )

 

There are no real big cities there, although you won't miss it. Zürich feels like New York, but with the size of a village.

It's very multicultural.. you can meeting everyone on the caffe-bar down the street .. from the mulit-mio-$$$ bank chairman to the flower power backpacker which just came back from india..

[annica]

Check out switzerland.

+ There are several parties every weekend, ranging prog to hightech/core

+ The 'normal' swiss people are a bit strange.. they are very friendly and obliging.. IF you have moneh. If you have no moneh they rather want you out of their country..

Switzerland is kind of the hippie-collecting-point for central Europe, so there are quite a lot of them and hippies are like they are everywhere.. no problem to find friendly fluffy/colorful folks

+ Just check out pictures and articles about switzerland.. they are in the middle of alps. Beautifully nature with lakes, mountains, ect and everyone takes care about the nature very much. Awesome public transport system, probably half of the country is a national park ( )

 

There are no real big cities there, although you won't miss it. Zürich feels like New York, but with the size of a village.

It's very multicultural.. you can meeting everyone on the caffe-bar down the street .. from the mulit-mio-$$$ bank chairman to the flower power backpacker which just came back from india..

 

Hey! awesome!! I've actually been to Switzerland, Engadine is beautiful.

 

When you say prog to high-tech/core, you still talking about Psy trance? (excuse my ignorance)

 

Anyway sounds great. How about the level of health/food consciousness; things like health stores/whole foods (unprocessed), raw, vegetarian/vegan, etc?

 

And do people squatt there? (occupy abandoned buildings for living or as cultural centers/ or for parties)

 

In which towns/cities is the psy scene more active/open, etc?

 

And finally, is it easy to get by speaking English?

 

Thanks again

[Purple Sunray]

> When you say prog to high-tech/core, you still talking about Psy trance? (excuse my ignorance)

 

Yes.. just mean that there is everything.. whatevery you like from psy-prog at 130bpm to psycore at 200bpm.. you will find it there.

 

> Anyway sounds great. How about the level of health/food consciousness; things like health stores/whole foods (unprocessed), raw, vegetarian/vegan, etc?

 

It's like in all europian cities, not really different to UK i think.

But it's a countryside.. you need <30min from Zürich down town to the next little farmer village with train/bus.. so just pick your food from where it's produced.. so you know for sure if it's processed or not.

 

> In which towns/cities is the psy scene more active/open, etc?

 

Clearly Zürich. Psy capital.

And it's the most 'international' city there - you won't have a problem with english.

[Purple Sunray]

oh, forgot this one:

 

< And do people squatt there? (occupy abandoned buildings for living or as cultural centers/ or for parties

 

Not that much. Switzerland is a very is very special in that regards..

Difficult to exlain.. if you don't disturb anybody, you can do forest party all night long and nobody cares (even the police) ... but if the front yard of your house is messy they gonna hunt you

They have very strong focus on 'intergration'.. think it comes from history with the different ethnic groups living there...

But what i wannd say.. occupying building's isn't really common there..

[annica]

K, awesome.. thanks for all the info! i appreciate it

 

I'll definitely do some research and maybe visit Zurich soon, as I plan on going to Italy during new years anyway.

 

P.L.U.R

[psybient.org]

interesting subjects

[annica]

anyone else has suggestions?

 

What about India? /South East Asia?

 

 

:3

[Padmapani]

not really. by the requirements you list, i guess london would be the best place . other european cities might also qualify if laws favourable for squatters aren't a necessity.

 

for india, you'd have to look at goa obviously, and even there, while you have enough alternative people, old hippies, vegetarian food, there's not too much psy happening outside the time around christmas/new year (but lots of parties around that time). during my stay in goa a few years ago (3 weeks in february) i haven't been able to locate a single psy party. at the parties i found they were playing electro or minimal (not even the progressive/minimal crossover stuff you hear at european festivals at daytime).

but besides small villages where the locals live, huts at the beach, yoga teachers and parties at peak season, there isn't really much going on there. it has a very laid back, rural feel and every "town" is spread over a comparatively huge area.

 

the hotspot for south east asia is koh phangan. while you'll find daily parties with psytrance at had rin beach (at the zoom venue), it isn't only psytrance anymore for many years. the whole beach is just bars/sound systems edge on edge and most will play horrible electro/house/dance/whatever is popular at the moment in the west. the zoom is pretty deserted most of the time compared to the rest. the people you'll find at had rin are mostly shitfaced drink and use the available fluoro-pant to decorate themselves with football tricots or national flags.

however there are also dedicated parties. at half-moon or black-moon you'll hear anything between minimal and neelix (or liquid soul if you're lucky), while at shiva moon there'll be darkpsy (and a croud of maybe 20 people).

with had rin overrun by people who have a totally different mindset the psy heads are scattered around the island, mostly settling for chill places far from had rin (if you do that you can have a pretty good time on the island. i've been to koh phangan mutliple times and it's gotten worse every time. if you want to go there for a holiday do it quick.)

also there is no "eco" spirit. the more beautiful a place is, the quicker it gets plastered with opportunities to make money off tourists.

another point that might be important for you is that it's almost impossible to find food without fishsauce in thailand

 

as for other places in south east asia where hippies used to gather:

forget vang vieng. besides the stunning view of the mountains, it's all drinking and watching reruns of popular tv-series over there.

i've also been to bali/lombok, but failed to find any psy community there. i hear they're still doing monthly parties on the uninhabited island gili meno, but i couldn't find the dates in advance and had my flight before one was happening.

[Balance]

Australia but most the big festivals here are in summer & the smaller ones only via facebook hunting. Also the bigs ones have moved more towards incorporating a lot of progressive house & techno music in to their line ups which is fine but if you're not in to those styles is can be messy. I gues Maiteria (I think that's it) is still inda psy but prog and full on mostly.

 

Personally I'd never move to another country just to folloer music. Travelling the globe and experienceing the different scenes was always more fun.

[annica]

not really. by the requirements you list, i guess london would be the best place . other european cities might also qualify if laws favourable for squatters aren't a necessity.

 

for india, you'd have to look at goa obviously, and even there, while you have enough alternative people, old hippies, vegetarian food, there's not too much psy happening outside the time around christmas/new year (but lots of parties around that time). during my stay in goa a few years ago (3 weeks in february) i haven't been able to locate a single psy party. at the parties i found they were playing electro or minimal (not even the progressive/minimal crossover stuff you hear at european festivals at daytime).

but besides small villages where the locals live, huts at the beach, yoga teachers and parties at peak season, there isn't really much going on there. it has a very laid back, rural feel and every "town" is spread over a comparatively huge area.

 

the hotspot for south east asia is koh phangan. while you'll find daily parties with psytrance at had rin beach (at the zoom venue), it isn't only psytrance anymore for many years. the whole beach is just bars/sound systems edge on edge and most will play horrible electro/house/dance/whatever is popular at the moment in the west. the zoom is pretty deserted most of the time compared to the rest. the people you'll find at had rin are mostly shitfaced drink and use the available fluoro-pant to decorate themselves with football tricots or national flags.

however there are also dedicated parties. at half-moon or black-moon you'll hear anything between minimal and neelix (or liquid soul if you're lucky), while at shiva moon there'll be darkpsy (and a croud of maybe 20 people).

with had rin overrun by people who have a totally different mindset the psy heads are scattered around the island, mostly settling for chill places far from had rin (if you do that you can have a pretty good time on the island. i've been to koh phangan mutliple times and it's gotten worse every time. if you want to go there for a holiday do it quick.)

also there is no "eco" spirit. the more beautiful a place is, the quicker it gets plastered with opportunities to make money off tourists.

another point that might be important for you is that it's almost impossible to find food without fishsauce in thailand

 

as for other places in south east asia where hippies used to gather:

forget vang vieng. besides the stunning view of the mountains, it's all drinking and watching reruns of popular tv-series over there.

i've also been to bali/lombok, but failed to find any psy community there. i hear they're still doing monthly parties on the uninhabited island gili meno, but i couldn't find the dates in advance and had my flight before one was happening.

 

Hey! thanks a ton, thats a lot of useful information! So I guess Goa is a no-no... have you heard of Malana at Kasol?

 

Also.. nevermind squatting... what are your views on the different scenes in Europe? Any city/town worth mentioning above the rest? I'd just narrow my requirements to... friendly/mixed/colourful crowd, weekly parties, and good local djs/artists.

 

Also considering Brazil but dont know much about the scene there, but I read is the biggest in Latin America.

 

Anyway, thanks a lot

 

Annica

[annica]

Australia but most the big festivals here are in summer & the smaller ones only via facebook hunting. Also the bigs ones have moved more towards incorporating a lot of progressive house & techno music in to their line ups which is fine but if you're not in to those styles is can be messy. I gues Maiteria (I think that's it) is still inda psy but prog and full on mostly.

 

Personally I'd never move to another country just to folloer music. Travelling the globe and experienceing the different scenes was always more fun.

 

Awesomes... what about weekly parties? Where in Australia you feel is the nicest scene?

 

I kno I wont just move to a country for psy alone, but its one of the things Im considering.. though yes, it is quite important for me.

 

Also.. id love to travel the globe and just experience all the scenes... I just cant figure out a realistic way to earn a living as I travel.. if you've got any ideas you can enlighten me

 

Thanks x

 

Annica