Psychedelic trance, also called psytrance or psy, is a type of trance music that uses fast rhythms and layered melodies. This music has different moods, speeds, and styles. Examples include full on, darkpsy, forest, minimal (Zenonesque), hitech psy, progressive, night-time, suomi, psy-chill, psycore (a mix of psychedelic trance and hardcore), psybient (a mix of psychedelic trance and ambient), and psybreaks. It also includes songs adapted from other music genres. Goa trance came before psytrance. When digital media became more common, psytrance changed. Goa trance continues to develop along with other genres.
History
The first hippies who arrived in Goa, India (a former Portuguese colony) in the mid-1960s were drawn there for many reasons, including the beaches, the low cost of living, the friendly locals, the Indian religious and spiritual practices, and the readily available Indian cannabis, which was legal until the mid-1970s. During the 1970s, the first Goa DJs played music from psychedelic rock bands such as the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and The Doors. In 1979, electronic dance music could occasionally be heard in Goa through tracks by artists like Kraftwerk. However, it was not until 1983 that DJs Laurent and Fred Disko, followed by Goa Gil, began changing the music style in Goa to electro-industrial/EBM, a type of music that was becoming popular in Europe from artists such as Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, as well as Eurobeat.
The music tracks were remixed, which meant removing lyrics, repeating melodies and beats, and changing sounds in many ways. These modified tracks were then played for dancers as custom Goa-style mixes.
By 1990–91, Goa had become a popular destination for partying. As the scene grew, Goa-style parties spread worldwide starting in 1993. Parties like Pangaea and Megatripolis in the UK helped create music labels in countries such as the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, and Israel to promote psychedelic electronic music that reflected the spirit of Goa parties, Goa music, and Goa-specific artists, producers, and DJs. Goa Trance as a commercial scene began gaining global attention in 1994. The golden age of the first wave of Goa psy trance, which is generally considered a genre, was between 1994 and 1997.
By 1992, the Goa trance scene had developed its own unique style, though the term "Goa trance" was not widely used to describe the genre until around 1994. The Goa trance sound, which became similar to the term "psychedelic trance" by the late 1990s, remained popular at outdoor raves and festivals. Permanent psytrance nightclubs, such as Natraj Temple in Munich, also opened. New artists from around the world began to appear, and in 1992, the first Goa trance festivals started, including the Gaia Festival in France and the still-running VooV festival in Germany.
In 1993, the first Goa trance album, Project II Trance, was released. It included tracks by artists such as Man With No Name and Hallucinogen. Goa trance reached its commercial peak between 1996 and 1997, with media attention and well-known DJs joining the movement. However, this popularity did not last. When the attention faded, music sales dropped, leading to the failure of record labels, promotion networks, and some artists. This decline was marked by Matsuri Productions in 1997 with the release of the compilation album Let it RIP. On the back cover of the album, the words “R.I.P: Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, William Burroughs & Goa Trance” were written.
While the psytrance genre began in the Goa trance scene, it later spread globally. Its influence was seen in western Europe, the Middle East, North America, Australia, Japan, and South Africa. Psytrance is connected to other music genres such as big beat, electroclash, grime, and 2-step. The genre developed alongside the multimedia psychedelic arts scene.
Characteristics
Psychedelic trance music has a unique and fast sound, with beats per minute (BPM) usually between 125 and 150. It features a strong, continuous bass rhythm that remains throughout the song. This bass is combined with different rhythms from styles like funk, techno, dance, acid house, eurodance, and trance, using drums and other instruments. The melodies, rhythms, and beats often change every eight bars. Layering is used to create effects, with new musical elements added regularly, usually every four to eight bars. These layers continue to build until the music reaches a high point, called a climax. After the climax, the song slows down briefly before starting a new rhythmic pattern over the steady bass. Psychedelic trance songs are typically six to ten minutes long. They usually begin with an introductory section that sets the mood, followed by a middle section called a breakdown that lasts about 30 seconds to over a minute.
Subgenres
Dark psytrance is a type of psychedelic trance music with a strong and intense sound. It usually has a tempo of about 150 beats per minute, but sometimes it goes faster. This style often includes deep, mysterious themes that explore ideas about death, the night, and spiritual experiences. It uses dark and heavy sounds, and the music often includes samples from horror movies, unlike other types of psytrance that use science fiction samples. Dark psytrance became a known style after 2003 in Germany and Russia, with artists from Brazil, Germany, and Russia leading the movement. A German artist named Xenomorph (Mark Petrick) helped introduce dark, mysterious themes into psytrance. His 1998 album Cassandra's Nightmare had a big influence on this style. Another early influence was the 1998 album Radio by X-Dream.
Full-on is a style of psychedelic trance that has very high energy during its most exciting parts. It often includes melodic, strong, and clear basslines with a fast tempo, usually between 140 and 148 beats per minute. There are related styles that come from full-on, such as twilight and night full-on (also called dark full-on), which have deeper and bolder basslines. Other styles include morning full-on, which has a lighter and happier sound, and uplifting full-on. Artists who create music in this genre include Ajja, Burn in Noise, Dickster, Tristan, and mitanef.
Suomisaundi (which means "Finnish sound" in English) is a style of music that began in Finland during the mid-1990s.
Derivations
Psybient, also called psychedelic ambient or ambient psy, is a type of electronic music that mixes together styles like ambient, downtempo, psychedelic trance, dub, world music, new wave, ethereal wave, and IDM. This music has different names depending on the time period. In the early days, it was part of ambient house and chill-out music scenes and was called psychill, psychedelic chillout, or psy chillout. Later, during the goa trance and psychedelic trance scenes, it was known as ambient psytrance or ambient goa. Music influenced by dub is called psydub or psystep.
Psybient songs are created to make large soundscapes or a "musical journey." Like psytrance, it uses continuous rhythm, but because of its ambient and atmospheric parts, it focuses less on matching beats and allows for many changes in speed.
Festivals
Large psytrance festivals usually have many different cultures and music styles. Earthdance is the world's largest festival that brings people together through music and dance for peace. It started from the psychedelic trance culture.
At the 2004 Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom, psytrance music was featured for an entire day on the Glade stage.
In South Africa, festivals like Alien Safari, Vortex, and Synergy are examples of many long-running psytrance events.
In Australia, festivals such as Rainbow Serpent, Strawberry Fields, and Earthcore (which is no longer held) are long-running psytrance events known as "doofs."
The Boom Festival in Portugal began as a psytrance festival but now includes world music. It happens every other summer and combines social activism with cultural and spiritual activities.
The Ozora Festival in Hungary is an arts-focused event that focuses on connecting with nature and oneself. Psytrance music remains very popular there.
Cultural research
In 2007, a study was done on the global psytrance scene. Six hundred people from forty countries answered questions online. The findings were published in a journal called Journal of Youth Studies under the title "Beyond Subculture and Post-subculture? The Case of Virtual Psytrance."
In 2012, Graham St. John wrote a book titled Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance.