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Psytrance Guide

psytranceguide.com

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Re: Psytrance Guide

#51

Post by jjulius »

rogerclark wrote: post #36
ericyd wrote: post #29

I have never understood why psytrance subgenres are so focused on BPM range. There is so much more to music than the tempo, it has always felt overly reductive to me. I had a friend who was a psytrance producer and even hearing him talk at length about it, I was never convinced that BPM was a critical differentiator. Also respectfully I think categorizing a subgenre as falling within 4 BPM is outrageously too narrow.…

Casual listeners can't detect it, but it strongly affects the possibility space for production purposes. For instance, if you're writing happy hardcore music at 170+ BPM with a kick drum on every beat, you will get surprisingly little time between those kicks to work with the bass and other instruments. While this is a somewhat extreme example, even something like the difference between 128 BPM and 138 BPM can change…

If you're interested in some BPM fuckery, there's a small-ish contingent of artists/labels doing some cool things around the 80/160-ish BPM range. Folk like Donato Dozzy, Patrick Russell and Forest Drive West have been putting together some great sets that sound like this militant-ish blend of Techno and Drum and Bass and just get really 'out there' in, in my opinion, the best way possible.

There's one moment in a Forest Drive West set (I wish I could remember which one) where he plays the first 45-ish minutes at 160-ish, and then drops down to 125-130 for the last 1hr+ - but he does it in a manner that you never hear DJs do and almost doesn't work. He leaves the ~160BPM track playing, and brings in the 125-ish track over it in a way that creates this really cool syncopated rhythm. It's risky, and there's a reason you usually don't see people do it, but he pulls it off. I have a particular fondness for Jazz music, particularly Jazz musicians who fuck with time in a similar manner, so to hear a DJ pulling off something like that is awesome to me.

But yeah, highly recommend checking out Dozzy's surprise closing set at Terraforma[1] and Patrick Russell's Mostra[2] set.

Edit: The FDW set I'm thinking of is his set from Boom Festival[3].

[1]https://soundcloud.com/donato-dozzy/donato-dozzy-terraforma-...

[2]https://soundcloud.com/monument-podcast/mnmt-recordings-patr...

[3]https://soundcloud.com/boomfestival/forestdrivewest-the-gard...

Re: Psytrance Guide

#52

Post by kortex »

dylan604 wrote: post #25
jachee wrote: post #22

“Hmm… I wonder where Infected Mushroom falls…” ^F Infected … zero results. o_O

Once they started singing like Moby, well, whatevs. They laughed all the way to the bank with the explosion in popularity outside the 5000 people globally that knew who they were prior. Oforia, MFG, Astral Projection, and more fill the void the disinfected mushroom left

I don't understand why bands get so much animosity for "leaving their roots". IM make amazing, unique music and put on one hell of a live show. Is it as "pure" psytrance as Astral Projection et al? No but why does it have to be? They make music they like to make.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#53

Post by nextstep »

Interesting that this is on the front page of HN today. Tensions are running high in the psytrance subreddit this week. Psytrance is very popular among Israeli settlers, perhaps because many visit Goa after completing their military service.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#54

Post by SturgeonsLaw »

rogerclark wrote: post #36
ericyd wrote: post #29

I have never understood why psytrance subgenres are so focused on BPM range. There is so much more to music than the tempo, it has always felt overly reductive to me. I had a friend who was a psytrance producer and even hearing him talk at length about it, I was never convinced that BPM was a critical differentiator. Also respectfully I think categorizing a subgenre as falling within 4 BPM is outrageously too narrow.…

Casual listeners can't detect it, but it strongly affects the possibility space for production purposes. For instance, if you're writing happy hardcore music at 170+ BPM with a kick drum on every beat, you will get surprisingly little time between those kicks to work with the bass and other instruments. While this is a somewhat extreme example, even something like the difference between 128 BPM and 138 BPM can change…

Chillgressive is a great search term to find some slow psychedelic beats

Re: Psytrance Guide

#55

Post by swayvil »

This is the second such guide to ambient-vicinity I've seen here today. But big names. Boards of Canada. Tycho. Casino vs Japan. Amboy. Brian Eno... I do not see them in their lists. Where do they come in?

Re: Psytrance Guide

#56

Post by galaxyLogic »

rogerclark wrote: post #36
ericyd wrote: post #29

I have never understood why psytrance subgenres are so focused on BPM range. There is so much more to music than the tempo, it has always felt overly reductive to me. I had a friend who was a psytrance producer and even hearing him talk at length about it, I was never convinced that BPM was a critical differentiator. Also respectfully I think categorizing a subgenre as falling within 4 BPM is outrageously too narrow.…

Casual listeners can't detect it, but it strongly affects the possibility space for production purposes. For instance, if you're writing happy hardcore music at 170+ BPM with a kick drum on every beat, you will get surprisingly little time between those kicks to work with the bass and other instruments. While this is a somewhat extreme example, even something like the difference between 128 BPM and 138 BPM can change…

> Tempo isn't everything, but it's much more than just a number.

Does this specifically apply to Psytrance where I think the tempo stays more or less constant for most of the song. In general is there any Psytrance where tempo evolves during the song, goes up and down? I understand it might be difficult to dance to.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#57

Post by jjulius »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #56
rogerclark wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Casual listeners can't detect it, but it strongly affects the possibility space for production purposes. For instance, if you're writing happy hardcore music at 170+ BPM with a kick drum on every beat, you will get surprisingly little time between those kicks to work with the bass and other instruments. While this is a somewhat extreme example, even something like the difference between 128 BPM and 138 BPM can change…

> Tempo isn't everything, but it's much more than just a number. Does this specifically apply to Psytrance where I think the tempo stays more or less constant for most of the song. In general is there any Psytrance where tempo evolves during the song, goes up and down? I understand it might be difficult to dance to.

In Psytrance, and dance music in general, most BPMs will stay the same throughout the track. You may have moments where the track will cut to half-time and "feel" slower, even though it's kinda not, but more often than not you're going to find that dance music tracks maintain the same BPM throughout.

DJs, however, will often be the ones switching the tempo up during a set, either slowly adjusting it up and down over the course of the night, or switching things up and suddenly bringing in a track at a completely different BPM.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#58

Post by duped »

macNchz wrote: post #11

I’ve enjoyed listening to psychedelic electronic music while programming since discovering Shpongle twenty years ago. I feel like it helps my brain get into the right mode somehow. I’m not familiar with the definitions of a lot of these sub-taxonomies but interested in listening to them! I have a coding playlist I’ve put together over the years that is more towards the psybient/chillout end but includes some trance a…

Divine Moments of Truth is an amazing piece of music that I think could appeal broadly to fans of classical/art music, electronica, EDM, rock, etc. More people should listen to Shpongle.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#59

Post by jjulius »

bangkoksbest wrote: post #33
ericyd wrote: post #29

I have never understood why psytrance subgenres are so focused on BPM range. There is so much more to music than the tempo, it has always felt overly reductive to me. I had a friend who was a psytrance producer and even hearing him talk at length about it, I was never convinced that BPM was a critical differentiator. Also respectfully I think categorizing a subgenre as falling within 4 BPM is outrageously too narrow.…

Because it's how DJs connect tracks together. That's the target audience for purchasing psytrance, and most electronic dance music, tracks.

Yeah, but with most genres, you typically don't find them isolated to such small BPM ranges (I see on this guide ranges as low as 2 BPM). Most genres have a much wider range, eg ~10-ish or more BPMs. I really don't think it's accurate to limit these genres to such a small range, when a genre is more about the specific sound and style of a track.

Source: DJ for ~25 years.

Re: Psytrance Guide

#60

Post by jjulius »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #46
ericyd wrote: post #29

I have never understood why psytrance subgenres are so focused on BPM range. There is so much more to music than the tempo, it has always felt overly reductive to me. I had a friend who was a psytrance producer and even hearing him talk at length about it, I was never convinced that BPM was a critical differentiator. Also respectfully I think categorizing a subgenre as falling within 4 BPM is outrageously too narrow.…

Because DJs don’t want to change the tempo of what they play by too much until it sounds wrong, and most electronic music is produced to be played at clubs And because the dance styles that match ranges of bpm are so different, audiences find ranges they prefer. Try dancing to 125bpm old berghain tracks and compare with how you’re able to move your body in sync with 155bpm hard groove. It’s a completely different exp…

Some of my favorite dancefloor moments have been hearing a track I love played at a wildly different BPM than I'm used to hearing (whether it's playing a 33 as a 45/vice versa, or using a CDJ to really stretch the tempo). The way the vibe of a track can change completely, and shift your perspective of a piece of music, is always super cool to me.

I caught Rhadoo a few years back and he spent two hours playing this dark, kinda spacey techno that just chugged along real nicely at around 125BPM. I didn't love the tracks, but thought the way that he was blending everything was interesting - I'd recommend seeing him play if you can solely for the master class in mixing that he'll give ya.

At any rate, a little over two hours in, I started to hear a familiar hi-hat. My body knew the track, but I couldn't place it. Then he started fucking with the low-end EQs and you could hear it - Happy Cycling by Boards of Canada (the original, not a remix or an edit or anything), a 100BPM downtempo-ish track, coming into the middle of this dark, chugging techno set at 125BPM. Literally my favorite BoC track and the last thing I'd ever expect to hear in the middle of such a set. It was like he'd built the whole set up to that moment, and it worked so fucking well. I still get chills thinking about it.

Man, this thread has me waxing poetic haha...

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