noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Yeah obviously what dubstep events are lacking is shirtless blokes on multiple pills.
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Can anyone manage to download this here:
Laurent Garnier @ Final Frontier, Club UK Feb '94
Not strickly trance I realise.
Laurent Garnier @ Final Frontier, Club UK Feb '94
Not strickly trance I realise.
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Gabba Flamenco Crossover
High Sierra Skullfuck
Big ups to Dijdit, DRMHCP and Bassnation, great posts.
Ever since jungle broke in '95, there's been all kinds of scenes catering to the white working class ravers that jungle left behind that can be loosely grouped under 'happy rave' I suppose. Even in London, they put on massive nights but they get no press at all.
I used to work in a warehouse with this nutter called Sean, he would go to huge things at Bagleys and out in sports centres in Essex. If you asked him what kind of music it was, he'd say stuff like 'happy uplifting hard trance house' (with a totally straight face, natch). To my ears, it was basically a cross between trance and happy hardcore.
I agree with DRMHCP & Bassnation, the whole Gatecrasher/Strawberry Sundae thing was the nearest this scene came to breaking through overground, in terms of media coverage. What it failed to do then was to develop and mutate in the way that hardcore did in 93-97 - maybe because the scene wasn't as racially and culturally mixed as hardcore was, so there wasn't the internal producer/raver tension that led to darkside and artcore.
On the free party scene, a lot of the northern trance/hard house rigs are run by people who I guess were 'crasher kids 10 years ago, and who are now in thier late 20s. These rigs are definitely 'working class raver' in spirit. The southern psytrance scene is a very different animal, very middle class gap-year/traveller vibes and a lot cliquier. They tend to rave on private land owned by someone's parents so it's very difficult for the OB to shut them down, they have top pro-sound PAs and really great drugs. There's little traffic between them and the traditional traveller/crusty free party scene. In fact from what Chris says, the southern psytrance scene is more like US-style raving than the British strain.
Dijdit, I heard the Aril Brikha record the other day, it is pretty tranc-y isn't it? And from someone who was signed to Transmat too, tsk tsk (lol). Actually it's more like 80s proto-trance - things like Chris & Cosey and those wierd euro one off records that Weatherall likes.
Ever since jungle broke in '95, there's been all kinds of scenes catering to the white working class ravers that jungle left behind that can be loosely grouped under 'happy rave' I suppose. Even in London, they put on massive nights but they get no press at all.
I used to work in a warehouse with this nutter called Sean, he would go to huge things at Bagleys and out in sports centres in Essex. If you asked him what kind of music it was, he'd say stuff like 'happy uplifting hard trance house' (with a totally straight face, natch). To my ears, it was basically a cross between trance and happy hardcore.
I agree with DRMHCP & Bassnation, the whole Gatecrasher/Strawberry Sundae thing was the nearest this scene came to breaking through overground, in terms of media coverage. What it failed to do then was to develop and mutate in the way that hardcore did in 93-97 - maybe because the scene wasn't as racially and culturally mixed as hardcore was, so there wasn't the internal producer/raver tension that led to darkside and artcore.
On the free party scene, a lot of the northern trance/hard house rigs are run by people who I guess were 'crasher kids 10 years ago, and who are now in thier late 20s. These rigs are definitely 'working class raver' in spirit. The southern psytrance scene is a very different animal, very middle class gap-year/traveller vibes and a lot cliquier. They tend to rave on private land owned by someone's parents so it's very difficult for the OB to shut them down, they have top pro-sound PAs and really great drugs. There's little traffic between them and the traditional traveller/crusty free party scene. In fact from what Chris says, the southern psytrance scene is more like US-style raving than the British strain.
Dijdit, I heard the Aril Brikha record the other day, it is pretty tranc-y isn't it? And from someone who was signed to Transmat too, tsk tsk (lol). Actually it's more like 80s proto-trance - things like Chris & Cosey and those wierd euro one off records that Weatherall likes.
My ma through out all my cassettes one day a few years back. Think she must have been drunk or something...
Any chance you could up it somewhere? Pleeease!!!
DigitalDjigit
Honky Tonk Woman
You talking about the Kompakt one or the one on *gasp* Peacefrog? Never thought you'd see them doing trance either. I dunno...sounds very mid 90's trance to me, except without the breakdowns and with slightly different drum sounds so as not to spook the minimal guys (it's for the better anyway).
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
We had this whole histoire de trance discussion here.
echevarian
babylon sister
So obviously there is some trance that had some interesting qualities.
But how about psy-trance?
The early stuff, hippies partying in Goa and all that, really seemed to have a lot of similarities to the parts of Balearic that are no longer cool.
Their music had more in common with Enigma than early Peter Gabriel if you get my meaning.
And a lot of psy has rightly been condemned as some of the most soulless vapid drug music ever created, and I'm unwilling to defend much of it.
Particularly Israeli trance, Infected Mushroom and their ilk can fuck off.
But how about some of the originators or their influences?
Does anyone here tolerate or enjoy Ozric Tentacles or Eat Static?
How about Simon Posford and his projects or Ott?
Back when I could still afford to give a shit about dubstep I heard a lot of sonic similarities between it and the dubby downtempo psy scene, stuff like Shpongle.
There was this scene called psy-breaks, horrifying as that may sound, that was occasionally interesting. I liked Amb's track Neutrino, didn't find too much else that was listenable.
Nagual Sound eventually crossed the psy-breaks thing with dubstep.
Its so far from what I'm listening to now that its hard to remember if it was even good.
Anyways I'm starting to wonder if anyone in the disco edit scene'll ever take a crack at making some Ozric Tentacles edits, it would fit in very well with Lindstrom or Prins Thomas.
If you squint hard enough at psy-trance sometimes it looks like space disco, I wonder if that says something about their relative shelf lives.
But how about psy-trance?
The early stuff, hippies partying in Goa and all that, really seemed to have a lot of similarities to the parts of Balearic that are no longer cool.
Their music had more in common with Enigma than early Peter Gabriel if you get my meaning.
And a lot of psy has rightly been condemned as some of the most soulless vapid drug music ever created, and I'm unwilling to defend much of it.
Particularly Israeli trance, Infected Mushroom and their ilk can fuck off.
But how about some of the originators or their influences?
Does anyone here tolerate or enjoy Ozric Tentacles or Eat Static?
How about Simon Posford and his projects or Ott?
Back when I could still afford to give a shit about dubstep I heard a lot of sonic similarities between it and the dubby downtempo psy scene, stuff like Shpongle.
There was this scene called psy-breaks, horrifying as that may sound, that was occasionally interesting. I liked Amb's track Neutrino, didn't find too much else that was listenable.
Nagual Sound eventually crossed the psy-breaks thing with dubstep.
Its so far from what I'm listening to now that its hard to remember if it was even good.
Anyways I'm starting to wonder if anyone in the disco edit scene'll ever take a crack at making some Ozric Tentacles edits, it would fit in very well with Lindstrom or Prins Thomas.
If you squint hard enough at psy-trance sometimes it looks like space disco, I wonder if that says something about their relative shelf lives.
echevarian
babylon sister
Oh yeah, Juno Reactor now make shitty dubstep.
Says a lot.
Says a lot.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Oh, I was just about to mention them - saw them at a festival a couple of years ago, I thought they were quite good. Wholly dubstep-free, though.
at least you might be able to look around and think that someone was having some kind of fun, even if it's not the kind of fun you particularly want them to have.
echevarian
babylon sister
I used to really like Juno Reactor, their Bible of Dreams album definitely had its moments. And early on they were releasing records on Novamute right along the likes of Plastikman and others.
Maybe I'm being unneccessarily harsh.
Here's some of their new stuff on Last FM.
http://www.last.fm/music/Juno+Reactor/_/Tokyo+Dub
To defend some happy memories, whenever I've been to US dubstep nights, particularly Dubwar in NYC, people were pretty obviously having a good time.
It wasn't zombie lurch halfstep by any means, but thats watching Mala and Joe Nice who are two of the better DJs in the scene.
Maybe I'm being unneccessarily harsh.
Here's some of their new stuff on Last FM.
http://www.last.fm/music/Juno+Reactor/_/Tokyo+Dub
To defend some happy memories, whenever I've been to US dubstep nights, particularly Dubwar in NYC, people were pretty obviously having a good time.
It wasn't zombie lurch halfstep by any means, but thats watching Mala and Joe Nice who are two of the better DJs in the scene.
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echevarian
babylon sister
Just so it doesn't sound as if I'm talking crap when I compare space disco and psy-trance I thought I'd do a little compare and contrast.
This is Hans Peter Lindstrom's I Feel Space, very big tune in 2005, heavily influential on a lot of newer disco producers.
To me it sounds like mid 90s psy-trance slowed down, without the cheesy samples.
I think the one thing many people refuse to admit about psy-trance and trance in general,
is that it can legitimately trace its roots back to Moroder and Kraftwerk just like a lot of European arpeggio based music.
Admittedly there is some later Tangerine Dream in there, along with some Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, but the disco is in there.
And here is my second example.
This is Eat Static's Gulf Breeze, pitched down to 115 bpm.
http://www.divshare.com/download/4449392-996
Imagine it without the samples and the snare rolls and see if I'm talking crap.
This is Hans Peter Lindstrom's I Feel Space, very big tune in 2005, heavily influential on a lot of newer disco producers.
To me it sounds like mid 90s psy-trance slowed down, without the cheesy samples.
I think the one thing many people refuse to admit about psy-trance and trance in general,
is that it can legitimately trace its roots back to Moroder and Kraftwerk just like a lot of European arpeggio based music.
Admittedly there is some later Tangerine Dream in there, along with some Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, but the disco is in there.
And here is my second example.
This is Eat Static's Gulf Breeze, pitched down to 115 bpm.
http://www.divshare.com/download/4449392-996
Imagine it without the samples and the snare rolls and see if I'm talking crap.
Yeah, I know whatcha mean. Following on your thoughts on these styles being traceable back to Moroder, one could look at the Italian progressive stuff that followed as a kind of proto-trance... Cosmic as early hippy trance (proggy noodling, Tangerine Dream-esque New Age-isms, bongos and World Music styles grafted over stiff Italo/German beats, etc); and Italo as early Progressive/Euro Trance.
These genres also utilize other styles in a way that stretches them out of their original mode of reception for a more fuzzy-headed, druggy effect (not that that's not a fundamental part of the creative process tho... the whole re-application thang)... Goa with it's psychedelic Industrial/Hi-NRG mashups, Cosmic's hijacked Electro-Soul grooves turned um, cosmic...
These genres also utilize other styles in a way that stretches them out of their original mode of reception for a more fuzzy-headed, druggy effect (not that that's not a fundamental part of the creative process tho... the whole re-application thang)... Goa with it's psychedelic Industrial/Hi-NRG mashups, Cosmic's hijacked Electro-Soul grooves turned um, cosmic...
echevarian
babylon sister
I've been listening to E2-E4 a lot lately.
Much has been made of its influence on techno, but between this and his work as Ash Ra Tempel, essentially inventing New Age music with New Age of Earth.
Manuel Gottsching might be the godfather of psy-trance, some 20 odd years before it was a style.
Doubt he'd consider it an honor though.
But yeah Moroder and Gottsching, thats what I'm liking these days.
Much has been made of its influence on techno, but between this and his work as Ash Ra Tempel, essentially inventing New Age music with New Age of Earth.
Manuel Gottsching might be the godfather of psy-trance, some 20 odd years before it was a style.
Doubt he'd consider it an honor though.
But yeah Moroder and Gottsching, thats what I'm liking these days.
Space disco and trance (at least the trance I enjoy) both have a similar spirit; that aspiration to positivity expressed in sonic cleanliness and naive, worldless sensitivity... based around euro melodic classicism.
I Feel Space
Eric Prydz - Frankfurt
Bodzin/Romboy - Callisto
Kiko - Ph-1
There's that new Prydz mix of Vath's Beauty and the Beast, which ties up the lineage between what he does and the early Harthouse stuff. Prydz is a total master...
Though there's been so much music over the past couple of years where I've felt like they've fulfilled the promises of the 90s, albeit by looking back more clearly through the decades prior... everything lining up and coming into focus.
I Feel Space
Eric Prydz - Frankfurt
Bodzin/Romboy - Callisto
Kiko - Ph-1
There's that new Prydz mix of Vath's Beauty and the Beast, which ties up the lineage between what he does and the early Harthouse stuff. Prydz is a total master...
Though there's been so much music over the past couple of years where I've felt like they've fulfilled the promises of the 90s, albeit by looking back more clearly through the decades prior... everything lining up and coming into focus.
echevarian
babylon sister
Yeah, I do enjoy some of Bodzin's stuff, like the way he layers analog synths using digital software (at least thats what I think he does).
But I tend to try to mix them with something a little more poly-rhythmic, sometimes his beats are a little stiff.
I really really liked a few of the Elektrochemie tracks, Mucky Star in particular.
I wish Booka Shade could have kept up the quality level of In White Rooms or Night Falls, Bodzin seems to have been deliberately imitating their earlier style.
I'll have to check out Prydz, thanks for the tip.
But I tend to try to mix them with something a little more poly-rhythmic, sometimes his beats are a little stiff.
I really really liked a few of the Elektrochemie tracks, Mucky Star in particular.
I wish Booka Shade could have kept up the quality level of In White Rooms or Night Falls, Bodzin seems to have been deliberately imitating their earlier style.
I'll have to check out Prydz, thanks for the tip.
Best of Prydz tracks are... RYMD, Pjanoo, Frankfurt, Europa, Remember... that mix he did of Paolo Mojo's 1983... plus Horizons and Deep Inside as Cirez D. It's all pretty "open" emotionally, even more so than Booka.
Bodzin is doing his own thing imo, though that early 93/94 euro trance stuff is at the root of both of them.
I also love stuff like An-2's Wide Open EP, or Ilya Santana's Quasar. Lifelike's mix of Light Years by Super Mal.
Theres a big mooshy lovely intersection between electro-house, detroit, trance, cosmic disco, house etc. I like the raw sounding stuff like Rother or some of the Deejay Gigolos stuff. All fits together perfectly for me.
Bodzin is doing his own thing imo, though that early 93/94 euro trance stuff is at the root of both of them.
I also love stuff like An-2's Wide Open EP, or Ilya Santana's Quasar. Lifelike's mix of Light Years by Super Mal.
Theres a big mooshy lovely intersection between electro-house, detroit, trance, cosmic disco, house etc. I like the raw sounding stuff like Rother or some of the Deejay Gigolos stuff. All fits together perfectly for me.
That tune Frankfurt's quite amazing... I guess by "open" you mean open to accusations of cheese.
I love how it's doing the trance arpeggios and so on and with a couple of little tweaks - some stabbing chords and some more detail in the bassline - it shifts feel to something way more Italo. Makes explicit that intersection you're talking about... I reckon, anyway. Frankfurt - I rate it almost on par with Discopolis. Have listened to it 100 times and only realised the other day that miniscule rhythmic loop of hiss you can hear before and after the track is intentional. Noticed it before but assumed it was my tinnitus being fruity.
Open - cheese. I guess. Pjanoo is the cheesiest... but I'm there after that initial build, when it drops back to that chunky bassline and the piano. I often feel like the tracks that get it wrong are the ones more in keeping with the true spirit of Italo (vs the tasteful self-conscious hipster disco stuff (which I also enjoy)), as a lot of the vintage stuff is abominably cheesy.
Anyhow something like Heartbeat by Jor-El or Odyssee 1 & 2 by Len Faki dresses up a similar set of influence in techno trousers. A bit heavier...
Open - cheese. I guess. Pjanoo is the cheesiest... but I'm there after that initial build, when it drops back to that chunky bassline and the piano. I often feel like the tracks that get it wrong are the ones more in keeping with the true spirit of Italo (vs the tasteful self-conscious hipster disco stuff (which I also enjoy)), as a lot of the vintage stuff is abominably cheesy.
Anyhow something like Heartbeat by Jor-El or Odyssee 1 & 2 by Len Faki dresses up a similar set of influence in techno trousers. A bit heavier...