Goa Trance

Goa trance is form of electronic music and is a style of trance music which originated in the Indian region of Goa. The music has its roots in the popularity of the Goa region in the late 1960's and early 1970's as a hippie mecca, although the actual Goa trance style would not appear until much later. As the tourist influx tapered off in the 1970's and 1980's, a core group remained in Goa, concentrating on improvements in music along with other activities such as yoga, recreational drug use, and various New Age pursuits.

The introduction of techno style and technique to Goa led to what would eventually become the Goa trance style; early pioneers included Goa Gil and Mark Allen. Many "parties" (similar to raves) in Goa revolve entirely around this genre of music; Goa is also often played in other countries at raves, festivals and parties often in conjunction with other styles of trance and techno.

Goa is essentially "dance-trance" music (and was referred to as "Trance Dance" in its formative years), and as such has an energetic beat, almost always at 4/4 and often going into 16th or 32nd notes. A typical number will generally build up to a much more energetic movement in the second half of the track, and then taper off fairly quickly toward the end. Generally 8-12 minutes long, Goa tracks usually have a noticeably stronger bassline than other trance music and incorporate more organic "squelchy" sounds.

Goa trance parties have a visual aspect as well, the use of "fluoro" (fluorescent paint) is common in clothing and decoration. The images are often associate with topics like aliens, hinduism and other religious (especially eastern) images, mushrooms (and other psychedelic imagery), shamanism and technology. Goa trance has a significant following in Israel, brought to that country by former soldiers returning from recreational "post-army trips" to Goa. A great deal of Goa trance is now produced in Israel, but its production and consumption is a global phenomenon.

Goa Trance effectively morphed into psychedelic trance during the latter half of the 1990's. Both styles are generally non-commercial and underground compared to other forms of trance. The goa sound is more likely to be heard at outdoor parties and festivals than in clubs and places like Ibiza. For a short period in the mid-'90's it enjoyed significant commercial success with support from DJ's like Paul Oakenfold. The artist man with no name probably came the closest to being a goa trance "star".

History

The music has its roots in the popularity of the Goa state in India in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie mecca, and although musical developments were incorporating elements of industrial music and EBM with the spiritual culture in India throughout the 1980s, the actual Goa Trance style did not officially appear until the early 1990s. As the hippie tourist influx tapered off in the 1970s and 1980s, a core group remained in Goa, concentrating on developments in music along with other pursuits such as yoga and recreational drug use. The music that would eventually be known as Goa Trance did not evolve from one single genre, but was inspired mainly by Industrial music/EBM like Front Line Assembly and A Split-Second, acid house (The KLF's "What time is love?" in particular) and psychedelic rock like Ozric Tentacles, Steve Hillage and Ash Ra Tempel. In addition to those, oriental tribal/ethnic music also became a source of inspiration, unsurprisingly considering that it was from Goa in the Orient that Goa Trance originated. A very early example (1974) of the relation between psy-rock and the music that would eventually be known as Goa Trance is The Cosmic Jokers (a collaboration between Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze) highly experimental and psychedelic album "Galactic Supermarket", which features occasional 4/4 rhythms intertwined with elements from psy-rock, early analogue synths and occasionally tribal-esque drum patterns.

The introduction of techno and its techniques to Goa led to what eventually became the Goa Trance style; early pioneers included DJs Fred Disko, Laurent, Goa Gil, and Amsterdam Joey. Many "parties" (generally similar to raves but with a more mystic flavour, at least in early 1990s) in Goa revolve entirely around this genre of music. In other countries, Goa is also often played at raves, festivals and parties in conjunction with other styles of trance and techno.

Today, Goa Trance has a significant following in Israel, brought to that country by former soldiers returning from recreational "post-army trips" to Goa in the early 1990s. A great deal of Goa Trance (or now, more accurately, psytrance) is now produced in Israel, but its production and consumption is a global phenomenon. New "hot-spots" today include Brazil, Japan and South Africa.

The original Goa Trance sound has undergone a great deal of other genres evolving from it since 1997. From 1997 till 2000 the Goa Trance scene was without any clear goal. Artists experimented in many ways from combining Goa Trance with breakbeats to creating a blend of Goa Trance and minimal techno (which later went on to become progressive/minimal psytrance). The main goal during this time was to experiment in new ways and create something different from the Goa Trance sound that was so popular and widespread during the mid 90s. As a result, anything could be heard at a Goa Trance party. After 2000, new styles were born, fixed and have survived until today, with some of them becoming commercialized and enjoying much more success in clubs, for example "full-on" psytrance. Today a lot of music that is labeled "Goa Trance" has very little to do with the original sound of Goa Trance, however, achieving a psychedelic sound (be it organic or cybernetic) is said to remain the goal that producers are out to accomplish.

Notable artists

• Astral Projection
• Cosmosis
• Doof
• Transwave
• Goa Gil
• Hallucinogen
• Infected Mushroom
• DJ Jörg
• Juno Reactor
• Man With No Name
• Pleiadians/Etnica
• Oforia
• Shiva Shidapu

source: moodbook

EURO Trance

Euro-Trance is a retrospective term first used in the UK, during the spring of 2002, by UK's MTV Dance. It was used to describe all the "trance"-like European imports for the UK market, especially those recorded in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The term was never accepted by the rest of Europe, with the exception of Poland and parts of Italy

Music styles considered "Euro-Trance"

Dream House

Dream house was a short-lived 90s European music style (Robert Miles, BBE, Nylon Moon, Zhi-Vago, Chicane). It is not the best music for physical dancing, rather it was more of a "dance with your mind" music style. It also had a speed up sub-genre, dream trance.

Progressive Trance

Progressive trance (130 bpm+) & Euro progressive house (129 bpm or less). It's almost the same music style since about 2000, that's why many Europeans simply call it "Progressive". Well known artists are: ATB, Blank & Jones, Alice DeeJay, Sash!, Tiësto, Armin Van Buuren, Veracocha, Push, Paul Van Dyk, EX-PLOSION, Markus Schulz, Cressida, Deepsky, Manny Ward, and Lost Tribe. Progressive trance also combines many other mid late 90s music styles, with more notable Epic Trance and Aquasonic Trance.

Vocal Trance

Vocal trance: From 1997-2003, this music style was simply progressive trance with vocals. It dominated by German-based productions, spread all over Europe because of Viva, Onyx and MTV2 Pop satellite music channels. TMF Belgium/Holland (and JIM Belgium during the 00s) followed the "hype", by promoting their own vocal trance productions, that became more commercial successful on UK and Spain. UK also has a share on the vocal trance scene, but in a more underground level. Vocal Trance artists include: Cascada, ATB, Ian Van Dahl, Lasgo, Sylver, Milk Inc, Dj Sammy, Santamaria, Do, Dee Dee, Astroline, Kate Ryan, Kelly Llorenna, Flip & Fill, and Jessy De Smet.

Uplifting House or Uplifting Trance

Uplifting house / uplifting trance is a style very close to European progressive house/trance music style. It is less focused on melody and more focused on attitude. Vocals are usually present. It has influences from happy hardcore, breakbeat even techno. It was (and still is) very popular in German speaking countries and has a cult status among UK dance fans. Typical examples of this music style are: Brooklyn Bounce and Darude.

Heroic

Heroic is a style of Euro-Trance originating in the western part of the USA, that derives elements from Euro-Trance, Hardstyle, Psytrance, Opera, Hard Trance, and Classical music. A new subgenre of Trance, it is characterized by heavy kickdrums and deep basslines from the German Euro-Trance sound, driving arpeggiations from Psytrance, breakdowns utilizing classical music instrumentation and opera singing and wide, hard trance leads normally used in Epic Trance and German Euro-Trance productions. Melodies generally use chords typical of Middle Eastern styles of music, and minor keys, to create a darker, more dramatic feel. Dubbed "the dark side of Epic Trance," Heroic avoids the typical major chord progressions and happy vocals in favour of a more mystic and operatic approach. The only label that currently releases Heroic music is Ocean Drive Records, in Florida.

TRANCE--A closer look

So what is Trance actually??

Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1980s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 160 BPM, featuring repeating melodic synthesizerphrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. It often features crescendos and breakdowns. Sometimes vocals are also utilized. The style is arguably derived from a combination of largely electronic music such as ambient music, techno, and house. The origin of the term is ambiguous with suggestions that the term is derived from the Klaus Schulze album Trancefer or the early trance act Dance 2 Trance though it is likely that both these uses are linked to the perceived ability of a drum beat to induce altered states of consciousness, aka a trance. As this music is almost always played in nightclubs at popular vacation spots and in inner cities, trance can be understood as a form of club music.


Origin

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of "What Time Is Love?" and "3 a.m. Eternal" (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound - as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave); and the 1988 track "Kylie Said Trance". The KLF labelled these early recordings "Pure Trance"; they were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and 'underground' in sound. While the KLF's works are clear examples of Proto-trance, two songs, both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first "true" trance records. The first, Age of Love's self-titled debut single was released in early 1990 and is seen as creating the basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany. The second track was Dance 2 Trance's "We Came in Peace", the b-side of their own self-titled debut single.

The trance sound beyond this acid-era genesis is said to have begun as an off-shoot of techno in German clubs during the very early 1990s. Frankfurt is often cited as a birthplace of trance. Some of the earliest pioneers of the genre included Jam El Mar, Oliver Lieb, Sven Väth, and Torsten Stenzel, who all produced numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q, Harthouse, Superstition, Rising High, FAX +49-69/450464 and MFS Records were Frankfurt based. Arguably a fusion of techno and house music, early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones which were appropriated from the style of house popular in Europe's club scene at that time।

However, the melodies in trance differed from euro/club house in that although they tended to be emotional and uplifting, they did not "bounce around" in the same way that house did। This early music tended to be characterized by hypnotic and melodic qualities and typically involved repeating rhythmic patterns added over an appropriate length of time as a track progressed.

Trance Production

Trance employs a 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 130 to 160 BPM, and 32 beat phrases, somewhat faster than house music but usually not as fast as Goa Trance or Psychedelic Trance. Early tracks were sometimes slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often foreshadowed by lengthy 'snare rolls' - a quick succession of equally spaced snare drum hits that builds in volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.

Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple sawtooth-based sounds used both for short pizzicato elements and for long, sweeping string sounds. A technique called "gating" is often employed in creating these lead sounds (turning the volume up and down rapidly in rhythm with the piece to create a stuttered, chopped sound). Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook" melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars.

While many trance tracks contain no vocals at all, other tracks rely heavily on vocals, and thus a sub-genre has developed. The sound and quality of the production relies to a large degree upon the technology available. Vintage analog equipment still holds a place in the hearts of many producers and enthusiasts, with names such as Moog, Roland and Oberheim staples in the trance sound palette. However, the mainstream availability of digital technology has allowed a whole new group of producers to emerge due to the fact that while top shelf digital (or analog modeling) synthesizers cost thousands of US dollars, high demand and a small supply of clean vintage analog synthesizers causes them to be extremely expensive.

Trance records are often heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synthesizer sounds, vocals and often parts of the percussion section. This provides the tracks with the sense of vast space that trance producers tend to look for in order to achieve the genre's epic quality. Flangers, phasers and other effects are also commonly used at extreme settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to resemble any real-world instrument, and so producers have free rein.

source: wikipedia

Further Info

trance.net-- Reviews n Discussions

www.unsignedbandweb.com--Music chart listings

www.tranceaddict.com

www.trancepodium.com

www.trancetribe.com

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