Goa trance, goa party, psychedelic trance parties

Goa trance

Goa trance music is an off shoot of Electronic beat music that sprung up in the early to mid 1990's. It's conception was inspired by a hardcore group of hippy's that had stayed on in Goa, India after the main hippy influx had ended in the mid 1980's.

This group of hippy's, among them Goa Gill pursued things like recreational drug use and Yoga alongside the music, and formed Goa Trance out of a varied hotch potch of music styles such as acid house, progressive rock, techno and ethnic / oriental tribal music. Alongside Goa Gil other pioneers of the new sound that became Goa trance were Amsterdam Joey, Laurent, Swiss udi & Fred Disko.

Goa parties that sprung up in Goa during this time were similar to the raves of the mid 80's but with much more emphasis on mysticism and the music played was solely Goa trance. Due to the need to pay local police Baksheesh (a bribe) Parties on beaches and in forests are less common now than they were in the scenes heyday, and gatherings tend now to be held around a bar or in a nightclub.

At a Goa trance party use of fluorescent paint is common and it is used to decorate venues, and club goers. The decoration at a Goa trance event is often themed and may feature psychedelia such as mushrooms, or Hinduism and can also be themed around Aliens and U.F.O.'s

Goa trance music is typically in the 130 to 150 bpm (beats per minute) range and a track is usually between 7 - 12 minutes long. Typically a Goa trance record will build momentum and energy as it plays through to a climax, and then fade out.

Goa trance producers use rhythm and synth layers as texture to make the track sound and feel hypnotic and inactivating. Goa trance music is generally played out to a 4/4 rhythm and is designed to put the listener into a state of trance, in fact at its inception it was known as "trance dance" music.

Goa trance music can also be identified by its use of sub bass frequencies and experimentation with synthesizers and assorted hardware such as the Roland SH-101 and the Roland TB-303 is common place.

Notable DJs who have championed the Goa trance sound include Sven Vaeth, Andrew Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold; with Goa acts who have enjoyed worldwide fame being as diverse as: Eat Static, Hallucinogen, Man With No Name and Infected Mushroom. Some Goa artists who rose to fame in the Goa scene have transformed themselves into Psy trance acts; Psytrance is an off shoot of the Goa scene and the main difference between Goa and psychedelic (psy) trance is that in Psy trance the use of Hindu and middle eastern refrains and melodies are removed and it favours a more full on beat / melody.

Psy trance is best described as a more industrial sound as oppose to Goa trance's more organic textures. Artists that have moved over into Psy trance include O.O.O.D., Juno Reactor & Evolution and an album that marks this change in styles more than most is 1998's "Radio" by X-Dream.

Although the name Goa trance wasn't coined for the scene until 1994 the scene was living and breathing with a pulse of its own from 1992. In 1993 an album called "Project 2 Trance" was released and featured such acts as Man With No Name & Hallucinogen on it, "Project 2 Trance" was the first 100% Goa trance album ever released, and came just three years before the Goa trance scene realized its most commercial peak.

Some people saw Goa's mainstream popularity as a death nail in the scenes existence and the passing of the commercial phase was marked by Matsuri publications release of the Goa compilation "Let It RIP" in 1997. Since 2005 Goa Trance has had a revival with many new Goa fans coming to light, and many New school Goa artists emerging such as Astral Projection, Ra, Arronax, Filteria and SatanicElectro.

Goa trance is enjoying a major resurgence in places like Israel and Eastern Europe and There are several underground record labels helping to put Goa trance back on the chart these include Cosmic Flower Records, Cronomi, Sun trip and Neurotrance records.