Guest OneRedPanther Posted May 22, 2002 Share Posted May 22, 2002 after being repeatedly harrassed by my mother for an explanation of why I can listen to "all these funny noises to the same beat" every hour of every day without relent for my ears nor neighbours, i offered the somewhat vague description that it was "basically intelligent dance music loosly fitting the form of classical music". I say psytrance feeds minds in a way that no other music i've found does. For the most part, it's intelligent patterning, instrument isolations, layering... to a degree no other dance music offers. There is just simply SO MUCH to comprehend in each track that every time you listen to it is different. Brain food, so to speak. But I ask you, is psytrance the SUPERIOR choice of musical taste? This idea DARE NOT be uttered outside these doors, lest I be mauled by the myriad brainless cheesytrance, hiphop and UK garage fans... Of course musical taste is always subjective, but for once I can see a type of music that actually 'DOES' something for the listener. With or without drugs, nothing else even comes close. psytrance takes us somewhere new in our heads. There are no lyrics to get across some poignant message, its what WE want to make of it. Some would argue that to label any music superior to another is wrong. But only psytrance seems to alter my state of mind, to let me wander in thought. All other types of dance music, i see as "just not quite there". House, Trance, Progressive, RnB, HipHop, Breaks, D&B, Jungle and all derivatives therein.... they're all paper-thin as I see it. No depth... nothing to feed our imaginations. Rounding off.... i would ask the question... do WE know something that others just havent latched onto yet? is it that psytrance just happens to go so well with the drugs, or is there something more subtle, more profound at work? Is it truly superior music? This, i leave to you.... peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike D Posted May 22, 2002 Share Posted May 22, 2002 I don't think any music is particularily superior, though personally I find psytranct to be more what I enjoy than other forms. Superioty has some bad connotations to it, I don't weant my music to be superioir, I want it ot be something everybody can enjoy, be open minded, yeah right!!!, means we should want to share all our experiences with others. Every scene has it's good, bad and just damn ugly. The pop scene even as some groups that I quite like. The psy scene has some acts I just cannot stand for very long. It is all just a matter of taste and experiences. Music is a gift in any form, just like life, and we are not to say our life is any superior than our neighbour's, so who are we then to say that the gift of music, in our case psy, is superior? Think about, this isn't some religious babble, but music is for everybdy, but some stlyes are not for you or for them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bugbread Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 No. If you think psy is that much more expansive than other types of music, you are probably only comparing it to mainstream music. As for "going on journeys", Gastr del Sol takes me as far, and as for "noticing something different every time", the gold medal is a tie between Shpongle's "Tales of the Inexpressible" and, of all things, the Boredom's "Pop Tatari"...I was finding new stuff on that album regularly despite a year of very solid listening. If you think psy is one of the greatest types of music, well, good for you, and I agree. If you think it's the best, you need to start listening to more nonmainstream music. Heck, even Holy Men will sound like the best music in the world if the comparison is Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and the Backstreet Boys. NP: Sonic Sufi - Optimum Flux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vasyachkin Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 no psytrance is not superior, theres just good music and bad music thats all. first listen to some JEAN MICHEL JARRE VNV NATION ASSEMBLAGE 23 MESH CONVERTER PARADISE LOST PET SHOP BOYS DEPECHE MODE and then talk )) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smaug Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 Most of my friends and people I work with do not listen to any sort of Electronic music. I always think to myself "they really don't know what they are missing." Psy Trance in particular is in my oppion the best type of Electronic music. I believe most people want a singer associated to the type of music they listen to. Since the majority of electronic music has no real singer that comes in each song people think Psy Trance or any Electronic music for that matter is not worth listening to. They want lyrics to sing to. They usually only listen to Electronic music in dance clubs just for the sole purpose of dancing. Outside of dancing they won't listen to it in there car. Again I think to myself "big mistake." They tend to think if its Electronic music that its repetative with the same beat over and over again. When I think of repetative music I think of Techno music. One group in particular (Infected Mushroom) change the beat and the direction of the song quite a bit in each song they come up with. Its not the same beat played over and over again. Since I live in the US there tends to be more Techno music than Psy Trance. Thats probably why not a lot of people here in the US listen to Psy Trance, cause they think its going to be like Techno music. Also most Psy Trance groups are not here in the US, most are in other countries outside of the US which makes it hard for people to get a hold of such great music. I think to myself "If only they knew." If only they knew that most of the mainstream crap played on MTV is complete and utter garbage compared to the Psy Trance groups I listened to. If only they knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomble Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 I don't think that a music form can be generalised to being superior to everyone, but I'm sure most of us would agree that it is superior to us otherwise we wouldn't be here discussing it. It depends what you want to get out of the music you listen to. Listening to psy is a mental workout - in the good stuff each return spin reveals new treasures. What is more, repetition in itself is enough to put a lot of people off. But if you remove the lyrics from their music, you are likely to find far less diversity in their music than even the most minimal techno track. In fact, repetition creates neural pathways that once passed are perceived differently each time. You only need to listen to a good piece of Steve Reich to start asking yourself 'did the music change or was it the way I heard it'. Psy as well as a lot of other music that I like leaves a good portion of the composition up to the listener. You bring to the listening experience your mood, frame of mind etc and take from it a convolution of what was there in the sounds and what was there in your head already. I generally find lyrics distracting, but most people want them. It is straight forward statistics to me that the music that is most popular is likely to be that which is least difficult to digest. If 10 million people 'enjoy' a pop album, 10 thousand can 'love' a psy album. We just choose to be on one tail of the bell curve, leaving the majority to sit near the middle. bomble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bugbread Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 Bomble - Do you listen to any lyrical music? (Just curious). I agree with you 100%. I'm sure lyrical music is fine, but, to be honest, words distract me from music, so the only lyrical music I like is the stuff where I can't understand the lyrics. And, strangely, this is usually not because they're in foreign languages, but because: The lyrics are just random sounds (Boredoms), the lyrics are pronounced SOOO strangely that they cannot be made out (Cocteau Twins) or they are in a made up language (Ruins). Though if the singer is good enough, I like music with lyrics as well (Mr. Bungle). I'm not saying lyrics are bad, but in college I noticed the only music I listened to with lyrics is Punk, Ska, and They Might Be Giants. For me, personally, if I want insightful lyrics, I'll read poetry, not listen to a song...And I don't really like poetry either Just my own personal foibles, though, not an indictment of lyrics, for you lyric likers out there. And Steve Reich is the master of hypnotism. Such little changes, and yet so effective...Ironic, since I don't like psy-tech, that I like Adams, Reich, and Glass so much. NP: Sun Ra - Yucatan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 lyrics belong on a printed page (imho). psytrance is a personal experience... for some people, there is nothing better. i guess i'm one of those - its all i listen to and i never grow bored of all its myriad substyles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest v4K Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 I think psytrance is an intelligent form of music indeed and it's because it is PSYCHEDELIC, get it? it mess with your head, but first of all my very own explanation of psychedelic: I got to the conclussion that psychedelics is a way to get to a higher state of mind. I had read about mandalas and other forms of ancient art, lenguages and customs that use psychedela to reach higher stastes of mind or to transmite something in a codificated way to be decodificated with an advanced technique. Trance was created many many years ago with the intention to get in some trance state to meditate. So psychedelic trance is formed with two elements in order to elevate your state of mind for some propose IMO... I guess you can call that intelligent music right? It's true, if you compare psychedelic trance against other forms of electronik music you will find that psytrance is more advanced/intelligent than those styles. IMO lyrics are so primitives in electronic music 'cus they guide you to a certain trip, but non lyric music can take you as far as you want. It's something way more fun!!! But yes, I belive psychedelic trance is an advanced fomr of music/expression indeed mainly 'cus it touches your senses and reach to your mind v4K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatsu Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 i don´t know, psytrance is really a very special kind of music. it moves me like no other sort of music. but i wouldn´t say that other music or music with lyrics is empty and has no message. take hip-hop for example. with the lyrics you can express everything you want, social problems and stuff and you can also add beats and music/samples that underlines that message. of course i´m not talking about that commercial crap hip-hop on mtv , i mean "real" hip-hop, underground hip-hop or whatever you wanna call it. in my eyes this is also very intelligent music because to make a good track you have to be damn creativ to do all those rhymes and say something special. i think every style is for another (virtual) brainpart and some people want one part stimulatet and some another... np: yahel live at brotherhood beach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OneRedPanther Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 wow. thanks for all your insightful comments on my post. I think we can agree that all of us here at psynews really are on to something special though. something very special. I love bomble's description of our music as a "mental workout"... it's so apt. In response, I would say that perhaps psytrance is not superior to other forms of music, but as psytrance fans we are all probably after expanding our minds and journying to places in our minds rarely experienced by your average music fan. Thus, perhaps it's only right to argue that psytrance is the best music there is for doing just that, exploring, expanding, journying.... and not the best of just 'music. All I can say is that i'm so happy i discovered this music. before i discovered psytrance (by being left alone and somewhat curious in a UV-lit room with only three spliffs and Infected Mushroom's "wider" for company) I was only half the person (mind?) I am now! Nothing has given as much joy in recent years as psytrance. *applause for those making the soundtrack to our souls* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest v4K Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 Fuckin'A Panther!!!!! 100% agree with ya!!!!!! Thanx to all those crazy ass muthafukas screwing owr heads with such a delightful sound!!!!!!!!!!! v4K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rumz Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 Ok....I think OneRedPanther summed it up nicely. Bomble's "mental workout" is great you definatly get what you want from a track, you create alot of it yourself... I also dont like lyrics, they put me off. although occasionally lyrics can be beautiful.. its very difficult to portray love in a psy track. (maybe muses rapt is as close as you will get) Ok.. now for something a tad controversial....v4K and others suggested that its intelligent music which is liked by intelligent people, the whole brain food, mental workout thing... Im not sure if i agree with this, but there are a number of people from the forum who are at "prestidgeous" (sp?) universities.. I wonder if the ratio of peeps from such places is larger on this site than it would be on other forums? RumZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bugbread Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 Hmmm...too many stupid people on this forum for me to fool myself into thinking that this is intelligent music for intelligent people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elysium Project Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 LMAO bugbread..... you're so right mate :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rumz Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 ok.. Fair enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest v4K Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 ok, I said psychedelic music is a fomr of intelligenct music indeed, never said it was for intelligent people only or something like that... You guys know that loads of people just don't understand psychedelic trance, they heard it as noisy music (which is far from it IMO) or something. did I made myself clear this time??? v4K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 bugbread, its a FORUM.. what do you expect look at the good in life, ignore the bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mindbender Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 And there are too many stupid people out in 'real world' that I've come across to be thinking that this music is for intelligent people only. And while I think real intelligence doesn't have much to do with education, here in Cambridge most people listen to utter crap, which shows that psy (or other IMO great music) is neither very popular with *educated* people. I think it's a sort of music for imaginative and alternative people, but again, not exclusively. Lauri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vasyachkin Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 STFU Elysium or explain exactly WHO here is stupid. bugbread is cool though, i know he hates psyheads because he lives in Japan where the masses are into it according to his words )) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bugbread Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 Hehe...I'm not saying everybody's stupid, just that the ratio of stupid, average, and smart people is the same here as anywhere else, from what I've been able to see. Thanks for the vote of confidence, vas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elysium Project Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 vasyachkin....don't you know the word "irony" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vasyachkin Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 EP do you even know what irony means ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomble Posted May 27, 2002 Share Posted May 27, 2002 Mindbender... nice one about the Cambridge tastes! The most popular music round here is wall-to-wall cheese in the worst kind of Steps / S-club7 / Blue variety. I think a lot of intelligent people like really simple (dare I say dreadful) music because it doesn't serve the same purpose. They even say it themselves : 'I only really like this stuff when I'm drunk'... and that's about it for me! There is no way I could like it unless I was absolutely pickled - and as I don't imbibe alcohol... it aint for me! When I say that pys is a mental workout, I am not implying that only intelligent people could like it. This is not the sort of intelligence that makes a good barrister or engineer necessarily. It is just that in exciting the brain into higher states, the mind works in new ways that I particularly love... and it seems the majority of the population either don't want or can't access them. bomble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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