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A call for deeper, more upbeat, more roots-influenced new school Goa trance


Basilisk

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A recent thread about what your preferred BPM range got me thinking... when we go back to the roots (podcast here), to the very early sound of Goa trance, much of it was way slower than the highly-energetic stuff that began to emerge in the mid-nineties (and has since acted as the template for the new school Goa trance revival).

 

There was a time when 120 to 130 BPM was perfectly normal for peak-time dance floor action. Speaking as someone who is really into the deeper end of this tempo (I've been moonlighting as a house music DJ for some time now but shhh, don't tell anyone) I feel like there's a notable lack of really good dance floor-blasting new school Goa trance between 120 and 130 BPM. This isn't to say that there isn't any at all... but much of what's out there takes a more relaxed approach. You know how it goes; plenty of artists release an album full of mind-melting Goa melodies at ~148 BPM with a 120 BPM downtempo trance finale tacked on at the end... or we get some kind of Ultimae-influenced deep trance style that is very nice to hear but won't keep people moving. What I wonder is this: what if the slower stuff were treated as the main course, not an after-dinner mint? It would require an entirely different approach... more than just slowing the tempo down you also need to write in a different way to keep the energy levels high.

 

A couple examples of what I'd like to see more of:

 

 

 

(More examples welcome, of course... but just think of stuff that you could play on the main stage, not in the chill dome.)

 

The challenge, in a nutshell: let's hear more upbeat (as opposed to chilled out) new school Goa trance below 130 BPM! And while I'm dreaming I may as well request a bit more direct influence from EBM, industrial, disco, early techno, and so on... the new school sound is, at times, a little too boxed in for my wide-ranging taste :) switch off the Etnica and Dimension 5 and throw on what they were listening to back then for inspiration... this is a good start!

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Guest The Hypnotic LFO Room

I figured you might have something in the works :)

 

You figured it right :)

All I will say for now is "remixes" of old classics (not Elysium tunes) staying true to the original vibe and bpm.

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This slow enough? At least the progression takes it's time.

 

I can't really think of much from the top of my head.

 

Though I agree with what you're saying. I enjoy the many facets of what goa can give and it did get very homogeneous. However there has been some evolution past few years, so it's not as bad as it was. Though it still needs to be much more psychedelic that what it generally is.

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First, that Kiriyama track is lovely! Very happy listening there.

 

Second, great point on this topic. Seems to me old-school had a bit of everything - for example, Blue Planet Corporation at 140+, anything from Tip being below that. It struck a very nice balance! It would be nice and refreshing to see that sort of distribution once again.

 

Missing for me from the new-school is true trance. Put on vintage Total Eclipse and Man With No Name and they hit the mark with real trance-inducing works. Nowadays that seems lost in an avalanche of effects and high bpms, for the most part.

 

Anyway, again, great post, Xander! In 100% agreement.

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Yup miss the lower bpms which is why the current deep house & progressive scene has me more interested than a lot of of what's been release in psy/goa recently. Saw John Digweed do 6 hour set last year, and Danny Howells do a 7 hour set. Was very cruisy & actually found some quite nice psychedelic moments in the selections, more with Howells than Digweed. Despite the fact that Elysium & I have never for along for decades online, I always enjoyed his tunes. A few years back when I still DJ'd I was asked to play a deeper sunrise set on a beach for New Years Day and I mostly played Elysium's work. Was surprised how even some of the older punters & dj's were asking who the tunes were by. Sad that such talent IMHO never received the interest it deserved. I know my 2 and a bit year old son enjoys having a dance to lower BPM tunes but I I put on anything above 145 BPM he tells me to turn it off lol. Kids have good taste IMO.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4OLfgiM4rE

 

Brand new! You are absolutely right, slowing the tempo, or pace in general, makes wonders on the way a track sounds. Much more psychedelic, it suddenly has a nice groovy rhythm which makes the body move. Super fast sweeping melodies and tempo are definitely instant gratification that benefits more as a climax from a slow buildup rather than something you need from the get-go. I can't believe I didn't account on it before! I hope artists start to play around with this concept more as I can only see good things coming out of it!

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I don't see how 145BPM is "slowing down" concerning goa trance :)

I know the bpm is still high but the rest of the production sounds much calmer and carefully laid out. This track sounds very old school to me. It's not all in the bpm, you can still make high bpm music have a nice rhythm going on with everything else tuned down some imo. I just wanted to point it out since it struck me so well. :P

 

On the other hand I've been going through some of my collection and it's true 90% of the bpms are around 145~ bpm. It would be interesting to see someone come up with a new school goa album that has a max bpm of ~133 or somewhere like that and tries to play around more with rhythms and less so on the never ending climaxes.

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Guest The Hypnotic LFO Room

Speaking from years of experience making goa/tribal around the 133-135 mark the artist in general has to keep in mind that slower tunes requires more work on individual sounds as they tend to breath more compared to fast tunes where the length of notes usually are shorter.

Its not as easy as it might seem to make slower tunes sounding "ready" or complex.

Personally I tend to always go by the rule "Less is more".

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYEQ3wuZ8wE

We're planning to release more Katedra in the future, mid-tempo and downtempo Goa sounds. Not sure about BPMs, check Eidos track and you'll get the picture of his sound. Besides Sky Technology my favorite artist from Ukraine atm.

 

And some slower Trinodia (even his tracks are always around 140, this one is slower)

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It's not quite what you asked for, but I hear some tracks from the synthwave and nu-disco/psychedelic house genres that remind me of early proto-Goa. Neo-proto-Goa, if you will. :)

 

A few that I've been digging on lately:

 

http://synthesizer.bandcamp.com/track/secret-of-the-saturn

http://synthesizer.bandcamp.com/album/155-protector-101-protector-101

http://dominanceelectricity.bandcamp.com/track/battlenet

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