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Does psytrance need melodies?


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Goa is obivously melodic, but in modern psy a melody seems to be an optional element and anynthing with memorable, catchy melodies is often called cheesy. But I usually prefer melodic stuff and I have soft spot for "trancy" melodies, like early Protoculture, Ephedrix or Digicult, neither too happy (like Electrosun and similar) nor too dark.

 

What do you think about melodies in psytrance? Do you like melodic psy or prefer music mostly made of effects and soundscapes?

 

 

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so, obviously, no.

 

but while the above track is great, i typically prefer the melodic stuff. early protoculture is really something we could use more of. who's to say that you can't have psytrance with both plenty of effects and melodies? logic bomb for instance.

btw, i wouldn't call electro sun happy, it's just horribly cheesy imho.

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I prefer melodic Psy also or at least some kind of melodic effort. I suppose artists such as Astral Projection, Talamasca, Astrix, System Nipel etc are

masters of melody and interesting mixes. I do however still like progressive sounds, but find them tiring after a while (maybe the compression)

 

Here's one I play in the car often:

 

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Here you are talking about fullon, which is melodic. Pure psytrance i love psychedelic, acidic and with a lot of atmospheres and modulations.

 

If you really want melodic stuff go check Dacru records.

 

Personaly i adore NANO records and Digital Om productions, mix of fullon and psychedelic, elements from both:

 

:)

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I don't talk to people about psy trance very much but listen to it everyday, and from what i can tell most of you guys post about old school goa.

 

Question, Do you find the melody's in this track cheesy or lame?

 

 

 

I enjoy this track very much

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For my personal taste melodies are a must. The lack of melodies in a lot of releases and the focus on the bass is a major reason why I'm not listening to newer psy stuff but turned to techno (no offense or anything, it's just personal taste). Even when I always was on the cheesy side of psy and goa melodies don't have to be in your face. Acid melodies done with a TB-303 are also totally my thing.

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For my personal taste melodies are a must. The lack of melodies in a lot of releases and the focus on the bass is a major reason why I'm not listening to newer psy stuff but turned to techno (no offense or anything, it's just personal taste). Even when I always was on the cheesy side of psy and goa melodies don't have to be in your face. Acid melodies done with a TB-303 are also totally my thing.

You turned to techno for melodies? That's kinda strange.

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Why? Techno is a very varied genre that ranges from banging tunes to rather soft morning music and everything inbetween. Lots of stuff is also very psychedelic. It took me a while to get into Beatport and find interesting artists or label but it was totally worth it for me.

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I don't think it needs melodies, take for example Derango - Tumult it was one of the most praised albums back in the day (forest genre but still this is in the psychedelic trance category), not many melodies in that album (if any) but surely one of the most psychedelic.

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Why? Techno is a very varied genre that ranges from banging tunes to rather soft morning music and everything inbetween. Lots of stuff is also very psychedelic. It took me a while to get into Beatport and find interesting artists or label but it was totally worth it for me.

 

I think most techno is not very melodic that's all. Or at least if someone looking for melodies I think Trance would be his no1 choice.

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I think most techno is not very melodic that's all. Or at least if someone looking for melodies I think Trance would be his no1 choice.

Oh, I thought he meant that if he wanted to listen to music without melodies, he would rather listen to Techno than Darkpsy. I'm in agreement there, psychedelic techno artists like Rrose and Orphx have incredible production values and are in the same psychedelic mindbending tradition that darker goa trance like MFG and Tandu is.

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Interesting question!

 

But why not have styles of psytrance with, without, a little bit, a bit more, still a bit more of melodies? I like both melodic and a-melodic (organic forest/good dark) psytrance. I don't think that either is better than the other, although I tend to gravitate more towards melodies because of the strong cathartic aspect a good melody has after a night of dark swampy psychedelic music that twists your head (but makes for a great time as well!).

 

So all in all, my answer is NO! Psytrance does not need melodies per se. Is Psytrance with melodies nice? Yes! Is Psytrance without melodies nice? Yes!

 

It all comes down to taste though when we're talking about melodies. To me, the right harmony, rhythm, placing, pacing and key of the melody used is pivotal. Most often I experience a melody as simple if it's overly simplistic and in C Major... Although these ingredients can also make for a very good one.

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If you really want melodic stuff go check Dacru records.

I think I've checked most (if not all) of their releases and have many of them in my playlist. Dacru was my gateway from trance to psy. :) But I don't like the direction they are taking now.

 

Well, seems that most people here love both melodic and non-melodic psy - unlike me, you, guys have much more music you can enjoy ;) My comfort zone is too narrow,

I don't like non-melodic psy at all (forest, darkpsy, UK) but also can't stand this tasteless Israeli full-on, which what I usually get when searching for melodic psy.

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So all in all, my answer is NO! Psytrance does not need melodies per se. Is Psytrance with melodies nice? Yes! Is Psytrance without melodies nice? Yes!

I should have been more specific in my question :) I don't doubt that there is good psy without any melodic content - I don't like such tracks but I totally understand why other people may enjoy them.

I'm asking, well, whether you think that a melody as such is an "admissible" component of psytrance or it ruins the psychedelic vibe for you or is unwanted for some other reasons. I'm talking about overt, in your face melodies (like e.g., some U-recken), not about subtle arpeggiated patterns sitting in the background of a track or something like this

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I don't like non-melodic psy at all (forest, darkpsy, UK) but also can't stand this tasteless Israeli full-on, which what I usually get when searching for melodic psy.

 

There's a lot of melodic psy that doesn't sound cheesy.

 

For example

 

 

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Trold, Braincell?

 

Good stuff but not quite my thing

i thought trold made more darkpsy oriented music?

 

but braincell is a total genius. this is a melodic (to stay on topic) masterpiece. on of the best psy tracks in history imho.

 

 

@techno

if it has an easily discernible melody, it's not techno ;).

 

@aaarrrh

that is not a deep track that gets you into a psychedelic state of mind (in stark contrast to braincell above; take good headphones and close your eyes: i promise that you'll feel your body melt even before the big climax hits at 5:00 ;) ), but decent party music. the melodies aren't cheesy but a bit simple. still, for party music it's perfectly fine.

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I think both melodic and amelodic psytrance can be good, though I personally tend to find the amelodic stuff more psychedelic. I guess it's because most conventional Western music revolves around melody, so working with a sound palette of noises without obvious pitches forces artists to take a more novel approach to making something that sounds musical.

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Tickets - The Toy and Braincell - There Is More On This World are very nice, thanks! Btw, the ending melody in The Toy seems quite "full-onish" but it doesn't sound cheesy or wrong in the context.

 

Thwisted System track has some really awesome chord changes but the sound-design is too agressive and dark to my taste.

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