Psytrance

Always between 130 and 150bpm, always best listened to outdoors, and always guaranteed to lift the soul or terrify the heart of all who hear it, psychedelic trance evolved in Western India, where spores of the 303-based dance culture that were drifting across the globe in the early 1990s settled and found fertile ground among the traveler/musician communities of Goa. This new sound (aka Goa trance) was heavy, often challenging, and -- so say the converted -- spiritually awakening. Echoes of Indian instruments could be heard in the twisted and tortured high frequencies, and on the beaches and forest clearings -- where the 72-hour non-stop parties shook the coconuts from the trees -- an alternative culture claimed trance music for its own. From Goa the scene and the sound quickly spread, taking root most deeply in Japan, Israel and Northern Europe. Today, psychedelic trance remains a niche yet multicultural and worldwide phenomenon.