Welcome! You’re reading the fifth edition of our annual magazine »Trancer’s Guide to The Galaxy« – the worldwide travel guide for the psychedelic and progressive trance scene. In 30 country profiles authors and photog-raphers from the countries introduce you to their local scenes and give you an overview about what is happening worldwide.

There’s a big picture behind all local trance scenes. And for that purpose Trancer’s Guide de-livers those fascinating stories and pictures that pave the way ahead. The magazine seeks to com-bine interesting news with the greatest names and parties of the year. To give an insight view of this multi layered and ever changing culture of ours.

This year we welcome our new chief editor Markku from Finland, the photo editor Jörn from Germany and a bunch of new country authors

and photographers (as mentioned in the coun-try profiles). They were collaborating in a real in-ternational sense with texts being written world-wide, edited in Helsinki (Finland), corrected in Bu-dapest (Hungary) and layouted in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Photos were shot worldwide and ed-ited in Iserlohn (Germany). The advertising sales and managing was done in Hamburg (Germany) and Sao Paulo (Brazil).

And we have other great news: This year we will print a second edition of Trancer’s Guide to the Galaxy in Brazil in cooperation with our Brazil-ian partner 4ideas. This edition will be complete-ly in Portuguese language! 20 000 copies will be produced and distributed in Brazil in addition to the 30 000 copies that we produce for our world-wide distribution. The Brazilian edition will be re-leased in March.

Unfortunately we had to limit the num-ber of countries featured to 30 instead of 35 as of last year. Trancer’s Guide lives on advertise-ment bookings from the scene and the world-wide trance scene is not doing that good current-ly. However you will find additional country pro-files on our web site.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the current magazine so please write us a mail to tgg@tranc-ersguide.com. We want to develop our magazine in collaboration with our readers.

Last but not least our big respect goes to all contributors, the core team, our advertisers and everyone – artists, labels, party organizers, shops, dancers and others – who are making our scene as magic and divers as it is! Take care of yourself and others, The Trancer’s Guide Crew.

TRANCER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY 2008ttg@trancersguide.com • www.trancersguide.com

PUBLISHING COMPANIES (international)mushroom magazine (international version)co/ Format Promotion GmbHArnoldstrasse 47 22763 HamburgGermany+49 40 398417-0info@mushroom-media.comwww.mushroom-online.com

Chaishop c/o Jankowski I.C. (international version)Kl. Schäferkamp 35b 20357 HamburgGermany+49 40 4111 5913info@chaishop.comwww.chaishop.com

PUBLISHING COMPANY (Brazil)4ideas! Productions (brazilian version)Rua Brás Lourenço, 59 – Vila MarianaSão Paulo – SP – Brasil+55 11 5549-8645contato@4ideas.com.brwww.4ideas.com.brwww.trancersguide.com.br

EXECUTIVE EDITORMarkku Salmi

PHOTO EDITORJörn Meisterjahn

EDITORIAL CREWEditors and photographers as mentioned in the country profiles

DESIGN & LAYOUTSören Pawlik, Stephan Meinking,Cynthia Grieff & Liese

THX 4 BACKGROUND INSPIRATIONMandy Günther and the Golden Boy

MANAGEMENTSam@Chaishop, Mat Mushroom(international version)

Jigar@4iDeas, Ricardo@zuvuya(brazilian version)

PRINT RUN30 000 (international version)20 000 (Brazilian version)

ADVERTISEMENTSChaishop Media(World except Brazil)www.chaishop-media.comOscar Castañeda, Sam@Chaishop,Colin Crawshaw

FORMAT Promotion GmbH (World except Brazil)www.mushroom-media.comMat Mushroom, Kris Holst, Frank Frehse

4iDeas! & TTG Brazil (Brazil)www.4ideas.com.brwww.trancersguide.com.brJigar Assar, Ricardo Janczur

DISTRIBUTIONWorldwide via Trancer’s Guide distribution points(international version)

Brazil-wide via Trancer’s Guide Brazil distribution (brazilian version)

3Unfortunately we had to limit the num-

ber of countries featured to 30 instead of 35 as of last year. Trancer’s Guide lives on advertise-ment bookings from the scene and the world-wide trance scene is not doing that good current-ly. However you will find additional country pro-

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the current magazine so please write us a mail to tgg@tranc-

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TRANCE ACTION MAP 2008www.trancersguide.com/tranceaction

30

30

60

60

30

60

TRANCE ACTION MAP 2008www.trancersguide.com/tranceaction4

Australia 8

Austria 9

Belgium 10

Bolivia 11

Brazil 12

Canada 14

Colombia 15

Finland 16

France 18

Germany 20

Greece 28

Hungary 30

India 32

Ireland 34

Israel 36

Italy 38

Japan 40

Lithuania (Estonia) 42

Country Page

30

30

60

60

30

60

5

Mexico 43

Netherlands 44

Portugal 48

South Africa 53

Spain 54

Sweden 55

Switzerland 56

UK 58

Ukraine 60

USA 61

Legend

World Trance Center

Heavily Tranced

Intermediate Action

Trance Seed

Unrecognized

Russia 50

Slovakia 52

Personal evolution through Trance Culturewww.trancersguide.com/tranceculture

It was year 1996 when I was sitting in a beach hut in Goa Anjuna. The place had a psychedelic sounding name Pie in the Sky. I was chatting with a deejay friend of mine, who was spending his winter holi-days in India. We had this large than life conversation about Terence McKenna, consciousness and evolution, space mi-gration, the end of history, psy-chedelic yoga and the 60s hippie culture.

Now it is year 2008. More than ten years has got be-hind us and no one told us where to run. We are like rats and mice in an old Chi-nese folktale, which were left alone in a monastery to take care of the place in case of natural disasters and unwant-ed visitors. Suddenly the en-tire Future is coming upon us in full force and most unpre-d i c t -ab le

ways. It has truly been a year of Transforma-tion like the German VuuV 2007 festival slo-gan put it.

We are living in the world that faces grow-ing problems and complexity – global warm-ing, terrorism, poverty, media illiteracy, hun-ger and war – testing the reservoirs of our hope. On the other hand were heading for a

better future in multiple ways. Mate-rial wealth and eco-consciousness is spreading all over the globe. We have solar panels, hybrid cars, low impact houses, organic cot-ton clothes, and improved pro-cess technology. We are witness-

ing the rise of neo-greens, show-ing that our eco-trend lifestyle can make a difference.

There is high potential of spir-itual and philosophical energy in trance culture. It thrives on variety

and diversity, differences that make difference. Launched

creatively and distrib-u ted wor ld -

widely, it can topple sys-

tems o f

thoughts and institutions. People go out to the open-air festivals, identify with that cul-ture and find truths about themselves reflect-ed in it like ecological awareness and com-munal living. »The trance scene is about get-ting back to your roots, respecting the world and others«, like Youth once said.

Those who have felt the energy must trust what they know to be true: Now is the time for a birth of a new planetary culture. Our lifestyle relies on dialog, not conflict. We of-fer a peaceful solution in a violence wrecked world. New technology and media tools are a force that is bringing us together. Communi-cations networks are creating a global mind allowing us to instantly know the thoughts and feelings of people everywhere. The large amount of interesting people, new ideas and crazy experiences at the parties is a huge source of inspiration.

Psychedelic trance reflects the change that is going on in the world. This change is fueled by ordinary peoples’ quest for free-dom. What we dare to envision, is already reality. Societies build on radically green de-sign, sustainable energy and closed-loop cit-ies and villages, a civilization afloat on a re-

Personal evolution through www.trancersguide.com/tranceculture

It was year 1996 when I was sitting in a beach hut in Goa Anjuna. The place had a psychedelic sounding name Pie in the Sky. I was chatting with a deejay friend of mine, who was spending his winter holi-days in India. We had this large than life conversation about Terence McKenna, consciousness and evolution, space mi-gration, the end of history, psy-

6

cyclable technology. A pioneer mothership of this way of living is the Boom festival in Portugal taking place again in 2008.

The problem is how we work person-ally in such a way that the flow of mate-rial well-being and technological develop-ment follows the desired sustainable flow of evolution and not vice versa. The an-

swer lies in self-empowerment. Enlighten-ment is at the heart of trance culture like it is everywhere else. It is an ongoing learn-ing process enabling people to choose to take control over and make decisions about their own lives.

Trance parties are a great way to social-ize and cultivate our habits. But it is not

about showing up on the dance floor; it is about how you work with your mind and the experience. Thinking globally, acting locally, and living personally. Redesigning your own life according to Tao – »Like the ocean, the weather, or a coral reef, it be-haves as if it is«.

And there will always be the yin and yang, black and white like those two smart street kids in an anime movie called Tek-konkinkreet. Tekkonkinkreet shows us in an adventurous way that though we have to face the harsh realities of life and our own deep rooted fears, imagination can be stronger than knowledge and dreams can be more powerful than facts. At the end hope triumphs over experience and love over everything.

TEXTMarkku »Cosmo« Salmi (photo left)Chief editor @ Trancers Guide to the GalaxyLong time journalist and party activist, youth welfare worker, future studies research-er, writer.»Loves martial arts and Japanese popu-lar culture.«

Photos Johanna (1), Bart A.B.E. (1) & Liese (1)

about showing up on the dance floor; it is about how you work with your mind and the experience. Thinking globally, acting locally, and living personally. Redesigning your own life according to Tao – »Like the ocean, the weather, or a coral reef, it be-

And there will always be the yin and yang, black and white like those two smart

7

cyclable technology. A pioneer mothership swer lies in self-empowerment. Enlighten-

about showing up on the dance floor; it is about how you work with your mind and the experience. Thinking globally, acting locally, and living personally. Redesigning your own life according to Tao – »Like the ocean, the weather, or a coral reef, it be-haves as if it is«.

yang, black and white like those two smart street kids in an anime movie called Tek-konkinkreet. Tekkonkinkreet shows us in an adventurous way that though we have to face the harsh realities of life and our own deep rooted fears, imagination can be stronger than knowledge and dreams can be more powerful than facts. At the end hope triumphs over experience and love over everything.

Photos Johanna (1), Bart A.B.E. (1) & Liese (1)

For many people, Australia is a distant land on the other side of the world, known main-ly for its weird wildlife, amazing natural scenery, sporting teams and not much else. For the trance traveler however, there is a lot more than meets the eye.

The past decade has seen Australia firmly establish its place in the global scene – it’s vi-brant and culturally diverse people, high cal-

iber artists, stunning outdoor locations, and a busy party culture that extends to all reaches of the continent, make the land down-under one of the best places to experience pure psyche-delic culture in the world.

Festivals, bush doofs and indoor nights are held all over the country throughout the year, from the more well known centers like Mel-bourne, Sydney and Byron Bay / Northern New South Wales to emerging scenes such as Cairns, Brisbane, Newcastle, Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania and Darwin.

While it’s quite busy over the cooler months, Australia’s busiest season is the summer, around the time the northern hemisphere tucks in for the cold of winter. The months from November to March bring massive festivals to the southern and central parts of the country, and it’s when the Australian party scene comes out to play.

Festivals such as Rainbow Serpent, Earth-core Global Carnival, Exodus and Tribeadel-ic have all had long histories and are the best known of the summer parties; while new fes-tivals such as Freakreation, Matreiya Festival, Akasha Project, Summer Solstice celebrations and Earth Freq have all become strong parts of the festival circuit in recent years.

The cooler months shouldn’t be discount-ed either, as many of the northern parts of the country experience near-perfect weather and are busier in this period. The Winter Solstice Festivals in Cairns and Melbourne are particu-lar highlights of the winter months.

In September, the Earthdance events are some of the best attended parties of the year, with numbers in the thousands attending par-ties in all major centers. The Sydney event has grown to massive proportions with over 40 000 punters, making it the global base for the Earth-dance phenomenon and one of Australia’s larg-est festivals.

Aside from the larger scale events, many smaller parties and club nights support the scene throughout the year, guaranteeing that if you really want to find somewhere to go while you’re in Australia, you won’t have to look too hard. Web sites such as Oztrance.com, Aus-traliens.net and Inthemix.com are good places to start, as most events are listed on there and are a good way to network with the local party-goers and find out where to go and who to see.

Musically, Australians enjoy a broad range of electronic music styles, and the parties tend to feature a little bit of everything to ensure every-one is happy. There are a number of Australian producers that are quite well known through-out the world, but the past few years have seen a number of new artists, labels and production crews emerge, guaranteeing the scene will con-tinue to grow into the future.

Massive festivals in AUSTRALIAwww.trancersguide.com/australia

TEXTJesse Kuch aka SuspektOpen Records Australiamyspace.com /suspek t _jesse

TEXTJesse Kuch aka SuspektOpen Records Australiamyspace.com /suspek t _jesse

For many people, Australia is a distant land

LINKS• www.australiens.net• www.bio-sine.com• www.earthcore.com.au• www.earthfreq.com• www.espsyd.com• www.exoduslivefestival.com• www.freakreationfestival.com• www.giiwa.com• www.myspace.com/ openrecordsaustralia therealilluminatirecords zenonrecords• www.oztrance.com• www.rainbowserpent.net• www.sundance23.com• www.tribeadelic.com• www.uprecords.com.au

SHOP• IZWOZ

Fashion www.izwoz.com.au

Massive festivals in www.trancersguide.com/australia

LINKS• www.australiens.net• www.bio-sine.com• www.earthcore.com.au• www.earthfreq.com• www.espsyd.com• www.exoduslivefestival.com• www.freakreationfestival.com

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Since 2003 Austria’s psy-trance scene has been associated with some of Europe’s big-gest international festivals. Look no further: Sonnenklang at the castle of Dobra in Low-er Austria. In 2006 the five days festival at-tracted around 8000 people. In 2007 only 1500 people came because of heavy rain-falls. Unforgettable was Olli Wisdom’s gig with his new guitarist mixing Purple Haze and Star Spangled Banner of Jimi Hendrix.

Many other Austrian festivals and big par-ties have been cancelled or had troubles in the summer due to problems with authori-ties or the police such as the Progressive Base and Drops Reflections but others made Aus-tria the center point of Europe’s psy-trance scene in 2007. The four days Spirit Base orga-nized by Goaran is still Austria’s second biggest festival and the line-up was as impressing as in any other year with names like Azax Syndrom or Klopfgeister. The vicinity of the Ozora Fes-tival and Shivamoon in Hungary attracted lots of people from all over, but most crowds came from neighbouring Austria.

Lots of festivals are already scheduled for 2008. While the dark-wave scene is more based in the western parts of Austria you’ll find all kinds of psy-trance in Vienna and the surround-ings and you can be sure that there will be no weekend without at least one gorgeous Goa-

party in Austria throughout the year.

In Salzburg the one to men-tion is Other-land with the Uni te Parade and many Goa-events or the young Syntax Sense as well as the 24/7-label-

parties and in Tyrol and the renowned Mys-tery World is still on air. Also the new Malice in Wonderland parties are among the finest. In Upper Austria the biggest are Klangbewusst-sein, in Lower Austria Sunshine Explosion and the Samsara group and in Styria Pro. Tuber-ance and Alchemy in Graz.

If you are really looking for the biggest scene then you’ll have to look in Vienna. The Cosmic Space Disco of the »Lustige Astronaut« and DJ Samurai established a regular club up to 800 people in the WUK. The almost monthly great Sunday Chaizelt in Flex of Andi and team is THE family meeting point in FLEX.

Still one of the most unique locations in Vi-enna is the »Sargfabrik« (coffin factory) where Club Dolphin of Ed takes place. In this location you have the opportunity to dance in a big hall and if you want there is a sauna, tepidarium, deck chairs and a swimming pool to dance na-ked if you want in a nicely visualized wet area.

Other successful organizers are Funny-moon and Drops Reflections and the Wich-tl events. Another favoured club is the Flori-do Club at the Waterslide with parties indoor in winter and outdoor on a raft on the Danube river. The future of the Fairytales Club in We-berknecht is still up in the air cause the location recently closed .

Some of Austria’s new uprising producers are Ianuaria, IMIX, Kajola, Materia and Free-lander.

Austria’s most renowned psy-VJs are Geko, playing as Psynema with Basti, the Funny As-tronaut, Fade X and Sikanda. And not to for-get the most psychedelic performance wonder group, the Phoenix Firedancers. The future of Sonnenklang festival is unclear – many ques-tions are still unsolved.

TEXTTom RomTomrom 24 @ c he l lo . a t , www.psyevents.at /tom-rom, Mushroom Magazine Austria, TTG, promo, me-dia, Goa-Newsletter

»Be conscious and conscientious – be a part of the protectors of the earth!«

TEXTTom RomTomrom 24 @ c he l lo . a t , www.psyevents.at /tom-rom, Mushroom Magazine Austria, TTG, promo, me-dia, Goa-Newsletter

Star Spangled Banner in AUSTRIAwww.trancersguide.com/austria

Some of Austria’s new uprising producers

LINKS• www.aurinshop.at• www.cosmic.ag• www.elgeko.org• www.indras-planet.at• www.klangbewusstsein.at• www.mystery-world.org• www.otherland.at• www.psy604.com• www.sonnenklang.at• www.suntribe.at/synergetic• www.twenty4seven.cc• www.wasserbar.at.tf• www.wirikuta.at

SHOPS• NASPEX

T-Shirts Design for beautiful Future & People www.naspex.info

Since 2003 Austria’s psy-trance scene has

party in Austria throughout the year.

the one to men-tion is Other-land with the Uni te Parade and many Goa-events or the young Syntax Sense as well as the 24/7-label-

• www.aurinshop.at• www.cosmic.ag• www.elgeko.org• www.indras-planet.at• www.klangbewusstsein.at• www.mystery-world.org• www.otherland.at

9

Photos Melanie Krichner (2)

Unity and diversity in BELGIUMwww.trancersguide.com/belgium

As is in the scene worldwide, there is a lot of diversity in the psy-trance genre. More and more the scene is splitting up into four or even five pieces. People tend to only vis-it parties with their favorite style(s). How-ever, one massive event in 2007 proved, despite all the difficulties, which we are all part of one scene, and nothing can break that apart.

2007 showed us that our scene is rapid-ly expanding. But the rising costs and the big number of parties in Belgium forced promot-ers to ask for higher entrance rates, or to set up collaborations, in order to split the invest-

ments. Also our problems in the past with the authorities forced us to organize events in a more legal way, what also caused more in-vestments.

Nevertheless we are spoiled and every weekend we can choose from three or four parties, all focusing on a particular style. Kai-roo Records and B2B, based in Antwerp, fo-cus on full-on. They both hosted rooms/stag-es on two of the biggest dance events, with up to 20.000 visitors. The veterans have grown to appreciate the progressive style nowadays.

The well-respected crews of Purple Snow (with founder R’Deem) and Smiley Tribe are focusing on minimal/progressive and have brought the biggest names to our country. In Ghent, one of the two trance centers in Bel-gium, progressive is also emerging in small-er club events.

For many years we had Kairoo Records providing us quality releases and EPs. In 2007 they released the well-accepted debut album of Bitkit called Logical. Nowadays Dacru Re-cords and Suntrip Records are taking over. 2007 proved that they have more ambition than just organizing good parties. Dacru Re-cords released the compilation Orientation Vol. 3, a very well accepted release. For 2008 we can expect a lot of this label, with the sec-ond release of Digicult and the debut album of Ephedrix.

Also newcomers Aquila and Sufi will re-lease a full album later in 2008. On the darker side of trance we can expect the debut album

of Wicked Hayo on Night Oracle Records. Sun-trip Records is probably the only melodic Goa-trance label nowadays on this planet. In 2007 this Belgium/France combo resulted in the re-release of the classical Dimension 5-Transdi-mensional album and the debut of rising star Goasia. For 2008 they announce albums of Di-mension-5 member Ra, Filteria and Merr0w. Furthermore I can only hope that we will see the rise of a mind blowing Belgium progres-sive act, but the future looks promising.

The biggest event in 2007 should have been the fifth year of existence celebration of the Kairoo Records label. Kairoo Records in-vited some of the major promoters in Belgium to host rooms with full-on, progressive, old-school/nuschool/Goa, dark and chill out. The government, due to safety issues, canceled the event after it had started already.

The authorities ignored even a posi-tive court advice, so the evening ended with hundreds of people invading the streets in Antwerp. But the event proved that there is still unity in our scene, and despite the big loss, we hope that Kairoo Records will emerge from it foundations.

Photos Melanie Krichner (2) Photos Melanie Krichner (2)

2007 proved that they have more ambition than just organizing good parties. Dacru Re-cords released the compilation Orientation Vol. 3, a very well accepted release. For 2008 we can expect a lot of this label, with the sec-ond release of Digicult and the debut album of Ephedrix.

lease a full album later in 2008. On the darker side of trance we can expect the debut album

Photos Melanie Krichner (2)

TEXTSanakisandrookie@hotmail.comwww.myspace.com/sanakiProgressive DJ and resi-dent for the Plastik Kar-ma crew

TEXTSanakisandrookie@hotmail.comwww.myspace.com/sanakiProgressive DJ and resi-dent for the Plastik Kar-ma crew

As is in the scene worldwide, there is a lot

ments. Also our problems in the past with the authorities forced us to organize events in a more legal way, what also caused more in-vestments.

weekend we can choose from three or four parties, all focusing on a particular style. Kai-roo Records and B2B, based in Antwerp, fo-cus on full-on. They both hosted rooms/stag-es on two of the biggest dance events, with up to 20.000 visitors. The veterans have grown to

LINKS• www.dacru.be • www.psychedelic.be• www.psygarden.be• www.psytracks.com• www.purplesnow.net• www.suntriprecords.com

Unity and diversity in www.trancersguide.com/belgium

LINKS• www.dacru.be • www.psychedelic.be• www.psygarden.be• www.psytracks.com• www.purplesnow.net• www.suntriprecords.com

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The trance scene in Bolivia has been go-ing on for years. It is the most impor-tant underground electronic movement there. This mystical country in the center of South America has many traditional ex-pressions of local identity. Because Boliv-ia’s extreme geographical diversity it has a heterogeneous culture. It has millenari-an mystical legacy that makes it the perfect place to rediscover you.

Bolivia is a Mediterranean country in the center of South America. The extreme climatic and geographic differences divide the country in two major sub regions. One is the western Andean region, with high mountains, valleys and the vast Altiplano (a highland at 3800 me-ters above sea level), where the mystical Titi-caca Lake is located.

Two thirds of the Bolivians live in this side where the most important cities are La Paz and Cochabamba, and the eastern Llano Re-gion with deep jungles, enormous rivers, san-dy deserts like the Chaco. One third of the population lives in the country’s biggest city, which is Santa Cruz.

Most psy-tranced region is western An-dean and it seem like the eastern is more house-electro. This is probably because An-deans have a stronger mystical folklore that is attached to the ancient legacy of Tiahuan-aco an Incan Civilizations. The tourism is re-ally incredible.

The psy-trance scene in Bolivia started in 1996 with some memorable parties produced

by Ultraflecha Productions. Many new pro-ducers appear on the scene within the next two years like Boltek, Psyworks, Moonchild and Neurotrance. Later in 1998, The Earth-dance arrived to stay as the most important psy-trance event for the community. Orga-nized in the year 2000 was the first rave pa-rade, named Lapazparade that attracted about 2000 people. Some important artist played in festivals around Bolivia; there were names like Vibrasphere and X-Dream during 2002 and 2003.

Years passed and many clichés and misin-formation made the movement to be chased sporadically by local police. Sometimes, hun-dreds of people assist to parties that are made in forests near cities. Some are public and some are not, but you can find your way to one, there is often one nearby. Live acts are of international level and DJ’s show a great dexterity in their field. Live act projects like Abstract Microdot, Elektrogen, Erofex, Cos-mic Unit and Astro Delay are at the forefront of Bolivian psy-trance and some of them are signed to international labels. Erofex has al-ready made five albums and newer »paceño« (from La Paz) projects like Astro Delay that have one, Abstract Microdot who has two.

2008 announces the born of new Abs Mic album Infinite viewpoints. Kano, Trans, Pitu-ko, Izak, Steve Bravo, Psy Fly, Mero Mero and Winner are names of widely respected psy-trance DJs. As the country’s new socialist po-litical views arise, new free thinkers are con-

forming part of a new conscience revolution that psy-trance mean to be designed for.

TEXTBeto Guerraalpha.tsunami@gmail.comProducer, artist, journalist, owner of El Astllero elec-tronika studio.»We are witnessing the

birth of a new era«

TEXTBeto Guerraalpha.tsunami@gmail.comProducer, artist, journalist, owner of El Astllero elec-tronika studio.»We are witnessing the

birth of a new era«

Mystical resurrection in BOLIVIAwww.trancersguide.com/bolivia

forming part of a new conscience revolution

LINKS• www.neurotrance.org• www.phpbbserver.com/ neurotrance• www.neurotrance.org/erofex• www.ravebolivia.8m.com• www.myspace.com/ abstractmicrodot

CONTACTS• alpha.tsunami@gmail.com• oyoyoyoy.yoyoyoyo@gmail.com• radiotype_warman@hotmail.com

Photos Alberto Guerra (2)

• www.neurotrance.org• www.phpbbserver.com/

• www.neurotrance.org/erofex• www.ravebolivia.8m.com• www.myspace.com/ abstractmicrodot

11

Photos Taguro Izumo, Simone Stoicov (3)

Winds of change in BRAZILwww.trancersguide.com/brazil

Brazil is nowadays one of the countries where trance music is most listened. Mixing different races and all kinds of crowd, Bra-zil is the biggest epicenter of trance earth-quake which shakes the planet. Its worth to visit it!

Since the very first crazy parties at Tranco-so beach back in the middle of the 90’s a lot has changed in Brazilian psychedelic trance. Years have gone by and the music has left the shores of Bahia conquering the whole country and psy-trance pumps in every single state of this continent called Brazil.

Hundreds of trance parties happen all over every weekend and you can enjoy them as you like. From thousands of people and su-perstar line up like XXXperience and Tribe, to small underground parties in all the country you can help yourself: dark-psy, full-on, pro-gressive and even minimal techno and elec-tro, which have somehow invaded trance par-

ties here taking a bit of trance spirit out of main-stream parties.

São Paulo owns still the biggest concentra-tion of parties a weekend and the smaller ones have started re-opening people’s minds, willing to show the real essence of psy-trance in par-ties like Respect, Etnica, and the ones produced by 4iDeas such as Earthdance SP and Goa Gil. Not only in Sao Paulo promoters can count on full support of professional management agen-cies being able to bring trance from all over the world and providing a great interchange for crowd and artists.

The spirit still lives in festivals, at gorgeous landscapes, from rocky mountains to warm windy beaches. Coming to Brazil not knowing any of these is like not coming to Brazil. Univer-so Paralello (NYE) is the first one that comes to the mind, but also Tranceformation Festival and Trancendence (July), back after 3 years, join Cachoeira Alta (June), Festival Fora do

Tempo (July) and others as important as these to celebrate in paradise.

Besides the well known artists such as Rica Amaral, Du Serena, MACK and Swarup, the de-velopment of the scene has brought up many DJs and producers presenting a great talent, re-leasing albums internationally and touring the five continents taking Brazilian powerful music to aliens and freaks from all over the world. The First Stone, Burn in Noise, Life Style, Audio-X, Wrecked Machines performing in the biggest festivals in the globe, not to mention Magma Ohm, Becoming Intense, Neo Vox , Baphomet Engine, whose tracks are on the B side of psy-chedelic releases.

In southeast the main parties besides the ones already mentioned are Kaballah (SP), Eu-phoria (RJ), both touring Brazil with their par-ties, Soulvibes (ES). In Belo Horizonte Trance movement Crew puts up big parties for over six years joining Calangute, Flowers, and E-nigma, younger parties full of power.

Moving south we have strong movement in Curitiba with Cosmoon and DJ Rodrigo CPU´s actions including two podcasts for psy lovers. And taking the teletransport up to the northeast you reach wonderful beaches and pure feeling

Photos Taguro Izumo, Simone Stoicov (3)

younger parties full of power.

Curitiba with Cosmoon and DJ Rodrigo CPU´s actions including two podcasts for psy lovers. And taking the teletransport up to the northeast you reach wonderful beaches and pure feeling

Winds of change in www.trancersguide.com/brazil

Brazil is nowadays one of the countries where trance music is most listened. Mixing different races and all kinds of crowd, Bra-zil is the biggest epicenter of trance earth-quake which shakes the planet. Its worth to visit it!

Since the very first crazy parties at Tranco-so beach back in the middle of the 90’s a lot has changed in Brazilian psychedelic trance. Years

12

parties by Soononmoon crew at Salvador and great audio and visual artists. Every place is special: Recife, Natal, Fortaleza has their own beauty and you can always find some trance options on the web sites. Heading north, the middle of the jungle shelters Amazon Tribe Fes-tival in September. When you come, you have to spend more than one month to get to know the wonderful places and parties in here.

One of the biggest export hits Brazil has, is probably the »Wave-Bar”, which for example will take care for the service at BooM-Festival in Portugal.

Police strictness against parties, make some think only the big promoters will survive, but some think is the only way to bring truly psy-chedelic essence back, since parties could be forbidden here. However it’s certainly the best place in the world to spend great vacation. So get packed and come down for a killer freak season.

The best time to come is summer, from De-cember to February. Brazil is not as dangerous as people paint over. Just stay as aware as in any other tourist place in the world. Not ev-

erybody speaks E n g -l i s h , b u t p e o -ple are so friend-ly you’re going be understood. Make sure you visit Alto Paraíso and its wonderful landscapes.

TEXTRicardo Janczurjanczur@thefullonproject.com.brDJ, psychedelic freak and responsible for the TTG Brazil.

»See you on the dance floor.«

TEXTRicardo Janczurjanczur@thefullonproject.com.brDJ, psychedelic freak and responsible for the TTG Brazil.

»See you on the dance floor.«

LINKS• www.4ideas.com.br/4am• www.amazontribe.org• www.baladaplanet.com.br• www.casadaindia.art.br• www.cinemadinchaos.com• www.emusicbrasil.com• www.psycotrance.com.br• www.psyte.com.br• www.raveon.com.br• www.thefullonproject.com.br• www.universoparalello.art.br• www.wavebar.com.br• www.zuvuya.net

Canada is a country where you can dance under the stars and the glow of the North-ern Lights on a warm summer’s night or take part in a snowbound weekend re-treat tucked away in a warm winter lodge. Blessed with one of the largest territo-ries in the world to explore, the Canadi-an trance scene is as diverse and beautiful thing to experience.

The land and the elements have by neces-sity fostered a friendly and cooperative com-munity of trancers. The history of psy-trance in Canada is spread across a few main cities and regions in which this style of music first began to emerge. The first event was the leg-endary Emergence held in Montreal in the spring of 1995 produced by Mobius.

After this, a number of production groups came into being: Team Psyence in Alberta (1996), Deleria in British Columbia (1998) and the Black Light Activists in Toronto (1999). Other noteworthy production groups from the past are The TeknoCollective (Al-berta), the Goa Chill Nights (Quebec) and Deep Sea Fish (Toronto).

During the summer months the most well know psy-trance festival in the coun-try is Montreal’s Eclipse festival which sum-mer 2007 featured artists such as Koxbox and Protoculture. Motion Notion in Alber-ta is Canada’s other top psy-trance festival which also features other genres as well as live bands during the day. Entheos Gather-ing, Diversity, and Shambhala are all events held in British Columbia and each feature their own styles and energies. Along with the Harvest Festival on the full moon of Septem-ber in Ontario they all make for a great sea-son of outdoor events.

In the winter months the main promot-ers hosting indoor gatherings are Area709, Phonolite, Ganesha, Black Light Activists, Techno Hippy Crew, 7th Harmonic, Shak-ti, Metamystix, Seed of Life, Organix, Delir-ia and Beats without Borders. We also have visionary artists creating psy-inducive envi-ronments such as Neil Gibson, SPAK, DeJah-Vu, Deliria, Myth Makers, Ekstasis Dance, Luke Brown and Crystal and Spore.

Canadian producers have enjoyed an-other successful year of releases and in-clude such artists as Nuclear Ramjet, Ben

Rama, Zen, Axiomata, Metalogic, Azriel, Akhentek, Adham Shaikh, Biobazar, Anaha-ta, Freeworm, and LOGM. Canadian Labels have also been very active and with the ad-dition of Area709 Records are strong sourc-es of local sounds capes. They include inter-chill.com, nativestaterecords.com, space-portrecords.ca, coldgroove.com and entho-genetic.com.

There are a number of places to connect with fellow trancers when visiting Canada.

Weeds Café in Calgary, Shanti Baba in To-ronto, Psychonaut in Montréal and Highlife Records in Vancouver are also great shops to get info from. As well long standing club nights such as Amazone at SPAG in Montré-al and Organix at Club 23 in Vancouver are also natural meeting points.

There is much more to the Canadian un-derground trance scene that simply can not be included. With a smile and a sense of ad-venture the search for a welcoming commu-nity and world-class music will be an easy and enjoyable one.

TEXTDJ Nokturnaldarvin@area709.com, Founder of Area709.com, Label DJ Zenon Records, part of Sons of Aurora, Monthly Beatport Chart

»When you are lost in the act of creating, your passion becomes your pathway to finding the divine within.«

TEXTDJ Nokturnaldarvin@area709.com, Founder of Area709.com, Label DJ Zenon Records, part of Sons of Aurora, Monthly Beatport Chart

»When you are lost in the act of creating,

Canada is a country where you can dance

came into being: Team Psyence in Alberta (1996), Deleria in British Columbia (1998) and the Black Light Activists in Toronto (1999). Other noteworthy production groups from the past are The TeknoCollective (Al-berta), the Goa Chill Nights (Quebec) and Deep Sea Fish (Toronto).

well know psy-trance festival in the coun-try is Montreal’s Eclipse festival which sum-mer 2007 featured artists such as Koxbox and Protoculture. Motion Notion in Alber-ta is Canada’s other top psy-trance festival which also features other genres as well as live bands during the day. Entheos Gather-ing, Diversity, and Shambhala are all events held in British Columbia and each feature their own styles and energies. Along with the

LINKS• www.area709.com• www.coastalconscious.com• www.crystalandspore.com • www.ektoplasm.com• www.entheosgathering.com• www.motionnotion.com• www.psyfreaks.ca • www.technohippycrew.ca• www.techsafari.ca• www.tribalharmonix.org

CONTACTS• Eastcoast: cafrine@techsafari.ca • Westcoast: naasko@interchill.com

A wilderness paradise in CANADAwww.trancersguide.com/canada

Photo Justin Miller (1)

LINKS• www.area709.com• www.coastalconscious.com• www.crystalandspore.com • www.ektoplasm.com• www.entheosgathering.com• www.motionnotion.com• www.psyfreaks.ca

A wilderness paradise in www.trancersguide.com/canada14

Several indicators show that the large global prejudice of the last decades, that Colombia is still dominated by the influ-ence of the civil war, is part of the past. At last year’s World Tourism Congress host-ed in Cartagena, the figures showed that Colombia recently enjoyed the highest growth in tourism in the world, by 13.3 percent. Also the increase of the local con-struction industry within the last years has been huge, supported by political and eco-nomic stability.

Infinite possibilities are the reason why a group of local artist created the joint venture called Infinitive Perspectives. If you planning to visit Colombia, that’s the place you want to go, if not then its time to make those plans. Surround-ed by nature, rivers and eco-walkways, you’ll find a Club/Resort/Hostel with huge camping-area, swimming pool, restaurant and most im-portant a dance-floor and 24/7 chill-out area with relaxing-zone, massages and other work-shops. More info you find at their web page.

Past New year eve, hosting Euphoria 2012–5 Festival, this sacred place was inaugurated by local and foreign psyconauts sharing their en-ergy to this global vision of peace, love and re-spect. Don’t miss the next chapter Euphoria 2012–4 on New Year’s Eve 2008/2009.

As the psy-spirit is spreading around, you’ll find already small tribes in Cali, Pasto, Pereira, Manizales, Medellin, Bucaramanga, Barran-quilla and Bogota. If you’re bored from ma-jor league festival, looking for smaller and fa-

miliar parties, then you’re very welcome. The only risk is that you’ll never want to leave this amazing country. Promised! See you on the trance floor. Peace, love and light.

LINKS • www.euphoria2012.com• www.infinite-perspectives.com• www.psycologic.com• www.trancefusion.org• www.turismocolombia.com

CONTACTS• info@euphoria2012.com• info@infinite-perspectives.com• neo_jazz@hotmail.com• nomo44@hotmail.com• elfede@gmail.com

Ph

oto

Moc

tezu

ma

(2)

TEXTMoctezumadjmoc tezuma @ eupho -ria2012.comParty organizer, artist, DJ, light warrior.

TEXTTEXTMoctezumadjmoc tezuma @ eupho -ria2012.comParty organizer, artist, DJ, light warrior.

Psy-spirit is spreading in COLOMBIAwww.trancersguide.com/columbia

15

miliar parties, then you’re very welcome. The

Ph

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Moc

tezu

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(2)

15

Photos Markku Salmi (2)

Authentic Suomisound and global beats in FINLANDwww.trancersguide.com/finland

With its past firmly rooted in what is commonly referred to as »old school Suomisound« (Suomi, being the native name for Finland), the Finnish psy-trance phenomenon, ironically, made its first ap-pearance under the balmy shade of palm trees growing in Goa.

As the varied tropically psychedelic ap-proaches to sound made their way to our Nor-dic region in the early 1990’s, they were soon reinterpreted, adapted and infused with lo-cal flavors, paving the way for artists such as Texas Faggott, Squaremeat, Mandalavandalz, and Luomuhappo. All of the aforementioned artists are still actively gigging – the past year alone includes a host of overseas tours rang-ing from Japan to Israel.

In a country with a plethora of forests and lakes, it does not take too much imag-ination to conclude that it is outdoor under-ground summer parties which still account for a large percent of the scene’s local populari-ty. Besides the Suomisound acts already men-tioned, artists such as Kiwa, Eraser vs Yöjalka, Lemon Slide, Troll Scientists, Haltya and Vish-nudata play throughout the long white nights that constitute Finnish summer.

As summer extravaganzas are concerned, Konemetsä Festival is as good a gauge as any for ongoing local enthusiasm. Here, Finnish artists annually play side by side with world renowned talents such as Koxbox, Eat Static, and Paul Taylor. Local deejays such as Miazu, Poliisi and Anar enhanced the overall mood by playing their own superb dance floor selec-

tions. Summer 2008’s Konemetsä promises, once again, to be an event worth noting.

Although Finnish summer is relatively brief, the psy-trance scene does not go into hiber-nation for the winter. Instead, it heads for the »great indoors«, with parties organized all across the Helsinki and even as far as the Tampere area. Wider Visions, Space Boogie, Exogenic Records and NEO are but some of the few who arrange brilliant clubs and par-ties where Finnish acts and deejays play along with international headliners such as Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Kindzaza, Rinkadink, Cosmosis, Infect-ed Mushroom and Hallucinogen.

In addition to the shows, this year’s psy-trance enthusiasts have seen many inter-nationally acclaimed new albums being re-leased by Finnish labels. Kiwa, Highperson-ic Whomen on legendary Exogenic Records, Finland Boogie Files compilation, Vishnuda-ta and Astroschnautzer on Space Boogie Re-cords and Cosmic Dream compilation on Cos-mic Theatre Records, are some noteworthy mentions.

Freakdance Records gave their always thrilling contribution in the form of the debut of Lemon Slide while Antiscarp not only con-tinued their free download site but also saw the release of a printed CD compilation. Like-wise, Troll Scientists, Haltya and Texas Faggott are anticipated to release their long awaited new albums in 2008.

Back To Mad, the twice in a month psy-trance radio program on Bassoradio, has reg-ular listeners eagerly awaiting each new pro-

gram. Likewise, the highly specialized publica-tion for electronic music, Syke Magazine, con-tinues to maintain its position as a purveyor of contemporary culture.

Photos Markku Salmi (2) Photos Markku Salmi (2) Photos Markku Salmi (2)

TEXTJohanna VirmavirtaDance-floor activist, music journalist, photographer, radio DJane for Basso-radio.

»Action speaks louder than words.«

TEXTJohanna VirmavirtaDance-floor activist, music journalist, photographer, radio DJane for Basso-radio.

»Action speaks louder than words.«

gram. Likewise, the highly specialized publica-

LINKS• www.antiscarp.fi• www.basso.fi• www.cosmictheatre.info• www.exogenicrecords.com• www.freakdance.net• www.klubitus.org• www.konemetsa.net• www.neohelsinki.fi• www.spaceboogie.net• www.widervisions.com

Authentic Suomisound and global beats in www.trancersguide.com/finland

With its past firmly rooted in what is commonly referred to as »old school Suomisound« (Suomi, being the native name for Finland), the Finnish psy-trance phenomenon, ironically, made its first ap-pearance under the balmy shade of palm trees growing in Goa.

As the varied tropically psychedelic ap-proaches to sound made their way to our Nor-

16

MAGAZINE

SykeTHE MAGAZINE OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC CULTURE FROM FINLAND

LOVE LEADING THE WAY TO PLANETARY CULTURE

presenting sponsors

Passionate trancers in FRANCEwww.trancersguide.com/france

France is a country where you will see some of the most beautiful smiles, stay for days at parties, see landscapes that you will remember for years and hear some of the best DJs in the world. The French trance scene saw its birth in the year of 1990. The first parties were held in mushroom fields and mass graves like Gaia concept parties held by Rakam. Since these pioneer years, there has been changes but the French scene is still vibrant and enthusiastic.

In 2007 the trancers could go to a party ev-ery weekend if their heart desired. Most par-ties took place around Paris or in the south-East, and a couple of them in the West part of France. One of the nicest parties held last winter was Mahotsukai by Hadra, which took place in March in a gigantic gymnasium.

But unfortunately, the sad news came a few weeks later. Without a proper location the Hadra group were not able to organise the Hadra Festival. But good humor and a posi-tive attitude prevailing, the agenda was filled

up with summer parties and festivals. In the south, Any Gmatick throw a large outdoor party in July near Nice. Then World People offered us a very nice and friendly festival in southern mountains near Perpignan. One of the highlights of summer 2007 was the Arca-dia Festival thrown by Aqua Veda 200 kilome-ters from Paris.

Another of the highlight of the year 2007, was the three days party launched by Electrohm at le Mans, a region near Britta-ny. This party was extremely well organized and saw such names as Electric Universe and Shagma. These happenings really showed the capacity of the French psy-trance orga-nization with 1200 people partying to their heart content.

During the fall, OOBE surprised many of the trancers by throwing a large party in a cas-tle near Lyon. More than 2000 people came to support this association showing that the trancers are not just there to party but also to help each other.

Finally, an other association to watch out for is Mystic Chrysalide, an association from the south-west region of France throwing par-ties on a regular basis. So if you are going to that region of France make sure to check their web site to see for the upcoming parties.

In 2008 everyone can find something they like from small parties with a family flavor to larger ones where one can loose himself among 2000 or more party goers. There are many organizations and passionate groups of people throwing parties all year long, mainly in Paris area or in the south-east. One of the biggest difficulties for them is to find a place, indoor or outdoor and get the authorization.

Hadra is planning the third edition of its festival but is still looking for a place or wait-ing for an answer from local authorities. And after years at the same nice forest place, AquaVeda is also looking for a new location.

Muzic2mars is also announcing a party that will be held every two month called Psyche-delik Connexion and is planning a bigger par-ty in Paris after summer. Transplosion is plan-ning a large festival with an other association this summer. Space Buddha and Cyber Cartel are names which will mostly likely be seen on the line up.

TEXTFlorence aka Limptschrystalineensavoie@ya-hoo.frTrance activist and vol-unteer, 14 years with the scene.

With the help of Tristan from Hadra.

TEXTFlorence aka Limptschrystalineensavoie@ya-hoo.frTrance activist and vol-unteer, 14 years with the scene.

Hadra is planning the third edition of its

LINKS• http://polackos.spaces.live.com• www.anygmatik.com• www.aqua-veda.com• www.dragon-hunters.net• www.electrohm.fr• www.gaiaconcept.com• www.hadra.net• www.muzik2mars.com• www.tranceload.com• www.ultimae.com

Passionate trancers in www.trancersguide.com/france18

France is a country where you will see

up with summer parties and festivals. In the south, Any Gmatick throw a large outdoor party in July near Nice. Then World People offered us a very nice and friendly festival in southern mountains near Perpignan. One of the highlights of summer 2007 was the Arca-dia Festival thrown by Aqua Veda 200 kilome-ters from Paris.

2007, was the three days party launched by Electrohm at le Mans, a region near Britta-ny. This party was extremely well organized and saw such names as Electric Universe and Shagma. These happenings really showed the capacity of the French psy-trance orga-nization with 1200 people partying to their

Photo Hadra.net

Psychedelic ramifications: GERMANYwww.trancersguide.com/germany

Psy-trance in Germany is still blooming. Just like a tree that is getting older, the scene developed several branches which are reaching out to different directions. So there is some interesting musical de-velopment going on. Although the scene gets confronted with the »c-word« from time to time there is definitely still a huge non-commercial underground with a lot of positive and cre-ative energy.

Starting in the very sou th o f Germany you will find a lot of mountains and large woods l ike the fa -mous black fo re s t . I t ’ s the per fec t a rea to go s n o w b o a rd -ing or skiing in winter or wan-dering in sum-mer. The more nor th you go, the less moun-tains you will f ind. In the nor theas t of Germany where also most of the big festivals take place you can f ind hundreds of beautiful lakes. Germany has

a coast at t h e Nor th Sea and one a t the Bal-

t i c S e a where you

w i l l f i n d nice beach-es and also

s o m e g r e a t surf spots.

I n t e re s t i ng l y e noug h t he re i s no t on ly a cer t a in cour se f rom the sou th t o t h e n o r t h c o n c e r n i n g t h e c o u n -t r y s ide . T he l a w s a re a l s o va r i ab le . The sou thern s t a tes are ver y s t r ic t in terms of drug pol ic y, and permiss ions for event s . The more nor th you go the more l ibera l t he law s ge t . O f cour se drugs are i l legal every where in Germa-ny and promoters a lways have cer ta in prob lems w i th the au thor i t i e s bu t in the nor th you don’ t feel the legal pres-sure that s trong.

Photos Liese (1), Bakke (1)

Psychedelic ramifications: www.trancersguide.com/germany

Psy-trance in Germany is still blooming. Just like a tree that is getting older, the scene developed several branches which are reaching out to different directions. So there is some interesting musical de-velopment going on. Although the scene gets confronted with the »c-word« from time to time there is definitely still a huge non-commercial underground with

20

This might be one of the reasons why almost all big fest ivals take place in the northeast although the south-ern states would have a lot of beautiful venues, too. Anoth-er reason might be that the northeast states are pretty poor compared to the southern ones. That is why communities wel-come festivals as an an-nual source of income. For example in Putlitz, the place where VuuV Experience takes plac-es since a few years, there is a swimming

pool which has only sur-vived from the revenues they made around VuuV weekend.

Germany has been one of the most tradi-tional countries in the psy-trance scene ever s ince the ear ly 90’s . Lots of important ar t-ists and labels hail from this country and there are thousands of trance

people and with them a very strong scene.

Germany has a large num-ber of promoters and parties in around the country during both summer and winter sea-son. Even in rather remote, small town areas you will find a psy-trance party every weekend if you are willing to

reasons why almost all big fest ivals take place in the northeast although the south-ern states would have a lot of beautiful venues, too. Anoth-er reason might be that the northeast states are pretty poor compared to the southern ones. That is why communities wel-come festivals as an an-nual source of income. For example in Putlitz, the place where VuuV Experience takes plac-es since a few years, there is a swimming

SHOPS• THC HEADSHOP

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pool which has only sur-

people and with them a very strong scene.

ber of promoters and parties in around the country during both summer and winter sea-son. Even in rather remote, small town areas you will find a psy-trance party every weekend if you are willing to

pool which has only sur-vived from the revenues they made around VuuV weekend.

one of the most tradi-tional countries in the psy-trance scene ever s ince the ear ly 90’s . Lots of important ar t-ists and labels hail from this country and there are thousands of trance

people and with them a very

pool which has only sur-

people and with them a very

SHOPS• THC HEADSHOP

01099 Dresden, Alaunstr. 43+49 (0) 351 8032105Head, Grow, Freakwww.thc-mfg.de

• GREENLIGHT-SHOP

22

Photos Bakke (3)

travel a few kilometers. In Hamburg and Ber-lin, the two largest cities, you will find sev-eral parties every weekend. The Ruhr Area in Western Germany is another focus point for trance events where you will find at least

three big parties with interna-tional artists every weekend.

But the southern metropo-lis is in no way inferior to the northern ones: Longstand-ing promoters from Munich, Augsburg or Nuernberg deliv-er huge events as well as nice family oriented parties from weekend to weekend.

But there also is a cer-tain development going on which was already described in the edi-tion from last year: Re-ally a lot of festivals lost money in 2007. Well, I can name the usual rea-sons: The weather was not that good this sum-mer. But hey: This is Ger-

many, it’s quite normal! People might not have as much money as they did before to spend on parties- but people have never been really rich in this scene and they still visited a lot of events.

One plausible reason might be: There is an inflation of parties. Ev-ery year more and more promoters show and end up organizing big festi-vals with more or less huge lineups. When you visit an ordinary par-

ty you might sometimes get the impression that every sec-ond person is a DJ and every third one a promoter. Perhaps it‘s just getting too much? Are there already too much fruits on the trance branch so that it will break off? Another reason might be the musical develop-ment of the scene in Germany.

er huge events as well as nice family oriented parties from weekend to weekend.

tain development going on which was already described in the edi-tion from last year: Re-ally a lot of festivals lost money in 2007. Well, I can name the usual rea-sons: The weather was not that good this sum-mer. But hey: This is Ger-

SHOPS• APOCALYPSE

46483 Wesel, Damaschkeweg 41info@apocalypse.liWWW, Grow, Herbswww.apocalypse.li

• GOA-SHOP59065 Hamm, Osterstr. 17-19+49 (0) 2381 24763Pierc, Head, Grow, Gift

• SHISHA HEADSHOP65183 Wiesbaden, Röderstr. 5+49 (0) 611 5440879Head, Grow

• LIQUID CRISTAL MUSICwww.liquid-crystal-music.defresh progressive Psytrance

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• TRANCECARD.DEwww.trancecard.deCDs, Fash & more

many, it’s quite normal!

ty you might sometimes get the impression that every sec-ond person is a DJ and every third one a promoter. Perhaps it‘s just getting too much? Are there already too much fruits on the trance branch so that it will break off? Another reason might be the musical develop-ment of the scene in Germany.

many, it’s quite normal! People might not have as much money as they did before to spend on parties- but people have never been really rich in this scene and they still visited a lot of events.

might be: There is an inflation of parties. Ev-ery year more and more promoters show and end up organizing big festi-vals with more or less huge lineups. When you visit an ordinary par-

many, it’s quite normal!

travel a few kilometers. In Hamburg and Ber-lin, the two largest cities, you will find sev-eral parties every weekend. The Ruhr Area in Western Germany is another focus point for trance events where you will find at least

SHOPS

24

Photos Golden Boy (1), Bakke (1), Jesseen (1)

CDKokopelli ad TrancersGuide08 outl.indd 1 29-01-2008 15:28:28

CDKokopelli ad TrancersGuide08 outl.indd 1 29-01-2008 15:28:28

Concerning the music at parties there are big changes going on for a while now. Quite a few of the original progressive pro-ducers and DJs have become barely distin-guishable from original techno artists. Se-bastian Krüger aka SBK, one of the most successful progressive trance producers from Germany, might be a popular exam-ple. He plays excellent techno sets nowa-days. Also Laureth from Plusquam Records is now addit ionally involved into Kom-

pass Musik, an independent label from Hamburg for minimal techno and mini-mal House.

As an effect of this tendency the play lists from alternative floor DJs are often not real-ly different from those from techno DJs. But it somehow seems like only a minority of the trance crowd really likes this sound on parties and those who prefer this music of-ten change the scene and attend pure tech-no events.

On the other hand there have also been quite a few controversies about the always getting faster and darker psychedelic sound. A popular quote which appeared in an inter-net forum after a big festival this summer

was: »That wasn‘t psychedelic trance, that was psychedelic death metal!«

It seems like its still the certain »nordic progressive« sound that makes most people go crazy on the dance floor. Not too slow, not to hectic – not too twisted but also not bor-ing. That’s definitely the sound people still like most at the parties in Germany – today just like yesterday.

TextRoberdowww.roberdo.deJ o u r n a l i s t , M u s i c i a n , Hedonistic Freelancer

TextRoberdowww.roberdo.deJ o u r n a l i s t , M u s i c i a n , Hedonistic Freelancer

pass Musik, an independent label from was: »That wasn‘t psychedelic trance, that

Photo Jesseen (1)

pass Musik, an independent label from Hamburg for minimal techno and mini-mal House.

from alternative floor DJs are often not real-ly different from those from techno DJs. But it somehow seems like only a minority of the trance crowd really likes this sound on parties and those who prefer this music of-ten change the scene and attend pure tech-no events.

quite a few controversies about the always getting faster and darker psychedelic sound. A popular quote which appeared in an inter-net forum after a big festival this summer

pass Musik, an independent label from

LINKS:• www.agentaudio.net• www.antaris-projekt.de• www.chaishop.com• www.cosmrecords.com• www.electricuniverse.de• www.freshflyer.com• www.fullmoon-festival.com• www.fusion-festival.de• www.goabase.de• www.liquid-crystal-music.de• www.liquidtime.com• www.mushroom-online.de• www.plusquam-records.net• www.robpapen.com• www.spintwist.de• www.tshitraka.de• www.vuuv2007.com• www.wald-frieden.de

Concerning the music at parties there are big changes going on for a while now. Quite a few of the original progressive pro-ducers and DJs have become barely distin-guishable from original techno artists. Se-bastian Krüger aka SBK, one of the most successful progressive trance producers from Germany, might be a popular exam-ple. He plays excellent techno sets nowa-

26

Photos Absolut Zero (2)

Trance to the beat in GREECEwww.trancersguide.com/greece

To start of with, Greece is unquestion-ably a country with a long trance history. Opening with underground raves near the beginning of 1990’s, many people discov-ered an unexplained sensation in this mu-sic and turn out to be true believers and supporters.

International artists started appearing in Greece to bring a miraculous sound that ev-eryone was in love with. In addition, numer-ous Greeks started their personal trance car-riers as artists, DJs, promoters, label owners or by appearing in local secretive events. In warehouses or mountains by traveling out of the country to perform and to gather new music. They’ve also started to organize their own events as well as compiling albums and compilations for the music they were devot-ed to.

/Last but not least, the wonderful vibes, the unity and the atmosphere of those events, is something that still many people perceive as the »good old days« era.

Nowadays, things have progressed a lot, and Greece has developed into a very »ac-tive« country in the trance music movement. Well known party organizers like Camoflash, DJ Movement, Eternal motion, Free Frequen-cy, Neverland, Plasmatica, Twilight Zone in Thessaloniki, as well as Moonsun, Natural High, The Cube, Xtra Vibes in Athens, con-tinue to provide new events almost every weekend.

Most of the times, line-ups consist of inter-national artists in conjunction with local DJs.

Moreover, new organizing teams are pop-ping in the scene like mushrooms. Some of them make it, some don’t with many people already criticizing promoters for providing bad services (unorganized events, fake art-ist entries, bad sound, toilets missing) even when ticket prices remain high. However, Greeks know too well how to party and cel-ebrate and regardless of the organization-al mistakes most of the parties end up with big attendance.

Regarding music, the Greek legends Wizzy Noise have by now finished their new album which will be soon released by Harmonia Re-cords. A lot of new releases are also soon to be out by Greek labels like Candyflip, Slikt’it (sublabel of Candyflip), Headstick, Harmo-nia, Moonsun, Medusa, Mental Cruelty, Night Oracle and Cosmicleaf/Unicorn Music, have already been released this year, and more are preparing to hit the market in 2008.

When it comes to Greek trance culture magazines, we must mention Freeze, which is the leader in the field, providing free CDs and exclusive interviews from well known in-ternational and domestic artists.

International acknowledged and recognized Greek web-radio called Bassline.gr Radio, con-tinues to provide high quality, fresh psychedel-ic-progressive trance plus chill out tracks, DJ-sets and live-shows, as well as new exciting interactive features. For fans of progressive, house or electro, the answer to their needs is called Danceradio.gr, which provides a fully featured music portal for the music lovers.

As for upcoming festivals, there are ru-mors about the continuance of Butterfly Dance Festival, and a possible festival from Twilight Zone team, but nothing is yet con-firmed by the organizers.

Photos Absolut Zero (2) Photos Absolut Zero (2) Photos Absolut Zero (2)

TEXTThanasonicinfo@bassline.gr DJ, producer and master-mind of the internet radio www.bassline.gr

TEXTThanasonicinfo@bassline.gr DJ, producer and master-mind of the internet radio www.bassline.gr

As for upcoming festivals, there are ru-

LINKS• www.bassline.gr• www.camoflash.com• www.candyflip-records.com• www.cosmicleaf.com• www.djmovement.gr• www.harmonia-records.com• www.itathens.com• www.joystick-music.gr• www.medusa-records.com• www.moonsun-records.com• www.noizeconspiracy.com• www.plasmaticagroup.com• www.psychedelic.gr• www.psy-trance.gr• www.unicorn-music.net• www.wizzy-noise.gr

Trance to the beat in www.trancersguide.com/greece

To start of with, Greece is unquestion-ably a country with a long trance history. Opening with underground raves near the beginning of 1990’s, many people discov-ered an unexplained sensation in this mu-sic and turn out to be true believers and supporters.

International artists started appearing in Greece to bring a miraculous sound that ev-

28

Photos nekopix@gmail.com (2)

Can it get any better in HUNGARYwww.trancersguide.com/hungary

Feel the spirit of magical valleys and the taste of Palinka, meet the hospitable tribes in boat parties and cozy cellar clubs or spend half of the summer going from lake side psychedelic parties to festivals of in-ternational rank in Hungary. The biggest psychedelic community of Middle-East-ern Europe keeps the scene moving more than ever.

The Hungarian psy-trance movement took its first baby steps back in the early 90’s with DJ Oleg receiving weird mix tapes from Isra-el and India. A year later he threw the first se-ries of parties where he would mix Goa trance with acid, breaks and techno. The vibe start-ed to spread across the country but needed the help of an Israeli student delivering Goa trance vinyls for the rising number of DJs in Budapest.

Psy-trance events became weekly fre-quent from around 2000. During winter and fall there are regular psy-trance nights in Bu-dapest where you’ll find pretty much the who is who in psy-trance today with such names as Atmos or Domestic. Inner city »psy heaven« K2 often hosts these and most of the relevant indoor parties during the year.

Open-airs are quiet abundant near Buda-pest thanks to number of fishing lakes in the areas or ancient forests. As for mountains: Ba-kony will host its third psychedelic weekend this year with Gataka and Zen Mechanics al-ready booked. One thing is for sure Goa Gill will be making his annual pilgrimage to Hun-gary in July.

OZORA Festival takes place fifth time in August 2008 with new decoration but with the same perfect location. The 7 000 visitors that graced the festival last year will only grow when they get the chance to see the line up for 2008 that includes Juno Reactor, Hallucino-gen, Atmos, Logic Bomb, Ott, Youth and oth-ers that will give this festival the chance to rise into the hall of fame of psy festivals.

Hungary’s other love child No Mans Land Fes-tival, turned more than a few heads with its last edition in 2007. The multi-stage festival offers a wide spectrum of psychedelic music again this time at lake Balaton at the end of July.

Scene is growing but isn’t as fast as the number of teams organizing separately full-on, dark-psy or progressive parties, which un-fortunately like in other countries have cre-ated a separation in the crowd leaving dance floors often enough half-empty. Good news seems to be though that some of the crews have started to cooperate with each other pleasing various tastes as they try to gather the community again.

Only few years have passed since Para Halu placed Hungary on psy-trance produc-ers’ world map opening the door for new tal-ents like Wooden Monsters who recently got their first album released on Nabi. Psybaba Records goes on with upcoming local dark psy projects Chemical Spoon and Irgum Burgum. Psylife Music presents the fifth Para Halu al-bum this spring and Halu Beats releases the decade-long awaited debut-album from Kalu-met, ultimate prog-psy hero of Hungary.

Besides the labels, the first artist manage-ment agency called Human Touch begins its work in 2008. Hungary’s psy-trance future seems brighter than ever since.

Photos nekopix@gmail.com (2) Photos nekopix@gmail.com (2) Photos nekopix@gmail.com (2)

TEXTSusan Hirschlsue@psylife.netTravel addict, journalist, manager www.psylife-music.com

TEXTSusan Hirschlsue@psylife.netTravel addict, journalist, manager www.psylife-music.com

Besides the labels, the first artist manage-

LINKS• www.clubk2.hu• www.goa.hu• www.kalumet.hu• www.nomanslandfestival.com• www.myspace.com/ woodenmonsters• www.ozorafest.hu• www.parahalu.com• www.partyfuture.com • www.psylife.net• www.psybaba-records.com• www.thehumantouch.eu

CONTACTS• info@psylife.net• info@partyfuture.com• adam@parahalu.com• kalumet@gmail.com

Can it get any better in www.trancersguide.com/hungary

Feel the spirit of magical valleys and the taste of Palinka, meet the hospitable tribes in boat parties and cozy cellar clubs or spend half of the summer going from lake side psychedelic parties to festivals of in-ternational rank in Hungary. The biggest psychedelic community of Middle-East-ern Europe keeps the scene moving more than ever.

30

Characterized by colorful culture in INDIAwww.trancersguide.com/india

The trance virus that was initiated by hip-pie tourists during the early 1970’s did not take long to infect the Indian subcon-tinent. International acts at nature parties became a common form of musical fete, which resulted in exultant sensations across the country.

The scenario ameliorated until 2006 – the year that witnessed the colossal failure of the first Indian Psychedelic Trance festival (Moondust), and the subsequent year 150 ravers were imprisoned on the auspicious »festival of colors« party in Pune. However, there exists a flip side to this particularly psy-chedelic coin, with the India section on the renowned Isratrance forum resurrected, and a large number of artists becoming conspicu-ously visible in the international market.

Analogous to the rising economy of the nation is its entertainment industry – what with international bistros such as Ministry Of Sound and Hard Rock Café in cosmopol-itan cities. Trance in particular has not been sensationalized and organizing outdoor na-ture parties is next to impossible. The capital city of New Delhi usually gets a strong dose of club parties featuring international acts during November – February while Mumbai, Chennai and Pune are relatively dead.

Enter Goa – the sanctum sanctorum for ravers worldwide. Most importantly, Goa continues to maintain its lay as a state of mind more than anything else. While major party season kicks off mid December and views its terminus around the end of Febru-ary, small parties are not uncommon; a good trancer can always find his way around! Goa might not be able to promise it’s visitors all that it did during the Golden era, but it will definitely make your trip memorable!

If you are looking for a calm holiday in a non-restrictive environment, Manali is the ideal hol-iday spot. Party season in Manali is from April–August. The village of Kasaul is another similar location. The festival at Pushkar (a popular hol-iday destination in Rajasthan) occurs every year during the concluding month of the year.

In Kerala, you will find the most pictur-esque back waters and can pamper your-self to a traditional Ayurvedic oil massage; and the best news is that psy-parties are on the rise. Gokarna in Karnataka is also worth of checking. A trip to India is almost always going to be spontaneous and it’s best to ad-judge the scenario once you arrive!

As far as record labels are concerned, young blood has taken over. One of the main record labels continues to be Shivlink Records. Owned

by DJ Nick, Shivlink has played host to a number of international acts and released four compila-tions since its birth. Nick is also responsible for the latest Indian up rise Samsara Recordings.

While Beyond Logic Records and Third Eye seem to be hibernating, Tantrumm Records and Temple Twister Records have been pro-active as well as Goa based Disco Valley Re-cords. Deep Electric India compilation show-cases the fast growing progressive dance music scene in India.

Ma Faiza (Masti Music) is an editor at Rave Magazine and is well recognized for her am-ple contribution to the scene.

by DJ Nick, Shivlink has played host to a number

LINKS• http://forum.isratrance.com/

forum-india• www.mastimusic.com• www.sam-sara.com• www.shivlinkrecords.com

TRANCE ACTS• Kohra (Shivlink Records) • Kerosene Club (Temple Twister) • White Wizard (Samsara) • Silent Horror (Devils Mind) • Ma Faiza (Masti Music) • DJ Nick (Shivlink) • DJ Varun (Materia)

CONTACTS• info@shivlinkrecords.com

Photos Divyan (1)

Characterized by colorful culture in www.trancersguide.com/india

The trance virus that was initiated by hip-pie tourists during the early 1970’s did not take long to infect the Indian subcon-tinent. International acts at nature parties became a common form of musical fete, which resulted in exultant sensations across the country.

The scenario ameliorated until 2006 – the year that witnessed the colossal failure of

32

cords. Deep Electric India compilation show-cases the fast growing progressive dance music scene in India.

Magazine and is well recognized for her am-ple contribution to the scene.

Photos Divyan (1)

TEXTDivyan Salotra divyan@shivlinkrecords.comPromotions & marketing manager Shivlink Records, author of India Section on

Chaishop, freelance journalist. »Tune in, Turn on & Trance Out!«

TEXTDivyan Salotra divyan@shivlinkrecords.comPromotions & marketing manager Shivlink Records, author of India Section on

Photos Mike Patterson (2)

Take off with fairies in IRELANDwww.trancersguide.com/ireland

The Irish musical giant is slowly waking up! A young, vibrant and friendly scene is getting ready to inject psychedelic trance with an influx of new musical talent and energy.

Two young and fresh labels were created in Ireland in June 2007. For now, both features mainly international acts, but are trying hard to tap the well of Irish creativity and create a platform for local trance producers to release their tunes worldwide. For, even though there are parties in most major cities of the island, very few people actually produce psy-trance, as most Irish musicians still prefer the tradi-tional way of making music.

Triplag Music, a natural development of the successful Triplag web radio that has been running for two and a half years, has already released two compilations Dark Love and Keep The Faith, featuring a host of interna-tionally acclaimed psychedelic acts, one artist album from Russian psy-trance pioneer CPC in collaboration with his friends, and three digital EPs.

Syncronize Records is also in full swing with two artist albums to date and

a compilation in the making. The first re-

lease, Psychogeni-ca is the debut al-bum from Ajja, a

globe-trotter who lived in Ireland and gigged in the music scene for many years and who is an inspiration to many local producers. The second release is Phantasmatika from leg-endary French psy-trance wizard, Hyper Fre-quencies.

New label projects have been announced, and in a country that has raised marvellous musicians such as Ian Dury, Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy and the Pogues, to name just a few, it is only a question of time before Ireland has its own major psy-trance acts.

The party scene in Ireland started in the early 1990s, with a rush of new-age travel-lers and Goa old-timers. Small communities of freaks settled across the country, mainly in the South and on the West Coast. Due to strict licensing laws and a closing time of three a.m. for clubs, the scene remained underground, keeping the Goa spirit alive in free parties for up to 200 people in private houses, the woods or on Ireland’s beautiful beaches.

A major Irish psy-trance promoter is the Dublin-based Neutronyx crew. Their name first appeared on the Global Festival calendar in 2006 with the Life Festival. By the second edition they had become a well-established trance festival aiming to encourage and stimu-late youth culture, by means of juggling, poet-ry, drama and music in all its different aspects and styles. What’s more, they keep the psy-

chedelic vibe alive with their Neutronyx par-ties in the capital.

In the last few years, party organizations like Cosmic Fusion and Equinox have devel-oped in the bigger cities like Galway and Cork, as well as in more rural areas. Also, bridg-ing the old divide between the Republic and Northern Ireland is Dream Tunnel. This psy-community, led by DJ Druid, is involved in psy-trance promotion and party organization on both sides of the border since 2002.

Come and experience the magic and mys-tical beauty of the Irish countryside and enjoy its psychedelic party scene!

Photos Mike Patterson (2)

TEXTDJ Shore Bar Axelistalea2@eircom.net Syncronize Records La-bel manager. Thanks to Vic (Triplag Music) and Tanina Munchkina (Peak Records).

TEXTDJ Shore Bar Axelistalea2@eircom.net Syncronize Records La-bel manager. Thanks to Vic (Triplag Music) and Tanina Munchkina (Peak Records).

chedelic vibe alive with their Neutronyx par-

LINKS• www.dreamtunnel.com • www.life-festival.com • www.neutronyx.com • www.syncronizerecords.com • www.triplag.com

Take off with fairies in www.trancersguide.com/ireland

The Irish musical giant is slowly waking up! A young, vibrant and friendly scene is getting ready to inject psychedelic trance with an influx of new musical talent and energy.

Two young and fresh labels were created in Ireland in June 2007. For now, both features mainly international acts, but are trying hard to tap the well of Irish creativity and create a

34

All the trance you can eat in ISRAELwww.trancersguide.com/israel

The constant wars with the mandato-ry army (three years for men and two for women), hot weather and hot Mediter-ranean temper combined with growing high tech industry spiced with a search of something different made Israel the per-fect habitat for trance to have it ’s first steps and then spread like Infected Mush-rooms.

Israel has had a huge effect and influence on the global trance scene with such pio-neers like Astral Projection, Oforia, Califor-nia Sunshine and Space Cat. Most of them

continue to shape the scene till this day. The journey to India after

finishing the army became an Israeli ritual that helped de-velop the scene and made

this genre the most popu-lar for young people in the country.

For many years Isra-el was labelled as the full-on nation, but lately the

scene has started to won-der towards the progressive

and minimal districts. New pro-gressive labels like Echoes pop up

alongside existing ones like VP, Dance N Dust and Ear Peaks

(Domo). On the full-on side we still have

t he mos t f a -mous and suc-

cessful labels such as Hommega with artists like Astrix, Dali, Domestic and the label man-ager Eyal Yankowitz, BNE/YoYo with Infect-ed Mushroom, Fatali and Oforia, Compact, Agitato, Mushy, Trancelucent, Phonokol and Chemical Crew with the notorious Skazi.

To take a dive into the realms of relaxation and down tempo you can find Aleph-Zero along with the superb Shulman. On the dark-er side we have the new comer labels like Zaikadelic and Psyshark together with the veteran Doof records that represent Zirkin (one of the owners) Double REL and Entropy. Doof are also making an annual festival dur-ing the days of the Jewish holiday Passover which usually occurs in April and had great success on their last one with almost 5000 people making a dust mushroom in the air.

This year for the first time we had four fes-tivals during September which is the holiday season for the Israelis. T.A.Z festival run by the third Empire crew brought four days of progressive, minimal, electro, tech music in the South, Moksha crew made an unforgetta-ble 24 hours fest at Achziv beach at the North with 5000 ravers dancing to Simon Posford and X-Dream and creating a vibe that hasn’t been seen for long time, Holy Rave at the South tried to capture a decade later, the his-toric landmark in the Israeli trance scene – Ganey Huga festival in 1997 (which you can see on the movie Karahana), but the mas-sive media advertising and the fact that it occurred on the same dates as the Moksha

The constant wars with the mandato-ry army (three years for men and two for women), hot weather and hot Mediter-ranean temper combined with growing high tech industry spiced with a search of something different made Israel the per-fect habitat for trance to have it ’s first steps and then spread like Infected Mush-rooms.

on the global trance scene with such pio-neers like Astral Projection, Oforia, Califor-nia Sunshine and Space Cat. Most of them

All the trance you can eat in www.trancersguide.com/israel36

event prevented it to recreate the same ef-fect, and Morrison Drops festival who made a full-on festival at the dead sea.

Always hungry for more parties and an opportunity to dig (the Israeli slang for danc-ing your ass off) the Israeli scene resulted in more parties during the week in various pubs and clubs like Sakaya’s Mondays & Saturdays infront of Jaffa sea shore (during the summer time and Bar Gyora during the Winter) Funky Beats @ Comfort 13 on Thursdays, The Max-im Progressive (and sometimes house/mini-mal/electro) Thursdays run by DJ Zombi.

When it comes to nature parties, all you have to do is bring your dancing shoes be-cause we have it all. If you are a progres-sive/minimal/electro fan you should go to the third Empire, Underground Team and Laplad. If you like the full-on style then you should go to TFN, Morning Glory and Pan-da & Hen Hen. For the Suomi and Goa mad-ness you can look for Amanita, Psyzion, Ru-pas, Psyspirit and Virus & Spirala.

And if that is still not enough to relax your Trance soul you have trance radio shows in most of the students radios across the country like Matantrance on Kol Hanegev 106.4 (South) Wednesdays @ 20:00, Hafirot (Wednesdays @ 13:00) and Hypnoza (Sundays @ 20:00) on Kol Hakampus 106fm (Tel Aviv) and Psyfreaks in Netanya area Kol Netanya 106fm.

This year we had parties closed by the police every weekend and even at authorized and In-dependence Day parties so when you come to a party in Israel you should take this under con-sideration. Although the mainstream media is quite indifferent to the trance scene, there have been several appearances by Israeli trance art-ists on the main news TV Channels and news-papers.

Israel can no longer be defined as one par-ticular expert of trance culture rather than a growing empire of one of the biggest export-ers of artists, labels and crazy dancers that will leave an unforgettable mark everywhere they go.

Ph

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Julia

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event prevented it to recreate the same ef- And if that is still not enough to relax your Ph

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Julia

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(4)

TextElinor C. tiptipe@hotmail.comEditor of Trance channels on cable and satellite TVBroadcaster of Hypnoza and Hafirot Trance radio show’s

PR Manager for BNE records.

TextTextElinor C. tiptipe@hotmail.comEditor of Trance channels on cable and satellite TVBroadcaster of Hypnoza and Hafirot Trance radio show’s

LINKS• www.106fm.co.il• www.bne.co.il• www.chemical-crew.tv• www.doofrecords.net• www.isratrance.com• www.myspace.com/ hypnozaradioshow106fm• www.zaikadelic.com

SHOPS• SPIRITWEAR

beautiful fashionwww.naspex.info

Photos Blind (1), Szymon Nikta (2)

From acid sounds to melodic trance in ITALYwww.trancersguide.com/italy

By the mid-1990s electronic under-ground music was becoming more and more popular genre in clubs and dis-cos in Italy. At the same time however, people began gathering in small parties where they could follow a trend which in other countries had already been perceived as a proper movement : the trance movement.

Since then there has been a shif t in in-terests in Italy that had two consequences. One being a gradual disappearance or re-organization of the electronic genres that people used to love previously yet on the other hand, the new-born trance genres won an increasing number of people’s ap-proval.

Trance music i t self has undergone a significant change over the years in Italy. At the beginning Goa trance and the acid sounds were the most played styles at par-ties. The sound then became more melodic and harmonic with more emotion and less

acid and then it all end up in the present full-on and progressive which represent the two most liked genres in Italy nowa-days.

Lot of young people however like the minimal style the most. This genre is sim-ply the »old progressive« revised and rear-ranged to a tempo of 145–155 BPM, and it is usually played by young Italian and for-eign producers. Minimal music is some-t imes considered to be a sub genre of psychedelic trance but as a matter of fact it has nothing to do with the usual psy-sounds promoted in the rest of the world.

As far as a general Italian outline is con-cerned it could be argued that the Trance movement has gained popularity for dif-ferent reasons. F irs t ly, lot s of par t ies take place every week. They are of vari-ous kinds, some are bigger and others are smaller and they feature every sort of psy and even the entry fees vary from cheap to really expansive. Most parties are orga-nized in the North and Central regions es-pecially in cities such as Bologna, Milan, Turin, Padua, Florence and so on. The best festivals are usually open-air, for example

By the mid-1990s electronic under- Since then there has been a shif t in in-

acid and then it all end up in the present full-on and progressive which represent the two most liked genres in Italy nowa-days.

minimal style the most. This genre is sim-ply the »old progressive« revised and rear-ranged to a tempo of 145–155 BPM, and it is usually played by young Italian and for-eign producers. Minimal music is some-t imes considered to be a sub genre of psychedelic trance but as a matter of fact it has nothing to do with the usual psy-sounds promoted in the rest of the world.

significant change over the years in Italy. At the beginning Goa trance and the acid sounds were the most played styles at par-ties. The sound then became more melodic and harmonic with more emotion and less

From acid sounds to melodic trance in www.trancersguide.com/italy38

Photos Blind (1), Szymon Nikta (2)

TEXTJimmy 9 / Supernaturaljimmy9dj@hotmail.comDJ, producer, member of Veleno staff and Pointze-ro rec.

TEXTJimmy 9 / Supernaturaljimmy9dj@hotmail.comDJ, producer, member of Veleno staff and Pointze-ro rec.

the Sonica Festival, Summer Celebration and Magnetic Moon that are considered to be the main ones.

Some of the most important events have been promoted in the last few years by some Italian organizations, namely Vele-no Staff, MK, Looney Moon, Sound Splat-ters, Trancemission, Goa Spirit , Techno-experience, Neosphere, Electronic Brain, M.S.C.M.A and many others with the help of some Italian decorator teams, together have created impressive settings for their events. Among these teams are Neuro-sys.lab, Psy Fly, Fasù, Moon Flowers, Atlantix, Paramatma, Psycho, and so on. Thanks to the quality and peculiarity of their works these decorator teams can be said to have recently equalled the most esteemed for-eign ones. Last but not the least , Italy of-fers some of psy trance’s greatest artists

and some record labels that promote their works such as Neurobiotic, Magma, Pixan, Solarsiv, Fabula and Veleno.

It could be stated that the trance move-ment has reached its peak and its major expansion in Italy but there is always the other side of the coin. The fact that more and more people are following this trend could be regarded as a good way to spread the trance philosophy, mentality, music and spirit , which brings the genre’s epic quality.

LINKS • www.beatspace.com • www.electronic-brain.it • www.goaspirit.it • www.looney-moon.com • www.magmarecords.it • www.myspace.com/neurosyslab • www.neurobiotic.com • www.psyconauti.org • www.sonica2006.com • www.technoexperience.com • www.trancemission.it • www.velenostaff.com

SHOPS • MACKY MAD HOUSE RECORDS

(MMHR) Psy Trance Full On Labelwww.mackymadhouse.com

Photos Naveen (2)

Back to the underground in JAPANwww.trancersguide.com/japan

The word of trance culture was first brought to Japan by eclectic travelers during the 1980s and continued arriv-ing through the 1990s and was positive-ly booming by the time the millennium rolled around. Japan became a global hub of trance music, and the scene was kicking for a while. But then came mega festivals, money, gangsters, drugs, cops, the media … you know the formula.

It wasn’t long before the parties became reliably uninspiring in Japan and yet behind the scenes artists and organizers committed to »the vision« continued doing their part to make it happen in the underground. Right up to the present day.

There has been a general decline in the momentum of large scale outdoor trance festivals in Japan. Vision Quest and Solstice, some of the biggest names in the organizing scene still do such festivals. Mother has be-come a major organizer in the Tokyo-area, with two major annual events that are highly regarded even by the old h e a d s in the scene.

The Nagisa Mu-sic Festival is anoth-er major event that combines a variety of electronic music genres for two annual daytime parties in the spring and autumn. With a crowds of

20 000 i t ’s

an important meeting point for all those in-volved in the scene.

Turning to West Japan, festivals such as GodBless, Blissdom and Yabai have grown greatly in the past few years. While the en-ergy is still fresh and strong the shadow of capitalistic organizing in all of its predictable forms is unrolling onto the West Japan at an astounding rate.

The hottest trance scene in Japan today is probably the dark-psy scene. BrainBusters, an organizing team headed by Dana and his partner from San Francisco Spliffnik, make great parties and a good place to meet the Tokyo Party Tribe. Chikyuya has been orga-nizing parties since the 1990s although they are often secretive and difficult to find. The Goa Gil 24 hour party organized by Chikyuya every summer at the base of Mt. Fuji is one of the best parties of the year. In Osa-ka, New World led by Mondo has switched genres from full-on to dark-psy and has be-come very popular with it. Digital Shiva Pow-er is yet another up and coming organizer in the Osaka area.

Magazines such as Posivision or Sonic Traveller are great for finding information about parties and trance culture in Japan. Quintrix Records, a shop in the lively Shibuya

district of Tokyo is another great spot for info-hunting. If you are in Osaka

drop into Exodus near Shinsai-

bashi which is an organic restaurant run by party freaks with local info for the taking.

Just remember, when it comes to getting you to the right party in Japan, information is everything. With a full solar eclipse happen-ing here in 2009, it seems that the universe is planning an evolutionary turning point for the Japanese trance scene and the world. Will you be there?

Photos Naveen (2)

TEXTShotushota@posivision.comEditor of Posivision mag-azine.Supported by Kei (Quin-trix) & Michael McAteer

(www.kyotomike.com)»Boom Shankar!«

TEXTShotushota@posivision.comEditor of Posivision mag-azine.Supported by Kei (Quin-trix) & Michael McAteer

(www.kyotomike.com)

bashi which is an organic restaurant run by

LINKS• http://exodus728.com • www.brainbusters.info• www.nagisamusicfestival.jp• www.posivision.com• www.quintrix.jp• www.sonictraveler.biz• www.totalsolareclipsefestival.jp• www.wakyo.jp

Back to the underground in www.trancersguide.com/japan

The word of trance culture was first brought to Japan by eclectic travelers during the 1980s and continued arriv-ing through the 1990s and was positive-ly booming by the time the millennium rolled around. Japan became a global hub of trance music, and the scene was kicking for a while. But then came mega festivals, money, gangsters, drugs, cops, the media

40

Photos Forest (1) Yagasyke (1)

Psychedelic pagans in LITHUANIA www.trancersguide.com/lithuania

The Baltic countries are newcomers in the global trance-scene but are in no way new to the culture which trance has its roots in. This being the fundamental culture of the worship of the earth, stars, sun and moon. Maybe it is the fact that the Baltic countries were a bit outside of the turmoil of the Christianization, later to be trade unions and military onslaught that followed.

Seeing the spirit and hanging out in these countries can give oneself a deeper under-standing for his roots as a European. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are still somehow not affected by the trends that sweep all over Cen-tral Europe and Scandinavia. The culture and the arts that flower here are vibrant, alive and true to the original roots of deep psychedel-ic shamanism. Check out the Yaga festival and Tundra in Lithuania or Klusa Daba in Latvia.

The scene in Lithuania is young and impor-tant to mention, very spiritual. It is about gath-ering and sharing experiences rather than just to party senselessly. Existent promoter crews collaborate each time when one of them is or-ganizing an event – equipment, deco, DJs, VJs and ideas come together for no fee. It’s all be-ing moved further by common enthusiasm, love for nature, music, dance and gatherings

under the skies. Even foreign DJs and Live-acts come and play for free.

These factors make people work togeth-er in favor of the spirit to create a certain vibe that makes psychedelic scene a tool of trans-formation. Moreover, most of the multi-day events have different aspects of alternative knowledge featured workshops, documenta-ries and spiritual practices that are quiet com-mon that only help the spread of important knowledge and luckily this fact is understood among promoters.

The story started in 2001 when a German-based crew Crazy People E.V. organized a very rare of its kind, shamanistic event called Ra-gana festival. It happened at the autumnal equinox in a very beautiful yet powerful place around former pagan capital Kernave. A truly mystical space and time made Ragana an out-standing experience that has greatly inspired those who decided to continue.

The first locally organized full moon open-air – Tinai (2003) attracted not many but the very core of the Baltic psychedelic communi-ty. It inspired »sleepy« activists in the Baltic countries and united the families for future projects. In summer 2003 the first Shamba-la festival took place followed by many other parties. The scene in the first years was very isolated from the outside world.

Yaga (formerly Shambala) is undoubtedly the main purely psy-trance gathering which in 2007 attracted around 1000 participants including a number of international guests.

Usually outdoor gatherings and indoors reach 150–200 people with a few exception but the scene though very slowly, is growing. In the last couple of years the number of people in-volved with party organizing and music pro-duction in Lithuania has increased noticeably.

Photos Forest (1) Yagasyke (1) Photos Forest (1) Yagasyke (1) Photos Forest (1) Yagasyke (1)

TEXTAntonshoomjegaveda@yahoo.comUniversal soul, artist, event organizer»Imagination is the pow-

er. Vision is the future. Dream the future. Now!«

TEXTAntonshoomjegaveda@yahoo.comUniversal soul, artist, event organizer»Imagination is the pow-

er. Vision is the future. Dream the future.

LINKS• www.tranzu.yra.lt • www.yagathering.org

Psychedelic pagans in www.trancersguide.com/lithuania

The Baltic countries are newcomers in the global trance-scene but are in no way new to the culture which trance has its roots in. This being the fundamental culture of the worship of the earth, stars, sun and moon. Maybe it is the fact that the Baltic countries were a bit outside of the turmoil of the Christianization, later to be trade unions and military onslaught that followed.

42

Photo soundsofearth.net (1)

Love, light and loads of fun in MEXICOwww.trancersguide.com/mexico

After the storm calm comes again, and seems like now more than ever Mexico is ready to show its best to the rest of the world. Mexico is more than tequila, ma-riachi, and sombreros: it ’s about love, light and loads of fun.

Trance clearly started to break in Mexico more than a decade now. From small Goa parties the scene started to quickly build up a nice, groovy, trippy, mystical and unique atmosphere. In the lands where very strong pre-hispanic cultures once lived, the drum beats came back to seduce the Mexican ears and those beats came to stay forever.

Nowadays we have two sides of the coin: parties with more than 5000 people, where the energy is quite strange and in most of the cases the production is quiet cheap, and then we have parties with 200–3000 beauti-ful dancing people. Crowds can be very dif-ferent from one to another, where in the very big parties there is a younger gener-ation around and then in the smaller and medium ones the crowd is not full of kids which we much more prefer.

There is also a big dif ference into the styles and sounds at parties around the country, seems like the northern states are more into dark and fast psychedelic trance, when in big cities like Mexico, Monterrey, Cancun or Guadalajara some people are more open for progressive. Nowadays Mex-ico City is the capital for progressive and groovier music in the whole country.

It isn’t easy to organize an open air par-ty in Mexico, unfortunately there are still some people that try to get in for free to the events or won’t pay the whole price of the entrance ticket. This small group of peo-ple that go to parties with a wrong behav-ior stays an important fact that does com-plicate the making of a beautiful festival that lasts more than two days. Most of the big events don’t go longer than 24 hours. Marakame (2000) was the best three day festival in Mexican trance history.

In the year 2007 we had amazing open air parties that really uplifted our spirit: Ra-diance Festival (Sounds of Earth) and Trib-al Vision’s Label Party (Delria) were more than amazing. Watch out for 2008’s edi-tions, they will rock.

The scene has been opening to new places and cities; spots on the trance map are multi-plying and there are good parties (even with international artists) being held in »new« places and spots. Unfortunately there aren’t enough beach parties as we should have, but you can still find some around the Caribbean, Veracruz and Jalisco.

There are many artists and DJs doing a great job, who aren’t only recognized in our country, but worldwide. The list (for trance and progressive) is big but we must talk about Ecliptic, Tron, Odiseo, Hamelin, Shove, Forza, D-Tek, Trancemission, Barak, Jey & Ex, Jerga, Valeria, Visua, Sankha, Tini Tun, Karlos Elizondo and many more.

There is still a lack of specialized music stores in the whole country, in Mexico City we have »Discoteca« (located at Condesa) that do a good job trying to spread and sell a wide range of electronic and alternative music, but sometimes it isn’t enough. On the other hand, people are starting to support and buy more tracks trough the internet in digital shops like Beatport and DJ Downloads.

Photo soundsofearth.net (1)

TEXTVictor Ezcurdia (DJ Vazik)vazik@yahoo.comvazilorfeno@hotmail.comInternational DJ, Sounds of Earth Label Manager

»Life is short… Let’s rock«

TEXTVictor Ezcurdia (DJ Vazik)vazik@yahoo.comvazilorfeno@hotmail.comInternational DJ, Sounds of Earth Label Manager

»Life is short… Let’s rock«

There is still a lack of specialized music

43

LINKS• www.deliria.org• www.elektroamerica.com• www.maia.com.mx• www.soundsofearth.net• www.trance-it.org• www.proyectogdl.com

CONTACTS• vazik@yahoo.com• dev@trance-it.org• arturo@maia.com.mx

While psy-trance sprang from the un-derground and consol idated over-ground, the »Dutchies« have increas-ingly seen the growth in the quality of their parties and producers. Although the scene in The Netherlands is as old as

psy-trance itself, it has been keep-ing itself to its shores. Yet, moved by an artistic urge of expression and expansion, Holland is now looking up while stretching its wings across Dutch borders.

Psy-trance in the Netherlands has been spreading its wings for a very long time. It began at the Ruigoord, the squat ted village that later be-came legalized. This pioneering era was also felt in the club Trance Bud-dha, where local DJs hosted regular nights. Meanwhile, psy-trance was also morphing into an underground scene while the old squat the Silo

pumped wild psychedelic par-ties in its basement.

With the c losing of the Si lo, the scene moved to the El f, the squat ted em-bassy of Belgium that for

t h re e yea r s be c ame t he g l o w i n g l i g h t o f p s y -

c h e d e l i c t r a n c e . H o u s i n g u p t o 3 0 0 s e a -s o n a l m e m -

ber s and many t rave l ler s f rom ever y where in the world, the El f made an im-pressive impr int in the Dutch p s y - t r a n c e a n d o p e n e d i t f o r i n t e r na t i o na l t ranc e r s ,

br ing ing the ver y sp i r i t o f Goa to the Netherlands.

With the increasing control against un-derground parties, the scene went over-ground and nights are now usually held in clubs with early closing times. This poli-cy brings pressure to organizations, which operate mostly with local artists due to the high risks of hosting short parties. As well, these parties often clash with outdoor il-legal parties, which can be fun, but make it harder for international artists to be in-cluded in the line-up of well organized events.

Still, some organizations are having the courage to bring international artists and we are seeing a growth in the quality of party production and line-ups. Organiza-

Photos thehospages.com (2)

International trancers: THE NETHERLANDSwww.trancersguide.com/netherlands

Photos thehospages.com (2)

been spreading its wings for a very long time. It began at the Ruigoord, the squat ted village that later be-came legalized. This pioneering era was also felt in the club Trance Bud-dha, where local DJs hosted regular nights. Meanwhile, psy-trance was also morphing into an underground scene while the old squat the Silo

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While psy-trance sprang from the un-derground and consol idated over-ground, the »Dutchies« have increas-ingly seen the growth in the quality of their parties and producers. Although the scene in The Netherlands is as old as

International trancers: www.trancersguide.com/netherlands

SHOPS

44

tions operating regularly in Amsterdam are Art of Noiz, Prog as a Frog, Namaste, Rui-goord, Trance Mafia, Bom Voyage, Trance-formers and Bleep Bizarre. In the country

we have Rootz, E:volved, 3rd Bit, Shut Up and Dance, Chil-dren of Ganesh and Cosmic Combination.

The Netherlands has been in the global map of top-notch producers since GMS came along. Our most re-spected artist at the moment is Zen Mechanics, due to re-lease an album this year and many are developing their craf t as well as releasing tracks and albums, such as Fitalic, Lif tshift, Mad Contrabender, Aero-phobia, Cyrus the Virus, Zebra -N, Jocid, Stikka, Tzolkin, Rebelix, Bassid, Boobytrip, Rev and The Wizard.

In the 2008 we are seeing an increase in the number of of f ic ial open air par-t ies . A l though receiv ing a permiss ion f rom the government is no easy busi -ness , some organizat ions are work ing against the clock to bring open air events to our spring and summer. So far, only the Ruigoord can yearly organize the Sol-s t ice fes t ival , which runs for two days and marks the shif t ing seasons in June. As an al ternat ive, some organizat ions are jo in ing larger fes t i va ls which are mostly commercial, but can of fer a stage exclusively for psy-trance.

Holland also has an outstanding annu-al event on 30th of April to celebrate the bir thday of the Queen. Amsterdam be-comes the great focus with a series of open air parties and Bom Voyage is the psyche-delic star, holding its ninth edit ion this year. Queensday is a traditional day at-tracting international public and interna-tional artists who come to play and enjoy, surely an event to be included in the global trancer‘s agenda.

TEXTBack to Marsinfo@backtomars.netDJane & Producer from Amsterdam»Music is the best drug.«

TEXTBack to Marsinfo@backtomars.netDJane & Producer from Amsterdam»Music is the best drug.«

Photo thehospages.com (1) Photo thehospages.com (1)

LINKS• www.1000feet.nl• www.cytopia.org• www.elixier.com• www.goatrance.net• www.goatrance.nl• www.ruigoord.nl• www.thehospages.com

tions operating regularly in Amsterdam are Art of Noiz, Prog as a Frog, Namaste, Rui-goord, Trance Mafia, Bom Voyage, Trance-formers and Bleep Bizarre. In the country

LINKS• www.1000feet.nl• www.cytopia.org

46

Portugal has been a key figure in the trance scene. Recently its fame of having the best European open-air festival season is stron-ger than ever. While Nordics can feed us all with an industrial amount of music produc-tion, in Europe’s West Coast the main con-cern is partying in tolerant atmosphere.

Boom Festival is the paradigm of a psyche-delic festival, every two years since 1997 it brings to Portugal thousands of people from the worldwide community. Furthermore in 2007 Portugal revealed Freedom Festival as other type of trance festival produced in this country. With an attendance of 12 000 it was simply the biggest psy-trance festival in Eu-rope in 2007 beating Sonica in Italy and the h i s - torical VooV (VuuV) in

Germany. And if we con-

sider that both B o o m a n d

F r e e d o m will hap-pen ev-er y t wo

years, we can con-

c l u d e that

all trance punters will be heading to Europe’s West Coast annually to attend to summer festivals. What reasons can explain that this country of ten million inhabitants (with five million emigrants living abroad) has such a strong reputation in this scene?

We can explain it with three different rea-sons. The first and obvious reason is the weather. For instance the beautiful and ex-otic Portuguese capital Lisbon has an annual average temperature of 18° Celsius and 2700 hours of sun exposure annually. In the psy-trance subculture the open-air factor is es-sential and Portugal have a pleasant weath-er all year long. This leads to people coming to Portugal not only to attend to festivals but also to enjoy holidays on a sunny, cheap and exotic climate.

Secondly, this is a country built on the in-fluences of Europe, Africa, Brazil, Muslim and Iberian influences. These multicultural inputs are deeply rooted in the DNA of the people and in the art, architecture and culture. The consequence is a country that is a sum of its past influences so you don’t feel that Europe-an standardized mood while being here. Time is slower, people are lazier, there is more cha-os, its not a full formatted place…

Thirdly is the quality of the events, mainly Boom Festival. Based on the psy-trance scene

i t has evolved ever since and is now a platform for dif-

ferent art forms, activ-ists, freaks, lecturers,

visionaries, party animals, tribes, artists, neo-mystics, to name just a few. Boom became an intercultural (and inter subcultural), inter gen-erational and multidisciplinary event feeding up the global psychedelic scene of new con-cepts. Moreover its independent ethos (not accepting corporate sponsorships) is an activ-ist role model to the general trance scene.

Photos Spiderman (1), Selwyn Leeke (1)Photos Spiderman (1), Selwyn Leeke (1)

TEXTArtur Soares da Silvashlopix@yahoo.co.ukJournalist and the owner of that Boxer called Enky.

TEXTArtur Soares da Silvashlopix@yahoo.co.ukJournalist and the owner of that Boxer called Enky.

Portrait in PORTUGALwww.trancersguide.com/portugal

visionaries, party animals, tribes, artists, neo-

Portugal has been a key figure in the trance scene. Recently its fame of having the best European open-air festival season is stron-ger than ever. While Nordics can feed us all with an industrial amount of music produc-tion, in Europe’s West Coast the main con-cern is partying in tolerant atmosphere.

Boom Festival is the paradigm of a psyche-delic festival, every two years since 1997 it

Portrait in www.trancersguide.com/portugal48

LINKS• www.boomfestival.org • www.crystal-matrix.org• www.flow-records.com • www.quest4goa.com• www.myspace.com/ ensofproductions swingmusicagency• www.visitportugal.com

CONTACTS• info@quarkagency.com• juggler@chaishop.com

SEARCH IN MORE THAN 20,000 ARTICLES - PROMOTE YOURSELF WITH AN OWN ARTICLE

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DOWNload magazines from your member area subscribers can also download new magazines DOWNload magazines from your member area DOWNload magazines from your member area subscribers can also download new magazines DOWNload magazines from your member area DOWNload magazines from your member area subscribers can also download new magazines subscribers can also download new magazines DOWNload magazines from your member area subscribers can also download new magazines DOWNload magazines from your member area subscribers can also download new magazines

Photos Spiderman (1), dElpHin (1)

An empire of sounds in RUSSIAwww.trancersguide.com/russia

The very first seeds for psy-trance were deposited into mother Russia’s expansive terrain during the early 1990’s soon after DJ Gabriel (St. Petersburg) and XP Voodoo (Moscow) returned from their musical ex-pedition to India. Though, it can be said that the roots of this psychedelic Indian tree have been transplanted into the limit-ed soils of the two major Russian cities, the last 10 years have seen branches sprout all over the country’s vast territories.

At present, trance parties are held in al-most every region of the country. Neverthe-less, Moscow remains the only city where on any given weekend one can find the party of one’s choice regardless of how esoteric a sub genre one desires. In this setting, psychedel-ic dance music is played by top internation-al artists.

The most well known psychedelic sound wizards from Russia are Parasense, KinDzaD-za and Fungus Funk. They are still delivering new interesting music meanwhile the scene is becoming more diverse with new artists and labels. Among the rising progressive stars is Vacuum Stalkers, who will release their de-but album in the early part of 2008. Likewise, Overlap Project is anticipated to bring cutting edge full-on with their second album released on Planet BEN records.

In addition, Glooex, Pantomiman, M.M.C, and Paper Squad are producing a form of »twisted« psy-trance which is becoming in-

creasingly popular. Of course, Russia’s fa-mous »dark side« is also certain to be repre-sented as Manifold and Furious albums hit the market.

Apart from Moscow, St. Petersburg pos-sesses the highest concentration of upcom-ing producers. Samadhi, RED, Pan Psychic, and Nasca continue their international releas-es with projections of full length albums for sometime in 2008. As for the chill out needs of our country being satisfied, Russia retains it’s internationally renowned high caliber acts such as Unstable Elements, Koan, Chronos, Scann-tec, Khooman, Izzum, DAF, and Ka-dang, to name just a few.

In truth, the most significant strides taken over the last few years have been made by the many party organizers who have expanded their repertoire to include owning record la-bels and supporting artists.

Besides the already established Moscow la-bels like Vertigo and Insomnia, newcomers like Nuclear Force, Organic Alchemy, Technical Freaks and Sun Station from St. Petersburg are busy making their mark. Significantly, the laws against illegal or so called pirate productions have been made more stringent thereby upping the level of protection for local labels and artists.

Summer 2008 promises to be a memorable one, as some of the more outstanding events such as Solar Eclipse Festival at Altai Moun-tains, the Trimurti festival and the Armage-don Festival (organized by one of Moscow’s

best promo teams, Technical Freaks) collude to make an unforgettably sunny season. For in-formation about parties and scenes, popular web portals prove indispensable aids – the one shortcoming is that almost all the information presently available is in Russian.

Photos Spiderman (1), dElpHin (1) Photos Spiderman (1), dElpHin (1) Photos Spiderman (1), dElpHin (1)

TEXTDJ Unitoneunitone@sunstation.ruA&R, promoter, freelance writer.Supported by Misha »Sunsay«

»Actually we do not understand things we just get used to them.«

TEXTDJ Unitoneunitone@sunstation.ruA&R, promoter, freelance writer.Supported by Misha »Sunsay«

»Actually we do not understand things

best promo teams, Technical Freaks) collude

LINKS• www.aeroboard.ru• www.chilloutplanet.com• www.insomnia-records.ru• www.intrance.ru• www.khanaltay.org• www.omind.ru• www.psytrance.spb.ru• www.shanti.spb.ru• www.sunstation.ru• www.technical-freaks.ru• www.trance.ru• www.trimurti.ru• www.vertigo-records.com

An empire of sounds in www.trancersguide.com/russia

The very first seeds for psy-trance were deposited into mother Russia’s expansive terrain during the early 1990’s soon after DJ Gabriel (St. Petersburg) and XP Voodoo (Moscow) returned from their musical ex-pedition to India. Though, it can be said that the roots of this psychedelic Indian tree have been transplanted into the limit-ed soils of the two major Russian cities, the

50

Discover the eastern beauty in SLOVAKIAwww.trancersguide.com/slovakia

Wherever your travels take you, Slo-vakia promoted as a »lit t le big coun-try« should def initely be one of the stops. Beautiful scenery in the coun-tryside and dominant mountain rang-es provide remarkable places for out-door events where nature itself might be counted as an amazing decoration. Yet we try to be counterpart of most that ’s going on in world within psy-trance scene.

In the year 1999 Cosmic dance or -gan i zed f i r s t psy - t rance event a imed to w ider audience. S ince then var ious crews s tar ted to organize psy-par t ies . In 2000 Zdeno and Rolo baba, wonder-ing around the world, founded beaut i -ful tradi t ion of Hil l Top fest ival (named af ter famous par t ies in Goa) located in central Slovakia. Hi l l Top is considered to be the largest outdoor event in Slova-kia to celebrate summer solst ice unit ing the whole scene together.

S lovak ian p s y - t rance s ce ne c ou ld be d iv ided in to three larger par t s ac-cording to geographical reg ions . Each par t has severa l c rews organiz ing in - and outdoor events . The scene remain strongest in western and central par t of the country.

A mong t he mos t ac t i ve i s a c re w called Spectral Sound based in Nitra. El-l isdee and Gyrro ac t ivated themselves in 2003 with the par ty called Awakening that greatly echoed among people. They have decided to cont inue in organizing club events and later on in 2006 found-ed a nice t radi t ion of Myst ika open air fest ival, where ar t ists l ike Cosmosis and Elec tr ic Universe per formed.

Among organiz ing psy- trance events they design their own decorat ions and make their own trance-clothing as well as produce music . Another qui te ac t ive tr ibe in this par t of Slovakia in Piestany is Qadradelic Societ y since 2003, orga-niz ing in and outdoor events l ike Sum-mer Gather ing or Journey to Wonder-land.

Wes tern par t of S lovak ia i s cons id -ered to be quite ac t ive and many crews wou ld deser ve to be ment ioned l i ke Radical Karma Crew or Planet Blue Soci-ety but also the young ones trying to at-trac t community with new projec ts.

Cent ra l par t o f the count r y has a l -ways p layed impor tant ro le as to the

s cene deve lopment and f re sh ideas . Coining usual word of psy and name of t iny vil lage, near Brezno, Valaska we get Psya laska represent ing former ly ch i l l organizers and deco ar t is t s . Since 2004 each year guys organize outdoor event at Chvat imech hi l l . Not to omit dynam-ic Space At tack crew shi f t ing cards in this region.

Since 2006 Bizzare projec t took over organizat ion of Hil l Top fest ival and in-t roduced ar t is t s l ike CPU, Space Tr ibe, Digi tal Talk , Absolum, Black and White and many others to Slovak psy commu-nity. I t permanently cooperates with re-spec ted ar t is t s l ike Z ion, Galac t ika or DJ Dica.

A m o n g i n d i v i d u a l p r o d u c e r s i t wouldn’ t be fair to omit ar t is t s who ei -ther have already re leased their proj -ec t s l ike Cosmo per forming worldwide or those wai t ing to be discovered also abroad such as Rahatmahatix , Ray Sub-jec t , Gyrro are probably best represen-tat ives of mostly full -on Slovak scene.

TEXTShaesther762b@yahoo.comParty organizer, Bizzare Project member

TEXTShaesther762b@yahoo.comParty organizer, Bizzare Project member

LINKS• www.dendy.sk• www.isotoxin.com/hilltopfestival• www.myspace.com/ cosmografix rahatmahatix• www.mystika.psyverse.sk• www.psyverse.sk

Discover the eastern beauty in www.trancersguide.com/slovakia

Wherever your travels take you, Slo-vakia promoted as a »lit t le big coun-try« should def initely be one of the stops. Beautiful scenery in the coun-tryside and dominant mountain rang-es provide remarkable places for out-door events where nature itself might be counted as an amazing decoration. Yet we try to be counterpart of most

52

South Af r ica has become an inter -na t iona l t rance r ’s pa rad i se , w i t h an ex t remely favourable exchange ra te encourag ing overseas v i s i tors to come par ty with us and an act ive psy-trance scene of which we are so proud. In Cape Town, of ten referred to as »Africa’s psy-trance capital«, we have outdoor festivals (called parties here ) every weekend during our ex-tended summer season September to May every year.

Although we have over twenty par t y organizers in South Afr ica, there is an unspoken unders tanding avoiding hav-ing mult iple par t ies at once, and tranc-ers having to make a choice. In this way, the whole scene is sustainable and on-going , wi th some of the older organiz-ers l ike Vor tex and Alien Safari , s t i l l ar-ranging successful fes t ivals af ter more than ten years.

Psy-trance found i t s way to SA in the mid -199 0s – coming f rom a de l i c a te background, we are ver y open to, and accept ing of al l cul tures and are proud of how far we have come as a develop-ing nat ion in a re la t i ve ly new democ-rac y. In Cape Town, w i th the sk y l ine dominated by our famous Table Moun-tain, we have an ex tremely eclec t ic and f r iendly bunch of t rancers , which cre -ates a great v ibe at the par t ies . There is a good following locally and i t is com-

mon to get 6000 people at bigger out-door fes t ivals . The scene has spread to the ci t ies of Johannesburg and Durban, but Cape Town remains the place to v is-i t i f you love psy.

In 2007 we were honoured wi th v is-i t s f rom internat ional ar t is t s l ike Psy-f ly, Manic Dragon, Zirk in, Menog, Pain-k i l ler, B l i s s and Space Tr ibe, to name jus t a few. Our local ar t is t s have done us proud, with signings by Peak Records of The Jes ter, Yabai Records of Frozen Ghos t and 3D V is ion of Los t & Found. In 2008 we are looking forward to v is-i t s f rom K indzadza , Er ror Correc t i ve , Esk imo and Mr Pecul iar, amongst oth-ers , and expec t our Ar t i fak t , Protocul -ture, Shi f t and more wil l venture over-seas again.

In genera l , the scene i s more fu l l -on and hardcore than progressive, a l -though b igger par t ie s ca ter for both wi th t wo dance f loors . There are hun-dreds of ac t i ve psy- t rance DJs in SA , who can be seen not on ly a t the b ig Saturday night par t ies , but also at the smaller indoor venues l ike Labyrinth@F i c t i o n , O r ga n i k @ Ro o t s a nd Tra n s -lux@ Class ic Corner ever y Wednesday night . We use w w w.3am.co.za for info and buy ing psy-related i tems or w w w.bome lak ie s i e . co . z a fo r p s y - in fo and pos t - pa r t y c ha t s . A r range t ranspor t to par t ies w i th w w w.kabshut t le .co. za

or ask for a l i f t on the thread on Bom. Trance - f r i end l y back packer s inc lude Ashant i Lodge and Sunf lower Stop. En-trance fees to par t ies are from 5 Euro to 30 Euro for the biggest .

One known local hangout is the only psy-trance dedicated pizza shop in Afri -ca, Call -A-Pizza in Sea Point , where you can try a pizza named af ter psy-ar t ists / organizers , get psy- info and buy par t y t ickets and watch par ty v ideos and hear the latest psy-trance tunes played.

TEXTRicky Sidelsky aka DJ Mad HatterI together with Yolanda Chambers.Both total psy-trance ad-dicts, owners of the Call-

A-Pizza South Africa and MINDMELT Pro-ductions.

TEXTRicky Sidelsky aka DJ Mad HatterI together with Yolanda Chambers.Both total psy-trance ad-dicts, owners of the Call-

A psychedelic rainbow nation in SOUTH AFRICAwww.trancersguide.com/southafrica

or ask for a l i f t on the thread on Bom.

LINKS• www.3am.co.za• www.bomelakiesie.co.za• www.bpmmag.co.za• www.callapizza.co.za• www.kabshuttle.co.za• www.monkeysfist.co.za

• www.3am.co.za• www.bomelakiesie.co.za• www.bpmmag.co.za• www.callapizza.co.za• www.kabshuttle.co.za• www.monkeysfist.co.za

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Light and darkness in SPAINwww.trancersguide.com/spain

2007 has been again a year of light and darkness for trance in Spain. Despite of the amount of parties (more than 200) and the new collectives that appear every year , the lack of attendance to these events is push-ing the scene deeper in underground while electro and minimal scenes are growing big-ger.

Al-Andalus is a new festival in the South of Spain celebrated in August. The organization is United Tribes and the place is astounding. It is located in the shores of a beautiful lake. No doubt, the best party of the year. Freaky Drag-ons festival couldn’t take place due to the lack permissions and the Guardia Civil (a kind of po-lice) used force against the visitors. The orga-nizers (Dragon Hunters) claim that they had an oral agreement with the authorities.

Happy Festival took place in the Cullera beach (Valencia) in October. There was rain the previous days and so the festival had to set up in the last moment. Many people entered for free due to the lack of fences. There were also problems with the sound system, but the over-all experience was good. Organizers (Katarsis) have permissions for five more years, so we trust in a worthy experience for 2008.

Existence Festival (Catalonia, NYE) was can-celled due to the lack of pre sales. 2006 edition was very successful so nobody understands what happened. Organizers (Sindar) offered a good party in Barcelona with Exaile, Mekkanik-ka and Tribe of Frog.

Catalonia has been the most active region with several collectives working hard for the scene. Muskaria Crew made several parties mainly in clubs with an international line-up: Altöm, Poli, Alien Project, Atomic Pulse, Pixel, Marco Menichelli (Sun Project) and Max Lan-franconi (Etnica), John Phantasm, Celli, Bio-Tonic. Also an outdoor party in Monegros des-ert. Sindar Crew organized a monthly party in Mephisto Club with several international acts like Skazi, Kuntact, Vibrasphere, Black&White and Buzz T. Trykomadelik crew made nine par-ties (indoor and outdoor) in Tarragona bringing Absolum and Domi Pastor.

Cosmic Trance, veterans from Barcelona made Trip to Trance II party with Kali and Toxic. Selektronics celebrated regular parties in clubs. Materia Records made a Label Party in Lleida with DJ Anahata and Djane Moira. La Penya del Bronx and Friends organized some parties in Vilafranca del Penedes.

Madrid area had weekly indoor parties in Selenium session (Ya’sta Club) with Talamasca, Bushman, Sirius Isness, GMS, Safi Connection, Andromeda, X-Dream or John »00« Fleming. Mithology Crew brought Meller to a club party and organized Beat Da Street Project, a parade in the Madrid streets with a Trance truck throw-ing psychedelic sounds to the passers-by. Vet-eran Furthur collective pulled up two beautiful parties in the surroundings of Madrid. Sinergia crew celebrated third anniversary with Audial-ize and Kuntact in Ya’sta Club. New collectica, AMAR apperarec. Also Kinki Aliens had small actions in raves.

Levante Area has shown a growth in terms of collectives: Kantala Sound celebrated their second year making seven parties, Delysid and Ganesha Space Garden created Everland. Also Psylove and Acid Minds made several small parties in the area. Aztlan Festival in Valencia was a good Spanish collective reunion with some internationals.

Andalucia region has increased activity: Di-namik (Málaga), Psylocibe (Sevilla), Transition Crew (Huelva and Seville). Carismadelic (Mál-aga) celebrated their first anniversary with Rinkadink in a beach party. Ibiza had few small parties that were mostly private.

TEXTSergio Diezaka DJ de Palo DJ and promoterwww.yastaclub.net

TEXTSergio Diezaka DJ de Palo DJ and promoterwww.yastaclub.net

mainly in clubs with an international line-up: Altöm, Poli, Alien Project, Atomic Pulse, Pixel, Marco Menichelli (Sun Project) and Max Lan-franconi (Etnica), John Phantasm, Celli, Bio-Tonic. Also an outdoor party in Monegros des-ert. Sindar Crew organized a monthly party in Mephisto Club with several international acts like Skazi, Kuntact, Vibrasphere, Black&White and Buzz T. Trykomadelik crew made nine par-ties (indoor and outdoor) in Tarragona bringing Absolum and Domi Pastor.

LINKS• www.muskaria.com• www.cosmictrance.com• www.spunrecords.org• www.ingart.com• www.oxygenrecords.com• www.sindarpsy.org• www.tranzexperiences.net

Light and darkness in www.trancersguide.com/spain

2007 has been again a year of light and darkness for trance in Spain. Despite of the amount of parties (more than 200) and the new collectives that appear every year , the lack of attendance to these events is push-ing the scene deeper in underground while electro and minimal scenes are growing big-ger.

Al-Andalus is a new festival in the South of

54

namik (Málaga), Psylocibe (Sevilla), Transition Crew (Huelva and Seville). Carismadelic (Mál-aga) celebrated their first anniversary with Rinkadink in a beach party. Ibiza had few small parties that were mostly private.

Photo Oliver Eisele (1)

Photos badboll.nu (2)

Sweden is famous for meatballs, northern lights, beautiful people, outstanding troll forest environment and a lot of great mu-sic in a wide range of genres. The collec-tive mentality stands in relation with the seasons.

It’s almost impossible to hold legal events due to a repressive political climate.

Almost all organizational tries of a true trance festival has been stopped by our au-thorities. But still, there are a few dedicat-ed Trance freaks doing everything possible to produce a big and well organized event where the spirits is still run high.

To mention some open-air gatherings that aimed to bring the true Viking tribe, Trolltyg that marks the beginning of the summer sea-son, attracting about 1500 visitors. Highlight in 2007 was without a doubt the INTI & Fam-ily reunion made by the INTI Design team and also the Goa Gil / 070707 party made by DivineMusicTribe. The day party Blom-mor & Bin continues to put a smile on peo-ple’s faces. Mytiska Hålet I Marken is an out-standing gathering with people from all over. Other events worth mentioning are Wizard-ry of the Woods and also The Tribunal made by L.I.S.A.

To tell you »how it all started«; In the ear-ly 1990s some dedicated acid freaks brought their visions from Goa and made the first party in legendary Kilsbergen in Örebro. In Stockholm Docklands had their imprint in

the scene and within it came both positive and negative aspects when the police start-ed to put energy into the surveillance of this new age party culture. Ever since then the psychedelic spirit spread all over the coun-try, though mostly to the major cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Produc-ers however are more spread out over the whole country.

2007 didn’t quiet end with high spirits, but signs point toward a promising year 2008 with more well organized events in the name of »summer of love, freedom and spirit« . However, our beloved produc-ers have put a lot of energy in the release of good music. To name a few respected artists that released in 2007 were: Vibras-phere, Matenda, Solar Fields, Silent Horror and also Astrix released an EP at Spiral Trax which after a year in silence is now back in the game. What is scheduled for 2008? Chromosome, Wizack Twizack, S-Range and the newcomer Panta Rei are about to re-lease their new album.

Other artists worth mentioning is Hux Flux, Son Kite, Miraculix, Ticon, Total, Iboji-ma, Atmos and Arremakki. Sweden also have quite a lot of skilled DJs such as Morg, Kva-si, Anti, Peter Digital, Stygnet, Anneli, Bröte, Gen6, Zloj and Joseph. Worth to mention is Connection that invented the new style »flip-flum-on«.To mention a few active decorators is INTI Design, Diffus and NOS.

For 2008 a lot of organizations are plan-ning great new events. Which will stay as a dream and which will become reality is hard to predict. One highlight to keep on eye on will be the vision of Sweden’s first true in-ternational Trance festival 080808 – proj-ect Kul Tur will be a continuation of Freaky Forest produced by the familytribe of En-lighted, DivineMusicTribe and friends from all over. Arvika festival attracting more then 15 000 people will as usual dedicate a stage for Trancemusic.

TEXTStygnetblessed@enlighted.orgDJ, journalist, festival man-ager, label head at Enlight-ed Network, supported by VaPPa

»We are spiritual beings, having a hu-man experience!«

TEXTStygnetblessed@enlighted.orgDJ, journalist, festival man-ager, label head at Enlight-ed Network, supported by VaPPa

Northern enlightenment in SWEDENwww.trancersguide.com/sweden

For 2008 a lot of organizations are plan-

LINKS• www.080808.se• www.arvikafestivalen.se• www.divinemusictribe.com• www.flexible.to• www.psydb.net• www.swedish-mushroom.com

Photos badboll.nu (2) Photos badboll.nu (2) Photos badboll.nu (2)

55

• www.080808.se• www.arvikafestivalen.se• www.divinemusictribe.com• www.flexible.to• www.psydb.net• www.swedish-mushroom.com

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Photos Alex (2)

Psychedelic open-mindedness in SWITZERLANDwww.trancersguide.com/switzerland

The new trance generation in Switzerland knows no musical frontiers and is experienc-ing a revival of psychedelic open-minded-ness felt in all parts of the country. The coun-try renowned for its warm hospitality, char-acteristic events, spectacular natural scenery, and for the most fun loving dance crowd on this planet.

This unique melting pot of languages, styles and tastes has developed throughout the years into one single magnitude and constitutes to a modern way of thinking, sharing and breath-ing the same fundamental values as our glob-al tribal scene.

Although laws are supposed to apply na-tionwide, there are strong differences concern-ing the handling of party allowances which re-sults in variably strong party activity patterns, of which the German part has the strongest (about 20 parties a month) followed by the French part (about 2 parties a month) and Italian part (about 1 party a month). Furthermore, parties in these areas never last longer than 5–6 hours.

Effectively it is easier to organize a full-scale legal party in the German part without greater complications, whereas for the scene activists in the other parts of the country there’s no oth-er possibility than to throw an illegal free-spir-it event out doors. In most cases, for example Mental Soup, this might end in disaster cause of missing permits and neglecting communication between the organizers and the authorities.

Small in size, but vast in choices, the Swiss party calendar is filled with lots of nice little treats. One of highlights, which took place in the beautiful surroundings of the pre-alps re-gion in Grison, is Summer’s End Festival 2 sym-bolizing love, tolerance, and peace. It turned out to be one of the big surprises of the year and the sequel for next year is already in the re-alization process. More of the psychedelic ap-proach is Forgotten Ritual Festival, a dark-psy gathering which goes back to the psychedelic roots; raw music with a message and purpose for mind, body and soul.

Some of the more important organiza-tions, the pillars in our colorful Swiss scene, in-clude names like Nandan, USP, Biolive, Vibrative Sounds, Klangwerk, DMT, Hertz, Kinky Beats, and many more.

Swiss Music, created by constructive minds and generally on a high production level, ex-presses itself through many genres of trance. Top producers like Electrypnose, Midimal, Freakuliz-er/Khainz, Dancing Devil, Yab Yum, Vibracoustic, Subconciousmind The Peaking Goddess Collec-tive, Spectral Paradisis, and so on, stand for the acoustic muse harmonizing in quality.

A handful of Swiss record labels are gaining world wide recognitions with their artists and releases. There is a wide spectrum of sound and covers for all the psychedelic tastes. The Key players are Peak, FrakaSound, Woodroom, Kumquat Tunes and Fractal.

Outstanding DJs, technically all very skillful and with the instinct to rumble any dance floor include names like: Müstik, Jackomo, Nygma, Ondrej, Milosz, Pinky & Brain, Pinch & Sam Smil-er. Be sure not to miss their sets if you see their names on lineups.

Photos Alex (2) Photos Alex (2) Photos Alex (2)

TEXTNygman y g m a @ f r a k a s o u n -drecords.com Passionate long term tranc-er, DJ. Support by Tuso, klangarena associa-

tion, DJ(ResQ) djResQ@klangarena.org

TEXTNygman y g m a @ f r a k a s o u n -drecords.com Passionate long term tranc-er, DJ. Support by Tuso, klangarena associa-

Outstanding DJs, technically all very skillful

LINKS• www.eve-rave.ch• www.forgotten-ritual.org• www.frakasoundrecords.com• www.goatrance.ch• www.mysticalforum.ch• www.peakrec.com• www.sexualproduction.ch• www.swisspsy.ch• www.woodroomrecords.ch• www.fiin.ch

SHOPS• SECRET NATURE GMBH

3600 Thun Obere Hauptgasse 11+41 33 2234900 CD, Herbs Smartwww.secret-nature.

Psychedelic open-mindedness in www.trancersguide.com/switzerland

The new trance generation in Switzerland knows no musical frontiers and is experienc-ing a revival of psychedelic open-minded-ness felt in all parts of the country. The coun-try renowned for its warm hospitality, char-acteristic events, spectacular natural scenery, and for the most fun loving dance crowd on this planet.

This unique melting pot of languages, styles

56

Photos Selwyn Leeke(3)

Psychedelic tribes of the magic kingdom in the U.K.www.trancersguide.com/u.k.

Our beloved psy-trance scene just keeps growing and its popularity is on the in-crease. Weekly offerings of clubs, out-door parties, forest gatherings and squat parties tend to keep the UK psy-trance calendar full. In all the shires through-out the land, you will find a community of psy-freaks networking and partying to-gether as one.

The UK psy-trance scene evolved dur-i n g t h e early 90’s a n d h a s grown into a beau t i -ful, vibrant and f lour-ishing un-derground

c o m -muni t y.

Spawned out of Lon-d o n , t h e

scene has managed to thrive and spread throughout our ancient magic kingdom. Nightclubs large and small, sound systems, artists, VJs, DJ’s and collectives all endeav-or to unite to build and create what has be-come, a Utopia for psychedelic trance in Western Europe.

Party organiser numbers are on the in-crease and new events on offer – whatev-er part of the kingdom you find yourself in, you will uncover a psy-tribe that holds reg-ular events and delivers the essence of what we love. Antiworld and the Synergy Proj-ect offer us some of the biggest events in the capital. The mighty Tribe of Frog will be found pushing the boundaries in Bris-tol, along with Freefall Monkey and Plan-et Shroom. Toadstool in Gloucester keep supplying warm vibes with festivals such as Glade, Waveform Project, Life Festival and Shamania taking us back to the garden. With a multitude of smaller rigs and forest parties making the rest of the summer busy for all who attend.

The Alphawave Project can be found in Plymouth and in the Midlands we have MessMedia keeping the Spacehopper vibe alive. The Psycle crew can be found in Not-tingham, Trancemission in Leicester and Ba-raka in Oxford. In Liverpool we have the legendary Alien Resonance with a true fam-ily community that keeps flourishing. Soma Sonic is a new tribe which have had some fantastic nights with more to offer and Ultra Violet pouring their cosmic brew from the Fort on the Wirral.

If you fancy a night out in Manchester you will be drawn to the delights of Sunrise, the hokus pokus of Illuminaughty and weird sensations at Strange Daze, where you will be guaranteed a night out you won’t forget. Fatmoon offer thought provoking wonder-ment in Sheffield, while further up in York-shire you will be treated to Kulu in Brad-ford and Cabbage at Leeds, both well re-spected and long established trance nights. Then onto Psybase at Hebdon Bridge,

Photos Selwyn Leeke(3) Photos Selwyn Leeke(3)

Psychedelic tribes of the magic kingdom in the www.trancersguide.com/u.k.

Our beloved psy-trance scene just keeps growing and its popularity is on the in-crease. Weekly offerings of clubs, out-door parties, forest gatherings and squat parties tend to keep the UK psy-trance calendar full. In all the shires through-out the land, you will find a community of psy-freaks networking and partying to-gether as one.

58

where friendly faces and happy vibes rain down on all.

Nearer the Scottish border the likes of Trauma Trance in Tyneside and the Dreaded Fairies over in Carlisle, who will cater for all your psy requirements. The Scottish High-lands provide Planet Monkey from Edin-burgh, who run regular nights and hold an annual festival worth checking out.

Wales seems to be quite active consider-ing its small population, with Chaos Theory flying the flag in Cardiff, Psy Fly and Mag-ic Psycle from Swansea. Along with Symbi-osis in Aberystwyth, all infecting the South and West of Wales quite nicely. The Cidfloss Corporation serve up lovely chilled nights in Bangor, with close neighbours the Psi-locybe Tribe conjuring their Celtic magic, within the beautiful mountainous surround-ings of North Wales.

An increase in virtual networking leans towards more organized and well laid out parties, with collectives and merriment makers on the increase. A community unit-ed. Progressive, full-on, dark, nightime and

chillout, whatever genre you are into, the Kingdom of Tribes will provide, deliver and unite your true love for psy-trance.

London is one of the hotspots in the world of music. It saw the rise of movements like punk and new romantic amongst many others and has always been the breeding ground for up and coming talent. The psy-trance scene has always been strong in London thanks to the great amount of people from all over the world who live in the city, the last few years has seen a massive number of Brazilians flooding the capital with their party vibes add-ing great strength to the numbers at parties as well as a great dance floor vibe.

Nights like Antiworld, Acid Monkey, Mind-scapes and the Brazilian crews Venom and Psy Invasion are leading the London scene with regular parties and top line ups. Other nights worth mentioning are Roots, Chichime, Im-plosion, Outerlimits, and new up and coming nights like Atom and The Bubble Jam Parties.

If you are out looking for some Music or al-ternative clothing Camden is the place to go, although now slowly being taken over by larg-

er shops like Virgin. You can still find places like the stables market with some interesting shops Like Cyber dog and The Dream Temple plus Access All Areas always providing the lat-est party info.

London is also the place where most of the scenes legendary labels where born Like Tip, Phantasm, Transient, Twisted, the now de-funct but never forgotten Flying Rhino and New labels like Pukka, Free Spirit, Alchemy and Point Zero.

where friendly faces and happy vibes rain chillout, whatever genre you are into, the

TEXTAshash@psilocybetribe.co.ukDJ, Psilocybe Tribe and Celtic Psy Forum adminWith the help of Kristian Vinales

»Open-mindedness, awareness, under-standing, respect and creativity.«

TEXTAshash@psilocybetribe.co.ukDJ, Psilocybe Tribe and Celtic Psy Forum adminWith the help of Kristian Vinales

er shops like Virgin. You can still find places

LINKS• www.accessallareas.org• www.celticpsyforum.com• www.psy-forum.co.uk • www.tranceculture.com• www.ukpsytrance.co.uk • www.myspace.com/elestialrecords• www.idspiral.org• www.wildthingsrecords.co.uk

Photos PsycoZaika (1), nu4to (2)

Psychedelic utopia in UKRAINEwww.trancersguide.com/ukraine

Psychedelic music showed up in Ukraine in the mid-1990s. In 1996 Sergey Tovstolu-zhsky (RIP), also known as DJ Yehuanah, was the first DJ who started to play psyche-delic trance in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. He introduced this music to DJ Pubert who became the first successful Ukrainian psy-party organizer.

In cooperation with DJ Tolya, Pubert pro-moted psy-trance in the radio project Misy-achni Trombony (Lunar Trombones) on a Ki-ev’s local radio station. In the same time the first psy-events began to pop up in Kiev and with time psychedelic rhythms rushed to the South – via Odesa to the magical Crimea pen-insula. Besides, in 2000 the second fully psy-trance oriented FM radio project Ohm was founded in Odesa by SOAP SS.

Nowadays the main trance events still lay

on the same axis: Kiev – Odesa –

Crimea. Of course, psychedelic parties are constantly being organized in other places all over the country and even average cities have their promo groups. All of them do their best to bring magical, unique atmosphere to each event, and that’s what Ukrainian parties are known for. Friendly relations between pro-moters help them to unite and make bigger gigs together.

During the last decade Ukraine saw such artists as Atriohm, Blisargon Demogorgon, Digital Talk, Encephalopaticys, Haltya, Hyper Frequencies, Infected Mushroom, Jelly Heads, Ocelot, Para Halu, Skazi, Space Buddha, Spin-drift, Troll Scientists, X-Dream and many oth-ers. The leading promoters are Semi-Conduc-tors, Psyshine, Moon Koradji, Cube Group, Clocktail Monks, Japanamatic Pro, Kinetic So-ciety, Psy Quest and Euphoria.

There are several festivals that are held by Ukrainian promoters. The biggest one is Sky Gravity, a massive event on the Black Sea cost in Crimea, which gathered artists from all over the globe and up to 1000 people every year. The festival has its own label and annual com-pilation, which’s second volume, is distributed world-wide by Wirikuta.

Crimean territory is the real heaven for par-ty promoters. Owing to its landscapes varying from beautiful mountains through magic for-ests to large beaches and wild nature, Rus-sian promoters also throw parties and festi-

vals there: e.g. Space of Joy, Liquid Beach and Udiva. All of these events are held in coopera-tion with Ukrainian promoters.

There are two active labels that are working in psychedelic directions nowadays: Skygrav-ity and Sentimony Records, which are both quite young and ambitious. The cluster that forms Ukrainian psychedelic scene is growing fast in chorus with the quality of its produc-tion. The artist’s work results in releases on a variety of labels abroad. And surely each band feels proud to have its track released by Ukrai-nian labels.

To date, the most successful projects are SynSun (Phonokol), Overdream (Avatar), Al-ready Maged (Tantrumm), Saikozaurus (Zai-kadelic), Shivaz, Zymozis, Kadasarva, Sphingi-da, Harax and lots of others.

Ukrainian scene got huge luck with info and web support from Alienatix, a man who founded the web portal Psyshine.org.ua and gathered trancers there. Its forum became the Ukrainian analog of Isratrance.com.

Photos PsycoZaika (1), nu4to (2)

TEXTStotykastotyka@gmail.comDJ, designer, Good Ener-gy GroupWith the help of Makus and Dana Do.

»The Universe is infinite as well as atom«

TEXTStotykastotyka@gmail.comDJ, designer, Good Ener-gy GroupWith the help of Makus and Dana Do.

»The Universe is infinite as well as atom«

Psychedelic music showed up in Ukraine

Crimea. Of course, psychedelic parties are constantly being organized in other places all over the country and even average cities have their promo groups. All of them do their best to bring magical, unique atmosphere to each event, and that’s what Ukrainian parties are known for. Friendly relations between pro-moters help them to unite and make bigger gigs together.

artists as Atriohm, Blisargon Demogorgon,

LINKS• www.chill.org.ua• www.euphoria-promo.com• www.psyshine.org.ua• www.skygravity.org• www.sentimony.com• www.semi-conductors.info

Photos PsycoZaika (1), nu4to (2) Photos PsycoZaika (1), nu4to (2)

Psychedelic utopia in www.trancersguide.com/ukraine

LINKS• www.chill.org.ua• www.euphoria-promo.com• www.psyshine.org.ua• www.skygravity.org• www.sentimony.com• www.semi-conductors.info

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Although the United States invented hippies, rock music, surfing, house and techno music, psy-trance is not main-stream at all and probably won’t be, un-til the pirate look come back into fash-ion. The original avant garde of late 90’s era psy hippies has given way to a more decentralized online community. In any event, the Internet has enabled far flung cohesiveness.

Geographica l l y, the music and the scene i t sel f s tar ted on the coas t s and have moved inward. The l i fe cycle of a trancer usually star ts with tr ipping at a good party; they might go through a rap-id phase of par ty going before set t l ing in to a long period of slow burning, MP3 downloading, and maybe even produc-tion, with an occasional relapse into full blown activity.

New York’s fabled scene of the late 90’s was bat tered by 911 and the recession

and hasn’t recovered to its glory days de-spite valiant ef forts and fortunes wiped. There’s still the occasional Tsunami and Al-ladin Project megaparties, along with 6362 Metaforce, TDC, a renewed DMT and 28th Day. Philadelphia’s Gaian Mind has solidi-fied its role as the largest East Coast gath-ering, complete with a home made Amer-ican Stonehenge. In North Carolina there are Those people and Touch Samadhi’s Po-wow festival keeps drawing them in. ATL in Atlanta has brought the music to Georgia, and Roe Revolution in Florida.

Midwest psy climbed to new heights in 2007. New music collectives and produc-tion crews are sprouting up in Missouri and Oklahoma, including Oklahoma’s stel-lar I/O Audio Visual project. Psymbolic, the audio/visual engineers, have started re-leasing quality works by psy-trance, am-bient and multimedia artists. Iowa’s Mind Outpsyde is still throwing ragers.

Outside of the many Midwest Chillumi-nati events, three exciting gatherings were held in Arkansas last summer. The AUM fes-tival was the first attempt to draw togeth-er all the North American tribes at one fes-tival. The psychedelic powerhouses Goa Gil and Simon Posford also made their first Midwest appearances in Arkansas this sum-mer, with the legendary Hog Ridge Hollow being pulled out of dormancy to serve as a venue. At the Midwest goahead-burner nex-us, the MindLicker psy-trance theme camp continues to provide a platform for psy-art-ists around the region to coat burner brains with psychedelic saliva.

Burning Man culture is finding a sustain-able future in regional communities. Burning Man regional contacts and communities can be found in most Midwestern states now, in-cluding new burns in Ohio, Indiana, and Wis-consin. The most recent and shocking devel-opment has been the founding of a South Da-kota burner community. InterFuse & Hullaba-lU, two Missouri burns, are in their 5th years. If visiting Colorado in the summer, be sure to hit their regional burn, Apogaea, and for a non-burner but visionary experience, also check out the Dreamtime festival, famous for its high quality workshops. Colorado is the stomping ground for pure psy collec-tives Metamine, Secret Psychedelica, Wacky Shack, and Paradigm Productions. Overmin-dworks keeps bringing quality psy-trance to the deserts of the American Southwest.

Rocking for the free world in USAwww.trancersguide.com/usa

Although the United States invented and hasn’t recovered to its glory days de-

nati events, three exciting gatherings were held in Arkansas last summer. The AUM fes-tival was the first attempt to draw togeth-er all the North American tribes at one fes-tival. The psychedelic powerhouses Goa Gil and Simon Posford also made their first Midwest appearances in Arkansas this sum-mer, with the legendary Hog Ridge Hollow being pulled out of dormancy to serve as a venue. At the Midwest goahead-burner nex-us, the MindLicker psy-trance theme camp continues to provide a platform for psy-art-

Outside of the many Midwest Chillumi-nati events, three exciting gatherings were held in Arkansas last summer. The AUM fes-tival was the first attempt to draw togeth-er all the North American tribes at one fes-tival. The psychedelic powerhouses Goa Gil and Simon Posford also made their first Midwest appearances in Arkansas this sum-mer, with the legendary Hog Ridge Hollow

61

Photos www.dimka.com (2)

Of course, Texas, the granddaddy of all re-gional burner communities is still celebrat-ing radical self-expression with their events, Burning Flipside around Austin and Mysche-via in North Texas. Flipside, especially, draws many visitors from around the country and the world.

On the west coast Los Angeles continues to be the epicenter of larger trance events. Green Sector and Psytribe hold it down monthly at various indoor venues as well as hosting out-door day parties at Woodley Park. Newcom-er crew Terrakroma are doing exclusively pro-gressive parties in the downtown LA area. San Francisco’s premier festival is Symbiosis, a multi genre event with a solid chunk of full on & progressive. Synchronize is the long run-ning weekly there. Also in SF are Phoenix Fam-ily, Tantra, & CCC. In San Diego music crops up in Psycircle.

In the Pacific Northwest, through their se-ries IOSIS Art Party in Seattle, Infinite Connec-tions has merged psy and progressive over the last three years, while Molecular bonds the dark psy in Goa flavors. The remnants of Apollo’s Lute still organize in Portland and in Hawaii, Evolving Arts has psychedelic luaus.

Come see the United States. Its dirt cheap and the people need psy-trance!

TEXTJeff Whitmore AKA Ma-chinelfmachinelf@tranceameri-cana.orgBon vivant, writer, promot-

er, man about town based in New York. He was assisted by contributors across the USA.

TEXTJeff Whitmore AKA Ma-chinelfmachinelf@tranceameri-cana.orgBon vivant, writer, promot-

er, man about town based in New York. He

LINKS• www.extremeunderground.net• www.audiognomes.com • www.chilluminati.org • www.divinebalance.com• www.extremeunderground.net• www.gaian-mind.com • www.goaheadohiopsytrance.tribe.net• www.goaheadproductions.com • www.greensector.com• www.infiniteconnections.org• www.mistprodonline.com• www.overmindworks.com • www.psytribe.com• www.shivatrance.com• www.sidetrakkt.com • www.terrakroma.com• www.touchsamadhi.com• www.tranceamericana.org• www.tribes.tribe.net/mindoutpsyde • www.tribes.tribe.net/sgoa

CONTACTS• allen2012@gmail.com• apollos_lute@hotmail.com • eg_bot@yahoo.com• eklypz@gmail.com• doctorspook@hotmail.com• ksoze604@hotmail.com

SHOPS• CRYOFLESH.COM

order@cryoflesh.com

Of course, Texas, the granddaddy of all re- In the Pacific Northwest, through their se-

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