for those wanting definitions of sub genres

[Acidfiend]

Ish may be funny but his guide speaks the honest truth!

 

[djmeghan]

Very nice description. Psytrance is a fun genre to spin.

Allow me to throw a general description of Goa and Psychedelic Trance.

Taken from http://www.psynews.org
The time of a track is generally around 8'30", but can be between 6'00" and 12'00" ... sometimes more, sometimes under 6'00" (especially on mixed compilations), but too short tracks are generally hard to get into.
The beat is generally 4/4 and around 135-150 BPM ... sometimes less, rarely more!
In the music there's a constant use of strange and psychedelic sounds, and that gives a strange atmosphere. Sometimes those sounds are frogs, barking dogs, crying baby's but mostly you can't describe it... You simply have to hear it!! Also used are the famous acid or 303 sounds, and even guitars, who drive people completely crazy!
Most Goa (but NOT all) is also very melodic.
The music is mostly very full on, good to dance...
The basslines are mostly harder and deeper as from normal Trance or Techno.
The combination of all those things make this music very good for dancing, tripping and listening...!

Taken from http://www.electronicscene.com
Springing out of Goa trance, but taking a departure from the layers of intricate melodies and arpeggiator patterns, psytrance is intense and emotional, striving to bend and manipulate sound as much as possible. Characterized by a 4/4 rhythm, psytrance attempts to use layers of sounds and audio tweaks rather than melodies to induce a trance like state in the listener. The current range of psytrance spans many styles from minimal techno like constructions all the way to harsh abrasive sounds that border on industrial, always with a heady dose of psychedlia thrown in for good measure.

My recommendation to find information about these genres is http://www.chaishop.com

 

[@lterEgo]

garage is mentioned, but no 2-step? i think the UK style garage is some of the most fun electronic music out there. it incorporates many elements of house, but with a more interesting broken sounding beat instead of the usual 4/4 rhythm. here are some cool descriptions i found:

"2-step," - increasingly a general rubric for all kinds of jittery, irregular rhythms that don't conform to garage's traditional 4-to-the-floor pulse.

2-step transforms garage into a kind of slow-motion jungle---a langorous frenzy of micro-breakbeats, hesitations and hyper-syncopations; moments when the beat seems to pause, poised, and hold its breath. In its simplest form, it does this by removing every second and fourth kick from the 4-to-the-floor pulse, creating a lurching, falter-funk feel.

(http://members.aol.com/blissout/2step.htm)

2 step/uk garage
catchie offbeat soulful garage

(http://www.blackrhythm.com/styles.htm)

history and pioneers of the sound:

In 1996 is when we began to see artists like RIP, Tuff Jam, Dreem Teem, Booker T, 187 Lockdown and MJ Cole emerging into the underground garage scene, as each artists would bring their own unique style to the UK garage scene. It had then become clear that there was two types of Underground garage, bass line drive tunes by Double 99, RIP, 187 Lockdown. Then you have the more vocal and melodic tunes by Mj Cole, Tuff Jam and the Dreem Teem . 1997 was a very big year for the UK Garage scene with the sound of two step garage emerging.

(http://www.2step-garage.co.uk/what_is_uk_garage/uk_garage_music.htm)

personally, i'm a big fan of the cheesy late 90's vocal 2-step although most dj's won't touch those records with a 10-foot pole these days.

check out these tracks/artists for the style i have in mind:

b-15 project - "girls like us"
mj cole - "crazy love"
daniel bedingfield - "gotta get thru this"
artful dodger

any ukg/2step fans are probably gouging their eyeballs out about this because now it's all about "grime" and other more aggressive, ghetto sounding 2step, but fuck that. i'll take the happy, bouncy cheese 2step over the british thug shit any day.