Psytrance clubs....what's that all about then?

[Psychonauticunt]

Psytrance was an interesting branch from techno all those years ago when it first came out. Personally i've never understood the constant stratification of music, particularly electronica, where people just want to hear one very narrow part of the genre for the entire night - all the tunes running at the same speed, with the same structure and using mostly the same sounds....but they do.

Psytrance appeals mostly to the new-age drug hippies that never got over going "travelling" in Thailand for Summer after they left school and came back with tie and died shirts and white dreads. They are utterly confused by some bland mix of "spiritualism", drugs and a shallow understanding of foreign cultures. So the psy nights tend to be full of them carping on about organic cannabis and reiki sessions. Fucking tedious. They think they're the most open-minded, chilled people on the planet but they hate anyone there who looks like they might have a job or believes in Western values.

The music echoes this vacuous faux mysticism with it's endless samples of some Nepalese bird chanting and embarrassingly earnest track titles like "Eastern Zodiac" or "Cosmic Tomorrow" or whatever.

This seems to bear very little resemblance to any of the psytrance parties I've been to. You might see some of these "new-age drug hippies" at the bigger outdoor festivals, peddling their handicrafts, dreamcatchers and whatnot, but at single-night forest parties or parties in clubs I've never had a problem with the people. If it's not an underground event and the venue is centrally located, you may get some random club-goers who don't exactly know what to do at such a party. Otherwise, the crowds I've always seen consist mostly of older hippies, 20-somethings from the local drug scene, and old biker dudes (this has become more and more apparent with each party - there's always graying biker dudes, totally tweaked or tripping, dancing like little kids).

I've never heard hippies babbling about organic cannabis or tofu or anything at psy parties - I've only heard the music. What kind of party has such low volume that you can hear a hippie's lethargic drawl, as he lectures you about something? There may be some weirdos hanging out towards the back or the sides, but since when are the ones hiding in the corner representative of the party? Most of my interactions involve tripping balls on LSD, dancing like a maniac, and laughing or smiling when I make eye contact or happen to bump into anybody.

Also, Nepalese bird chants, "Eastern Zodiac" or "Cosmic Tomorrow" don't really sound like they have anything to do with psytrance. Or maybe parties are way different round my neck of the woods.