psytrance vs. rave culture

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MordecaiLives

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so i have to admit, i am NOT a fan of rave culture.

i think raves are just an excuse for pseudopsychonauts to get fucked up and wear next to nothing under the guise of music and art culture.

Triad Dragons i'm looking at you...

but anyway, i love being with people and dancing. so, i was wondering if some fellow music aficionados and psych enthusiasts could catalogue the differences between psytrance and rave culture for me.

I've been staying away from these psytrance events based on my poor impression of raves.

i want to party with people that love music, and are respectful of drugs.

is psytrance culture what i'm looking for?
 
From what I've seen being in the rave culture and looking into the Psytrance culture it seems the main difference is setting. Raves are more of an urban thing where psytrance is more of a foresty/nature type thing.
 
and psytrance involves a lot more hippies and the obvious psychedelic drug aspect, while straight up raving is all about the e/speed.....

at both you will see a crossover though..

personally I just like smaller club parties. more intimate, usually better sound, and less bullshit.
 
I usually just go to parties for music, and sometimes to see some VJs do their trippy stuff, or to volunteer or do trippy stuff. Some people do things that I like to see or hear and I tend to try to be there when they are. But I've been to so many parties by now, in all sorts of flavours and seen the culture served in different ways that I can't say I really even care. I go to the music, check it out, dance if it's good. Sometimes eat some mushrooms and smoke some grass. Sometimes it's a waste of money, sometimes it's the best money i ever spent, and sometimes it's free or better yet puts something in my pocket.

Really, you should ask yourself the question of whether or not you like how psytrance sounds. If you like how it sounds, go to psytrance parties for that. If there are a few different crews throwing a few different types of sounds out there in your area, consider yourself lucky, and check them all out.

Some psytrance heads would like to fancy themselves mature psychonaut-type hippie people I guess. I think they're just ravers with sarongs and dreadlocks. But don't call them that!
 
silentscience said:
psytrance? raving? same boat bud.
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Whoa hang on. I dunno about other parts of the world but certainly in Australia, psytrance parties (or "doofs") are very different to raves. A few key factors:
*different styles of music
*different drugs
*different age brackets (generally speaking)

The psytrance scene here attracts a more mature crowd, with generally more respect and knowledge of drugs, therefore there are way less problems with people taking too much etc. In fact I don't ever recall seeing someone fucking-out from taking too many drugs at a doof...

The music at psytrance parties is more sophisticated so it attracts people with a greater knowledge and appreciation for music.

A lot of psytrance parties are held outside, in nature, so it generally appeals people who are more in-touch with nature (e.g. hippies =D).

Just a few points where the 2 scenes are very different...I could go on but my dinner's ready :D
 
N3o is right, there's obviously a lot of crossover, but the cultures draw very different crowds. I'm more of a raver, but I can definately see the appeal of the more mature crowd and the natural setting of a doof, and their artwork and decor is usually minblowing.
 
The music at psytrance parties is more sophisticated so it attracts people with a greater knowledge and appreciation for music.
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Hmm, not to sure about that to be honest. Theres eggheads at every music gig....

The only difference that is important, IMO, is that at psytrance parties/doofs, psytrance is played. :)
 
i don't like to generalise but i echo much of what n3ophy7e wrote.

i've lived in and around the bay area for the last 11 years or so and have attended many parties and very many psytrance parties. i generally find that psytrance parties attract a less judgemental, more accepting crowd. plus, the music is incredible, of course :)

alasdair
 
I dig the outdoors thing. But a lot of parties that happen outside, at least in my area just seem to play everything. The scene is small and there are a lot of different people into different sounds, so a lot of the parties wind up multi-flavoured since they go on for a few days at a time. I love it! On the coast the outdoor parties are definitely psytrance focused though.

As for the less judgemental thing, I have an older raver friend that went to a psytrance party and got made fun of by some snobby faux-hippies kind of under their breath about being a raver. Sometimes it happens to be the case that a tripped out crowd is going to have a better vibe, at the same time, if the crowd fancies themselves to be more mature or whatever or their music and culture to be more evolved than the next person's or something, then that is a judgement is it not?

And psychedelic trance is just as sophisticated as the next style if it's done right. It's actually kind of raw and simple to be honest, which is why it's awesome. It's fast and unsycopated and so has a trace-inducing kind of quality.
 
^^^ just punch those people in the fucking face and dance your ass off next to their unconscious bodies

that will send the right message
 
Nibiru said:
As for the less judgemental thing, I have an older raver friend that went to a psytrance party and got made fun of by some snobby faux-hippies kind of under their breath about being a raver. Sometimes it happens to be the case that a tripped out crowd is going to have a better vibe, at the same time, if the crowd fancies themselves to be more mature or whatever or their music and culture to be more evolved than the next person's or something, then that is a judgement is it not?
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that's why i said that i don't like to generalise.

i've met cool people at raves
i've met assholes at raves
i've met cool people at psytrance parties
i've met assholes at psytrance parties

and everything in between.

alasdair
 
For me it has more to do with two things other than the style of music:

1. where the parties are, psytrance is best and most often outside which in my opinion attracts a better crowd than in a club/warehouse (but that is only my opinion)

2. where I live psytrance is more small scale and community oriented rather than just "parties" which also shifts the crowd

BUT

there are other parties here that are outdoors and small scale, and they attract a somewhat similar crowd, so i think it has less to do with the music and more with the atmosphere/size of the events, smaller size events are less likely to have jackasses or people engaging in dangerous behavior because people are being watched by the community to a certain degree.
 
Some differences expressed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vn2g3TnKLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT1THRkzyew&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAUiY2X_Idw

I find the general vibe to be totally different, the music to have far more depth and sounds a lot more serious than other forms of Trance. It's definitely not raw or simple. I find it to be some of the most technically involved and intricately produced dance music. The transition from hard, twisted night-time psychedelia into more uplifting, powerful psy during the day is also a very important and unique factor. It's also quite group orientated in the sense that you'll most likely go with friends, camp together, party together and pretty much live together for a day.

A well planned line-up and good aesthetics can seriously place you in a futuristic, almost utopian reality for 20 hours. Outdoors are a must though, don't waste your time with indoor events. It's like playing Crysis at 800x600.
 
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As far as depth of synthesis and stuff goes it's definitely not simple to make at all. The big long trippy pads and filter sweeps and delays are all big chunks of proper technical synth knowledge. At the same time, there is a lot of it that really isn't exceptional, like any other style of music. There are good examples of anything, and where psychedelic trance or Goa trance has a lot of focus on intricate multilayered synth patterns, there is a whole whack of other stuff that does too.

I was more talking about structure, especially relating to rhythm. Everything is based around pretty straight, unsyncopated 16 or 32-bar phrases. Structurally it's a lot like a few styles of techno, but with a sort of trancey build to it, and a lot of multilayered, washy synths set to a pulsing bass. It pays a lot of attention to depth of tone, but structurally, there really isn't much to it. It's a straight up trance structure with a techno-like bass. And you can't tell me that old analog Goa doesn't sound raw. That some raw ass techno.

Some things from other styles like break edits in jungle are just as sophisticated or intricate a technique as what's done in any kind of psy. It's just a different aesthetic, and a different methodology.
 
Some of the more recent psy, ie. psykovsky/kindzadza is far from "straight up trance structure", infact i feel as if psy is slowly transcending its past of limited trance structures and all too typical ravey build ups
 
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