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ALCHEMY FESTIVAL :: April 30-May 2 :: APHID MOON, PROCS, PROGRESS, BIRD OF PREY and so much more!
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Ascension
IsraTrance Full Member
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170
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3642
Posted : May 5, 2010 18:50
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the dog of tears
the dog of tears
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
397
Posted : May 5, 2010 19:17
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Special thanks to the dancefloor Saturday morning for not running in terror when I played this time. Apparently you all timed your bathroom breaks accordingly.
Thanks ASom for your kind words... the general consensus I've been getting is that the trancers <3 SSB...
I <3 Procs+Whrik |
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Quasga
Inactive User
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
498
Posted : May 5, 2010 20:03
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On 2010-05-05 18:50, Ascension wrote:
Pics from this look great.
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Kevin, where????? 
Scott, could please ask Jessi to send me those great photos she took.  GREAT seeing you guys out there! 
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billy boogie
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
494
Posted : May 5, 2010 20:30
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KaiserSoze
Primordial Ooze
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
196
Posted : May 5, 2010 20:47
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Anya posted some of Facebook.
Tyler, I'll zip them up and email them..
 AntiShanti/Sangoma
Chilluminati.org, T.O.U.C.H. Samadhi |
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
93
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2822
Posted : May 5, 2010 21:04
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Here's my take on the fest:
Great location - my first trip to California and it was beautiful - the chillout stage in particular was breathtaking.
Great people - most everyone I encountered was friendly, open, all the good stuff.
Unfortunately there were problems with other things - for one, organization around the workshops fell apart, I didn't see a single workshop going - my friends and I tried to get our Poi workshops going by spinning out in the open with a bunch of practice sets but no takers
Deco was sparse - for sure the covering over the main floor was cool, but beyond that it didn't seem like very much work was put into the deco at all, and the lights on the main floor kept flashing me directly in the eyes which is a big no-no in my opinion and more at home in a 'rave' situation and not a psytrance situation.
I can easily attribute both of the above things to the last minute change of location, however my main concern is the music.
I loved androcell's set (he gave me a hug on sunday morning after I came up to him and told him how great his set was haha) , parus was great (twins! one of them should get a evil mustache...), there was a really lovely dub/downtempo set sunday morning on the chill stage after some kind soul went to get gasoline, and another 2-3 sets that were quality that I can't remember the names of, but I was extremely disappointed with the main stage in general, and particularly late saturday night through all of sunday. First of all, it all sounded the same (not something I like hearing myself say, as a rabid psyhead for the past 6 years), secondly, there was hardly anyone dancing, and third - it didn't seem like very many of the acts did much besides press play and dance - certainly I am not omnipotent and can't see all of what's going on, but I can definitely tell the difference between someone dancing and someone interacting with their gear, and there was much more dancing than gear manipulation. That's all fine and good *IF* the music is great - you could be shitting on the mixer and standing on your head for all I care as long as the music is good, but if the music is stale AND you aren't doing anything, then you should be ashamed to call yourself a 'live' act - though that is par for the course in psytrance nowadays unfortunatley.
Most of the time all I saw was people chilling on the dancefloor smoking or swaying back and forth a bit, hardly ever did I see someone seriously dancing and being taken somewhere and in turn creating more energy on the floor. Sure, the bass was there for sure but there was hardly any mid-range evolving changing twisting psychedelic creative sound design - if you just have bass and percussion then it's like musical blue-balls where you get all excited for something to happen but it goes nowhere at all.
The beautiful california morning on sunday was broken and stamped upon by overly aggressive/mean-spirited music - I do indeed like dark and heavy stuff, but not at 9 in the morning! and not ALL through the day after that with hardly any variation!
The worst part of it for me was hearing many, many, many people make the comment that 'how can they just play psytrance that sounds the same over and over all the time? there are other forms of electronic music besides psytrance' - the sad thing was that I agreed with the comments because the stuff that was played was just bad, plain and simple - no soul, no heart, just bass and stale percussion which lead to a stale dancefloor with no trading of energy and no inspiring journeys with the exception of the sets that I mentioned already. That people would go home and think to themselves 'so that's what psytrance is - that stuff sure is boring' makes me so sad because the scene has so much more potential than what was displayed.
Is this what psy-trance is like on this coast? I just moved from the east coast a couple of months ago, and was used to festivals like Gaian Mind, Orb, hell even Desiderata with all of its multi-genre problems had more interesting and creative psy than this festival - it made me really sad. My first experience with psytrance on this coast was a psykovsky party in portland, and while the music itself was too dark/fast for my tastes, the raw intent of the party was the trance dance and the people were dancing intensely the entire time. IDK, I was REALLY looking forward to this festival and came away with a bad taste in my mouth - just felt like a lot of the music was an extremely unhealthy evolution of what I consider psytrance to be, like it had lost the intention of making people dance and grow in exchange for...what? killargh bass? meh.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
www.soundcloud.com/tasp
www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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FaceHead
FaceHead
Started Topics :
129
Posts :
1555
Posted : May 5, 2010 21:46
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i had 3 tracks playing over top of eachother while playing 2 percussion loops and 2 synth jams i recorded. i pushed play sooo many times my fingers were cramping i came home and made the most twisted song ive ever made based off of my influence received so no matter what good reveiw bad review pro con all experience is in the eye of the beholder and is not totally accurate for anyone other than the self. lots of stuff went awry and yes the dancefloor was a chat room for a second but the people needed that and did it and enjoyed it. embracing the random who would of guessed the dancefloor would break out into a huge canversation haha it was bizzarre but not a problem just an occurance.
i thought the music helped give me the setting to have an internal revolution... so really it jsut depends on the person and the moments. i felt no mean music happening althuogh it was kinda mean to have the soundsystem so loud haha but i needed that.
in the end maybe it didnt fit utopian ideas of a party but i accept the alchemy fest for who it is haha
i wish we woulda got to meet will. i heard you introduce yourself to someone but it was dark and on a path and you were having a conversation already hehe
i think there are alot of people that benefit more from the lack of structure in events... i feel out of place or lost sometimes at places where the event is really structured. structure makes less room for a variation on the formula. it makes it so party goers are buying a party plan instead of showing up and writing their own. if you notice an upside down billboard you go hey what the hell? then you realize it works better because its different. this to me felt like a pitch in and help event more than a suckle on the teets of the deadicated ones efforts. which makes things a little sloppy but trial and error is freedom and structure is well... we all know waht structure is for. jeje
Being the experience cures the consumption of the experience.
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
93
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2822
Posted : May 5, 2010 21:57
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dude, i was so upset I didn't get to see your set, it was one of the main reasons I went to the fest!
We will meet in real life one of these days....
It certainly is completely up to the individual to make of the experience what you will - as for the organization, sure I was bummed to not host my workshop but beyond that I don't care if there is a lack of organization per-say, it can make it a much more 'found' experience, and I'm sure that relocating a couple of days before kind of screwed up prep for the party - I don't begrudge the organizers that at all.
I just wish that more of the acts would have followed your lead and made the music more interesting/cohesive so that my friends and I could actually dance to it! 
oh - do you have any other newer stuff up somewhere online besides the live practice thing you uploaded?
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
www.soundcloud.com/tasp
www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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FaceHead
FaceHead
Started Topics :
129
Posts :
1555
Posted : May 5, 2010 22:07
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haha well i can at thank those artists for helping me write the craziest shit ive never imagined
wait did you hear procs? |
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Quasga
Inactive User
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
498
Posted : May 5, 2010 22:15
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On 2010-05-05 20:47, KaiserSoze wrote:
Anya posted some of Facebook.
Tyler, I'll zip them up and email them..
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Nice, thanks, Scott! Looking foward to checking them out.
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Androcell
Androcell
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
409
Posted : May 5, 2010 22:47
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Quote:
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On 2010-05-05 21:04, willsanquil wrote:
I loved androcell's set (he gave me a hug on sunday morning after I came up to him and told him how great his set was haha)
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Hey, thanks! 
More events are lining up....
http://androcell.com/androcell_events.htm
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RK9
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
210
Posted : May 5, 2010 23:08
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Sounds like wilsandquil didn't spend enough time on the hilltop stage. That stage was definitely where it was at.
I feel like the mainstage soundsystem sounded better the first night/morning than the second--the bass was too loud so all I heard was my ears resonating.
The hilltop stage sounded great all weekend though--Arwin really is a master sound tech, goes to show that it's not just the equipment that matters |
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liamshy
Started Topics :
7
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22
Posted : May 6, 2010 05:05
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Had a great time debuting the Dissolve live act for this festival early saturday night We have been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the performance and so we just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and support!
Of course I don't think we need to tell anyone that the Violin was live and as well we had live percussion and live synthesis going too! It was an honor to share this music with you and we're looking forward to Gemini and Red Marines Festivals next month!! For anyone that is curious about our act please visit http://www.dissolveyourmind.com
Boom <3 |
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the dog of tears
the dog of tears
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
397
Posted : May 6, 2010 18:21
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Don't see how u can crit the music when we had whrik procs ghreg on earth right in a row, yes we like it dark in the morning here in norcal
But procs was pure happy bliss...
Personally I witnessed a packed dancefloor almost all Sunday morning, dunno what yr talkin about will... |
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wichdokta
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
35
Posts :
845
Posted : May 6, 2010 18:32
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Not all Norcal folks like dark music in the morning. I like sweet melodies and sun drenched harmonies when the sun comes up. Leave the heavier music for the nighttime, Bom |
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