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Psychill - definition, borders...
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andrew interchill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
435
Posted : May 12, 2011 05:48
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Hey Kras... just want to say that there was loads of tripped out psychedelic chill out music before the genre psychill was coined. KLF, The Orb, Irresistible Force, higher intelligence agency, etc etc.
like Ott said - there are markers for genres. but consider this - if something is formulaic, conventional and predictable, then can it be psychedelic ? not for me anyway...
you nailed it with the serious thing... that outward trippy seriousness is best left well alone.
on a different note, If you want to have a bit of a laugh then check out the Jaded Review www.thejadedreview.com
  Interchill - Label - Publisher - Consulting - Artist Services |
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grahf
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
107
Posted : May 12, 2011 06:21
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(Andrew just totally ninja'd me on the oldschool stuff)
For a bit more historical context:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ambient_house
http://beatsmedia.com/interviews/alex-paterson-the-man-behind-the-orb-talks-about-the-future-of-water-and-how-to-make-an-omelette/
Basically, Alex Paterson and Mixmaster Morris were the first DJs to play specifically for a "chillout" room at parties - the music was called "ambient house" back then, and it used slowed down house music, weird vocal samples, and overlays of old ambient like Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream. Probably other randomness too, who knows, I wasn't there. Albums that exemplify this style include The Orb's "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" and the KLF's "Chillout." This was all in the late 80's-early 90's.
A little bit later, 93-95, you get an explosion of what has variously been called ambient dub, ambient techno, IDM - the Future Sound of London, Banco de Gaia, Spacetime Continuum, Autechre, Aphex Twin, etc. Magick Eye, Waveform and Warp record labels. This is my favorite era of any musical genre, so much genius came out of this period. I suspect it was fueled by two things: one, the explosion of creativity of the acid house era settling down and getting to work. Two, computers finally becoming just barely fast enough to become the center of the studio to function as a multitrack recorder and sampler.
FSOL is definitely mystical and serious.
Banco de Gaia was incorporating ethnic sounds years before "psychill" came along.
Early IDM was very psychedelic, but in an abstract and melodic way, not the heavily processed sound manipulations of later years. |
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Meta-Morphosis
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
216
Posts :
4980
Posted : May 12, 2011 06:27
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Future Sound of London & Banco de Gaia rocks.
The last train to lhasa was a wonderful album by Banco de Gaia
:good “What we need is the development of the Inner Spiritual man, the unique individual, whose treasure is hidden in the symbols of our mythological tradition and in man’s unconscious psych.” - CJ Jung |
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Kras
Started Topics :
7
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84
Posted : May 15, 2011 00:57
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I don't like pop music and most of these stuff is addressed to wider audience. Ultimae has some very good records but most are just too soft. I knew FSOL, Spacetime Continuum and many others few years before I've joined the PsyScene. It's not psychill. I like many things but I want to support explicitly psytrance/psychill artists. Both with my money and by playing their stuff on our parties.
In the end, maybe I will settle with playing krautrock records or dark ambient but somehow those don't feel like "proper" for psyparty. I don't consider dub to be "proper" either. Psy is psy, not dub. Besides, I don't feel that dub is my sound. Psytrance is and that's why I love Shpongle so much and few others but not many, not enough to play chilled sets for more then... 10-20 hours.
I want to thank vector_0 for links to archived threads. I will explore them when I will have more free time. |
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grahf
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
107
Posted : May 15, 2011 21:49
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I think the "downtempo psy" sound you are looking for started with goa artists putting a slow chill track at the beginning or end of their trance albums. Albums from Astral Projection, Cosmosis, Doof, Transwave, and certainly many others I can't think of right this second, had a slow track at around 80-120 bpm - with more or less same song structure and synth sounds as the rest of the album, just slower.
Is this the style you are looking for Kras? There aren't too many record labels that do this genre - Ultimae and Altar come to mind. Chronos and CJ Catalizer have some slow trance albums, and of course there is Entheogenic, who I think does a better job than almost anyone marrying trippy organic melodic sounds with a downtempo trance beat. Ektoplazm calls this stuff "deep trance," so you might find some things to your liking under that moniker.
Personally I think it's rather limiting to call this and only this subgenre/style "psychill" - the beauty to me is in the lack of borders - but whatever floats your boat! Good music is good music and you can call it whatever you want. |
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spatialize
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
59
Posted : May 15, 2011 22:07
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psychill is just ozrics done by less talented people with fancy software and a sounds of asia sample cd. ;-) |
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Kras
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
84
Posted : May 16, 2011 00:05
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Yes, there's a lot of good stuff out there! But with my limited budget I can't even afford all the albums I REALLY like. Not to mention that I have drowned subjectively lots and lots of funds into DJ's equipment and now I'm saving for a laser for our parties. Anyway, about a quarter of our parties are charities and only half gives us a VERY limited surplus. We can't even cover costs of paints for our decos. But who cares when you see all those smiling faces or awe?
I've said too much but early Entheogenic, all Sphongle records, most of Younger Brother and many intro/outro tracks are THE psychill in my definition. When you have breakbeat in your tracks then it's not psychill IMHO. It's dub. Period. Honestly, I like but I'm not MOVED by all this post-Jamaican reggae-inspired electronica. It's just not my style and for me it has nothing to do with psytrance. That's why I get annoyed when I want to chill with psychill radio and most of the stuff that I hear is just psyreggae. I don't mind openness, lack of borders but I feel like being forced to listen to music that I'm not willing to explore further.
Maybe there is not enough good psychill artists and the void must be filled with other, most similar genres. Okay with that. I like dub or reggae as much as I like rock, ambient, industrial, punk, etc. But all of this stuff isn't "magick" for me. Psytrance and what I call true psychill has this magick and it's unique across all music. Only the best post-industrial and post-rock artists can summon this magickal feeling of psychedelia.
Do I still sound ridiculous? Anyway, thanks for all the tips. Sadly, I was hoping for more "psy" music but it seems that I know most of it already. |
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