Mainland China has been one of the places on earth where psychedelic trance culture has not taken root. The gradual loosening of cultural restrictions over the past 10 years, including the re-absorption of Hong Kong into the country, has perhaps increased tolerance to the point where the first psytrance club in Beijing is now running; the Party has no idea what kind of fun awaits it!

Pete Donaldson describes the state of psytrance in China in an interview with Colleen Gargan for cityweekend.com.cn.

The 604productions crew is determined to help psytrance, that high-speed, digital hippie music scene so known and loved in places like Israel, India and Thailand [and New York! --ed.], get big in Beijing. Featuring former China Doll resident and native Beijinger DJ Michael 董, Belgian DJ Gotama and Pete Donaldson, who also works for pioneering psytrance label TipWorld, the 604 crew — the name comes from the numeric version of the world Goa — furthers their cause every month at Club Obiwan.

• 604’s Chinese DJ Michael 董 has a track on which features traditional ethnic Chinese singing!

What are your thoughts on psytrance and China? Does if have a big following here or in other cities?

Psytrance is still very small in China; the 604 parties we’re throwing in Beijing are the only place you can hear psytrance at the moment. However from promoting the night and talking to people, there is definitely a following here they have just had nowhere to go up till now.

As for the rest of China i only know of two places where there are regular parties happening. One is in Shanghai. there is a psytrance crew there called Magic Garden. I think one of their recent parties had about 2000 people. The other place is Hong Kong. One of the biggest psytrance distributors is located there, and Saikosounds and psyonicboom throw regular parties.

But when compared to the rest of the world its is very small. Psytrance festivals in Europe, Brazil, and Japan have tens of thousands of people attending them. The largest I have heard of is sixty thousand!

How do you think a regular psytrance party helps contribute to the Beijing nightlife scene?

I think it helps diversify the Beijing nightlife, gives people more choice … after all variety is the spice of life. I think it also opens people up to another type of dance music.

What are you hoping to accomplish with the parties at Club Obiwan?

What were trying to do at Obiwan is establish a scene here. We’ve only just started but ideally what we want to do is to bring to Beijing the music, art and vibrancy that makes a psytrance night unique from other dance music. Every time we throw a party in Obiwan, we want to transform it in to a party that you would find in any country where Psytrance is already well established. For example, the backdrop artists in the Psytrance scene are just as important as DJs. They are even flown in for parties and spend a great deal of time getting the lighting and decorations just right to create a Psy vibe.

Also, eventually we’d like to bring over well-known artists from the international psytrance scene, and also inspire other DJs to start playing psytrance and start throwing their own Psy nights. Really get a scene going here.

Psytrance obviously has a big following in Thailand thanks to places like Ko Phangan. Do you think it can catch on here?

I think it can catch on here. Its already caught on in practically every other country on the planet so why not, right? I think the thing is that if people can identify with the vibe and culture that goes beyond the music then it will take off for sure, and in a big way.

• Visit 604productions on MySpace and Facebook
• Contact beijing604@gmail.com for more information

tracklist
1. Jade
2. Emerald
3. Amythest
4. Zircon
5. Quartz
6. Kyanite

If the quality of music pleases you, visit Kilowatts’ page and donate whatever you feel it is worth.

• Download the album free from kilowattsmusic.com

Somnium is a seven-hour album on a DVD-video and is based on Robert Rich’s sleep concert series of the early 1980’s. Like those concerts, the music on this album was composed to influence the dreams and pre-REM hypnogogic visions of the listener.

When you play Somnium at night, you may find that you sleep less deeply, and wake up more often. The idea is to let the music incorporate itself into your perceptual framework during the night, to create a sonic surround, an environment for unique states of consciousness. The music is aimed at the nebulous territory that exists in your mind when you are hovering between awake and asleep, when you are still aware of your environment, yet detached, when your half-sleeping mind wanders into the realm of hypnogogic images and dreamlike non-linearity. You might find that this music can act as a trigger for these flowing thoughts, and the activation of the environment around you can help you to skate around the edges of sleep, with one foot in the dream world and one foot in the room where you are sleeping.

One of the more interesting recordings for Somnium took place in a lab at Scripps Oceanographic Institute, where an acquaintance was studying a species of tropical fish that creates audio fequency electrical oscillations from its skin. We placed about 16 fish in a bucket with three differential electrodes (positive, negative and reference), plugged into a battery powered Grass medical preamp designed for EEG. With the output of the preamp plugged directly into the portable DAT, we recorded a cloud of slowly shifting drones. Each fish emits a unique frequency as a sort of territorial marker, and as the fish lazily circulate around the bucket, individual tones become louder or softer in a very nonhuman slow motion symphony.

• Search for places to buy (or download) Somnium on Google.

Liner notes and listening tips

Lets treat our ears to some of the better dancier groovy music in out wonderful psytrance scene in a cozy intimate space. You will also find a juice bar with uplifting %100 pure juice to lift you body mind and soul in our private underground basement area with a projection screen hallway. Out doors the main acts will throw down the juicy blends of danceable trance. With a huge screen to sooth your eyes with lakka visuals.

FM Radio Gods is Andrew Hamilton and Tao-Nhan Nguyen.

Since their debut in 2006, FM Radio Gods have become known as true heavyweight producers – always ready to deliver a powerfully-dynamic live act. Incorporating everything from minimal house to glitchy electro, the Montreal duo has come a long way and is not showing any signs of letting up.

2007 saw the first wave of releases on such labels as Iboga and Blue Tunes. It did not take long for original tracks like “Freeflow” to climb past the top 50 on Beatport’s progressive house network. This same year, FM brought Attitude Recordings into existence, acting as the labels directional driving force.

2008 gave way to a frenzy of releases on labels such as Tribal Vision and Plastik Park, including a slew of collaborations with artists in the likes of Motion, Beauty and the Beat, Antix and True Lies. The year came to a close with a 1st prize victory in the national Roland synthesizer contest – the result of a collaboration between FM Radio Gods and Ali Emad (aka eFem).

2009 opened with a North American booking contract with Akarien booking management. In the coming months, FM will be releasing new material on Baroque, Tribal Vision and of course, Attitude.

With Dee Jays:

Jason Green
(San Francisco, CA) Om Bass / Mindmeld

Jason has been dilating third eyes in the San Francisco psychedelic psy-goa scene since its inception in the early 90’s. He’ll be bringing his brand of slick, crunchy, cutting edge beats to the East Coast for the first time.

Sun Lotus
(South Africa/NJ/B.R.C.) Dragontribe / Psybertron / Disorient

Kamal, will be returning to the US with the power of flower, from his South African safari to enjoy the summer and return to Burning Man, One of the East Coast’s original Goa promoters is sure to bring nothing but the best progressive psy-trance available.

Tony Unorthodox
(NY) 28thday / Dragontribe

The man, the myth, the legend… Unorthodox will be sure to leave a few dance floor slammers leaving trancers in shock with his fresh cuts and groovy style of electro trance. Playing from coast to coast this year, be sure not to miss him while he is still around!

Mayur
(NYC) Spectra / Dragontribe

What more can you say his name is more than enough. Mayur has been dedicated to the NYC PSY underground for several years from Spectra to Alladin Project. May has made his mark as a future international DJ, playing with Atmos in Japan.

Sound: Ambionik Sound

VJs:

Peter Parker (Parkerism.com)
Nasha Masha (Psybotik)
Alchemism (thinkingsage)
Deco: Neff
Visionary Art and Gems: Synaesthete and Ambionik

These photos were taken at the Shpongle show at the Fillmore on May 2nd 2009 by Dana of Sonic Beating. Simon Postford dropped some tasty tunes and some unreleased tracks that left the audience floored. Before the show Dana had the pleasure of meeting Glenn Weikert and the rest of Arche Dream Humankind (the dancers). They did a simply amazing job, costumes were top notch and their choreography was very animated and lively and complimented the Shpongle set very nicely.

• Read other reviews of the Shpongle party on Isratrance

Part 1 of the interview

Part 2 of the interview

Part 3 of the interview

DJ Basilisk’s Essential Selections is a project chronicling the goa trance movement as it evolved, marking it year-by-year with significant albums and tracks released in each.

The main focus of this project is psychedelic trance, with an assortment of downtempo, progressive, and techno releases. The scope is the entire history of the movement, from the dawn of psytrance history straight up to the modern day. I do not pretend that this is a definitive or authoritative list of all-time classics—it is simply a list of releases that reflect my taste in music—nothing more and nothing less. Expect my selections to change over time as I discover new music and reconsider the old. At the present time there are approximately 500 releases in the archive.

The idea for this project grew out of thousands of discussions I’ve been involved in over the years, particularly on Psynews (formerly goatrance.free.fr), Isratrance, the Goa / Psytrance Group at Discogs, TRiP (pre-2000), channel #goa on EFNet, and the 604 and CGT mailing lists. Recommendations are the basic currency of exchange in online communities like these. This project is essentially the sum of all the recommendations I might make on message forums, mailing lists, and so on. May these recommendations lead you to new and pleasant musical discoveries!

For the quick overview, check out the Hall of Fame (for lack of a better name), a list of what I think might be the top 5 releases for any given year.

Most of the music I would put into such a list is already in Basilisk’s. Highly recommended.

• Visit the Essential Selections project.

• Download Railway to Fairies Bay (mp3)