Psybient
Encyclopedia
Psybient, also known as ambient psy, psychedelic chillout, psychedelic ambient, ambient goa, ambient psytrance and more commonly within the Goa/psytrance
scene as psychill and psydub, is a genre of electronic music
that combines elements of psychedelic trance
, ambient
, world music
, new age
and even ethereal wave
. It often has many dub
influences and can also sound somewhat like glitch
. Psybient pieces are often structured around the concept of creating a "sonic voyage" or "musical journey". Although similar to psytrance's emphasis on maintaining non-stop rhythm throughout the night, psybient is far more focused on creating a vast soundscape
that can be experienced over the length of an album, focusing less on beatmatching and allowing for a myriad of tempo changes. Some of the most popular and genre leading psybient artists include Shpongle
, Entheogenic
, Shulman
, Ott, Hoopy Frood, Third Ear Audio, Doof, Warp Technique, Yestegan chaY, Younger Brother, The Infinity Project
, Pitch Black
, The Mystery Of The Yeti
, Celtic Cross
, Androcell, and Evan Bluetech.
, the birthplace of Goa trance
(which was the earliest incarnation of psytrance), DJs tended to use cassette tapes or DAT
s instead of vinyl records. As a result, beatmatching was very hard, and many of the earliest DJs who worked within the Goan scene didn't bother trying at all, the well-known Goa Gil
being one of them. As a solution to the dilemma, a production technique developed of having relatively long atmospheric portions in each track, which would allow a DJ to easily mix two tracks of different tempos without having them clash. These short periods that were free of heavy, bass driven beats acted as "chillout" periods for those who were dancing (or "tripping
") to relax and regain their energy for the next track.
From its inception, goa and psytrance albums (as well as compilations) almost always contained a compulsory "chillout" track at the beginning, end, or sometimes the middle, (usually track 5) of the album, to either set the mood, give an intermission, or give a cooldown type track at the end which was the most common on the earlier days of psytrance.
in 1995. This was released around the same time as Simon Posford's first Hallucinogen album "Twisted" (also of The Infinity Project) which was the first big breakthrough in worldwide goa and subsequently psytrance history. Psybient and Psytrance is generally accepted as first being popularized by a remix of the 1971 track "One Of These Days" by Pink Floyd. Other early incarnations of psybient include the 1992 album by Porcupine Tree
's album Voyage 34
, which is also heavily influenced by Pink Floyd's songs (especially "One Of These Days", and "Run Like Hell"). Ozric Tentacles
, and one of their later offshoots Eat Static
and early X-Dream are also late 80's and early 90s bands that are the biggest influences to the whole psybient genre (pre Infinity Project) which first took off in '95 and then exploded in popularity 10 years later with many new psychill artists that redefined the genre for the new millennium. One of the most popular Steve Roach albums Dreamtime Return in 1992 may have been a big influence in the (newer western electronic) tribal ambient vein of psybient, later picked up in the later 90s by Juno Reactor and Shpongle.
, even more so than other forms of psytrance. The influence of psychedelics is often blatantly presented in both the musical content (such as "trippy", tweaked-out samples) the artwork, and sound samples, usually involving Terence McKenna
sound samples in the earliest recordings such as Spacetime Continuum's "Alien Dreamtime" album in 1993, and Shpongle's "Tales Of The Inexpressible" (2001) albums. Shpongle
's first album also has many subtle psychedelic lyrics and artwork that one would most likely miss on first glance (the cd artwork is faces) or listen. (DMT is the only song with (English) lyrics, even though they are so heavily tweaked with effects, it's hard to understand that there are actually words at first) Many other lesser known psybient songs may involve a psychedelic song title, and eastern style singing, but lyrics for a full song are still pretty rare, (Shpongle's Once Upon the Sea Of Blissful Awareness being the first (and possibly only) to incorporate a full song into psybient history and any psybient track with vocals are mainly a few short lines repeated mainly for musical effect and less for actual song effect.
market, a listener group far larger than the psytrance audience. An example of psybient's foothold within the "chill" market can be seen in the success of Entheogenic
's second album, Spontaneous Illumination
. In November 2003 it went to Number 1 on the German "Chill-Out" Charts, where it remained at Number 1 for eight weeks. The album stayed in the Top 10 for an additional 12 weeks.
offshoot suomisaundi
have also been known to delve into the realm of psybient. Due to the suomisaundi's tendency towards sampling, as well as its popularity at forest dance parties like Earthcore
, psybient productions that come out of the
suomisaundi
realm of psychedelic trance often resemble world music
far more than productions of artists who produce psybient exclusively.
Psychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance, psytrance or just psy is a form of electronic music characterized by hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms and complex layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. It appeared in the mainstream in 1995 as with reporting of the trend of Goa trance. The genre offers variety...
scene as psychill and psydub, is a genre of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
that combines elements of psychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance, psytrance or just psy is a form of electronic music characterized by hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms and complex layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. It appeared in the mainstream in 1995 as with reporting of the trend of Goa trance. The genre offers variety...
, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, new age
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
and even ethereal wave
Ethereal Wave
Ethereal Wave, also called ethereal darkwave in Europe and ethereal goth or simply ethereal in the US, is a term that describes a subgenre of Dark Wave music...
. It often has many dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
influences and can also sound somewhat like glitch
Glitch (music)
Glitch is a term used to describe a genre of electronic music that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The glitch aesthetic is characterized by a deliberate use of glitch based sonic artifacts that would normally be viewed as unwanted disturbances reducing the overall sound quality and are thus...
. Psybient pieces are often structured around the concept of creating a "sonic voyage" or "musical journey". Although similar to psytrance's emphasis on maintaining non-stop rhythm throughout the night, psybient is far more focused on creating a vast soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
that can be experienced over the length of an album, focusing less on beatmatching and allowing for a myriad of tempo changes. Some of the most popular and genre leading psybient artists include Shpongle
Shpongle
Shpongle is an English psychedelic downtempo/psybient music project formed in 1996. The group includes Simon Posford and Raja Ram . Their musical style combines eastern ethnic instruments and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music...
, Entheogenic
Entheogenic (band)
Entheogenic is a musical project consisting of Piers Oak-Rhind and Helmut Glavar that crosses musical style boundaries. According to the two members, the music mixes "coloristic electrophonics" with "impressionistic orchestra-like sound"....
, Shulman
Shulman (Band)
Shulman is a psybient group from Israel, with members Yaniv Shulman and Omri Harpaz. Shulman's sound features elements of "glitch" and displays a large IDM influence...
, Ott, Hoopy Frood, Third Ear Audio, Doof, Warp Technique, Yestegan chaY, Younger Brother, The Infinity Project
The Infinity Project
The Infinity Project was a 1990s goa trance band. It later became a record label, TIP Records.Members included Raja Ram, Graham Wood and Anjee Sian, with Simon Posford occasionally working with them...
, Pitch Black
Pitch Black
Pitch Black is a 2000 science fiction thriller film directed by David Twohy and starring Vin Diesel. The film costars Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser and Keith David....
, The Mystery Of The Yeti
The Mystery Of The Yeti
The Mystery of the Yeti is a psychedelic ambient music project consisting of the members of The Infinity Project, Total Eclipse and musicians Hallucinogen and Doof. The Mystery of the Yeti was influential to later evolution of Goa trance music....
, Celtic Cross
Celtic Cross (band)
Celtic Cross was a musical collaboration of Simon Posford , Martin Glover and Saul Davies . The style of music could be described as psychedelic rock, ambient and dub music with ethnic influences...
, Androcell, and Evan Bluetech.
History
Because of the heat, humidity, and dust in GoaGoa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, the birthplace of Goa trance
Goa trance
Goa trance is a form of electronic music that originated during the late 1980s in Goa, India.-History:The music has its roots in the popularity of Goa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie capital, and although musical developments were incorporating elements of industrial music and EBM...
(which was the earliest incarnation of psytrance), DJs tended to use cassette tapes or DAT
Digital Audio Tape
Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...
s instead of vinyl records. As a result, beatmatching was very hard, and many of the earliest DJs who worked within the Goan scene didn't bother trying at all, the well-known Goa Gil
Goa Gil
Goa Gil is an American-born musician, DJ and party organizer. He is one of the founders of the goa trance and psytrance movement in electronic dance music.-Biography:...
being one of them. As a solution to the dilemma, a production technique developed of having relatively long atmospheric portions in each track, which would allow a DJ to easily mix two tracks of different tempos without having them clash. These short periods that were free of heavy, bass driven beats acted as "chillout" periods for those who were dancing (or "tripping
Tripping
Tripping may refer to a psychedelic experience.Tripping may also refer to:*Tripping , a penalty infraction*Tripping , the act of running or pulling drill pipe into or out of a wellbore on a drilling rig...
") to relax and regain their energy for the next track.
From its inception, goa and psytrance albums (as well as compilations) almost always contained a compulsory "chillout" track at the beginning, end, or sometimes the middle, (usually track 5) of the album, to either set the mood, give an intermission, or give a cooldown type track at the end which was the most common on the earlier days of psytrance.
Early chill albums
Perhaps the earliest full mainstream album consisting entirely of "chill psychedelic tracks" was Mystical Experiences by The Infinity ProjectThe Infinity Project
The Infinity Project was a 1990s goa trance band. It later became a record label, TIP Records.Members included Raja Ram, Graham Wood and Anjee Sian, with Simon Posford occasionally working with them...
in 1995. This was released around the same time as Simon Posford's first Hallucinogen album "Twisted" (also of The Infinity Project) which was the first big breakthrough in worldwide goa and subsequently psytrance history. Psybient and Psytrance is generally accepted as first being popularized by a remix of the 1971 track "One Of These Days" by Pink Floyd. Other early incarnations of psybient include the 1992 album by Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
's album Voyage 34
Voyage 34
"Voyage 34" is a single by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. Although it was originally thought to be a song for the album Up the Downstair, making it a double album, this idea was later rejected so it was released separately....
, which is also heavily influenced by Pink Floyd's songs (especially "One Of These Days", and "Run Like Hell"). Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental rock band from Somerset, England, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic or space rock. Formed in 1983, the band has released 28 albums as of 2011, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major...
, and one of their later offshoots Eat Static
Eat Static
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.-History:...
and early X-Dream are also late 80's and early 90s bands that are the biggest influences to the whole psybient genre (pre Infinity Project) which first took off in '95 and then exploded in popularity 10 years later with many new psychill artists that redefined the genre for the new millennium. One of the most popular Steve Roach albums Dreamtime Return in 1992 may have been a big influence in the (newer western electronic) tribal ambient vein of psybient, later picked up in the later 90s by Juno Reactor and Shpongle.
Psychedelic influence
Due to its roots in the Goa scene, psybient is considered to be highly influenced by psychoactive drugsPsychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants
This general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...
, even more so than other forms of psytrance. The influence of psychedelics is often blatantly presented in both the musical content (such as "trippy", tweaked-out samples) the artwork, and sound samples, usually involving Terence McKenna
Terence McKenna
Terence Kemp McKenna was an Irish-American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.-Early...
sound samples in the earliest recordings such as Spacetime Continuum's "Alien Dreamtime" album in 1993, and Shpongle's "Tales Of The Inexpressible" (2001) albums. Shpongle
Shpongle
Shpongle is an English psychedelic downtempo/psybient music project formed in 1996. The group includes Simon Posford and Raja Ram . Their musical style combines eastern ethnic instruments and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music...
's first album also has many subtle psychedelic lyrics and artwork that one would most likely miss on first glance (the cd artwork is faces) or listen. (DMT is the only song with (English) lyrics, even though they are so heavily tweaked with effects, it's hard to understand that there are actually words at first) Many other lesser known psybient songs may involve a psychedelic song title, and eastern style singing, but lyrics for a full song are still pretty rare, (Shpongle's Once Upon the Sea Of Blissful Awareness being the first (and possibly only) to incorporate a full song into psybient history and any psybient track with vocals are mainly a few short lines repeated mainly for musical effect and less for actual song effect.
Success with the downtempo market
In recent years, psybient has received a considerable amount of success in the chillout/downtempoDowntempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
market, a listener group far larger than the psytrance audience. An example of psybient's foothold within the "chill" market can be seen in the success of Entheogenic
Entheogenic (band)
Entheogenic is a musical project consisting of Piers Oak-Rhind and Helmut Glavar that crosses musical style boundaries. According to the two members, the music mixes "coloristic electrophonics" with "impressionistic orchestra-like sound"....
's second album, Spontaneous Illumination
Spontaneous Illumination
Spontaneous Illumination was Entheogenic's second and most successful album. It was released in November of 2003 for the German label C.O.R.N. Recordings and went to Number 1 on the German Chill-Out Charts, where it remained at number 1 for 8 weeks...
. In November 2003 it went to Number 1 on the German "Chill-Out" Charts, where it remained at Number 1 for eight weeks. The album stayed in the Top 10 for an additional 12 weeks.
Psybient in Suomisaundi
Some artists of the psychedelic trancePsychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance, psytrance or just psy is a form of electronic music characterized by hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms and complex layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. It appeared in the mainstream in 1995 as with reporting of the trend of Goa trance. The genre offers variety...
offshoot suomisaundi
Suomisaundi
Suomisaundi, also known as suomisoundi, suomistyge or spugedelic trance, is a style of freestyle psychedelic trance that originated in Finland around the mid 1990s. "Suomisaundi" literally means "Finnish sound" in Finnish; music that features many of the characteristics of suomisaundi has gained...
have also been known to delve into the realm of psybient. Due to the suomisaundi's tendency towards sampling, as well as its popularity at forest dance parties like Earthcore
Earthcore
Earthcore was an Australian outdoor dance music festival and electronic music events organisation. The outdoor events were generally held in forest environments around Victoria, Australia, with some events held in Queensland, Australia and overseas in New Caledonia...
, psybient productions that come out of the
suomisaundi
Suomisaundi
Suomisaundi, also known as suomisoundi, suomistyge or spugedelic trance, is a style of freestyle psychedelic trance that originated in Finland around the mid 1990s. "Suomisaundi" literally means "Finnish sound" in Finnish; music that features many of the characteristics of suomisaundi has gained...
realm of psychedelic trance often resemble world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
far more than productions of artists who produce psybient exclusively.
List of notable artists
- Adham ShaikhAdham ShaikhAdham Shaikh is a composer, record producer and sound designer living near Nelson, B.C..His present 15-year history with music began by exploring synthesizers in the early 1980s. In the early 1990s, Shaikh found the electronic music scene full of innovative and explorative sounds...
- Aes DanaAes dana (ambient trance artists)Aes Dana is the name of the French ambient music formation of Vincent Villuis and Sunbeam .- Biography :Born from the meeting of Vincent Villuis, former member of goa chill band Asura, and Sunbeam who spins English progressive vinyls, Aes Dana stands as a coherent fusion of both styles.They bring...
- AsuraAsura (trance ambient artists)Asura is the name of the French ambient music/trance musical project of Charles Farewell .-Biography:Since 1996, and its creation by Charles Farewell and Vincent Villuis, the project ASURA has polished a personal electronic universe sound, between psychedelic trance, Ambient and World music...
- BluetechBluetechBluetech is a psybient DJ/producer who creates a varied selection of downtempo music. Bluetech's music is very diverse, even for a psybient artist...
- Carbon Based LifeformsCarbon Based LifeformsCarbon Based Lifeforms is a psychedelic ambient music group made up of Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Segerstad , in Gothenburg, Sweden...
- ChronosChronosIn Greek mythology, Chronos in pre-Socratic philosophical works is said to be the personification of time. His name in Greek means "time" and is alternatively spelled Chronus or Khronos.Chronos was imagined as an incorporeal god, serpentine in form, with three heads—those of a man, a bull, and...
- Celtic CrossCeltic Cross (band)Celtic Cross was a musical collaboration of Simon Posford , Martin Glover and Saul Davies . The style of music could be described as psychedelic rock, ambient and dub music with ethnic influences...
- DJ Marte
- Doof
- Eat StaticEat StaticEat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.-History:...
- Electrypnose
- Ephemeral Mists
- EntheogenicEntheogenic (band)Entheogenic is a musical project consisting of Piers Oak-Rhind and Helmut Glavar that crosses musical style boundaries. According to the two members, the music mixes "coloristic electrophonics" with "impressionistic orchestra-like sound"....
- GalaxyGalaxyA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
- H.U.V.A. NetworkH.U.V.A. NetworkH.U.V.A. Network is a musical collaboration between Magnus Birgersson of Solar Fields and Vincent Villius of Aes Dana. Their first track appeared on an Aes Dana album for Ultimae Records in 2001. Since then, they have released 3 albums on Ultimae Records...
- IshqIshq' , Dari "eshq" Persian eshgh, Turkish aşk, , Azerbaijani , means "love". The word is derived from ‘ashiqah, a vine: the common belief is that when love takes its root in the heart of a lover, everything other than God is effaced. In Islam's Sufi and mystic doctrine it is a concept which refers to...
- KekalKekalKekal is a heavy metal band formed in 1995 in Jakarta, Indonesia. According to Allmusic, Kekal was one of the first heavy metal bands from Indonesia to make international inroads, and according to Keith Kahn Harris was one of the few extreme metal bands from Southeast Asia to ever make more than a...
- Kick BongKick BongKick Bong is the Psybient project of French producer Franck Jousselin. Kick Bong's sound is somewhat darker than the average "Chill Psy" or "Psybient", and places greater emphasis on percussion, such as breakbeats.-Performances:...
- MakyoMakyoThe term means “ghost cave” or “devil’s cave.” It is employed in Zen as figurative reference to the kind of self-delusion that results from clinging to an experience and making a conceptual “nest” out of it for oneself...
- Mystical SunMystical SunMystical Sun is an Ambient, Downtempo music producer who uses custom software instruments, sarod, sitar, ukulele, guitar and a wide array of audio sources....
- Ott
- Pitch BlackPitch BlackPitch Black is a 2000 science fiction thriller film directed by David Twohy and starring Vin Diesel. The film costars Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser and Keith David....
- Puff DragonPuff DragonPuff Dragon is a downtempo / ambient project from Steve Good. Originally from Wales, Steve moved to Japan in 1995, where he lives to this day. Steve's other projects include Double Dragon , releasing two full length albums: Continuum on London's Phantasm Records , Transparent on Hamburg's Plusquam...
- Sephira
- ShpongleShpongleShpongle is an English psychedelic downtempo/psybient music project formed in 1996. The group includes Simon Posford and Raja Ram . Their musical style combines eastern ethnic instruments and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music...
- ShulmanShulman (Band)Shulman is a psybient group from Israel, with members Yaniv Shulman and Omri Harpaz. Shulman's sound features elements of "glitch" and displays a large IDM influence...
- Solar FieldsSolar FieldsSolar Fields is the stage name of Swedish electronic music artist Magnus Birgersson. He has released nine albums, and has also scored all interactive in-game music for the Electronic Arts game Mirror's Edge.- History :...
- Side Liner
- The Infinity ProjectThe Infinity ProjectThe Infinity Project was a 1990s goa trance band. It later became a record label, TIP Records.Members included Raja Ram, Graham Wood and Anjee Sian, with Simon Posford occasionally working with them...
- VibrasphereVibrasphereVibrasphere is a progressive psytrance music duo from Uppsala, Sweden. Its founding members were Rickard Berglöf and Robert Elster.- History :...
- Younger Brother
- Zymosis
List of notable record labels
- Aleph Zero Records
- Altar Records
- Avatar Records
- Awakening Records
- Blue Tunes Recordings
- Chillcode Music
- Cosmicleaf Records
- Dragonfly Records
- Interchill RecordsInterchill RecordsInterchill Records is an independent downtempo/electronica record label based between Salt Spring Island and Nelson on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada....
- Liquid Sound Design
- Spiral Trax
- Spirit Zone Recordings
- Suntrip RecordsSuntrip RecordsSuntrip Records is a half-French, half-Belgian record label, releasing Goa trance and melodic Psychedelic trance.Suntrip Records was set up in the summer of 2004 by Fabien "Mars" Marsaud, one of the founders of the Psynews.org website and Joske "Anoebis" Vranken, a Belgian DJ and...
- Synergetic Records
- Twisted RecordsTwisted Records (UK)Twisted Records is a UK-based record label specialising in Electronica and psychedelic downtempo music for worldwide release, Film, TV and Web. The label was founded by Simon Posford a.k.a. Hallucinogen and Simon Holtom.-Musical Artists:* Hallucinogen...
- Ultimae RecordsUltimae RecordsUltimae Records is a French record label, based in Lyon. The company was founded by the members of Aes Dana; Vincent Villuis and Sunbeam...