been getting into psytrance lately

Jan. 12, 2025 11:00PM

alternative title: not sure how I feel about the appropriation of grapes nowadays

[Author's note: I initially planned to put kanji and shit in this post, but it formats really weird with this font, so I have to try avoiding it whenever possible otherwise it's gonna look really uncomfortable to read when you see the lines break unevenly. Apologies in advance.]

I initially planned to write an entirely separate post talking about the music I listened to in 2024, intending for a companion piece to my recollections of other art mediums over the prior twelve months. However, as you might have realised already, that would be an undertaking reminiscent of the Twelve Labours, a numerical comparison that I am aware should not be lost on any of you with nary a hint of coherent thought. (I hope.)

In spite of this realisation, I briefly ruminated on ways that I could make my audio cataloguing experience throughout 2024 seem interesting to anyone reading, while also reducing the potential stress laid out on me by attempting to recall every single piece that I installed into my cranium over a relatively short period of time. One winter afternoon shower later, and perhaps I have theorised a solution. And by theorised, I do literally mean "I'm improvising from scratch because it's funny that way, and keeps the ideas mill warm."

Henceforth, I introduce to ye, potential reader -

Let's start with how this story came to be, which must have been sometime just over exactly a year ago. During my time gathering research for the J-core video (while also simultaneously balancing real-world responsibilities and editing the Arcaea video) I took it upon myself to catch up on developments I had missed in the doujin space since last fully investing myself in the field back in 2022. Long story short, I was busy in 2022, and 2023 was... well, I wouldn't be making Youtube videos if I had a job that year, that's for sure. Anyway, I was browsing music recommendations from various labels like Thank You For The Horse while carrying out research, which eventually lead to me stumbling across a ton of releases from the prior year courtesy of the circle BLCKLOUDS, a project spearheaded by an artist whose work I was occasionally familiar with in ikaruga_nex.

Having a cursory interest in the non-indicative descriptor of "intelligent dance music" thanks to the modern propensity for rediscovery through hour-long Youtube recommendations, I stumbled across the exceptionally titled (and themed) 骸匣 -Sarcophagus- one evening. It had all the hallmarks of a doujin release envisioned in a lab to MKULTRA me.

Incredible art/graphic design for the album cover, courtesy of MUSOURINNE
A cool theme to tie together the apocalyptic themes
The first track is by Frums?????

This was the swiftest I have ever chosen to listen to a full album in its entirety. Despite it... not... being psytrance related at all.

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Sarcophagus is an album that I'd honestly describe more as if it's intended to be an experience, rather than an assortment of tracks you turn on for any particular range of emotion. The announcement tweet describes the album theme as "the end and remains of humanity" with a particular focus on harsh, chaotic, often sharp electronic sounds amidst pianos and other classical instrumentation that continuously hammers home the identity of a life after civilisation as we know it. My familiarity with IDM is essentially non-existent, but the dichotomy at play throughout these five tracks, as well as the individual artist styles at play, conveys a greater understanding of aesthetic sense that manages to invoke an interest in worldbuilding that doesn't quite exist in tangible form.

There's a story at play between the first and last tracks of this album alone, which explains why they're my personal highlights of an already fantastic work.

Frums is an artist well-known for their extrasensory, often droning soundscape in their work, which throws itself into the forefront with Yoku, the first track of this album. The sub-bass reinforces the heavier elements that most would expect of a typical Frums track, now evoking a heavier sense of devastation with the discordant melodies and what I can best describe as a hissed tone at points to create an incredible overwhelming track. I don't mean that in the negative sense either, mind you - I'm a big fan of compressed sounding musical elements in this field of music, so if anything, I don't think my descriptions can do this piece enough justice with how dark it gets!

On the (rather literal) other end, Sakuzyo is a longtime mainstay of the doujin and rhythm game spheres of influence, having been around the BMS and wider indie music circuits for well over 15 years at the time of writing. To say his influence on the aforementioned fields of music is an understatement, often being described at part of the forefront behind the "artcore" genre of music that became a popular movement in late-2010s rhythm game circles. His contribution to Sarcophagus, the enigmatically titled Batsu (lit. punishment) converges much of his musical repertoire into one package, featuring a heavy neurofunk/drum 'n bass undertone along with many of the classical and orchestral elements that people recognise in artcore. As the theme of the entire album focuses on a life after "life", Sakuzyo manages to craft a track that serves as a consise summary of what his compositional style has and continues to be. Fitting, in all senses of the word.

The entire album is a treat from start to finish, absolutely deserving of a complete listen whenever you have time. My personal favourite track of the album happens to be Katami by Supire - keep that name in mind, because it'll come up later.

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I was interested in what more BLCKLOUDS had to offer, since I happened to discover the circle at a time when their second release had been out for a fair amount of time by that point. Their entire catalogue is absolutely worth the same praise offered to Sarcophagus, especially with an equally impressive line-up of artists for this second outing, but one track in particular leaps out at me with a profound swiftness.

Terpsicore has a kind of foreboding atmosphere that I never would have really thought about with a genre like psytrance. Sure, there IS such a thing as "darkpsy" out there (which we will also address later) and it does fit the same vibe, but the thematic background of "a dystopian EP" makes this track feel so much more impactful than if I were just listening to a 7-minute track with cool acid and lead work going on throughout.

Dustvoxx is an artist whose discography rapidly changes my perceptions on psytrance and its offshoots as I watch his progression. Listening to Terpsicore showcases that he's grown into a style of his own, using the general futurism of the genre and spinning it in a way that perceives the future as a change not entirely positive or well-founded, but I wager that it also extends into a potential view of doujin music as a whole. I've been conscious of his thoughts on music game songs as outlined in the musings on his MEGATON KICK track Disconnect Me (from saturator) and the similar sentiments echoed by other artists and music game fans alike - not only does this track thematically fit with the album motif, I think it speaks to how much a work with this kind of concept works so well. There's an outlook on how contemporary electronic music is viewed in this work through the lens of a dystopian society, alongside a subtle refutal of what perpetuates such a mindset with today's casual music audiences.

I'm probably reaching with this analysis, as I am regularly criticised for, but there's a lot more to the albums produced by circles like BLCKLOUDS, and their use of conceptual storytelling alongside the music featured within, that pushes against this misconception that electronic music has no soul. Listening to Dustvoxx and other doujin artists who lean into psytrance, like Kobaryo's Nyankovsky alias, regularly challenges my thoughts on the wider genre, thanks in part to how they infuse their personal styles into the core elements. It's nice to find corners in other mediums of art, other than film and writing, that allow for this open diversity in what you're able to find, even in rigid categorisation like genres or structure.

Now I want you to basically take everything I just said, and put that aside real quick. We're gonna be talkin' about some real heat over here.

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Sometimes, Youtube recommendations pull through. On very rare occasions, the "algorithm" hands you a recommendation that blows your mind out of the water like the shell that caused HMS Hood to violently explode.

Quetzal Mod falls squarely into the latter for me. Big time.

After listening to Sarcophagus and Kaibyaku -Innocence- back-to-back, it felt like one of those palette cleansers you switch onto so your brain can take a breather from something so rich in feeling, a fulfilling kind of metaphorical dish. There's no thematic backdrop, or cool underlying vision to go along with the main course - it's psytrance, through and through, baby.

The very track that made me aware of this album was Exterior by Supire, a futuristic psychedelic track with deep kicks that creates a very different atmosphere from the kinds of stuff I've heard of before. Every aspect works together to form this kind of unique harmony between psytrance and the heavier music styles that make up the bread and butter of contemporary doujin music. I've been leaning more towards a faster pace as I uncover more psytrance-related tracks recently, so I'm inherently biased towards this track and what makes it special, but it's one hell of a track that gives me insight into how Supire and the other contributors to Quetzal Mod incorporate a wide array of electronic music into their work for collaborations like these.

The next track on the album, Fantastic Space, yet again challenges how audiences would think about these lesser-explored genres of music from a field of often overlooked talent. Dustvoxx would feature this track in his M3-53 album Magictronics alongside a roster of new tracks, signifying a long progression that's been building up over the previous few years. I've been enamoured with this kind of hi-tech psytrance since first discovering Dustvoxx through various compilations, but one particular aspect of his music that resonates with me is his use of the whole length of a given track. Some tunes in these more esoteric genres tend to either overstay their welcome, or don't go the full nine yards with the ideas they have planned, but listening to a Dustvoxx track often feels like an experience in itself with a clear progression in mind.

Some cool ideas at play with this album, even if I'm probably far from the demographic of listeners for some of these in particular. Another track I like a lot is the amazingly named PROPHETESS OF ACID CREATION - incredible title, very entrancing vibe with the sound design. If there's one thing done well throughout all of these songs, it's the use of bass to make all of these compositions hit just a little bit harder, and it certainly leaves a lasting impression if I still remember that aspect in isolation.

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I want to briefly mention the EP that made me sift through Dustvoxx's discography with greater attention, as it's a taster for how his style has become more unique relative to other hi-tech psytrance works within the doujin sphere (as sparse as they often tend to be.) The Virtual Pulse tends to lean on Dustvoxx's post-Covid style as a familiar bridge, incorporating elements of his previous MEGATON KICK tracks with a brighter tone as a way of orienting fans through this transition of his musical progression. On the other hand, Plasmik Portal-77 reminds me of his older work in albums & EPs like Portal and the aforementioned MEGATON KICK series (which he just came back for) in many respects - the Bandcamp description references a return to his roots, and you can feel a passion for this genre that seems to be lacking in devotion to nearly the same degree as Dustvoxx and co. are pushing the envelope.

There's a ton of other Dustvoxx works that bear mentioning, but I couldn't expand upon in much the same way for one reason or another. Black Portal (Holographic) - Necromancy Ritual at Bon Festival - is a fantastic expansion on the core principles that Dustvoxx was keen to highlight in his TANO*C contributions, while Mind Acid Reflection is a brilliant introduction to this corner of the doujin sphere for people only familiar with Dustvoxx through rhythm games. He's an incredibly talented artist that I'm glad I discovered, so I'm excited to see how this newfound drive will manifest in new music for the years upcoming.

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okay okay I'm probably cheating here by throwing this one in as one of my first experiences with doujin psytrance but look here [sic] me out for a minute

Neural Teleport is an interesting hi-tech psytrance track, even among the esoteric selection on offer throughout this already long-winded post. I remember listening to it when it dropped and thinking, "does hi-tech psytrance usually go from 0-100 this quickly???" by the time I was halfway through. Now, Kobaryo is no stranger to this kind of methodology. He's also certainly not averse to gradual burns either, with tracks like Paraselene showing off a "traditional" flair to the genre convention while still maintaining that broad understanding that makes him a versatile producer. With that in mind, this track really blitzes through a lot of what makes Kobaryo distinct, while also heading for a more unconventional, actually rather short track (by psytrance metrics) that aims for a condensed, yet fast-paced experience. Part of the appeal with this BPM of hi-tech psytrance in particular is the ability to use the snappy acid in tandem with vocal chops to formulate a listening journey alienating the audience. If there's something Kobaryo is good at, it's knowing how to flip the script on an expectant listener, and he's done it yet again here.

I use Nyankovsky, and Neural Teleport by extension, as a basis for how diverse the genre can sound when heard through the lens of several different artists. There's obviously no strict formula for how music should sound, but the range of influences and considerations at play that go into these particular tracks has left me thinking about how the musical experience can be morphed around the relative nicheness of both the genre, and the audience who would be most likely to stumble across works of this exact nature in the wild. A ton of doujin producers draw upon a massive pool of inspirations, references, and frankly genius ideas when formulating compilations like Quetzal Mod or something like Future Kinetic by LOLISTYLE GABBERS, making it difficult for me to ignore what conventions are at play - and how they're being broken.

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This post was a little long-winded. I find it hard to articulate my thoughts on music into words, especially when the language surrounding music discussion is often so modular that it makes different sense to different people. It's not that big a deal, but there's a nuance to how one describes music that gives it a resonance with others in ways that you wouldn't have to struggle through with illustrations or film. Some tracks, genres, and artists face the "thing good" quandary that makes discovery more obtuse than it has any right being, so I'm very conscious of trying to avoid that pitfall like how most people listen to one Youtuber and say all music is bad now.

Psytrance is a genre I wasn't initially very interested in. While genres like techcore and its origins have been a long favourite of mine, I didn't like psytrance in much the same way until about a couple of years ago. Couple that with how a lot of psytrance outside of very specific artists never interested me, and you have an understanding of why it took this long for me to have a more in-depth look. Nonetheless, I use this opportunity as a gateway to remind myself that there's a ton of really good, cool music out there in the world that I haven't discovered yet - it's just waiting there, and it's more likely you'll find it than we like to admit.

Psytrance is pretty fuckin' good shit.