An Introduction to Psy-Trance, by one of the Best Sources: Spiral from Bombay
Over the last couple of weeks I have had the privilege to get insight into a world that I hardly knew anything about, in fact I barely knew that it existed. I'm talking about Psy-Trance, a genre of electronic music. Sure, you may point out that I've posted about Infected Mushroom only half a year ago. However, re-reading that post just makes me feel like I was merely poking at it from the outside. I guess I still am, but at least now I can kinda see what I'm poking at.
An Extraordinary House Guest
My housemate is really into electronic music. To be exact, he is into Psy-Trance, and more specifically into the Hi-Tech subgenre of it. Since it is Summer, meaning festival season, he also enjoys going to the various events, where this music can be enjoyed to the max. And one day he brought a friend home, who was one of the artists performing his music: Shahveer from Bombay. Now many of you may exclaim: I know Shahveer, but I never knew he was a DJ! So to avoid confusion, he is known as SPIRAL. And if you're into Psy-Trance you really should know him (if not, you really should get into it).
Musical Education
It was really a pleasure having Spiral stay with us, and during that time we talked a lot about the world and each other, learned some basic German, and I got to know the differences between the various types of Psy-Trance. Apparently you can't talk about this music without getting technical about the beat, citing the BPM or beats per minute for each style. Of course there are way more distinguishing features, but this gives you a kind of over the thumb idea where to place each one.
The slowest kind is Dark Prog with 126-140 BPM. The next few styles are a bit faster, with 138-150 BMP: Progressive Trance, Goa Trance, Psy Trance (the OG one, I suppose), Full On Progressive, and Suomi, which in spite of the similar BPM sounds completely different. Following these things start speeding up a bit, with Forest at 145-152 BPM, followed by Dark Psy at 146-170. Hi-Tech, which has 165-220 BPM, is the musical style that's played most in our house, and hence the one I got the closest impression of. To complete the list, I should also mention Psy Core with an incredible 220-265 BPM. That is more than four beats every second, which even for my friends of fast music is way too much. Finally, Psy-Trance has its Chill-out or Ambient styles, at a relaxing 110-130 BPM.
Personally, I found a liking to Forest music, but Hi-Tech captured my attention immediately. It really felt like the music was talking to me! Remembering how reluctant I was to properly immerse myself in electronic music, for being too repetitive up to a point of boring, I could not believe how "interesting" Hi-Tech was. Though Spiral feels similarly about it, in his shows he likes to perform a good variety of styles, which he does with apparent finesse, at least from what I can guess. My personal recommendation is his rendition of one of my favorite Tom Waits songs, What's He Building in There?
An Artist of International Fame
It was of course not Germany, or Berlin, or even our place that brought Spiral to Europe. It was his art, and the various festivals he got to play at. Forest Explosion was the one from where he came to our place. His next gig was at the Master of Puppets festival in the Czech Republic. Only last weekend he performed at the Hive Festival (has nothing to do with our blockchain!) where he had a few hours right around sunset. His final and biggest show in Europe this year will be in Croatia, at the Modem festival. There is also a Hive (which again has nothing to do with our blockchain), where Spiral will be performing. It's in less than three weeks, and tickets are still available.
Onboarding Spiral to Hive
With so many Hives all around, it sounds almost intuitive to join our blockchain as well. But when you're a world famous DJ it's not like you've got all the time to immerse yourself in radically new things, even if it happens on the same computer where the music is created. Still, Spiral was not entirely put off by the idea of getting into our Hive... Especially if someone else helps him along the way. So I thought, why not. I'll take it upon myself to post some of his music, step by step, and share the proceeds with him once he decides to become a user. For now I want to start out with this post.
Until then, to get a first taste of his art, check out his soundcloud, visit his instagram, look at his facebook page, or see some of his shows on YouTube, and stay tuned for some never before seen stuff.
how cool you met him, and got a bit of education whilst you're at it! And of course, in Berlin - where else!
Yes, the personal connection was a huge factor initially. But as it is with so many things, the deeper you go the more you like it, so the deeper you go still.
Exactly!