Exploring the Borderlands of Techno and Psytrance

I have been very interested in the ongoing fusion of techno and psytrance in recent months. Cross-pollination between formerly segregated movements has become the norm since the rise of the Internet but whatever it is that we are hearing now really has me hooked. And it’s not just me–I’ve received many messages from visitors asking more about the style showcased in my recent sets at Eclipse 2009, a big psytrance festival in Quebec, and Dreamcatcher, a winter solstice party in Toronto.

So, what is going on here? There has been a huge increase in the amount of creative energy flowing between techno (including tech house/minimal/whatever you want to call it) and psytrance. Many psytrance producers have opened side projects dedicated to deeper and more rhythmic dance music–essentially techno with “full-on” production techniques, hypnotic atmospheres, and an edgy attitude. At the same time, modern techno has become more (dare I say it) musical in a lot of ways, incorporating real melodies and a greater degree of complexity–enough for an old psytrance fan like myself, anyway. The success of acts like Minilogue and Extrawelt might have something to do with it–it feels like they injected a healthy dose of psychedelic vibes back into conventional techno. Or it might have been going on all along and I simply didn’t notice until Soopertrack became a surprise hit back in 2005. Whatever the case, there is a lot of excellent music coming out these days!

The bulk of this post consists of a series of lists linking to projects and labels working in the murky borderlands of techno and psytrance today. I originally assembled this information for personal reference–mainly to have some names to search for on Beatport and Juno. Now it is yours to make use of however you see fit. Be warned: the majority of the links below will transport you to MySpace profiles (sorry about that). Several consistent favourites have been marked in bold. And, if it weren’t obvious, alternate projects are in brackets (just so you can get a sense of who is behind what name).

First, a few of the biggest names representing the bleeding edge techno/psytrance hybrid style:

AstroNivo, Brisker & Magitman, Daniel Marques (Vibra), D-Nox & Beckers, Extrawelt (Midi Miliz/Spirallianz), Fiord (Antix), Fuzzion, Gabe (Wrecked Machines), Ido Ophir (Domestic), La Baaz (Paste), Khainz (Freakulizer), Miki Litvak/Elegant Universe (Domestic), Minilogue (Son Kite), Perfect Stranger (BLT), Prime Time, Riktam & Bansi (GMS), Solead (Motion/Tetraktys & Triptych), SQL

This list features an assortment of projects that are either new, upcoming, recently rebooted, fading out, or just growing into the sound:

A. Balter, Aerodrömme, Audio Junkies, Dimitri Nakov, D-Sens (Luna Spice), Duca, Elad Emek (Vanghoul), Eitan Reiter (of Loud), Hidra, Indepth, Interpulse (Mantrix), James Monro, Jurek Przezdziecki (Praecox/Epi Centrum/Bigwigs), Krane (Psychaos/Joti Sidhu), Mantik, Marcello V.O.R. (one half of Velkro), Monoxcide (Earthling/Celli Fermi), NDSA (Ticon), Pion, Rodrigo Carreira (Oxyd), Shades Of Gray (DJ Schwa & Nick West), Shuma, Sleek (Liquid Soul), Solid Snake (Omar Chelly of Tegma), Synthetic (Deedrah), Tapwatr, Trevor McGregor (Kalumet), Velkro (Gabe & Marcello V.O.R.), Wombat (Sun Control Species), Yotopia

The following list focuses on projects more associated with progressive psytrance than the new techno hybrid style. Knowing how things work in electronic dance music it wouldn’t be surprising if some of these acts were to jump on the glitchy white noise techno bandwagon as well:

Ace Ventura/Schatsi, Atmos, Beauty & The Beat, Behind Blue Eyes, Even 11 (Jaia & Silicon Sound), Flowjob, Gaudium, Jean Borelli (Orion), Johnson & Haske (Mapusa Mapusa and Bitmonx), Human Traffic (Mapusa Mapusa and DJ Golkonda), Krueger & Coyle, Lish, Maelstrom (DJ Emok), MUTe, Nyquist (FREq), Parrket, Side-A, Tegma, Ticon, True Lies/Symphonix, Visua

Now for a list of projects I usually lump together with progressive house (whatever that means these days):

16 Bit Lolitas, 9west, AGS, Alter Breed, Cid Inc (Mashtronic), Criss Source, Dousk, Eelke Kleijn, Fitalic, Flow & Zeo, FM Radio Gods, FOG/Elastic/2Kings In Motion, Inkfish, Jerome Isma-Ae, John Deere, Kasey Taylor, Leif Hatfield, Lenny Ibizarre, Luke Porter, Manuel Duego, Ozgur Can, Paulina Cewe, Peter Juergens, Roman Rai, RPO, Shiloh, Snake Sedrick, Sonic Cube, Truati

Of course there is a great deal of awesome music coming out from some of the better known names in “mainstream” techno and related genres. Here is just a short list of projects with varying degrees of crossover potential:

Animaltek, Boris Brejcha, Deepchild, Dominik Eulberg, Dubfire, Dusty Kid, Erphun, Gregor Tresher, Gui Boratto, Guy J, Henry Saiz, Ito, James Harcourt, James Holden, Jamie Stevens, Johannes Heil, Lützenkirchen, Max Cooper, Moonbeam, MOS/Manuel Sofia, Oliver Huntemann, Perc, POPOF, Robert Babicz, Signore Dito, Spektre, Stephan Bodzin, System 7, Thomas P. Heckmann, Tony Rohr, Virgil Enzinger, Wehbba, Yapacc

A few from the more psychedelic side of techtrance:

Alic, Cold Project, Cujorius One, Dan Rotor, Ectima, Excizen, KaliFrogz, Kalumet, Kino Oko, Le Saboteur (Dopamin), Manibus (Prosper), Moso Molo, Nuclear Ramjet, October Rust, Opsy, The Rockitmen

Here is a list of everything else that doesn’t fit–primarily projects that are little more than rumours or projects I haven’t had time to properly investigate (maybe you can help–is this stuff good?):

20ft Stereo (Slug), Airbus Modular (The Higher Human Form), Azorsky (Penta), Beatkrush (CPU), Chris Llopis, Electric Arc (Vishnudata), Fine Taste, Float (PhaseTech), Glen C, Glocal, Hyzer (Vibrasphere), IMPS (Son Kite & Decoy), Jab (Hujaboy), Justin Space (Tommi Sirkia of Haltya/Highpersonic Whomen/PeLinPaLa), Logiztik Sounds, NOP, Oxia, Ran Shani, Sentrafuge, Soundexile, VX (Xavier Morel & Virgil Enzinger), Weekend Heroes (DJ Zombi & Felix Nagorsky of Time Lock)

Finally, a list of labels to watch:

Air Snare Records, Attitude Recordings, BEEF Records, Blue Tunes Records, BUS Records, Cocoon Recordings, Echoes Records, EchoPlast Recordings, eVapour8 Recordings, Flow Records/Flow Vinyl, Iboga Records, IBZ Recordings, KumQuat, Lo Kik Records, Nachtstrom Schallplatten, Open Records, Plastik Park, Pure Perception Records, Soundmute Recordings, Sprout Music, Traum Schallplatten, Tree Hand Music, Tribal Vision Records, Wolf Music

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to everything that is going on–there is simply too much music out there for one person to know. But this is the Internet–and we are a hive mind! You are invited to share links to interesting projects and labels in the comments. Corrections are also welcome.