As other people have said, it's a shame that so much of psytrance relegates itself to being "electronic dance music", playing off the same clichés and subdividing itself so much such that the most minute production details are catalogued. While you could reasonably say that about any electronic genre, Psytrance really ups the level of having any given median track sounding indistinguishable. Yeah, the sound design experimentations are cool; yeah, it's a good sound... but I wish I would actually remember it for _something_ specific it does well.
In general, I think I miss the songwriting aspect most. Infected Mushroom really nailed it, which is why they're so popular. Nowadays, I can only find the Japanese doujin music scene among those that regularly mix and match psytrance with various other genres.
> playing off the same clichés and subdividing itself so much such that the most minute production details are catalogued
Agreed. It’s unnecessary and in my experience the music creators themselves dislike it. It’s largely the hobby of stamp collector and trivia-oriented minds who are inhibited in enjoying the music itself. That said, the terminology can be useful for liberal associative descriptions. But humans love strict hierarchical taxonomies, stuffing artists into single buckets.
In general, I think I miss the songwriting aspect most. Infected Mushroom really nailed it, which is why they're so popular. Nowadays, I can only find the Japanese doujin music scene among those that regularly mix and match psytrance with various other genres.
A few other recs going more in that direction:
- Talpa (https://sundancerecords.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-somberne...)
- Jerico's Law (https://juno909.bandcamp.com/album/another-law)
- Migma Shelter (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l3dfWAOgloDDde... -- j-pop psytrance!)
- Hilight Tribe (https://hilighttribe.bandcamp.com/album/temple-of-light)
- Koxbox (https://koxboxmemo604.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-unknown)
- Hallucinogen (https://hallucinogenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-lone-derang...)
- And finally, the best hi-tech work I've ever heard. Sephax - Electric Currents (https://alice-drecords.bandcamp.com/album/sephax-electric-cu...)