While you could certainly make psytrance at 150 BPM, it's going to pack a different punch. You'll make different decisions about what works and what doesn't, and then it's going to end up sounding even more different from the rest of the 138 PBM psytrance -- oops, you've shifted genres. Slow it down to 110 and then people aren't dancing to the track quite the same way anymore. Try dancing to the same song at 100 BPM and then at 120 BPM... you'll notice the difference immediately. Tempo isn't everything, but it's much more than just a number.
There's one moment in a Forest Drive West set (I wish I could remember which one) where he plays the first 45-ish minutes at 160-ish, and then drops down to 125-130 for the last 1hr+ - but he does it in a manner that you never hear DJs do and almost doesn't work. He leaves the ~160BPM track playing, and brings in the 125-ish track over it in a way that creates this really cool syncopated rhythm. It's risky, and there's a reason you usually don't see people do it, but he pulls it off. I have a particular fondness for Jazz music, particularly Jazz musicians who fuck with time in a similar manner, so to hear a DJ pulling off something like that is awesome to me.
But yeah, highly recommend checking out Dozzy's surprise closing set at Terraforma[1] and Patrick Russell's Mostra[2] set.
Edit: The FDW set I'm thinking of is his set from Boom Festival[3].
[1]https://soundcloud.com/donato-dozzy/donato-dozzy-terraforma-...
[2]https://soundcloud.com/monument-podcast/mnmt-recordings-patr...
[3]https://soundcloud.com/boomfestival/forestdrivewest-the-gard...
It actually might appeal to people on here who like psy trance - it’s a different style (hypnotic/deep techno) and tempo but it shares some structural and sonic elements.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him play many times and meeting him and he’s just as lovely as you’d hope!
[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nGIUCQ8KW9Y or https://m.soundcloud.com/paul-wuerdig/sets/donato-dozzy-laby...
Such a delight seeing psytrance and donato dozzy and dub techno pop up on HN.
Does this specifically apply to Psytrance where I think the tempo stays more or less constant for most of the song. In general is there any Psytrance where tempo evolves during the song, goes up and down? I understand it might be difficult to dance to.
DJs, however, will often be the ones switching the tempo up during a set, either slowly adjusting it up and down over the course of the night, or switching things up and suddenly bringing in a track at a completely different BPM.
The main reason for sticking to a tempo is because psy-trance, and (good) trance music in general is about the constant pulse. The goal is to put the listener in 'the zone' (a trance even :P), and then give them a bunch of ear candy in the mids and highs to keep their happy little brains occupied.
So for any given set DJs generally pick a tempo and stick to it and deliver a driving, consistent pulse, and everything else is just colouring in on top.
Maybe not consciously, but their heart can probably (literaly) feel it and react differently, which is what this is mostly about. And in general I totally agree, that there is way more to music than tempo and I am only partially into anything techno as I like more instruments and variations, but with electronic dance music the rhythm simply matters the most for dancing.
I DJ both electronic formats as well as "general pop hits" nights. People may not consciously tell, but you take a well know track, and speed it up 3-5% (which also increases the pitch, unless you enable pitch-time stretch correction), and it injects a noticeable amount of energy into the dancefloor.
It's also just a social/"conformal" thing. Tempo regions serve as a kind of Schelling point for styles and energy levels. So if you have a given sub-style or vibe, you are likely to produce music in that style and speed, so it can readily mix in the same context.
Again, all of these micro-genres listed still fall under the aegis of "psytrance" and djs can and often do mix across boundaries and pitch stuff up/down as a part of their art. It's really about self-association and capturing specific vibes, vs exclusion or genre-policing.
Since the target audience is 'people who dance to the same music from ~midnight to sunrise', the ability to sustain a steady pace over that period matters the same way it would for a marathon runner or similar. I haven't gone racing in a while but goa parties used to have a pretty consistent cycle of warmup for an hour, take off over an hour, full-on for 4-6 urs depending on the time of year, then the sun comes up and it would switch to 'sloa', basically the same musical flavor but coasting down to a walking pace.
Source: DJ for ~25 years.
And because the dance styles that match ranges of bpm are so different, audiences find ranges they prefer. Try dancing to 125bpm old berghain tracks and compare with how you’re able to move your body in sync with 155bpm hard groove. It’s a completely different experience. This is dance music.
I caught Rhadoo a few years back and he spent two hours playing this dark, kinda spacey techno that just chugged along real nicely at around 125BPM. I didn't love the tracks, but thought the way that he was blending everything was interesting - I'd recommend seeing him play if you can solely for the master class in mixing that he'll give ya.
At any rate, a little over two hours in, I started to hear a familiar hi-hat. My body knew the track, but I couldn't place it. Then he started fucking with the low-end EQs and you could hear it - Happy Cycling by Boards of Canada (the original, not a remix or an edit or anything), a 100BPM downtempo-ish track, coming into the middle of this dark, chugging techno set at 125BPM. Literally my favorite BoC track and the last thing I'd ever expect to hear in the middle of such a set. It was like he'd built the whole set up to that moment, and it worked so fucking well. I still get chills thinking about it.
Man, this thread has me waxing poetic haha...
This is a weird setup and way to approach it and anyone involved with the scene in its glory days etc never was classifying things this way. Styles based on description of sounds sure but not bpms. This is some weird engineer take on things.