Tranceforming the Ego Machine in the USA
Trance continues to slowly expand & evolve in the United States. The Supreme Court (including Bush's new nominee) recently ruled unanimously that DMT-laden ayahusca is now a legally protected sacrament for U.S. branches of the Santo Daime and the UDV. The psychedelic/goa trance virus, once it infects the fertile soil of a tripping mind, will never leave & through osmosis the empowerment of trance flowers into maturity. So let’s get growing…
 Once overshadowed by the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles is currently the outdoor party capital of the US with Green Sector & Psytribe providing trancers a good chance to get dirty every 2-3 weeks between April & October. Theirspectacular forest location just outside the city has been a boon to the trance culture & has hosted scores of international artists since 2002. If you're heading to the West Coast during the extended outdoor season, checking out "The Ranch" is a must. Infected Mushroom & Quadra are based in LA as well as the label Kagdila Records. Psytribe celebrated the one year anniversary of their weekly club Psyfix in January. Heavy Rotation is still importing the big names to various venues in Hollywierd. Green Sector continues to make improvements at the ranch & work with Burning Man groups to bring the zany people & atmosphere of the playa out to the forest, keeping the scene hot & spicy. The LA crowd has an international flavor & if you head outdoors you might just forget you're in the US.
 Long been known as the hotbed for political, artistic, & cultural change, & the home of Goa Gil, San Francisco was the testing ground for LSD in the 60s. Soon after, psy-parties started & evolved into the amazing events we know today. The most active psychedelic tribes local to the bay area would be Phoenix Family, Goa-Play, Mistress of Evil, Drop Out, Tantra SF, Thumpradio, Fusion, Dance Everywhere Assoc/Straylight, Ataraxia, CCC, Love Projectors, Spin This!, Paragon Family, Community Dance, & the weekly club Synchronize. The most common trait here is an amazing sense of family.There are a sizeable amount of producers making topnotch music such as Ocelot, Penta, Chromatone, Random, Mubali, Greg On Earth, Aeon, Helios, Mindstorm, Quasar, the Loomii, Sanayama, & Ekko. Recent additions to the mayhem include Deeper In Zen, Xyla, Alien Mental, Yohei. Psytrance Labels Ceiba Geomagnetic.tv, Vaporvent, Soular, Dropout, Mistress of Evil, Auraquake, Psybooty, Illumination, Psybertribe, Keyframe, & Light Rhythm are all based in SF.
 Portland, Oregon has an active community. Apollo's Lute continues to be the driving force, while N.E.T., Catharsis Crew, Synergy Productions, & others have organized events in the past. This April will see the first Portland event from formerly Pittsburgh-based Sidetrakkt Productions. Famed violinist Kenjii Williams now lives near Washington D.C.
In Seattle, Infinite Connections has been doing a series of Iosis Art Parties that have featured some of the world's top progressive psy acts while Environmental Structures focuses on the darker sounds.
In Texas, the vast expanse of the lone star state reveals wonderful locations for intense stomping such as wooded ranches deep in the heartland or desolate beaches along the gulf coast. The future looks bright for bushcountry as crews, DJs & artists are evolving faster than you can say "bring 'em on”.
Goa/Psy reached new levels of awareness in the Midwest US in 2005 thanks to flagship promoter Chilluminati, a metagroup comprised of six promotional, arts & consciousness communities: Psymbolic, Touch Samadhi, Divine Balance Recs, Tranceplant Recs, Audiognomes & Vision Collective. Chilluminati also has working relationships with fire performers SPUNN, the Consciousness Cafe psychedelic research project, & Iowa's Subconscious Collective. In 2006 the Chilluminati are planning 2 weekend festivals in western Wisconsin: "Sacred Earth Open Air" & "Crystal Sky Full Moon" as well as a repeat of "Secret Fire" in central Illinois. They also promise their first all downtempo event "Bioluminescence”.
 In Pennsylvania, Gaian Mind continues to build upon its wondrous open air in America's own Stonehenge, Four Quarters. The North Carolina based Touch Samadhi crew are making waves all over the country with their primal beats & annual outdoor Powow. Florida is starting to flower with goa parties sprinkled about the warm weather bacchanalia.
There's something about northern climes that makes producers vibe with a cooler, cleaner, more Teutonic beat, as seen in Scandinavia &, in the States, New England. Boston continues to refine its progressive tastes with Psyforia put on by Sonic Beating, & Zia-Trance’s pocket-protected Robot style. In New York lie thousands of trance nomads from all over the world. Megaclubs that before
blacklisted psy-trance are now offering events by Tsunami's & Trancemotion on an almost weekly basis. Alex Grey's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors has proven to be a dependable home for holistic events. Alladin Project has been the major force for innovation in NYC. The Russian banner is being carried by TDC. Luis Influx presides over a weekly cabal of global trance wizards every Wednesday. There is now an Elf-style trance commune called 55 Lex in Brooklyn. For open air, The Devotional Ministry of Trance continued to push the limits with a free 28 hour open air in uptown Manhattan that was only busted up by noise complaints from across the river in the Bronx.
We’ve saved the best for last. Burning Man is far & away one of the most mind-blowing festivals on planet earth. Located in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, it’s the hottest thing since blueberry pancakes. With attendance swelling over 30,000 & plenty of room to expand, this event is set to go to the moon (incidentally, we think this is where they filmed the landing;) Any trance traveler is recommended to skip everything else & simply go to Black Rock City. We could use both of these pages just to describe one day there, but to break it down: The art & atmospheres are astounding & there’s every style of underground music imaginable. Don’t be surprised if you have more different experiences during one week at BM than the whole rest of your year combined. The 20th anniversary is this Summer…
Links
- Isratrance.com is heavily used for local events.
- A newly launched homegrown alternative is www.tranceamericana.org with many forums and links acrosss North America.
Contacts
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 Jeff Whitmore is a corporate droput who's been with NYC psy/goa trance since day one in 1996. At one point he was the list moderator, the underground open air organizer, and the sole squatter acid dealer in NYC with his trusty water gun. After being found screaming his URL while laying Jesus style on the subway tracks in a K-Hole, this reformed degenerate now sells legal drugs at Nootrition.com and is lucky to be alive.. Machinelf@tranceamericana.org ...thanks Trevor W and everyone else for your help in making this article happen!
 Dr. Spook (aka Nathan Vogel) is an internationaly reknowned San Francisco VJ/DJ/live AV act. Geospirit1: virtual vortex is his newest solo dvd film project. He began creating electronic music & 3D visuals in the early 90's. He started DJing in 98 at burning man. A pillar in the SF psytrance scene, known for creating amazing parties with the Phoenix Family. Nate is also a producer & director at Minds Eye Media in SF since 95.
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