Category Archives: Trance

EDMs part of Western plot to destroy Indian culture: Hindu group

Panaji, Dec 16 (IANS) Days after former Goa Minister Vinod Palienkar likened trance music to the music of demons, a right wing group in Goa on Monday demanded a ban on electronic dance music, especially the Sunburn Klassique music festival, alleging such events were a plot to destroy ancient Indian culture.

"The Sunburn festival is encouraging and imposing western ill-influence on society, thereby making it ''pleasure-seeking'' and immoral! It is destroying the Hindu culture and spoiling the name of Goa and Goans," Manoj Solanki, convenor of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, told a press conference here on Monday.

"This is a plot to destroy our ancient Indian culture by promoting Western culture and their electronic dance festivals," he said.

The last week of December in Goa is marked by a string of popular electronic dance music festivals and events, including Sunburn Klassique, which are thronged by thousands of music lovers.

Solanki also pointed out two incidents where young girls had succumbed to drug overdose while partying during music festivals in Goa in the recent past.

On December 8, Goa Forward MLA and former Fisheries Minister Vinod Palienkar had demanded a ban on trance music festivals, claiming that they played the music of demons.

--IANS

maya/arm

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EDMs part of Western plot to destroy Indian culture: Hindu group - Outlook India

Here we are again in the busiest season of the year. It's Christmas time, following closely after Thanksgiving and just ahead of a New Year. Besides being busy with all types of activities it is also time for careful, or rather sneaking forgetfulness, while gorging on all the goodies that are put before us, not only at home but also at get-togethers, church activities, club meetings and -- let's admit it -- Have we been careful with the cookies and candies and other goodies, etc., etc., since we made that resolution last January? Let's just dig out that old saying, "Confession is good for the soul." But, importantly, it's time for regrouping but, more importantly, is to set a determined standard to ... we could go on and on and....

It is time for the annual Christmas column, but the 'cuff has had those every year since I don't remember when -- all about going into the woods to find a Christmas cedar tree which, you guessed it, always was lopsided when you got it home. The 'cuff has also included personal memories and memories of other activities which involved Christmas programs at church, hearing Christmas songs on the radio (now it's TV) and also hearing Christmas programs by glee clubs and music departments at school. Whoops; that's a no-no to too many; it ain't politically correct to remember and celebrate what Christmas is really all about so....

Let's get on with a different "C" column. That's right, "Conglomeration" is taking charge. How about commercials on TV, those that have become so common during the past few months: How about hearing Joe Namath promoting health systems. It was good to hear that Joe is okay; isn't he the one who was MVP when the Jets conquered the other team (can't remember who) in the Super Bowl? How about all those commercials from a type of shoe group (I think it's Sandals) begging and teasing us to plan a cruise in the Caribbean? How about that Pillow Man; isn't it about time to quit hearing the brags about a patented pillow? But the most annoying commercials are those promoting network or station or just intros to a climax in a program that are well done until it's "bam, bam, or jelly bean jam" as cymbals crash and an orchestra, organ or piano joins in with pounding eardrum sounds. I love music but those kinds of crashes, if they have a name, ruin the entire promotional commercial. If we had a fireplace when one of those explosions occurs which, by the way, rattle the walls and shake the floor, I'd be tempted to check the fireplace chimney to see if the mortar was still intact.

That's enough of that. Hooray, you say? How about some HOO-GA? That's the pronunciation of a Danish word, Hy-gga, which describes the people of Denmark who are "the happiest people in the world." Maybe we in the good old USA would be happier HOO-GAers if this three-year-old television news program about impeaching the president would suddenly stop. The news networks still bring us some news but most of it is opinion by self-declared newsies. Real news should still just bring unvarnished and unbiased facts, which doesn't seem to be the pattern. Getting back to governing would be a great present, whatever season it is. No more politickin'; it's on to news about a bumper crop of sweet gumballs. And that's enough of that.

Let's end on some positive notes: Have you noticed the beautiful sunrise and sunset displays the past several days? They remind me of those scenes we used to publish. Residents in Westside Eagle Observer country are so very lucky to be able to call this area home. Even though we do travel at a faster speed than a decade ago, we're not crowded out of the good hometown feeling that is so much a part of our daily lives and culture.

Time to draw this to a close and go into that annual trance to dredge up a few predictions for the New Year. What's that you say, "Isn't he in a trance all the time?" Don't hold your breath; it's coming out of that perpetual trance when the predictions show up. It's just a little reminder that it's still fun to have a little fun in life and to remind us to be thankful for the blessings we remember during Thanksgiving time. And now it's again time to recall those Christmas memories, especially remembrance of the "Reason for the Season." Please insert the word "True" before that saying. There really is an answer to bring peace to mankind, or "peoplekind" if you insist, if ... may the new year bring a calming change as we move forward to shape it so that Westside folks are right up there with the Danes -- "The Hy-happiest people in the world." An old-time comedian always ended his program with two simple words: "God Bless."

Dodie Evans is the former owner and long-time editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

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Off the Cuff - Westside Eagle Observer

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I'm a bit of a Dungeons & Dragons dilletante. I've never been big into pen-and-paper role-playing games, but there were some stretches where I would tag along with friends to play in their weekly game night for a month or two.

During those sessions, I was fortunate enough to have played with a guy named Don who opened my eyes to what a great dungeon master could be. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of sci-fi and fantasy stories that he remixed into diligently prepared adventures. I quickly learned that his games would always have a compelling premise and a cathartic payoff, if you were good enough to make it that far.

The parties I was in usually weren't that good, in large part because they were always having to carry an unimaginative novice like me. Fortunately, after the party was dead and we turned in our character sheets, Don was usually kind/cruel enough to give us a piece or two of the larger puzzle, like who was controlling that clockwork army or why an entire village entered a trance-like state at the same time every week. Not enough to spell everything out (or spoil some undiscovered twists he might want to re-use in a later session), but enough to tease us with what might have been.

In the first of my failed expeditions with Don, I rolled up a dwarf character. After some token Tolkien-esque exposition, we wound up exploring an intricate system of caves and came across a locked chest. There was no key around and we didn't have a thief in the party, so I blurted out that I would open the thing with my axe. Before my fellow players could collectively finish their cries of "Nooooooooooooooo," Don chuckled with a gleeful "OK!" and rolled the dice.

I did indeed open the chest, but I had also cleaved its contents -- a magical tome of great narrative importance -- as well. The destruction of the powerful artifact produced an explosion of some sort lightly damaging me and my party, but the burn damage I felt for doing something stupid and being surprised by the outcome was considerably more than 1d4.

Later that night, after the traditional case of disgusting Jack in the Box tacos was consumed and the entire party had met our untimely demise, Don offered some consolation, saying that my brute force problem-solving was actually quite appropriate for role-playing a dwarf.

That didn't make me feel any better, but I still left the table exhilarated by the experience. The video games I was used to playing were largely idiot-proofed. Sure, you could die or fail to meet a skill threshold, but you generally couldn't influence the world in a way that would haunt you down the road. (Unless it was a Sierra adventure game where it was spitefully and arbitrarily designed to stymie anyone who didn't buy a hint book.)

Playing Dungeons & Dragons with Don was like having the guard rails taken away and being given a world that I could truly influence and interact with however I saw fit. And if I did something dumb, or antagonized everyone in my path, or sabotaged the carefully planned storyline, Don would roll with it. The world would react as one might expect, and we would have to deal with the consequences. Sometimes that meant improvised adventures that were every bit the equal of his meticulously prepared campaigns. Sometimes that meant being cursed by a witch to spend your life with a bucket stuck on your head.

That's what playing Divinity: Original Sin II has felt like to me. I don't think any game yet made could be as open-ended and adaptable and brilliant as the best pen-and-paper dungeon master, but Original Sin II consistently has me thinking about the longer-term and bigger picture consequences of my actions. It has me behaving as if the game has a Virtual Don, forever ready to give a gleeful chuckle and roll the dice to bring my latest Bad Idea into reality. And that's something I've never had in a video game before.

I've put more than 80 hours into Original Sin II since it came out on the Switch this year and I haven't even completed my first playthrough yet. I say "first playthrough" because there's obviously so much to this world I haven't seen, so many stories that could play out differently, so many different approaches I could take to combat and puzzle-solving, that it somehow makes the idea of replaying an 80-hour RPG understandable to the point of actually enticing.

Just like Don, Original Sin II packs its world full of intricately crafted yet fragile stories, and refuses to protect them from your actions. The game isn't unfair, and there are plenty of options to make things easier like a variety of difficulty levels and the ability to re-spec your character, but the world itself reacts to the player in the expected way. While the game's narrative casts the player as an avatar of the gods, many of its stories and its systems treat you the way they would any random fool. And that's a refreshing change of pace from an industry that so commonly baby-proofs every user interaction possible.

One last note on this. One of the game's writers, Kevin VanOrd, is a former co-worker of mine from GameSpot. I point this out partly in the interest of disclosure, and partly because I am proud a friend of mine contributed to such a brilliant game.

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Games of the Year 2019: Divinity: Original Sin II - GamesIndustry.biz

An exhibition about the legendary German electronica band, Tangerine Dream will be opening at the Barbican in the New Year

Although not a major name, they have quite the cult following and are widely credited as laying the foundations for the Ambient and Trance music styles.

The exhibition, Tangerine Dream: Zeitraffer, which opens at the Barbican Music Library on 16 January 2020, will show off photographs, previously unpublished articles, video clips, and original synthesizers used by the band and a vinyl listening station.

Your correspondents first encounter with their music was the score for the also little known, but quite exceptional gothic horror movie, The Keep. Theres always been a certain mystery about why the soundtrack wasnt commercially released with talk of legal problems keeping it under wraps for decades.

In the 53 years since it was founded the band has scored over 60 films and released 160 albums, and the odd computer game or two.

The exhibitions four-month run will feature a reading from Edgar Froeses autobiography, Tangerine Dream Force Majeure, by his widow, Bianca Froese-Acquaye, and a screening of the documentary Revolution Of Sound: Tangerine Dream, which includes a talk with director Margarete Kreuzer.

Tangerine Dream: Zeitraffer runs from Thursday 16 January to Saturday 2 May 2020 at Barbican Music Library. Its open daily, except Sundays.

Entry is free.

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Tangerine Dream coming to the Barbican next year - IanVisits

Recently, one already controversial 'swami' Nithyananda fled the country. His Ahmedabad ashram was a den of illegal activities and he usurped the land, kidnapped, raped and did all sorts of nefarious and abominable things. How could he spread his 'spiritual' empire despite getting implicated in a rape case in 2010 is an enigma. But the far greater conundrum is: Why do his scores of followers still believe that their guru is above reproach? It's like Caesar's wife must be above suspicion. The mushrooming ofbabasand gurus in recent times is a phenomenon that needs to be studied and analysed. And despite their misdeeds, esp. (s)exploits, their followers' blind faith in them entails a comprehensive psychological study of the whole shebang, calledgurudomorbabadom.

According to Genetic Biology and Theory of Evolution, humans are still evolving and evolving almost imperceptibly. To quote German iconoclast Friedrich Nietzsche, "Humans are still standing on the lowest rung to the ladder of evolution." And mind you, before criticising Indian or oriental gurus andbabasfor their shenanigans, one mustn't forget that the Western world also hasbabas, gurus and a spate of cults, albeit with ostensible differences. Otherwise, what's the Doomsday Cult with many shades and shrouds or innumerable Psychic Cults and their dubious gurus and clairvoyants? The popular televangelists like Pat Robertson, Faye Bakker, Jerry Falwell, among others are Christian gurus to their followers. Exiled preacher Zakir Naik of India is guru to the Islamic world. After all, human spirit is the same everywhere. Fools are everywhere. So are shrewd people, ever-ready to exploit the foolishness of the masses.

The West can't deny that Jabalpur's ordinary Mahesh Yogi returned to India carrying the tag of Maharshi given to him by the Beatles and western world. That he tried to molest Mia Farrow and Paul McCartney got disillusioned with him is inconsequential. Yet another controversial Jabalpurean Rajnish, who rechristened himself as Osho, and suave spiritualist Jiddu Krishnamurthy got more fame in the West than they did in the country of their birth. The point is: We're all equally credulous when it comes to believing in such high or low profile spiritual gurus as per their appearances and utterances. A garish and gaudy Gurmeet Ram-Rahim could also have a huge fan-following and he still has many followers who deify him or one fancy motorcycle-borne articulate Sadguru, promoted and projected by one of India's leading English dailies, is popular among 'refined' and English-speaking gentry for which spirituality is a new-age drug to be popularised through bespoke spiritual sessions.

In his book, The evolution of god, the origins of our beliefs, the writer Robert Wright has lucidly explained the whole enchilada of gurus,babasand people's unquestioning faith in them. Pascal Boyer already descanted upon human credulity and our faith inbabasin his book, Religion explained: The evolutionary origins of religious thought (Basic Books, 2001). Both the neuro-scientists opine that human brain (not mind; mind is intangible and it doesn't exist) is genetically programmed to believing in supernatural and esoteric mumbo-jumbo. This is the outcome of thousands of years of uncertain existence in pre-historic era. Robert Wright writes, "A frightened brain is always vulnerable and a vulnerable brain is susceptible to unseen phenomena and thinks them to be supernatural. This susceptibility percolated down to 'modern' humans with slowly evolving brains. The unfortunately fatal combination of susceptibility and vulnerability engendered all types of religions, cults, gods and also godmen." Somewhere, even a believing brain knows that the idea of a god is intangible, unrelatable and even dubious, but brain works in the manner of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Willing Suspension of Disbelief' and finds some relatable alternatives for the very survival.

A godman is that earthly alternative for a celestial esoteric being that's perpetually beyond the reach of humans. In other words, he (guru) is what the doctor prescribed! We, therefore, invest all our energy, faith, reason and rationale in a godman or a god-woman in such an exhaustive manner that we're left with nothing. The very capacity to question gets weakened and it ebbs away eventually. Moreover, all these godmen and godwomen exhort their followers to follow them without a shred of doubt and misgiving. Until a few years ago, inscribed were the words at the entrance of Osho Commune in Pune: Please keep your mind out with your footwear! This unconditional submission acts as a stupor. Mind you, unquestioning submission is a sine qua non in the spiritual market all over the world. The brain gets doped and unable to discern. Sigmund Freud termed it 'Hypnotized Trance.' Got to say, a very apt term. Visit any commune or the so-calledsatsang(religious gathering), you get to see spellbound zombies in a state of trance. They call it ecstasy. But this euphoric ecstasy is simulated. Human brain thinks it to be real.

Harper and Moir of Kent University, England are of the view that a believing brain is invariably drawn to a guru,babaor godman. Because, a believing brain is a weak and timid brain. The submission to a godman is the submission to god, whom no one has seen. Neither will anyone ever see. The spiritually subservient nature of human brain causes us to tie our apron-strings. That's the reason, all gurus (good as well as bad) have been able to cast a spell on their followers and they (followers) too don't want to break that spell because that spell gives them a faux sense of security, serenity and stability. Furthermore, the pineal gland in the brain, which secrets melatonin, is linked to the God-Spot in the brain that gives us blissful feelings when we get to hear the recondite spiritual gibberish of all ' spiritual masters.' When they say, 'super-consciousness', 'transcendental reality', 'unalloyed unity' or 'universal synchronicity', we don't understand even a bit (neither do they), but these term give us a high like LSD's after-effect. The followers deliberately put their brains on the self-deception mode to be one with their gurus. After all,Mundus Vult Decipi(The world wants to be deceived) andHomo Vult Decipi; Decipiatur(Man wishes to be deceived; deceive him). Benjamin Franklin aptly said, "Who has deceived thee, as often as thyself?"

The writer is an advanced research scholar of Semitic languages, civilizations and cultures.

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The candid anatomy of belief in godmen - Free Press Journal

Are Above & Beyond pushing towards a higher bpm? While a large majority of their most recent label releases sit between 128-132 bpm, there seem to be hints that theyre thinking of speeding things up.

Ilan Bluestone opened up the 138 discussion with his debut of Hypnotized at ABGT 350, released under his Stoneblue alias. It is unclear whether these releases will be on Anjunabeats, or if another, more psy-trance-centric label will pick them up instead.

At the very least we know that Ilan let the cat out of the bag, with the discussion of 138 ongoing throughout November. Above & Beyonds Jono Grant joined the conversation last Thursday.

With that strong opinion in mind, lets look at what Jono had to say just four days later.

Is he serious? Is he trolling? The fact that the BPM is specifically 138.1 opposed to 138.0 could mean that he is joking around with his fans. Or perhaps the group has started experimenting with new ideas. Or perhaps Ilan Bluestone talked them into it.

For now it is unclear, but hopefully well find out soon. In the meantime, take a glance at Above & Beyonds Dreamstate 2019 tracklist, where they played nearly 12 classic songs from their discography. All 12 of these tracks range around 138 BPM, giving us hope for the future of faster speeds for the trance trio.

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Are Above & Beyond pushing into the 138 range of trance? - Dance Music Northwest

Going from dusk til dawn.

Chasers Nightclub is set to host a massive trance and house music night in December, complete with more than 15 acts playing throughout the night.

TR!P XL will take over three rooms in the nightclub, with one room covering hard trance and hardstyle classics, another devoted to standard trance tunes and the final one the home of house hits. Whats more, all sets will be played on vinyl.

Punters can expect sets from electronic legends S.H.O.K.K., Andy Golden, Miss Mel, Sgt Slick and plenty more. With the party winding up at 8am the next day, needless to say youll have to pace yourself throughout the night.

TR!P XL goes down Friday December 20 at Chasers Nightclub. Tickets are on sale now via Eventbrite.

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A huge trance and house music party is coming to Melbourne next month - Beat Magazine

On his personal Twitter account, Jono Grant of Above & Beyondaddressed one of the more popular debates in the trance community. While many purists believe that "real trance" is 138 BPM, Grant thinks the debate in and of itself is "ridiculous."

In his own words:

"The obsession with a single BPM number (138) is just ridiculous and misses the point. The first records we made together ranged from around 134 to 140. Yes a lot were at 138, but so what? Getting hot and sweaty specifically about 138 is proper face-palm material."

This led to many debates within the Above & Beyond fandom and trance community as a whole. Many different artists weighed in on his take, including the pioneer Ferry Corsten.

A few days later, he went on to post an image of an untitled track in production at 138.1 BPM seemingly as a joke based around the debate due to the inclusion of the additional 0.1.

Above & Beyond have released music across a range of BPMs. If Grant's tweet is any indication of the future, it doesn't seem like the trio will be too worried about their beats per minute.

H/T: We Rave You

Facebook: facebook.com/aboveandbeyondInstagram: instagram.com/aboveandbeyondTwitter: twitter.com/aboveandbeyondSoundCloud: soundcloud.com/aboveandbeyond

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Jono Grant of Above & Beyond Tells Producers to Stop Obsessing Over BPM - EDM.com

Relaxing is easier said than done for me.

After doing some research, I came across a trendy wellness treatment known as flotation therapy, which just might be the anxious girls saving grace. Lift/Next Level Floats in Brooklyn became the locale of my very first floating experience. Co-owner David Leventhalhands down the calmest person Ive ever mettold me what keeps his clients coming back. The salt contains magnesium sulfate, which can be absorbed through the skin, he explains. The benefits are so wide-ranging. It can help one deal with stress, insomnia and anxiety better. Psoriasis and eczema sufferers have told me that their skin looks and feels better. Most of us are deficient in magnesium, so in addition to taking it in the diet or through supplements, floating is a great way to top up your reserves.

Like anything new, the first 15 minutes of the 60-minute session felt awkward. I shifted and tried to find comfort in the pod, which was almost the width of a queen-size mattress. After about 20 minutes of stillness, the weightlessness of my body gradually put me in a trance. The real challenge is calming the mind. When youre cut off from sound, human contact and electronic devices for what seems like forever, youre left with your deepest thoughts. Dont worry about who you have to text back, I told myself. Eventually, I let my thoughts drift wherever they took me. To surrender is to win!

After 30 minutes of not moving a muscle, I felt completely hazyin the best possible way. I couldnt tell whether I was spinning around like a crazy carnival ride or floating completely still. The peak state of relaxation felt like the minutes right before you drift off to sleep. Pure bliss.The physical benefits of floating go hand in hand with the mental relief. Lying in a starfish pose against zero gravity took all tension off my shoulders and spine. As for my skin? It was glowing and supple, another plus. If youre looking for a wellness splurge that treats your mind, body and soul, flotation therapy just might be for you.

Know Before You Go

Beware of Braids: Each tank holds 1,000 pounds of saltwater. If youre wearing cornrows or box braids, getting the excess salt out of your hair will be difficult.

Nonswimmers Are Welcome: The saltwater will keep you buoyant. Protect your eyes! Its probably best to remove contact lenses before immersion.

Dont Shave: Epsom salt can irritate cuts in the skin; youll be less comfortable if you have a fresh shave.

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Black Girl Approved: I Tried Floatation Therapy and It Made Me A Believer - Essence

It can sometimes feel like streaming upstream when I click on one of the services I have, looking for something to watch. I almost put myself into a trance by clicking through one movie or television series after another, not finding anything that strikes my fancy.

When my wife sighs and gets up to pay the bills instead of being subjected to this light show, I know its time to stop and just put on the basketball or hockey game.

But every now and then we pluck a gem out of the stream. We did so recently with the BBC series Maigret. It stars Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean and Blackadder fame, two stalwarts that have always been popular in our house.

The fact that Rowan Atkinson has, like so many comedians, plunged into straight drama is no surprise that seems to be the inner desire of all comedians and the fall of just about as many, as they rarely seem to capture the same magic being serious as they do when they were just out for laughs.

Maigret is different, on so many levels. The series follows the exploits of Chief Police Inspector Jules Maigret, who lives and works in 1950s Paris. I have never read one of the Maigret books, written by Georges Simenon, but I found out there are about 75 of them.

These 90-minute mysteries are full of great set designs and costumes, and one can almost smell the mustiness of the faded wallpaper in some of the rooms. What I like most about the series is that Maigret is not a super sleuth. He is no savant like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

Though I have indulged in those books and movies as well, there is always going to be a disconnect, as no one can really be brilliant and super intelligent all the time. As someone who is never super intelligent, it was always a little hard to bond with those characters.

And when you get to other detective/mystery types, the hard-drinking and hard-living Raymond Chandler tough guys or the more modern versions like in the Harry Bosch series of books by Michael Connelly, they are fun to consume but not all that satisfying in the end.

Maigret is not like any of those other forms of the genre. He is not a master genius eccentric who plays the piccolo while recounting the second law of thermodynamics. He is just a solid, hard-working policeman who thinks a lot.

The character of Maigret does more thinking than talking in the series, which is strangely captivating.

Its almost as if you can hear the wheels turning in his head. But when the wheels turn, it isnt because he has deduced that the suspect is a left-handed tennis player with bad teeth because of the evidence he found on a chewing gum wrapper. Its because he has charged his team with running down possible leads until things start to come together, a lot like real police work.

Another quirk of this series that makes the character refreshingly different is his domestic life. From what Ive seen so far, the middle-aged character of Maigret lives in marital bliss with his middle-aged wife in a very compact and simple Parisian apartment.

No struggles with alcohol or drugs, and since Atkinson is playing the part, the thought of a femme fatale throwing herself at Maigret would not only be out of character, but out of the question.

Ironically, in a genre where the hero is almost always the anti-hero with the prerequisite issues, Atkinsons Maigret is happily married, loves his job, and in both episodes I have seen so far, cares deeply about the victims, those who are left behind in mayhems wake, and he is filled with an overwhelming sense of recuperative justice.

Not vengeance, just a need to set things as right as he possibly can given the limitations of his position as a chief police inspector and his talent and abilities. The crimes are not committed by super villains, but by everyday awful people, much like real police work.

In Atkinsons two great comedic endeavors, the aforementioned Mr. Bean and Blackadder, he played either a fool (a kind hearted one, sometimes in Mr. Bean) or despicable cad. In both he was brilliantly funny.

To play a thoughtful, caring, and almost plodding French policeman in the middle part of the last century is a triumph. Unless there are as unseen segments of this series where Maigret goes off the rails and leaves his wife or goes on a vicious crime spree of his own, I think this show will remain on our must-watch list.

The mysteries are good, the main character countercultural in his morality, and its an indulgence without guilt.

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Everyday morality and real police work in Maigret - Angelus News