Still booming in Belgium

Music-wise, the Belgian scene is blossoming more than ever. Bitkit is soon to release his debut album “Tetrakys” on Kairoo Records and Neo-Oldschool label Suntrip Records has just released “V/A - Twist Dreams”. On the more contemporary side of Full-on, Digicult’s DJ Nemesis released “Orientation Vol 2” on Dacru Records whilst Belgian duos Ephedrix and Whicked Hayo are becoming increasingly well known on the international scene with regular appearances abroad.

After the witch-hunt 2 years ago, police attention seems to have finally died down. However parties often end earlier than they used to (8-9 am), just so organisers can get hold of a decent, legal location. Throwing an open air party is even harder and we currently have only one big Psy festival left, Rhakti Dei, which is why you’re likely to meet Belgian people at every large European festival.

While massive productions with 1000+ people are less common, the total number of parties is actually on the rise! Belgium is a very small country, but sometimes we have as many as 5 in one weekend, all focusing on their particular style. Organisations like Back-to-basics and Kairoo bring us the big Full-on names while Femina Mandragora does the same for the dark side. Smaller, but longer lasting party crews include Smiley Tribe, Dacru, Madhatter and Eargasm (Psy and Prog), Mystical Druids and Psylence (Dark) and Lysergic Asylum (Suomi). And after a long absence, old timers “Merry Melodies” are set to make a comeback in 2007 with some huge events that should boost the Belgian scene even further.

However, most of our parties are one-offs for special occasions or set up by friends who join forces to bring their favourite artists to Belgium, some are even just by DJs who want to throw a party and play themselves. At a lot of these parties the preferred style is Oldschool Goa Trance. Ironically, Oldschool parties are mainly popular with the younger crowd, who weren’t even around when this music first came out. Most of the remaining veterans have actually grown to appreciate more progressive styles of trance. Because of this, more and more promoters are booking bigger progressive acts again and Purple Snow are one of the organisations leading the way. And although we don’t have any deco-teams that work abroad, our own deco-artists like Lunatrix, Xibalz and Paradox make sure our parties remain colourful & amazing. Check out Psygarden.be for deco & party galleries!

Should you come to Belgium then Antwerp, Ghent & Hasselt are the places to be, as most parties take place in or near to these cities. Sadly there is no longer a strictly psy-club, however a definite hot-spot is the Kairoo Record Shop in Antwerp, where you can pick-up music & flyers or just get ready for the weekend at the Thursday Late Night Specials.

The future looks promising for Belgian Psytrance and I’m sure that our scene will continue to grow & evolve in all directions and across all styles of the Trance spectrum.