Goa Trance

The term Goa Trance was first used in 1994 and changed in 1996 for Psy Trance. In the
beginning the terms Goa and Psychedelic became intermingled, with the full term being
Psychedelic Goa Trance, later as the sound progressed after 1998-1999 the term Goa was
used only in reference of the old pre-1999 sound and releases. According to Goa legend DJ
Chicago in an interview in mushroom magazine "... it started being known as both Goa
Trance and Psychedelic Trance somewhere in the mid 90s. As I remember they were
interchangeable". Psychedelic Trance, along with its sub-genres, was what inherited the
continuity of the Goa term. The first specific labels were Dragonfly Records that edited
the compilation Project II Trance & Underground French-Kommunication in August 1993. Then
a lot of "Goa" labels were founded in London: TIP, Platipus, Matsuri, Flying Rhino, Blue
Room Released, Bomm Records, Celtic Records, Sirius Records, Phantasm & Symbiosis Records.
This explosion of labels in London was possible after Paul Oakenfold gave legitimacy to
the Goa sound on « The Essential Mix », a popular Radio show on BBC Radio 1. Meanwhile in
Germany, Goa artists were diffused via classical Trance labels like Gaia Tonträger,
Tunnel Records, Polytox Records, Spirit Zone Recordings and Eye Q Records and the style
also became very popular in Israel with groups like Astral Projection and Infected
Mushroom. Lots of Goa Trance fans consider the 12" "Etnica Tribute" as a milestone of the
style. In 1998 the scene took another direction to become more dark & repetitive like
Techno. This style of "Goa Trance" became what is now considered modern Psy Trance.