Psytrance Capital
How Israel became, within a single decade, one of the world's great centers of psychedelic trance music.
From Goa to Israel
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, backpacking in Goa, India became a rite of passage for many young Israelis right after their military service. On the beaches of Anjuna and Vagator, in endless beach parties led in part by the legendary DJ Goa Gil, they were exposed to a new sound: Goa trance, a blend of acid house, techno and Eastern influences.
Thousands of Israelis came home with that sound in their heads, and rather than simply importing it, they pushed it further.
The Birth of Psytrance
In Israel, Goa trance evolved into psychedelic trance (psytrance): the same hypnotic, fast beat, but layered with cosmic, otherworldly, melodic textures above it. Israel is also considered a pioneer of the Nitzhonot subgenre, an especially melodic and energetic strain, and became a major worldwide hub of the genre.
Astral Projection
The Tel Aviv duo Avi Nissim and Lior Perlmutter is the name most identified with Israeli Goa trance. They began in the late 1980s under the name SFX, and became Astral Projection in the early-to-mid 1990s.
Through their label, Trust in Trance, and under the Phonokol company, they released hits such as Mahadeva, People Can Fly and Kabalah, and albums like The Astral Files (1996) and Dancing Galaxy (1997), which climbed international charts and brought Goa trance to a wide audience outside Israel.
The Labels That Built the Scene
Phonokol, led by Oren Kristal, was among the first to bring psytrance to an established label and handle its distribution. Trust in Trance Records, which grew out of the Outmosphere label run by members of Astral Projection, became the home of the Israeli scene.
Later came a collaboration with the British label TIP Records, run by Raja Ram. In parallel, Paul Oakenfold, with his famous Goa Mix, helped spread the sound to Britain and the world, connecting the Israeli scene to the international stage.
Forests, Beaches and Desert
Alongside the rave explosion in Britain and the United States, 1990s Israel saw dozens of illegal psytrance parties every weekend, in forests, on beaches and in the desert. The atmosphere was ecstatic, barefoot and at times spiritual.
When the police raided, DJs were sometimes arrested and sound systems confiscated. It was a full-blown counterculture, and it laid the foundations for the Israeli trance industry that continues to flourish today.