Josh Wrote:
its human nature to catalog and categorize things. We do that so that we can organize things that are so different and diverse into something that is more easily understood, talked about and organized. We need adjectives to be able to describe things clearly. This is where we get sub genres from as well. Since words never really do music any kind of justice we have to be able to make attempts to describe something to someone else. If you're telling your friend about the track you wrote and they ask what does it sound like? You might use words like melodic, full on, progressive, dark, mental, glitchy, techy ect to give them the idea of what its like. If you're writing dark psy trance you dont want he person you're talking to thinking your music sounds like Barry Manilow. Since not all music sounds the same its only natural for there to be diversion in the words used to describe the infinite amount of styles there are. This is the reason people dont just say goa trance when it comes to describing the different styles.

My Reply:
But the true reason for this is because we are programmed to accept of not accept something by a name. This is why the term "progressive" is seeping it's way into even our genre. Progressive is a term coined by A&R people that implies that it is indeed "forward-thinking" in presentation when it actually is just taking time-tested fodder that ultimately sells records. So what if words don't (or can't) descibe the music. Music is best heard with no stipulations or prejudice.

Josh Wrote:
On another note there are only 2 styles of music. Good and bad. That is all that matters honestly. There is good and bad in every style in fact about 97% of any style of music is complete garbage and there only that 3% that is any good. We know what is good and bad to our ears regardless. There are styles that i do listen to more however i hear a lot of crap out there that i dont care for like anyone. So just know to yourself if something is either good or bad without caring so much what the categorized style is.

My Reply:
Who determines what is bad and good, really? I don't like the pop fodder of emo-punk because I feel it's a fake facsmilie of the angst punk of long ago. I feel it emulates the post punk, new wave sounds of The Smiths, Bauhaus, or Depeche Mode without the substance of true rebellion. But that's not to say that others don't consider it "good" music. My son, a musician as well, loves that stuff. Good and Bad is all a matter of perception.

Josh Wrote:
Genre wars are trite, lame and reminds me of highschool. I find it immature and typically those that are closed minded enough to do that have either:
a. only heard the 97% of the garbage in the said style they're slamming
b. haven't graduated to the point in music appreciation to understand that music is either good or bad regardless of the style.

My reply:
I couldn't agree with you more on this. Which is exactly why I feel that if people come into things with an idea that they know the music already by some bullshit category, it hurts the music as a whole. Hear no evil, see no evil.

Josh Wrote:
Now i dont rock out to polka in my mp3 player or my car at all really however im not going to say "polka sucks" either because i really haven't been exposed to enough of it to get to that slim 3% that i actually might really enjoy. I happen to enjoy something about all styles of music but even with some styles that ive been known to slam on such as post 2000 hip hop that gets played on the radio...i find most of it rubbish however I know there is a lot of new hip hop out there that i dont get exposed to and its probably just part of the slim 3 percent. That goes with everything. (plus it was better in the 90s imho hehehe)

My Reply:
And you're entitled to that. But if a friend of yours busted out with a polka cd of his music, would you discredit it because it's "not your thing". Funny you mention polka because if you listen to alot of Hard House (especially latino hard house), you hear the "ooompah" of polka beats. The point is to not to discredit ANY music based on a title.

Josh Wrote:
from being a producer i can tell you it gets boring the write the same style all the time. Things change your life changes your music changes. That is just how life is. We shouldnt expect it to always be the same either and when it happens someone will find another word to describe the different music that you're writing. Go with your heart. Dont worry about trying to to conform to people or the elitist bastards that will try and shackle your creative abilities to their will. Keep doing what you're doing if it gets you excited and the dance floors that you unleash your frequencies upon.

My Reply:
I can completely relate to this. And with this, you have probably been under scrutiny yourself. People not liking your music because it's nothing they've heard before.

hmm...good points.
I agree that music is either good or bad.
But there is also a big deciding factor of choice.

One does not, and realistically cannot, like all good music just because it's good...and "good" itself is a personal opinion. You may think Marilyn Manson sucks but clearly 20 million fans have another opinion. So, good/bad is very subjective.

Personally, I know there is good dark-trance but also know there is a time and place for it, just like for full-on. But judging by the "number of artists"/quality ratio being so high, I always feel that a dark trance party would most probably be boring...and my experience proves it. Note: This is all a personal opinion. I know people who absolutely love those parties and all power to them.

Also, remember many parties are a scene, with scenesters hanging out and wearing their best gear and focussing on drugs and booty more than the music.
Anyway, I digress...
To come back to DD's point, psytrance music should somehow converge and there should be some kind of flow across sub-genres in a party where the right music is played at the right time. Many visionary organizers do that already. Symbiosis was a good example.