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The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is located in Northwestern Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands is often called Holland, which is formally incorrect as North and South Holland are merely two of its twelve provinces. The word Dutch is used to refer to the people, the language, and anything appertaining to the Netherlands.

History

Although the scene in The Netherlands is as old as psy-trance itself, it has been keeping itself to its shores. Psy-trance in the Netherlands has been spreading its wings for a very long time. It began at the Ruigoord, the squatted village that later became legalized. This pioneering era was also felt in the club Trance Buda, where local DJs hosted regular nights. Meanwhile, psy-trance was also morphing into an underground scene while the old squat the Silo pumped wild psychedelic parties in its basement.

With the closing of the Silo, the scene moved to the Elf, the squatted embassy of Belgium that for three years became the glowing light of psychedelic trance. Housing up to 300 seasonal members and many travellers from everywhere in the world, the Elf made an impressive imprint in the Dutch psy-trance and opened it for international trancers, bringing the very spirit of Goa to the Netherlands.

[2009] From tolerance heaven to a land of rules, and the beat goes on in the NETHERLANDS

written by Back to Mars

Psytrance in The Netherlands was born underground in the Ruigoord and developed in clubs like the Mazzo, 114 and Trance Buddha. These were the well missed psychedelic golden days, that culminated in the parties of The Silo and The Elf, both squats that had a huge influence in the scene.

When these legendary clubs stopped doing psy nights and large squat parties became less possible due to political rules, organizations found a solution by making parties in commercial clubs. Some adopted the idea of mixing different styles of music to attract more people and cover the higher costs. So now it is common to have a psychedelic floor and a D&B, techno or minimal floor in the same night. This may keep Psytrance alive, but commercializes the scene and some say it made it loose its charm.

The warmer dutch days usually bring illegal outdoor parties and some can be quite well produced. Legal parties, on the other hand, are hard to pull off. Too many rules and a small public make it too risky for organizations. We saw this happen in 2008 with the Day Trip festival in Amsterdam, which had a good line-up and excellent organization, but was not very busy.

Adding to the growing list of rules are the prohibitions of mushrooms and tobacco. Still people are adapting as they get used to smoke-free places and you can, after all, enjoy psychedelic truffles since these remain legal. On the other hand, the dutch government may yet pass another rule where organizations become responsible for any drug taking at their parties and that can be serious.

But regardless of the increasing political pressure to control entertainment, underground indoor and outdoor parties are again flourishing and club nights keep going on. We also have the Ruigoord Summer Solstice and the open air Queensday celebration from Bom Voyage on 30 April, which is still the psychedelic event of the year.

And to top it up, the creativity of the scene keeps growing as talented dutch producers put this little country into the world spot. More artists are releasing their tracks on top labels, as Zen Mechanics, Bassid, Pradox, Kurofusion, Fitalic, Aerophobia, SQL, Liftshift, Jocid, Mad Contrabender and Supergroover. We also have a psychedelic online label: Cytopia Records, where you can buy tracks and even download free music.

So this is The Netherlands in 2009: while tolerance is flying out of the window and commercialization of the music and the scene have been pushing Psytrance around, it still manages to survive in the heart of the underground movement, organizers and producers. And although the government is trying to regulate, cut and flatten out alternative forms of expression, the spirit of the scene goes on...