Forest Psy
Psy · 1997 · 145 to 155 BPM · also known as Forest, Forestpsy
Forest psy is the undergrowth of psytrance: dark but organic where darkpsy is digital and aggressive. It emerged at the turn of the 2000s around the Scandinavia-Copenhagen axis and the Parvati Records label, with Derango as a founding act. Its sound is a round, woody bass, textures that teem like leaf litter on a forest floor, humid night-time atmospheres and almost no melody, only a constant swarm of small details. It is danced barefoot in the mud, ideally among trees. The scene is global today, stretching from the Balkans to India, and remains fiercely underground despite its wide reach.
6 reference tracks
- Battle of the Future Buddhas: Twin Sharkfins (1997)
- Fungus Funk: Total Confusion (2003)
- Derango: Deranged (2005)
- Derango: Confusion Is Next (2005)
- Psykovsky: Sunya (2006)
- Hux Flux: Cortex (1999)
At a glance
- Tempo: 145 to 155 BPM
- First appeared: around 1997
- Machines: Granulateur, Ableton Live, Native Instruments Absynth, Enregistreur de terrain
- The sound: Basse ronde boisée, Granulateurs et textures de terrain, Delays organiques, Percussions acoustiques échantillonnées, Réverbérations de sous-bois
- Labels: Parvati Records, Forestdelic Records, Occulta Records, Fullmoon Records, Sangoma Records, Inpsyde Media
- Key artists: Derango, Ka-Sol, Atriohm, Fungus Funk, Kerlivin, Ajja (frange)
Producing Forest Psy
Forest psy sits at 148 to 152 BPM, a touch slower than darkpsy, on a straight grid, but let sampled percussion keep its natural imprecision and add a light swing on percussion only. Instead of building toward a drop, the track should swarm, 16-bar cycles overlaid with textures looping on odd lengths of 5, 7 or 9 bars so nothing repeats identically. The kick is warmer than darkpsy's, tuned to 55 to 60 Hz with a longer body and less click, joined by a wood-sampled snare, shakers and sliced acoustic percussion in varied sixteenths. The bass strips out acid distortion: a heavily filtered triangle or saw with gentle tube saturation, rolling in sixteenths with slightly longer, softer notes rooted in F or E. Field recordings through a granular sampler finish a sound built from almost no melody.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Forest Psy?
Forest psy is the undergrowth of psytrance: dark but organic where darkpsy is digital and aggressive. It emerged at the turn of the 2000s around the Scandinavia-Copenhagen axis and the Parvati Records label, with Derango as a founding act. Its sound is a round, woody bass, textures that teem like…
What tempo is Forest Psy played at?
Between 145 and 155 BPM.
Who are the key Forest Psy artists?
Derango, Ka-Sol, Atriohm, Fungus Funk, Kerlivin, Ajja (frange).
