Czech Republic

The Czech Republic (Czech: Česká republika), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague (Czech: Praha). The country is composed of the historic regions of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as parts of Silesia. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO, since 1999 and the European Union, since 2004. As of 1 January 2009, the Czech Republic holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

History

The beginnings of the Czech trance scene can to be traced back to the late ‘90s, however it had to wait until the year 2000 for its introduction to the wider community. A group called Hedonix organised a series of parties that managed to attract a large crowd and present this new phenomenon to electronic music fans from across the different styles. Soon we had a chance to hear some of the big international DJs and live acts and the core of the Czech psy community was formed.

[2009] New and different experiences in the CZECH REPUBLIC

written by Slater & Mim

The convenient position in the heart of European continent makes Czech Republic perfect destination for all psy-travellers. However, in the world of trance music our country has never played so important role – and let's be honest, trancers from abroad often do not know much about what is exactly going on here. So, how is the trance scene in the Czech Republic nowadays?

These lines are being written during cold, dark winter days when the only choice for trance music lovers is to go out partying to clubs. The most popular venue for this kind of music is undoubtedly Prague's Cross Club, undergroud yet very stylish place with amazing decos and crazy installations. The regular events include Wednesdays' free-entrance Biocross parties as well as Labyrinth of Mind, L'Oxy Cross and Sharp Blaze on weekends. Once per three months you can hear some international psytrance act in Roxy, the biggest club for electronic music in Prague, and often you can also visit small psy events at Styx club. If you happen to be in the area of Ostrava, you might want to check out some of the full-on parties made by Planet Blue or Surface Tension. In the North of the country (Usti n/Labem) Batha DJs are also running several regular club events.

The peak of the year is, however, when the open air season finally starts. The traditional opening is party organized by HedoniX crew on Valpurgia's night (April 30th), always followed in May by legendary festival organized by VJ PerpleX and his friends – the name is being changed every year but you can count with the fact that letters BIO will be part of it in any case. Another popular events with international guests are Mystical Ritual (June) and Mysticky Les (August) produced by Mystical Waves crew. Last but not least after one year break Taranis festival is back this July with Atmos live as a headliner. Some things have all the above mentioned events in common – cheap entrance fees (usually 10-25 EUR), fair prices on bar (beer usually does not cost more than 1 EUR!) and most importantly very cozy, family-like atmosphere (300-600 visitors in average).

Besides variety of DJs, VJs and party promoters there are also several artists focused on music production. On the darker, harder side of the psytrance music spectrum is to be found Gappeq, who has recently released his debut album on Wirikuta Recordings, as well as Fractal, promising talent from the city of Ostrava. The most acclaimed progressive oriented producers are Roman Rai and Nipp, focusing mainly on melodic, clubby sounds. Czech Republic is also a home for a few internationally well-known record labels – progressive imprint Tribal Vision Records, minimal/tech-house oriented Beef Records and morning full-on label Oxygen Records.

In general Czech Republic could be easily recommended for those psy-travellers who are not really looking just for fat line-ups and huge crowds, but prefere to try out some new and different experience. Cheap prices, liberal attitude towards soft drugs and friendly people might be only some of the reasons why to give a shot to some of the local events.

Tell us more about CZECH REPUBLIC 2011

Support your local scene and let us know about it. Please write in the third person and take a neutral point-of-view. An article about a country should contain the following things:

history of the scene
overview about the upcoming year
parties
artists (acts, decorators, VJs & DJs)
labels
shops (music, deco, fashion, chillin and clubing)
other organisations (publications: radio, TV, print)
facts:

average price for a party,

average price for water/beer,

how many parties a week,

how long is a party in average,

how big are the big and the medium sized parties,

when is the best time to come by?

legal situation on drugs

contacts and addresses (links)

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Facts

Be sure to visit the capital Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe
Pretty cheap country, especially alcohol prices are incredibly low compared to Western countries
The currency is Czech Koruna (no euros yet!)
Although drugs are illegal, smoking weed is more or less tolerated and you should not have any problems with joint in clubs.

Links

Before you add a link to our site please read the guideline: Help:Links

Networks

Psytrance CZ Main Czech psy portal

Parties

Please just post links to organizers and party crews here! If you want to post a Party date please register at our party database: http://www.goabase.com and post your date and details there, your party will automatically be displayed in the party box in the right column!

VIBE Festival
BIO
Kruh
Mysticky-les
djmim.net/Sharpblaze
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