Progressive Nation – interview with Liquid Soul & Ace Ventura

We are super happy to host for an interview again two of our favourite Psytrance artists – Ace Ventura & Liquid Soul. And the occasion is a happy one – their Psy-Nation brand, that is in charge of the longest running steady Psytrance podcast in the last years, releases a first exclusive compilation compiled by the duo – Progressive Nation – on Iboga Records.

Listen to Progressive Nation full album playlist while you read:

Q: Double celebration in Psy-Nation: 2 years on the air and a new compilation of exclusive tracks – Progressive Nation. Let’s start with the later – Tell us a bit about the compilation, what can people expect to find inside?

Capo: The compilation is a digital release featuring 10 exclusive tracks from a great selection of artists – Genetrick, Gaudium, Ticon, Animato, Phanatic, Starlab, Suduaya, Egorythmia, Interactive noise, Protonica, Shanti V Deedrah, MVMB and Phaxe – and features remixes of Ace Ventura, Liquid soul, Perfect Stranger, X-Dream and S.U.N project. As the title suggests, we focus only on Progressive music, Some of it more pumping, some more technoish, but all groovy and truly progressive.

It’s no secret that nowadays, most of what is labeled as Progressive Trance is anything but progressive…. A lot of people who talk about Progressive Trance these days are not even aware of the roots of this genre that has been around for two decades!

Q: It seems that in the last years “progressive” & “prog” became a sort of a curse word among many psytrancers, following the move of some producers into realms of almost commercial EDM. You two are among the pioneers of Progressive Trance, and in this compilation we feel you are going back a bit to the roots of the genre. What’s your take on all that?

Yoni: It’s no secret that nowadays, most of what is labeled as Progressive Trance is anything but progressive. The genre has seen better times… Like always it comes in waves and circles, and surely we will see better days with greater variety and innovation, but as you said – At the moment a lot of producers are aiming for EDM style or ‘Pop psy’. Most of these tracks are very well produced, but are terribly un-psychedelic, so it feels wrong to label it as Psytrance or progressive, but people still do and that’s problematic. A lot of people who talk about Progressive Trance these days are not even aware of the roots of this genre that has been around for two decades!

Capo: As for this compilation, it was important for us to stay true to ourselves, to stand behind the title PROGRESSIVE NATION and to keep on presenting the pure progressive sound . We hope you will all love it as much as we do.

Progressive Nation - compiled by Ace Ventura & Liquid Soul - Psy-Nation

Get or Stream Progressive Nation: https://artist-links.lnk.to/PsyProgressiveNationFP

Q: You have released two “best of” compilations, which like the radio show were very varied in style, and gave space to many directions in our music. This is the first original/exclusive music compilation. Can we expect more original compilations and will they go in different directions as well?

Capo: Yes you can ! This is the beginning of the ‘Nation’ series – Progressive Nation will be followed by PSYCHEDELIC NATION on Future Music Records, and CHILLOUT NATION on Sofa Beats, both in 2020, and as you can guess from the titles – They will focus on faster full-on and Psychedelic Trance, and Downtempo and Chill Out respectively.

Q: The graphic side of things in Psy-Nation is very present – in shows, events, covers and videos – tell us a bit about it?

Yoni: Visuals go hand in hand with audio and it was always important for us to have a strong presentation alongside the music. We are lucky to be surrounded by a lot of talented individuals who always complete our vision in the best way possible.

Psy-Nation Event in Denmark. Stage design by Hackstage, visuals & mapping by Global Illumination.

For the party visual side, we wanted an organic feel of a harmony with nature. David Vigh from Global Illumination in Hungary has been connected to us and to this concept from day one, providing his amazing visuals for our Youtube channel as well as VJing and Mapping some of the Psynation events. And Onam Yahav from Israel, has been doing a great job with the graphics for all our social media from the beginning, with a lot of imagination and constant innovation.

Q: Two years running with a monthly radio show dedicated to Psytrance. No one really did that before in our culture. How does it feel so far? Is it like what you imagines?

Capo: It feels great to already have 24 episodes under our belts. When we started we had no idea how people would react to a hosted Psytrance podcast, but by now we feel that there is already an established fan base for the show, and that it’s growing everyday.

This is the beginning of the ‘Nation’ series – Progressive Nation will be followed by PSYCHEDELIC NATION on Future Music Records, and CHILLOUT NATION on Sofa Beats, both in 2020

Q: What’s the difficulties of running the shows? What are the fun parts? Any cool surprises or anecdotes you can share?

Yoni: The main difficulty is time. It takes time to record the show, select the music, handle the interviews, graphics and logistics for each episode. And time is not something we both have much of these days. Yet in these two years we found our groove and the best way to make the show work, and now it’s flowing pretty well. We always have fun in the studio, and that part of the show never feels like a chore, but fun to make. Sometime we laugh a lot, as seen in the SO CAPO video that went a little viral and made lots of people laugh too – We hope for many moments like that one this year.

Q: Who would you like to host on the show and still didn’t get a chance to?

Capo: Luckily the scene is big and strong, with many artists, labels and interesting personas, so there is no shortage on that front. The list is way too huge to mention but we don’t expect a problem on that front….

Q: Last year there was a huge first Psy-Nation event in Denmark and few more collaborative events – any news on that front? Can we expect more Psy-Nation events?

Yoni: Yes you can. We had some really good parties so far, and this is a good chance to thank all involved, especially Iboga Records and FM Booking, as well as all the local promoters. We already have three events confirmed for 2020 and there might be a few more. You will have to stay tuned to find out where !

Q: And to end it Progressive – what is your ultimate classic Progressive Trance track?

Yoni: Since we are two we will go for two tracks each !
Atmos – Klein aber Doctor & FREq – Short Life Again.