Goat Ranch DJs
Here you will find information about the resident DJs here at the Goat Ranch. Besides the guest DJ mixes that appear from time to time, our residents share their creations with us on a semi-regular basis. Usually more “semi” than “regular”, but you get the idea. 
Jim Appleton
Hailing from the UK, Jim has been a long-time supporter and regular contributor here at Ranch. His mixing skills are exemplary, both in technical and artistic terms. With his ear for track flow and his technical skills yielding transitions I could only dream about as a vinyl DJ — not to mention the fact that he’s simply a damn fine human being — I was honored when he agreed to be the first resident DJ here at the Ranch.
Here’s a little about Jim straight from the goat’s mouth:
Goat Ranch: Who (or what) is Jim?
Jim: Ha ha, ‘what’ is Jim? That question has arisen many a time. Who I am is just a regular old party head with a love for psychedelic.
Goat Ranch: Why old-school Goa and psychedelic trance?
Jim: No other music reaches the parts that psychedelic does. It was a natural progression towards it I guess. Parties here in the UK in the early 90′s confirmed my connection to trance.
Goat Ranch: What medium(s) do you use when you DJ? Vinyl, CD, laptop, stone tablets?
Jim: I learned to mix with vinyl. Stone tablets were far too heavy, and CD decks weren’t that readily available back then. My collection was a mixture of both mediums at the time but mostly vinyl. I eventually went digital and moved over to CD decks around 2002, and I continue to use them now, alongside my resurrected turntables.
Goat Ranch: If you were stranded on a desert island — equipped with a huge sound system powered by ancient alien technology, of course — which 5 records or CD’s would you want with you?
Jim: This is quite a difficult question in that I would probably wish to play all my music on this wondrous system. However, my immediate thoughts might be to want to test these great CDs:
- Various – Pure Goa – A Psychedelic Trip (Total Recall:SPV 087-59582)
- Various – Eclipse – A Journey Of Permanence & Impermanence (Twisted Records:TWSCD3)
- Various – Order Odonata Vol. 1 (Dragonfly Records:BFLCD 13)
- Various – Retrodelica – Back From The Future (Flying Rhino Records:AFR CD 4)
- Space Tribe – Sonic Mandala (Spirit Zone Recordings:SPIRIT ZONE 017)
Marsh
Love at first sight. Without hesitation or doubt, this is how I can describe my first exposure to Goa trance.
It was at an outdoor party called “Mother Earth” thrown in the woods of the Pacific Northwest of the United States — spring 1997, I believe — that I first heard this sound issuing forth from the speaker stacks. Techno, drum-and-bass, and house also were played that night, but only the music spun by a DJ named Sogon coaxed my body into some semblance of movement resembling “dancing”, an activity I’d honestly never before engaged in willingly. This sound had everything I’d ever wanted in a music form: psychedelia, complexity, energy, melody without cheese, and layer-upon-layer of chewy synthesizer tweaking.
After Sogon finished his set, I caught up with him at the fire pit and told him that while I didn’t know what he was playing, it was perfect, and thanked him for a great set. He replied:
“Psychedelic trance…Goa trance…that’s where it’s at, man.”
To me, those words are still as right today as they were then.
