The Goat Ranch Retires

The Goat Ranch bids farewell to all of its wonderful supporters and participants.

Hello my friends, Marsh here. It is with bittersweet emotion that I tell you that as of today, 27 April 2015, the Goat Ranch will be ceasing operation and entering stasis. It’s been an absolutely wonderful 7 years of old-school Goa fun, but it’s time that the goats were put to out pasture and this old ranch hand kicks back in his rocking chair with some sippin’ whiskey and reflects on life, love, and psychedelic dance music.

Short Version

The Goat Ranch will no longer operate in its current form. The website will be preserved in its current state and all of the mixes will remain available as long as there is an Internet. Nothing bad or scary has caused this to occur, it’s just run its course and it’s time for the next chapter, whatever that may be. You can still follow the Goat Ranch on Facebook with your hosts Twinpa and Astral Fairy.

Long Version

Initially, my intention for the Goat Ranch was merely to be a place to share my own mixes. It quickly morphed, however, into a one-stop-shop for old-school Goa trance news and mixes from DJs from around the world, hosting a contest and a series of virtual parties streamed “live” on Digitally Imported’s Goa-Psy channel, and a monthly radio show also on DI.

When the Ranch started, the old-school Goa trance scene at the time was nowhere near as vibrant as it is today, and even Soundcloud and Mixcloud were but hardly known fledgling operations still in their infancy. The practice of remastering and releasing old-school tracks hadn’t yet taken off, and even DAT Records had yet to put out its first CD, Crop Circles – Tetrahedron.

Fast forward to today, and here in 2015 we have DAT Records, Zion 604, Suntrip, and Anjuna Records all regularly releasing old-school artist albums and compilations. GoaRadio streams old-school Goa, artists from the golden years have started playing retro sets at parties and festivals, Soundcloud and Mixcloud are rife with killer mixes from DJs new and old, and there are untold number of Facebook pages and groups devoted to mid-nineties Goa trance. In short, far from dying, the classic sound is alive and well, and I am happy to think that the Goat Ranch played perhaps even a small part in keeping the vibe alive.

In a sense, you could say “Mission accomplished!” But it is important to note that the mission would not have been successful were it not for all of the Goat Ranch listeners, DJs, and other contributors over the years that really helped make it the destination it became. For this I wish to extend a sincere thank you to everyone that contributed, commented, chatted, and followed along over the years.

Having been on this planet long enough to know better than to say “Never!” to anything, I cannot promise an eternal shutdown of the Ranch, but for now I feel it best to lay low and let the multitude of fresh and energetic voices carry the retro torch forward. Rather than become yet another slow-fade burnout site that becomes a dim shadow of its former self without any closure, let’s end on a high note and say…

Goodbye for now!

Thank you, everyone, it’s truly been a blast.

–Marsh