To get to the root of Israel’s psy scene, one must first travel more than 2,600 miles southeast, to India. In the late ’80s, it became popular for young Israelis, freshly released from their mandatory military service in the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF], to backpack to Goa and its fabled Baga and Anjuna beaches. The living was cheap and the atmosphere was heady, fueled by marathon beach parties, psychedelics and Goa trance. One of the scene’s founders and best-known DJs was Goa Gil, a California expat who relocated to India, grew dreads, subscribed to Hinduism and played all-night seaside dance parties imbued with a sense of Eastern mysticism. Many backpackers stayed for months. Some stayed for life.

“There were no flyers [in Goa] and no one knew the lineup or even where the party would happen,” says longstanding Israeli psy producer Yuli Fershtat, who performs as Perfect Stranger. He spent two months in 1993 after serving in the IDF. “You just had to stop your motorbike, listen and go after the sound of the doof doof doof.”

“In Goa it was very underground, very tribal,” agrees Barak Argaman, who performs as one half of Israeli psy acts X-Noize and Major7. “For me it was all a new experience. It made me feel things I had never felt before.”