[DeathPosture]

Psyfactor – Endless Universe



Cover: front + back

Artist: Psyfactor (Russia)
Title: Endless Universe
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: Ajana Records (Germany)
Cat. #: AJACD004
Distribution: Arabesque
Date: 27 March 2006

Track listing:

01. 07’58” Eye’s Reflecting Universe
02. 09’20” Walk On The Milky Way
03. 08’22” Synergy
04. 08’18” Freefalling Upwards
05. 10’04” Early Morning
06. 08’24” Underwater
07. 09’25” Molecular Design
08. 06’45” Venus Seven
09. 08’22” Steps Leaving (Dedicated to Zoolod)

.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/zluo5 (all tracks!)

Review:

Stale...

Dmitri Korablin from Russia is best known for his ventures into darkish, nocturnal psytrance – most notably presented on his debut album Evil Inside released on Trishula Records in medio 2005… An album that really surprised me positively… Later on Dmitri also ventured into psychedelic downbeat with his track on the 2005 Ajana compilation A Magical Journey – and to be honest, I liked his party-music better than his dark downbeat experimentation… But he got a taste for it – and decided to make a full album in that style… So let’s check it out!

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Eye’s Reflecting Universe
First up is a highly digitized piece of evil ambient… Synth voyages drifting back and forth in outer space accompanied by some twiddling FX and digital trickery… Not much is going on, and as far as beatless ambient is concerned I’ve heard much better than this… There are neat moments for sure, but generally I’m not a fan of this kind of eventless and hollow type of music… ;o/

#02: Walk On The Milky Way
The next track continues where the previous left off – but we’re soon leaving the cold recesses of outer space and we’re back on Earth with some digital birds and waterfalls… The nice ambience is shattered by static distortion and a heavily filtered, sequenced bass-like sound… Nice! Oh yeah, this is much cooler than the previous track… Darkish, nocturnal downbeat… Neat!

#03: Synergy
As the first part of the previous track, this track has somewhat of a more upbeat nature… It’s still chilled, but there are faster parts here… Sharp, highly digital electro stabs make out the percussion in the first part of the track – and there’s even a bassline here, albeit it’s pretty laidback… This is not bad at all – but it’s not revolutionizing either… A ‘beh’ track…

#04: Freefalling Upwards
The first part of this track is dominated by some old school synths – analogue I think… Anyway, it’s not until halfway thru that anything interesting happens – and by then it’s too late… Kinda! Hmm… Yeah, as the previous tracks this sure has interesting moments (like the IDM and breakz) but as a whole I’m just not too impressed…

#05: Early Morning
Halfway thru the album we encounter the longest track – which intro sends a few friendly nods to Ultimae stuff… Beatless ambient at first, but eventually the track unfolds into a hectic, almost dream-trance like piece of music… In that regard, I think the story telling works better here than in some of the previous tracks – and this is pretty nice. Not amazing, but nice…

#06: Underwater
The title hints at water, and I guess with a vivid imagination those digital drops can be perceived as watery – but besides from that, there’s not too much going on here… It’s extremely digital downbeat music which could really benefit from some more organic sounding elements… This kind of stuff bores me too easily…

#07: Molecular Design
Luckily the next track is funkier – and this is a weird hybrid of laidback progressive grooves and upbeat beats, breakz and trance… Finally some edge… and it’s trippy too! Seems like the most well-produced and best thought-out track here… Nicey nice!

#08: Venus Seven
Sadly the next track doesn’t continue the same trippy style… This is mostly numb, sterile, clinically digital synth lines which eventually are accompanied by some beats… Looks pretty good in writing, but in reality it’s painstakingly predictable and… Yawn, boring!

#09: Steps Leaving (Dedicated to Zoolod)
The last track is dedicated to Dmitri’s fellow country man Viktor Zolotarenko (Zoolod from Parasense) who died on January 4th 2006… A beautiful thought – but sadly the track is nothing out of the ordinary… It’s the same bunch of melancholy synth melodies and mediocre digital FX… Yawn!

Hmm… I wanted to like this album…I really did! I tried and I tried, and then I tried some more. I’ve spun this album over and over again, but despite the repeated attempts I never really got into it… Sure, there are a couple of decent tracks here, but in total it’s mediocre at best. What a shame!

The endless stream of predictable synth lines gets boring real fast, and sadly the decent moments are too scarce… This album could really benefit from some more organic, acoustic bits – and some more… Soul! In short: Psyfactor should stick to making dance music…

The cover art is pretty dull too and once again Ajana excels in having track list errors. The Back-cover only lists 8 tracks, abandoning tracks #6+7 and includes a mislabelled track called Useless Planets. Is it that hard to proof read stuff before going into print? I’m sorry to say this, but this is the worst Ajana release thus far… But I do not despair, as the upcoming A Magical Journey 2 tracklist looks pretty tasty… This one however, was a disappointment as the few nice bits totally drown in the vast, endless universe of fluff… Come again!

Favourites: 2, 7

DeathPosture


External links:
Ajana Records: http://www.ajana-records.com
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/652456
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/ebmmt
TranceShop: http://tinyurl.com/htd7x
Amboworld: http://tinyurl.com/f7szu
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/zpj3y
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/zawlh
Ajuca: http://tinyurl.com/k3bdj
Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/j75hz
Juno: http://tinyurl.com/ezwdl

[Jeller]

what a dissappointment

when i saw Psyfactor had a new album i was excited, but then i saw it was downtempo and accordign to your review it isn't that special.. well mayb ill download and see what it gives

[NT]

wow, this is the first 'not so positive' review by DeathPosture! good job! Anyway i'm still curious about it... think this is one of those albums you either hate or love...

[Jon Cocco]

It's cool to see Psyfactor releasing something different, ambient/downtempo.

I think Psyfactor has some very good idea's, melodies, and some good execution. Unfortunately I find many of the songs don't seem all that interesting or as catchy as FEW others. There are two songs I really like here...those being tracks 2 and 7. I wish he made more songs like that....an entire album of great ambient/trance. (!)

Tracks I also like are 3, 5.

Anyway, I like songs with more feeling and [usually] more of a kick, melodies, dynamics, which is what track 2 and 7 provides.

Track 4 is too repetitive and uninteresting sounding to me. I don't find the beat and melody good.

Track 6 has more feeling which I like...but once these same sounds and melodies repeat I lose interest. It's TOO REPETITIVE. More work and time needs to be put into making it more dynamic, layered, moody, catchy.

Track 7 I really like. The music slows down.. interesting. Where will this go I wonder. The sounds are nice, unique...the melodies are catchy and the beat and other layers support them very well. Can Psyfactor make more tracks like this one? This is good and I'd totally buy his album if there were more songs as good as this one or better. That would be very cool.

Track 8 plays more spacey, ambient-driven like track 1. It's a disappointment to me from the previous song that I thought was good. Track 8 may work well as an intro, outro, or bonus song, but I overall find it boring, especially after hearing the previous one that has more character and intrigue.

Track 9 sounds even slower and minimal than the one before it. I wish it lifted up (or down...basically picked up and took off) when you least expected it with a cool, hard, down-tempo beat, hits, evolving this thing into a great chill with strong beat song other than long ambience with sound fx, chimes, water sounds, etc..that it is. It's too drawn out and doesn't seem to go anywhere interesting sound-wise, which is why I find it boring.

In conclusion, I understand this was his vision and what the artist felt probably seemed strong at the time of creating this...judging from someone who's heard a ton of ambience, downtempo, etc however (and what I consider good) it's just not my style. I like the several tracks I mentioned good before in my impressions. Psyfactor has talent to make quality downtempo/ambient songs, and if he focuses on othe best ones here to make a follow-up chill album, he has potential to really unleash something even better and potentially grab an even wider audience through stronger word-of-mouth.

[Ormion]

Sorry but I totally disagree with you guys.
I love this album. It's the kind of ambient I want. Melancholic, beautiful, trippy and spacey. Ok, maybe some sounds are repeating in some tracks but it's surely an amazing album.
The first track is great ambient, Synergy is kick-ass Psy downtempo and the last track is incredibly beautiful. The rest of the tracks are great too.
9/10

[RAH]

Artist: Psyfactor
Album: Endless Universe
Label: Ajana ARecords
Web: www.ajana-records.com/
CAT: AJACD004
SE: http://www.sonic-ene...ent/view/226/2/

1 - Eyes Reflecting Universe
2 - Walk On The Milky Way
3 - Synergy
4 - Freefalling Upwards
5 - Early Morning
6 - Useless Planets
7 - Molecular Design
8 - Venus Seven
9 - Steps Leaving (Dedicated To Zolod, R.I.P.)


What's This About?

Psyfactor (Dimitry Korablin), the Russian spawn released his debut last year Evil Inside showing his primeval face as a night-time trancer with mixed reactions from the public. That same year Ajana records caught up to the idea of releasing chill out tunes from artists normally bent on assaulting the speakers with hectic beats. In the roster Psyfactor showed another side of the coin and so we learned, perhaps it wasn’t such a great idea to corner producers in little boxes and genre’s, since inspiration and creativity is after all shapeless and transient. Endless Universe retakes that ideal with new tunes from someone who would normally be cranking it up at 150, by crossing over to the chill out room.


Per-Track

( 1 ) Enchanted loopy loops hang in the periphery, stretching effortlessly through the bars without concern for time. Could be a good indication of why people refer to this genre as ‘spacey’. In the interim a fair share of swooshy action and a lot of introspection, that is about the only thing that can be gathered from Eyes Reflecting Universe and not a whole lot more. Despite the minimal approach to the production -which at this point is going to be making or breaking this CD for you- unfolds calmly & completely beatless. *

( 2 ) The second chapter conveys a dimming IDM appearance with really familiar pads and a sputtering excuse for a beat that calls out Aes Dana at times. Here we sink with the interplay of two or three recurrent elements arming a melodic chain that knots through, while the underbelly adds up with a generous amount of bass. Yes, it is simple and at this point the Walk on the Milky Way could use a few interesting turns to surprise us. But when things are this calm, I can’t help but thinking of it as great music to carry out personal endeavors: writing a paper, cranking out Photoshop, passing out for a nap… either way. *

( 3 ) In Synergy any peaceful attempts we might be having of dozing out are abruptly interrupted by a scrumptious undertones in the form of breaks and tuneful pads, with long winded synths in the vein of old-schooler Humate. The synergy is then, a convection of the frequency ranges in one sonic doze. So, the beat definitely a good addition to spice things up.*

( 4 ) Hard to pin down a specific genre to define Freefalling Upwards which in essence carries a bit of that melodic strand we would expect from Aphex Twin, circa his Selected Ambient works volume one. The beat once again gives it some movement but throughout eight minutes, it turns a bit droning without much change. It is nevertheless strangely touching.

( 5 ) We are close to the sunrise and the waves of light, progressively give life to an otherwise dark and drab existence… And so it’s Early Morning and the beginning -like most tunes- instantly grabs me but the attention does not last long on this one. The tune could have been a great homage to Sasha’s Airdrawndagger but we are nowhere near it. It’s very emotional and I get it, in a lump-of-cheese-stuck-in-my-throat kind of way and no gulp of wine is big enough to sink it in.

( 6 ) Underwater comes with drops of squeky-screetchy drops, gently gliding down as the pads do their sweet love affair to the toned down rhythm. It is nothing overly original and is not surprising if you pair it up with the rest of the tunes here. The fact the album is already deluged with external influences does not lend much to originality, but I can’t help liking what I hear. Can’t help wondering how a little more work and interaction would have made something memorable either.

( 7 ) The idea of calling a track Molecular Design might imply a level of detail to entail such name, it could be the blip-ie pads or simply an abstract implication. The percussion present is another doze of familiar breaks and heart-aching lines that explode well by the end, as every element is conjured into place. *

( 8 ) Yet another doze of winded melodies and spacey padding that gives way to a beat that never leaves the initial break. Like is standard the output is pleasing by all means, leaving what seems to me like a carcass of something greater to eventually develop. By itself it does work and the melodic side shows proficiency, I don’t know if Venus Seven was meant to be much more.

( 9 ) The space ride ends in a special dedication to countrymen Zolod in his Steps Leaving, without making much fanfare. A sweet piece with intricate water-dropping samples passed through a filter as if the particles had been pixilated. There is a seed for magnificence here in the sentimentality that develops in timely fashion.


All in All

Coming from a notorious dark head this CD is a surprise in many ways. Despite the fact we are drifting to very straightforward ambient wholly inspired by the Old Guard of chill, it unearths familiar territory in my book. Some of these tracks might end up a dead alley with bland content, but for someone who started listening to electronic music because of acts like old Aphex Twin, Global Communication and perhaps Tangerine Dream, the kinship in Dimitry’s work spells out nostalgia and certainly glee in the simplicity of his work. Some people will define it as underachieving… I think that if Ishq could get away with something like Orchid, there should be room for something like this in your repertoire. At the end, Endless Planets is going to be saved mostly for those nights when all I want is to float in my bed late at night, accompanied by my headphones before I pass out to dreamland – hopefully I will remember to load this one up.


Where to Buy

Psysounds (Buy individual tracks!)
> http://www.psysounds...earch=Psyfactor

Saikosounds
> http://www.saikosoun...ase.asp?id=5566

Psyshop
> http://www.psyshop.c.../aja1cd004.html

[Blaze]

best ambient album i've heard this year
track 7 - molecular designs is unbelievable

[fluffymushi]

lovely stuff, just as expected. nice work Mr. Psyfactor ^^

-paradoxally, i find these hollow repetitive atmospheres to have alot more soul to them than 90% of the other psy'ish ambient/downtempo out there..

[Time_Trap]

Indeed a nice chill album..
Well done, calm,relaxing melodies and ethereal atmospheres
A laid-back album to just lay and chill...
With a spacey feel on it...


8.5/10

[psyfactor]

lots of thanx who enjoed this one)
this was from my soul))

[Blaze]

psyfactor, on May 22 2006, 09:47 PM, said:

lots of thanx who enjoed this one)
this was from my soul))

When is the next not-chill album?

[psyfactor]

i hope start of this autumn, but cant say for further

[abasio]

Ormion, on Apr 27 2006, 01:12 AM, said:

Sorry but I totally disagree with you guys. 
I love this album. It's the kind of ambient I want. Melancholic, beautiful, trippy and spacey. Ok, maybe some sounds are repeating in some tracks but it's surely an amazing album.
The first track is great ambient, Synergy is kick-ass Psy downtempo and the last track is incredibly beautiful. The rest of the tracks are great too.
9/10

I agree with you 100% I am very happy with this purchase. One of the best albums I've heard in a while. Very atmospheric and spacey. Love it. Good Job.

Shit job on missing molecular design from the track list on the back cover

[Drosophila]

Ormion, on Apr 26 2006, 11:12 PM, said:

Sorry but I totally disagree with you guys. 
I love this album. It's the kind of ambient I want. Melancholic, beautiful, trippy and spacey. Ok, maybe some sounds are repeating in some tracks but it's surely an amazing album.
The first track is great ambient, Synergy is kick-ass Psy downtempo and the last track is incredibly beautiful. The rest of the tracks are great too.
9/10

Yeap also 2nd these thoughts!

It just has that ambient touch I miss from many chilled releases nowaday, reminds of when I was a kid listing to Jean Michel Jare's Magnetic Fields, not that the music is that similar at all, it just has the same spacey ambient touch to it ! Very good for night time relaxing

abasio, on Jul 7 2006, 01:44 PM, said:

Shit job on missing molecular design from the track list on the back cover 

at least they got it inside the booklet

[Jon Cocco]

I'm actually complating getting this one. This album is generally more emotional sounding at times and I like those parts. I really like track 7...those sounds (are those synth sounds?) are infectious, very cool and catchy sounding. I would love to hear more songs with the style and feel that people generally favor the most, track 7, tracks that have more "pick up" energy and attitude like 7. A very good floating song is track 2. That's another track with less attitude and more dreamy/relaxing sounds and I like the sounds/notes he adds in the second half right as the song had been getting repetitive. I enjoy hearing this much more than Psyfactor's dark psytrance. I just find this more unique, creative, emotional, and original. It's deeper, and when the songs develop more, more layers/sounds, it becomes more interesting too.

01. Eyes Reflecting Universe sounds... The first track originally and still isn't I think available at saikosounds, so I originally thought this was track 2 because the first sample art saikosounds starts on track 2. Hmmm...I had to got to psyshop to hear this one. 45 seconds just aren't enough. I can't get a decent impression.

02. Walk On The Milky Way, is good. It's slow but spacey, floating...a nice chill opening. It does grow repetitive, but another layer is dropped towards the second half which adds some character.

03. Synergy...I thought was initially track 2 for some reason. I like this song alot. Although it doesn't change much, it's catchy enough that those vibes and sounds are perfect just the way they are. I like songs like this one, they feel motivating to get something done in some way. The feeling of "Let's go...we're going somewhere." I suppose I'm talking about the tempo, the rhythm, it's beat and sounds are more alive and the music' pacing and overall sound is catchy.

04. Freefalling Upwards...is another track like 2 and 7 in that it's quicker paced. It's just not nearly as cool and catchy as them to me. One of the notes keep going up and down, up and down...I don't know, I lose interest, but I like the ambient notes. Those are pleasent and add feeling if that makes sense.

05. Early Morning, sounds nice and uplifting. I like when the song changes...ambience, and then develops with more layers into something more interesting and catchy.

06. Useless Planets or Underwater is a far sadder sounding song...like someone contemplating their life, something in it that's not happy. Maybe this song is good for creating such emotion, (sadness) but this track grows tedious to me because it goes on and on with these sounds, which keep me in a mental state I don't feel cool or good being in.

07. Molecular Design has this sound about 7 seconds into the sample at saikosounds. Dee dee, daa dee... that's cool sounding. And it repeats and echoes on and off when the ambient stays around 1 minute into the sample. That is a cool sound. I like that, and all the chimes and strange notes that echoe with it. At around 2:00 into samples at saiko, the song adds another layer of sound and then with the beat, and then another melody...this song sounds really good. I so would like more quicker paced, catchy, creative, cool, melodic songs like these ones!

08. Venus Seven is more floating, very chill and laid back. It's more visual to me...good to visualize to. Truth is, people will generally like songs like 2 and 7 more because they have a beat, and one can do more while listening to it. It's more friendly, like when driving or doing work, working out, etc. Venus Seven sounds very simple, the notes used and structure of the song sounds less involved, but that's how ambient is in general I feel. This is a very peaceful song.

09. Steps Leaving (Dedicated To Zolod, R.I.P.) ... like someone going to heaven or passing through lights or realms into another world. This song is sad to me, more emotional. I like it.

I like tracks 2, 3, 7 most to date.

By the way: Track 6 is called Useless Plane on Saikosounds...but above and on psyshop...track 6 is titled called Underwater. Someone may want to correct this error.

[healium]

I've just heard the samples online - Track 7 is freakin fantastic! Damn that's a killer track....

The others didn't grab me the same way though - I'd sure love to have that 7th track though....

[DeathPosture]

Jon Cocco, on Sep 11 2006, 04:57 AM, said:

By the way: Track 6 is called Useless Plane on Saikosounds...but above and on psyshop...track 6 is titled called Underwater. Someone may want to correct this error.

>

DeathPosture, on Apr 20 2006, 02:52 PM, said:

The cover art is pretty dull too and once again Ajana excels in having track list errors. The Back-cover only lists 8 tracks, abandoning tracks #6+7 and includes a mislabelled track called Useless Planets. Is it that hard to proof read stuff before going into print? I’m sorry to say this, but this is the worst Ajana release thus far… But I do not despair, as the upcoming A Magical Journey 2 tracklist looks pretty tasty… This one however, was a disappointment as the few nice bits totally drown in the vast, endless universe of fluff… Come again!

/DP

[Jon Cocco]

DeathPosture, on Sep 18 2006, 04:20 AM, said:

>
/DP

Hey DP, I just didn't want those who read my post to be like...what the heck is he talking about?, he's talking about a completely different track from the one on the album.

This isn't the first time Saikosounds or psyshop made errors. I just wanted someone to be aware of it.

[Time_Trap]

'Useless Planets' fits better as a track title in this album's theme compared to 'Underwater' though

[psyfactor]

this is no problem to people who liked this album, only people who dont like it making BALAGAN to completly kill this album in their review))

p.s. im sure Trishula-Ajana will not do it again)


p.s.2. - 3rd album coming to the end of this year