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So, almost at the end of 2022 and we have basically gotten 3 album reviews this year. Even 2021 had at least 27 threads. Also the post count has decreased dramatically from the previous (quite dead as well) years. I know a lot of reviews from 2021 were by a handful of users, same for 2020. Did we stop listening to new albums or don't we just care enough to write about the highlights? How are our members doing? What kind of a year did you guys have (sonically or otherwise)? Any notable albums or tracks from 2022? Let's at least try to have an active thread to have a send off for 2023! I've attached the post counts per month for the past 3 years.

Reddit, Facebook, Discord, etc. are no great substitute for forums, but forums are often poorly moderated, full of weirdos (see above), and pretty much ghost towns, so...mostly I just enjoy music in isolation, and dedicate myself to mixcraft, exploring new music, and refining my collection (updating metadata, completing discographies, etc.). I've been very busy producing high-quality mixes these years, and will be ending 2022 with another 36 hours of content published. All of that can be found on my homepage and the usual places (Mixcloud for HQ audio, SoundCloud for the more social experience). I also got into edits and production these years so I'm constantly churning out new versions of classic tracks for my own use and enjoyment. Not sure what I'll be doing with any of these dozens of projects except including them in some old school mixes when I get around to them. I have another three or four commissioned mixes to complete before I get to that though. As for reviews, I seldom get the sense that many people read them, and I tend to prefer investing my time in making recommendations on my Facebook page rather than writing reviews these days. I also got out of the habit of listening to new releases since I'm already drowning in music. I'll pick up new releases by artists I like but they end up in the listening backlog after being filed, and it sometimes takes years to get to them. Another issue is that albums are slowly becoming a thing of the past... so much of the new music I grow to love are released as singles, or as hidden gems on otherwise bland compilations, which is partly a consequence of being more dance music-oriented. Even so, a bunch of releases from 2022 already caught my ear one way or another: - Beyond Expectation compiled by my friend DJ Solitare - Club Unity, if you don't mind going further afield than just standard psytrance stuff - Filteria - Live With The Lag, but that's an easy one since I'm such a Filteria fan - Techgnosis Vol. 6, but I'm biased (as label co-founder) - Indoor - Reworks, very close to the originals but brought up to modern standards - Chaim - In Trance We Trust, for obvious reasons (I love classic Goa trance + modern progressive house and nu-disco) - Dark Elf - True Darkness, one of the very best pure darkpsy releases I've heard in quite some time My eclectic tastes are showing, ah? Anyway, it was another good year for music, and I'm looking forward to what 2023 brings us!

Yep. It's up there with my favourite albums of all time Interesting to note is that Aleah did have a bit of a psy scene / downtempo connection, doing vocals for artists like Xerxes and Omnimotion. And curiously enough she collaborated with Simon Posford and George Barker in 1999:

The second Goa album from Artifact 303 piqued my interest as I enjoyed the first album, so here's my review after quite a few listens. When I first got "Back to Space" back in 2011, I was initially underwhelmed. It seemed not to be the best of both worlds, but to fall between two stools. On the one hand, it had the manic, sometimes indigestible, layerism of nu skool Goa that throws everything including the kitchen sink at the listener. On the other hand, it seemed to be a fairly straightforward copy of Astral Projection that wasn't original enough to justify its existence. So ran my initial thoughts. But over time, "Back to Space" sank into my consciousness and I started to enjoy it for its delicate melodies. It does have the weakness of a certain breathless quality that would benefit from pruning the endless pretty layers and more attention to spacing and pacing, but there are some great melodies on that album. 10 years later and Peter Zsolt brings us another Goa artifact: "From the Stars". One thing is for sure, his basic template has not changed at all: this is still highly layeristic nu skool with a strong Astral Projection type melodic flavour. This brings both the joy in some fantastic melodies, and the limitation of a certain relentless breathlessness and prettiness, at least to this listener. What is a bit new is that there is a bit more full-on dancefloor influence on the sounds, especially early on in the album, and the album as a whole is less spacey as a result. Moreover, this album reminded me less of Astral Projection than the first; this new record reminded me of Oforia. For me, the album doesn't start that well. I find "Apex" is a bit too nitzhonot for me, especially in the main melody and then the modulation of that melody that plays from the 5.20 point. All a bit too hands in the air ravey for me. "Astral Traveler" goes a bit deeper with more complex modulations of the main melody, though that main melody is again fairly cheesy and some of the synth stabs sound a bit predictably 80s. It sent me to Laughing Buddha's 1998 "Astral Traveller" track, but I am not too sure there is an obvious influence (I much preferred the altogether tougher psychedelia of Laughing Buddha btw). "Dreamland" starts better for me with a kinetic, bouncy rhythm section and then when the melodies kick in they are a bit lower in frequency and more swirly - nice deeper track than the first two (and I can't help but think of the great Asia 2001 album which has the same title). "Solar Warden" has strong claims to be the best track on the album, going a bit more acidic and darker than the earlier tracks and gaining some heft and gravitas in the process. I like this track which has some super cool unpredictable transitions, like the staggered sounds at 4.30. "Unidentified" keeps up the trajectory into slightly harder sounds and has a gorgeous weirdo forest-style melody at 2.15 with all the mystery and intrigue that one might find in Battle of the Future Buddhas, for instance. Really cool background drones towards the end of this track. Another good track, though I think it might have done more with that forest melody! With "Summer Storm" Artifact 303 continues the journey towards darker sounds - the album is quite carefully structured in that way. Nice sawing bass synths with a grinding quality at the start of the track. I'm not too convinced by the main melody at the 5.30 mark as it has a bit of old school hard house flavour - hard to describe - a certain hysteria that can grate in the wrong mood. I'm being over-picky here as I like this track, but I also don't like the vocal repeating "summer storm" towards the end. "Open Your Eyes" has an excellent rhythm section with really nice climbing and angular melodies, especially the main one at the 5 minute mark and onwards. I like this track almost as much as "Solar Warden". "Secret Space" is a kinda subdued, almost interior, track. However, it builds gradually and imperceptibly towards a helluva melodic climax that is truly psychedelic and trippy. I like this one. "The Divine Plan" heads back into more chintzy, uplifting territory. The sample works for me and helps lift the track into an overtly cosmic dimension. Lots of background noises, drones, swooshes and plinky plonks to dig into here. Yeah, I like this one too as it stays just this side of cheesy. "Wisdom Bringers" is the obligatory chill out track at the end of the album. This one goes way too plasticky for me with the synth sounds chosen for the main melody. I found this a weak psychill track. So for me this album does not start out so well with too much full-on psytrance/nitzho flavour for my tastes. Luckily it improves after this and is carefully and tastefully structured after track two. For me, "Solar Warden" is the track, though I enjoyed "Unidentified", "Open Your Eyes", "Secret Space" and "The Divine Plan" almost as much. I don't think this album is as good as the first one, primarily due to an occasionally malfunctional quality control filter, but it has some very good tracks. I kinda feel that the next album will be make or break for Artifact 303. More experimentalism away from the dancefloor will be key in my view. ~*~

So...after being nothing short of mesmerized by Aleah's posthumously released solo album this year, I then discovered she also was the vocalist for the Finnish/Swedish band Trees Of Eternity. Dark, beautiful, tragic, haunting, and a dozen related adjctives of praise for this album https://treesofeternity.bandcamp.com/album/hour-of-the-nightingale