Padmapani

nice! liked and subscribed

thanks for that list. some really nice suggestions in there that'll most likely find their way into my top ten.

i'm still in the process of compiling and actually listening to the albums of last year. so the following draft is subject to change. Uptempo: 1. UX - The Realm of a New Dawn 2. Median Project - Constellation 3. Shadow Chronicles - Arcadia 4. VA - Order Odonata: Metamorphosis 5. Mechanimal - Digital Nature 6. Psylent Buddhi - Secrets of the Atom 7. Lunarave - Transmigration 8. Braincell - Gaia 9. Pleiadians - Pyramid 10. Protonica - Symmetry i already notice two trends here. first that there's a conspicious absence of goa trance (i'm not really a fan of that chaotic melodic sound such as celestial intelligence, sykespico, morphic resonance, ...) and second that albums i have listened to more appear higher on the list Downtempo: 1. Advanced Suite - Shapes of Nothing 2. Lauge - Dawn 3. Globular - Untangled Everything 4. Tengri - Tengri and Friends 5. Astronaut Ape - Deep 6. Saafi Brothers - Mystic Cigarettes 7. Unknown Reality - Gaia 8. VA - Temple of Dub 9. Distant System - Infinite Continuum 10. Proxxeus - Celephais

imho lateralus is still their best album. not a single track that's just ok there, but reflection and the title track are just masterpieces. nice one there. i would have loved this back then. it has a definite black sabbath vibe. too bad that it's released in 2019 and the sound quality is at best 70s.

the thread reminds me of this track: hypnotic, loop based and highly psychedelic. it has all the same qualities without being trance. this music is probably what's to blame for me making the switch to electronic music later on.

happy birthday psynews!

now i'm really intrigued what sort of keyboard play we would have seen in this thread.

you're right, it depends on how you define "commercial". i totally believe that afgin produces the music because it's what he likes, but to me it is way more commercial music than before. if you just listen to music you can't necessarily tell the intention of the producer behind it (does protoculture make trance now because his music preferences shifted towards trance or because he gets more money from it?), so i do find my definition more useful lack of complexity also isn't something i'd associate with either commercial-sounding or easy-listening music either. there is music played on the radio with complex chord progressions and complex rhytms, but it still sounds horribly "commerical" and cheesy, while some underground techno or even psytrance is damn simple, but great and not easy-listening at all. now that iv'e mentioned the word, maybe our defintions are different because my native language has no other word to describe cheesy music other than "commercial"? btw: nitzho is more commerical than goa for me, even if it doesn't make you any money nowadays. of course that doesn't mean that i wouldn't enjoy another album from you, so i second astralprojection's question!

darkstep is high-pitched, scremy and not dark at all? music can be dark and fast/hard as well as dark and slow/depressing relating to this, the darkest darkpsy i know is still this one: hard and fast (for the time), but not just weird and chaotic but really with a dark atmosphere (just like mfg - on mars).

trance scandinavian express? interesting. i only knew it from the original spiral trax compilation.

even if it was not only less popular than psytrance but also less popular than goa trance (which i highly doubt), i'd still call it commercial if someone makes way more easy-listening music than before ;). music doesn't have to actually make you money to sound commercial.

interesting. shine on indeed sounds pretty much like his earlier stuff. i guess i just dismissed the release when i heard other tracks like feels like heaven. yeah. his change in style seems to coincide with the time he cut his hair the new stuff is not overly cheesy for trance standards but it's no goa trance either…

duke nukem forever eventually got released. i'm not quite sure for the ap album. but the game took 20 years in development, so with the new astral album they've still got 2 years left to beat duke nukem

not at all. i've been convinced that s-range is great since i've heard test tones for the first time. even though i find the chromosome remix of test tones to still be the best s-range track

he has gone commercial i.e. he does regular trance now. on his discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/659162-Afgin) you'll see a few newer releases but they got no attention here because they're not psy anymore. as much as i loved old is gold when it came out i don't miss him terribly. his tracks sounded great when new but imho don't have too much replay value (similar to gms, alien project or goasia in that respect).