Krell

Sorry about that, but no psytrance label/name gets as much hype as Twisted & Simon P, whatever Simon P does, it must be hyped. However, he cant live up to the hype, and he hasnt asked for it either. HE is a good musician to be sure, but there are plenty of those in our scene, as such the most special thing about Simon P is all the hype, and not the music. Keeping that in mind, Twisted is still one of my favourite labels, and even if I think it gets far too much hype, Im not making it my personal crusade making that point clear to everybody; as is the case with the "full on haters" "progressive haters" "new school haters" "old school haters" - haters in general - Simply because I spend my time finding the good music, instead of complaining about the bad. And Ive found loads of great Simon P & Twisted stuff for sure, but nothing warranting all the hype... and since I know this is where "radi6404" is going to try and make his stand in this debate, that is where I attack :-) Only support he will get, is from the Twisted Fanatics... but, great thing about sound quality, we have all got ears and the ability to make up our own minds. Listen to Vibrasphere "Lime Structure" - Theres sound quality for you! Or new Silicon Sound, or Protoculture, or Panick.... Best Wishes Krell

You can keep repeating the same mantra untill hell freezes over. Fact is that you confuse your taste in music with production quality. What you have to understand is that whats musical to you, does not have to be musical to others... its taste. Full On sounds the way its supposed to sound, its very rare that you hear any kind of distortion in the tracks and depending on the artists there will be far more dynamics and a richer sound than what you hear in old school releases. Most of them sound better sound wise than Hallucinogen "Twisted" even if that release, for its day, was one of the best produced albums. The same can be said for almost every other classic. Too bad for you if you simply cannot grasp this fact, but really, it has all got to do with evolution within what equipment the artists can use and have access to, and their routine in using it to the greatest effect. If you think the old school artists had that many more years of experience when they produced the music they did you are also wrong - Many of them were as new to all their hardware synths etc as a 18 year old teenager is to his digital software production suite (since most would only have been producing for the last 5 years anyway, with the note that the teenies nowadays can find all sorts of online help). I dont know, perhaps theres something wrong with your stereo setup? It cant handle good sound quality :-P Best Wishes Krell

I hate to burst your bubble, but MFG and all the other stuff you mention isnt really that original either. Most of it is the copy / paste music of its day, thats the way it is - and if you dont see that, well, thats because you havent been listening to the music for that long. Also, the production on most modern full on is WAY ahead of the old school stuff. If you cant hear that, theres something wrong with your ears or your gear I think. Sound quality on modern releases are LIGHTYEARS ahead of the old stuff - I should know, since I have been spending the last month listening to no less than 200 old school ORIGINAL CDs followed by 200 CDs with modern production techniques all routed through a high end sound card with high end headphones (and I own a pretty high end stereo as well....). Last, but not least, I can understand that you dont like the music, and thats fair - But, "there nothing wrong with it", the music is fine and the quality is fine - The fact that you dont like its "soul" or "sound" - Well, thats just your taste buddy, we can all respect that, but you shouldnt put artists, mastering engineers, labels and everybody involved with the production of the releases down professionally just because the music doesnt fit your personal taste... And believe it or not, thats what you do when you talk bullshit like you do. Best Wishes Krell

Thanks for the reviews guys Very much appreciated. Seems to be out of stock already @ psyshop.com ; but it can still be bought at wirikuta, http://www.chaosunlimited.co.uk/ & saikosounds.com untill psyshop restocks. http://www.wirikuta.at/web66/product_detai...owDetail=115289 http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5666 http://www.chaosunlimited.co.uk/ (search "rewired") Btw - My favs on the release are Spirallianz "BP Talk" & Tao "Pacific Intervention" Best Wishes Krell

There are fungus which will eat Cds - No shit. So, keep them dry and warm - take good care of them or else they will be destroyed. CDs are more fragile than most people realize. Best wishes Krell

Try out this release - Holds tracks I still like :-) Various - Behind The Eye Vol. II // 1995 http://www.discogs.com/release/31969 Tracklisting: 1 Virtual Symmetry The V.S. (Original Mix) (5:43) 2 Icon Desire (Icarus Mix) (6:35) 3 Brainchild Symmetry (C-Mix) (6:34) 4 Earth Nation Alienated (Earth Mix) (7:39) 5 Cygnus X Superstring (7:53) 6 Odyssee Of Noises Firedance (The Sunrise) (7:09) 7 Brainchild Sedona (8:03) 8 Cygnus X The Orange Theme (6:30) 9 Odyssee Of Noises Capriole Three (8:20) 10 Stevie Be-Zet Blue Illusion (Flat Horizon Mix) (7:50) Best Wishes Krell

Heres another one Man With No Name "Sugar Rush" - Released 1994. Doesnt get to be more "Goa Trance" than MWNN I think hehe. The Sugar Rush track is a blend of 303 driven Acid Trance, Anthems and Sweet sounds (thus the name). Very cheesy :-) Best Wishes Krell

on the Miranda "Northern Lights" album from ehh 1999 or 2000 you will even find an Antiloop RMX :-) This is, in no way, anything new... Go back in time to where Union Jack released "There will be no armageddon" and you have trance which was also played in the psychedelic scene. I could find loads of examples, but my point is 1: Its nothing new 2: Normal cross genre work. I like some if it :-) Best Wishes Krell

Im happy you find joy in it. Only thing I do like on the entire album is the sample "THE PLASTICMEN ARE COMING" - Which I find funny. I imagine some people sitting at a festival, on acid, laughing - and then they spot some, weird fucked up people and one of the cries out "the plastic men are coming" - desperately hehe. Dont try this at home kids :-) Best Wishes Krell

Now Erez Eizen is reduced to the role of "Guy standing by keyboard" while Duvdev is bathed in fame. That is sort of weird, since Im sure what made Infected Mushroom successfull in the first place was Erez. After all, he was many years ago the "kid who made psy" - Sort of a sensation/prodigy kid. If you wonder what is Erez and what is Duvdev in the good Infected Mushroom stuff, all you need to do is go back and listen to some of Erez´s other collaborations. I dont want to badmouth IM or Duvdev - They do what they want to, and if they are happy with it, then thats fine with me. I just wont go any where near a place where there is a Infected Mushroom live performance, thats all. Just like I stear clear of Skazi or any chemical crew, because I find their music distastefull. But - I would love to hear a solo project of Erez Eizen, without singing - Just sound. Whatever it might be. I dont know how it works, but Duvdev seems to be very dominating in their music: at least, thats how it looks. So I wonder if this is really what Erez would be making, if he had a solo project. Perhaps Erez is PsyNina ? :-P Best Wishes Krell

Sorry - Im not gonna mention 5 albums.. For my part, I try not to remember that bad music, but the good; and thats hard enough. There is, however, one particular album which will always bring me in a bad mood, its very annoying stressfull and I hate it really. Alienated "Fluff Factory" - Creamcrop Records. Thats the reason I listen to everything I buy. I loved the first alienated releases, so I figured the album would rock - it didnt. That was the last album I ever bought just from the name itself. I cant fathom why anyone would enjoy this music, then again, reading the other posts in this thread, there is no such thing as logic in regards to taste. Best Wishes Krell

Also remember to check out the Maelstrom / Next Stop Earth 12" released on Psychic Deli in 1998. http://www.discogs.com/release/301812 Along with Sqwark & Helpless I think its the best Ive heard from him. Nothing like a good electro convulsive therapy to get your day on a roll :-) Best Wishes Krell

My festival dream would be different. (allthough I like most of the acts you mention). A completely un-announced lineup - and the people attending shouldnt know who was on the decks unless they recognized them. All that should be mentioned would be a short text like. "During the night, the music is dark, when the sun comes up the music changes, as the weather gets warmer so does the music, when people lie down the music follows them" This way, you would get a festival where people focussed only on the music and not on all the "killah" names. In my eyes, "names", are one of the big problems these days and a hard one to solve since parties often need to be commercial (Since you have to pay a lot for venues or places & facilities). However - If it was just the people, the music and the experience - and not all the marketing fuzz and anticipitation to listen to an idol THAT I would love to experience. Much purer. This may sound pretty tame, but that really is my dream :-) Its different and psychedelic, in the true spirit of the scene - Something new. Afterwards, the lineup could be put on a website. Best Wishes Krell

Panick(Nick) Protoculture Silicon Sound Concept Electrypnose Logic Bomb(albums) Jaïa They are all consistenly good. Some lighter, some darker. Best Wishes Krell

I agree. Distastefull. People should be supportive when its obvious its a case of "Force Majeure" which fucks things up. Best Wishes Krell

Or Galop

I would hear it right away, thats how Goa Gil mixes and its very amateurish. But you are right, all the people fucked up on drugs, lsd etc might not notice it, so you might get away with it.... but any person who has basic knowledge about good beat mixing, structuring etc will not be happy with it. You see - It doesnt matter if you cut the bass completely, the mid is still there (the mid makes the most noticeable double beat) - and if you cut the mid completely also, the high is there, and it is out of sync and drifting. Also, when you mix, you should not really cut away the music, my aim in most of my mixes is to have as much of each track in the mix as possible, and blend them together over time). So - You can make a SWIFT transaction between tracks, also like Goa Gil does, and its not so noticeable - But, it doesnt sound good, the flow inside the mix will suck and you are not really working with the music, just trying to sort of run away from it (the mix) into the next track. (Typical DAT DJ mixing technique when you have no pitch or pitch bend, and sadly it is still with a lot of CD jocks this day still). Instead - What you need to do is set the pitch right (its usually never 100% correct so you always need to pitch bend) - So, you listen to both tracks before & during the mix, focussing on the beats and when you hear them go out of sync just a little bit you pitch bend to correct it (very delicately). While you do this, you EQ in the next track, so that they slowly blend together - I usually never use the fader for this - Normally I will start with the incoming track turned ALL up but EQd down, and then mix it in using the EQ - Letting the 2 tracks place eachother, EQ the old one down, EQ the new one up (in accordance with the beat structure and keys of every track). Actually EQing and deciding when you want transitions to happen is where you as a DJ get to influence the sound and track2track flow in your set - What I do is listen for the rhythms and use my emotions. I get to be a part of it 2 ways 1: Track Selection and 2: The Flow in the Mix.... Thats where the audience will "feel" the extent of my artistry, or the side I believe matters most (musical). Dont sacrifice it for "easy" :-) Its all the fun, right there :-) Best Wishes Krell

But - Remember - Use your ears when you listen to tracks together! Most importantly, you must practicly meditate over the beats when you beat match them, else you get double beats. So, dont see it as a short cut to "easy" see it as a short cut to "fast" If you REALLY want to go "note crazy", note last beat of the tracks as well + which key they are in ;-) Best Wishes Krell

AFAIK pr0fane and I share almost the same techniques/methods regarding mixing, I got him into DJing / encouraged him to start doing it (he actually played his first set ever at one of my birthday parties - With Happy Birth tune and all - was great hehe). Differences between the way pr0fane spins and I do at the moment are mainly how long time we spend in the mix and also which kinds of flow we like to present in our sets. While pr0fane focusses very much on the softer/uplifting side of music and groove + tribal inspired stuff - I move on into those aspects as well as dark psy stuff (stopping around suomi style). Now - I learn things from pr0fane, he still learns things from me - I think, to some degree, any person who is really interested in DJing will try to learn from others since their heart is "in it" :-) I learned some from Lepton also (from listening to one of his sets online), for instance how to exploit track structures better. Best Wishes Krell

Not easier, just faster :-) Its DUMMY WORK, for christ sakes. Getting the pitch set right is not hard at all - why spend time on something ridiculous when you can spend it on something fabulous instead ? :-) The less time I spend cueing up tracks in the headphones the longer my ears will last. Best Wishes Krell

I heard them live twice. First time the only track with lyrics was the Im the Supervisor track - It was a pretty decent live which I enjoyed - I dont know what they did "live" and I couldnt really care less. Next time was May 2004 - lots of tracks had singing in them at that time and it was, in my eyes, very annoying and I didnt connect with the music at all. Actually, it got so bad we had to leave, since one of my friends was feeling sick (from the music) - I could "take it", but only because I can see something fun in music I dont like - I just sit there making faces, expressing my disgust. Sorry if this offends some - but, I really hated it. I was disgusted by the singing and I still am (very VERY few full onish artists have mastered this). Duvdev is certainly no singer, and their abilities for making vocal driven trance is in my eyes only successfull because people are really intoxicated and engaging in some, not trance state, related mass hysteria. (or perhaps its just not me who doesnt understands it, but I found more beauty in Punk vocals than IM, and I hate punk as well). And also, the singing does not get better by it being done "live" - its still sounds horrible. Best thing, in my eyes, for IM is to split up and try out some solo projects - Get some new ideas from other people - Leave IM behind... Like Simon P did with "Hallucinogen". If you like the latest cd releases, you will like the live also - if you dont, you will hate it. The Raja Ram part sounds horrible - More heavy metal remixes - Baaaah - I wonder when they will stop that shite and start producing something new that isnt a remix of a pop rock classic. Best Wishes Krell

Thats because you are caught up in the method of djing instead of the effect. There is no "cheating" in djing, its "whatever works work", and if it works, its good - if it doesnt, its bad. Only thing that matters is the music, and if the music is good, its good, if its bad, its bad. So simple and yet so complex ;-) Btw - I did teach myself to do it using the ears even though I did note the BPMs - so, you are simply not correct in your assumption that "you will never teach yourself in that way". The mixing part is the easy part of DJing - The hard part I think is the track sequencing. But, of course, the first obstacle most people run into is the mixing part, if they want to beatmix anyways... but once you got the ears tuned in and the theory understood in a way you can use it - mixing is the easy part. (routine) Or, mixing is easy if its just standard beat mixing (certainly getting the same tempo on tracks shouldnt be a challenge at all) - it can get harder when you start to really exploit the possibilities in tracks when mixing (and Im not talking about using effects, just using the music "as is" when working in the mix). Put in other terms, it doesnt get "easier" in the long run to know the BPMs - Setting the pitch just gets faster. Something that is dead easy is just dummy work, so for me, it isnt cheating - but I can see if the big challenge for you is to get the same tempo on tracks, then it might look that way. (And yes, I am just taunting you on purpose, but its because you are indirectly calling me a cheater hehehe). Best Wishes Krell

The problem is you dont get exact BPMs anyway when you pitch the tracks, so writing them down just saves you the time of finding the correct pitch setting. So, when your ears are not listening, and the approach to operating the gear becomes all mechanic you wont be able to do correct pitch bending either... and then you get double beats etc hehe. However, you can write them down to save a bit of time - for convinience - doesnt mean you are a bad dj, just means you know how to save time which you can put to better use ;-) Best Wishes. Krell

Yeah I write them down when I find a track I like I note it in my track database along with the BPM. I have to spend less time cueing the tracks when I know the BPMs - Which means I can put more emphasis on EQ work + pitch bending - Getting it all right and do a longer lasting mix (if I want to) into the next track - Also, I spare my ears the ekstra tinitus from listening to loud music in headphones. Its also good to know that you are not choosing tracks where you end up pitching so much the sound changes or even distorts. However - For training purposes and FUN when I mix at home, I usually just grab some random CDs and start mixing the tracks together - I think that is sort of fun, since I dont know the tracks that well and I am totally unprepared :-) Its a good skill to master also :-) In those cases I dont know the BPMs and just listen, takes me 10 seconds or so to find the right pitch (low volume, easy on the ears). But - In regards to noting BPMs my logic dictates "why shouldnt I?" - I can use my time on better things than setting the correct pitch while Im spinning, or at least I can spare my ears. Best Wishes Krell

Your absolutely right. Its all guesswork, assumptions and purely based on my intuition and intellect - if you dont trust it, never mind it :-) But - To answer your question on why anyone would want to adapt a selfimage for political reasons - It is because they have an image of who they are and who they want to be which dictates how they relate to certain things. For instance, if you want to be this really "open minded" "cutting edgy psytrance freak" and perhaps "non commercial, pure music lover" you might conclude that you must only listen to music which doesnt sell a lot, which is totally new and different from everything else or which has a general attitude that it kicks ass. (Never mind the music, its a about the image). Or, if you are not satisfied with the new scene and your have been a "psyfreak" for sometime, perhaps you will just want to sit and bash full on releases while you will pr definition love EVERYTHING that is released on "oh so holy" Twisted Records or whatever label holds the patent for "Kick Ass TRUE psytrance". Relating to music with a pure mind is difficult. Like I said, the track might ROCK utterly and completely, and if so, perhaps thats really a positive thing - A step forward for Chemical Crew perhaps hehe ? :-) You can see it as either positive or negative, even if you didnt hear the music yet. Think of this fact for a second - We are bashing music we havent even heard because it is being released on a label which has a bad image - So, I dont think Im totally off if I say we are putting our focus on "image" instead of "content". Content being the music as such, with all the marketing hype put aside. Perhaps the track will rock :-) Perhaps not. And I do also feel a bit weird about Koxbox releasing on Chemical Crew as well, but the question is "why?" ;-) Best Wishes Krell