RTP

Artist.....: Solano Album......: Activation Label......: Iono Music Catalogue..: INM1CD045 Tracklist: 01. Last Forever 02. Fire Signs 03. Drive Through 04. Transpose 05. Triplehead 06. Qvist 07. Sequence 08. Activation 09. Unrestrained Well, I'm really happy that I found this. It's supposedly already the 3rd album by Solano, but I never heard of them before, stumbled across this one by accident. But what I can say is, that it's very nice music. Actually it's great! I like the style very much. The music of Solano on this album is overall gentle and repetitive, while not in a bad way (being boring that would be), but in a smooth way. It softly guides the listener, does not put itself in the foreground like it's the case with many other acts nowadays. Sometimes you just wanna listen, have a good time and let the thoughts flow smoothly - Solano is ideal music for this. A psytrance Smoothie. And altogether it gets me into something that I feel less and less in nowaday's music: trance! When I run to this (I really like to run to this), I get this effect I used to get in the early days: long tracks that let the thoughts wander transport you to somewhere until at some point the track has ended and you find yourself somewhere completely different, up to two kilometers away from the point where the song started. And it goes on and on, so gentle and steadily, like a long drive on a highway. I used to love this kind of stuff in the past with Human Blue tracks for example and various other scando trance. And this goes in a similar direction - very pleasant altogether A track per track review doesn't make so much sense in this case imo, because this album seems to be more about consistency, about getting the listener into a trance state and tending to leave him/her there, not interrupting too much. The tracks all have the general characteristics to be long and gently entrancing, with a steady progression underneath. And loooong lasting synthesizer effects underlying. That said, I practically described half of the album already. Don't let yourself be fooled that it might be boring though, it isn't, just give it a go I'll still try to comment the tracks nevertheless though: I don't like the first track so much, it's a good starter but the melody is too present and doesn't give me any goosebumps for that. But this is a peek of the general atmosphere of the album. Then, however, it gets going. Fire Signs is an awesome track, very long, but here is what I meant with the smoothness. It is repetitive, but it is gentle, warm, guiding, also the melody not being over-present, never forcing, always soft and nicely. And even though the main construction of the track does not change (much), it is awesome music. Music that just is. The next track, Drive Through, is great aswell. It is probably the most powerful one on this album. An almost Matenda-esque (thinking of Pusher) intro, then it kicks and goes. Not much change, but that's not what it is about anyway. It is driving ("a Drive Through", hehe), but not raw, not exhaustive, only steadily and smoothly. You have the track, add a layer, add a layer, add a layer, there you are. The beat almost never stops - and when it does, it feels weird, like you heart makes a pause. Kind of. But that's just what trance is... Next one, Transpose, is one of my favourites aswell. It has a different, more vibrant style (that doesn't mean the smoothness is gone though). And the acidic looping synth effect is reminding me of FLUKE. In fact, this almost could be a Fluke track. How cool, Fluke is one of my favourite bands ! And it really is that good. Also, what I like is that there is a characteristic percussion layer that reminds me of another, an old, trance song! A great demonstration how these effects can still be used in great ways. The next songs continue the album in the same style, there is not so much to say anymore, stop reading, start listening ... but in brief: Triplehead is again a bit reminding me of the first one, but the melody is better. No highlight, but it's nice. The next song, Qvist, is again one that evolves greatly, Solano-like ( ) into a nice melodic piece. I like the melody in this one, gentle as always. And even slow in some way. Interesting. Next track, Sequence, nice as always. And then it's time for Activation, the title track - more drive again, but still, never getting loose, staying in its smooth boundaries, even though this one is more progressing and driving and even biting (for Solano's standards). And then the outro, Unrestrained, nice as it should be, no need to comment any more. As said already, this album you don't buy because of specific tracks, but because of the style as a whole. It's good, I percieve that such integrated albums as this one are not produced that often. So I think it's a good recommendataion to check it out. Fans of scando trance and progressive will certainly like it. Fans of full blown in your face fullon or acid or dark or whatever psytrance will maybe not like it. I can't be beaten to give a final score. It's nothing you need to die for, but it's a very nice album. I for my part am happy to have found Solano, because I was getting thin on this music in the style of 12 Moons, Human Blue, Matenda... Would be interested how others see it

I admire you how you cope with them ... I mean, fortunately I don't get them often, but when I do, I'm like "omg shit, this is horrible, please go away" ... I don't have the mental constitution to just shrug them off practically. When I get one while going to sleep, you practically can forget sleeping, I'm lying awake for a long time.

welcome back

oh gosh, no! Please, next time before you throw some psytrance away, no matter how bad it is, please contact me. You could have sent those three to me, I would have paid the postage. And be it only for a useful review that tells other people that it's crap. I really don't say no to these things ... and if I really hated them aswell, I'd give them away at a party or I'd give it to some friends. But never throw them away. Please! Other than that ... the music in Oopie's sig is pretty much horrible. Did you listen to that?

I don't get it. When I get real panic, with heart race and cold sweat, then I can't sleep, no way. But when it's something that I have when exhausted / very sleep deprived, then I can imagine what you say. This is not a full panic attack to me though, it's rather a general fear-type feeling. No heart race or anything, stoppable with just focusing the brain to think about nothing ... and then you nod off in ten minutes or so.

I registered a general development into the direction of these above tracks in fullon... You might like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3Oqq8fGnM He also did one with S-Range http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC1xmwgkXqQ

oh man ... this one is just absolutely great

Maybe, but there was even a compilation with only the psy tracks AFAIK: Gran Turismo 4 Kicks was it's name... Anyway, a good mention is also the game Mirror's Edge. The soundtrack was completely done by Magnus Birgersson, who's behind Solar Fields. The soundtrack is awesome, without it the game would not even be half as good. The characteristic Solar Fields style shines through, both upbeat and downbeat and as the setting of the whole game is so unique this is actually what I would call a playable Solar Fields album http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH3FzJUQie4

Just figured that this would fit better here ... in case you wonder why it got moved.

S-Range: http://www.myspace.com/s-range Atmos: http://www.myspace.com/atmotech Pusherstreet: http://www.myspace.com/pusherstreet

I usually tend to get fearsome (I wouldn't call it panic attacks) when I haven't slept enough or am very exhausted ... not the other way round. I rather get angry when I can't sleep...

This is one of the few movies I am actually looking forward to. Critics may say what they want, I find the LOTR movies great - and I know the books. It's a different approach to art ... movie and book can't really be compared. The book has got more "warmth", so to say, but the movies definitely have awesome atmosphere aswell. So I'm expecting The Hobbit eagerly. My only thoughts this time are that they are eventually overdoing it with "might" this time. It's a children's book, after all...

I'm a member of the church of the latter-day dude. Right. I'm dudeist ... a dudeist priest to be precise. Don't know what it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudeism Anybody needs a wedding? A divorce? A funeral? I do it for one bottle of quality Whisky. That is, by the way, no joke. I am damn (dudeistic damn) serious! ... I would, however, not classify music as a religion. Religion is what you make out of it. The essence of it are just sounds.

aaaaaand....

I'm far more comfortable saying it didn't happen Seriously, I was totally drunk that night and I can't remember anymore anyway ... except that I somehow know that it was awesome.

sad to hear hope it will get better

Doing right now: feeling a bit weird because I just promised to wear my Tiger costume (bought at Primark for 12 Pounds) to a party Gosh, I need a Whisky, right now, otherwise I feel stupid going out with that thing. And don't even dare to say "pics or stfu", I won't post a single one

Hey Pixie, where do you live? It's just that I've been to the UK two weeks ago and want to know if I deserve to be shot in the knee for passing by your area without even saying hello We did Cornwall and Wales, but with a drive through the midlands back down. We passed Chesterfield on the way to Nottingham... The time management was pretty bad this time though ... such a tight plan, no room to really go roaming around much. Just enough time to occasionally stop and piss behind the next bush by the roadside. The stressiest trip so far ... shouldn't happen, because we are not that unexperienced anymore. But it's my company's fault aswell, they didn't give me more holiday and we wanted to see so many things It was awesome though - and I'll probably return anyway, with more time...

What, your daughter is drug addicted now? Aww, that's quite bad, I sure understand that this causes you stress... Good luck that it sorts itself out.

Hey... Why not do it with the reviews in a bit of a same way like it's done with boulder / climbing routes? As people tend to treat things like it's rubbish when the score is below 7 and you have too little possibilities with the remaining 3 points up to 10, why not seperate each "point" once more? Like 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e, 7f or so? That way you'd know it's a 7, but it's a very good 7 or a very bad one (7.5 is not saying enough sometimes). Would that be an idea? You mean 7a out of 10

Thing is, the industry produces "hitsingles" and "bestseller albums" before the public even hears them. With that I mean, that a certain record is defined to be a hitsingle / bestseller album even if it was total crap and nobody has heard it before. You can see it in the advertisement: "the new hitsingle from Lady Gaga will be out on xyz" (for example) ... this is a contradiction in itself: a NEW record that is not released yet can't be a hitsingle - it has not even sold a single copy yet. But the industry has the power to get a huge machine going that automatically makes the record to a hit. It will be played on every radioshow, radio and TV stations get paid to talk about the song ... and sooner or later you'll have the public talking about it and once you're there, the way is paved and people will buy it - in masses. Most people nowadays don't have the time to dig for music and stuff ... they work, have kids, have stress or are just plain lazy ... they don't want to entertain themselves, they want to be entertained. And this opens the doors for such commercial "machineries". That's why it works, that's why even bad songs make it up the charts and generate money, money, money. The money is the main motivation, not the art ... that's why much of it is so dull, because it's been produced in a hurry... And now it crosses the bridge to the original question of the thread: as these "machineries" do search for new things to keep their status and to hit the nerve of time, maybe also attract new people to get even more money, they eventually come across underground genres - and tear them apart their way, like locusts. Okay, maybe it's not totally like this. But I'm sure there is more than just a grain of truth in that.

First of all I gotta say that the Faithless - Insomnia track is good. Like it ... listened to it myself already before when insomniac ... but the solution in it I did not register. Anyway... I am already past the "hot milk and shower" stage. This won't help anymore when I really am in an insomniac state. To have an effect, it has at least to be combined with a considerable amount of valerian ... or chemistry. Nice input, Pixie, but with me, scents and oils are also rather not potent enough for the real insomnia periods. Nevertheless, I used to have Amber oil ready for the night ... the scent makes me tired (until I really was insomniac and saw that it didn't help). But I will be going to take that out again anyway, good to remember Thinking of it now, I found the screen brightness utility to aid me to become tired ... more than I expected. I don't even notice it so much when I sit in front, but I feel that it helps. That was a really good advice, I must say again.

Great recommendation! Actually there can be a lot of tracks found when looking through the soundtrack of older racing games - a bit earlier issues of the Need For Speed series for example. Rom Di Prisco is an artist that uses lots of these acid synth lines ... and he did the music for the old NFS... In fact, I was instantly reminded of Rom Di Prisco as I listened to the track of the threadstarter ... such acidic synths are characteristic for him. This is the most intense example I could find - not goa anymore I would say ... but coming closer to what I personally would define as "goacore", if I may say so: http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQxMBDjKGLc

The music is plain old Goatrance to me. Like I listened to in the beginning as I came into this scene (even though I came much later than this was actual)... Is "Goacore" now a genre or not? Or should we regard it as a genre? Let's see how much power we have to create a new genre?! What I have to tell you is that Goacore is an artist: http://www.myspace.com/goacore ... but I find the music not really good. That surely can't be what you mean anyway... I would - and I already did (on parties)

I already tried conditioning. I am conditioned to the Sync24 - Source album to sleep off on that. The "funny" thing is now this: when I'm insomniac I don't want to sleep off to this album because it puts an even bigger pressure on me to sleep off to it because if I don't then the conditioning was for nothing and I'd have to start over all the way with something new. So I kinda never listen to it anymore - not before going to sleep (for fear of not sleeping off to it and breaking the conditioning) and not under day because it's intended to go to sleep to. It might sound like a bad joke, but this is somehow the thinking I do. And here lies the problem. It's this anxious/nervous thinking that has to be stopped. On all fronts.