Dolmot

I've been checking the Pleiadians' 30 Years release a few times now. The Family of Light disc you should already know. Then there's the 1998 studio rehearsal tape where things get interesting. For convenience, the tracks are (including the DL-only first track): Modulation Merope Alcyone Asterope Headspin & Taygeta Rotating Fields Electra Lunar Civilization Vimana For some historical context (correct me if I'm wrong), there were no official Etnica releases between Plastic 12" (March 1997) and Equator (March 1999). Fluorophilia was briefly promoted but didn't happen. Meanwhile, there was Pleiadians' IFO in July 1997 and Headspin 12" in June 1998 so it makes sense that this was primarily a "Pleiadians year" with touring under that name. Also note that Family of Light was only released in October 1999, after Equator, so despite this release's bundling, FoL wasn't exactly a coming-very-soon thing in 1998 yet. Therefore the set it still largely about IFO. So what do we have here? 4½ IFO tracks and the remaining ½ from a single that eventually ended up on FoL. Modulation "was conceived specifically to be played during the Total Eclipse Party in Venezuela which took place February 98", according to the FoL notes. Lunar Civilization and Vimana are "guest tracks" we already heard in the Etnica Live in Athens 1996 set, finishing that too but flipped. Then there's Rotating Fields, only semi-released on that shoddy 2001 Etnica mp3 compilation (and later elsewhere), but reportedly Maurizio's solo track from 1998. Were there any specific Pleiadians vs Etnica plans for that? I don't know. And the music? Well, I'd say the versions are slightly toned down from the in-your-face power of IFO. For example Electra becomes quite eerie with so many things left out from it or altered. Also Lunar Civilization may be the "softest" of the many released versions out there, the loud main riff barely appearing. The whole thing kind of feels like the total mayhem era tracks were played in Equator style or something like that. But it's a different take and I like it that way. Was this a review? Well, more like a background check and some first thoughts. But I'll be listening again while pondering the full context.

Gah, I should have replied already last week but things have been happening. They're still happening but anyway... Yes, that offered price is ridiculous in this kind of use case. Some other software could be more realistic in that sense, but the migration task can range from lucky to really tedious. Hard to predict. Using the content in some other form is an option, maybe even an interesting one. I definitely have to give this another thought. Right now I cannot come up with anything brilliant or even coherent due to things, but it seems we're not in any immediate hurry either. Just keeping at least this thread alive for now.

Saiko-Pod - Pling Pong

Hey, I'm getting close to "today", only off by a month or so. Cronomi update from December 2025 Bandcamp Friday: Globox – Flumina Kinnarah – Aedo Erta Alé II Event Horizon – 8 That might almost wrap up 2025 (or earlier) purchases which belong in here. I still have to check some dark ambient CDs and a bunch of random vinyl (discotheque stuff etc.). If I find something noteworthy, I'll post it here, but otherwise it's time to focus on what 2026 brings.

Rarities, curiosities, collectables, or whatever they might be, received in 2025: Globular – Lifts the Curse of the Grey Goo Assimilators..! (LP) Hallucinogen – The Singles Remastered Disco Volante etc. – Transient Eternal / Trancendent Banco de Gaia – You Are Here (20th Anniversary Edition) All very nice and significant in their own way.

Full and half LSD releases...from last year or just filling a couple of gaps: The Orb – The Dream LP Philipp Greter – Greter Than Dub Dub Trees – Celtic Vedic 2025 remaster CD and LP Saafi Brothers – A Relaxed Blur Let's throw in some Dubmission too because my shopping tour often goes through both: Pitch Black – Echoes of the Night (The Adrian Sherwood Remixes) 10" Pitch Black – Freqs in Flux Pitch Black – Rude Mechanicals LP Gaudi – Jazz Gone Dub CD and LP Makyo – Things Ah Get Tuff 7" The LPs are cool but things are getting tuff if I pay normal or discounted price to the (UK) labels but then almost the same again for shipping, EU VAT, and handling fees.

Another small batch, consisting of recent DAT Universe stuff: Ra – To Sirius ZNA Gathering (The Retro-Futuristic Compilation Volume 4) Trân Museus – Museum of the Full Moon

Looks like I got distracted in many ways after posting the previous batch. Now I finally have some winter vacation and a bit of free time so let's check a couple of stacks that I (probably) haven't listed anywhere yet. I have to organise this space and to update the collection... In this one we have some basic Suntrip updates from last summer: Battle of the Future Buddhas – Cause, Principle and One Eternal Tjukurpa Etnica – 30 Years CD and LP and probably from the same shipment Prānā – Sense of Unity It was fun to see Prānā live too.

I don't really feel like getting into the pissing contest about how people (or kids these days) are listening to wrong music and listening to music wrong, but we can check some trends for sort of hard facts. One go-to place is IFPI's global music report. Right now the main site is acting up, but you can get a referring article or the pdf. For some possible key points: Music revenues as a whole crashed by about 50% from the late 90s peak (or "peak CD, no Napster yet") to the 2015-ish "how should we even get stuff" confusion low, but now they've actually made a new all-time high again. Nowadays the big money comes from streaming (51.2% subscriptions, 17.7% ad-supported, 69.0% together), but obviously not for everyone equally. Physical media is 16.4% globally, probably less in the US and similar countries. (You can find US stats separately.) Vinyl has outsold CDs since 2020. I still buy CDs and vinyl - for reliable hard copies and simply for collecting, but overall CD buyers are a small minority and people actually listening to CDs even smaller. That "I don't even own a CD player" boast was popular already 20 years ago. Today I know people who actually hoard CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives because their production is dwindling and eventually you won't be able to get any new ones even if you wanted. Anyway, streaming is how people get music. It's another story how "kids these days" listen to music. I'm not saying that everyone only checks six second video snippets, but I do think that swiping, skipping, shorter attention span and instant gratification are real trends. I'm obviously old and grumpy, but in my opinion psy-trance in general got a bit weird already in the 00s when it still insisted on 8 minute tracks, yet placed some crowd-hyping filter effect or fill in there every 20 seconds. It was different in the 90s when listening involved the effort of loading a physical disc, and a few minutes of gradual building was a thing, acceptable, or even expected. I don't know if I'm getting anywhere here but let's just say that goa, CDs, and goa CDs are on the losing side of major trends. Also, there is so much of everything that marginal stuff is ridiculously marginal now. I'm almost literally drowning in music and I'm buying it on physical discs. If I tried to follow even a fraction of all the digital stuff, RIP me. It takes me more than a month to process what I can easily get on a single Bandcamp Friday. I'll stop here because it's late again, but maybe I'll dedicate another message to Cronomi. Let's see.

Indeed, people. This is one of the many, many reasons why only posting a link to an external resource without any hints is a bad idea, no matter how deceptively easy it might feel. Anyway..."An Eagle in Your Mind" seems to check out, including the timestamp. The video with that Youtube id is discussed here. https://xoxo.zone/@tonx/110234057092485667 (Oh the irony of posting a link to an external discussion... But you have the name here now.)

Prana was damn smooth. If you search for Tsuyoshi sets (or have heard one), you know the deal. I didn't feel like track spotting but maybe some of the 2013-2021 remixes of classics there and new album stuff of course. But IMO the real highlight is just how well it's put together. All those juicy basslines, one blending into another. I didn't even think about taking a break from it. Total Eclipse definitely has many hits, all the way from the early 90s. I think we got a higher amount of originals there. They're somewhat harder to put into a really continuous mix. Nevertheless, Waiting for a New Life, Can't Do That etc. at 3 am still bring back something very special from the days when I managed to get some selected compilations to the backwoods and things changed. The venue is a proper no-frills techno cave which gets the essential rights. I think I'll be back at least for CBL next year.

Possibly possible too.

It's a possibility.

Trying to remember what I was supposed to buy on Bandcamp Friday. (Sampling the new Saafi Brothers album as the first idea.)

Today we have a simple one. I had been postponing my Ott album purchases for many years. Maybe they were released in times when I was busy or preferred something else or didn't feel like ordering just one disc. Well, actually I did get the crowdfunded Blumenkraft LP and bonus 12" in 2018 because those are classics and the vinyl releases were something new and hot, but the more recent albums were another path which I had missed. This year I finally fixed that and got: Fairchildren Heads Hiraeth Ott is such a decent bloke; fair prices, no artificial scarcity tricks, free signing service, positive messages and maybe even extras included. It's always a pleasure shopping there and I'm pretty sure you will agree, no matter what you get and how. Now, about time to give these a proper listen...