Dolmot

I got mine today and listened it through twice. It would be nice to rate each album as an individual piece of work, but at this point of CBL's career comparisons to previous work are common and unavoidable. Everyone has their own ranking of CBL albums. While the #1 spot also varies, few can deny the fact that Hydroponic Garden was a landmark release. When the ominous beat of Central Plains kicked in at 5:30, CBL and even Ultimae as a whole stepped permanently on the map. People may favour later albums musically, but that defining moment is hard to top. World of Sleepers was another solid album. It was equally fine mix of sturdy beats, spacey samples and colourful soundscapes. I found it a little less coherent than HG, but that could be simply because the flow of HG is 100% hard-coded in my spine. Still plenty of big hits on WoS, so to speak. Now Interloper...for some it's the best, for me it didn't work that well. It was fine music again, no doubt, but somehow too casual. The previous albums had a feeling of being somewhere far away. Interloper felt like the title of HUVA Network's track "Sunday Barbecue with the Neighbours". It's very organic and down to earth. There are many analogue elements in its sounds. It's not pre-party, rave party (well, chillout room) or after-party music. It's Sunday noon music. (Add "to me" to everything, of course.) Also, many of the patterns were directly recycled from WoS. That's why it felt like leftovers - of very good stuff, sure, but leftovers nevertheless. Maybe it has its places and times. However, I haven't been in that kind of mood too often. That's why it hasn't received much attention around here. Then we got Twentythree, surprisingly soon after Interloper. It has fewer beats than any of the previous albums (well, none, really) - but it's cosmic again! Am I just fooled by the cover? I don't think so. It's "far away" music. It's for pre-party, rave party, after-party, planning things, doing serious work, you name it. There's very little Sunday barbecue here. The flow is even more seamless than before. It's easy to spot recycled instruments here too, but this time they're from HG and Irdial EP, which were the heavy stuff. For those reasons, I'd rank it #2 among the main CBL albums. Many people will undoubtedly disagree but hey, ambient is for listening and discovering your own style, not for teaming up with the cool guys...

Well...obviously these compilations are mainly targetted to those who don't own the original TIP discography yet. Assuming that you do happen to own the first four colour compilations (Yellow, Orange, Blue, Phosphorescent, or the same as Colours of Shiva 1&2), I think you already have something like 11 out of 19 tracks on these two new compilations. Feeling Weird adds maybe three of the missing ones. From Yellow alone, five tracks have now been rereleased and even more will probably follow. So, interesting samplers for someone who wants a quick look at the TIP history, but largely redundant if you have the originals or plan to get them eventually. To be honest, I might be more pissed off if there was one unreleased track on each CD, forcing me to buy the rest as duplicates. Now you can simply conclude you're not in the target audience and move on. Still...I'm afraid people are nowadays just using YouTube, Spotify-like services or plain mass downloading for their sampling needs. Collectors should get the originals instead. Who's in the target audience then? Someone who just wants to blast one compilation in their car stereo or drop a random classic in a DJ set? I don't know. Oh well, I guess these help to keep the TIP tradition alive so they can't be entirely evil.

There was a poll?

The Antidote - Sunrise?

It's the soundtrack of Future Crew's 1992 demo 'Panic'. I remember downloading it from a BBS when it was fresh. Possibly with a 2.4 kbps modem. 19 years ago? OK, now I feel officially old.

Actually, the whole world is just making quips and astonished remarks today about a game that spent 14 years in development. But hey, DNF was the very definition of vaporware or "not existing" for a decade. Still, it eventually got released so who knows, what kind of weird things can happen in this world.

Meanwhile, Duke Nukem Forever was released...

So is this a real closure or just the usual renaming/merging stunt?

Funny you should bump this release. I was going to post about it elsewhere a few weeks ago but got delayed by various things. However, I wasn't going to review it. Instead, I'd like to find out the correct track listing. Quoting Matt (Label manager) from the first page: What is printed on the CD and copied to Discogs is: 01. Skanda's Tail 02. Mezmorized 03. Telementery 04. Karmic Implications 05. Language Of Silence 06. Raspy Honks 07. Colonization 08. Witch Doctor 09. Earth Tremors While the label site and Paul's old site say: 01. Skanda’s Tail 02. Mezmorized 03. Language of Silence 04. Witch Doctor 05. Telementery 06. Karmic Implications 07. Raspy Honks 08. Colonization 09. Earth Tremors I only have the vinyl version, where the listing should be correct. If I recall correctly, it corresponds to the latter listing. Noticeably, "Karmic Implications" (track 6) should have a sample reflecting its title. Similarly the major stomper track 8 is actually called Colonization and so on. Does anyone remember/support this? I can grab some samples from the vinyl for checking. If this is all true, then there are probably a million P2P and YouTube copies, where the track names are wrong.

Well, there will be slightly less snow than usual so skis are not 100% essential. Still recommended, of course. Cities will be mostly empty. Everyone's sunbathing on lake ice or visiting rock festivals. Gnomes have their own forest parties but they won't be telling us. If travelling by rail, reserve three extra hours per trip (any trip), just in case. Public nudity is commonplace. Everything is expensive. There's nothing to see in the so-called urban areas so just walk/ski half a mile from the centre and you'll be deep in a forest. Sleeping under a spruce is fine. You can try to spot a gnome. Watch out for swamps. Don't participate in a sauna contest. Welcome.

PortaMento, mostly. I also want to hear the AP album, but holding one's breath would be unwise.

Enichkin's 2010 album had several tracks with high BPM body and experimental beatwork on top. Hard to say, how accurately this matches your description, though.

Omega Centaurus was 1997... Anyway, a brief 2010 goa review mix: 01. (00:00) Globular - The Continuum Process ["Colours of the Brainbow", Gliese 581C 2010] *+ 02. (02:45) Etnoscope - Might & Magic ["Way over Deadline", Panzar Produktionz 2010] *+ 03. (07:50) Somnesia vs PharaOm - God's Tears ["Energy Waves", Suntrip Records 2010] 04. (11:10) Crossing Mind - Psy Crise ["The Holographic Paradigm", DAT Records 2010] 05. (18:25) Goasia - How Deep Is Your Trip ["Dancing with the Blue Spirit", Kagdila Records 2010] 06. (24:25) PharaOm - Cellar Door ["Dimensional Gateway", Neogoa.tk 2010] *+ 07. (31:30) Dhamsuta - Lucent Venture ["Goa Overdose", Underground Alien Factory 2010] *+ 08. (37:15) Daimon - Grimoire ["Project DIY - Belgians United", not on label 2010] * 09. (43:40) Astrancer - Koilon ["Spiritual Rising", Ezel-Ebed Records 2010] 10. (51:55) Artha - DNA ["Fluori Dolby", Cronomi Records 2010] *+ 11. (61:50) Merr0w - Citrus Circus ["Temple of Chaos", Suntrip Records 2010] 12. (69:40) Deimos - Chest Pain ["Ruptured EP", Diggarama 2010] *+ 13. (75:30) Tara Putra - Mashala Dub ["Space Forming", Gliese 581C 2010] *+ * Free(!) release + Also available on Ektoplazm.com Very direct download (127 MB VBR, 82 min) Track list in .txt Completely enjoyable upbeat albums were few and far between (as usual for me), but there are always some good bits here and there...maybe...

We have a winner.

OK...fairly recent goa.

What's the thing with Citrus Circus? I've seen it in three different mixes this week. (One of them mine. ) One possible explanation is that it's a tight track, but worldwide conspiracies are more exciting.

Might be nice, but clips like there's no tomorrow. Chillout doesn't quite work when overamped 200% gabber-style... Or is it just me?

Your art was better than mine...

I try my luck with MFG - New Kind of World, because the 2LP is currently frontmost in a stack of loose records right behind me.

Here's a quick one. Remember to post something in return...

It kind of reminds me of Silicon Trip but not quite...

KLF - What Time Is Love 1988 or so. Quite a classic for sure.

Well, yes and no...there have always been workhorse orchestras/bands playing cover tunes as cheaply as possible. They didn't have to be brilliant, only good enough to bring some audience in. They didn't have to be creative. The same jazz and swing arrangements were played everywhere. If that's not purely commercial performing then what is? Similarly the rock era saw endless "The Whatevers" groups - essentially cloned boy bands of those days. You may have heard of the famous Beatles audition, where Decca stated that "guitar groups are on the way out". That's how generic the concept was already back then. They played mostly cover songs in that session, by the way. It's really nothing new that managers, promoters, record companies etc. try to make a quick buck wherever they can. The big audience is rarely looking for the best talent. Some simple entertainment will go a long way if marketed properly. That's how it's always been. Millions of teens want - and try - to be rock stars just for the money and fame, regardless of their true talent. Of course, nowadays we have autotune and playback tapes so you can occasionally get away with precisely zero talent. Also, in these internet and software days it no longer takes a full studio session to produce something for wide distribution, so more and more people have a chance to try their luck. There's not even the lowest kind of record label filtering to reject the utter failures. But really, check out some 50s top lists and releases. You'll find enormous amounts of copycat concepts, cover tunes, hasty production and cheap tricks. A lot of it has been forgotten for good. For every Beatles there were a thousand unsuccessful clones. I'd say you can find vastly more creativity and originality today. A lot of it will end up being mediocre or plain crap, though. It's the Sturgeon's second law.

Are you serious? I thought it was 1) bad music to begin with, commercial or not 2) immensely hyped in every possible media, thus impossible to avoid 3) officially over in early 2009 But hey...maybe there's a major neo-dubstep movement 15 years later, and you can boast having all the oldschool stuff in original pressing...

Agreed. Definitely one of the most anticipated releases of 2025.