pr0fane

2nd: Jaïa - Fiction Ticon - Aero

Since I'm representing Iboga, I won't do any blatant promotion and recommend any of our releases, but there is also plenty of other good stuff to chose from out there. V/A - Uncharted from Flow Records (this one is essential) V/A - New Order from HOMmega (also essential) V/A - Afterhourz from Groove Zone (also essential) V/A - Globalize 1 and 2 from Flow Records (I probably like part 1 best) Vibrasphere - Archipelago Remixed from Digital Structures (mostly progressive, but also chill, minimal and some slightly full on) D-Nox & Beckers - Left Behind on Electribe (this is VERY minimal compared to the other recommendations, but one of the best releases this year in my opinion) Word on the street also says that the Shadow FX debut album on Zenon is quite good, but I haven't heard it myself yet.

I don't review that much anymore, it simply takes up too much time to write in-depth reviews of several releases each month. On average I would say that I need to listen to the release at least 6-8 times first, and then some hours to write the review itself.

I've seen it out of stuck at Psyshop, but it can also be bought from www.progressivetunes.com

Not surprised that it could turn out bad and have vocals, but sadly this is even worse than I personally expected. They always did a great job on the vocals on Emou though - bring us more Emou-goodness!

Probably Newport or Broad Bandits, but they have released so many amazing tracks over the years, it's hard to pick

My current top10 as of yesterday: 01. Ace Ventura - Presence // Iboga, Unreleased 02. Island 9 - Moody (Chris Micali Remix) // Commonwealth 03. Graham & Blades - Argie Bargie // Boz Boz 04. Behind Blue Eyes - Rumble In The Jungle (Sensient Remix) // Unreleased 05. Stu Hirst - Melodique (Roger Martinez’ Sunny Side Up Remix) // Baroque Digital 06. Julian Jeweil - Air Conditionne (Sebastién Leger Short Mix) // Electrochoc 07. SunControlSpecies - Kick Me Shake Me // Iboga 08. Vibrasphere - 102 Miles From Here // Tribal Vision 09. M.I.D.O.R. - The Bandit // Five AM 10. 16 Bit Lolitas - Goodbye Pluto (Version 2) // Bits & Pieces

One word: Placebo...

Bring back Slinky Wizard!

Artist: Vibrasphere Title: Exploring The Tributaries Label: Tribal Vision Format: CD Released: June 2007 Review: After 3 albums on the two Swedish labels Spiral Trax and Digital Structures, Rickard Berglöf and Robert Elster are now ready with their 4th full-length album "Exploring The Tributaries" on the Czech label Tribal Vision - a label which in the last couple of years has marked itself as one of the best and most important new labels in the progressive scene. The Swedish duo, which is widely known under the name Vibrasphere, has been around for far longer than Tribal Vision Records, releasing some of the best and most emotional progressive trance, and is an act which has always had huge impact on me personally. After the 3rd album released last year, "Archipelago", Vibrasphere released a track called "Floating Free" on Tribal Vision, and it turned out to be a huge success, getting plays by some of the biggest DJ's in the wide trance scene like Armin Van Buuren, Paul Van Dyk, Christopher Lawrence and Markus Schulz, and the new album is promising to be a more experimental and targeted towards a wider audience than the usual progressive psytrance crowd. So Vibrasphere is definitely a bigger name now than they were just one year ago - but are they any better? Read along for my opinion. 01. Heading North The album starts with "Heading North" which is a 5-minute chillout intro. This can't really be a surprise, since all the first 3 albums also started with one chillout-tune to set the mood for the tracks to come. Surprising or not, it really does the trick - the theme is around leaving the civilation behind, with the sound of a train in the background and atmospheric voice-samples by Jasmine Ntoutoume. Great opener. 02. Erosion [117 BPM] "Heading North" fluidly and effortlessly transitions into the steady beats of "Erosion". Running at only 117 BPM, this has a lazy, underwhelming feel to it, yet still with a sense of class and big, mesmerising sounds. It contains vocals by Irina Mikhailova who, truth to be told, never really impressed me with her singing, but this is an exception. Warm and stellar music suitable for both the chillout, as well as openminded dancefloors. 03. Isolation [125 BPM] The tempo is raised a bit with "Isolation", the first of the really dancefloor oriented tunes on the album, and with vocals by Lisa Larsson. It has a big, trancy sound but with a more lazy approach, and an underlying trendy hint of electro in the low-end, compared to the material on "Archipelago". A bit anonymous at first, but when the Vibrasphere-trademark melodies come in the last 3 minutes, it does turn into a pretty good tune. 04. Vertical [130 BPM] With "Vertical" the intensity is given a notch up - a trendy electro-groove gives it a bouncy, dancefriendly touch, yet still with the wide, trancy sound. With the current electro-trend in mind, this is bound to be one of the tunes from the album getting most plays at parties this year, but to me it seems a bit lacking some of the epic qualities to really make it a winner. Good, but not amazing. 05. In Control [134 BPM] "In Control" was released as a single prior to the album with remixes by Chris Micali and Duca, and it's no surprise why it was chosen for a single-release. It's the first and only track on the album running over 130 BPM, and in sounds and structure it sounds pretty close to the hit "Floating Free", meaning phat and rolling electro-inspired bass, simple, yet effective vocals and catchy melodies. Good stuff. 06. 102 Miles From Here [128 BPM] After some good but not excellent tunes, "102 Miles From Here" is, to me, the first track where Vibraspheres brilliance really shines through. The groove is so funky, yet not stressful in any way, and the immaculate Jean Michel Jarre like melodies and atmosphere in the peak of the track is the moment of the album for me. Simply a beautiful track - a tribute to the good times in life. 07. Wasteland [127 BPM] The dancefloor section on the album ends with "Wasteland" - probably one of the most experimental trance-tracks Vibrasphere has made over the years. Gone are the intense rhythms that'll have the dancefloor in a frenzy, and instead we're treated with some lazy, minimal techish grooves for the after-hours, but still embellished in rich, trancy pads and melodies. Great track. 08. Forever Imaginary Okay, on to the downbeat section on the album - Vibrasphere has always made some great chillout, and people have been hoping for a pure chillout album from the duo for years. "Forever Imaginary" starts out quite ok with uplifting and optimistic melodies, but over the 7 minutes it almost gets too much, bordering towards the too naïve and cheesy. Not a bad track by any means, but not great either. 09. Ensueño Things get drastically better with "Ensueño". It has much deeper approach, with some truly beautiful acoustic guitar play by Mattias Johnsson (who also contributed to "Forever Imaginary"), subtle layers of blissful melodies and once again some beautiful vocal-work by Lisa Larsson. In my opinion one of the best downbeat-tunes Vibrasphere has ever made. 10. Mountain Lake "Mountain Lake" is a fairly organic tune, with the calming sounds of water and with elements of both acoustic guitar, melodica and electric bass. The mood is melancholic, almost depressive, but still with an underlying hint of optimism. Nice track. 11. Yaku The finale on the album is "Yaku" - a short (running for just over 2 minutes), but really emotional piece of music with voice-samples by Tina Casana Colque, spoken in the ancient Inca's language Quechua. Fairly interesting ending to the album. Bottom line: "Exploring The Tributaries" is no doubt the most experimental of the Vibrasphere albums so far, with a generally much slower and laidback approach than the first 3, a bigger emphasis on downbeat/chillout and elements from electro and even minimal - and surprisingly enough it doesn't sound as rushed as I had feared, since their last album was released only a year ago. That being said, I'm not as impressed as with the last two - there are moments of brilliance, but they aren't as frequent as on "Lime Structure" and "Archipelago". Saying I'm disappointed in this album would definitely be wrong though - being a huge fan of their earlier releases, I'm guessing I was quite critical in my review, but overall I still think this a solid album, where Vibrasphere manages to evolve their sound. Recommended buy. Favourites: 1, 2, 6(!!), 7, 9 Verdict: 8/10 Links: Vibrasphere: http://www.vibrasphere.com Vibrasphere @ Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/vibraspheremusic Tribal Vision Records: http://www.tribalvision.cz Tribal Vision Records @ Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tribalvisionrecords

Me obviously

Around 310 CD's. 70-80 CD's with unreleased music, music I've gotten from artists or labels and various buys from Beatport/Audiojelly/3Beatdigital etc. - the rest of the CD's are originals.

Artist: D-Nox & Beckers Title: Left Behind Label: Electribe Format: CD / MP3 Released: May 2007 Review: After tons of major hits throughout the last couple of years, the German duo D-Nox & Beckers is finally out with their debut album. I'm guessing none of these guys needs an introduction, but I'll make a quick roundup anyways: Christian Wedekind aka D-Nox is possibly the most well-known and highly respected DJ to ever come out of the progressive psytrance scene, with involvement in labels like Tatsu and more lately Plastik Park and Sprout, although nowadays his sound (both as a DJ and a producer) have little or no connection to the psychedelic trane scene, but is more towards a mix of minimal, tech, progressive and electro house. Frank Beckers was one of the first to really successfully incorporate housier sounds into the progressive psytrance sound - first with his soloproject Space Safari, and later with the duos Export Audio and D-Nox & Beckers. D-Nox & Beckers is undoubtedly the most successful of the projects so far though - even though Beckers had a huge hit in the scene with "Switch", later releases under the D-Nox & Beckers project has caused more interest on a broader scale, with tracks and remixes signed to major labels like Baroque, Vapour/VapouRise, Fresco, Electribe, Craft Music, Open Up, SOG and Boz Boz, but also labels like Iboga, Flow/Flow Vinyl and of course D-Nox' own imprints Plastik Park and Sprout has put out releases from the duo. With that in mind, it's no surprise that the hype concerning their debut album "Left Behind" has been huge, so let's see if it delivers. The album is out in 2 versions - unmixed and mixed. I'll review the unmixed version. 01. D-Nox & Beckers - Left Behind [127 BPM] "For your ears, for your mind. We've got something, left behind". The album starts with the title-track "Left Behind" - it starts with a short intro, the groove kicks in, and we're introduced to a male voice-sample with a hint of a German accent. After that it gradually builds up, throwing in a couple of funky electro-stabs but still keeping it quite cool and down to earth. Fine opening track. 02. D-Nox & Beckers - Stepout [127 BPM] The intensity is kicked up a notch with "Stepout" - it's deeper and the groove is more pounding, but with a more minimal use of sounds and effects, at least in the first half. It builds up nicely though, and there is a fine break around the 2 minute mark before it ends without much drama. Ok track, but among the more anonymous on the entire album. 03. D-Nox & Beckers - Shanghigh [126 BPM] With "Shanghigh" things get dramatically more interesting - this is one of the funkiest, most ass-shaking grooves the duo has ever produced, and the quirky bells and melodies make this one heck of a summer-groover. Minimal, techy and with a great deal of positive attitude - very nice! 04. Tignino & Leo feat. Mark Kerr - How Does It Feel (D-Nox & Beckers Remix) [126 BPM] The groove from "Shanghigh" continues well into the remix of Daniele Tigino, Ottavio Leo and Mark Kerr's "How Does It Feel", but eases down to a more laidback, deep tech house. Some half-wispered male vocals gives it a slightly spooky feel, but just wait until the wacky groove kicks in. To me it sounds like something created by lab-monkeys in the year 2150 - highly creative stuff. 05. D-Nox & Beckers feat Hatfield - What Is Real [126 BPM] Next the duo teams up with Leif Hatfield of Trancefeld fame, who Beckers also previously collaborated with on the Export Audio project. After a couple of deep and quite minimal tracks, "What Is Real" is more in the well-known D-Nox & Beckers style with sleazy and dancefloor friendly electro-house grooves and some very distinct male voice-samples. Great track - this'll be one of the favourites among DJ's this summer. 06. Hatfield & Beckers - Arnousa Day [128 BPM] Hatfield is joining forces with Beckers again on "Arnousa Day", this time without D-Nox in the studio, but with a guy called Arno Sousa on vocals (hence the title). I had a hard time with the vocals the first time I heard this track, but it has certainly grown on me a lot - they have a certain quirky twist that makes them loveable, and the rocking, dynamic groove is more addictive than a can of cocaine-laced Pringles. Where as the first part of the album was quite club-oriented, I'm guessing this track will work particularly well in the outdoors - yet another highlight. 07. Beckers - Pick Up [128 BPM] Beckers was alone in the studio on "Pick Up" - a very solid track, similar to some of the older material by the duo. Simple, straightforward and very positive electro-house, but in the context of this album, it doesn't stand out that much, being one of the least interesting tracks overall. On its own, I'm sure it'll do the trick very well though. 08. Wehbba - Xcllr8 (D-Nox & Beckers Remix) [129 BPM] Up next is a remix of "Xcllr8" by the Brazilian electro producer Rodolfo Wehbba - previously released on a single on Craft Music. It's more laidback and deeper than the last couple of tunes, with a lovely positive atmosphere and beautiful, retrospective melodies. Blissful summer afternoon track. 09. D-Nox & Beckers - Changes [125 BPM] The closing tune is "Changes", which was released right before the album on a single alongside "Shanghigh" - and boy does it close the album in style. This is definitely up there with my all-time favourite tunes by the duo; elegant and smooth progressive house with trance elements, gradually building up the hypnotic grooves and getting more and more blissful. Epic ending for a stunning album. Bottom line: The expectations for this one were enormous, and the two doesn't disappoint one bit. I'm guessing some fans of their older releases will be somewhat disappointed by the more minimal approach on this album, but to me it's an essential release, following the zeitgeist of the musical development in the scene, but giving it their own unique twist. If you are even remotely interested in the progressive/electro house scene, this is one of those releases you just can't miss this year, and my guess is that you won't, since the tracks from this album will be played to death at parties and festivals this summer and the months (and possibly also years) to come. Yes, it's THAT good. Get it now. Favourites: 3, 4 (!), 5(!), 6(!), 8(!), 9(!!) Verdict: 9/10 Links: D-Nox: http://www.d-nox.com D-Nox @ Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/djdnox Beckers @ Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/frankbeckers Electribe: http://www.elec-tribe.com

Had this for a few weeks now, and I'm loving it more and more. Definitely one of the best albums I've heard this year.

Infected Mushroom vs. NHJOHYENNRO liveset? Party of the century!

Samples are online: http://iboga.dk/index.php?release=IbogaCD48

I think it was a sideproject to MOS (Mittelstandskinder ohne Strom), correct me if I'm wrong.

Have you heard "To Experience"? Anyways, the "Saved" EP isn't that bad really... far from their crunchy old sound, but still with some interesting ideas, that make them stand out from most of the israeli full on scene.

12 Moons, Neum, A.K.D., Cosma, Frogacult, Mark Allen, Process, Prototyp, Sphere, Segment, Paps and many more...

It sounds ok, but not much more than that. It's just a sample though, so can't make any final judgements. If Chemical Crew suddenly decides to release good music, fine with me

It is definitely party music, no doubt about that. I certainly don't agree that it's shallow in any way though, but taste differs

Bought both tracks on Beatport on the release-date: nice stuff, dreamy and organic. I opened my last gig with the original mix - such a lovely intro Also the first Aes Dana progressive house EP was very nice.

Artist: Tristan Title: Chemisphere Label: Nano Records Format: CD Released: April 2007 Review: "Chemisphere" is arguably one of the most anticipated releases in the psychedelic trance scene this year, being the 3rd album from one of the big boys on the scene, Tristan Cooke. Tristan had his first track released back in 1995, and has since then appeared on practically all the major festivals worldwide, collaborated with artsts like Process, Prometheus, ManMadeMan and Dick Trevor and released on influential labels like Flying Rhino, Matsuri, TIP and TIP.World, Dragonfly, Tristan and Twisted, where he released his first 2 albums, "Audiodrome" and "Substance" - so naturally the expectations for this release are enormous. Surprisingly enough "Chemisphere" is released on Nano Records, and not on his long time home Twisted Records (the label who, in the minds of many a psytrancer, can't do anything wrong) - and in my opinion it was a mistake by Twisted to let Tristan go to another label. Let me tell you why. 01. It Depends On You [140 BPM] Opening the show is "It Depends On You", which was recently remixed by UK duo AMD on the 3rd "Origin" festival compilation. It starts with a 1½ minute long intro with the easily recognisable and very well-chosen voicesamples I've come to love from the remix and then it kicks into action. In short this is happy outdoor trance - more fluid than the AMD version, but still with a lot of dancefloor punch. 02. Focus [142 BPM] "Focus" is, like the opener, rich on well-chosen delusional voice-samples, with especially the catchy "You ain't got a body no more son, it's all up here now!" standing out. The track itself contains a bit more bouncy bassline than the opener, and is generally slightly more on the darker side with hints of acid here and there. Another solid tune. 03. Dream Machine [142 BPM] The aptly titled "Dream Machine" takes over, and it's undoubtedly the must blissful dancefloor track on the album, with less of the Twisted-power, but a more traditional morning full on approach. Dreamy pads, fragments of female vocals and delicious understated melodies, but never ever getting cheesy or predictable - amazing morning tune, a sure favourite in my book. 04. No Guarantees [144 BPM] From dreamy morning trance we again move towards the slightly darker, more psychedelic trance. "No Guarantees" is a real stormer of a night time tune, with more than a few hints of the oldschool Twisted Records vibe. This will surely become one of the most played tunes by DJ's looking for massive UK psychedelic trance. BIG. 05. Spiritual Excitation [145 BPM] The promo-material for the album says that he started studying guitar, and in "Spiritual Excitation" we get the first result of that. Again moving from darker psychedelic trance to more epic morning trance, with some guitar-riffs for added effect, but never going over the top. A bit more on the funky and playful side compared to the first 4 tunes, but still maintaining the high quality. 06. Toad [145 BPM] "Toad" again bring us back to the more night-time oriented sounds - it sounds quite a lot like something which could have been featured on the "God Save The Machine" compilation last year, meaning high quality UK psychedelic trance, with just a little hint of larger-than-life guitar-riffs somewhere out in the distant background. Great tune, and the album is still going strong. 07. Terrordactyl [144 BPM] The intro in "Terrordactyl" is my favourite on the album, starting with a heavily filtered female vocal, chopped up and sliced to pieces, and with a hint of something that sounds like the theme from an old 30's movie in the background. Sadly the rest of the track doesn't quite live up to the promising beginning - there's some great grooves and energy, but where the guitars in the last couple of tracks where more on the subtle side, we're given the whole in-your-face guitar treatment here. A bit over the top for my liking. 08. If Only [142 BPM] The last dancefloor minded track on the album is "If Only". The overall mood in the track starts out rather positive, but slowly gets more intense and gloomy, and after the peak around halfway through we're introduced to some harsh, strong melodies that sadly seemed a bit too heavy and grim to me. One of the weaker tunes on the album in my opinion. 09. Suriname The last track is "Suriname". Generally I must say that it's rather unoriginal to end an album with a downbeat track, but in this case the result is quite good. Tristan is no stranger to downbeat (just listen to his older projects Delusions Of Grandeur and Event Horizon), and "Suriname" is a lovely, thoughtful chilled out tune with some excellent acoustic guitar work. Certainly a worthy way to finish the album. Bottom line: As a DJ-tool, "Chemisphere" surely delivers - I can't say that it really contains any big surprises or major landmarks in terms of musical creativity, but for its intended use, it works really, really well. Tristans experience in playing on practically all the important festivals shines through - put this CD on a big rig, and you have some of the best music for being played outdoors. Really loud. Now, for homelistening I'm a bit more critical - stylistically it is more restricted to one sound, compared to his first 2 albums, and I think the overall flow seems somewhat odd, moving from uplifting morning tunes to twisted nighttime full on, back to morning sounds and back to darker, more psychedelict trance once again. I would have preferred a more coherent flow. At the end of the day, this is another great release from Nano Records though. Definitely comparable with the recent AMD-album (although more floaty and organic), and the quality is just as high. Recommended buy. Favourites: 1 (!!), 2, 3 (!!), 4, 5, 6, 9 Verdict: 8/10 Links: Tristan: http://www.djtristan.com/base Nano Records: http://www.nanorecords.co.uk Tristan at Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tristancooke Nano Records at Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nanorecords

Yep, according to Tsuyoshi Suzuki "Psytrance is going nowhere" (just look at the tracktitle for the first track on his new mix-CD) - but still he contributes with a mix of mass-produced full on fodder, and even with a few quite poor track-transitions as well. Ironic or sad release, coming from one of the most well-respected psytrance DJ's evargh? Discuss. http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/vic/vic1cd678.html