pr0fane

I also find a lot of the dark psy obnoxious and just plain random noise - but it's of course a matter of taste. There are interesting projects though - Para Halu, Penta and Electrypnose has made some pretty interesting stuff in my opinion, and the Århus crew is pretty good as well: Meteloids, Jahbo, Grapes Of Wrath, Alrune.

I heard AES Dana play a remix of "Triptonite" at Sonica. It didn't have the epic qualities of the original versions (the melody is after all, in my opinion, probably one of the best ever made in the psychedelic scene), but it did have some interesting twists'n'turns and I can't wait to get it on CD. Don't know what to expect from the rest of the releases, but I'll surely check them out when they're on the market

Sasha - Airdrawndagger

In addition to some of the albums already mentioned: Saiko-Pod - Phutures & Options Koxbox - The Great Unknown

I friend of mine took these: http://tinyurl.com/poz7b

Nope. I was in the chillout at 16:00 on friday like we had agreed beforehand, but couldn't really recognize any psynewsers Oh well, mets lots of other wonderful people at the festival

So, just came back from 2 wonderful weeks in Italy - and 5 days at Sonica 2006! I arrived Thursday around 2 o'clock in staggering 35 degrees heat - and right before a pretty big fire at the entrance-area. Shockingly enough it took the fire brigade something like 45 minutes to show up, but luckily a lot of partygoers took action and brought the fire under control by themselves. Big thumbs up for that. Afterwards I met up with some old friends from Holland, Sweden, Spain, England and Denmark and had a few beers before I set up my tent and gazebo before finally going to sleep pretty early in the evening. Friday was spent meeting more old friends, chilling at the chilloutstage for the first part of the day before going to the mainstage to catch the opening act Yage, which was more than one hour delayed. I had never heard of Yage before, so I didn't know what to expect - it turned out to be quite mediocre full on, and I really feel it was a mistake putting them as an opening act for the festival. I don't remember most of the rest of the lineup for Friday, apart catching a few tunes from Dino Psaras set early in the night - even with some Cydonia-material in there if I'm not mistaken. I was pretty tired and wanted to catch the progressive daytime on Saturday, so I went to bed pretty early though. Saturday was mainly spent at the mainstage - it was the first time I was dancing, so I was quite glad that there was plenty of shade to block the dancers from the staggering sun (there was even 40 degrees in the shade!). I missed Polaris in the morning, but caught most of Peter Digitals set. He started out with progressive psy (with an interesting remix of Union Jack) but turned more and more towards housey electro stuff. Ok set, but not the best I've heard from him. Silicon Sound and Jaias Even11-project was on afterwards and they started with the amazing "Oblivion" (with an alternative intro) but also turned into a more electro-progressive sound with lots of trancey elements. Very much like the Silicon Sound remix of Side-A's "Synopsis". I think it was D-Nox and Beckers who went on afterwards with a DJ-set, followed by Ticon and Atmos - all 3 where pretty good, but with Atmos as my personal favourite, with a lot of new unreleased material. After a long break where we could hear some terribly misplaced trance-music in the chillout, Ozric Tentacles went on the mainstage in the beginning of the evening. I had only heard little material by them before the festival, and even though it hadn't impressed me a lot, I had kindda liked it. The organisers deserve some credit for having guts to book a non-trance act for the mainstage, but in all honesty their liveset turned out to be a huge disappointment for me personally. Prometheus who went on afterwards definitely cheered me up though, as he delivered one of the best sets of the festival - he started out with the track he recently made available for download, followed by some well-known material slowly raising the intensity before finishing with some truly mindbending intense psychedelic nightmusic. Wow. After hearing the first 2 full-on tracks by the DJ who went on afterwards, I quickly went to bed to catch the Ultimae-day in the chillout on Sunday. Sunday started in the chillout with the Ultimae-dedicated day. I missed Carbon Based Lifeforms, but did manage to catch some of the Ultimae DJ's and AES Dana live - he finished a great set with well-deserved applause after playing what sounded like a really cool remix of Etnicas "Triptonite". At 14:30 I went for the mainstage to hear Zen Mechanics live, and he really rocked the floor. His set was more full on than I had expected, but definitely of high quality - fun, quirky and very enjoyable. Tristan went on live afterwards and his set was equally amazing, starting out with a groovy Beach Boys-inspired intro and playing some really outstanding festival-trance. Allaby took over after Tristan, and his set was even better - he has an incredible drive to his music you don't find with many artists. I think the best fit description could be that it's close to the new Man With No Name material, but with a progressive edge. After some pretty hefty alcohol-consumption it all got pretty hazy, but I know that FREq took over after a progressive DJ-set (the DJ even played some FREq-material, how weird is that?) and his set was kind of ok - his music always rocks the crowd, but I wasn't very impressed. The highlight of his set also happened on the dancefloor where 3 guys, chasing a ball went straight in the mud in front of the stage, followed by one of them mooning the entire dancefloor - to much applause Jaïa played a nice set afterwards (although not as good as his outstanding set at VooV last year), followed by a liveset by D-Nox and Beckers. Even though it to me felt very misplaced in the dark evening, I'm guessing it was good, but I'm afraid the alcohol left out the details - the same goes for Younger Brother in the chillout later that same evening. Monday was the last day for me - and unfortunately I had to leave pretty early so I missed Panick and Hallucinogen on the mainstage and Gaudi, Eat Static, Ott and Tripswitch in the chillout - at that point I was kind of upset that the organisers put so many of the headliners in the chillout on the last day when the lineup on the first days were a lot "weaker". Sonica was a great festival, even though it wasn't as well-organised as I had thought, with trouble with the lineup, powerfailures, delays etc. There weren't as many people as I had expected - which definitely was a good thing, as the atmosphere was really positive and quite intimate despite the very international crowd. What I've heard from people who where there last year, was that the food was amazing - and I definitely concur, even though the prices at some of the stalls where a bit too high for my liking. If I where to change something for next year concerning the music, I would have preferred a few more hours of progressive during the day (and not in the dark, like D-Nox & Beckers live), another act than Yage to open the mainstage, a better soundsystem in the chillout and no trance-music in the chillout. But generally I was very pleased, and I heard a lot of memorable sets. Thanks to the organisers for a lovely (but hot and dusty!) festival. Hope to see you again next year.

If the 1200 Mics guys would just quit those fucking guitars...

You never cease to puzzle me radi6404.

Shiloh - RUOK

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!

Mediocre full on at best.

killlllllerrrrr 160 bpm danceflor mixxxxxx babu. Wil downlaod for shureeeeeee!!!!

I like the idea, but what organisers are you going to send it to? Everyone, or just those that you for a fact know are "the bad guys"? To be honest I sadly doubt you'll get any answers at all. But you'll never know before you try

Gotta agree with DETOX - I personally prefer my nice, stable income each month, but sometimes you have to make a choice in life, and I'm sure Andy have made the right decision for him at this point of his life. Sometimes I wish I had the guts to pursue my dreams

I had a long talk with Elysium about this on MSN, and I'm so sad to see him leave the psytrance-scene, as I still believe he has a lot to offer. Shame on the Tchamla organisers ...

I bought one at Trance-Shop 1½ year ago.

All the best of luck pursuing your dreams Andy. Hope that some day me, you, DJ KillerKick and DJ MegaRaver will play together at a Mega Hard Doomcore Killer Spiritual Goa Rave

Artist: POTS Title: Social Success Remixes Label: Tribal Vision Records Format: CD (Jewelcase with 12-page booklet and DJ-inlay) Released: June, 2006 Cover: http://217.160.138.169/pic_b/tvr1cd009_b.jpg Review: The German progressive trance group POTS (Prisoners Of The Sun), was the first artist to release a full-length artist album on the Czech Tribal Vision Records, namely the duos 2nd album "Creating Social Success". The album was in my opinion a very strong release, with a sophisticated mix of progressive trance, progressive house and minimal trance, and now, roughly half a year after the release of the album, Tribal Vision Records have released the remix-CD, "Social Success Remixes". Looking at the tracklist, the list of acts behind the 9 remixes was very promising, so I had pretty big expectations for this one. 01. Crystal Cream (Rai Remix) [130 BPM] Like on the album, we start out with "Crystal Cream" (actually all the remixes are in the same order as on the original album) remixed by the upcoming Czech producer Rai. I've been quite impressed with his first progressive house releases, but this time he's provided a smooth and delicious little breaks-tune. Sweet and naive, and surely an interesting way to open op the CD. 02. Hello Kitty (Fitalic Remix) [130 BPM] Robin Fitter from Holland is up next with a remix of "Hello Kitty", and it's another solid tune from him, continuing in his well-known style. It's got that wonderful upbeat and bouncy tribal Fitalic-groove, but still with some hypnotic tech-house deepness and character. Great remix, and I'm definitely looking forward to the Fitalic album, coming out on Tribal Vision later this year. 03. Trance Popper (Greed vs. Sonic Cube Remix) [128 BPM] "Trance Popper" is remixed by the Swiss acts Greed and Sonic Cube, a remix you can also find on their recent "Divine EP". It has a very catchy electro-groove, and generally the musical part of the track seems to work very well, but I must say that I really don't like those almost annoying vocals. Overall I found this remix rather corny, and the weakest one so far. 04. Bravo (Antix Remix) [132 BPM] "Bravo" was by far my favourite on the original album, so I had huge expectations when it was announced that Antix was behind the remix of this particular track. Sadly they don't quite deliver the goods though - where are Antix' epic trademark sounds and more importantly: where are the sweet, thoughtful melodies that made the original such a great tune? A very odd and messy remix for my liking, and also the weakest track I've heard from Antix in quite a while. 05. Botox Party (Parrket Remix) [128 BPM] Parrket has in a short time marked himself as one of Croatias most well-known psytrance artists, releasing both progressive trance and harder, more full on psychedelic sounds. His remix of "Botox Party" is more in the progressive house/trance realm though, adding a harder, techier groove to the original. Not a bad remix, but quite anonymous and doesn't really stand out. 06. Groove Garden (Human Blue Remix) [136 BPM] After some slightly mediocre tracks, Human Blue brings the course of the remixes back on track with his remix to "Groove Garden". His second album "Electric Roundabout" is one of my alltime favourite morning albums, and if you liked that one, you'll undoubtedly be impressed with the remix of "Groove Garden", as it's a flashback to this album and the oldschool scando-trance sound. Epic, euphoric trance in its purest form - a wonderful, uplifting morning tune. 07. Eifelgold (Tegma Remix) [136 BPM] The Swedish duo Tegma are up next with a remix for "Eifelgold". Tegma impressed a lot of people with their recent "Around The World In 80 Minutes" concept-album, and with that album in mind, this remix was somewhat a letdown for me personally. It has all the well-known Tegma-elements I could have hoped for, and all of it seems to be done right, but somehow I feel the end-result seems to be missing something. Can't really decide if I like it or not. 08. Dandy Division (Side-A Remix) [138 BPM] Following the release of the "Creating Social Success" album, Tribal Vision announced a remix-competetion where everyone could make a remix of the track "Dandy Division", and the winner turned out to be Side-A from France, known for his releases on labels like Groove Zone, Tatsu, Candyflip and Domo. I can understand why they picked his remix as the winner, as it's actually one of the stronger points of the compilation - a bit faster than his recent releases, but still with lots of his bright, trancy sounds and melodies. Great remix. 09. Tussy De Luxe (Elysium Remix) Things get slowed down for the last 8½ minutes, when "Tussy De Luxe" is remixed by Elysium from Denmark, one of the longest active artists on the psytrance scene, and currently also a member of the house-duo Holm & Andersen. Here we have a chillout remix though, and it's a real beauty - very ethnic (without sounding like the majority of the psychill releases) and with a hypnotizing tribal groove. Very enjoyable. Bottom line: "Social Success Remixes" is a worthy follow-up for the "Creating Social Success" album. I didn't find the overall quality as consistently high as some of the best releases from Tribal Vision Records so far, but with a flow that stays true to the original album, some daring elements along the way and some true standout tunes, it doesn't disappoint overall. I am particularly glad that Tribal Vision didn't fall for the temptation of releasing 9 remixes in the same style, but chose to involve a wide variety of producers, that provided the release with some very diverse remixes, ranging from chillout over breaks, progressive-, electro- and tech-house to progressive psytrance. Ultimately, I find that "Social Success Remixes" is a good release overall. Favourites: 1, 2 (!!), 6 (!!), 8, 9 Verdict: 7/10 Link: Tribal Vision Records: http://www.tribalvision.cz

Shiloh - RUOK

I ALWAYS put quality over quantity. "Quality" is of course very subjective though, so what you consider low quality, I may consider of very high quality - and I absolutely love all the tracks that I played in this set. Why would I want to play tracks that I don't consider of high quality?

Artist: Various Title: Afterhourz - compiled by Side-A Label: Groove Zone Format: CD (Digipack) Released: July, 2006 Cover: http://www.wakyo.jp/img/jacket/l/GZCD-005.jpg Review: Groove Zone Records is a label based in Japan, that launched back in 2004 - the first releases where focused on progressive psytrance sounds, but lately the label has moved more towards the housier sounds, which also recently resulted in the opening of the sidelabel Aqua, where they have released 2 CD's so far. The last release from the main label Groove Zone was roughly one year ago, the morning-oriented psytrance compilation "Aerocruz", and now, one year later they are ready with the compilation "Afterhourz". "Afterhourz" is compiled by Side-A (Olivier Cambier), one of Frances upcoming talents on the progressive scene, already with releases on labels like Tatsu, Sub Machine, Tribal Vision, Candyflip and Domo. The CD contains mostly unreleased tracks, and mostly centered around artists based in France. 01. Dousk - Estrange [130 BPM] The opening track is by Yiannis Douskos from Greece, who has been releasing deep, progressive house/trance crossover for some years now, appearing on releases from key players on the scene like Bedrock, Vapour, Audio Therapy, Renaissance, Lost Language and maybe most importantly Klik Records, where he released his stunning debut-album last year. "Estrange" is a re-release from a 12" Vapour on last year, and it holds all the trademarks from Dousk - deep, tribal progressive house with subtle melodies and breathtaking atmosphere. Superb way to open the compilation. 02. Parham & Dominic Plaza - Once (Kasey Taylor & Chris Meehan Remix) [126 BPM] Next up is another 12" re-release, Taylor & Meehans remix of "Once" by Parham & Plaza, which was released on Fokused Records last summer. Kasey Taylor is the label-manager of one of my favourite progressive house labels, Vapour Records, and like expected this track is a real beauty, although not exactly cutting-edge. Very gentle progressive grooves with blissful trancy pads. 03. Motion & Side-A - Activated [132 BPM] "Activated" is a French collaboration between Side-A and Tetraktys' progressive sideproject Motion, and I've loved it since the first version I got several months ago. It's a progressive house/trance monster with an epic big room sound, catchy voice-samples and lots of dancefloor power for the big rigs. This track is basically "da bomb", and seeing it getting released, I can imagine it being a huge hit the rest of the summer. 04. Tetraktys - Interstellar Overdrive (Motion Remix) [130 BPM] Vincent Courcot aka Motion is also involved in the next track, which is a remix of "Interstellar Overdrive" from his self-titled album released under the Tetraktys moniker a few years back. The original was a dangerous minimal/techtrance tune, and you can still hear the harsher, mechanical themes in this big-room progressive house version. Really powerful tune, one of the best Motion-tracks so far in my opinion. 05. Solead - Accoutume [132 BPM] Vincent Courcot team up with his fellow French partner Charles Michaud (who many might know for his psytrance project Triptych) in their new progressive project Solead. What I've heard from them up till now has been very funky and electro-driven progressive house, but "Accoutume" is more laidback, with sophisticated French voice-samples and beautiful dreamy melodies that remind me of Jaïa. Superb. 06. Jaia - Last Call [132 BPM] With last years stunning album "Fiction", Jaïa from France established himself as one of my absolute favourite producers, and "Last Call" is another beautiful piece of music from him. The atmosphere is lush and dreamy, the grooves are warm and very catchy, and the melodies range from subtle and thoughtful to downright epic. Such a positive piece of music, it's impossible not to get in a good mood. 07. Side-A - Synopsis 1.1 [130 BPM] Side-A, responsible for compiling the compilation is up next with a track of his own, "Synopsis 1.1". The powerful groove seems quite similar to that in "Activated", but the atmosphere here is much more melodic and trancy with soft, gentle chords and once again a generally very uplifting mood. I definitely consider it among his very best releases so far. 08. Rai - Comet [127 BPM] Rai from Czech got his breakthrough on the first releases on Tribal Vision Records, and "Comet" continues in the somewhat same vein as his early releases, meaning soothing and very relaxed, laidback house-grooves. You won't find a fully-packed dancefloor peaking to it, but it's a very smooth and pleasant tune, perfectly suited for the sunny Sunday afternoons. Pure class. 09. Side-A - Synopsis (Silicon Sound Remix) [bONUS TRACK] [130 BPM] Last but not least we're presented with a bonus track, and what a bonus this is. Johannes Regnier aka Silicon Sound is one of the big names on the morning full on scene, and here he's made a quite surprising remix of Side-A's "Synopsis 1.1", running at "only" 130 BPM. The theme-melodies from the original are intact, but there's a lot more punch in the electro-influenced bassline, and the melodies and pads are given another notch up the epic-scale. Amazing tune, continue to make more of this stuff! Bottom line: I always had a thing for uplifting and melodic music, and "Afterhourz" definitely hits the spot for me - it's an almost perfect selection of beautiful progressive tunes ranging from laidback or emotional progressive house to more pumping progressive house/trance morning anthems. While this might sound like a promotional speech from Groove Zone, I must say that the overall quality of the tracks is almost ridiculously high, and with so many amazing tunes and no fillers it's really hard to point out any tracks in particular - I could imagine playing all of the tracks in a set, and all of the tracks would be among the highlights if they where to be released on another compilation. Are there Drawbacks? Well, my only complaints are that the first 2 tracks where previously released, the last bonus-track abrupt an otherwise very well-made flow, and the fact that the release is contained in a mediocre digipack - but basically all that is just nitpicking. Bottom line is that I absolutely love this release - so far it's the best compilation I've heard this year, undoubtedly the best from Groove Zone yet, and one of the most essential releases this summer. Highly recommended! Favourites: 1 (!!), 2, 3 (!!), 4, 5 (!!), 6 (!!), 7, 8, 9 (!!) - yes, that's all of them. Verdict: 9,5/10 Links: Groove Zone: http://www.groove-zone.com Side-A: http://www.sideasoundlab.com

Artist: Greed vs. Sonic Cube Title: Divine EP Label: Tribal Vision Records Format: 12" Released: June, 2006 Cover: N/A Review: After some time pursuing their individual projects, Greed and the Sonic Cube boys are re-united on this 12" release on Tribal Vision Records. When the first Sonic Cube album was released back in 2003, Tobi Wirz (Greed) was a member of the project, but he later left the two other members of Sonic Cube (Sonnenvakuum) on their own, to pursue his solo-career and handle his own successful label SOG Records. A1. Greed vs. Sonic Cube - Divine (Dub Mix) [127 BPM] The release starts out with the Dub Mix of "Divine". Take some very tasty Beckers-like grooves and electro-influences, mix in some catchy male vocals in the background and you have a delicious, crowd-pleasing progressive house track with trendy appeal for DJ's as well as people on the dancefloor. This won't win any awards for the most original track of the year, but you just gotta love contagious positive attitude and funky grooves. A2. Greed vs. Sonic Cube - Divine (Vocal Mix) [127 BPM] Next up is the Vocal Mix of "Divine", and the differences between the two versions are very very subtle, with the base of the tracks being completely the same. The Vocal-mix features a 3-second longer intro, and the vocals are in the foreground, but all in all the two tracks are basically much the same. I have a slight preference for the Dub Mix though. B1. Greed vs. Sonic Cube - Wilde [132 BPM] The B-side goes in a much deeper direction with "Wilde". Where "Divine" followed in the footsteps of the trendy electro-sound, "Wilde" is more of a combination of the sound from the last Sonic Cube and Greed albums, resulting in a subtle, introspective tune with crossover elements from tech house, progressive house and a slight hint of progressive trance. Possibly doesn't have as big hit-quality as the tracks on the A-side, but nevertheless it's certainly more to my liking. B2. POTS - Trancepopper (Greed vs. Sonic Cube Electropopper Mix) [128 BPM] Last but not least is the 2nd track on the B-side: Greed and Sonic Cubes remix of "Trancepopper" from POTS' last album, also featured on the recently released "Social Success Remixes" remix-compilation. The electro-influences are re-introduced here, and it contains some really nice and strong grooves, but the voice-samples are just a bit too corny for my liking. Weakest track on the release in my opinion. Bottom line: "Divine EP" probably isn't the most interesting and cutting-edge release this year, but with 4 tracks of generally high quality, it should have something to please most progressive house DJ's, both those looking for the increasingly popular electro-prog-house and those looking for more traditional progressive house/trance. The A-side contains the two potential summer-hits, while the B-side is a bit more quirky, but all in all, this another good release from Tribal Vision Records and the Swiss collaborating producers. Favourites: A1, A2, B1 (!!) Verdict: 7/10 Links: Tribal Vision Records: http://www.tribalvision.cz Sonic Cube: http://www.soniccube.ch Greed: http://www.greed.ch

I'm there

Artist: Triac Title: Mean Between Label: Ear Peaks Format: CD (Jewelcase with 8-page inlay and DJ-insert) Released: May, 2006 Cover: http://217.160.138.169/pic_b/epe1cd002_b.jpg Review: Israel is often criticised for only producing morning full on artists, but truth to be told, Israel has lots and lots of artists representing almost every corner in the psychedelic trance scene. The tech-trance scenes most well-known Israelis is the duo Triac consisting of Michael Reznik (also known for his progressive project Morax) and Ilan Lanz, who had their first release on Domo records back in 2002, and since then have appeared on releases from labels like HOMmega, Candyflip, Moonflower and Jester Records. Now, 4 years after their first release, they are ready with their debut-album "Mean Between" - a release consisting of 9 tracks, and released by the recently launched Ear Peaks Music Group, which contains the 3 labels Domo Records, Tupan Records and Gat Music. 01. Vaporized Triangles [138 BPM] "Vaporized Triangles" kick of the album, and they certainly don't hold back. There is a 1 minute long metallic, atmospheric intro, but after the rolling bassline kicks in, it's pure, powerful progressive with techtrance influences. The first half of the track is rather minimalistic and "cold", while they add some really deep and mighty pads in the last half. Great opener. 02. Encrypted Session [135 BPM] Things get a bit more edgy and techy with "Encrypted Session". Despite the lower BPM, it's more powerful and crunchy than the album-opener, with pads that sound they come from a distant future where machines have taken over the world, and generally they seem to be digging more into the The Delta/X-Dream style with this track - and with a quite good result if might add. 03. Threshold Part 1 [139 BPM] As if "Encrypted Session" wasn't techy enough, along comes "Threshold Part 1" - a dark and gloomy piece of brutal techno, where they explore the old The Delta sound even more. By far the darkest track on the album - not my favourite, but it certainly does the job. 04. Yatzek's Revenge [138 BPM] Things get a bit more to my liking with "Yatzek's Revenge". It's not quite as dark and brutal as the previous track, but it's a lot more intense and dancefloor oriented, with a rolling bassline, and slightly uplifting melodic structures that complement the darker elements of the track. The best description of this track is probably "full on meets tech-trance", and I think it's an outstanding tune. One of my top favourites on the entire album. 05. Mean Between [136 BPM] They slow things down a bit on the title-track "Mean Between". Gone are the relentless pounding beats, and instead we're left with an extremely melancholic and emotional piece of laidback, deep techtrance. Amazing piece of music this is - another highlight on the album. 06. Concrete Waves [139 BPM] Ok, no more laidback emo-trance - we're brought back to the hard, pumping X-Dream/The Delta influenced style with "Concrete Waves", and once again they do a very good job. I must admit that I preferred the previous tracks, but this one is quite fine as well, and I can imagine it being one of the most-played tracks from the album by techtrance DJ's. 07. Sink (Live Edit) [136 BPM] Next up is a live edit of the first ever release by Triac, the track "Sink", which was released by Domo Records on both a 12" and the compilation "Travelocity". Judging by this version, it's quite clear that the Triac-boys have come an extremely long way since their first release, as this rework is really top-notch - plenty of new layers, and massive production with hints to the millennial minimal wave. 08. Threshold Part 2 [139 BPM] "Threshold Part 2" maintains the groove from the first version, but is generally a more toned-down version. It's not quite as dark and brutal as part 1, and the added pads give it a much more subtle and thoughtful touch - and big thumbs up for the voice-sample work as well. Cool track, and I definitely prefer this over the first version. 09. Fast Food [132 BPM] All good things come to an end though, but luckily the amazing "Fast Food" closes the album in style. It's a very distinct track - an emotional, deep blend of progressive house/trance with techtrance, and the result is really beautiful. Although the fade-ending is quite weird, and to me sounds like a desperate solution to running out of space on the CD (or something like that), this really takes my pick for track of the album. Bottom line: "Mean Between" is among the very best techtrance releases this year. Of course the competition is rather weak, as there are basically only of handful techtrance releases this year, but this album is really a solid piece of work that should impress both fans of the older The Delta/X-Dream type of techtrance, and full on or progressive fans looking for hard, metallic techno sounds. By borrowing influences from full on and progressive trance the album is also given a fresh touch, and therefore doesn't seem like a reproduction of the techtrance releases of the past. All in all, this album is highly recommended. Favourites: 1, 4 (!), 5 (!), 7, 8, 9 (!!) Verdict: 8/10 Links: Ear Peaks Music Group: http://www.earpeaks.com