Trance2MoveU

Artist: Agrabah Title: Pharaohs of the Galaxy Label: Sita Records Date: June, 2017 1. Visitors 2. Pharaohs of the Galaxy 3. Endless Sunshine 4. The Freeman 5. Destination Moon 6. Schrödinger's Camel 7. A Tale of Blue and Orange 8. Inside the Magic Lamp 9. Cyclamen Anyone else have trouble spelling Pharaohs? It's that f*cking a before o that gets me. All right here's what I know about Sita Records. They don't release a lot of stuff. They are different than the other labels when it comes to goa trance, releasing music that is more nitzhonot or uplifting in nature. Now that may or may not be your thing. I don't know what you're into. Probably some kinky sh*t that you don't want your mom to find out about. Worry not, your secret is safe with me. As I've stated previously it's hard to take Nitzho seriously with all its rampaging melodies and laser kicks. Agneton seems to really enjoy it though. Have you seen his Facebook videos? That dude is hype! Anyhow this up and coming project successfully blends goa and nitzhonot so that it's not a total cheesefest. The album is short coming in at under 60 minutes. Power is there, melodies of course, and I think if there was a soundtrack to Middle East life this might be it. It's hard not to nod your head to this and as usual with this label the sound quality is top notch. I don't know what the bpm's were on Inside the Magic Lamp, but if you're not careful listening to it while driving a ticket could be in your future. Normally I don't like my music moving at the speed of freefall, but this was pretty cool and intense. That said there are tracks where the niztho buildup envelope is pushed almost to the breaking point (Schrodinger's Camel), but those were rare. The wheel wasn't reinvented with this album, but I did enjoy it's pace and the melody work even if sometimes it threatened to go off the rails. Sita Records Bandcamp Psyshop Beatspace

Thank You!

I would like the dark skin, but the default setting looks a lot like the CleanCut 4.1.4.x setting.

Artist: Intermix Title: Phaze Two Label: Third Mind Records Date: November, 1992 1. Get Religion 2. Down and Out 3. The Process 4. Can You Move It 5. Dream On 6. Funky Hell 7. Phaze One 8. Truth 9. Corollary 10. Monument 11. Fall Out Intermix is one of the projects of legendary Industrial act Front Line Assembly which is steeped in electronics and atmosphere. Their music often illustrates a futuristic dystopia with the requisite gravely vocals. Now going on 25 years old this was the second album (hence Phaze Two I assume) from this project and if you're a fan of this duo (and you really should be) then you can recognize their style. Unlike FLA this has no vocals only funky breakbeats and samples drenched in electronic manipulation. Their first album was rather rudimentary complete with early tropes of industrial electronica, but I believe this was where they started to put it together. The beats are head noddingly good (mostly) while their atmosphere creation certainly took another step. This style would open the door to FLA classics like Hard Wired, Implode, and Flavour of the Weak. Unfortunately most of the tracks sound a little dated and probably cater to the early 90's dancefloor in a goofy techno rave, sample heavy vein (Dream On, Funky Hell, Truth). Still there is some good to be found here and as I mentioned this album appears to be an important stepping stone.

Artist: One Arc Degree Title: Under A Trillion Suns Ep Label: Microcosmos Records Date: April, 2014 1. The Star Orchid 2. Under A Trillion Suns 3. Futurism 4. For the Love of Despair Time for something smooth and light. You might have heard of this project (two Greek gentlemen) when they did a collaboration on an Ep with Psynews wunderkind Cybernetika a couple years back. The music is gentle trance with outstanding production and atmosphere. There isn't anything inherently psychedelic to be found here, but I found the music to be rather emotional. The title track has a bizarre operatic vocal that fits and Futurism is perhaps the most aggressive with the boys getting frisky with the cutoff knob. Great, deep introspective music to lose your thoughts in. Microcosmos Records

Artist: Sibling Title: Of Earth Ep Label: Self-Released Date: October, 2015 1 - Verde Ghosts (125 BPM) 2 - Ormus (127 BPM) 3 - Deadly Spawn (92 BPM) 4 - Bloodlines (106 BPM) 5 - Above My Brain (120 BPM) 6 - Slaves (112 BPM) "What the hell is that?" Has the frenzied pace of life got you down and you just can't keep up? Feel like you're always in a hurry, but not getting anywhere? Well have I got just the thing for you! Trent Thomas from Arizona is back and has improved everything but his cover art from his first Ep! Don't uh, really know what...what happened there. As labelled by Ektoplazm this bass music is some slow motion swampy quicksand. You can try to resume your high speed machinations, but rest assured you will only dig yourself deeper. Eerie melodies abound and even though the bpm's are listed at above one hundred, they feel like half that. Tribal percussion, ancient mystical ritualistic sacrifice, and bass heavy hallucinations await. This music is excellent at generating an atmosphere of foresty dread helped along by whatever he does to make the samples seemingly come from the other side. Impending doom is on it's way and the agonizingly slow pace makes it much more terrifying. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. Free at Ektoplazm

Firefox.

My favorite album by Josef was his second Dreaming of Places. It seemed like the perfect combination of his old South African psytrance bombast with the "baroque" steampunk orchestrations. Antic nailed the review, as this one left me wanting for the good old days. It seemed to lack power and the insanity which drew me to the project in the first place. Good, not great.

I also only have 2 choices. Default and CleanCut

Artist: Thenaria Title: UFO Ep Label: Space Baby Records Date: December, 2016 1. Display 2. UFO 3. Ultegra 4. Acceleration 5. Microscope Thenaria is a project consisting of two lads from the Ukraine who seem to dabble in a few genres of electronic music. One could surely be forgiven if upon listening to this conjured up images of any number of horses from the progressive stable of Ovnimoon Records. Indeed their Ep Fantastic Universe released in 2015 sounded like all the other progressive trance you've heard (yet even that one was expansive and deliciously detailed). This Ep has that smooth feel, but the difference is it's drenched with heavy goa themes. On the surface it's nothing that will rewrite the annals of goa trance, but the production value is high as the tracks twist through multiple layers of melodic goa clouds. They seem to be quite good at telling a story and generate an immersive atmosphere. Their ponderous downtempo closer hits all the right eerie and mysterious notes. Like I said, nothing groundbreaking, but very talented and on my "ones to watch" list. Space Baby Records Bandcamp

Artist: Perfect Blind Title: Stratum Label: BMSS Records Date: September, 2017 01. Stratum IX 02. Manifest Destiny 03. Ancient Machinery 04. Last Torch of a Dying Star 05. Burning Mass (feat. Jay Kay) 06. Foreseen Consequences 07. Escape Velocity 08. The Expanse (Spaced Out) 09. Abyssentient 10. The Long Silent Igor Čeranić otherwise known as Deimos and Perfect Blind has produced a lot of material as well as been the guy you could count on making other artist's work sound great. I've said it before, but he could do the mastering on my toaster and have it sound competent. I first heard his work as Perfect Blind with the stunning Three Spires Ep which you can download in all its FLAC goodness for free from Ektoplazm. He treads in various genres and has shown proficiency in all of them. Industrial influences abound within this dark and brooding album. He is the anti-Ultimae with sharp edged and rumbling waves of sound in a Orwellian post apocalyptic world. Tracks could have easily come from the minds at Cold Meat Industry as the desolation sticks to the skin like burning cinders. Long intros illustrate a panoramic grey landscape with lush textures. Ancient Machinery reveals the tools of a bygone age wet with corrosion and seeping with forlorn mechanical regret. Last Torch of a Dying Star with its thunderous percussion draws the lines of warring tribes readying themselves for conflict. Burning Mass is the result of that conflict with its distortion soaked guitar and blistering volume. Forseen Consequences surveys the charred battlefield steeped in loss and regret as the battle all but blotted out the sun leaving only mottled grey clouds. The Expanse is as boundless as its namesake while Abyssentient continues down the long road of human destruction. The Long Silent bears witness to what we have done. This is so f*cking interesting and descriptive it invites you to create your own futuristic movie. People please pay attention to this. I don't believe it's hyperbolic to say that Igor is our generation's Tim Schuldt. When music can evoke crystal clear images and an emotional response that's when you know the height of the art form has been reached. Drawing on industrial influences he creates a world I hope we never see yet at the same time I must see. Stratum is a special piece of music best enjoyed at full volume, listened all the way through when you have ample time to devote to it. Brilliant and breath taking and oh so vast in scope. P.S. I haven't heard the bonus Ep so therefore I cannot comment on it. Perfect Blind Bandcamp

Artist: Frantic Noise Title: Trance Nodriza Label: Dark Prisma Records Date: 2017 Actual footage from inside the recording studio. Imagine every electrical appliance in your kitchen suddenly becoming conscious and deciding that a mechanical orgy of noise and sharp edges was best accomplished at 110 miles an hour. F*cking Benny Hill trance where the music lives up to the name of the artist. Why? How is this enjoyable? I just watched my toaster oven just hate-f*ck my can opener. If his mission was to make the most abrasive noise possible at the highest bpm well, mission accomplished. This isn't music you put on to feel good. This is what you use to flush out perps in a hostage situation. Remember how entertaining the Nordland Orchestra was? Yeah, this ain't that. Easily the worst thing I've heard this year. Psyshop

Gonna take a lot of fuel.

This is such a massive release. 4 Cds? That's a hell of a lot to digest. I'm only beginning to make my way through the first CD and it certainly is bombastic. Love what I've heard so far.

Because I don't know how to embed a YouTube video.

Artist: Frozen Ghost Title: Sin For Dinner Label: Disasterpeace Records Date: 2009 1. Sour Kangaroo 2. Foxxy Underwear 3. Freakazoid 4. Rapture 2.0 5. Betelgeuse 6. Nine Kinds of Crazy (Cold Turkey) 7. Hiyarant - Smug (Frozen Ghost Remix) 8. Arranged 9. Sin For Dinner "I used to be beautiful. What happened to me?!?" Loud. Drenched in acid. Funky as f*ck. Madness. Relentless. Thumping. Temple pounding brain shredder. All avid descriptions of the insanity that Barry Wynne has created over the years. If you like South African psytrance with all of the qualities I listed above then this should be right in your wheelhouse. Think the Midnight Storm series rolled in cocaine. This was a digital release in only 256 mpbs quality 8 years ago, but recently he offered it for free in Wav quality. Unfortunately I can't locate it any longer, but here are some spots you can get it. One other thing to note, the Wav version differs from the one released in 2009. German Amazon I think DJ Shop Dj Tunes

Artist: Power Source Title: XOXO Label: Dacru Records Date: July, 2017 1. Introstellar 2. The Question 3. Night & Day 4. New Sparks (Space Cat Edit) 5. Skywalker (Filteria Remix Edit) 6. Astral Projection feat. DJ Jorg - Mahadeva (Power Source & Innerzone Remix) 7. Power Source & The Muses Rapt - Galactic Wilderness 8. Seville 9. Dasvidanya Ah Power Source clearly all out of f*cks to give. One of the more notable names that was almost a seminal figure in the goa scene. This project (which began as a trio and is now the sole property of Shahaf Shvarzman) beat us over the head with some say their only standout track Goaway. I however believe them to have had at least a few more with Memory Bubbles, Granada, and Skywalker, but clearly if you kicked out their contribution the goa pyramid would still stand solidly. So now it's back and we know the trap that can be a hazard of returning artists. It's a trap that Power Source jumped into with two feet screaming "F*ck it!" all the way down. This album is pure Dacru full-on with goa and trance elements which might require you to get some sunglasses when listening to it as the shiny and modern production could very well blind you. I like what Space Cat did with Sparks and even though it's pretty good we already heard the Filteria Remix of Skywalker on Ten Spins Around the Sun. The Mahadeva remix was also entertaining, but it just made me want to hear the original. Look I was never a huge fan of this project to begin with, but If you can listen to the last track without dry heaving than perhaps you should apply for sainthood. What the unholy f*ck? It's not bad with it's great production and power, but I don't have time for just not bad. There was potential here, but for me there wasn't anything that was particularly memorable. Psyshop Beatspace

"Music is the soundtrack of your life." Whoo hoo that remix of Atomic Children!! Tarsis I didn't know you had it in you! The second half of that track just propels you into deep space. Good compilation!

Not the strongest effort in this series. As many have said, the Tandu opener is king, the Miranda track was disappointing, but I was pleasantly surprised by the breakb eat track from Funkopath. The real psychedelic treat though was Psychedelia Junglistia. Eerie atmosphere, punchy bass, and jungle percussion. There are two camps...those who like the Celtic melodies in Jiggle and those that go full Scott Summers and laser eye everything in sight.

Artist: Various Title: Gate To The Past Label: Zion 604 Records Date: May, 2017 1. Radical Distortion - Year 2488 2. Declaration of Unity - Ohm Sun 3. Sandman & Radical Distortion - Tweakers 4. Shunak Idou - Journey 5. Radical Distortion - Voltage Source (Radical Frequencies Remix) 6. Cactus Arising - Solar Echoes 7. Radical Distortion - The Wizard 8. Cactus Arising & Radical Distortion - Ammos 9. Cydelix - Induction On the heels of the decent yet underwhelming Virtual Jungle re-issue comes a compilation of tracks put together by goa powerhouse Radical Distortion. Hell this could very well be a new release from that duo as their fingerprints are all over this. The release itself is very Greek centric with regards to tracks, mastering, and artwork. And ain't nothing wrong with that. The music is mostly goa trance done well (The Wizard is a powerful track which was released last year, the bouncy Induction, Journey, Voltage Source Remix, and Year 2488), sometimes goa that's a little too fluffy for my tastes (Ammos, Solar Echoes), and then a blurring of the line between goa/psytrance on Ohm Sun. So it's pretty good with outstanding sound quality, but I can't help but feel that the label is in a bit of a rut by releasing comfortable albums. And by that I mean albums that are good, but haven't reached that level which they have in the past. Weird to say that after I just told you that the compilation was pretty good, but I feel it's been since 2015's Robotized that the label has hit a home run. Still, a compilation worth having. Zion604 Bandcamp

Antic did your Avatar just get older?

Comparing the second CD to the first is akin to comparing John F. Kennedy to the bloated orange buffoon currently infecting my country's seat of power. I'm not one for mixed Cds in the first place, but the track quality isn't as good anyway. It's not even close. I mean two Cwithe tracks? Did I spit in your soup? Why would you do that to someone? Point of No Return and Snarling are always good, but I'm not sitting through a mix Cd of mediocre tunes just to get to those.

Superb compilation. The first disc is just classic after classic goa trance. I thought disc 2 was going to be terrible, but it had some belters in its own right. Micronesia of course, but Rebel Without a Cause was a long burn. The Voodoo remix of Trommelmachine was nice also. Even though they aren't the most names in the genre, the second disc was a pleasant surprise. Love me some Corn Baked! That 303 gets me everytime.

It's funny how that happens. For years I have slammed Mugen by Prana, but now I don't find it repulsive!

Artist: E-Clip Title: Biointegrated Design Label: Iono Music Date: April, 2017 1. E-clip & Zen Mechanics - Sundowning 2. E-Clip & Mickey Noise - The One 3. Chemical Bond 4. E-clip & Subliminal Codes - Apex 5. E-clip & Avalon - Isotonic Tuning 6. Radio Entelechy 7. Semifluid Substances 8. Occult Lore 9. Welkin And the award for the most disappointing follow up album goes to...E-clip! "First and foremost I'd like to thank God for without whom nothing is possible. I'd like to thank my family. Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all the expensive software that I used to pump out generic progressive trance tracks. They said we couldn't do it, but I believed! I'd like to thank the label Iono for getting fooled and believing in me after my successful debut album. I realize this is a step backwards with tracks that sound like all other progressive music, but sometimes you have to put in minimal effort and throw creativity out the window if you want to make a mediocre album." I'm exaggerating of course, but really this is not a positive step for this artist. The tracks themselves are decent, but they sound like everyone else. When you set the bar high with a superb debut and compilation tracks, not reaching it has to be disappointment. The lush details and atmosphere of his debut Shuma are noticeably absent as he seemed to move in a more minimal direction. Melodies are not as apparent in a series of tracks that fail to capture the imagination. I would blame it on excessive collaborations, but one, that's never stopped him before, and two, even if that was so most of the tracks are just his. Let me be clear it's not a bad album, but he has shown that he has produced much better stuff than this. Iono Bandcamp Digital Psyshop Beatspace