IronSun

Solar Fields - Until we meet the sky Artist: Solar Fields Title: Until we meet the sky Label: Ultimae Released: 16 December 2011 Style: IDM, Ambient, Downbeat Tracklist phase 01 - From the next end [ 09.18 ] phase 02 - Broken radio echo [ 03.55 ] phase 03 - Singing machine [ 06.55 ] phase 04 - After midnight, they speak [ 03.40 ] phase 05 - When the worlds collide [ 06.33 ] phase 06 - Dialogue with a river [ 10.06 ] phase 07 - Forgotten [ 03.15 ] phase 08 - Night Traffic City [ 09.53 ] phase 09 - Sombrero [ 05.45 ] phase 10 - Last step in vacuum [ 09.11 ] phase 11 - Until we meet the sky [ 05.01 ] phase 12 - Epilogue [ 05.15 ] Review: Here we are: Magnus Birgersson a.k.a. Solar Fields’ 10th solo output [ Until we meet the sky ]. I can’t believe it’s his 10th album already. It’s been almost 3 years that I first heard Leaving Home and fell in love with the Ultimae sound. I can hardly put to words what a big impact on my life this music has had and especially Solar Fields’ output has always left me in awe of what electronic music CAN be. His distinct but ever-evolving sound has hence become a very important companion for me. And here we are, his 10th album... There’s always a bit of a discussion going on whether Leaving Home or Movements is his masterpiece, but to be honest I’ve never succeeded in choosing one above the other. Even extended and altered: second movements belong to my favorite album’s of all time. As a matter of fact, I group these 4 previously mentioned albums in a special group because I think the sound on Leaving Home is very close to Movements, which for me signifies the really pure psychedelic ambient. Extended and altered: second movements are then musings on how these two could have sounded from a different point of view. There’s more classic ambient influences, even some modern classical influences to be found and above all it’s even more chilled out because of the largely absent beat. Now I finally arrive at the album at hand. To me, Magnus has moved a bit further away from the pure psychedelic downtempo you can experience in Leaving Home and Movements and has made an album that combines all the influences found in the previously mentioned 4 works and comes up with something quite remarkable: he takes a bit of IDM, a bit of modern classical, a bit of ambient and a bit of that pure psychedelic downtempo. How does this work out? The album starts really melancholic with the epic opener From the next end. He slowly leads you into what I perceive to be a winter landscape, cold but beautiful. One of the absolute stand-out features of this album is that this time around, he obviously didn’t care as much to put 11 full-fledged tracks on the album but tried to sow some tracks together with shorter interludes. These interludes are more often than not laced with subtle piano-melodies and I love them to death. It just sounds so mature and I am really glad that he put a piano in it because I just love the instrument itself. We move on in a rather melancholic way with the following tracks until we arrive at the majestic When the worlds collide which forms the apex of the conflicting melancholy I experienced in the opening tracks of this album. Fantastic name for a great tune too. With the track Dialogue with a river we slowly move into more uptempo territory. Not uptempo in the trance-kind of way but this is the first track an IDM’isch beat enters the work. Personally I am not too big a fan of the voice samples in this track, but it’s not like they ruin it for me either. Phase 07 is again a short beatless interlude with again a rather melancholic edge to it, paving the way nicely for Night Traffic City which ups the ante on the melodic aspect of the album considerably. It also seems to be working towards a more upbeat and hopeful end. I can’t help but notice how incredibly well Magnus has paced this one. It really feels like a journey through different lands, seasons, emotions and thoughts, even more so than his previous works. The final bit of Night Traffic City begins to prepare you to meet the sky: Magnus shifts into a higher gear and we enter the positive territory we were heading for in the first place. I always have a sense of growing confidence in this part. Next up is Sombrero, we’re in Mexico! The weather is good as is the outlook on life: sub-lime melodic segments with an uplifting atmosphere. I can feel we’re reaching the climax of the journey, we’re almost there, the sky is getting closer and closer! Great track! Now, we take our last steps in vacuum and everything slows down again... We are reminded of the melancholy found in the first parts of the journey. One last reflection on the things we have passed through echoes through my speakers. Very reflexive track but what an atmosphere... The pads here are just gorgeous. And then we slowly enter last third of this track: we begin to go faster again, an ominous beat enters together with a superb sound which I cannot describe but is so damn epic! Bright pads accompany these two and we begin to see the sky... A last melancholic melody echoes... We’re flying towards the light in slow-motion... Almost there... And then we touch it! Until we meet the sky is THE climax of this album and the transition between it and the previous track is PER-FECT. Reaching this track after having listened to all the previous tracks has given me time and time again such a grand feeling. It resolves everything into pure bliss. The epilogue kind of looks back on the whole story. The last part almost feels like a recapture of everything we’ve been through in reverse and loops perfectly well with From the next end... fitting name! This is probably Magnus’ most mature work until now. The sheer class and style is unbeatable, matched maybe only by Carbon Based Lifeforms. He has definitely evolved his style as he flirts with modern classical and IDM-approaches, which I like a lot. I’m not going into the whole “is this his best album to date?”-question because I think that’s an irrelevant question. The point is that I enjoyed it a LOT, as I have enjoyed everything else I have listened by Solar Fields. I also want to add that I am a big fan of the new Ultimae-covers, beautiful! Conclusion: yet again, highly recommended! Buy here: Ultimae: http://www.ultimae.c.../568/index.html Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.c.../inr1cd053.html

Older Goa definitely Etnica/Pleiadians... Although Tsuyoshi's leadsynths are pretty nice as well. And GnotR's too, albeit a bit harsh sometimes, but gut-rockingly good! In newer Goa I'd have to go with Artifact303 as well... Ra's are nice too though. Edit: How could I forget M-Run?? Really curious about his debut-album!

Yeah, I changed it to be disharmonic, but am still doubting if it's worth it. Volume levels need to be checked indeed...

http://soundcloud.com/ironsun/forever-after-edit Here is the edited version. I sidechained some elements and edited some melodic segments. Tell me what you think!

Lol no success yet...

Paradise Connection - Portamento... THE best sample ever!

I agree! I started mixing goa myself only a couple of months ago and am still trying to find creative ways of mixing it... I guess it all comes down to perfect knowledge of the tracks... But it is so much fun... Buying those cdj's was one of the best decisions I've ever made! Great that you used Magnetic Fields btw, it's my favorite track from back to space, next to beyond lightspeed... Good to hear that the pitchchange works rather well with it too!

Nice mix! I love the transition of Techno Drome to Dreaming Universe.

Edit: I am a bit stupid, found it in my downloads, thanks a lot! I will surely enjoy this one. Gonna check back in when I have listened to it

The First two Astrix albums might be your cup of tea as well!

Answered as well! Also, I would be very interested in your end-result, the dissertation in itself. If you wouldn't mind I would be very happy to read it once you're done ^^ I've written a dissertation on psytrance myself last semester, although that was not about how people view psytrance and the scene but was written from a more theoretical point of view. I had a real blast researching and writing it! Have fun! Edit: I just realised you might be writing your dissertation in a language I don't understand... In that case, never mind ^^

This list I made is in no way meant to be a representation of the "best" modern producers, just a personal selection of 20... So it wasn't my intention to give or not give credit to any one of these artists either ^^

Sorry Ormion, I'm going to shamelessly steal your topic and turn it into the modern version! You all know the drill, here comes the list: 1. Artifact 303 2. Goasia 3. Astrancer 4. Alienapia 5. Afgin 6. E-Mantra 7. Crossing Mind 8. Ra 9. Filteria 10. Merr0w 11. Radical Distortion 12. Antares 13. Artha 14. Lost Buddha/Amithaba Buddha 15. Khetzal 16. Sky Technology 17. Zelur Project/SynSun 18. Mindsphere 19. Liquid Flow 20. Trinodia And here are my choices: 1. Artifact 303 - Beyond Lightspeed 2. Goasia - Sunrise 3. Astrancer - Tetragrammaton 4. Alienapia - Magic Magnification 5. Afgin - Dimensional 6. E-Mantra - Ninive Under The Stars 7. Crossing Mind - Lunatic Transfer 8. Ra - Transcendent 9. Filteria - Total Planetary Being (Filteria Rmx) 10. Merr0w - Citrus Circus 11. Radical Distortion - The Other World 12. Antares - Aurum Solis 13. Artha - Controlled 14. Lost Buddha/Amithaba Buddha - Metamorphosis 15. Khetzal - Trancefuzion 16. Sky Technology - Ancient Race 17. Zelur Project/SynSun - Diver 18. Mindsphere - To Infinity (2010 Remix) 19. Liquid Flow - Reformation 20. Trinodia - Annunaki Now you!

Is that a cosplay of Ivy from Soul Calibur?

Thanks for the links! I currently am not using fruity loops, but I'll save it for later I have a reason guide though where side chaining is explained so I'll look into that thanks for the advice!

Yeah, I noticed that too. Guess I'll need to learn how to side chain ^^ @Rotwang: thanks! That melody is indeed a bit out of place, will look into that again!

I've been fiddling around with reason for some 8 months now, and this is the latest result... I do realize that I've got a long road ahead of me, but I thought I'm going to share it here anyway. Tips and comments (even if you think this is just horrible ) are more than welcome! http://soundcloud.com/ironsun/forever-after

+1, very curious!

Sounding good! Hurry up so I can buy it

Nice one Ormion! My choices: 1. Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy 2. MFG- Overload 3. Transwave - The Rezwalker (Black Thunder Mix) 4. Etnica - Shadow Dance 5. Total Eclipse - The Furnace 6. Hallucinogen - Space Pussy 7. Koxbox - Point Of No Return 8. Pleiadians - Electra 9. Shakta - Spiritual Beings In Physical Bodies 10. X-Dream - Our Own Happiness 11. Prana - Alien Pets 12. MWNN - Possessed 13. Psychaos - Chaos To Order 14. GNotR - Ring Of Fire 15. Infected Mushroom - Psycho 16. Electric Universe - Electronic Pulsation 17. Chi-A.D. - Purity 18. The Infinity Project - The World Of The Acid Dealer 19. Cosmosis - Key To The Innerverse 20. Ofer Dikovsky - Tornado (I know this is not oforia alone, but that's by far my favorite track that he was involved in)

Thank you very much! Especially the Tsuyoshi mix... He was one of the really great...

I would go if I were you! I completely agree with everything Drosophilia said, and then some. If your ministry of foreign affairs deems it safe to go, then that really means something. You shouldn't listen to general news broadcasts, except with a very critical ear. They have a way of overstating things... I was in Japan last year, when the big quake and tsunami hit, and the foreign media went completely postal on it, even though Japan as a whole still was safe... Inform yourself, be safe, don't do anything stupid and go for it!

Just thinking along here, but you could, for example, have a couple of people trying to update. And each one of those people represent a different spectrum of psytrance and/or psynews. Ofcourse this would also mean that the people dong this would need to be sufficiently representative of what they are updating. I would think in the direction of: one person updating interesting goa reviews/dj mixes/other useful articles, another updating the same for the dark/forest spectrum, etc... (this doesn't necessarily have to be one person per category of course) It's just a thought, so any other ideas/input are more than welcome!

Great idea richpa! If we need more hands on deck to realize this I would be glad to help out!

It's not like I call my mother by her name so I wouldn't have any problems dating a girl with the same name.