shahar@isratrance

Since the first time I heard Ticon with Rattle-Snake, Lolli-Pop from Hadshot, I knew I'm waiting for more and more, and after their releases on most of the major labels proved me right, I was really waiting for this album. Well... it was worth the wait! All the things that grabbed me in Ticon's music are here: the amazing percussion work, the tribal feel, the patient build, the groove, the emotions, and the ability to hold the story for 10 minutes. This release has more of the clubby/deep feel to it (a lot of floating sequences, dubby style), than the open technoish sounds, but it doesn't effect the very good experience. It starts with You Can Have My Fraggles, a soft caressing scando-progressive beat, laid on a massive bumpy-jumpy kick, building up slowly slowly. A great opener and a massive pre-dawn/noon tribal nature party hit. Gurk Burk (T2) continues with great tribal percussive work, very hypnotic, and in a total forest atmosphere, until the clubby break- good track, but I would love to hear a more psychedelic and rough mix for it. With Wank the Skank (T3), groovy is the word! A tribal-tech piece in the vein of Teenage Witch Bitch, but with a bit more power- I see my tribe around me with this one. Well now.. you all just stand in line and everyone together now- it?s 2 Steps Forward and 1 to the Left- a refreshing cute morning tune- gotta smile! Follows a proof that when the Scandos want to really touch you inside, they just hit the spot (see Noma with Another Time & Soon)- The Cozy Cactus is a moving caressing emotional track- my favorite here- but that?s because I'm a hopeless old emotional bastard. Best to send your party people home with a yearning in their heart. We Are the Mammoth Hunters (T6) is on the rough side of this CD- A massive Neanderthal hunting journey with a mammoth kick- stomp the snow! I played this in a party, and I swear the ground was moving- and we were on a top of a mountain! (or was it just an old petrified mammoth getting a bit scared?). The Super Model Girlfriend (T7) has a real dubby progressive scando feel to it, a complete change of direction, maybe a little too much, but still a very powerful track in a subtle touching way- club country here. Play My Boy (T8) has a technoish feel again, but with a dubby touch- fast and funky, and very happy. Mona Bone closes the CD with the Ticon tribal feel I love so much, leaving me with a taste for more- guess I'll press "play" again. Bottom Line: Get It! Ticon are my favorite Swedish act, Rewind is a real joy- beautifully built, with the right amounts of everything, making it a perfect home listen and a great source for party hits. And a good word for the "touch me" cover- touch it! Favorites: 1, 3, 4(!), 5(!), 6(!), 7, 8.

Excellent album, from Funtech and not BNE btw. A real party for people who want something byond the usuall. My full review at Isratrance as usual. Bom!

X - elent!!! Highly recommended- music-wise, sound-wise & production-wise. My full review in Isratrance. I don't feel like cutting & pasting. Bom!

Well, I was a bit disappointed with this one, but it's a first purely Swiss psytrance compilation, and shows future. Progressive is the word as was said, but some tracks don't really progress too much. My favorites here: Paste, Smith, Prime Time Plastix & Ampheptere. XV Killist in one of his weakest tracks for me. Also the standard of sound is goes up and down here.

A second compilation from CreamCrop, and it seems they're getting better. I was not too inlove with Liquid Level, but this is a very good compilation, more diverse and interesting. The hight points are Paps & Droidlock in a great groovy rhythm-changing track that seems to occupy more time than the 7 minutes it's suppose to. Paps track is another good one, one of his favorites with me. Magus vs. PPPaul is another nice one- good sampling. Hux Flux in another full on psychotic madness, and the best track here, I have to disagree with ubik, is the Tegma track closing the compilation- nothing too sophisticated, but powerful sounds and perfect build- one of these tracks, that whenever played at a party will make all people sitting down, go dance.

Cyan, Took your advice, Heard it. Really nice stuff after all, Kinda imaginative. Some tracks are sucky indeed, But it has it moments! The quality ain't that all good, But please guys, Hear it all before you criticize... It's nice, Afterall! =)

A whole album like Wicked Mille- what else needs to be said? I love this one- gonna have a listen to it now- it's been a long time.

This is a real good compilation, but I have a different track list (order wise)... weird... Anyway mine makes more sense. Nerve have the best track here, no doubt.

Brian Eno explained ambient in Music for Airports thus: "Whereas the various purveyors of canned music proceed from the basis of regularizing environments by blanketing their acoustic and atmospheric idiosyncracies, ambient music is intended to enhance these. Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest) from the music, ambient music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to 'brighten' the environment by adding stimulus to it ... ambient music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." Well, "life is...", though way different from Eno's ambient, does just that to me- it serves me as a great background music, and also enables me to dive deep into it to explore other dimensions. DJ Eyal Yankovich in a team up between Hommega and BNE releases here his relaxed electronic life story in a showcase first ambient chill out compilation from Israeli psytrance artists. Apparently they were cooking some serious stuff in the studios while all the booming and banging was going on in parties and dancefloors. Sandman opens the compilation very dramatically drawing us immediately into a different universe, building a powerful atmosphere with a lot of substance, that you can just feel and see as a world materializes around you. Great manipulations of sounds, Sandman style, but with much more space to enjoy them. If you just let yourself you can touch the things around you. Amazing track, I can write a story about it, but I won't do it here. We surf smoothly into a team up between BLT and Realistic, the first of two here. Maybe Tomorrow (T2) is a dubby piece with a sad note, a kind of optimistic sadness, though, leaving me with a feeling that things can/should be so much better. Follows a much more optimistic creation- Space Cat & Elysium in a 20 minutes of very soft spacey journey through sunrise (Liquid Dub Connection, T3). Amazing diversity of sounds, electronic and non. Those who know Twin Peaks, will have a flashback here. The most unbelievable thing about this amazing creation is that it was waiting 3 years until finally it was released here (but it turned out for the better). Mental Orange in a preview from his upcoming album hosts sampled Ravi Shankar in a Shpongley piece of electro-Indian downtempo. You can really dance with this one. The combination of Indian and electronic music produces a real psychedelic outmosphere. Dr. Jackyl and Mr. Hide (T5), the second BLT & Realistic cooperation here, is also my favorite track of the compilation, and just what the name suggests. This is a real mind twist, with technoey feel to it and leaves at some point the overall relaxing feel of the compilation into some undefined and definitely dark realms. But that's how life is... Uplifting us after the dark dive is Oforia's Walk on Water (T6) with a caressing sound and feel to it, very relaxing in an optimistic atmosphere, but not as interesting as the rest of the compilation. Violet Vision are a new discovery from Haifa. Sense (T7) is a magical journey starting just where Walk on Water ends and soaring into higher levels of consciousness. Aural Morph from Liquid Metal is the finishing track, the name just fits the track, that morphs in and out, up and down, to and from, and just keeps changing volume in space in a mysterious hazy environment. It has a very 80's electro moody feel to it, and leaves me calm and usually ready to press the play button again. Recomendation: : This is a great CD, very wholesome and very much together (music wise and production wise), it tells a story, with different chapters and twisting plot. A must for psychedelic electronic music lovers, and highly recommended for any music lover. Thanks Eyal. Oh, and great cover. Nothing more to add.

Brilliant mind wrecking and scratching stuff- no mercy night trance- only for those of you with solid brains that can take this assault. typhoid is one of the best tracks of 2000!

All tracks are released long ago, Tunnel rec., that holds the right to these tracks are trying to cash in on X-Dream probably after they left them- or maybe not? And I'm just being negative here? I don't know about these two remixes though, and how diffrent they are from the originals. Still if u don't have the old X-Dream albums, there are some great trax here. Favs: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8.

BLT - Presence Artist: BLT Title: Presence Label: HOM-Mega Date: 2000 Track listing: 01. 07'51" BLT 02. 09'05" Gravy For The Brain (Down To Earth Mix) 03. 08'46" Pinkster 99' 04. 11'47" Golden Slumbers (Feat DJ Nadi) 05. 07'14" Beat Manifesto (Feat Psycraft) 06. 09'10" Space Boogie (Feat DJ Nadi) 07. 09'43" Clear Vision (Original Edit) 08. 08'55" Presence Review: It's been a long time since I got to listen to an artist album that sounds so together, concept And construction-wise, and sound-wise. BLT succeeds in delivering music that is both intelligent and emotional, electronic dance music that appeals to mind and heart, trance that manages to be psychedelic, technoidic, melodic, and above all groovy as it gets. Don't get it wrong, it's not an easy CD, it's not one of those CDs that catches on immediately. Yuli writes the kind of tracks that you can listen to five times and say to yourself: "so?", and then at the sixth time, while you're at your table doing something else altogether with the music at the background, you'll find yourself stopping everything and thinking: "What the hell is that? Where did this come from?". The CD has a lot of space, with all the power and complexity, the music remains open. It seems that the power in BLT's music is in what's not in it. In the spaces between the sounds. It's the kind of music that leaves us listeners with a lot of space to work our imagination, to navigate the brain, leaving us feeling that we actually take part in this creation. This CD is a masterpiece, starting from the thundery dramatic and very atmospheric opening of BLT (T1), through the hysterical groove of Gravy for the Brain (T2, the original on Alchemic Anacdote) And Space Boogie (T6, Feat DJ Nadi and a voice from the past...), the hard minimal psychedelia of Beat Manifesto (Feat Psycraft), the almost scary strength of Clear Vision (T7), the 12 minutes full on full power experience of Golden Slumbers (T4, Feat DJ Nadi again), and ending with the light atmospheric happiness of Pinkster 99' (my favorite here!) and Presence. And finally a word about the sound- immense, clean and crisp clear- a joy! I LOVE THIS CD! Best artist album of the year 2000 so far (and we're nearing it's end)- run and get it! Now!

Well guys, it?s weird that no one mentioned the fact that the sound in this release is really fucked up- I think something went wrong with the mastering here, and it?s a shame, as some of the tracks here are really good. Standing out are the GMT track, In R Voice as usual, and especially Mekano and Sensphere. Dark Soho are featured with another dark one as well (get their album). The Codex tracks are good as well, but are the big casualties of the sound problem. I guess we?ll have to wait for the album. It?s really a shame, as I said, as this is the maturest of Sphere?s compilations.

Not original? I go with Yuli here- this is as original as it gets. Guy Sebbag is one of the trance pioneers, and this CD was one of the first "proper" trance albums. It's impossible for me to judge it out of context, and the context is my first trance parties. A great CD that can teach us about spirit in music (which seems an almost lost concept these days).

Dave was never a Psysex member- he just made one track with Goblin released under the name Psysex. This CD rocks, it's diverse, everchanging, interesting and very creative. And the sound is very good, and if you consider what it was made with, even superb. Recommended.

TRISTAN And Mascok - I think you`re right in THAT matter. The new album is rather boring compared to the previous one, which was innovative. I must admite - it`s the nitzhonot of the psytrance scene. Still, Avi is a matured artist, who gained respect. Maybe he _did_ this cd for the money, but we don`t have to love it do we?

Gotta disagree with the lot of you. Miki's track is old, and though sound-wise as good as it gets (as to be expected from him), totally predictble and quite boring- I believe he will agree that it is far from his top. Mega Soho is Dark Soho's worst track so far, and far below the standarf of their amazing upcoming album. On the other hand, Sensphere rocks in an amazing mindfuckin (sorry, but no better word) tune, great sound and a lot of promise. ECT rules as always, unbelievebly psychedelic, same goes for Menis And Nukleus. Distortion Orchestra is nothing special, and the real problem of this compilation is a missing navigating hand. Still worth buying for Sensphere And ECT alone.

I love this CD, the MFG remixes are nice, and Martin chose the best tracks to remix. Great classic melodic Goa trance nostalgia. Andromede (1995) is a better album though, Fatasm (T5 there)rules. There's a new Asia 2001 album coming up next week- Dreamland.

Paste - Marmohr Artist: Paste Title: Marmohr Label: Creamcrop Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. 07'23" Marmohr 02. 07'06" Pastete Review: Marmohr on the A side offers a bit of a change from the Paste I've heard till now. Still very minimal but with much more meat to it- strong atmosphere and interesting story. It start with a massive and catchy bass-kick and an overall happy rhythm. Strong atmosphere here and a multitude of cruising spacey sounds. The rhythms keep changing and the beautiful tabla-like voices or voice-like tablas create a beautiful morning feel. Good minimal morning work. Pastete on the B side is a more typical Paste tune, dark and mysterious in atmosphere, a lot of echoing percussion mishmashing around and into each other and a lot of changing rhythms. Some flying crunches and very very minimal dark melodic touches added to the mix, and in the end you get a catchy jungly groove that saves the tracks from being boring. Nice, but not enough of a story for me here. Bottom Line: One very good track for the dawn, and another to fill some empty dark moments.