[Nissimyani - Why to be Normal?]

Nissimyani – Why To Be Normal?

 

1. Baston Basket – Starts off nicely, a great way to open an album. Kicks into second gear and introduces these nice sounds. A nice little introduction of what’s to come. The bass line overpowers the kicks, and this has a nice tempo to. Easy to dance to. Then the voice samples come in and it’s almost like you are at a trance party. Then it hits you that this would play perfectly live. The track doesn’t soar to any new heights but is a nice opener.

 

2. Am 2 Pm – Love the opening sample. This tracks really kicks things off. The bass quietly takes over until you are fully listening to it. Without realising you are in its power. After some semi-annoying samples, we are treated to some pure modern psy. This track could fit in perfectly with other trance styles but still you’d know you are listening to psy. The crazy sounds these guys make are impressive but one feels they don’t use them properly. When we get to the 6-minute mark we are treated nicely and then this track becomes the first favourite!

 

3. Sharas jasi – Slow, quiet build up. Nice melody comes in, and then the muffled bass sound with the kick, and the track fully owns you. There are some distracting voice samples which could have been used better but the melody eventually out powers them. And we are fully dancing again. This track has heaps going on in it. And it just keeps getting crazier. Not full on crazy, just dance-worthy crazy. It is a nice track.

 

4. Shapi Shapo – Now to this track. I don’t know whether this track is done tongue in cheek but the opening melody is so hammy and amateur that I wonder if they are doing it on purpose. It’s catchy but it sounds very strange on this album. It sounds like those “psy” rejects that you get on free mp3 unsigned artists sites. It just does measure up. Anyway, the rest of the track grabs your attention for the kick and nice bass line. And then they include the generic melody and then some out of place voice sample that sounds like a cat and dog fighting on speed. This is such an interesting track that it is worth listening to just to understand what I’m talking about.

 

5. Coridoors – Echoed voice sample with some strings behind it. Nice opening although takes too long getting into the actual psy. When it does, it is very bassy. I’m loving this point because the bass is at the right pitch, and not real effects are distorting it. Some interesting sounds here, a real pleasant ear opener. I do enjoy this track if only for the constant new changes it has to offer.

 

6. G.H.B – This is one of the highlights on the album. Up to this point it may not sound like this is a great album, it is easy to listen to and is very enjoyable but there hasn’t been anything that captures your attention. Until here this track is so wild while being at easy to listen to. This track really takes a detour to psy land. Love it!

 

7. Flying Cargo – Almost takes 1 minute to get into it but it’s worth it. The driving bass and wicked strange sounds make for a kickass track. This is where their crazy sounds are put to awesome use. This is a faster track and not really made for dancing yet you can listen to it and get lost in its sweeping background noise. It finishes the same way it started; with a sample. Listen to it. Very nice.

 

8. Monkey Business – This is no monkey business, this is awesome psy. I love the way this track draws you in unsuspectedly. This is another favourite due to the awesome sounds the guys have come up with. It is so unique while staying true to the style. And the bass feels like it disappears and reappears all in the space of 1 second. The voice samples are not used to the best effect but they do work in some kind of weird way. I’m getting used to their use of samples.

 

9. Ah oom ba ba – Love this track. My favourite. I didn’t want it to end. The opening says it all…what will happen? The rising sound, the steam train about to pass, what will happen? Then it starts. And the awesome bashing of a tin can complete with the sucking up through a black hole. You’re in a world of your own now. Just wait to see how you get home. You have to go through these awesome riffs. This driving kick. This wicked bass. Then the best use of voice samples for the whole album. It’s so interesting because it has meaning to the track. And the bass and kick don’t stop for it to finish, they play over the top as if to say “fuck you”. Very nice track.

 

10. Impact – Just as everything was getting completely awesome we have to come to the end. And this track doesn’t disappoint. It basically sums up the whole album, even complete with it’s own cheesy melody. It has its fair share of voice samples. And the most awesome sound voice effect...at the 5-minute mark. Get ready for some innovation. This is what they should have done at the first track. But it’s so nice to see where the boys will be by their next album.

 

Overall, not up to the standard of Misted Muppet but few are. It is a great party album though. You can pop it on and it’ll please the dancers, trancers and glancers. : )

 

Favourites: 9, 8, 10, 6, 7, 2

 

Overall rating: 8/10

[Synsun - Symphonic Adventures]

Highly anticipated! I heard some samples of the tracks from trance-galaxy.net and I had to get it. I love big orchestra type of trance. This is heavily influenced by Propellarheads though. Sounds similar to their DECKSANDDRUMSANDROCKANDROLL release, which was friggin’ awesome. Here SynSUN take orchestra and add psy. It is a nice combination. The artwork on the front cover is simply inspired. Who is this demon? Why is he connected to SynSUN? SynSUN’s music seems much more light than what the cover makes it out to be. Like they say, ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’, they should change that phrase for the sake of this album. Here goes…

 

Vampira – Starts fast, continues to pump its beat, while injecting these light crazy sounds which sound like a drill implanting itself into someone’s brain. Then the quiet background which you sense something is about to fuck with your brain. The stereo use is nice but a little cliched. Then the orchestra comes in. Soft at first, then a bit of techno trance, and then builds to a nice beat with the melody quite danceable. This turns into a very addictive track. Your ears are trained to the simple construction and your body rocks along with that beat! Everything happens at once although the sound isn’t quite full on as it could be.

 

Zygote – Very intense, movie composer sort of opening, it pumps though. The beat is clean and very nice. The bass is pumping, I love the way the harmony is dodging the rest of the track. It’s like it is coming in and out of consciousness. The simplicity of this track is very worrying because at any moment it’ll take you to a place you haven’t been before. I love the rise and fall of the computer beeps. And the distorted drums sounding like they have been processed through a hundred different filters. Nice. Different one of the highlights.

 

Ride The Sky – Starts of slow. Really sluggish. Can’t get into a suitable rhythem. Then a nice tune comes across and gets the track into gear. Your ears could follow either the bass or the harmonies, and you’d be in different places. Really nice and repetitive, although the simplicity does get overdone. Then you sense a darker side of the track. There is something waiting in the wings. Something unexpected. But then it just repeats itself again. Not necessarily a bad thing but you want a bit more at this stage.

 

Logic Mami – I enjoy the beginning of this track. Very endearing. And the bass fucking kicks the shit out of your heart beat. The cymbols of the drums is distracting and very 80’s. However, the orchestra is very freakin’ cool on this track. You get lost in this track. A friggin’ highlight. It just keeps on going!

 

Ceremony – Starts out very assuming. What is this? What is this sound? Is this going to be some Isratrance rip-off? And for 2 minutes you think “yes”. Then the most awesome sound comes through. That line construction is so perfect to my ears. It is so catchy, it is so danceable, it is so many things. You can get lost in this track if you were willing to let yourself go. I love the build and then suddenly it goes to the bass and drums again. The symphony are exhausted and now you are taken on a car chase through the streets of some busy city. Then at 7 minutes, the build is excellent. It takes your pulse and raises it, raises it, raises it, raises, raises, raises until JACKPOT! Get swept away again and then…the end. Love it!

 

Ave Samael – Wastes no time in cutting to the up tempo bass line and awesome pounding symphonic orchestra. I love the way this track just wastes no time. You are in a hundred different places at once. Then we get a sampled voice, then the track takes a different turn. This hasn’t turned out to be what we expected. We are given a different genre. But then at 5 minutes. We’re back! That same bloody brilliant piece of construction. The legs are pumping, jaws are clenched, and sweat is pouring!

 

Death Machine – What a nice kick! It blisters through your skin! Then the little gremlins tear through the speakers to create a nice track. The overall mood of the track seems a little slower, however, the digital effects are on speed and they create an awesome sound. This becomes a highlight in the end. It just doesn’t stop and it gets dark and faster, and becomes so different to the other tracks on the album. It has definitely been created after the rest of the album.

 

Tataria – Hard to define. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album and has a kind of wind down tempo (as all psy trance albums do) but this one sort of sounds like it is in reverse, not because of the female vocal but because of the beat and the computer-like melodies. I like it but only because it’s a nice finisher. The track experiments with different ways to present the style. And I predict that the next SynSUN album will be similar to this track. They sound like they are having a blast with this track. Imagine what they could do if this was the opener!

 

 

Overall, I am very impressed. Maybe not as earth shattering as I had hoped for but it gives me my fix and is money very well spent.

 

8.5/10

 

Highlights: Ceremony, Logic Mami, Zygote, Death Machine

[ENTROPY - The Second Law o Thermodynamics]

Definitely going to get this...heard a 45-second sample of the first track on psyshop.com and was immediately sold!

[Intelligent Dark Psytrance]

Good list Lepton!!! I actually ordered:

 

va : psionic earth

va : deliver us from evil

va : true reality

 

last night...and:

 

va : est1 and est 2 (doof rec)

 

are on my "to do" list!!!