freak51

Tracks 1, 2, and 6 are Special. The rest is passable if kind of plodding; it won't stand up IMO. It's worth it at $9 from saikosounds, but not more. 7/10.

I've just started in on this disc. So far, it's a cracker! It's nice and techy, with a smooth but spare progressive touch. More as I get there.

Hmmm, yyyyyyyup. I can't abide progressive anything ("feh, those kids and their progressive prog -- it's all the same track!"). But even I have to grant that this is a great CD. Hats off!

Are you sure this wasn't 2004? By this point, Hawtin was living with Sven Vath and into too damn many drugs. This work is mostly boring, a bit like Matthew Dear but without the soul. It's way too repetitive to be accessible even to music fans. 3/10. Bugger.

Axiomata inadvertently gave my review on this whole disc: "just another". It's nice, but nothing here really rocks my world. Perhaps it would be good near the barbeque, with a red sunset and an evening buzz on. The 10000 Watts remake adds nothing to the original, which is so bloody good that opening it up again is just plain wrong. It's accessible, if nothing else. It won't alienate company, if they've heard any electronic music at all. 7/10 from me.

I picked this one up for $10. Totally worth the money. This is one of those discs to stash away in a secret corner. There's a good chance that there is a track on here that will do for a mood change between whatever the last guy was playing and your set. A whole hour of palate-clearers that work well together as an album. There's something addictive about it, and the cover art is just off-putting enough. Me love it long time.

This crew is talented. When they relax a bit and let it flow [as per "Creatures Of The IGY"] rather than squeezing ever more juice into the pipeline, the sound is at its best. There is clear potential for a great album in Para Halu. If you're into the full-on sound, this could be it for you.

Ah, I didn't realize it was Brtschitsch. This is among his best work yet.

... OK, it's a little less dark than the Midi Miliz disc. But oh my God is it ever HEAVY. If you let it grab you, it can take more and more of your attention. A lot of the psychedelia comes from crafting sounds somewhere along the blurry edge of percussion and tones, so they work either way. Then he cleverly folds in actual tones and actual percussion. Result: sonic saturation. Yet it's not an adolescent effort in throwing everything at the amp at once, because of the subtlety in the levels. Some of this is challenging to listen to. It ain't fluffy!

1. Triac / Discharged Nice sounds here make for a good effort. 2. X-Dream / Psychomachine (Midi Miliz Rmx) The single greatest remix of this track, ever. Generally, I don't believe in rehashing old ground, but I'll make an exception here. If anything, it drills even harder into the spine. Almost worth the price of the whole release. 3. Spirallianz / Battlejuice (More Sugar Mix 2005) This is an adequate remix, but inessential if you have the original. 4. Cybered / Invasion Russian-sounding cacophany. Like every sound you've ever heard, drilled through the speakers at the same time. 5. K.U.R.O. / Ion Park KURO's Golden Moments were "FreeXone", "Ghost", and arguably "KTT". This track comes closer than some of his later video-game sounding releases, but he makes some unfortunately melodramatic rhythmic choices. 6. Dopamin / Dirty Samba It chugs along with some nice rattling, but seems to lack finish. 7. Platform / Back Front Outdoor-friendly overtones, but it feels like 2nd-world dentistry to me. Laboured. 8. Platform / Venetzian Dealer Prog-dentistry. Clip-Art. Meh, the percussion annoys me, too plodding and linear. When I ran through this CD, it was a let-down. But then I cheered up. It means that my favourite [sub-sub]-genre of psy-tech has matured enough to produce a so-so, just-going-through-the-motions, ordinary beige comp. This means that it's probably about to blow up into hundreds of releases, with a dozen or so of them being any good. I may not have to wait 6 months at a time for an update. Still, this comp gets 3.5/10 from me. And 2 of those are from the outstanding Psychomachine remix.

1. My mind is going dub TONY ROHR The highlight of the CD comes early. Deadly deep and trippy. 2. One point one MIDIMILIZ Hard driving remix gets two fists in the air. 3. Hero fx (Rockitmen reconstruction) THE DELTA Hard driving remix gets two gothy fists in the air and shakes the warehouse down. 4. No alibi (rmx) MIDIMILIZ Hard driving remix scratches the deep intracortical itch. And gets two fists in the air. 5. City Limit FUZZION Psy-electro track works OK, but Fuzzion produces far better psy-tech than psy-electro. Please go back to the style e=mc^2 started off. "City Limit" is only adequate, not because Fuzzion sucks, but because the genre itself is limited to rehashing old dead sounds. Good Psy demands completely new ideas. Just my two cents. 6. Intercorporal Stimulator (2005 Midi Miliz mix) X-DREAM Menacing, growly, brooding, lightly gothy remix is a much better take on the track than the original. One to play in a convertible, down a residential street, full volume, at 10 km/h. A keeper at worst, and a secret weapon at best. 7. Irrational impulse METALOGIC Breakbeat psychedelia kicks sonic and cerebral arse all over the map. Giant techy appeal; gorgeous and varied percussion. Metalogic owns lush satisfying high-hat activity right now. 8. Lost in darkness (Fuzzion rmx) HOLEG SPIES VS BAKXIII Psy-electro. Some filtered vocals and nice watery psychedelia. Where the echoey melody goes minor, it's effective. Actually I'd say it's what makes the track memorable. Fuzzion has so much potential. 9. Mal was anderes TAKSI Newcomer (to me) impresses with a good understanding of how to interweave a killer tight hook, controlled bleeding dissonance and solid percussive groove. The cross-talk is unnecessary but doesn't wreck it. Dare I hope for a large stable of psy-tech artists I can follow? 10. Midnight circulator TRIPLE DISTILLED VS.FUZZION Slowed-down, distorted guitars, cinematic. Not my thing. This comp is totally worth buying. 8/10.

This disc was actually due last September, but then a bunch of new gear came out and the artist wanted to rework the whole thing. Next, it was due late Feb., then late April and it finally came out early June. So he must have realized, that everyone who was interested, would know that every sound was on purpose here: with enough time and brand new gear, this record would expose his vision to the world, and could not be dismissed as a mulligan. The good news is, it's TREMENDOUS! There's not much point in doing a track-by-track, because once a brooding/dark-ambient intro runs through, each track melts nicely into the next. It starts of breezy and lightweight - but the percussion is timed perfectly, like it's trying to talk to me in its morse-code language if only I could understand it. There's depth in here, but it's underneath, waiting for you if you want to dig for it. As it progresses, the disc gets heavier and more outdoor-friendly, rising up to take you away. By track 8 or 9, it can get quite intense, and I have "how did I get here? This is like a thunderous snorting beast's deep dream". It really is quite a production. Then the storm starts to break a bit. Track 10 appears on Chronika 2; it's still gorgeous here. Track 11 slows it down and incorporates some vague European-style melodies. The bonus tracks don't start until about 50 seconds of dead air. They don't disappoint: skilled psy-tech inside. It's worth jumping on the first edition to get at them. This disc is almost as good as the new Midi Miliz "Non Standards", and not as dark. 9/10. Bag it.

1. Spirallianz / Magnitudes 2. Axiomata / Ethereal 3. Echotek / Get Light 4. Nuclear Ramjet / Operation Northwood 5. Nuclear Ramjet / Neoponik 6. Mass Turbo / Sitcom Drama 7. Midi Miliz / Cyclic Structures (Restructured) 8. Tetraktys / Lightframe 9. Metalogic / Gradient This is certainly the comp of the year, and comes awfully close to being the album of the year. It's that good. Spirallianz spends about 40 seconds warming us up and then starts a-rockin'. Then, at 3:15ish they show what makes them so special, with a sustainable twist that turns your brain inside-out. It's a triumph. Axiomata's track is solid progressive psy-tech, with some of the same groove as on last year's comp, but it's all good. Echotek as usual comes so close to not sucking, they have so much talent but they keep pandering with proggy sounds that don't hold up to repeated spins. It's a serviceable track, but after a few listens, I find myself skipping this one because I know what's coming up next. However, those who are into prog sounds will adore this track. It's all on purpose. Nuclear Ramjet keeps releasing better and better tracks. These two are the best he's ever produced. A whole album this good would be a gem. Please do! Operation Northwoods chugs along with some guitars that aren't out of place and a bit of a brooding rainy-day backdrop, plus pinging submarine-like noises. Neoponik is a mindbending psy-tech masterpiece. The washboard-like 5-in-4 backdrop is killer with the genius high-hat work and that groovy baseline. The last intermission and then kick-drum resumption at 5-ish minutes sets my hair on fire. Mass Turbo's track is a nice proggy piece with whalesong-like pads. It works. The Midimiliz remix is nice to have, but it's not much different from the original standout track off 2004's Maniac IQ comp. The Tetrakys piece is typical; if you like their sound you'll like this track. The Metalogic release is a bit slower, about 125 BPM broken-beat with vibraty percusion and a bit of understated glitter thrown in. Truly, the samples for the upcoming album sound more impressive, but this track is professional-grade if unspectacular. It would work to set a mood. 8.5/10. The Spirallianz and two Nuclear Ramjet tracks are must-haves. If you passed on the Maniac IQ comp last year, this is a great opportunity to get a copy of 'Cyclic Structures', a standout.

01. The 1st 02. We Interface 03. Superintelligence 04. Try To Save Your Song 05. Ultratube 06. Quantum Lab 07. Virus 08. Distresser 09. Slim Drum 10. X-Ray Eyes 11. The 1st (Fluke Remix) Where this release is good, it's excellent. The voice they used vocodes well, even though I'm biased against vocoder. Pity about the lyrics. "Desire in megabytes" indeed - I also find "C-31 operations coding" embarrassing: WTF is that supposed to mean? But apart from that gripe, I dig The 1st: it's a solid groove that can mix well with almost any set. We Interface - unfortunate retro-80s undertow wastes any effort they put into this. Why? Superintelligence is a tremendous track. Superlatives all around. For Try to Save Your Song, we fall into the retro-80s-euro-electro suck-hole. It's all well-executed, but let's think about this, is Miss Kittin really a trail-blazer for X-Dream to follow? What a pity if Marcus & Maichel think so. X-Dream has a hundred times more pure sterling originality when they choose to work it. Ultratube is an adequate Delta track. Quantum Lab is a scorcher, an all-time favourite track of mine. Brilliant, I wish the whole CD had this delicate balance. Virus is too repetitive. They do good work with the filter matrix, but I can't listen to the whole track. Distresser - panzer-techno. An endurance test. Might work well at 4 AM, if I ever stay up that late again. Slim Drum is the "A" side to the what should have been The Delta's "B" side of Ultratube. Nice warehouse rattle and well-executed space-opera feel. X-Ray Eyes is good work, but since it's the splash page for G-Plus records, I'm sure everyone knows exactly how this one unfolds now. "C-31 Operations Coding" always breaks me out of my headspace to think, "I wish she had said pretty much anything else right there". The remix is a bit of fun, it'd be nice if breaks would pick up some more psy influence in general, rather wallowing in adolescent I'm-so-cute-and-clever acid chic. But they're doing better things in the jungle now than this, albeit at stoopid 170-180+ BPM tempo. Not worthy of the name X-Dream. ------------------ OK, for my money this should have been released as follows: X-Dream Single: A1. The 1st A2. Superintelligence B1. Quantum Lab B2. X-Ray Eyes The Delta Single: A. Slim Drum B. Ultratube Cutting Room Floor: We Interface Try To Save Your Song Virus Distresser The 1st (Fluke Remix) I know I bitched and moaned with the worst of them when they took 4 years to release Irritant. But if 2 years later we only have 1/2 a release and a bunch of filler, well, I should have been more patient. 5/10. But better to have 5/10 from several great tracks, than a whole disc of mediocrity. No disrespect intended, there is some great eating on this CD, you just have to cut around the mouldy bits.

I saw them live in Montréal just before the album dropped. They did play a lot of psy-electro there, which was adequate but nothing special: electro was tapped out in 2002 IMO, there are plenty of Hacker clones out there and I don't mind others doing it, but it'd be a shame if that sonic dead end abducted some of the only psy producers I'll still listen to. Just my opinion. Anyway, the live show, where they stayed away from psy-electro and gave'er with the psy-tech, SHIVER ME TIMBERS, AAARRRRR, oh my God these boys know what they're doing. Then the album BLEW ME AWAY! It's not half-cheese like, sadly, the last X-Dream. I really like "Feet in the Air", it's a perfect pace for a fast walk: the kick-drum has a definite left-right (low, high, low, high) cadence to it. All others are outstanding too - I haven't warmed to Dos Canones, but the words above assure I'll keep giving it a chance. Midimiliz has raised the bar even higher. How ever will they match this effort? How will anyone? This release is "Desert Island Choice" good. 10/10, heart in the throat.

V/A - Eleventure Artist: Various Title: Eleventure Label: Horns And Hoofs Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Breakpoint : Godzilla 02. Vintakrut : New Engine 03. Neoris : Nosferatu 04. Fuzzion : Meccano 05. Cybered : Freak 06. Cybered : Master Of Puppets 07. Fuzzion : Fuzzball (Neoris Rmx) 08. Weird Walker : State Flow 09. Metalogic : Liturgy 10. Vacuum Stalkers : Time Generator On 11. Fuzzion : Meccano (Ambient Rmx) Review: Can't wait for the next Boshke Beats release? Horns and Hoofs is looking like the next best thing. Loads of very good tech-trance tracks grace this comp, selected by Fuzzion. Highlights include the Neoris and Weird Walker work. No real surprises here, just continuing the groove and marking out turf for this newish label. Here's hoping the Russians keep it up. 8.5/10.

In my opinion, this is a step backwards relative to the stark craft of Cyclotron. This release is very trancey, and sounds old after a couple of plays. It's just too ebullient for my taste. A lot of this is pretty standard, by-the-yard stuff. Or else they build up some good tension with backbeat/sustain in an understated rhythm that you can get into, and then they throw a bunch of cheesy e-trance on top and it feels like getting hit in the face with a teletubby backpack by some sketchy kid with a rave whistle. A few tracks are proper efforts, and so I say this should have been a single/EP. Feh. 5/10.

V/A - Clangour Artist: Various Title: Clangour Label: Boshke Beats Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Clangour : Intro 02. Neser Dna : My Name Is Bruise 03. Metalogic : The Lost Parameter 04. Fuzzion : E=mc2 05. Midi Miliz : Jewels 06. Authentik : Back 07. Midi Miliz : Model 1 08. Metalogic : El Bongonero 09. Fuzzion : Back Fire (Closed Filter Mix) 10. Triple Distilled : Hopping Adaggio Review: Terrifying beats and noise. You thought Chronika was extreme? This release shakes that one down and takes its lunch money. Sometimes industrial, sometimes dissonant, sometimes just plain unpleasant. However, where it works, this shows that Boshke Beats is here to stay, and making some noise. Boshke Beats cares not for the return to fluffy, floaty cheese that many have noticed for the Silly Summer Season. It's staying in the basement, oiling its guns 'n' shit. Many heart-stoppingly effective tracks weigh in on this release. The Intro is deep and cinematic. Track 2 is too harsh for my liking, and track 3 is ordinary. But after 5-6 years of Jungle stealing sounds from trance, Track 4 borrows some techstep techniques, slows them down to 135ish BPM (without resorting to played-out cheeky breaks tactics), and uses them to twist up a deep spacey techno groove. This track is essential, marking Fuzzion as an act to watch. Then MidiMiliz stamps out some Panzer Tech, ehh, not too keen on this. Authentik's effort is rhythmically intricate and industrial, as per their usual slant, if not otherwise engaging. Model 1 is a must-have track from Midimiliz with lots of subtle drama, and El Bongonero uses latino percussion on nice deep techno with cinematic touches: excellent work. Fuzzion comes on again and slows it down with Back Fire, which uses some layered feedback effects to advantage, and borrows percussion from the Kraftwerk boxes: dark & heavy, very toothsome. Finally, Tripple Distilled's Hopping Adaggio seethes and writhes all over the lower spectra, snarling at 105ish BPM. This one is totally worth owning: get it. 9/10.

Vibrasphere - Stereo Gun Artist: Vibrasphere Title: Stereo Gun Label: Spiral Trax Int. Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Stereo Gun 02. Mental Bearing Review: 'Stereo Gun' is an adequate keep-alive release, as they go through the motions and produce some fairly high-quality Swedish psy-trance with the necessary dubby influences. 8/10. 'Mental Bearing' is a bloody masterpiece though, fusing deep techno influences on their trademark dubby style. This is a direction I've been hoping for. 10/10. I hope they continue in this vein, working the underhanded hypnotic darker dub tactics of Chain Reaction and Rhythm&Sound influences into their highly infectious creations. The CD comes with a remix of 2000's 'San Pedro' track, which is pretty much World Beat - that track will be huge this summer on the patios of bars in foreign countries, but ultimately forgettable as the years roll by. 6.5/10.

... this WAS the future. Now it's mostly the past, with a hint of the present. It's a competent piece of work, but this style is just so very busy. There is no restraint. Get it if you like it full-on, with sounds blasting out of every part of the audible spectrum. Personally, I'll pass.

Dammit! How can this release sound so different every time I listen to it? The bad review above is probably more an expose of how bad the factory-installed car stereo is on a '97 Tercel. In headphones in a chair, this release once again seems to have great track after great track. It's not what you'd call massive, but it is effective. I still thing that HujaBoy/Boo Reka has an even better release in him. I quiver in anticipation though at how good it might be. 8.5/10 again. Unlike some reviewers, I reserve the right to omnifallibility. Sorry folks - I'll shut up about this disc now.

Echotek - Application Rate Artist: Echotek Title: Application Rate Label: Flow Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Old Reaction 02. Away 03. Reality 04. Planet X 05. Focus 06. Application Rate 07. Flying Back 08. Chilla Milla Review: "Focus" is a nice piece of work, atmospheric and progressive. The last few minutes of Flying Back is a good groove. Otherwise, this must be really early work from them. Most of the tracks are pretty samey and go on for way too long. The whole effort needs remixing with a lot more high hat activity. Disappointing - this bunch is capable of much, much more. 3/10.

One thing Traveller nailed for sure, it is a very British sounding release. I haven't fully dug it as deeply as Traveller above, but I'd bet that the "Blumenkraft" reference is from "Ewige Blumenkraft", the Masonic motto about getting on with their Great Work; i.e., the transformation of the World of Man for the betterment of Mankind in this lifetime.

Sun Project - Sexperimental Artist: Sun Project Title: Sexperimental Label: Spirit Zone Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Don'T Talk To Me 02. Neurologic 03. Looking For You 04. Lonely 05. Sexperimental 06. The Record Deal 07. Psychotic 08. Flip The Raps 09. Function Review: This release represents by far the best SUN Project effort to date. At last, they've made the percussion more interesting than listening to a pile driver. The high hats are competent and the mid-range keeps on moving. The buttrock guitar effects are kept to a discreet minimum, rarely over the top. Even if you've written off SUN Project, give this one a test drive. It might just surprise you. 8/10.

Mainly, I bought this one because it comes with the elusive 'Trippy Future Garden' on the 2nd CD for free. I've been curious about that one for years. The front side is quite like 'Silver' - competent, capable and well-executed. It has several flavours of cuts on it, and pretty much each track has something good about it. High hats are a highlight indeed. 8/10.