Basilisk

It's always tough to pinpoint the exact moment something changed... if you'd like an easy answer that satisfies most people, Deedrah's Reload (3D Vision Records, 2000) is the first unambiguously full-on psytrance tune with that distinctive rolling bass line. Several other 3D Vision affiliated artists had already blazed the trail; Talamasca's debut album Beyond The Mask certainly has full-on characteristics; Absolum's Regenerate was a super strong tune also released in 2000; and then you've got oddballs like DJ Maël & Manitù's Zergshake. Some others worth considering: Mumbo Jumbo - Weird, Sick, and Twisted (2000); Space Cat's entire Shapes of Sound album (2000); Tristan - Small Paper Squares (2000); Xerox & Freeman & Liquid Metal - In My Brain (2000); and maybe, if you stretch your ears a little, Children of the Doc's Police 106 (1999), fittingly released on one of those old Full-On compilations from Hommega. It is interesting how quickly everything changed too... step forward one year into 2001 and there is no shortage of examples to consider. This is when GMS steps onto the full-on scene (I'd argue all of their pre-2001 releases are still classic gritty GMS), Astrix, Alien Project, Bamboo Forest, Bio-Tonic, Earthling, Logic Bomb (rapidly maturing after the experiments of Headware), Neuromotor, Silicon Sound, Space Buddha, etc., plus many more developments from Deedrah, Talamasca, Nomad (Mael), and the rest of the 3D Vision gang, who I would personally credit for the development of full-on psytrance.

One last mix for 2023, bringing my output this year to nearly 28 hours of new mixcraft... this one is part of an ongoing series of psychedelic techno mixes, with strong emphasis on "techno" this time: Full info and track list on my site as always! https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/silicon-overmind-7/ See you in 2024...

Here's another mix in my ongoing series of long-form, genre-bending journeys... this one centers on new school Goa trance, with excursions into hedonic rave nostalgia, dubby breaks, ambient soundscapes, and more. Full info and track list on my site, as usual! https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/esoteric-expanse-8/

I have a new retrospective mix out now! This one covers the chaotic energy at the turn of the millennium, as the golden age of Goa trance was subsumed beneath the minimal wave, and we witnessed the first hints of what would evolve into darkpsy, forest, and full-on vault onto the world stage. 32 tracks, nearly 3 hours in length, and all smoothly mixed from carefully chosen source material. You'll know most of the names, if not the tracks themselves; Noma, Yumade, Parasense, Bypass Unit, Tim Schuldt, Logic Bomb, Children of Paradise, Shakta, Chi-A.D., Astral Projection, Blue Planet Corporation, and many more... Full track listing and other details can be found on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/transmissions-from-meropis/

Yuksek has some real bangers! I love that Icare remix, among many others. Here's another surprising case of evolution... remember Cyan? Nick from Cyan now releases melodic house as Nick Devon (and some of it is pretty great): Oh yeah, and remember Eskimo? I'll let you look up JOYRYDE on your own time...

I would imagine many of these more progressive artists started producing years earlier and probably experimented with more archetypal Goa trance sounds. Moses provides an excellent example of this sort of lost early Danish Goa trance on this album: https://unreleasedgoarecords.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-dawn If you're interested in digging deeper into other early or obscure Danish trance experiments from the 90s, some picks from my collection: Baas Complex - Gyro Baas Complex - Sample Your Mind Construction - Non E Existence Donut Junkie - Transistor Warfare Fuzzy Logic - Mega Goa Knights in Trance - Nights in Trance Oga Syndicate - Argon Pharagonescia - Pharatropic Slipstream - Final Cut

If you expand the field to include minimal/progressive psytrance there are many more great names: Beat Bizarre Emok Fabel Flowjob Genetic Spin Llopis NASA Phony Orphants

Alienated Bypass Unit/Color Box Elysium/Sheyba Gada-Gong Koxbox/Psychopod Mino/Messiah Orichalcum/The Deviant Orion Psygone Reefer Decree/Oryx Shazbatt The Overlords/Ionizer/Sri Hari

Bandcamp subscriptions and Discogs deep dives (especially when pivoting around the real names behind projects) are powerful ways of discovering new music. These days I'm especially interested in the psytrance and Goa manifesting in the rave revivalist underground (for lack of a better term)... there's a parallel universe of sound out there that isn't merely retreading Etnica and Dimension 5 ad nauseum, and it's quite fascinating to go rooting around to find the gems, which ultimately feed into mixcraft. I'd like to think that there's more to music fandom in the 2020s than sharing YouTube links in a Facebook group, ya know?

I am still a regular visitor despite the passage of years. These days I mostly communicate through the medium of mixes, but I also read much of what people post...

This definitely sounds like Darshan, and there are many reasons why good tunes from the 90s were never released. Hope it eventually sees the light of day in full quality, it is quite a banger indeed!

I have another edition in my "Transmissions From Utopia" series out today, detailing musical movements of the past... this one traverses classic Goa trance, ambient techno, progressive house, and IDM from 1996 and earlier. Old school fans will definitely want to check this out: Full info and download links already available on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/transmissions-from-avalon/

I also have another mix out for Techgnosis this month! Three hours of the finest in psychedelic techno, minimal psytance, and broken beat experiments to set the mood...

I have a new 2 hour psychedelic techno mix out for Digital Diamonds on Radiozora! I'll eventually post it on my own channels, but for now, here it is...

Here's another installment of the Transmissions From Utopia series, in which I try to capture something of the old magic... in this case, a heady cross-pollination of ambient techno and raging Goa trance circa 1996! You'll hear many classics you know and love, and probably a few you overlooked... so dive in: Full info and other goodies on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/transmissions-from-lyonesse/

The second chapter in the Intangible Frontiers series goes deeper into a fusion of different musical subcultures and world music traditions. It's mostly rooted in dub techno and progressive trance, but there''s a fair amount of psybient, dark disco, and ambient in there too. Three hours of meticulously-curated slo-mo sounds: Full info, track listing, and download links on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/intangible-frontiers-2/

Hello all! It's another year so here's a fresh thread for new mixes from yours truly. As always, every mix is curated and recorded with care, drawing upon lossless source material and properly post-processed for maximum sound quality. Guest mixes sometimes start out streaming-only, but everything eventually ends up on my site, usually within 1-6 months. Here's the first for 2023, a psychedelic techno mix for Subtrail featuring five selections from Techgnosis Records (among many others): For reference, here are some threads from previous years:

One more for 2022. This one is focused on modern progressive trance, with many excursions into compatible styles like dub techno and electro, always with a psychedelic touch. Four hours of meticulously curated tunes for those who like it deep and hypnotic: Full info and download links on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/esoteric-expanse-7/

Reddit, Facebook, Discord, etc. are no great substitute for forums, but forums are often poorly moderated, full of weirdos (see above), and pretty much ghost towns, so...mostly I just enjoy music in isolation, and dedicate myself to mixcraft, exploring new music, and refining my collection (updating metadata, completing discographies, etc.). I've been very busy producing high-quality mixes these years, and will be ending 2022 with another 36 hours of content published. All of that can be found on my homepage and the usual places (Mixcloud for HQ audio, SoundCloud for the more social experience). I also got into edits and production these years so I'm constantly churning out new versions of classic tracks for my own use and enjoyment. Not sure what I'll be doing with any of these dozens of projects except including them in some old school mixes when I get around to them. I have another three or four commissioned mixes to complete before I get to that though. As for reviews, I seldom get the sense that many people read them, and I tend to prefer investing my time in making recommendations on my Facebook page rather than writing reviews these days. I also got out of the habit of listening to new releases since I'm already drowning in music. I'll pick up new releases by artists I like but they end up in the listening backlog after being filed, and it sometimes takes years to get to them. Another issue is that albums are slowly becoming a thing of the past... so much of the new music I grow to love are released as singles, or as hidden gems on otherwise bland compilations, which is partly a consequence of being more dance music-oriented. Even so, a bunch of releases from 2022 already caught my ear one way or another: - Beyond Expectation compiled by my friend DJ Solitare - Club Unity, if you don't mind going further afield than just standard psytrance stuff - Filteria - Live With The Lag, but that's an easy one since I'm such a Filteria fan - Techgnosis Vol. 6, but I'm biased (as label co-founder) - Indoor - Reworks, very close to the originals but brought up to modern standards - Chaim - In Trance We Trust, for obvious reasons (I love classic Goa trance + modern progressive house and nu-disco) - Dark Elf - True Darkness, one of the very best pure darkpsy releases I've heard in quite some time My eclectic tastes are showing, ah? Anyway, it was another good year for music, and I'm looking forward to what 2023 brings us!

Plenty of studios cut ultra-high frequencies in post-processing since they're typically inaudible (if you're not a dog). The thing to look for is a _sharp_ cut (not a fade) _and_ some evidence of blotchy artifacts in those high frequencies. Of course, it's way easier distinguishing low-bitrate MP3s... for 320k, good luck! It can be very tricky without having a known lossless copy to compare.

Usually if it's for sale on Bandcamp it is available in lossless quality (but you can download other formats if you wish). Discogs is a bit strange when it comes to digital formats; usually they don't list all that are available, so you shouldn't treat that as a theoretical maximum quality level. It is possible that a label/artist might sell transcodes (MP3s converted to lossless audio, which retain the original audio quality level), but rare in my experience. You can get a sense of this by using a spectral analysis tool like Spek, but it takes some skill to operate. All that being said, for home listening purposes you're probably fine with 320k MP3 quality.

Here's another deep and dreamy set, self-released this time. 2 hours of cosmic disco, progressive house, midtempo breaks, and more, always with a psychedelic touch! Full info, track listing, and other details on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/intangible-frontiers-1/

I also upgraded to a Mixcloud Pro account and re-uploaded all my more recent mixes (60+ hours worth of content) so everything is accessible in HQ audio quality. Nothing beats downloading files from my site if you care about quality, but if you want to stick to a streaming platform, this is the next best thing. All available here:

I've another guest mix online! This one revolves around psychedelic techno but incorporates many other styles. It's pretty short for a change too; you could fit this one on a CD if you wanted! Full info and links on my site: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/silicon-overmind-3/

My guest mix for Psybient.org is now available on my own channels, including my homepage, where you can download it: https://djbasilisk.com/mixes/intangible-frontiers-3/ Note: this was retitled from "Resilience" to be included in my ongoing series dedicated to the deeper end of the spectrum...