PKS

Hello Seraph! As allready said: Altitudes= Jaïa and Blue Planet Corporation in a collaboration... The Elysium Vs. Space Cat track on the Life Is compilation is a different track! The Life Is... track is called Liquid Dub Connection and NOT Dub Connection.... So the track you get here is never released before... All the tracks are previously unreleased... Hope you will like it!

Arbaesque wrote to me: "Release date is on the schedule as 27/06/2005." I think the 13th date is something Saikosounds has written wrong or something.... Thanks for all the positive feedback people!

Hello! The web site is finally ready with sound clips. Go to: http://www.chilltriberecords.com and listen... PK

Hello people! Thanks for all the positive feedback! We are working on sound samples right now. Hopefully it will be out on: http://www.chilltriberecords.com next week...

Chill Tribe Records is a new chill label based in Oslo, Norway. The first release will be a compilation full of talented artists from various countries. It will be released June - early summer 2005. Quality Relaxation (Compiled by PKS) Chill Tribe Records 2005 (CTRCD01) 1. Entheogenic - Walk On Air 2. Elysium - Fairytale 3. Shulman - The Unexpected Visitor (Carbon Based Lifeforms Rmx) 4. Ishq - En Soph 5. Jaïa - Missing 6. Cell - Secret Wedding 7. PhasePhour - Unpronounced Numbers 8. Elysium Vs. Space Cat - Dub Connection 9. Altitudes - Altitude 1 10. Blue Planet Corporation - Wild City All tracks previously unreleased... Altitudes is a new collaboration between Jaïa and Blue Planet Corporation... It will be distributed by Arabesque More info coming soon... Enjoy!

Hydro Generator is Toru Furuyama from Japan. He has previously released tracks on labels such as Alkaloid, USTA and Elf Music. He is now out with his debut album on the Japanese psytrance label Elf Music, who celebrates ten years of Japanese trance these days. Hydro Generator "Lucid Dream" Elf Music 2005 (ELFCD008) 1. Psychological Depiction 2. Philosophy 3. Evolution 4. Future Scape 5. Lucid Dream 6. Dream Provider 7. Karma – Circulation Of The Orbit 8. Dawn 2005 9. Cosmo Rmx First out is a chilled track, with some weird almost industrial sounds. Pretty weird, but interesting start on the album. We also get some tribal influences here. Then we jump over in a night time mood in track two. Here we get a rolling, hard bass line, with mostly dark sounds jumping in and out of the track. We also get a voice sample and some scary floating vibes in there. Something for the night. Track 3 is a pumping track. This one goes the dark direction too. Quite massive track. This one is a little bit lighter, but still it is quite dark. Something for the stumpers. The melody we get here is a little bit simple in my opinion. It reminds me a little bit of the Chemical Crew style. Track 4 is a bit more floating. Quite trippy and melodic, which should fit better in the morning. The melody reminds me a little bit of old school goa trance. Track 5 starts with a crazy guitar sound, before we get thrown into a massive night time drift again, with some voice samples and quite industrial sounds above. A rolling track for those who likes it dark. Not among my favourites, mainly because I find it a bit nagging. Track 6 is a stumping, quite melodic track. Again, I find the melody a bit simple, but this one is better. It sounds quite clubby, but might be something for the morning. Track 7 is among the fastest tracks on this album (147bpm). This track is pretty good. A massive, rolling track with some beautiful floating vibes. A full on trippy track, perfect for sunrise. Track 8 is my favourite track on this album. This one goes slower, with a groovy, stumping bass line. Almost like progressive trance, but a bit more full on. Nice one. The last track on this album isn’t bad either. Quite melodic, groovy morning vibes, with some mystic, floating sounds in between. In my opinion, the second half of this album is definately the best. This album doesn’t sound like all other darkpsy out there, but tries out more melodies, which is nice. The cover art is also pretty good. So if you are curious about some new Japanese trance, this might be worth checking out. PKS More reviews at: http://www.trance.net

No, but I have updated my discogs list lately... By the way, I don't collect vinyls, only CD's. I have a few vinyls too, but that's mostly because of the cover art... And I'm 26 years old too

1608 http://www.discogs.com/user/PKS

I have to agree with E.P here.... There are so many bad labels out there pushing out tons of releases. Most of the releases have one or two okay tracks, or no okay tracks at all! Especially the amount of crappy full on releases has exploded the last years, but I also see it in other kinds of music I listen to, like drum’n’bass (a “jungle” of bad releases), progressive house and progressive trance, techno etc. The result of this is that the good quality releases sort of drown in the mud of crap... People have to dig really deep and use a lot of time to find out what’s worth buying! The result of that is that most people will not use time on it, and all they see is all the crap. Some will think it’s okay (just like all those who enjoy all the crap on mtv etc.), but the majority of people who are a lot into music, music journalists etc. will only see a scene with tons of bad quality releases... That’s one of the reasons why most music journalists look down on psytrance as a music style... The psytrance scene has also struggled with bad distributors. But also the distributors has a hard time getting rid of all the crap... When a compilation has only one okay track, people will not buy it for full price, so they download it instead... I also think like E.P. said, that in a few years, most artists will seek to online sale to reduce the costs of labels and distributors... But I also think that many people will continue to enjoy the feeling of buying something in a shop, something with a nice cover art etc. they can study while pushing the button on their cd player... I think that a lot of people running labels have a very narrow releationship with music in general. They only listen to full on or only listen to progressive. They don’t understand the importance of listening to different music styles, get new ideas and inspiration from that etc. After getting deeper into various music styles, you will for sure get a better idea of the difference between a good release and a crappy one... I have huge respect for artists and labels who dear to try out new directions. I think one of the best labels ever, was the Blue Room Released. They pushed out great quality stuff all the way, from ethnic Juno Reactor to full on Total Eclipse, experimental trance by Spectral to great quality psychedelic drum’n’bass by Deviant Electronics... Also Matsuri Productions had some great moments, like the Digitalis project by Seb Taylor... These days, such labels are really hard to find because of all the crap we have to dig through. Dragonfly Records is still around. I’m not always very impressed by their trance releases, but the Liquid Sound Design crew are getting better and better. In Finland, there is the Surreal Audio Recordings who are one of just a few psy labels these days, going new interesting directions and coming up with something good. They have released albums by Kiwa (their first album made me jump out of my chair, maybe because Kris Kylven, known as UX is involved) and Blowfish (by Graham Wood, also known for being part of The Infinity Project). So, there are still good, interesting music out there, but they often drown... Personally I’m actually starting up a label in collaboration with the Freetransform crew these days. They have an amazing studio and have gained a lot of studio knowledge. Last time I visited them they were recording an entire choir:) Personally I have been collecting electronic music and writing about it for over ten years, so I think I can see the difference between good and bad (right and wrong to release). I have never felt a big need for being cool either. My intension with this label is to release great quality chill out/down tempo music, and the artists are first priority. The chill out marked isn’t overfloding of bad releases like the full on scene (except for all the crappy “Ibiza lounge chill” compilations you find everywhere these days). I can’t understand all those crappy labels that don’t put the artists as first priority! What’s wrong with people? I think there are just too many greedy people out there. Well, I’m just a music nerd who wants to see some pure quality stuff being released... PK

Kagdila Records in Los Angeles is out with their second album, this time by a group called Frequency Deluxe. This is three guys. Shanti Matking, known as a member of Growling Mad Scientists (GMS), Ken Small from California, a dj since 1989, also bin living in Japan for a few years working as a model and Alex Cornfield making films in Hollywood.The first track is a full on stomper influenced by the GMS sound, but more minimal and just rolling all the way through. It has a few careful melodies coming in and out of the track. Track 2 is a little bit more varied, with more psychedelic sounds and breaks. Track 3 is a groovy track with even more psychedelic sounds. This track will probably make people jump. You get a lot of GMS influenced sounds with this one. Track 4 goes the same style, but a little bit faster. Track 5 is really fast and totally full on! After a few minutes you get a nice morning melody too. Track 6 is a pumping track. It goes slower, but isn`t very varied for the first couple of minutes. Then you get a nice funky melody that saves the track. Track 7 is more full on again, with a lot of twisted psychedelic sounds. Pretty cool track. Track 8 goes the same direction. This sounds a lot like GMS. I`m not a big fan of this style, but if you like GMS stuff, you will like this one. Track 9 is very stompy. GMS sound, but lesser varied. They finish their album with a really fast full on track. Noisy sounds and rolling rhythms all the way. With this album I missed some more variation and maybe a chilled track at the end. But if you like the full on sounds like GMS, this might be the right choice for you.

V/A - Spunout Artist: Various Title: Spunout Label: Spun Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Spectrum : Im Real(Gms Rmx) 02. Skazi : Fire On Ice 03. Dado : Hell Sonic 04. Growlmonizer : Eject 05. Shanti And Bushman : The Swarm 06. Alternate Vision : Theatre Of Magic 07. Altom : Niagara 08. Earthling And Paul Taylor : Antigravity 09. Bushman And Blanca : Robotnix 10. Zorba : Barkbass Review: This one was supposed to be released in 2002, but didn`t hit the record shops before now. Spun Records is the Growling Mad Scientists own label. Now they are out with the third compilation from this label, of course compiled by GMS. Maurizio Begotti, known from Etnica, has made the cover art. Since GMS has compiled this, it isn`t exactly a surprise that we get mostly GMS sounding tracks on this compilation. First out is a GMS remix of a track by Spectrum. Spectrum are Tamir Ozana and the famous dj Dede. This track doesn`t impress me much. Very GMS sounding, but less melodic and variation than usual. Track 2 is by the upcoming Israeli stars Skazi. This track has bin around for a while, and has bin played a lot on parties, so it`s not exactly new, but unreleased. For some strange reason, a lot of people love Skazi. Personally I think it sounds a bit simple. Yes, they have some killer rolling rhythms, but their kind of dark sounds and melodies, sounds a bit like some cheap hard house rave crap to me. By the way, this track is a bit better than a lot of other Skazi tracks. Then things get more interesting with track 3, made by Dado (Frederic Holyszewski), most known as Deedrah and Synthetic. On this one he uses his Dado name. I like this one. A lot of funny crazy psychedelic sounds swirling around. If you like Synthetic and ad some more madness to it, you might enjoy this one too. Melodic, varied and super psychedelic. GMS isn`t known for many surprises. Not when it comes to musical variation or choices for their compilations. But with this one, they give us a little warming surprise! Track 4 is a new Growlmonizer track! This is a collaboration between Riktam and Bansi (GMS) and Simon Posford (Hallucinogen). This came as a big surprise, especially since I haven`t heard anything by this collaboration since the Growlmonizer track released on TIP Records in 1998! GMS pushes it with the same full on pumping bass lines as always, but Simon saves us with his beautiful morning melodies, and then suddenly the nagging GMS sound doesn`t sound as annoying as usual. Track 5 is by the younger brother of the GMS team, Shanti, here in a collaboration with a guy called Bushman (Tavis Buschman). Shanti has learned from the GMS team, and give us a track with the same typical rolling bass lines, put on some dark sounds, a little scary melody, and that`s about it. I`m sure this would have bin a killer if I hadn`t heard the GMS sound on a million other track already. Track 6 gets more interesting. A new track by Alternate Vision, which is the solo project of Johan Kraft, most known from Logic Bomb together with Jonas Pettersson. This one sounds a lot like Logic Bomb. It builds up, and then you get those beautiful morning melodies. A good alternative when you are tired of full on GMS sound. Altom are two upcoming guys from France. Here they are with a new full on party track. One of the better tracks I have heard from these guys. Full on sound, with cool tribal drums above. A good one for the dance floor. Celli Firmi (Earthling) released his debut solo album on Acidance records last year. He has also collaborated a lot with dj Paul Taylor. Here we get a taste of that, but sadly one of their less lucky results. This sounds less melodic and less varied then I had expected when Paul Taylor is involved. Bushman is back in track 9, this time together with Blanca (Wayan Blue). This track is a bit better than track 5, but nothing new or interesting to pick up in this one either. A bit more melodic, and not only the noisy full on all the way. The last track is sadly a Zorba track. I have to admit that I hate Zorba! This is the sell out project of the GMS guys. I have heard a lot of Zorba tracks the last couple of years, and I have heard their live performance, but never got anything good out of it. It sounds so unbelievable commercial and simple. It has those easy digestible melodies you find in every euro dance track out there. What they have done is, taken the typical GMS bass lines, cut out the noisy stuff and added those terrible cheesy melodies. Sure, there are a lot of people enjoying this, but I don`t think this has anything to do on a psytrance compilation. Why not give it to Tiesto or something? Zorba will probably release an album this year too, which will probably infect the psytrance scene with even more cheese and light stick kids. This compilation has GMS written all over it, but you get a few nice party killers too. My recommendations out of this would be the Dado track, the Growlmonizer track and the Alternate Vision track.

Asura is out with their second album. Their first album Code Eternity, came out on Infinium Records in 2001. They got a lot of good critics out of that. In my opinion a pretty over estimated album, but good enough if you are after some easy digestible atmospheric chill. Asura are now A. Ackerman, C. Farewell and C. Maze. On their first album, A. Ackerman wasn`t in the band, but now V. Villuis is not in the band anymore. First of all, I have to say that this isn`t very psychedelic. It`s more plain ambient chill out. The first track is some sort of intro, lasting for only a couple of minutes. Pretty nice start on the album. Dramatic sound picture, with only floating sounds and some dramatic voice samples. Track 2 (Lost Eden) has probably a lot of people heard already. It was also released on the chill out compilation Module 01 on 3D Vision Relax and on the Chiller Waves compilation released on Analog Pussy Records. I find this track pretty easy digestible, but nice enough with a lot of Turkish vocals. Track 3 is slower. I like this one better. Some beautiful vocals, nice chilling bass and a very floating sound picture, totally chilled. Track 4 goes pretty far away from what I had expected from these guys. A lot of vocals, almost a pop song. Not my cup of tea, but maybe something for you if you are into chill by for example Morcheeba. They have also added some Turkish vocals like track 2 in this one. Track 5 is more ethnical chill of the kind you find in every tribal shops in the western world who sells incense and hand made things from Thailand etc. This is like the music you would expect to hear on some meditation group or something. Nice and easy. Track 6 starts totally slow, with some guitar sounds and only floating sounds. Then some down tempo trance rhythms comes in. This sounds a lot like the music on their first album. In my opinion, I think this sounds a bit simple. Sorry to say this, but it sounds a bit like cheesy euro trance in slow motion! Track 7 is a long track. This is slow ambient, and pretty beautiful. It sounds a bit dramatic and sad, but that can be pleasant too. C. Farewell has made this one alone. Track 8 starts off with a nice flute. Here you get a lot of melodic trancey stuff. It sounds a bit like melodic old school goa trance in slow motion. Track 9 is the longest track on the album, lasting for over ten minutes. On this one they have sampled a classical choir and the Turkish vocals again. This sounds also dramatic. In the middle of the track, you get some didgeridoo too, before the down tempo trance rhythms comes back. The last track on this album is really nice. The best track on the album in my opinion. Pretty varied, with a lot of pleasant sounds. Afther this one you also get a little hidden track! A short floating outro. Nice finish for an average album. You get some nice tracks on this album, but if you are looking for deep psychedelic music, this isn`t the right choice. Asura makes easy digestible chill, and with all the high quality chill released lately, this isn`t my first pick for my relaxed evening.

Amit Duvdevani and Erez Aizen (Infected Mushroom) has always surprised all of us with new innovative music all the way from the banging psytrance in The Gathering (1999), the fantastic classical music in Classical Mushroom (2000), the full on sound in B.P.Empire (2001) and the rock influenced Berry Sakharof Birthday cd single (2002). Now they will soon release a new album Converting Vegetarians in 2003, and they are now out with a cd single with a taste of their forthcoming album. The first version we get here is a short version. It starts off with the nice guitar by Berry Sakkarof. The sound of his guitar has really become one of Infected Mushrooms trade marks. Then the banging trance rhythms starts pumping together with vocals by Amit Duvdevani! Yes, Amit has started singing in their tracks lately, and that`s in my opinion a bad thing. They have twisted his voice a lot, but I really don`t like that kind of singing in trance. The rest sounds okay, but the vocal sort of ruins it. Track 2 is a remix by Yahel. I have actually decided to not buy any releases with Yahel on it, but since the man has suddenly showed up on TIP.World compilations and now this, it seems like I don`t have a choice! He is like a cheesy virus that has crawled into the psytrance, for only one reason; to earn money out of it and make a commercial light stick vibe. I haven`t liked any of his releases yet, so maybe it`s time he goes back to where he belong, to Perfecto? He gives us his cheesy version of this track. The third version we get here is a remix by another Israeli group, Violet Vision (Jonathan Dagan and Shay Raviv). They came as a really positive surprise in 2001, with their debut album First Sign Of Communication. A really innovative album, with influences by all kinds of music and artists like Ozric Tentacles etc. Here they give us a heavy big beat version of the track. If you still are not tired of the big beat that ruled the world in the beginning of the nineties, this sure is good. Big beat in a new form, cool dancing to and nice for home listening. Then finally in track 4 on this cd single, we get the album version of the Deeply Disturbed track. Not among my favourite Infected tracks, but this will for sure rock the out door parties at sunrise, at least in Israel this summer. If they had cut out the vocals, it would have bin much better. The last track on this cd single is another track, called Drop Out. Their new album is supposed to be a double cd, with one chilled cd and one with banging trance. This Drop Out track is fore sure going to be on the chilled cd. Here you get the prove that Infected Mushroom goes new directions all the time. I actually like the strange Gollum vocals in this track. Besides the dubby rhythms and the vocals you get a lot of beautiful guitar in this one. I have never heard anything like it! Very strange music, but I like it. This cd single resulted in two thoughts for me. That I still can really look forward to the new Infected Mushroom album (that will be really interesting!), and that I will still stay away from Yahel releases.

(TIPWCD026): Raja Ram and his TIP.World is finally giving us the Secret of The 13 Crystal Skulls. This is the follow up after the Mystery Of The 13 Crystal Skulls. That was a fantastic compilation with no bad tracks on it. It seems like TIP.World has lost the high quality lately, so this compilation will hopefully prove something else. Eat Static has suddenly for some unknown reason started releasing tracks on TIP.World lately. They have bin one of my favourite bands since 1993, but they have mostly released music on Planet Dog and on their own label Mesmobeat. Eat Static give us the first revelation. Merv Pepler has made this one alone. It starts very beautiful with floating ambient sound scapes. After a few minutes, some hard banging rhythms starts pumping. Interesting to see how Eat Static suddenly has started making psytrance like this. But Eat Static has already shown their talent in many different music styles, so it doesn`t come as a big surprise. A good track with a lot of tribal voices. Track 2 is by Cyberbabas. This is a very interesting collaboration between Raja Ram and Benji Vaughan (Prometheus). They have released some really good tracks together already. This one starts slow and relaxing the first two minutes. Then we get some pumping rhythms which reminds me a lot of Hallucinogen! A melodic and varied track with guitar and synths by Benji and flute by Raja Ram. Then we get a track by the new Israeli super star, Alien Project (Ari Linker). But, this track is not new! It is also released as LSD on the Electronic High 3 compilation released on Japanese Solstice Music. One of the better tracks Alien Project has made so far, but if you are getting tired of the same stumpy Alien Project style you have got from his three albums released in one year, this might be too much. Astrix is the other Israeli star these days. Playing live all over the world every week. He has about the same style as Alien Project, but maybe a little fluffier. The track we get here is a lot better than most of the tracks on his album released last year. Very varied all the way. Reminds me of the Alien Project track on the Mystery Of The 13 Crystal Skulls compilation. Down tempo rhythms and shpongle like voice samples. Talamasca are one of the few psytrance artists who still release really melodic trance. He give us track 5. Heavy banging rhythms and drifting melodies. Not among the best Talamasca tracks I have heard, but not bad. Track 7 is a new track by 1200 Micrograms, which is a collaboration between the GMS guys, Raja Ram and Chicago. They released an album on TIP.World last year with different kind of drugs as a theme. The track we get here is a little better than most of the tracks on the album. A lot of tribal effects, flute and voices. But you get some of the noisy GMS drift after a few minutes in this track too. The last track is the one I was really looking forward to. A new track by Shpongle! As usual, we get a voyage into sound. We start off slow with tribal sound and flamenco guitars. After a few minutes the track develops to an almost full on trance track. Sounds a lot like Hallucinogen. As usual you get some really twisted voice samples. Not among the best Shpongle tracks I have heard, but good. After this track you get some sort of hidden track where a weird voice tell you about the Crystal Skulls. This compilation is not as good as The Mystery Of The 13 Crystal Skulls, but it is not bad. One of the better trance compilations released lately, and much better than TIP.Worlds latest compilations.

Bill Halsey (Bilbo Bagginz) and Mitch Davies are out with their debut album as Mumbo Jumbo on Turbo Trance Records. Bill is already well known as Cosmosis, one of the most talented psytrance artists out there. He has released four Cosmosis albums on Transient Records. Mumbo Jumbo has already released a few tracks on various compilations. Cosmosis has always made totally twisted psychedelic trance, with variation all the way. Mumbo Jumbo is more stumpy music, still with a lot of crazy sounds and variation, but not as twisted as Cosmosis tracks. The first track is very trancey with pleasant sounds and drifting rhythms. Very enjoyable for dancing as always when Bill is involved. This is funky psytrance! Not as varied as Cosmosis, but still a lot more variation than most other psytrance acts come up with these days. Nice one! Track 2 has some cool voice samples, very floor stumping rhythms and lots of psychedelic sounds. Not as trancey as track one, but not bad for kicking up some dust. Track 3 (Techno Boom Boom) is already released on Phantasm Records in 2001, but here you get a remix. It doesn`t sound very much different from the original, so it`s hard to decide which version is the best one, but this track is not bad. Hard pumping rhythms with some tribal rhythms above and floating weird sounds. Track 4 is my favourite track on this album. It sounds a lot like Cosmosis. Fantastic melodic twisted trance, with pushing rhythms, drifting melodies and scary sounds. Wonderful party track! After all the energy in track four, things calm down a bit in track five. It starts off with some nice tribal drums, before the pumping rhythms starts again, but this time with pleasant tribal rhythms following all the way. It builds up slowly. After a few stumping minutes, we get some really weird voices which makes this track pretty funny. At least a lot of people will start smiling at the dance floor when they hear this. Track 6 (Mysteronz) is already released on Transient Records in 2000, but here you get a live version. Not among my favourite Mumbo Jumbo tracks, but not bad. Funky vibe with crazy sounds and melodies. Track 7 starts pumping from the first second. A bit darker than the other tracks. It builds up with more and more floating sounds and dark melodies. You also get those tribal drums you probably know from the style of Shakta lately. I think that is what makes it so funky. Then we get the Fishbone track, which is probably the most known Mumbo Jumbo track out there. It is already released on Transient Records, but here you get a remix. This track makes me jump! It sounds a bit like Shakta, but with more crazy sounds. The last track is a chill out track. Beautiful floating sounds together with chilled groovy bass and relaxing sounds. A very good finish for a good album. This album is good as always when Bill is involved. I have to admit that I`m a very big fan of Cosmosis, and that is one of the reasons I like this so much. But don`t expect Cosmosis music. This is more hard pumping and not as varied and crazy as Cosmosis, but you will for sure get some dance floor killers out of this one too.

Silicon Sound is Johannes Regnier. He has really impressed with a few tracks on different compilations lately and as Sonicsurfers together with A.B. Laffitte (dj Pulsate). He has also made music as Walhalla together with C. Michaud. Now he is finally out with his debut album on French Moon Spirits Records. When I first heard Silicon Sound, I was really positive surprised. Very full on, but not noisy and boring like a lot of full on trance these days. This sounded for a change different, and very melodic. Not cheesy melodic, but crazy wonderful melodic. Goa trance was originally recognised by lots of crazy melodies, and I have to admit that I often miss that on parties these days. Then Silicon Sound came up with the full on sound of 2003, but also very melodic! The first track Nexus 6 was first released on the compilation Echoes, released on Moon Spirits Records autumn 2002. Here you get a remix of the track. Not better, not worse, just a great melodic full on morning track. Track 2 goes a bit deeper. Full on rhythms from start to finish. This can`t be played loud enough. It sounds a bit like Talamasca, but in a way cleaner and more varied. After a couple of minutes we get a little break from the rhythms, and we pick up a nice melody before the track shoots us out to full on again. A really wonderful female tribal voice screams one time and it fits really well into the track. That reminds me of Elysium. These full on melodies will really get people go crazy on the out door parties this summer! Track 3 starts off with a floating atmospheric sound. These atmospheric floating parts comes in and out of many Silicon Sound tracks. Very beautiful. This track builds up, and get`s more and more melodic. This is the kind of full on trance music I can`t get tired of, far away from all that GMS sounding copies released these days. Track 4 brings you more full on sound, with some funky melodies in between and voice samples from outer space. It reminds me a lot of Talamasca, but in my opinion better. Track 5 starts off with the atmospheric vibe, rolling clean rhythms together with tribal drums swirling together with the groove. Then we get pushed right into another world of full on melodic trance. This sounds like something I have bin waiting for to come for many years. This is the kind of music I want when I really want to go crazy on the dance floor. This is melodic goa in a modern form! After all the energy in the first five tracks, it would probably be nice with a little rest. And that`s what you get! Track 6 is a beautiful deep down tempo track. You can easily dance to this one, but it is also great for chilling. Atmospheric, melodic, down tempo trance. Track 7 starts slow and floating, but suddenly we are back in the full on territory. Crystal clear sound you will want to play really loud. Johannes really know how to use melodies the right way. Track 8 goes the same way. Crystal clear melodies, pushing rhythms and really psychedelic sounds. The last track on this album is just what we needed. A beautiful chill out track that makes me hope that Johannes will release a chill out album too. This will for sure be one of the best psytrance albums of 2003. Fantastic full on, melodic morning trance that will make people go even crazier than ever before. Recommended for you all!

Transient Records is still releasing good quality stuff. Their latest album release was the fantastic Contact album by Cosmosis. One of the best psytrance albums of 2002. Now they are starting 2003 with a new compilation called Psychedelic Dreams. There will probably be more Psychedelic Dreams to come, but this is the first chapter in this series. First of all, this is not only new tracks. It`s more an overview of releases from Transient the last couple of years. So if you have bought most of the Transient releases lately, you probably have most of these tracks already. First out is the Tribodelic track by Quirk, here in a Mumbo Jumbo version. Mumbo Jumbo is a side project of Cosmosis. Pretty nice track, especially since Mumbo Jumbo has put on some nice sounds as always from Bilbo Bagginz. Track 2 is a taste of the Contact album released by Cosmosis on Transient Records autumn 2002. A really cool track, with crazy voice samples and twisted sounds. Mino released his second album in 2002. Here we get a new track. I think this is pretty boring techno trance. Noisy, dark monotonous track. Track 4 is another taste of the Contact album released by Cosmosis. On this track he has collaborated with Seb Taylor (Shakta). And that is what it sounds like! The break beat trance of Shakta, mixed with the crazy melodies and sounds of Cosmosis. Great track! As mentioned earlier, this is not only new tracks. Track 5 is from 1998. An interesting collaboration between Sean Williams (Process) and Pete Martin (Slide). This is a dark almost industrial track, with dark melodies and heavy stumpy rhythms. Not among my favourites, but this will sure do good at a dark party location in the middle of the night. Then we get a track by Swedish Logic Bomb. This track is not on any of their albums. Typical wonderful psychedelic Logic Bomb sounds and melodies. Nice one. Track 7 is a Bamboo Forest track from 1999. Not very good track in my opinion. Not much variation, and a little boring sound picture in my ears. I like their latest releases better than this. Track 8 is a taste of Astral Projections latest album Amen. They still make the same full on goa style as they have always done it, but this track is a bit darker than usual. The last track on this compilation is by Mumbo Jumbo (Mitch Davies and Bilbo Bagginz). Pretty good as always from these guys. Not as psychedelic as Cosmosis, but still a great track. Watch out for a Mumbo Jumbo album this year! This album sums up the music style Transient are releasing these days. If you have bought most Transient releases earlier, this might be a little superfluous, but it is possible to buy this compilation pretty cheap.

Swedish Vibrasphere is finally out with their second album, this time on Digital Structures Records. Vibrasphere are Rickard Berglöf and Robert Elster. Pretty cool cover art on this one. You also get a fat booklet where you can read their musician history. Rickard started making music in 1995 as Subcouds together with Fredrik Axelsson. In 1998 Rickard and Robert started producing music together. Then they released their first album (Echo) on Spiral Trax Records in 2000. The first track is a sort of intro track. Very nice floating ambient soundscape. Then it leads over to track 2. This is a nice progressive trance track, very pleasant for dancing. It sounds a bit like Human Blue, Element etc. Track 3 starts very beautiful with a floating sound, before the pleasant progressive rhythms comes in. Very danceable at the same time as it is relaxing. Fantastic progressive morning trance. The sound quality is amazing. Track 4 is another progressive masterpiece. I don`t like much progressive trance, but when it sounds like this, I get totally into it. Vibrasphere is also famous for their great dubby chill out tracks. Track 5 is one of those beautiful chilled tracks. Floating with deep dubby rhythms and some nice guitar above. Track 6 sounds a bit more like some tech house in the beginning, but it becomes really trancey afterwards. Not among my favourites on this album. Track is a new fantastic progressive trance track for the morning. A great track with amazing sound quality and beautiful melodies. Track 8 follows the same high quality progressive style with some tribal drums in between. Real nice. The last track on the album is a wonderful deep progressive trance track. Nice finish. This album is really nice. I missed some more chilled tracks, but I really like the trance tracks these guys are making too. So if you already like progressive trance, this is recommended!

Solar Flares Records is a new label in Brasil! Now they are out with a compilation full of big names. It is compiled by someone called Vistar and Ateda. The cover art is really beautiful, and inside, there are a few nice photos from the Trancendence Festival in Brasil. The first track is a new name by Vatos Locos! Vatos Locos is a collaboration between Nick Barber (Doof), Celli Firmi (Earthling) and Xavier Flux. They released an album (Wecome 2 Da Barrio) on Sony 2002, but it was only released in Mexico! The track we get here is not on the album. Pushing Earthling rhythms together with pleasant Doof melodies. Good one! Track 2 is by Jean Borelli (Orion) from Denmark. He is really productive, and makes music together with Ari Linker (Alien Project) and alone as Orion. Maybe it`s about time he releases his third album? The track we get here goes in the Alien Project tempo, but with a bit more psychedelic sounds. Celli Firmi (Earthling) give us track 3. He released his debut Eartling album (Patterns) on Acidance Records 2002. This track is not on the album. Heavy GMS sounding rhythms, pushing all the way through. Full on and pretty melodic now and then. Track 4 is a new track by GMS. It starts off with some weird voice samples. Then the typical GMS rhythms and sounds starts pushing, and yes, it sounds just like all the other GMS tracks. Bamboo Forest serves track 5. Full on with a lot of variation all the way. A pretty good track. They were supposed to release an album on Flying Rhino in 2002, but since Flying Rhino went bankrupt, it never came out. Christof Drouillet (Absolum, also known as Transwave) will be releasing his second Absolum album in 2003. Here we get a new dark pushing track. He has used a sample you can find in a Saiko-Pod track too. Very full on typical 3D Vision style. Shanti and his friend Tavis give us track 7. GMS style with less take off. Track 8 is another Bamboo Forest track. I really like this one! Very trancey. Bamboo Forest have their own trancey style. The last track is by an artist from Brasil, Gil Mahadeva (Mukunga Umbura). This is a very pumping track. It reminds me of the new Etnica style, but with a little bit more variation. This compilation was a surprise! The best tracks are the Bamboo Forest tracks and the Vatos Locos track.

Jules Hamer is finally out with his debut album. He has already released a few tracks on compilations on Dragonfly Records.First out is a monotonous track which is somewhere between house and trance. The kind of music Dragonfly has released a lot the last couple of years. Pretty boring if you ask me. Dragonfly has really moved far away from the great quality trance they used to release. Track 2 is harder techno influenced trance. Still very monotonous and in my ears just boring. Why not do something more out of it? This is boring listening to and dancing to! Track 3 is a bit more psychedelic, but still, it sounds pretty simple. This is not psytrance, but bad hard house. Track 4 is more stumpy. Still monotonous and not very original, but better than the first three tracks. This one builds up a little and becomes a bit more melodic. Track 5 sounds like a mix between hard house and trance. Noisy sounds all the way, and rolling restless rhythms pushing all the way through. Track 6 sounds a little better, but still you get this awful hard house feeling. Track 7 is very techno influenced again. You get some guitar sounds above, but away from that it sounds pretty boring. The last track goes the same direction. With this album, Dragonfly proves that they have moved away from psytrance, and are now heading towards hard house and tech house. Dragonfly was once one of my favourite labels, but what has happened now? I just can`t understand it. This release is so disappointing.

Parasense from Russia is out with their second album on Acidance Records. They had big success with their first album Apple, released early 2001. Parasense is famous for a totally dark sound picture. Their music is very monotonous, but not minimal. You get a lot of tiny psychedelic sounds in between now and then, and usually a little melody at the end. The first track is the same style as on the Apple album. Very hard pumping dark trance with a few small psychedelic sounds. Track 2 goes the same style, but after a few minutes you get a cool dark melody that sounds like heavy guitars. Track 4 follows with high bpm and a lot of scary noisy sounds. No light sounds to be found here? Track 5 is another fast going stumper, with dark industrial sounds. Reminds me a lot of techno, with very monotonous rhythms and sounds. Track 6 goes the same direction, but maybe with some more massive sounds. Track 7 has even more scary and noisy sounds, but still monotonous. Track 8 is better, with more psychedelic sound picture, still very dark. The last track on the album goes the same style. Pure dark night trance. This album isn`t much different from their first. In my opinion it sounds a bit simple, but it will for sure please some of you who like hard banging dark psy. Russian trance is a bit overestimated in my opinion.

V/A - Mellout Artist: Various Title: Mellout Label: Idspiral Soundscapes Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Eric The Viking : St Anun 02. Solar Quest : Ananda 03. Rukiza Okera : Mara Nilipokuona 04. Chameleon : Dub Magic 05. Rhythm Of Space : Pilgrim 06. Moonus : Natures Gold 07. Stuph : Quickstep 08. Kakatsitsi : Shango 09. Kangoroo Moon : Underwater 10. Sohep : Ride 11. Mouse : Zenner Hill Review: IDSpiral Soundscapes is a brand new label, now releasing their first chill out compilation. This is what you can read in the cover art: ? The 3D manifestation of the multifaceted realms of IDSpiral is a result of 4 years of involvement in the world`s most buzzing & cre-active underground conscious party scene? The first track is by someone called Eric The Viking. Maybe a stupid name, but not so stupid track. A beautiful ambient track with some nice flute and mystical electronic sounds around. Very slow and relaxing. Track 2 is a new track by Solar Quest. Pretty different from most of the tracks they have released earlier. This one is not on their latest album Orgship. Here you get a lot of Indian vocals, slow tribal drums and guitar. Track 3 is a vocal track. No electronic sounds here. Only vocals and guitar. Relaxing, but not my cup of tea. Track 4 is pure ambient. Very slow and floating. A beautiful track. Track 5 by Rhythm Of Space is even more beautiful. A wonderful pleasant floating sound picture. My favourite track on this compilation. Track 6 is just floating ambient sounds with a spoken word above. Track 7 by Stuph is pretty jazzy with some electronic piano. Track 8 is music by someone from Ghana. Here you get only African drums and vocals. Track 9 is ambient mixed with didgeridoo and violin. A nice tribal chill out track. Track 10 is a drum n bass track with a female voice and funky guitar sounds. Not as chilling as the other tracks on this compilation. The last track on this compilation is a slow vocal track again. A really beautiful female voice, but not exactly what I expected from this chill out compilation. If you are looking for some psychedelic chill out, this is not for you. But if you are an open minded chill out listener, this might give you a few positive surprises.

Aba Structure - Epic Artist: Aba Structure Title: Epic Label: Fungus Productions Date: 2003 Track listing: 01. Deep Step 02. Luna Dub 03. Houseboats 04. Scrambling To Stay Ahead 05. Yelo 06. The Internal 07. Erased Review: ABA Structure is the solo project of the musical talented Kenji Williams, also known as the violinist in Medicine Drum and different collaborations with other artists like Seed. Kenji is originally from Japan, but now lives in San Francisco, United States. The first track is a nice relaxing psyambient track with some tribal female vocals by Irina Mikhailova who are into music from Russia, the Middle East and Asia. You can read about her in the cd cover. Track 2 is an experimental jazzy track with a male vocal saying Come With Me To Kansas City. Far away from psychedelic music. In track 4 has a under water vibe, with more electronic down tempo vibes. Best track on the album so far. In this track Kenji has put in some of his violin too. Track 4 is another down tempo chill out track with some vocals by Kenji himself and some piano. Track 5 is a really nice electro dub track, with nice electronic melodies that sounds a bit like some old Orbital tracks. It has also some more vocals by Irina Mikhailowa. Track 6 is slower ambient. Floating with beautiful sounds all the way. The last track on the album is totally chilled ambient without rhythms. You can read the story behind this beautiful track in the cover. He wrote it after a Native American Sundance in Oregon, the most sacred of rituals of the Lakota tribe. I thought this album would be better after hearing some really interesting projects by Kenji Williams. But there are some really nice moments in this album too. Not very psychedelic, but some nice experimental chill out.

Majune - In Ear Flavour Artist: Majune Title: In Ear Flavour Label: Insolation Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Fruitcage 02. You Know Your Sun 03. Majune 04. Passage 05. Hornet 06. Perfume 07. Let's Go To Tokio 08. Fragile 09. Mindland Review: (INSOLCHILL005):The German Insolation Chilling label is out with another album, this time by Majune. Majune is Daniel Winterhoff.German musicians are often really good at chill out. Majune is a new German name in the scene, and he has a lot of nice sound to offer. The first track is a floating chill out track for the evening. Nice track with pleasant floating melody and relaxing rhythms. Track 2 is one of the better chill out tracks that came out of 2002. Very nice, with a few beautiful voice samples and a totally chilled vibe. I love this track! Best one on this album. Track 3 starts very floating. After 2-3 minutes, some slow down tempo rhythms starts, and follows the track all the way through. Pretty good for the early evening, before the trance party starts. Track 4 is more chilled ambient. Very relaxing with beautiful sounds and a floating sound picture. Track 5 is more peculiar, with more rhythms, a simple melody and strange sounds. Not among my favourites on this album. Track 6 is better. Very slow rhythms, with some voice samples and weird ambient sounds. Track 7 starts very floating again, but then we get some faster trance rhythms! But it is still pretty relaxing. Chill out trance for early evening. Track 8 goes back to totally relaxed chill out, with some pleasant rhythms. The last track on this album is even slower. Only drifting peaceful sounds. Very relaxing. This album is pretty nice. If you are looking for some nice chill out for home listening, this might be the right choice. But it would probably have bin much better if he kept the quality of track 2 through the entire album.

Initia - Shining Beings Artist: Initia Title: Shining Beings Label: Loopsnoo Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. They Interact 02. Spiritual Power 03. Coming Into Existance 04. Elysioum Fields 05. No Fear 06. Amfiaraos 07. Shining beings (Rmx) 08. Far beyond 09. Overtones Review: First of all, this is NOT released on Loopsnoo Records. It is released on Re:Psycle Music (RE:001) Initia from Greece is K. Kanlis. He is out with his debut album on Re:Psycle Music, which is a side division of Loopsnoo Records in Athens, Greece. This is the first release on Re:Psycle. Intitia has released a few tracks on Spirit Zone Records. First track is a down tempo track. It starts off with some flute, before some relaxing rhythms gets in and follows the track all the way to the end. This track last for over eleven minutes, it has low bpm and a pretty floating sound picture. Track 2 is a harder track.It starts pretty monotonous, but with a few careful psychedelic sounds above and some voice samples together with weird floating sounds. A stumper for the dance floor. It builds up slowly, and afterwards we get some melodies. Track 3 is a little harder. A lot of nice sounds above a pleasant rhythm drift. Also a little vocal. Track 4 goes a bit faster. Still pretty monotonous rhythms, but with a lot of pleasant psychedelic sounds. Nice evening trance. Track 5 continues in the same speed, but with more funny sounds whirling around above the rhythms. Track 6 is pretty groovy, with a cool melody and nice rhythms. Pretty tribal. Track 7 starts slow with a beautiful female voice, before the rhythms start banging. This track almost gets full on. One of the best tracks on this album. Track 8 is also a tribal track, with a lot of weird sounds, a screaming frightening voice and floating sounds. The last track is a bit odd. It starts pretty down tempo, before some harder trance and tribal rhythms starts rolling. Pretty melodic and varied track. This album is not among my favourites of 2002, but if you like monotonous rhythms with a lot of weird sounds above, this might be an album for you. Pretty pleasant trance for home listening.