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Mergi

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Posts posted by Mergi

    Stockholm

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    RTP: I think I was not too clear, there were three stores down in that basement... Saturn Return is for psychedelic clothing (still there), then there was a small room for tatoo piercing stuff (think they moved out?), and furthest back there was the record store, Milky Way Records which is no more...

    Stockholm

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I think the recordstore at Saturn Return has closed down... though I have to admit I have not been there since they closed down (how many years ago? 2?), maybe they've started something new. Milky Way Records was the place to be if you wanted Psy/Goa both on vinyl and CD.

     

    So, yes, the recordstore at medborgarplatsen by the cinemas is the only place where you'll be sure to find psy/goa on CD. Though do beware of the prices which can reach 30 euros for a CD. Never have I seen a CD go for less than 20 euros.

     

    Otherwise if you have the time check the 2nd hand stores, there's a lot of them in Stockholm. Though of course second hand means digging through loads of crap but that is a slightly minor problem for cratediggers like me. And they don't always have trance in stock...

     

    Mosebacke Records (cd/vinyl) (subway: Slussen)

    Snickars (only vinyl though), Mickes CD (cd/vinyl) (subway: Hornstull)

    Subwaystation St. Eriksplan is also a good spot for recordstores

     

    to name a few...

    What music are you listening to right now?

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    My own techno mix...

     

    I: Intellitronic - Pixel

    II: Fuzzion - Distort & Discord

    III: Gus Gus - Esja

    IV: Baby D - Daydreaming

    V: The Future Sound Of London - Moscow

    VI: Josh Wink - Late Night Acid

    VII: Kontrast - Lush Life

    VIII: Mathew Jonson - Magic Through Music

    IX: Transglobal Underground - Lookee Here (Dread At The Controls)

    X: Planetary Assault System - Exploration Of The Ravish

    XI: Jesper Dahlbäck & Alexi Delano - Nuevo York (B1)

    XII: Bobby Forester - The Day The World Stood Still

     

    Didn't screw up or trainwreck totally on this one... I learn... I still need better recordning equipment...

    How do you keep up with it all?

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I don't keep up with the latest in psytrance... I don't keep up with music at all... and I actually don't give a crap.

     

    When I have money enough I go into the local secondhand record store and buy a chunk of records, doesn't matter when it's from or what genre, anything that just sounds good in my ear.

     

    Of course I buy new stuff from saiko or psyshop from time to time, but it happens quite rarely these days. Mainly due to lack of money.

    The most expensive cd /vinyl you have bought

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I think 350 SEK (that'd be about 35 euros right?) for the Goa Gil Kosmokrator 3xLP compilation, but then I wanted that shakta track badly.

     

    Also 350 SEK for a 4xCD box with music from Final Fantasy X.

     

    200 SEK for the Lunar Civilization 12" (but that was a second copy, first copy at 7 or 8 euros)

     

    Otherwise I always try to keep it cheap... that means essentially digging crates and going through secondhand stores that have no clue what trance is (which in one case resulted in me scoring Accidental Occidentalism at 3 euros in nm condition)...

    Jurek Przezdziecki - Sink Master Ep

    in 2008

    Posted

    Artist: Jurek Przezdziecki

    Release: Sink Master EP

    Year: 2008

    Label: Boshke Beats

    Cat-#: BBS015

    Rating: 2.5/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    A1: Sink Master (Original Version)

    A2: Miasto Masa Maszyna

    B: Sink Master (Robert Babicz Data Dance Re-Work)

     

    I'm struggling with this one. It's very clean all in all... very high quality. But yet absolutly totally boring.

     

    Original Version of Sink Master is the better one. A very restrained tune with elements from his early Praecox productions, but unlike those which are much more raw and dusty, this one is a high tech journey. Polished surface, a steady deep ventilation hum in the background, a few humble sweeping pads here and there and essentially nothing else. Of course, you have the 4/4 beat giving it progression and some simple rhythmic pads. At least its got atmosphere which in turn gives it a push in the right direction.

     

    Miasto Masa Maszyna is another minimal techno journey, this time it sounds like he got inspiration from Ozy who remixed MidiMiliz (BBS009). There's pretty much nothing happening here, and I'm prompted to actually turn the volume up... a lot, in order to stay interested, still my mind goes to sleep. I know there's good minimal techno out there... I've heard it... and this is not it.

     

    The Data Dance Re-Work is of course dance:able... yet I probably wouldn't be dancing to it for long. It could work for a few minutes but it's totally lacking any groovy elements which could keep me moving. It retains essentially everything from the original one. Steady beat with some odd effects shuffling about here and there. No atmosphere in here though, everything is focused on beat and well beat-beat-beat-beat-beat...

    V/A - Accidental Occidentalism

    in 1995

    Posted

    Artist: Various

    Release: Accidental Occidentalism

    Year: 1995

    Label: Symbiosis Records

    Cat-#: symb cd 01

    Rating: 4/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    1. Breach Of Space - Two Mad Men 8'19"

    2. Hiscore - True Freedom 7'41"

    3. Rainbow Spirit Featuring DJ Sangeet - Sirius Shuttle 8'56"

    4. Pleiadians - Ciberland 8'05"

    5. Cwithe - Karmachanics (Silver) 6'47"

    6. Pleiadians - Boarding Pass To Balangan 7'31"

    7. Transwave - Cycles Of Life 7'19"

    8. Transwave - The Rezwalker 8'22"

    9. Encens - Spiritual Transgression 7'23"

    10. Pleiadians - Pleiadians 7'11"

     

    So, this is it. One of the most essential compilations from back in the good days? A piece of legendary goa history? Supposedly that is just so, as people want this badly and people pay insane amounts just to get it. I just recently had the insane luck of finding this for 3 euro:s (no I'm not kidding and no I'm not missing out on any zeroes). Due to the madness surrounding this CD I was continuosly paranoid until I was home and could safely put it away in one of my shelves.

     

    I can't give this top score. I like my tracks untouched and complete. Mixed journeys are of course very nice but I like the completeness of the track itself. Things being partially mixed means intros and outros are lost, and track 3 is suppose to be almost 2 minutes longer. I've never understood partially mixed compilations unless they've been ambient ones that is.

     

    The tracks on the other hand bumps this compilation up to 4/5, had they been complete this CD would've gotten 5/5. All tracks deliver from start to finish... even Cwithe does a good job here, who I'm not too much a fan of.

     

    Two Mad Men is not as thick as I'd liked, but it got nice flow nonetheless. Not much going on except a few simple laidback acid layers and a shifty speedy bassline... maybe doesn't take you on a flight but it's pretty damn nice anyway.

     

    True Freedom is probably my favorite from the compilation (I'll be trying to track down the 12" now that's for sure), lots stuff going on here. GNOTR-like screeching tweakin' acid layers and on top of that you've got a sweet melody layer raining down at you. Energetic!

     

    Sirius Shuttle has been heavily used as compilation material, and for good reasons of course. DJ Sangeet on his own hasn't delivered at all, IMO, but when collaborating with others something seems to happen. Progressive tribal goa trance, the percussive elements of hi-hats and snare seems to be a regular trademark of Boris Blenn, he always uses it to great effect. Simple yet effective trance stabs, a gurgly kind of bassline. The last minute sees them slamming a very nice darker melodic layer on top of everything... it fills up the track perfectly. Sadly this is where it ends.

     

    Ciberland would IMO fit more under their Etnica alias... as Pleidians from that which I've heard is highly energetic trance music. This is much slower and laidback like some of the tracks from 'juggeling alchemists'. It's still very busy with all sorts of sqwirks and bleeps, and decent amount of melody. What confuses me is the melody layer appearing just the last fifteen seconds... totally perfect, why was this not used earlier!?

     

    Cwithe delivers a somewhat less melodic darker trance tune with a subtle groove to it. Pretty cool atmosphere here, would keep me up and runnin' at party for sure.

     

    Boarding Pass To Balangan keeps the melodic nerve stimulated, yet again this track keeps pushing me back to 'juggeling alchemists' very reminiscent of the melody layers contained therein. Not energetic but very soothing melody wise.

     

    Cycles Of Life must be one of the thickest goa tracks out there, thick thick bassline and an equally thick beat. They use one melodic layer to rhythmical effect which sounds real good. Of course, we've got several other melody layers that are more freely floating around in the track. The break in the middle lets pretty much everything loose until it's once more wrapped and chopped up in the thickness of the groove soup. Totally amazing emotional track.

     

    The pace quickens quite much with The Rezwalker. Another track used on lots of other compilations. The beat is much more polished here and not as thick bass, very nighttime atmosphere track with strange noises rebounding throughout. The melody layer introduced somewhere in the middle is really something that has to be heard, very harmonic yet still there is not much to it... but still so damn perfectly beautiful. The track later on releases more energy through a somewhat more tweaked melody layer.

     

    Spiritual Transgression was later on released on the Limitless compilation on Koyote, but much more polished and up to date... and longer. This version is totally goa in all ways. Energetic tweaked melody layers, accompanied by a somewhat unstable wobbly bassline. They've kept the female voice sample I see for the '97 version '...those eyes adjusted to the dim light...'. Great track.

     

    The track Pleiadians is really worthy of the name. The speed is cranked up, bassline at full throttle and we've got the bleepy melodies. Another blasting high energy goa track.

    X-Dream - "March" EP 12" Boshke Beats

    in 2008

    Posted

    Artist: X-Dream

    Release: March EP

    Year: 2008

    Label: Boshke Beats

    Cat-#: BBS014

    Rating: 3.5/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    A1: March

    B1: Building No.7

    B2: Outfield

     

    March is a slowmoving buzzer, a tight beat with lots of that good grinding buzzing layers. Also there's lots of scratchy glitchy and elongated effects that gives the track an additional push in the right groovy direction. It's not a storming track at all, actually I'd have no problem sitting back in a comfortable chair or sofa and just grind along, but then I certainly wouldn't stop moving to it if I'd be out on the floor. Nicely structured track.

     

    Building No.7 is produced only by Jan. Another slowmover but a lot less grinding this time, shifting it's focus onto a bleepy sci-fi track with a really dark nice atmosphere. The only thing I dislike is the tweakin' he does with the bassline, making it go out of tune isn't really making things sound better.

     

    Outfield is on the other hand only produced by Marcus. Steady beat and percussion are accompanied by a squiggly synth pad. Effects are sparse but used with efficiency ranging from drawn out stabs to small rattling sounds. But the track lacks certain energy and is slightly too short, and IMO should've maybe been a little more worked out.

     

    The 12" doesn't seem too essential as the main track (March) is on the Chronika Chapter III CD, the b-side might have a few interesting moments but isn't giving you too much to work with. Maybe you could work Building No.7 into a mixing session bumping the atmosphere level up.

    Paragliders - Paragliders EP

    in 1990-1994

    Posted

    Artist: Paragliders

    Release: Paragliders EP

    Year: 1993

    Label: Superstition Records

    Cat-#: Superstition 2012

    Rating: 4/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    A1: Paraglide 7'02"

    A2: Bagdad 6'38"

    B: Paraglide (Blue Sky Mix) 12'15"

     

    First 12" from the Paragliders, Oliver Lieb & Torsten Stenzel. I've been stumbling back into the trance ditches and for some reason that means records from the first half of the 90s. I thought I had left trance long ago but trance from back in the days is actually quite good and I'm having trouble keeping my fingers away from the records.

     

    Paraglide is a fast paced piece of music, but with all good trance it manages to combine this with dreamy ambient pads and melodic loops. It's subtly epic, mainly due to the combination of melodies. In the middle we get to hear the first real break and a melodic buildup follows, this actually sounds just like the intro to Etnicas The Gili's Voyage with added pitch of course. This melody loop, used in the break, is also chopped up and added later on to add to the flow of the track. Very nicely done actually.

     

    Bagdad is another dreamy tune, but less complex. It does retain a somewhat ethno atmosphere with grande ambient layers and a flute line. The trance melody could have been worked out just a little more as it's a very simple loop of notes, and interest falters in the end... for me at least.

     

    The Blue Sky Mix is essentially the same as the original in that all pads and layers are identical. Some slight differences of course, which was the break in the original is now the intro. We also get much more percussive elements throughout, an extensive session of percussion is added in the middle. It seems to me like this is the track you're supposed to play to the crowd.

    horror / spine chilling ambient

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    Some tracks from Aphex Twins SAW II are dark and horror like. I can't say specifics with certainty as all of them are untitled.

     

    Some of the tracks from Hesius Domes The Steam Age CDs are also mentally unstable and weird, tracks like The HD and Food Piano.

     

    Speedy J - Sabina Seat

     

    Ian Boddy - Nobody's Home

     

    I can dig around and see if I can find more of these kind.

    JOOF Records

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    JOOF seems to me like it's a progressive trance label run by 00 Fleming... it's probably all quality stuff I have no doubt about that, but I've still got the feeling of a slight redundancy factor. So I'm not going to hear from that label anytime soon, there's loads of more fun music out there which I'm going to fetch before heading for this label.

    V/A - Kumharas

    in 1999

    Posted

    Artist: Various

    Release: Kumharas

    Year: 1999

    Label: Shiva Space Technology

    Cat-#: 005

    Rating: 3/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    1: Shiva Shidapu - Intro

    2: Shiva Shidapu - Tiwanacu

    3: Projekt-N Feat. DJ ShaMane - Eair

    4: Moksha - Morphik Labyrint

    5: Jörg On Mushroom - The Messenger

    6: Members Of Wah - Hotel Sumatra

    7: D.P.O.D. - Long Caravan Au Soleil

    8: Shawn - Nexti

     

    This one I bought mainly for the Moksha track, having downloaded it long long time ago and being totally displaced by that wall of moving air which is instigated, naturally, from the persistant bass flow. Seriously it's thick as the jelly you smear onto your sandwiches. Then there's these totally mesmerizing layers of strange blips and blops, different soothing atmospheric layers, experimental ambient to say the least. Very nicely done, IMO.

     

    There's also I slightly surprising appearance of DPOD on this one, Long Caravan Au Soleil which I at first only recognized from somewhere. Just I couldn't figure out from which compilation... well, I only have two CDs with DPOD appearances so it didn't take me too long to find it again. Global Psychedelic Trance Volume 4 on Spirit Zone from 1998 housed the less than ten minute version of this track with the name Caravan O Solé, and it's the exact same track but only 9 minutes of it.

     

    So finally I get to hear the whole version of it. It's really a nice track, a very sunny track which rolls on forever, it seems, with tribal elements, chants, strings and flute. Then somewhere half through it drops a nice slow breakbeat and you can hear some foreign synth pads and sweeping atmospheric layers. On the Spirit Zone this is where it fades out and gives way for the next track, however on Kumharas this is where they reloop the track with slight changes.

     

    Shawn delivers the last track on the compilation. Don't know who it is or where this dude is from, but he doesn't disappoint the least bit. This is a good laidback goa track with nice ambient melody layers that just simply demands that you space out. Sporting a four by four beat inbetween intro & outro this track probably works nicely both as chill out and dancefloor material.

     

    I have trouble enjoying the other tracks as whole. The piano layer in The Messenger is beautiful I'll give it that, and on top of that we get a real good breakbeat layer. And the first 4 minutes is a nice blend of ambient, breaks and a bit of jungle in it, if we could've stayed there and kept on experimenting this track would have turned out great. But of course the next 8 minutes is just totally down the drain as we're switched onto the regular Infected Mushroom track, and it's not even good Infected Mushroom this is just horribly bad!

     

    Tiwanacu might be an overall good track, but that's it. It's very average, it doesn't bother me but still it doesn't do anything for me. It's probably good background music with subtle percussive elements, tentative ambient layers, flutes and so on. Though they could've left out that gurgly tweeked sampling, it's totally out of place.

     

    Members Of Wah delivers a jamming like tune which I'm having slight trouble understanding, the first half is just typical laidback music which could've come from anywhere. The other half sports a tweakly-tweakin' synth solo which just is... well, annoying!

     

    Track 3 Eair... this is actually sounds kind of good, very minimal in it's way with looplike ambient melodic layers throughout. But there is not much else going on here otherwise and I have trouble sustaining interest.

    Reviews

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I'm still reviewing stuff. Been reviewing since 01, don't know if I've managed to get any better at explaining my opinions though. I'm mostly reviewing old stuff I'm lucky to cross roads with, I'm having big big trouble keeping up with the new wave of psychedelic trance records though.

     

    I don't know, reviews of old records might be boring due to the fact you might not be able to find them anymore. Still, the Tribadelic Meltdown EP got almost 400 hits so there is obviously people reading it... or at least clickin' the link frenetically (hope not).

     

    If you are doing reviews for the purpose of giving it to the masses then I think it's warranted to ask if what one is doing is good or bad, because you wouldn't want to waste energy on something that in the end people don't like anyway. I don't know how many do that in this forum.

    Electrotête - Anjuna Dawn 12"

    in 1990-1994

    Posted

    Artist: Electrotête

    Release: Anjuna Dawn 12"

    Year: 1991

    Label: W.A.U. Recordings (London) / Eternal / Warner Music UK Ltd.

    Cat-#: YZ623T / 9031-75730-0

    Rating: 2.5/5

     

    Tracklisting:

    A: Anjuna Dawn (Extended Mix)

    B1: Anjuna Dawn (The Valentine Boys Remix)

    B2: Anjuna Dawn (The Original Mix)

     

    Anjuna Dawn is some kind of technotrance thing, it does remind me somewhat of the Misomega track by Human Resource. Distorted simple looped synth layer with a 4 by 4 beat and additional snares and other percussive elements. Along comes also an 80s kind of high pitched synth sound as melody layer which elevates the track slightly. There's also a few bits of FX stabs here and there. Not bad at all actually, but damn this stuff get's tedious after a few minutes. The first two mixes also has female vocals which makes this track lean more towards trance than techno.

     

    I like the Extended mix better than the other two, mainly because the original sounds stripped down with no vocals and slightly shorter as well. The Valentine Boys Remix is slightly more busy but it doesn't make it better IMO, also they take the distorted synth loop and takes it back and forth through the octaves which just sounds bad.

     

    Later Electrotete 12"s on Apollo is much better. I don't have their last one but I've heard Shark on Bible Of Dreams and that's essential ambient stuff.

    Ambient

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I prefer long ambient journeys.

     

    I remember that I many years ago compiled CDs with 3 or 4 tracks, each of the tracks varying from 16 minutes to over 30 minutes in length. I threw in lots of other things apart from ambient, old goa stuff like Planet BEN Moksha Pleiadians and so on.

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