psychedelic_mustache

Artists: Various Label: Chill Tribe Records Released: 2006 Catalog: CTRCD02 Tracklist: 1. Altitudes - Altitude II 2. Nada - Earthgarden (Jong Remix) 3. Adam Shaikh - Indu 4. Digitalis - Noodles 5. Jong - Unexplored Depths 6. Makyo - Nothing is real 7. Solar Quest - Toker Dream (remix) 8. Eldar Life - Gone Gong 9. Circular - Ambulo 10. Saafi Brothers - Multiverse Chill Tribe Records with PKS in charge released their first compilation, qualiy relaxation, a little more than a year ago. It had alot of strong names and selection of strong tunes, but in my opinion it also had a few tracks that kept it from being flawless. None the less it managed to spark quite a buzz, and after more than a year of waiting, the follow-up is finally out. "Relaxed Journeys" feature an impressive list of artists, and a tracklist such as this should spark some serious expectations - it ceirtanly does for me! Let's get comfortable... 1. Altitudes - Altitude II You may not be familiar with the name Altitudes. This, however, does not mean that we're dealing with an average selection of JohnDoes here. Jaïa, Blue Planet Corporation and Silicon Sound joins forces to create the second track released under this guise (The first, "Altitude I" can be found on Chill tribes first compilation). The track floats by smoothly and hypnotizing. Based around a rather simple theme and some chilled beats it constantly keeps supring with small variations, adding layers of sound and atmosphere. Solid craftsmanship and a nice opener! 2. Nada - Earthgarden (Jong Remix) Nada's "Earthgarden" has been featured on several compilations in the past. This time around it's remixed by the promising newcommer Jong. The track features some dubby breaks, a dash of tribal influences, nice female vocals and some beautiful melodies and harmonies. NOt to complicated stuff, perhaps, but this is really great stuff... Lovely track! 3. Adam Shaikh - Indu Next up is one of my all time favourite chill-artists, Adam Shaikh. The space-influenced introduction soon blends with a variety of other sounds creating a marvelousbackground tapestry for the tribalistic rythm-section and the ever-chanting female vocals. The track is ultra-hypnotizing, and Shaikhs "Oompa-touch" actually makes this rather danceable, allthough at a very comfortable pace. Being influenced from all over the place this might turn off the people not interested in "ethnic" stuff, but I think this is an amazing track. Fantastic! 4. Digitalis - Noodles There shouldn't be any need to introduce Seb Taylor, so I won't bother. This time his Digitalis project has cooked some rather tastefull noodles, flavoured somewhere between the funky and dubby. The track is catchy, and you can tell that this is a clever producer at work. It's nothing revolutionary - electronics combined with the flute has been done before, but when it's done like this I don't mind at all! Solid! 5. Jong - Unexplored Depths The newcommer Jong is given a second chance here. After skillfully remixing Earthgarden, the title of this track ceirtanly promises alot. The promise is kept, though, in style. This moves along the lines of Adam Shaikhs track, ethnically inspired with all kinds of sounds moving in and out. I especially love that Comodore-like(remeber the sid-chip?) reggea'ish sound thats brought into the mix every now and then. The track might possibly bebefit from some tighter structuring, though, but hey....to many ideas is definently better than to few. Nice! 6. Makyo - Nothing is real Naxt up is Makyo, another project i trust any dedicated chiller is familiar with. This is a light, floating, but again almost danceable track that comfortably sneaks into the rear left corner of your brain where it slowly starts to tickle you. This is Makyo, you know what I'm talking about...Solid stuff! 7. Solar Quest - Toker Dream (remix) Towards the end of the compilation things move more further into dreamland. PKS has somehow managed to dig up the legendary Solar Quest who as far as I know hasn't released anything in years prior to this. The track is great, lot's of space and floating elements, and hippies will be delighted that learn that the sithar is involved. Nice! 8. Eldar Life - Gone Gong Eldar life, otherwise known as phase phour delivers "gone gong". I was a tad sceptical about this one, as I dodn't really care much for phase phours chilled track on Quality Relaxation. This however turned out to be a very plesant track. It strikes me as a tad darker than alot of the other tracks here, more droning and pure ambient. The samples also work out really well. Solid track! 9. Circular - Ambulo Circular is a duo perhaps not to known within psy-circles, but if you've been following the ambient-scene as well theese guys should be familiar. The track slowly rolls forward, somewhat melancolic, yet with an optimistic undertone. This is like a modern electronic lullaby. Play this for your baby and it'll be fast a sleep. A cute little piece that clocks in at around 4 minutes...niiiiice... 10. Saafi Brothers - Multiverse If you thought you'd seen the last familiar face on the tracklist, then think again. To finish off the compilation PKS has chosen none other than the Saafi Brothers. Softly they provide us with the only track containing absolutely no beats. That doesn't mean that it's boring, this is packed full with drifing variation. Reminds me alot of some of the sounds found on solar fields 'extended' which is offcourse only a good thing in my ears. A great way to end a great compilation! Final remarks "Relaxed yourneys" is only Chill Tribe's second release. Where "quality Relaxation" was a good effort and a very nice CD, this in my opinion has turned out even better. I find it really hard to point at any flaws here, though it should be pointed out that I have not owned it long enough to declare it a "classic". As a product it's also really appealing with an 8-page booklet containing info on the artists. I don't know if thats worth the extra cash it must cost the label, but as a consumer I find it more appealing to buy something when massive amounts of effort is put into it. All in all....Just go get this, it's a great cd! psyshop Saiko Beatspace

Artist: Space Funghi Project Title: Elektrik Psylocibe Experience Label: Sirius Records Catalog: SIRC-001 Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Elektric Psylocibe X-P 02. Funky Monkey 03. Moran's Jam 04. The Great Mighty Mushroom 05. Billy Big Mouth 06. Mary Jane In My Mind 07. Multi Color Cow 08. Cosmonaut 09. Space Train 10. Lydian Sky (Bonus Track) 11. Ezze (Bonus Track) Space funghi project is a band made up fro dr. Panic of the Melovskys and a few other friends of his from Mexico. The music here is nothing like that of the Melovskys though, and dancers seeking slightly different full-on may search elsewhere. I've had this disc for a few moths now, and I must say - at this exact moment it's one of my favourite cd's. The review perhaps is a little overdue, but better late, than never. Let's see why I like it so darn much! 01. Elektrik Psylocibe X-P From the very beginning of this opening track it seems clear that this album promises alot. A very organic flow of sounds burst towards you, and this opener is actually quit energetic. Keep in min, though that if you're not in the mode for "real" instruments you might as well leave this alone allready at this point. Spicey opening - both dancable and sofa-friendly. 02. Funkey Monkey We continue on the same track with some seriously funky breaks on "Funky Monkey". The precussion and bass hints at jazzy influences and it doesn't get less enjoyable when the saxophones hit you. Bossanova, jazz, electonics and after a while we're also treated to a dash of some floating psychedelics. Jummy! 03. Moran's Jam We float into softer lounge-terretory in the beginning of Moran's jam. Nice mellow harmonies blend with all kinds of guitars, vinyl-scratches and other electronic effects. After a while the percussion hit's you, and again this is pretty hectic breakbeat-oriented stuff. Great stuff! 04. The great Mighty Mushroom The Great mighty Mushroom opens as a pure ambient piece. Atmospheric electronics do the work in its intro before we encounter the saxophone, some percussion and the bass. The track is more relaxed than the first three tracks, but non the less manages to maintain the distinct 'edge'. Being varied from beginning to end with a vast selection of instruments, melodies and moods this is a winner! 05. Billy Big Mouth By now you should have figured out that this is an album I really, really enjoy. Billy Big Mouth is no exception. The blend of sounds work out really well, and that relaxed yet tough drum'n' bass'ish feel of the entire thing really do it for me. The saxophone-work is very nice, and at a few points something about it reminds me of King Krimsons classic "Starless"(but not really, though). Annyways, thats meant as a compliment, deal with it however you want! To repeat my self - Top notch stuff! 06. Mary Jane In My mind As the tracktitle might indicate this track shows the Space funghi Project at a slower pace than earlier on the album. Super-relaxed, filled with plenty of that special "space" that makes it smoker-friendly in a floyd'ish kind of way (again, not really, though...). Agin, this is seriously solid stuff. 07. Multicolor Cow Multicolor Cow moves the mood in a more cinematic direction. A few fuzzy guitars and some percussion is present, and the familiar saxophones are also here. The track pretty much plainly drift forward, and in the middle of this piece we also get some hints of Dr. Panics Psytrance-background. Again this is a solid track, but it doesn't stand out like the rest and sort of feels like a weak link here. Fair enough, though... 08. Cosmonaut Allright, space-tourists get ready! We head straight for space with this track with it's massive blend of earthly sound such as the jazzy piano and the more eccentric fuzzings of delightfull electronics and som pretty darn large 'big beats'. The samples are in spanish, but work perfectly well in this setting. Solid! 09. Space Train Space strain is set up in much the same fashion as "cosmonaut" with a delightfull blend of analouge and digital sounds. At this point I might point I might add that I have one minor gripe with this album, and this late on the disc it become all the more apparent. I'd actually like to hear some more experimentation with vocals here(Allright, you may hurl your stones at me now...). I think it would spice it all up to a higher level. Don't get me wrong though - this is a very nice track, but at this point I'd enjoy it if a few more ingredients were added to the pot. Solid, though! 10. Lydian Sky (Bonus track) If I'm not mistaking the two last track on this album is what seperates this release from it's japanes twin released late last year. Lydian sky is a rather stressed piece where the electronic elements get to play a key role together with som processed female vocals(hoooray!). It's got more of a melancholic expression than a lot of the other stuff on the album, and I really like it. Nice! 11. Ezze (Bonus Track) On ezze we get some more experimentation with vocals, this time in the form of rap. It doesn't sound to out of place, even though I've heard that kind of stuff executed better before. This is a laid back piece of trip-hop inspired music bringing at least my though back to the likes of Archive. A pretty nice way to end our little journey! Final remarks: To be honest alot of the stuff comming out of our little scene lately has bored me. I'm extremely happy to report that this is an extraordinary exception! The cleverness involved here suprised me, and I'm willing to forgive that a coupple of the tracks sound a little simular. The bonus-tracks also give promise that these guys have more experimental sounds up their sleeve for the future. Strongly recomended if you're in to stuff that crosses the boarders of genre! So basically....just get it! Buy it here: Saiko psyshop ----- *Edit: Don't know if the title is two long for the topic-field or not, but it seems It can't be changed by the user(me). So...if any mods feel like fixing the topic-title I'd be a happy camper..

Argh, sloppy me If mods could merge my topic with freak 51's that'd be nice

Artists: Various Title: Abracadabra Label: Horns And Hoofs Entertainment Catalog: HHCD006 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Mantic - Siu Nim Tao 02. Alic - The Gentle Way of Mind-Destruction 03. Fuzzion - Black Magic(Live rmx) 04. Metalogic vs. Michael Lawrence - Fabricated 05. Midimiliz - Model 1 epicentrum (rmx one) 06. Fuzzion - Acid Flash (Original Mix) 07. Metalogic vs. Tao - Through your head 08. The Rockitmen - Elephants Boogie 09. Kino Oko - Beats, Rythm and harmony 10. Mass Turbo - Sin Sinati Horns and Hoofs entertainment really blew me away with Kino Oko's "Lost entertainment" late last year. To follow such a piece of work is tough, and It seems the label felt they had to bring out the big guns in order to succeed. This time we're treated to a compilation where the tracks have been carefully picked by Alex "Boshke" Tolstey, a guy who should be no stranger to possible purchasers of this disc. The tracklisting looks tastey and as always with Horns and Hoofs you get a really nice package with cover-art from Inga Burina that has that added eye-candy value. Back to the most important thing though; the music. As you might have gathered, I had some serious expectations for this disc... Did Alex manage hoof my horns? Stay tuned to find ount! 01. Mantic - Siu Nim Tao Mantik kicks off this album with "Su Nim Tao". After an atmospheric introduction(with some very familiar samples I might add..) we're soon taken into a rather minimal and techy soundscape. The track builds gradually and after a while we can kiss the "minimal" I hinted at in the beginning goodbye. The track is extremely groovy and the mood and atmosphere from the intro is preserved throughout the track. As it pumps forward this thing is given plenty of time to evolve. Clocking in at over nine minutes, this is one for for the patient crowd. That being said, this turns out to be quite an opener - The last 3-4 minutes of this is pure gold...Solid stuff and a very nice way to open the album! 02: Alic - The Gentle Way of Mind-Destruction Next up is Alic with what might possibly be the coolest track.title of the year. Not only that - the track isn't bad either. It's got this naive, childish sound that I find very appealing. The simple melodies and the rather simple percussion work well together. Somewhat reminds me alot of the efforts made by Kino Oko on the allready mentioned "Lost Entertainment"-album. That being said, this doesn't quite reach those levels. Even so - this is a nice track! 03: Fuzzion - Black Magic (live rmx) Fuzzions album "black magic" recieved alot of credit and hype earlier this year. For me the album was a 50/50 thing - meaning I didnæt really enjoy it all that much. Here we are treated to a live-version of the albums titletrack. For me this version works better than the original. It's got more "space" and the sound seems "expanded" in some way. I can see how this would have been awsome live, and in a setting such as this it also works well. Not among my favourites, but still a good track. 04: Metalogic vs. Michael Lawrence - Fabricated The fourth installment picked for us by mr. Tolstey is provided by Metalogic and Michael Lawrence. This is a deep technoid piece - perhaps a tad too technoid for my liking. It's mainly percussion-driven, and in my ears the melodies brought in after a while doesn't really fit in all that well either. This turns out to be to monotonus and slightly boring, atleast in this setting. Taste differs though, and I see how this could be enjoyable to the more techno-oriented part of the horns and hoofs audience. I for one often find myself skipping this one. 05: Midimiliz - Model 1 (epi centrum rmx one) I know saying this is like blasphemy for alot of people. I'm gonna go right ahead and say it annyways - I never really liked any tracks and/or albums by midimiliz. There - It's out in the open (*bends down and hides from flood of bricks and tomatoes* ). Here they are remixed by epi centrum, and I have to say that this works like a charm. A dash of variation, a more groovy layout and some nifty side-kick electronics and midimilliz sounds like something I could spend some more time with. Perhaps it's time to dust off their older works and give them another chance? This atleast, was a plesant suprise! 06: Fuzzion - Acid Flash (Original Mix) Fuzzion provides us with an "acid flash" here - perhaps the hardest track on the compilation. There's some serious kick in that bassdrum he uses, and this together with some tribal tendencies and an overall super-hypnotic and ultra-trippy atmosphere makes yours truley want more... Great! 07: Metalogic vs. Tao - Through your head As I mentioned I didn't really like the first track by Metalogic. This time around Michael Lawrence is replaced with Tao, and appart from that my comments will be almost exactly as they were with his first effort: I didn't really enjoy this to much either. Again I think this is due to the fact that it's simply to much "techno" for my taste. That means that tech-heads should disregard my words - for all I know you could love this. I skip to the next track. 08: The Rockitmen - Elephants Boogie The rockitmen couldn't have picked a more fitting title for their track. This is still pretty technoid stuff, but this is more hypnotic, more varied and more soothing to my ears than the previous track was. And those melodies that they sneek into the mix are so subtle and beautifull next to that stomping and grooving boogie being carried out by an armada of elephants that make up the beat...A massive track! 09: Kino Oko - Beats, Rythm and harmony Kino Oko created one of last years best trace albums(If not THE best album) with his lost entertainment. On this track he picks up where the album left off. Melodies as light and playfull as a feather are fused together with warped electronics and a beat that just sort of lurks along in a mellow 4/4 pace. This has that same wonderfull feeling that the album had, and the title of the track sums it all up beautifully: "Beats, Rythm and harmony" - What more could one possibly ask for? Brilliant track! 10: Mass Turbo - Sin Sinati "Sin Sinati" by Mass Turbo is the last track of the album. From the soft sounds of Kino Oko we now touch upon more edgy terretory. That being said, this is a pretty relaxed track - it's just that the sounds used are those that you normally find in harder music. This is actually a very nicely executed piece of groovyness that is bound to hypnotize a few trance-heads as well as those leaning mor to the techno-side of things. A nice way to end our journey through the musical mind of mr. Alex "Boshke" Tolstey Final Remarks: As a compilation I think "Abracadabra" has done all one could expect in terms of being a disc that is enjoyable for both psy/tech trancers and technoheads. A few of the tracks didn't really hit me where I like it, while others are gems that should not be missed by anyone. It should also be pointed out that I strongly bellieve that the packages Horns and Hoofs provides - Music, artwork and cencept is what our scene needs in order to survive. The feeling of a real "product" is something you can't really downlowd from the internet...Here you're also given the chance to Download a free MP3 remix of Mantiks "Siu Nim Tao", another fine way of trying to beat piracy...The compilation is warmly recomended to friends of diverse dance-oriented electronics! Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here Saiko Psyshop Beatspace Wirikuta

Artist: Radical Distortion Title: Regenesis Label: Unicorn Music Catalog: UMCD010 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Regenesis 02. The Battery 03. Message (vs. Mendark) 04. Mission to the Moon 05. Feeling of Power 06. L.F.T.A 07. Traveller (vs. Mendark) 08. Universe (feat. Radical Project) 09. Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) 10. India (Side Liner Remix) Radical Distortion Is out with his debut album on greek label Unicorn Music. My past encounters with the duo has been rather plesant and I ceirtanly had some expectations before digging into what I expected to be yet another attempt to get som wind in under the old Goa-banner... Let's check it out! 01. Regenesis As expected the album opens with an Old-School sounding Goa track the way they were made back in the old days. The round Bassdrum, the uplifting, shifting and multilayered melodies as well as the hectic and frenetic feeling that we used to enjoy so much. It's a lovely track indeed - it's nice to still hear that a few artists out there focus on the good ol' melody... 02: The Battery We continue this album with more of the same. The track opens with som mystical melodies combined with a playfull bassline. The melodies all work well, and there is also a sense of variation, even though alot of the synths, sounds and effects used sounds rather simular. There is also a clear sense of building, and the track seems to grow in intensity from beginning to end with the occational break in between. Solid - the battery is fully charged!! 03: Message (vs. Mendark) "Message" is made together with fellow melodic trancer Mendark. The two did the first installment of the "purple energy" series on the same label a while ago so they should be no strangers to eascother.... This track opens in much the same way as the two previous tracks did, with mystical and atmospheric melodies. When the bass kicks in however this shifts perhaps a tad more into the full-on'ish direction. Don't worry though, the melody-work and the general "feel" of the track is still largely rooted in Goa. And as the track progresses the full-on elements more or less disappears. Another nice track! 04: Mission to the Moon This track opens in what might be the coolest intro of the album. Some alien melodies fuse with some marvelous ambience to create euphoria in the mind of an old hippie such as my self. Unfortunately the track doesn't really deliver what the intro promises. Where the tracks som far has seemed to have a clear direction this to me feels more random - less coherent. Even so, there are moments here that provide great joy and it's ceirtanly not a bad track, just less great than the three previous. 05: Feeling of Power With this track the mood shifts somewhat. Where the melodies so far has been of the spaced out and mysterious sort we now shift gear and end up a tad more on the dark side. The bass also has a more 'modern' feel to it - more stomp-stomp-engine-stuff and less playfull. Even so, this isn't really dark in the sense that the term is often used theese days. It's just that the Goa part is toned down where I'd like to see it kept up. 06: L.T.F.A A long metallic sweep kicks off this track which is perhaps the track on the album is dislike the most. I'd describe it a melodic morning full-on. It's not bad, not at all - infact it sounds better than most music operating within this terretory. The problem however is that it doesn't really seem to fit very well in here and it to som degree breaks the great feeling of this album. 07: Traveller (vs. Enerkaz) To my disappointment the album continues on the path it started with "L.T.F.A" on "Traveller". This track is made together with someone called Enerkaz. Unfortunately I can't provide any more info on the fellow. On the bright side this track has a tad more feeling and groove than the last one, but again - this is essentially full-on and allthogh not being awfull it's not very interesting either. 08: Universe (Feat. Radical Project) "Universe" follow somewhat in the footsteps of the last two tracks. Luckilly for us, though this is excecuted much better, and even though I think it's safe to say we still lurk in full-on waters, this harmonizes much better with the albums obvious flirtations with goa-trance, as it's melodic in "that" way. I recover somewhat from the two previous tracks and regain hope in the albums finishing tracks.... 09: Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) Alas, It was not to be..."Alien nation"turns out not to be very alien at all. Infact it turns out to be some sort of generic funn-on mush that I'd excpect to find on the more comercially oriented tranceefloors around the world rather than on alien worlds. Not for me - Next! 10: India (Side liner Rmx) Side liner released a rather impressive debut earlier this year, and here he remixes the for me unfamiliar track "India". After a few dissapointing travks towards the end of this album we're served a nice pot of electronic chillage here. The track has tons of space, lush melodies and a slow but hypnotic groove that will make you forget about all that full-on you just forced yourself through. Nice way to finish the album! Final Remarks: All in all this turned out to be a 50/50 thing for me. I really enjoyed the beginning og this album, and I believe that if Radical distortion had made an album with as great tracks as the first three on this installment it could have had the potential of being the best goa-album since Khetzal, or perhaps even since Ra's "to serious". Unfortunately it was not to be. My advice is to listen to the first five tracks and the skip to the last one. Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: psyshop Saiko

Artist: Radical Distortion Title: Regenesis Label: Unicorn Music Catalog: UMCD010 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Regenesis 02. The Battery 03. Message (vs. Mendark) 04. Mission to the Moon 05. Feeling of Power 06. L.F.T.A 07. Traveller (vs. Mendark) 08. Universe (feat. Radical Project) 09. Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) 10. India (Side Liner Remix) 01. Regenesis As expected the album opens with an Old-School sounding Goa track the way they were made back in the old days. The round Bassdrum, the uplifting, shifting and multilayered melodies as well as the hectic and frenetic feeling that we used to enjoy so much. It's a lovely track indeed - it's nice to still hear that a few artists out there focus on the good ol' melody... 02: The Battery We continue this album with more of the same. The track opens with som mystical melodies combined with a playfull bassline. The melodies all work well, and there is also a sense of variation, even though alot of the synths, sounds and effects used sounds rather simular. There is also a clear sense of building, and the track seems to grow in intensity from beginning to end with the occational break in between. Solid - the battery is fully charged!! 03: Message (vs. Mendark) "Message" is made together with fellow melodic trancer Mendark. The two did the first installment of the "purple energy" series on the same label a while ago so they should be no strangers to eascother.... This track opens in much the same way as the two previous tracks did, with mystical and atmospheric melodies. When the bass kicks in however this shifts perhaps a tad more into the full-on'ish direction. Don't worry though, the melody-work and the general "feel" of the track is still largely rooted in Goa. And as the track progresses the full-on elements more or less disappears. Another nice track! 04: Mission to the Moon This track opens in what might be the coolest intro of the album. Some alien melodies fuse with some marvelous ambience to create euphoria in the mind of an old hippie such as my self. Unfortunately the track doesn't really deliver what the intro promises. Where the tracks som far has seemed to have a clear direction this to me feels more random - less coherent. Even so, there are moments here that provide great joy and it's ceirtanly not a bad track, just less great than the three previous. 05: Feeling of Power With this track the mood shifts somewhat. Where the melodies so far has been of the spaced out and mysterious sort we now shift gear and end up a tad more on the dark side. The bass also has a more 'modern' feel to it - more stomp-stomp-engine-stuff and less playfull. Even so, this isn't really dark in the sense that the term is often used theese days. It's just that the Goa part is toned down where I'd like to see it kept up. 06: L.T.F.A A long metallic sweep kicks off this track which is perhaps the track on the album is dislike the most. I'd describe it a melodic morning full-on. It's not bad, not at all - infact it sounds better than most music operating within this terretory. The problem however is that it doesn't really seem to fit very well in here and it to som degree breaks the great feeling of this album. 07: Traveller (vs. Enerkaz) To my disappointment the album continues on the path it started with "L.T.F.A" on "Traveller". This track is made together with someone called Enerkaz. Unfortunately I can't provide any more info on the fellow. On the bright side this track has a tad more feeling and groove than the last one, but again - this is essentially full-on and allthogh not being awfull it's not very interesting either. 08: Universe (Feat. Radical Project) "Universe" follow somewhat in the footsteps of the last two tracks. Luckilly for us, though this is excecuted much better, and even though I think it's safe to say we still lurk in full-on waters, this harmonizes much better with the albums obvious flirtations with goa-trance, as it's melodic in "that" way. I recover somewhat from the two previous tracks and regain hope in the albums finishing tracks.... 09: Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) Alas, It was not to be..."Alien nation"turns out not to be very alien at all. Infact it turns out to be some sort of generic funn-on mush that I'd excpect to find on the more comercially oriented tranceefloors around the world rather than on alien worlds. Not for me - Next! 10: India (Side liner Rmx) Side liner released a rather impressive debut earlier this year, and here he remixes the for me unfamiliar track "India". After a few dissapointing travks towards the end of this album we're served a nice pot of electronic chillage here. The track has tons of space, lush melodies and a slow but hypnotic groove that will make you forget about all that full-on you just forced yourself through. Nice way to finish the album! Final Remarks: All in all this turned out to be a 50/50 thing for me. I really enjoyed the beginning og this album, and I believe that if Radical distortion had made an album with as great tracks as the first three on this installment it could have had the potential of being the best goa-album since Khetzal, or perhaps even since Ra's "to serious". Unfortunately it was not to be. My advice is to listen to the first five tracks and the skip to the last one. Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: psyshop Saiko

Artists: Vegetal Title: Free thinkers are dangerous Label: Wirikuta Catalog: WKTCD005 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Ultramilitance 02. Bare Knuckles of hate 03. No Gods No Leaders No Problem 04. Nothing in this world worth having comes easy 05. Brown Shirt Bush 06. What Goes Around Comes Around 07. Free Thinkers are Dangerous 08. Become the Media 09. Global Intifada 10. Pledge of Defiance Vegetal isn't like most other psytrance producers. He's a man with opinons, and where other trancers keep quiet he's not afraid to voice his somewhat hard-hitting message in his music. The tracktitles reveal some of the themes you can excpect to encounter on you politically charged trip through vegetals sonic universe. Musically my expectations for this album were mediocre before digging in. I'm not really familiar with Vegetals previous work, but what I've heard from peacespect(which he is a member of) has mostly been positive....Let hit the barricades and check out the tracks! 01. Ultramilitance The opening of the first track sounds pretty much like any other "darkish" psy these days. It soon becomes clear, though that vegetal is serious about his agressive theme. Ultramilitance is a hard-hitting, raw-edged piece of mayhem where the three key elements are 1 )energy 2)energy and 3) energy. It should also be pointed out that it's pretty varied and to my suprise (and delight) also somewhat melodic. I especially enjoyed the last 2-3 minutes when the sound shifts somewhat to a more fluid direction. Very nice opening! 02: Bare knuckles of hate This tracktitle leaves little to the imagination, and as it suggests this, as the previous track is pretty hard-hitting stuff. Even so, you can still hear that all the energy and mayhem is resting upon a clear musical fundament. This isn't just random clutters of sound placed on top of eachother. The melodies involved might not be the most complex and multilayered out there, but they give some harmonic background for the more noisy parts of the music. As for the samples - well, you can agree or disagree politically - but for me they ceirtanly give vegetals music an extra edge. Another Solid track! 03: No Gods No Leaders No Problem This track opens in a very gloomy fashion with US president George W. Bush Jr. (if I'm not wrong here) talking about the media and corporate America. After this rather nicely excecuted intro I have mixed feelings about this track. I mean I barely can't listen to the first four minutes of it. For me it's to monotonus and somewhat dull. It should also be pointed out that I have nothing against guitars - I enjoy my Rock and my Roll as much as I enjoy my Psy and my trance, but here I found them sort of...well....out of place. Then something happens however, and there is a rather nice mid-section of the track that for me stands out. A female voice starts singing and the mood is more relaxed. Towards the end we get more of the monotonus stuff that bothered me before. For me this is one of the weaker tracks here, but hey.....you might enjoy this 04: Nothing in this world woth having comes easy As for this tracktitle - I couldnt agree more! Here Vegetal is back in a more playfull mood. While this is still really agressive it's more varied. There is an awfull lot of work put in to the rythmic sections of the track and in additions to this there are som beautiful and harmonic melodies moving to and through. There are also some guitars involved here and though a tad harsh for my general taste they fit well with the expression here. At the moment this is perhaps the track I enjoy most from this album. Oh...and the use of samples here?? Brilliant! 05: Brown Shirt Bush So if you haven't figured it out by now you haven't been paying much attention while listening to the first few tracks, bu Vegetal really doesn't seem to enjoy the US president very much... Can't really disagree with him on that point now can we. As for this track, this is again one of those tracks that contain all those elements that so far has proved so enjoyable. Really clever use of samples, hard hitting and stomping trance, nice melodies, a rainbow of changing sounds and effects and some really nice breaks every now and then. Nicely done! 06: What Goes Around Comes Around Oh, this is a track I have some issues with! hehe..I mean - it's great (To some extent) - and it's not the samples I mind either. The issue involved is Turkey and Armenia, and I really don't know my history well enogh to comment upon it. Back to the actual track. My main issue here is that in the start of this track there seem to be som great ideas. Som softer, dark ambien sounds blend with the bassdrum and a few othe atmospheric elements and together it all sound really nice. The problem though is that instad of building further on this, most of the track is constructed around a horrible Gabber-style melody. Every now and then those ambient scapes are brought back, but it's just so frustrating when they're taken away. Nice ideas - but I'd like to see them differently put together. 07: Free thinkers are dangerous Opening almost as some Euro-style dancetrack that is quickly distorted in to the by now familiar vegetal-sound the albums title track howls at you like there is no tomorrow. This is a really atmospheric, almost epic piece of of wonderful trance-music. Perhaps the most "uplifting" track on the album with it's long synth-sweeps compined with warious political speaches. There are so many elements and so much change involved here that this ceirtanly isn't boring stuff. Is it psychedelic you ask? I'd say yes, sir - give it a try! One of the best tracks here! 08: Become the media "Become the media" picks up where "free thinkers...." stopped. Plenty of melody accompanies the more raw stuff. What hits me, and this actually goes for most of the album and not only this track, is that I'm really suprised by how catchy and accessible some of this music is. Perhaps this is part of some strategy to get more people hooked to his own personal message(he has infact become the media...). I for one really enjoy this blend of hard and soft sounds. Anothe solid track. 09: Global Intifada The opening of this track, as has been the case with so many others on this album is laced in a really atmospheric mood and with samples. Unfotunately I don't lnow arabic(?) so I have no idea what the guy actually says. The tracktitle should give some hints, though... The melodies here also seem to be inspired by arabian music. They wotk pretty well, even though they perhaps sound a tad "thin" compared to the roaring guitars and massive sound of the rest of the track. Not my favourite track on the album, but none the less a good track. 10: Pledge of defiance We finsh the album with a "pledge of defiance to the flag of the United states of captivity"... I love the samples involved here, and there is a ceirten sadness or melancholi in the melodies that i find really appealing. Sadly this last track displays a tad to little of what vegetal has proven capable of throughout the album. For me it's to monotonus and to much "just energy" without that little extra spice that has really made this the journey that it has been. No favourite of mine, but who really cares about that now.... Final Remarks: Needless to say you won't enjoy this album if you are a conservative republican living in the south of Texas. The samples on this album aren't of the kind we're used to hearing in psytrance. There is no references to either LSD, Mushrooms or Spliffs here. Vegetal has a point to get across and in my opinion he manages to do so just fine. The reason I bought this album was actually all the talk I'd been hearing about the samples and how vegetals music had "corrupted the true essence of psytrance" with politics. After having the album for quite some time, though - I really think there is alot more to this album that just the samples. I'm especially thinking about the combination of really raw, punk-like aggression and energy and softer, more melodic installments. I don't like everything on the record, there are two or three tracks that really doesn't do anything for me. That being said - this album is recomended. Really! Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Saiko Psyshop Beatspace Wirikuta

Artists: Sunhize, Aviron and Eniak Title:Rhytmic Images Label: Unicorn Music Catalog: UMCD009 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01.Aviron - Nostuc 02:Eniak - Disturbed 03: Sunhize - Firestorm 04: Eniak - Solidify 05: Aviron - Freaky Dreams 06: Sunhize - Darkplay 07:Eniak - Liquid Ice 08: Aviron - Strange People 09: Sunhize - Seduzione 10: Aviron - Pretty Noise Unicorn Music is out with their second effort concerning progressive trance. The concept here is simple, yet pretty cool - Three up and comming local greek producers get the chance to show the rest of us what they've got cooking. So it's sort of like a compilation with a dash of an album-feel. Let's check out the tracks and see what we've got comming our way! 01: Aviron - Nostuc This is my first encounter with this greek producer, so no expectations on my behalf here. The track opens promising with some floating synths and some nice, fluid melodies. Unfortunately it turns a bit to clubby for my taste as the beat kicks in. "Hands-in-the-air-sirens" and some to me out-of place voice-samples sort of ruins what might otherwise be a nice and steadilly grooving progressive track well placed on the trance-side of the scale. 02: Eniak - Disturbed As with Aviron, this is my first encounter with Eniak. Again I have much of the same problem with this track as I do with the first one. It opens with fluid and ambient soundscapes and then turns more to the really clubby side of things. That said - this might very well be what your looking for if you're into the more comercially oriented end of prog. trance. I'd like some more 'edge' though as this sort of bores me. 03: Sunhize - Firestorm Sunhize is the last to be introduced of the trio. This fellow I've encountered before on the 'purple energy' - compilation released on the same label where he joined mendark on the track 'three on a three'. This track is more to my liking than the two previous ones. It's a tad harder and avoids the use of simple melody. This is more subtle and the art of hinting and gradually showing you where you'll be taken is performed well!. There's also a breakbeat-section of the track that works nicely. Very nice track! 04: Eniak - Solidify No time for a floating intro this time - we head straight into 4/4 dancefloor-stuff. In this track Eniak chooses a more minimal approach than he does in his first track, and he does so with luck. A few liquid-sounding sounds merges nicely with the beat. After a while you also get about a minut and a half of really, really nice downbeat music. I'd like to see the ideas here explored further and brought into the rest of the track, but no - the last few minutes turn into pretty safe and straightforward 4/4-stuff. Nice enough, but not really very exciting... 05: Aviron - Freaky Dreams Aviron returns halfway through the album with his second effort. This time the intro creates a darker atmosphere with some eerie syths and strange mechanics. The track is also far from his first one - it's a bit harder, it's a bit more groovy - and most importantly - the melodies here aren't of the simple siren-like kind. the use of voice-samples is also reduced - and voila!!There you've got yourself a nice track! The Gripe here is that where the first two thirds of the album actually dares to move around and touch alot of terretory, the ending is played out very, very safely. Still - very nice track! 06: Sunhize - Darkplay As the first Sunhize-track was the first one to actually get to me on this album, I was hoping this would have a simular effect . As the title indicates this moves around in a more sinister mood(Don't get me wrong...this isn't Gherg on earth...). Again this track is above the standards presents on the album. Alot of ideas are played around with and with a sonically plesant result. Solid track! 07: Eniak - Liquid Ice Eniak moves into the safe-house with "liquid ice". This is what you might call 'uplifting' with alot of melodies and a straightforward clubby beat. It doesn't really challenge in any way, though - there are noe suprises around the next corner and little variation throughout. Fair enough as background-music while getting drunk on fancy red and bluen drinks in cocktail glasses I suppose. 08: Aviron - Strange People Avioron must be the king of intro's! This time he features human beat-boxing, something I think it's pretty safe to say you don't find everyday in your Trance-music. This is a tad more experimental than say - the liquid ice-track by Eniak, and I won't hessitate to encourage more of this! Groovy, somewhat strange and this time with a well-executed use of voice-samples. Good track! 09: Sunhize - Seduzione "Seduzione" is Sunhize's final effort on the album. This is one of those really melodic pieces again. Bright, pretty "fluffy" and once again I think it lacks the originality, edge and complexity to really stand out. Oh - and that break mid-ways through.....It sound like it could have been taken straight out of some Tiesto mix-cd or something like that. Next! 10: Aviron - Pretty Noise Aviron has (whit the exception of track #01) turned out to be my definite favourite throughout this album. Here he finishes the album, and he does so properly. Once again the buildup and introduction is essential here. Nearly two minutes of relaxed, laidback and somewhat corky electronica sets the mood. Later on we move into rather funky progressive soundscapes. This turns out to be a feelgood-track of proportions and all in all it's a very solid way to end the compilation. Good going! Final Remarks: So there you have it! Rhytmic Images is far from being a masterpiece of progressive music. Some of the tracks I really dislike and some of them are rather average. On the bright side there are also some very well constructed tracks here. Especially Aviron stood out in my book with three strong pieces. Unicorn music is moving in alot of different directions and ceirtanly has alot going for them. It's really nice to see that they're giving the chance to producers of alot of different generes and that they are not afraid of expanding their musical horizons. Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Get it Here: Saikosounds Psyshop

Artists: various Title: Escape From Chaos Label: Tempest Recordings Catalog: TEMPEST8 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Terra Nine - Foxtrot Alpha 02. Spies Vs. Red Eye Express - Sogno D'Oro 03. Eridani vs. J. West - Zero Crossing 04. Random Designers vs Arcane Trickster - Golden Triangle (Terra Nine Remix) 05. Emu - Homeland 06. Side Liner - Moonlight 07. The Omm Squad vs. Psyburbia - The Exploration of Deep Bass 08. Terra Nine vs. Random Designers - Entelechy 09. System Seven - Alpha Wave (Mirror system remix) 10. Zero Cult - Utopia Train 11. Geo - Glow Motion (Short Edit) 12. Red Eye Express - Aqua "Escape from Chaos" is the latest installment of Australia-based Tempest recordings. I'm not familiar with the labels entire back-catalog, but what I've heard from them before has varied in quality. The lineup here is interesting with both well-known names and some for me more unknown artists...Well, let's get busy and try to escape the chaos! 01.Terra Nine - Foxtrot Alpha We open extremely mellow and smooth with terra nine's "Foxtrot alpha". Smooth ambient soundscapes blend with some celtic-sounding violins before a pretty simple and straightforward beat and some bass kicks in. It all sounds very simple - and it is really simple! Here this isn't a bad thing, though - and it's somewhat liberating to listen to some rather stripped down chillage for once. A nice, steadilly flowing opening of the album! 02: Spies Vs. Red Eye Express - Sogno D'Oro Spies shouldn't really be a stranger to most people, and here he teams up with red eye express to produce "Sogno D'Oro"(Whatever that means...). It's quite apparent that two different creative forces has been ivolved here. The liquid dub'ish and guitardriven Red Eye Express blends nicely with the more electroid, upbeat and rather crazy spies-sound(Atleast thats my guess, annyways...). The track works well enough, but I think I'd be more happy if this was made into two sepparate tracks and if the different idease were explored more on their own. 03: Eridani vs. J. West - Zero Crossing This is my first encounter with both of these artists. They deliver a pretty straightforward piece of music. It's got some dubby elements, some melodic chords here and there and every now and then the beat accelerates and the sound shifts to more dancehall-inspired grooves. This really doesn't tase like my favourite green tea, and I find the piece to be rather dull and empty. One of those tracks you find dusins of on more comercially aimed chill-comps. Next! 04: Random Designers vs Arcane Trickster - Golden Triangle (Terra Nine Remix) Terra Nine Remixes the track "Golden triangle" taken from the 2004 compilation "chill on ice". This version is a tad spiced up, and as with the first track here I think Terra Nine manages to do alot with just a few elements. This is a bit more on the upeat electronica side of things and where the original was somewhat tribally inspired this is more electro-driven and warmer... Pretty nice! 05: Emu - Homeland Emu is another artist I know nothing of from before this. This however is a rathe nice piece of music. A deep bass-ridden and somewhat melancholic mood arches over this thing. The thing I like so much about it is that even though this is largely a deep and somewhat introspective piece there is also alot of variation as far as melody and general composition is concerned. Oh - and seldom has a trumpet sounded so in place! Very nice! 06: Sideliner - Moonlight Sideliner recently suprised me with a pretty nice debut on his own label cosmic leaf. This track moves largely in the same terretory, but I think this lacks alot of the emotion and feeling found on the album. The beats here are "bigger" than alot of those from his album, but the soundscape is more minimal. This is like your average chill-piece....it just flows by in the background without causing much joy or irritation.....Thus it does not stand out among the other tracks here, even though the more melodic parts of the track works well.. 07: The Omm Squad vs. Psyburbia - The Exploration of Deep Bass What can I say? The guys pretty much sums it up with the title of this track. the dubby deep bass pretty much drives this track forward alongside a range of other sounds. The breakbeat here leans more towards the trip-hop side of the scale and the first 3-4 minuts of this thing I actually find dreadfully boring. It opens up however, and with the addition of more fluid and changing music, melodies and sounds it gets alot better. Pretty decent track. 08: Terra Nine vs. Random Designers - Entelechy Terra Nine teams up with the Random designers to create entelechy. Yet again a track terra Nine is involved with stands out in my book. My guess here is that terra nine is largely responsible for creating those sweet but yet somewhat sad soundscapes that this track centeres around. Add to this a rather monotonus but effectfull beat and some nifty electronics and you've got yourself a nice little track! 09: System 7 - Alpha Wave (Mirror system remix) System 7 needs no introduction as they've been active on the electronic musicscene for what seems to be an eternity... Here Steve Hillage's new project "mirror system" remixes the classic ninties-track "alpha wave". It's ceirtanly got a nostalgic value. It's got this happy, naive feel going. Slow four/four beats , some breakbeats, nice melody-work and a repeated voice-sample... It's nice to see the that the dinosaurs are active and that they still havent lost their touch.. 10: Zero Cult - Utopia Train Zero Cult is due to release his debut album in the not-to-distant future and here he warms us up with a ride on the utopia train. The track is darker than most others on the compilations and also moves more within the ambient sphere. It's almost completely beatless for about four minutes, and the most important thing to note here is the dark and constantly morphing soundscapes. It's also perhaps a tad more "psychedelic" than most tracks here...Competition in this genere is hard, and this doesn't reac the leves of - say - solar fields..It's not a spectacular piece of music, but it's still pretty nice 11. Geo - Slow Motion(Short Edit) Here we have another artist I've never met before. Geo delivers a pretty straightforward chill-track. This time we're again heading more in the direction you might expect to find on chill-comps with names featuring words like "ibiza" and/or "absolute" and so forth. It's bass, a pretty simple piano-melody and some beats. Nice enough for the beach, but pretty boring if you want to listen to music... 12. Red Eye Express - Aqua Red Eye Express finishes off the album with "Aqua" - a solid track that moves in several directions. It opens as an ambien freefloating piece, but gradually builds while constantly adding new elements. In the end this actually turs rather funky. It's got a warm, cozy atmosphere and the guitars softens things up. There is a lot of musicallity here! I do however suspect that psy-purists will dislike this because of it's overall "cleanness"....Me? Oh I rather enjoyed it! Final Remarks: So, what do we have here? well- there's a little of this and a little of that. The compilation is pretty varied and touches quite a few different styles. At the end of the day it's a well excecuted piece of work, though. I really like some of the tracks on display here, and especially Terra 9 left me with a very good feeling. If you're in the mood for a nice little mixture of tracks ranging from dub, to ambient and some straightforward chilled electronics this might be worth checking out! Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Psyshop Saiko Discobole

Artists: various Title: Lucas Presents: God Save The Machine Label: TIP.World Catalog: TIPWCD47 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01.Raja Ram And Lucas - Intro 02. Eat Static And Lucas - Primitive Earthlings 03. Tristan and Lucas - Porcupine 04. Dickster an Lucas - Living Dangerously 05. Laughing Buddha and Lucas - Binary Bonanza 06. Aphid Moon and Lucas - We are your friend 07. Hallucinogen and Lucas - Pipeworm 08. Queens Park Derangers - Create a Hippy 09. Prometheus and Lucas - Nerve Centre 10. Sybarite - Liquid Lunched Allright, it's time for yet another compilation released on Tip World... Tip World, you say? Have they been doing anything recently that should make this thing appear interesting? No, no... they pretty much seem to have lost it, but I know I've said that before, and then all of a sudden they reveal some unexpected ace from up their sleeve. The tracklisting here is enough to make my visa burn, and an all-british offering ceirtanly sounds interesting. I've always thought of the british psy to be a tad more 'edgy' than most notably israeli and german competing scenes. Let's all sit down and have a jolly cup of tea while tuning in to the tracks... 01.Raja Ram And Lucas - Intro Delicate pianonotes merge with various voice-samples and some spaced-out sounds for about thirty secondes...Well..It's an intro, nothing more - move along! 02: Eat Static And Lucas - Primitive Earthlings Eat Static almost allways keeps to their alien themes, and this is no exception. Packed with extraterrestrial samples and scifi-themed sounds this is (somewhat) full-on with a distinct eat-static edge. A couplle of more break-beat'ish sections gives the legs some rest. A pumping track, but far from being among the best of their tracks. Overall a nice opening, though! 03: Tristan and Lucas - Porcupine It's been a while since I've heard any new tristan-material...I know he's a favourite of alot of psy-heads, but to be hounest I've allways had somewhat of a problem with alot of his music. Can't quite put the finger on what, but I've often felt like something was missing.... Porcupine is a metallic, almost industrial sounding track. It's pretty hypnotizing causing mild head-nodding or manic dance-attecks depending on mood and circumstances... It morphes, squeaks and changes enough throughout to make this a very nice an interesting piece...Nice! 04: Dickster an Lucas - Living Dangerously We head deep down into the jungle with Dickster to live dangerously - and me oh my - dangerous it is! Tribal and technoid elements together with stabbing acidlines as well as some more floating, dreamy soundscapes. I'm not to happy about the use of voice-samples here though, but thats a minor detail.. 05: Laughing Buddha and Lucas - Binary Bonanza Starting very spacey with samples describing space-travel from one side of the galaxy to the other wile some eerie blip tease your ears a little. A steady beat kicks in, and when this thing really gets going it's as groovy as groovy can be. Still I think this tracks lacks that little extra edge that would really make it stand out though. An abowe average track, but under par in this context.. 06: Aphid Moon and Lucas - We are your friend We move a bit closer to full-on terretory with aphid moon. No worries thogh, this is more diverese and moving stuff than you'' often find within the genre. It's also got some mad acid bassline-action going on and there is plenty of variation throughout. Packed with energy, I'd be happy to be presented with this on a dancefloor. Nice! 07: Hallucinogen and Lucas - Pipeworm Whenever I listen to a new hallucinogen-track for the first time I get this weird feeling inside. I mean...what would people do if he fucked up? Riot in the streets of london? Would you see despaired dreadlocked kids spontaneously killing themself around the world? Luckilly he manages to to do some serious damage once more. And I mean god damn!! - This is god (Read:great) stuff! It's so delightfully oldschool-sounding but still it manages to maintain a fresh, crisp and extremely danceable exterior. The sonic manipulation going on here is of classic Hallucinogen recipe, and unlike todays fashionable darktrancers he also squeeses out some nifty melodies to go nicely together with the rest of the madness. Ehrmmm....I Demand a new album!!! 08: Queens Park Derangers - Create a Hippy Jules Hammer of Aphid Moon and Jeremy van Kampen of Laughing Buddha team up with Lucas to form the Queens Park Derangers. Together the three happy britts try to create a hippy, but unfortunately they only manage to do so half-way. There is something about this track that sort of make it seem like it's not quite done....can't quite put my finger on it, but this didn't get to me.. 09: Prometheus and Lucas - Nerve Centre Prometheus is due to release his second album later this year. If you're one of those people who just can't wait this track will make the itch even worse. This is an intense, uptempo ride. An extremely hypnotizing beat and a flute-like syth are the two driving elements. This together with a myriad of other constantly morhing and shifting soundscapes create an atmosphere perfect for both home-listening and dancefloor mayhem. Nice! 10: Sybarite - Liquid Lunched To finish the album we head down a little deeper, a little darker and a little more laied back than on the other tracks here. Lot's of bass, lots of space and alot of small little squeaks and quirks are key elements here. This is one of those tracks that I needed some time with before I could really enjoy it. It's a hypnotizing piece, and some of the acidlines in here are pure bliss. nice ending to a very nice album! Final Remarks: As I mentioned earlier TIP World hasn't really been all that exciting lately. Sure some of the stuff they've released has been ok like the recent Hujaboy and last years Melovskys-album(even though that one was on tip NEW world...) That being said, this compilation is in a whole different league and truley stands out in TIP worlds catalog. Is it a perfect psychedelic trance-album? No - It has a few moments that sort of drags it down. Is it a great one? You bet! Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Saiko Psyshop Beatspace Discobole Juno Play

Artist: Northaunt Title: Horizons Label: Cyclic Law Catalog: 16th Cycle Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01.Until Dawn Do us part 02. Night Came to us 03. Horizons 04. The Autumn Sky 05. Night Alone 06. With the Stars as witness 07. The wilderness Norwegian electronic music is often ascosiated with Biosphere or perhaps Röyksopp for the mor comercially oriented crowd. Still, alot of other intersting things are happening, especially within the realms of darker ambient. Northaut has been producing music since 1996 and have several releases behind them...This time their out with a full album on Cyclic law, a label mainly concerned with icy cold ambient soundscapes.... lets have a listen to the tracks... 01: Until Dawn do us Part Opening rather chaotic this track merges all kinds of sounds ino a metallic and sterile soup, before the deep, lulling drones hurl us into deep introspection. After a while this piece becomes rather melodic, and the long and slowly sweeping horns together with the piano creates a rather majestic atmosphere. Thiss is beatless ambient all the way, and a very nice way to open the album! 02: Night Came to us As you can see from the tracks title there's no hope of moving closer to the light side of things here. The track opens in a rather industrial feeling with some highly mechanical sounds alongside the howling of the wind. The track slowly moves around, and all though it evolves slowly it does not become dull or boring. Clocking in at near 15 minutes this is an ambient work of proportions, but as with the album, this stuff requiers a ceirtan mood to be enjoyed. 03: Horizons With the albums third installment everything becomes a tad more warm and fuzzy than what we've so far come to excpect. Samples of something sounding like burning fire, together with rather harmonious backdrops of sound actually causes a rather euphoric atmosphere at times... Even so, this is still completely beatless ambient so take that into consideration before you run off to the shops. Good track! 04: The Autumn Sky With the autums sky we're intoduced to something that vaguely resembles a beat and a rythm, which is nice for a change. Essential to this piece are the various samples of typical autumn weather phenomena such as rain, thunder and wind. Works well as a collage of sound, and the drone-like background ambience is nice as well. Solid! 05: Night alone This is an interesting track. It begins very dark, very deep, but gradually over the course of it's nearly 10 minute journey turns lighter and lighter. In this track the long, sweeping atmospheric syths gets to play the main role almost alone, and as a floating experience this is a good piece of music. 06: With the stars as witness This is perhaps the piece of music on this disc that will have the greatest appeal among the more psy-oriented listeners out there. I for one cant help but think that this piece would fit perfectly on the more ambient of Solar Fields works from last year "extended". This is very spaced out free-floating ambient in the purest beatless form there is. Not particularly dark either, but very, very nice... 07: The wilderness The wilderness finishes the album, and I must say it does so in style. Exploring several different atmospheres and feelings, froom the deepest most depressing darkness to the euphoric waterfall-sampeling together with optimistic melodies. Very nice use of samples here as well, and it all turns in to a very dynamic piece of music. Final Remarks: Cyclic law is one of those labels I really enjoy purchasing cd's from... They do everything themselves and are the definition of how to be independent and original. Here they deliver a quality release that should please more listeners than their average release does, as I find this stuff pretty accessible. As a bonus you also get a music-video with an alternative version of the final track "the wilderness". Even so, you have to take into account that this is ambient with absolutely no beats involved and I know thats not something everyone is able to enjoy. If you're one of those people who are lucky enough to be able to enjoy a quiet meditative hour by your self I wouldn't hesitate to recomend you to bring this disc as company... Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Wirikuta Cyclic Law

Artist: Loopus in Fabula Title: Fat Ladies Bingo Label: Fabula Catalog: FABCD03 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Doofy Duck (Feat. Ritchie Mantrix) 02. Controversy 03. Dreamschwartz [Rmx for Visnudata] 04. YSD 05. Fat Old Ladies (Feat. Paul Kearney) 06. Funky Express 07. Feel Again 08. Rockit 09. Let's Dance Can you feel it? Spring-time is comming! May is just around the corner, the temperature is getting better, the suns lurks around on the sky, and guess what? loopus in fabula is out with a new album. I know I'm excited about it. No time to chat, let's listen to the tracks... 01: Doofy Duck Funky guitar-play and some weird voice-noise kicks off the album and after a few seconds we head into strange fabula-land. Quirky analog leads fuses with the rather unusual (for this kind of music) guitar-sounds. Some acidc-lines emerges here and there, and I'm sold. The quirkey sample-work is marvelous and I know I'll be listening alot to this track... nice opening! 02: Controversy A robotic bassdrum is followed by an ultra-funky guitarlead causing heavy rotation in my oh-so-seldom-used disco-swinging hips. Have no fear though, this is far from being a greasy 70's BeeGees ripoff. This is probably the funkyest psychedelia your ears will feast on this year, and my darn it, how it pleases me....Great! 03: Dreamschwartz This is a remix of a track made by Visnudata...I'm not previously familiar with this name, so I can't really comment on the original track here. This piece opens witth a star-wars sample...(AARGH!) Heard it before? Sure! Should it be here? No! That being said, the track is totally insane! The bass moves around frenetically while the overall mood of the track shifts from totally laidback to über-trippy tribal crazyness. I love both the atmospheric floating parts here and the playfullness involved. 04: YSD 'YSD' opens deep, dark and rather minimal... It progresses nice and slowly - builds steadilly adding new elements throughout. There are also a few break-beat sessions involved here, and I think they work out really well. After a while also this track gets dressed in that rather weird loopus-suite that I love so much. Great! 05: Fat Old Ladies This is a weird little thing. It's got alot of the same elements that the rest of the tracks here do, but I don't think they work out as well here. It sounds more 'random' and less well constructed than some of the brilliant moments on the disc. Its basically a beat, a bassline and on top of this a ton of samples, twists and turns. For me this is no favourite here.. 06: Funky Express Allright everybody - stand back! After a rather dissapointing track we head back to funky-town. This is sheer and pure dance-music for body and mind. It's fun, it's twisted, it's funky, it's varied as hell and it follows no-ones formula. Again I love the way loopus varies their track with well-constructed breakbeat together with high-octane dancemusic. Oh, and the euphoria when that high-pitched trumpet(ish) sound kicks in? Marvelous! 07: Feel Again Feel again opens with the glass-like twinkeling of some ambient soundscapes but soon shoots off to become an insisting, repetitive, hypnotic and highly danceable trance-tune. The bassline is simple and catchy, but there's alot of background-tweaking being done all the way, and it ceirtanly manages to stay fresh and interesting. 08: Rockit Opening as a trafficjam of proportions this soon turns in to an acid-line frenzy. It's a solid track, but I find the 4/4 sections of this one to be a bit bellow album-average. The big-beat -ish workings on the slower side of things work darn well, though. Ok track, but no favourite.. 09: Let's Dance Ok I admit it. I'm a worshipper of David Bowies music. I've seen the man live several times, and own nearly all of his albums...Remixes of his work most often make me want to throw myself with full force towards the nearest speeding semi-trailer... This is basically a remix of his infamous 80's hit "let's dance". You might or might not know it and you might or might not like it, that is irrelevant. This piece of wonderfull remix-artistery works extremely well, and it's really har not to dance to this one. Some might find this too comercial, I guess - But who the fuck cares? Great way to finish the album! Final Remarks: So there you have it! I'm extremely impressed by this release, and I know this is one of those albums I'll be listening to for a long time... One of 2006 absolute top-releases so far in my book! Even though parts of it is rather corky, my guess is this should have rather wide appeal, also outside your average psy-crowd. So basically....just get it! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Psyshop Saikosounds Discobole Beatspace

Artist: Drumatik Title: Peak Process Label: Peak Records Catalog: PR0009 Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. The Forrest Spirit 02. Off Into Space 03. Devil's Door 04. Simulations 05. Killing Zoo (remix) 06. Access Approved 07. Psychiatric Symphony 08. Revolution 2012 09. Face To Faith Peak records is for me the one of thetop labels around theese days, and they never seem to fail when releasing new material. Expectations are therefore as allways massive as you give a new peak-record the virgin-spin. Drumatik has released quality tracks with the label before, and I wouldnt be suprised if he does it again here....Let's check out the album! 01: The Forrest Spirit The short introduction to this album doesn't hint much about what you might excpect from the rest of the package. We're introduced to some rather slackey electronics, and offcourse Drumatiks trademark - percussion. 02: Off into Space When this track begins 1 minute and 22 seconds has passed. From this point on, you should just leave the couch, because this won't be an album for the slackers out there. This track blasts off with massive amounts of bass and stabbing synth. It maintains enough edge throughout to make it interesting enough. A few melodic elements a present as well. Not a standount moment on the album, but a fair enough track 03: Devil's Door When drumatik knocks on the devil's door things are about to get really interesting. The acid-lines here strike me as extremely hypnotizing, and there's plenty of fluidity and organic motion involved here. The rythmic action is outstanding as well, and I really love the tribal influences here. One of my favourites! 04: Simulations Devils door is followed by another action-packed and super-demented track. Trying to describe this stuff is really alot like trying to count how many times you spin around on a seven-minute-ride on a madly spinning carusell. Even with all these layers and goings on I tend to get a bit tired around this point. A break of some sorts would have pleased me...But by all means a very nice track. 05: Killing Zoo (Remix) Killing zoo slowly (just kidding...) emerges from the left-overs at the end of Simulations. This is a Lord of the Ring sampeling frenzy, something I could have done without. The rest of the track is pretty nice though, and it should come as no suprise that its packed with the all the action you should have come to expect by now. Nice track! 06: Access Approved Access approved starts with something that could have built into a great intro, and sadly I think it's cut a bit short. The chaotic feel of the album is maintained also in this track. The drumwork fits in nicely as usual. By now it sjhould also be pointed out that the music on this disc isn't really pitch-black-stomp-around-while-stabbing-people kind of dark....I actually find alot of this stuff rather "uplifting". Again - Solid track! 07: Psychiatric Symphony This is the track that for me sounds like it's the fastest on the album - and at 148 bpm it's not to slow either...If I were to just take a guess after hearing this once, I'd be in the dark about that, though. Lot's of squeaks, squealches and aciddic madness going on here as well. Solid! 08: Revolution 2012 On track 6 I spoke of this album being "uplifing"....Speaking of that (please don't get me wrong here....the cheesedoodles are non-present), this track would perhaps be my prime-example. Stomping, hard, organic and a tad weird...but this isn't dark at all. A few tribal elements spice things up, and makes this a better-than-average track. Combine this with some nostalgia-packed melodies reminding me of my mid-80's Comodore 64 sessions, and voila - a favourite on the album! 09: Face to Faith To finish things off we're left with an epic chill-out piece of proportions.....No - I'm kidding, but you do get iver half a minute of breathing-space, and for that I'm greatfull. The track it self has a few spicey elements as well, and sometimes I find my head nodding steadilly to this one....Sounding a bit more technoid than other parts of the album it's refreshing in a way, but this track isn't really for me... Final remarks: So, there you have it! The peaksters has released another quality piece of pie, allthough I think they've baked better before. There's plenty of juice in most of these tracks, but I'd really appreciate some more variation....I seldom find my self listening to this one all the way throgh. That being said, it's hard to find reall weak tracks here, and most of them sound great if you just listen to one or two of them.... Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Psyshop Saikosounds Beatspace

Artist: Electrypnose Title: Le Tireur de Ficelles Format: CD Label: Peak Records Catalog: PR0008 Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. The Handler 02. Gidi Fake 03. Niapo 04. b2p2 05. Oz 06. Stupid Moods 07. Disfunction 08. Cerebral Factory 09. Le Tireur de Ficelles 10. Brain Surgery 11. Bas les Masques Vince le Barde Aka Electrypnose has been embraced by trippers from every range of the psytrance spectre. Darktrancers, morningfreaks and chillers have all been given their piece of the pie...A solid debut on Resonantearth.com followed by numerous outstanding tracks on various compilations has caused somewhat of a buzz concerning this album... Lets see if it delivers... 01: The Handler A somewhat mystical melodic line opens the album together with some atmospheric sweeps and samples to create an overall eerie mood. The ambience of it all is broken after a coupple of minutes, and we head on into crazy Electrypnose trance-terretory. The mystical vibes from the intro is brought back into the mix after a while, and together with a bunle of twisted elements and melodies this makes 'The Handler' a great opening track! 02: Gidi Fake After a robotic, rather weird intro we head straght into the nightime madness in 'Gidi Fake'. I often find the darker side of trance somewhat boring, but this is a bullet electrypnose has managed to dodge time after time, and this is no exception. Very hypnotic, yet varied - spaced out and introverted at the same time. Nice! 03: Niapo I really love the way Electrypnose sometime tends to build a track on emotions introduced allready in the opening seconds... Here the gentle yet strange melodies are transformed into a full-fledged assault on the senses. Do you like it dark/hard/strange/melodic/monotonus/psychedelic/emotive? If yes is the answere to two or more of the previously mentioned - this is for you! 04: b2p2 This time around the focus is more on melody than on previous tracks. For me this is a good thing. I'd perhaps like to see some more exploration on the main theme of the track. It also feels like this track is perhaps more boring(no...less great would be more correct) than some of the other tracks here. Really, thogh - I can't complain about this stuff. 05: Oz This track was originally made by someone called "elendil" - a name I can't say I'm familiar with. Here we get Electrypnoses(duh!) remix, and again, there's really not much I can do, except say that this is wicked stuff. Dark, yet heavilly melodic and severley twisted. As I've mentioned before melodies is something I appreciate, even when we move in the darker realms of music. Massive track! 06: Stupid Moods As the tracktitle implies this is a playfull little thing. Vince fools around with the bothe the beat and the samples and it all comes out as a highly enjoyable number. We're moving on the less melodic side of things as well, but it's still varied enough to keep a solid smile on my face. NOt reall my favourite track here, but I promise you - that doesn't really say to much in this context. 07: Disfunctions No time to rest here, people! We continue with more crazy music. Layers upon layers of weird rythmic creations, melodies and samples creat a continous flow of LS-Dance'able music. A ceirtan mood is required though, and this isn't(atleast not for me) background music under any circumstances. Now dance, sucker! 08: Cerebral Factory Cerebral factory is a track made by....Cerebral Factory! This is le Barde and two other guys (Karash/Noon), and no - I hadn't heard of the before. The music is hard, dark and acid-ridden. for me the bass here get's a little tedious and almost a little boring. Probbably because of all the great music in the rest of the album - but I find this more straight forward somehow. Would be a standout track on almost any compilation of dark psy, but for me this is perhaps the weakest link here. 09: Le Tireur de Ficelles A flute, tribal srumming, and basically a great atmosphere opens this track. I'm instantly drawn to this hypnorythm, and when those churchbells kicks in I just get the shivers. From this point on this is pure, enthusiastic and everchanging psychedelic trance at it's finest. The sonic trickery involved here is almost undescribable - One of my favourite tracks here! 10: Brain Surgery This track I can't really make up my mind about. I mean I can hear that this is quality stuff, it's spacey, weird and diverse, but for me it's a tad to hard...Tasts differ though, and I guess I'd love this if I was more in to the high-ended side of the bpm scale. 11: Bas les Masques To finish of the album Electrypnose shows us what an outstanding and diverse producer he is as he lands a fantastic chill track. I had high expectations before this release, but to be hounest I'm looking even more forward to his chill-release on Ajana records later this year. And here the bar is raised a few inches more. Superb! Final remarks: I guess it comes to no-ones suprise that the conclusion of it all is as follows: This is a great album! It's an album that should have rather wide appeal in psy-circles as it basically moves in a wide range of directions. A coupple of the tracks I find less exciting than the rest....That aside - If you like psychedelic trance, with an emphasis on the psychedelic part - you really, really should own this! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Psyshop Beatspace Juno Discobole

Artist: Side Liner Title: Emotional Diving Label: Cosmicleaf Records Catalog: CLCD04 Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Morning Dewdrops 02. Screaming Tears (Zero Cult rmx) 03. Emotional Diving 04. Something Beautiful (Is Out There Mix) 05. Drawing My Life 06. Sehensucht (feat. D. Batistatos) 07. Haunted Thoughts (Cydelix Remix) 08. Memories Side Liner is Nick Miamis, also known as melodic trancer Mendark. He's also managing both Cosmic Leaf records and it's sister-label Unicorn Music. After releasing quite a few compilations we're now presented with his own debut-album under the side liner guise. My expectations before digging in to this thing were limited, as I haven't really heard too much "Side Liner" before... Let's listen to the tracks... 01: Morning Dewdrops Morning Dewdrops opens the disc with a range of plesant sounds. A nice melody-line together with some atmospheric sweeps creates a solid bottom. After a while a pretty straight-forward break-beat and some semi-dubby basslines kick in. It all amounts to a nice, listener-friendly blend of light chillout... A decent opening, but not among my favourites on the album.. 02: Screaming Tears (Zero Cult rmx) This album contains quite a few remixes. The first one is by Zero Cult, a guy I mainly know from compilations on cosmic leaf records. Here he remixes 'Screaming tears' from last years pretty nice compilation 'fragile life'. I actually like this remix a tad better than the original, it seems more structured, and perhaps a bit deeper than the original. Lot's of space here, some nice refreshing melodies and a bit of a tribal influence. Nice! 03: Emotional Diving Next up is the albums title-track. This is a pretty great piece of music, with the main emphasis being put on heavvy dubby influences and a rough, but steady breakbeat... It's pretty varied throughout the entire thing and the last few minutes of this track is pretty darn great! One of my definite favourites on the album...Very nice! 04: Something Beautiful (Is out there mix) We continue on the rather dark and bass-ridden path, but this time less dubby. Don't get me wrong though...this isn't dark like Nordhaunt or Svartsinn...It's just alot more sinister and emotive than I had excpected. This track is actually pretty darn spaced-out, and at times rather groovy. The melodies work nicely and doesn't get cheesey. Another solid track! 05: Drawing My Life 'Drawing my life' if the fift installment of this album, and again Side Liner continues to surprise me. This is a pretty hypnotizing track, the melodies here are trancey and spacey and the beats are somewhat more up on the tempo-side of things. Still firmly placed withing the realms of sofa-friendlyness.. 06: Sehensucht (feat. D. Bastistatos) D.Batistatos is another fellow I only know from other compilations on Cosmic leaf. This track moves more along the paths I had expected from this album. It's pretty light, but it still has a melancholic edge. Lots of different melodies, lot's of bass and a female voice comming in and out to sing from time to time. This is listener-friendly chill at it's best and I'd really enjoy this in a cafè of some sorts. Doesn't really stand out on the album, though... 07: Haunted Thoughts (Cydelix rmx) This is a remix of "haunted thoughts" - a track I only know from the compilation 'Nova Natura' where a live-mix i featured. It's a melodic, yet pretty dubby piece. Not among the deepest here, perhaps, but it does it's job well. I'd considder this one for the beach, or again - for the cafès. A nice track, but as with sehensucht - not among my favourites. 08: Memories We enter the more introspective realms with "memories" as Nick Miamis paints a blue'ish landscape with his sythesized sweeps and floating sounds. The rythm-section here reminds me somewhat of a millitary band playing some kind of march, and somehow it actually works very well. After the last two tracks this is refreshing and the album again gains momentum towards the end. Nice work! 09: Transparent Thought (rmx for Percussion Bullet) Percussin Bullet is a new progressive-trance project from greece(correct me if I'm worng). I haven't had the time to make my self familiar with their recently released debut yet, so I cant really compare this to the original work. Still I was a bit sceptical seing this on the track-list. Those of you familiar with Nick Miamis other alias 'Mendark' should know he isn't excactly famous for his progressive beats. Still - this isn't bad at all, though perhaps a bit to flat for my liking. Pretty straightforward.Still, he proves he's a man of versatile interests, and thats alway interesting! No favourite here, though. 10: Something Beautiful (Arcane Trickster rmx) Arcane Trickster remixes "Something Beautiful" as the last track of this album. It's not a bad remix either, but I prefer the earlier version. Still, this is yet another pretty solid track, and it finishes the album nicely.. Final remarks: So...I must say that this album has caught me somewhat by suprise! I was excpecting a nice enough background chill-album, but Side Liner delivered beyond my expectations here. As a debut album this is good stuff, and cosmic leaf as a label also shows nice progression... Tomas(Psychedelic mustache) Buy it here: psyshop Amboworld Saikosounds

Artist: Biosphere Title: Dropsonde Label: Touch Catalog: TO:66 CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Disolving Clouds 02. Birds fly by Flapping Their Wings 03. Warmed by the Drift 04. In Tripple Time 05. From a Solid to Liquid 06. Arafura 07. Fall in Fall out 08. Daphnis 26 09. Altostratus 10. Sherbrooke 11. People are Friends Geir Jenssen AKA Biosphere is a real old-timer in electronic music, and here in Norway he's considered one of the real pioneers in the craft. He's classic albums are....well....classic, but I haven't been too big a fan of his latest efforts. However, a Biosphere release is a must-buy for me out of completist reasons. My expextations were high going in to this thing, and they were not lowered by various newspapers calling this thing Jenssens greatest work up to date.... lets see if it is... 01: Dissolving Clouds The album kicks off with an extremely floating ambient piece. It's not really dark, but you can't really say that it's light either. It's got a bit of an eerie and dizzy quality to it. Various blips and blops move around with the soundscapes. It feels sort of like a doorbell from outer space or something. nice opening! 02: Birds Fly by Flapping their Wings Track numer one floats seemlessly over in to this tastey piece. This is a more rythmically driven track with a very groovy jazz-inspired breakbeat driving it all forward. This is Jensen as a more accessible and listener-friendly artist than we've seen on his previous. Tracks like this one will probably be enjoyed by wider audiences than he's normally used to. I for one can't get enough of this. Excellent! 03: Warmed by the Drift This is, as the tracktitøe suggests, a very warm, drifting experience. This is biosphere in a more ambient mood, floating around on a current of hot air. The track gradually builds in strength, but keeps it's beatlessness throughout the journey. Still - this is actually very listenerfriendly stuff, and you really don't need to be a total ambient-freak to enjoy this. 04: In Tripple Time In tripple time takes you from absolute beatless ambient to breakbeat-ridden(and again pretty jazzy) longe-terretory in no-time. And when I say lounge - just relax, It's not the stuff you'll find at your local deli or diner(Unless you're in Tromsø, perhaps), this is magnificently produced über-groovey and slightly psychedelic chill at it's finest. 05: From a solid to liquid On this track Biosphere flirts with darkness. But it's only a flirt, it's really nothing too serious, as you can clearly see that light and warmth is never far away. We're once again moving withing the realms of total ambience, and by now you should have noticed the pattern emerging. Ambient - Beats - Ambient - Beats - Ambient.....Sweet! 06:Arafura It actually took me quite som time to discover that pattern, because the flow of the music is so perfect. You don't really realize when the tracks change if you're not paying attention. "Arafura" does not break the pattern, allthough the beats present here aren't the most stand-outish in the blend of sounds. Heavilly bass-driven this places it self as a nice piece in the overall puzzle that is this album. Hypnotizing! 07: Fall in Fall out The title of this track actually pretty well describes the overall feeling i often get when I really listen to this album. It can just be there, totally hypnotizing you - and then all of a sudden something in there just snaps you out of it. The track breaks my neatly figured out pattern as this clearly has some beats involved. It's also got a ceirtan idm-feel to it. So is it any good? - Yes it is.... 08: Daphnis 26 This is one of those tracks I don't really notice to much. When it comes on, I recognize the sounds and oddity that is there, but I can't really place it anywhere. It's got a sort of new-age(ish) quality to it - and the first four minutes somehow reminds me of a mantra chanted over and over and over and over and over again. It's pretty nice, and it maintains the overall flow of the album, but at this point it is however not a favourite of mine. After about four minutes, however a breakbeat transforms the track in to a listener-friendly frenzy that's highly enjoyable. 09: Altostratus If I'm ever to direct a detective-movie this will have to be my title-track. It's so mysterious. It really sounds like the track is trying to keep some kind of a secret from you. It's pretty different from the rest of the album, but still strangely seems to fit. 10: Sherbrooke The other day I had I few friends over. We were having a nice time, and we'd listened through the entire album up untill this point. Needless to say there had circulated some herbal tobacco and the mood was pretty good. However one of my friends really flipped out over this track - It totally freaked him out! He thought the disc was scratced, and that it was just skipping - and I can ceirtanly understand why he'd make such a mistake. A very odd beat(if you can call it that) creates this illusion. Together with the blissfull ambience it's a beatiful trickester, though...nice! 11: People are friends Despite the happy and naive title, this is perhaps the darkest piece here. Again there is more mysticism. A flute-like synth playing melodies over eerie and floating soundscapes makes this track perhaps the gloomiest experience of the album. A nice way to softly float away...perhaps go to sleep or get back to the stereo and press play once more. Final remarks: So...Needless to say, I'm really loving this album! Is it Jenssens greatest work? Perhaps - time will tell. After all his clasic albums have been around for a numer of years, and this thing is only a few weeks old. Still, I'm pretty confident that this will resist the damage that time so often can do to music. My only remark is that the album could have been longer...Bottom lin though: Highly recomended for annyone interested in a little inner(and outer) exploration! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Psyshop Amboworld CdOn Play Discobole

V/A - Phenix Artists: Various Title: Phenix Label: Phreex Networx Catalog: PNXCD000 Released: January, 2006 Tracklist: 1.Mussy Mood - Phenix 2.Para Halu - Phenix 3.Noise Gust - Phenix 4.Galaxy Madness - Phenix 5.Savage Scream - Phenix 6.Ocelot - Phenix 7.Horror Place - Phenix 8.Terminator - Phenix 9.Derango - Phenix 10.Jahbo - Phenix This is the debut compilation of Tokyo based label Phreex Network. It's supposedly inspired by the work of late anime and manga cartoonist Osamu Tezuku. I'm not too familiar with his work, but I know of Astroboy, and now realize he's the creator of that. Judging by the tracklist this should be rather dark stuff, but an interesting blend of artists inspired me to make the purchase. Let's have a look at the tracks... 01: Mussy Mood - Phenix Mussy Mood opens this compilation, and does so in a rather positive way. The pumping dark beat is paired with a wariety of spaced out sounds, some of them indeed sounding quite cartoonish. Theres also a great deal of variation within the soundscapes here, and at times there are hints of melody as well. Pretty nice opener! 02: Para Halu - Phenix Para Halu has been one of my favourite artists in this genre and I'm allways excited to hear new output from the boys. After a brilliant intro this track struck me as way to monotonus at first, but after repeated listenings this has really grown on me! It's a rather silent and quiet(!) corker that builds slowly, almost seemlessly. It's an extremely hypnotizing track, it's almost as if you don't notice that it's there and then all of a sudden you realize it has taken away over 8 minutes of your life.... Actually turned out to be one of my favourites on the album! 03: Noise gust - Phenix Noise gust is an artist I didn't really know before this...Allways interesting to discover new stuff... This is a pumping hard track, with a melody-line bringing back awfull memories of gabber-madness(and I really don't mean that in a positive way). Luckilly this main theme of the track is only present in small doses, and the rest of the track is actually pretty good! It's massiveness slaps you pretty darn hard in the face...Not my favourite on the album, but an ok output none the less! 04: Galaxy Madness - Phenix Galaxy Madness brings us yet another one of those dark moments. It's pumping, it's monotonus, and it's got the odd blipp and the odd blopp plopping in and out occationally. Let's just say that if my favourite flavour of tea is lemmon, then this is blackurrant... It's all a matter of taste I suppose, and in those dark hours I could see this working on a dancefloor. 05: Savage Scream - Phenix The last track I heard from Savage Scream was Acid Clown on the Hate compilation by golden dawn records.. One of the tracks I rather enjoyed on that one. What I like about this track is it's odd character. It's a twisted little thing moving around in quite a few different directions. Somehow I actually find this pretty "uplifting". Don't get me wrong, it's still firmly planted on the dark side, but with a pinch of melodies, a dash of oddity and a hefty dose of psychedelia this really does it for me! goodie! 06:Ocelot - Phenix Ocelot has been releasing tracks left and right the last year and probably needs no further introduction. His 2005 album "vector selector" was a pretty strong selection of tracks. Once again he manages to do something extraordinary. This is an intense experience to say the least, with lots of tastey ingredients. All sorts of noises move around together with a range of samples and the odd melody here and there. Variation is the key, and noone in their right mind can call this stuff boring(As I tend to find alot of the darker stuff...). At the end of it all I feel a little exhausted, but in this case it's worth it. 07: Horror Place - Phenix Horror Place charges toward you as hard as a train(litterally), and for me this no standout track. It's got tons of attitude, it's hard and heavy, but in my ears this is just too much of the good stuff. I mean sugar tastes great, but if you overdo it you'll just end up with rotten teeth... Maybe my 3D goggles aren't placed correctly on my nose but it's just to noisey for my liking...As we all know though, tastes do tend to differ... One thing, though - The voicesamples actually work really well in this track, and at the sections where it's not all noise it actually creats a nice sterile industrial feeling. No favourite, though.. 08: Terminator - Phenix Terminator tragically passed away not long ago, and it's a rather odd feeling listening to what might possibly be his last release. I haven't heard much of his solo work before, but this reminds me alot of some older parasense-material. It's got plenty of space, plenty of 'room' if you may. At the center is the beat, and on top you'll find a range of differing sounds, squealches and squeaks. Not entierly my taste, but fans of his music wil probably love this! 09: Derango - Phenix Derango should be no stranger to fans of this genre. Their album "Tumult" was one of 2005's most talked about releases...Here they deliver a fine piece of highly psychedelic madness. It sounds very liquid, very fluid. It's constantly changing and moving, avoiding the ever luring possibility of creating boredom with the listener. There are melodic parts as well, and it all works rather nicely. 10: Jahbo - Phenix The task of finishing the compilation is given to Jahbo, something he manages to do just fine. It's a hard, pumping track with a great deal of nifty knobtweaking involved. That being said, I think it gets a tad to monotonus, and as for home listening I don't think this is all that exciting. My guess is this would do some serious damage if dropped at the right time on a floor, and thus it completes it's task I guess. Final remarks: Out of curiosity for the genere I 've found my self checking out more and more 'dark' stuff recently. Most of it sort of flies by without really exciting me all that much. This compilation is somewhat of an exception, though...There are tracks here that doesn't do it for me, but that doesn't stop the overall impression from being pretty positive. This is the first compilation released by this label, and I'll definently keep an eye(or an ear perhaps) open for more. Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Saikosounds Psyshop Beatspace Juno Discobole More reviews etc: www.sonic-energy.net

Artists: Various Title: Solstice Black Compilation 01 Label: Solstice Music Catalog: SOLMCD022 Tracklist: 1.Eat Static - Xeno-Phonic 2.Control F - Release-Rythm-Circus 3.X-Dream - Insanity 4.Koxbox - Geomancer 2004 5.C.J Bolland - Mole Patrol 6.Thomas P. Heckman - Close Encounter 7.Kloq - Kloq Music 2 8.Prime Suspekt - Symthetic Love 9.Synthetic - Evil Thing 10.Juno Reactor - Angel & Man (X-Dream Remix) There has been quite a few quality releases with crossovers between trance and techno over the last few months. It is not suprising that this continues, however I find it very refreshing to see something like this comming out on Solstice Music. With a lineup like this, you'd think it has no possibility of going wrong... Let's check out the tracks! 01: Eat Static - Xeno-Phonic To open the ball we dance for a short while with the legendary eat static. These guys have been tweaking those knobs for as long as I can remember, and they've seldom let me down. This track is no exception, a wonderful piece of music. As so often before with eat static there is quite alot of elements involved. Breakbeats, straight techno beats, some ethnoinspired singing, lots of acidlines and ofcourse it's groovy and spacey. perhaps a bit to short, but thats a minor complaint. Nice opening! 02: Control-F - Release -Rythm-Circus Control-F continues with his Release-Rythm-Circuse. It opens as a horrible anthem-like late-90's trance piece of the worst european kind, but luckilly this lasts only for about a minute. After this torture it turns in to a nice enough track with some edgy baselines. Towards the end the theme from the opening is brought back in to the mix and totally ruins it for me. Dissapointing track! 03: X-Dream - Insanity X-Dream is another one of those standout acts in our scene. They've allways managed to change and explore new musical landscapes. This is a storming piece of rhytmically oriented techno-infused trance(or is it trance-infused techno?). It's swirls loosley around some definition of the term "Insanity"...."Insanity. State of being insane. Unsoundness or derangement of mind without recognition of ones own illness. Insanity is rather a social and legal than medical term an implies mental disorder resulting in unability to manage ones affaires and preform ones social duties.....The term covers a variety of disorders such as manic depressive insanity, dementia, paranoia, general paralyses and alchoholic insanities....." Phew! And it does not stop there, It goes on and on while the track turns more and more....well...insane. 04: KoxBox - Geomancer 2004 Geomancer is a track that should be well known to psytrancers. This is the 2004 version of the track. You can hear what track it is, and some of the feeling of the original is maintained. Still, I think it's better to see this as a new track all together. It's more minimalistic and stripped down than the original, still this really is filled up with lots of spaced out sounds, some familiar (and some unfamiliar" melodies, lots of groove and a dash of voicesamples. Oh, and yes - It's all very good! 05: C.J Bolland - Mole Patrol C.J Bolland is a guy you don't see every day on psytrance oriented labels. This is a pretty melodic, but still essentially dark piece of techno music, but it still sounds pretty trancey. This has become a track that I've got a love/hate relationship to. First of all I love it because it's a great track. Period. But I also hate it becaus i find my self walking around on the street humming the main baseline, whisteling it in the shower, and when I want to go to sleep at night - there it is! I can't get it out of my head... 06:Thomas P. Heckman I know Heckman is a legend for a lot of techno fans, but I've never realy listened to his music before. This is a pretty straightforward technotrack, and it really doesn't do it for me. It's harder than ther previous track by C.J Bolland, but it's also alot more monotonus. I actually find it rather boring, and quite possibly the weakest link on this compilation. 07: Kloq - Kloq music 2 This is along the same path as Thomas P. Heckmans track, except this is pretty interesting stuff. It's a hard and pretty pumping piece, but where Heckmans track sounds boring and repetitive this has alot more going for it. There are plenty of elements being spun around here and it turns in to a nice blend suitable for both homelistening and dancefloor mayhem. Nice! 08: Prime Suspect - Synthetic Love Prime Suspect is Jan Muller from X-Dream and Xavier Morel, the guy who compiled this album. You can ceirtanly hear the x-dream influences here, but it's tilting more towards the techno-side of things than x-dream usually do. It's hard and rough, never sounds boring and has a real 'drive' to it. If you're in the right mood there's not a chance you'll be sitting still while this is playing. very nice! 09: Synthetic - Evil Thing Evil thing is a pretty slow track, but still manages to blend in nicely with the techy stuff on this compilation. There's a ceirtan 80's feel to this, It feels as it wouldn't be terribly ouf of place in the soundtrack of miami vice. Don't get me wrong though, it's a great piece of music. It might not get you on the dancefloor, but will work wonders for you sofa groovers. Quality! 10: Juno Reactor - Angel & Man(X-Dream remix) Ok, so you're in the recordstore and see this album just standing there. You look at the tracklist, and can't really decide. Should I get this one? You go through th tracks, and finally your eyes see this. An X-dream remix of this track? Bam! this is when all doubt is forgotten, and give your vis aa good spanking. Remixing this is a bald move, but X-dreams pumping techy influences actually work great in this track. Still...I've got one complaint: It only lasts for about five minutes! And when it's done it sort of just leaves you hanging, wanting more... Still a great track! Final remarks: It's great to see solstice releasing something like this, it's ceirtanly a turn in the right direction for them. That being said, this compilation wont be for everyone. It's one of the more techno influenced compilations I've seen in the psyscene and for me it definently works! Not all tracks are standout material, but alltogether this is easily one of the more interesting offerings as of late. Recomended! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Saikosounds Psyshop Beatspace Wirikuta Juno Play Discobole More reviews and other stuff: www.sonic-energy.net

Kino Oko - Lost Entertainment Artist: Kino Oko Title: Lost Entertainment Label: Horns and Hoofs Catalog: H&H CD 005 Released: 2005 Tracklist: 1.Born Without Soul 2.Metalic Mista 3.Pasyonata 4.Hippie Bones 5.Colors of Black 6.Pan Prophet 7.Atomic Corner 8.Industry of Broken Parts 9.Well Done10.Dead Birds In the Sky 11.Man Upon The Rainbow Kino Oko is Grzegorz Magnuszewski, perhaps best known for being part of Bigwigs. This is his debut solo album, released mid-desember last year on Horns and Hoofs. The label really suprised me with Idea FX earlier last year. After a few offerings I didn't really like, this was highly enjoyable... Thus I had hopes that this would live up to the standards of the above mentioned compilation. Let's have a look at the tracks.... 01: Born without a soul The album starts of slowly in a pretty and dark atmospheric way. It's quirkey and weird, and throughout the introduction you get hints to what you are about to experience. It slowly builds and squeaks around, and although it's all happening at a pretty slow bpm I can see this working both in the sofa and on the dancefloor. I've seen this album reffered to as "retro" an this track really brings out the child in me. If you've played Comodore64 and know how a sid-chip sounds you'll know what I mean. For me this is like the ultimate feel-good track... Awsome opening! 02: Metallic Mista On "Metallic Mista" it all gets kranked up a notch, as this is slightly harder than the opener. It's got a pretty haunting bassline, but for me this is most of all about atmosphere and groove. It strikes me as a rather cinematic piece of music, which is only amplified by the somewhat charicature-like sample uttering the words "Casino royale!". Oh...and did I mention how utterly groovy this is? Yes I did, didn't I...Well, It's worth repeating! 03: Pasyonata Pasyonata opens the way I like my psy. Melodic, atmospheric and spacey. That's not to say this is anything like any other melodic psytrance you've heard lately(or possibly at all.....). The playfull melodies, the naive bass, all those weird samples...It all just seems to fit so perfectly. I bet if you just played each element alone this would sound extremely simple, but put together there's a complexity to this that should also appeal to the psyheads... I really have no clue about what to compare this to...It's good though...It's really, really, really, really good! 04: Hippie Bones With "Hippie Bones" it's time to turn all that energy towards the dancefloor. This is a housy sounding corker, where the main focus seems to be on percussion. One could be fooled to think that this sounds just like any other track you'd find while hopping around the comecial clubs...It's not entierly true, though, as this as that little extra "edge". Things are tweaked a little more, the atmospheres are more trippy and the basslines are better. This isn't my favourite track on the album, but that really doesn't really say much...Very nice! 05: Colors of Black As "Colors of Black" opens the mood shifts dramatically. As we start off we're thrown deep into Idm-landscape with strange braks and an eerie atmosphere. As the main beat kicks in, I find myself wondering if I'm all of a sudden listening to hallucinogens mi-loony-um, as I think the beat sounds pretty simular. The simularities end there, however, and on top of this trancey and hypnotic beat he continue to paint his idm'ish soundscapes. Is it any good, you ask? Yes, kids - This is what music should sound like. 06:Pan Prophet "Pan Prophet" is another one of those very groovy tracks on this album. The first few minutes is mainly pretty hard percussion together with some pretty drifting and atmospheric synthsweeps. It works really well, and gets your head nodding really good. Then he pulls one of the oldest idm-tricks in the book. He adds a single-tone-extremely-high-pitch-bleeeeeeeeep, causing some severe pain to your ears. Well, thats not the entire trick though, the hard part is to remove it at excactly the right moment. And boy, does he ever manage to do this! It's like a ton of weights is lifted from your shoulders, and I'm willing to bet quite alot on this being extremely effective on a dancefloor. The last few minutes of the track is marvelous, no complaints! 07: Atomic Corner This is one of the "harder" tracks on the album. Well, hard is the wrong word offcourse, this album never really turns hard. It's a very playfull piece, lot's of small melodies drifting around together with a whole lot of effects and weird noises. It's highly organic, and as other reviewers have pointed out before me it sounds more analouge than alot of music comming out these days(This is a prominent feature of the entire album by the way). The way it shifts in mood, from pretty dark, to plain weird, to fun and even towards a bit "scaryness" towards the end just adds to my admiration and appreciation. Great! 08: Industry of Broken Parts This far into an album such as this, you often get the feeling that there will be no more suprises. Kino Oko however, does not seem to stop and pulls out yet another rabbit from his hat. This stormer of a track is one of many favourites here. It's atmospheric to say the least, constantly changing and morphing. The great hypnotic bassline together with all the other bubbeling makes this truly outstanding. It's like it's litterally bubbeling over with life...Excellent! 09: Well Done All the tracks on this album could well have had the title of this track and gotten away with it. Yet again Kino Oko proves on "Well Done" that he has a remarkable understanding of music. This is something as seldom as an über-funky trance track! Elements involved are a bassdrum you haven't heard the like of since the 1990's, a mixture of instruments such as a real bass(Sampled or played I dont know - but it ceirtanly works!) and something that I'm not sure what is. Could be a synth, could be a guitar. Whatever it is - it's cool. Well done! 10: Dead Birds in the Sky This track starts very mechanical. Imagine the diciples of Optimus prime having a linedance-session. It's all rythmically driven and pretty hypnotizing. One third into the track we move over into more atmospheric territory, and a child-like vocoder-infected voice starts singing "dead birds in the sky". From this point on and out its all about naive fun, couppled with massive amounts groove and harmony. Another sweet track! 11: Man Upon The Rainbow This album has been so much about fun and playfullness, and why finish it any other way? "Man upon the rainbow" is synthesizer-heaven, and on any other album this would have been utterly wrong. Here it just seems to find it's place among the other tracks, and allthough it's not really my favourite here it's pretty damn good! Final remarks: I've had this album for almost a month now, and I must say - it's holding up extraordinarily good! It's pretty much been my soundtrack to 2006 so far, and I just can't seem to get tired of it. It's got this really nice timeless quality to it, and find my favourite tracks shifting from day to day. Compared to for instance Idea FX(Which I liked a lot) I enjoy this much more. If this progression continues I can't even begin to imagine what the next thing H&H releases will sound like. As mentioned, I've had this only for about a month, but it's been a long time since I've been as excited about a trance-album as I am about "lost entertainment". In my book this is one of the top releases from 2005....Highly recomended! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Saikosounds Psyshop Beatspace Discobole Juno

V/A: Hate Artists: Various Title: Hate Label: Golden Dawn Records Catalog: GOD002 Format: CD Tracklist: 01. M.W.S - Hexenhammer 02. Candy Power - Terminator 03. Oliphant - Quasar 04. Alien Mental - Nukem 05. Phobium - 8 bit future 06. Alienation vs. M.I.T 07. Silent Horror - Nocturnal Wizard 08. Peacespect vs. Dejan vs. Hishiryo - Fort Europa 09. Savage Scream - Acid Clown Golden Dawn has ceirtanly managed to create a buzz about their second compilation, entiteled simlpy "Hate". Quite a few people have expressed how much they dislike this title, and the debate does not seem to find an end. I can't help but giggle a bit at the entire thing....I've never quite managed to take these utterly "dark" themes in psytrance entierly seiously, and I can't help but think that there's at least some kind of humor behind all this blackness. I mean, with a title and a cover like that, it cant expected to be taken entierly serious, you know. It seems a bit like an overkill(haha). It's ceirtanly nothing I manage to get worked up over. As far as marketing goes, I'd think a debate such as this is pure brilliance... I for one wouldn't have gotten this if it weren't for all that fuzz... The debate a side, there's also a cd comming with this package. It's limited to 500 copies only, so you'd better get this while it's fresh if you're interested. Needless to say this is pretty dark stuff, and the promitional texts also clearly warns sunlovers to stay away... Well, I for one love the sun, and the dark side of psytrance is not the one I usualy prefer. if one plus one equals two this means I should hate(pun intended) this album. Let's see if I do.. 01: M.W.S - Hexenhammer "My heart is filled with sorrow...but I can find no reason to contest the just sentence of the holy inquisition" . M.W.S opens the show with a sample from some movie couppled with some pretty cold soundscapes. The wind is howling, and I like the atmosphere created in the intro here. Before you know it the engine-like beat and bass kicks in, and sadly many of the atmospheric elements are dropped. In general I tend to dislike this kind of beat, but here it's actually rather varied, and hence it doesn't annoy me all that much. As the track moves along, it's cold harsh expression is maintained and made stronger.. There's plenty of work being done in the backgrond, both with samples of various sounds, voices and different squeeking effects. Towards the end there's even a hint of melody added to the mix, something I'd like to see more of by the way. The track is more varied then I feared, and I actually rather enjoyed this... 02: Candy power - Terminator Candipower provides "terminator", one of my favourite tracks on the compilation. Again we open with some voicesamples, this time in a language I'm not familiar with. Again there's a pretty atmospheric Intro to the track, but compared to the M.W.S-track I feel that the atmospheric elements are more preserved throughout the track here. The wall of sound that's build moves smoothly around, constantly shifting and morphing. The track has a softer feel than alot of the other tracks here, and I find that rather plesant. Make no mistake, though - this is not soft as in soft. It's just softer . There's also a humoristic element here(or atleast I hope it is!). I can't help but laught a little when Arnold Schwarzenegger is sampled towards the end: "Hasta la vista...Babie!" . Very enjoyable track, and ceirtanly nothing I'd use as a soundtrack for sacrificing a goat or anything like that... 03: Oliphant - Quasar "There's alot more to this world than we previously thought" ... Yet anothe track is kicked off with the help of voice-samples. Yet again that typical dark engine-like beat is present, but yet again it does not disturb me as much as it usually does. What pleases me most about this track is the presence of melodies, something so often left out of the mix in this kind of music. Another really exciting thing is the constant tweaking and sonic manipulation here. Pretty downright twisted stuff, actually. Towards the end Oliphant even dares to change the engine-like bass, and when it happens it all turns rather funky, but only for a few seconds. This is the third track in a row that's been suprising me in a positive way. Good going! 04: Alien Mental - Nukem Alien Mentals "Nukem" starts off with a distorted breakbeat of some sorts, before we're thrown towards the pumping bassdrums. The mood is dark (well, d'oh!), and the sound of what might be an alarm going off warns you of what you're about to encounter. And what migh that be you ask? Well - more of the same actually. Pumping bass, a few twisted sounds moving to and through and that seems to be just about it. Sure, some of the squeaks here might sound "weird" and "spaced out" or whatever you want to call it, but overall I find this thing rather dull. Alot of people are complaing about music being to standardized, following a ceirtan formula. Well, If there was ever a formula for dark trance I think it sounds alot like this, and I for one find it rather boring... Next please! 05: Phobium - 8 bit future Phobium is Hennong H. Ottesen, based in Oslo, Norway. He has released a few tracks on different compilations earlier, and here he delivers the track "8 bit future". It's a very monotonus affaire, pitch black, whithout a trace of melody. The sounds and effects he uses sound pretty simular throughout the tune. It's dark, it's repetitive and it's squeeking. This is really not my cup of tea, but I'm pretty sure alot of the people who usualy orient themselves towards this kind of music will enjoy it. Not made for me, though... 06: Alienation vs. M.I.T - Robo Terrorist I really like the opening of this track. Thrilling sounds swirl around, making me feel kind of dizzy. When the beat kicks in, I'm happy to report that theese guys have done something (slightly) different in their arrangement of bass and drums. After a couple of tracks I didn't like so much that really sounds refreshing.. The track is pretty varied(probably due to the fact that two artists are involved). Where the first part of the track is haunting, the second part sounds more fluid. Variation is important for me as I'm easily bored, and this doesn't bore as mich as the last two tracks. That being said, This is no favourite of mine, but it's a pretty decent track that I think would work well on a dancefloor. 07: Silent Horror - Nocturnal Wizard Silent Horror starts off with a sample of a guy rambling about lucifer together with some dark atmospheric sweeps. After a few seconds it's full speed ahead with relentless duggaduggaduggadugga-engine sounds. The metallic and somewhat disturbing sweeps swirling around are varied enough to make it all somewhat interesting, but again, this is really not for me. I'd like to see the nocturnal wizard use his wand more actively and whip up some more magic. Still, I can understand the attraction here, this ceirtanly has power. 08: Peacespect vs. Dejan vs. Hishiryo -Fort Europa Three artists colaborate to make "Fort Europa", the track that stands out above all others on this compilation for me. This is hard, driving and dark - just as you'd expect, but at the same time it's very varied and experimental. Theese guys are not afraid to play around with their basslines! The samples work very well, and to top it all they also include some melodic elements, hints of breakbeats and an overall coolness and atmosphere that can't be found anywhere else on the compilation. This is acid-madness at it's finest - more of this, please! 09: Savage Scream - Acid Clown Ladies and gentlemen! I give you the Clown!! To finish off this compilation Savage screams shows us the true face of the Acid Clow, and again this is a very nice track. The engine-factor is toned down, while the liquid is turned up. I also like that there's a focus on a few actual lines of acidic bass here, instead of focusing only on the weird sounds and samples. The ending of the track is a downright full funk-fest of fun, and I'd like to see the ideas there played around with some more. Still a pretty nice way to finish off the comp. Final remarks: OK, kids - it's safe to come out now....and if you enjoy the darker realms of psychedelic trance I'm pretty sure this is a safe buy as well. And for all you P.L.U.R-ists....Don't worry, this isn't the antichrist reborn, in fact I have a hard time finding anything really "evil" about it all. If you really must reduce it to being evil, I guess I could agree that it is so in a "Skelletor - the Arch nemesis of He-man" kind of way. As I've previously stated, the darker side of psy hasn't really been my favourite, and this compilation didn't manage to change that fact. Still, it suprised me to the extent that I enjoyed several of the tracks, and with that I guess I proved the Golden Dawn-guys wrong when they said this was not at all for the sunlovers. Enjoy! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) get it here: Beatspace Wirikuta

Artist: Xerxes Tiltle: The Mirror Formula Label: www.hellven.org Catalog: Hellven release #02 Format: mp3 Only Tracklist: 1.Prologue 2.Pirayana 3.Can you see This? 4.Prague 5.Angelina 6.Christmas Layers They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Apparently this is not the case with music. This is something as rare as a full album in high quality, including coverart for both front and back in case you'd like to burn yourself a hard copy. The best thing about it - it's absolutely free, available from the labels webpage. Xerxes is Klaus Lunde, a norwegian who's apparently been making music for quite some time. For me he's an undescribed letter and I had no idea what to excpect from this thing. But hey, what have I got to loose? Let's have a look at the tracks... 01: Prologue The first track of this freebie starts off as your average beatless ambient piece. It floats nicely and the warm harmonies are smooth and comforting. After about a minute it gets sort of dubby, and from then on the tracks just continues buidling. The vibe is a mystical one, new elements are added and it's pretty varied throughout. It actually get's pretty damn groovy after a while, and for a chiller it's impossible to dislike this. Very promising start! 02: Pirayana Pirayana moves more into the loungy, laidback and casual realms of chill. It all circels around a series of repeated themes, the most distinct one sounds like its made by a flute(or a synth sounding like a flute). The overall feel of the track is pretty organic, with the presence of the allready mentioned flute and a guitar. It's got a ton of bass, and again - this is groovy as hell! The first few times I heard it I thought it was too"cafè-friendly", but after repeated listenings it has ceirtanly grown on me. Nice! 03: Can you see this? In this track we explore more ambient soundscapes. A multilayered wall of floating sounds guides you on the way together with some extremely laidback breakbeats. Overall this thing is extremely hypnotizng, very soothing. Beautiful! 04: Prague More upbeat here, but offcourse not really upbeat as we're still firmly based in the chilled department. I've been to Prauge a few times my self, and I don't really get the reference of the title. Guess it has to do with some feeling the producer has.... Annyways, the track has a more "urban" sound, it's rougher, the beat is heavier than on the other tracks and I can see how a city of some magnitude could have inspired this. Not my favourite here, but a nice enough piece of music! 05: Angelina Once again we now move into more ambient territory. The track floats seemlessly around creating a nice, buzzing atmosphere. This is pretty melodic stuff, and I sense some melancholy in the mix here. It's the sort if track I'm able to fall asleep to(not of boredom, though...) and it's a rather plesant experience. 06:Christmas Layers The final track of the album is titled "chritmas layers", and is a very nice piece of electronic music. It's melodic, happy and it's got this beautiful naive charm to it. It's perhaps the most "pop'ish" track on the album, but in my opinion this isn't a bad thing. Still, I'suspect that this track will sound a bit to "straight" for some of the diehard psy-purists around. As most of this album, I found this rather enjoyable......Goodie! Final remarks: So...After six tracks we come to an end with this little thing. Going in with no expectations I have to say this was a positive suprise. Don't expect a mindboggeling chill-experience and don't expect to find the next all-time classic. That being said - this is pretty nice stuff, and a nice collection of solid chill-tracks. This could easily have been a proper release, and is definently worth a download and a listen... From what I hear his first actual album is due to hit the shops sometime in 2006, so keep an eye open - If the style is developed further that might be very, very nice! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it for free here: Hellven.org: http://www.hellven.org/hlv02.html More: www.sonic-energy.net

Artists: V/A Title: Chillogram Label: peak Records Catalog: PR006 Released: 2005 Tracklist: 1.Tripswitch feat. Tanina & the P.G.C - Quanta 2.Atriohm - Sevdah 3.Kickbong - Welcome E.T 4.Flooting Grooves feat. Dymons - Desert Fractals 5.Palyrria - Nilos Dub (Desert Mix) 6.The Peaking Godess Collective - Purple 7.Hol Baumann - Ocean Kingdom 8.Kali-Frogz - 8/6 Tumor Park 9.Dymons - The Emerald Tablets 10.Lucid Picnic - Forest Picnic 11.Master Margherita - Rainbow Ship 12.Sync24 - Hibernation 13.Master Margherita - Weightless Peak records is one of those labels who've really managed to stand out from the crowd over the last coupple of years. Both their chilled outputs and trancereleases have maintained high quality and originality. They've managed to create this mystic aura around their work, and my feeling towards their releases can often be compared to the one I so often had in the early days of labels such as Tip(before the "world" - era) and Twisted. Albums and compilations are anticipated for months and you just need to get your hands on them. This is a huge compliment ofcourse, but there's also some dangers connected to such an achievement. A bad compilation here wouldn't just be a bad compilation, it would be a miserable failure and a huge letdown! Needless to say my expectations before popping this in to the stereo were massive. Let's take a look at the tracks and see if they've managed to do it again... 01: Tripswitch feat. Tanina & the P.G.C - QuantaTripswith needs no introduction, and here he opens the compilation together with Tania, peak records resident poet. There's a new-age feeling to this thing with tanias poetry chanted over the floating soundscapes. When the poetry ends we're introduced to a tribal beat, and the overall mysticism of the track is preserved. It's a short track, perhaps a little too short, but it's a beautiful way to spark off this compilation. 02: Atriohm - Sevdah Atriohm is a name I only know from Hokus Peakus, and this seems to be the macedonians first chill-track. It begins very atmospheric, with the ringing of bells and the chanting of some choir. The mood is pretty dark, and the mystical, ethnic and somewhat tribal vibes are present here as well. Midway through the track it also turns pretty melodic, with haunting, yet laidback basslines moving around in the spacey jungle. Any trancehead getting into chill-out music should check this out, and for the allready convinced chillers this is a winner. very nice! 03: Kickbong - Welcome E.T E.T is welcomed by Kickbong, in what is actually a pretty alien-sounding piece of music. Moving in the realms of pretty twisted dub, this moves along with all kinds of weird squeaks, tweaks, blips and blops. The beat it self is ultra-groovy, the bass is heavy, and the melodies are very nice. There's also alot of variation in the track, not a dull second here.... If you enjoy your chillout weird, dubby and at the same time harmonic you'd better not leave this piece of music alone. Excellent! 04: Flooting Grooves feat. Dymons - Desert Fractals Flooting Grooves is a newcommer from South Africa. What does he do you ask? Well - He plays the flute. The comparison to Raja Ram is destined to surface, so I might as well do it right now. This actually isn't far away form alot of his early tip-era work. The track is a very soft, soothing tribal journey with the flute at the core as it's central element. The flute moves around flawlessly in the mystical surroundings of some very liquid and mystical electronics. Add to this a dash of tribalism and some groovy rythms and you have an idea what youre in for. Again a very nice track! 05: Palyrria - Nilos Dub (Desert Mix) Palyyria is apparently a greek collective, fusing ethnic vibes and analouge instruments with elctronics. This is my first encounter with them, and I'm happy to report it's a plesant one. This is a breakbeatoriented track, with the main elements being the dubby beats and a stringinstrument of some sort creating a rather excotic and eastern vibe. I rather enjoy my chillout etho-inspired, and this touches me in all the right places. Goodie! 06:The Peaking Godess Collective - Purple The Peaking Godess collection seems to be something like the peak records inhouse and resident orchestra, having already released tracks on several of the peak compilations. Here they treat us to an amazing track. What's most impressive is that this is really a band, in the true meaning of the word. "Eh...Band?" you ask? Yes, you know - gutiar, a bassplayer, a flute etc... You know - real instruments, played together. Add to this a wonderfully crafted ambient electronic atmosphere and some marvelous knob-tweaking and you know that you're in for something special... It's like the Ozric Tentacles teamed up with early Shpongle(...or something). Theese guys have a debut album scheduled for next year, so keep an eye open. Very impressive stuff! 07: Hol Baumann - Ocean Kingdom "Ocean Kingdom" has definently been named correctly, you actually feel suberged while listening to this. The track is driven by some pretty original breakbeats. There's lots of weird noises moving to and through, and it all manages to keep interesting from start to finish. I sense a strong idm-influence here, which is only positive. 08: Kali-Frogz - 8/6 Tumor Park The french duo Kali-Frogz delivers the compilations 8th installment with the rather weird title "8/6 Tumor Park". The track moves along in a spacey, laidback mood. Lots of heavy and healing bass, tribal beats and eerie atmospheric sweeps makes this a freefloater of dimentions. It's hypnotizing, and comforting, yet somewhat disturbing, and I like it, I like it alot! 09: Dymons - The Emerald Tablets As I write theese words my appartment is engulfed in the freezing Norwegian winter. This is the kind of track that makes me miss the summer really bad. It's a dubby piece, moving along in a slow, but steady pace. The presence of an acoustic guitar and the all the nice nature-samples just makes me wish I could head out to the beach or some park and have an outdoor j**nt. No such luck, but with music such as this the winter doesn't feel as cold as it is. The melodies are somewhat trancey and there's also a pinch of psychedelia added in the mix here. Another solid track! 10: Lucid Picnic - Forest Picnic This is another track that uses alot of nature-samples. Waves breaking, birds singing and all that... It's a pretty ambient piece of music, and it's collage of sounds seems more stripped down and somewhat minimal compared to what is the case is in alot of the other tracks on the compilation. Mid-way throug a 4/4 beat kicks in, and it sort of makes you want to start dancing in slow-motion. The melodies are nice and gentle, and this is actually a decent piece of music. The problem is that it's placed in such a great album, and it really doesn't stand out in any particular way in this context. Not among my favourites here, but an ok track annyways 11: Master Margherita - Rainbow Ship Master Marherita is the man respinsible for compiling the tracks on this album. On this piece of music he also proves that he knows how to make dreamy ambient. The track floats around with layers of sound put together in an atmospheric blend. It's very melodic at times, and the hypnotizing mysticism of this stuff is lovely. There are some some vocals present here, but no words are uttered. It functions purely as an instruments and works great together with the electronics. Very nice track! 12: Sync24 - Hibernation Hibernation is a state of regulated hypothermia, lasting several days or weeks, that allows animals to conserve energy during the winter. The tracks title is fitting, as we now move in to the realms of completely beatless ambient. This is pretty clean and polished stuff, and it might sound a tad monotonus at times, but hey - hibernation is probably a pretty monotonus experience... The soundscapes are warm and comforting, just what you need while you wait out the winter. If you're into ambient of the beatless kind: dig in! 13: Master Margherita - Weightless Master Margherita makes it his own task to finish our journey, and he does so in style. The circle has come to an end as he brings bits and pieces of Tanias poetry from the tripswitch track into his ambient soundscape. A short, ambient piece of music that sums it all up nicely... Final remarks: Aaaah...It seems santaclause came from switzerland this year, and he's delivered a package that will last well in to the new year. This is beyond doubt one of the best compilations of 2005. Peak confirms their position as 100% "trustable", and raises the bar and expectations even further for their comming releases. This is a package filled with quality, mood and mysticism - everything the dedicated chiller can ask for. The trackselection is about as good as it gets, and it's hard to point at weak points here. Highly recomended!! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Saikosounds Psyshop Amboworld Beatspace Discobole Juno Chaosunlimited More fun: www.sonic-energy.net

Artist: Radical Distortion vs Mendark Title: Purple Energy Released: 2005 Label: Unicorn Music Catalog: UMCD007 Tracklist: 1.Radical Distortion - Equilibrium 2.Mendark vs Sunhize - 3 On a Tree 3.Radical Distortion - Skunk Pack 4.Mendark - It Came Up The Mind 5.Radical Distortion & Mendark - Purple Energy 6.Radical Distortion - The Halloween Project 7.Mendark - The Only Way 8.Radical Distortion - Inspiration 9.Mendark - Psycho Filler The other day I was discussing the Unicorn label with one of my friends. I've previously only been familiar with the work of their chilled sublabel Cosmic Leaf, but it turns out that Unicorn has been around for years. Now I dont know how well this friend of mine know the label, but he told me that this greek output was a notorious Nitzho-crew releasing stuff he would not even dream of listening to, none the less purchasing. Well, If that was the case in the past, things have definently changed. This is ceirtanly melodic stuff, and to many of todays darktrancers and progheads this might just be a bit over the top. But nitzho? No way! The only track I've previously heard from theese guys was the Radical Distortion track on Suntrip's Apsara comp, which I actually didn't find all that good (The track not the comp). Because of this my expectations were not to high diving in to this... Let's see how it turned out.. 01: Radical Distortion - Equilibrium "Sometimes...You've got to close one door to open another....". The first track of this album sets the mood imediately. It's light, it's uplifting, it's melodic and most of all it's oldschool. The basslines, the melodies and the beats all create a euphoric feeling, like the one so often present in melodic goa of the mid-90's. It's been done before, ofcourse, but thats besides the point here. Ok track as an opener to the album. 02: Mendark vs Sunhize - 3 On a Tree On this track Mendark colaborates with someone called Sunhize, a character I'm not familiar with. The track is darker than Equilibrium, but it's by no means dark in comparison to the outputs of the current darktrance scene. It's a pretty pumpung track, the main focus here is bass and percussion together with an overall "mystic" vibe . The production also sounds somewhat modernized compared to alot of the other tracks here, and I'm pretty sure this would work wonders on a dancefloor with the right crowd. It's hypnotizing and puts a smile on my face. One of my favourites on the album. 03: Radical Distortion - Skunk Pack The track opens with a bunch of distorted voice-samples from some movie I don't really recognize. As the beat kicks in I become somewhat sceptic as the bassdrum is slightly distorted. Gabber? Luckilly no, and this element is also toned down throughout the track. Still it's a pretty "hard" track, and my guess is this is a track that won't be to everyones liking. It has a massive takeoff at the end with lot's of fast-paced melodies, squeaking and the full monty. I find it charming, and it's most ceirtanly dancable. 04: Mendark - It Came Up The Mind Now this is a real groover. A typical goa kick, some heavy bass and then the rest is all atmosphere and energy, perhaps with with the weight tipping slightly towards the latter element. Floating synthsweeps together with more oldschool melodywork and a variety of bubbeling noises makes this a very plesant experience for both body and mind. Nice. 05: Radical Distortion & Mendark - Purple Energy In this track we meet Mendark and Radical distortion together, and this is another example of a track where the production and general sound seem somewhat modernized. The rolling basslines here could be the one of almost any full-on act, but the rest of the track does not seem to fit in to the narrow space that makes the borders of this hated and loved genere. there is a sense of building throughout the track, and it follows a pattern of intro - building - takeoff - and then fades into an outro. The melodies here are perhaps slightly darker than those on alot of the other tracks. 06: Radical Distortion - The Halloween Project Now this is one of those tracks that really gets me in that good ol' flip-out hippie-mood that I remember so well. It's as melodic as it can get, it's massively multilayered, yet most of the melodies have a simple and naive quality. there are several build-ups and takeoffs - this is a track that would have torn appart any dancefloor in '96 and I'm pretty sure it would get alot of people movin' today as well. Excellent track! 07: Mendark - The Only Way This is another pumping offering, again ultra-melodic and very uplifting. You have your breakdowns, your buildups, your peaks and your takeoffs. You might notice how I'm not extraordinarlily enthusiastic now, and this has it's reasons. For me this track is a good track, no doubt about that, the point is that this could have just been any old' good track. besides I think it might have been nice with some variation at this point. Still, as a stand-alone track it's pretty decent. 08: Radical Distortion - Inspiration First of all I love the intro of this track. Somewhat tribal, and mystic. There's some synth-choir together with a voice-sample mumbeling something about an alien life form. I can't really make it out. Then the bass kicks inn, and it all starts building. Very trance-inducing, layer upon layer of melodies together with the monotonus, round sound of the goa bassdrum. This is also sort of dark, but not really ofcourse. Very enjoyable track! 09: Mendark - Psycho Filler Okay, I'm inclined do dislike this track just because of the horrible title, but let's not do that, it just wouldn't be fair now, would it. That being said, this is the track I find the weakest on the album. The melodies lack emotion, and it just sounds somewhat uninspired. It's all about the body and energy, and not too much about the mind, and that sort of turns me off. Final remarks: In 2005 there has been several Goa releases allready. Comparing this to for instance Khetzal would not be fair, this is much more dancefloor oriented stuff. Overall I think it's a pretty damn strong collection of oldschool tracks,and a coupple of them are brilliant. Listening to the album as a whole might be a bit too much, though and If I where to point my finger at something I would change it would spesifically be to loose the last track and perhaps add a bit mor variation. That being said - I really enjoyed this! If you're enjoying the whole goa-revival and want more of it, this is the thing I'd get right now. Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Saikosounds Psyshop beatspace JunoTrance-Shop More reviews, interviews, articles and a forum filled with good vibes: www.sonic-energy.net

Title: Nova Natura Label: Cosmic Leaf Records Catalog: CLCD03 Released: 2005 Tracklist: 1.Minos - Introitous 2.Terra Nine - Circle Maker (Hesius Dome vs. Arcane Trickster rmx) 3.Zero Cult - Redreaming 4.Side Liner - Haunted Thoughts (Omni Festival 2005 Live Mix) 5.MLT - Ravine Echoes 6.D. Batistatos - Drift Memories 7.GEO - Mitosis 8.The Omm Squad - Strange Harvest (Side Liner rmx) 9.Will-O-The-Wisp - Touching Stars 10.Omegahertz - Ionian Seas 11.Cudelix - Anama Cosmic Leaf is the chilled subdivision of the greek trancelabel Unicorn Music. Compiled by labelmanager Nick Miamis, this is the third compilation comming out of their camp. "Nova Natura" is also a radioshow in Greece, hosted by Nick himself. On this compilation we're introduced to quite a variety of names, most of them unknown - at least for me. Musically this thing operates in a rather loungy landscape, most of this stuff isn't your "deepest" flavour of psy-chill. Let's take a closer look at the tracks... 01: Minos - Introitous To start off this compilation Minos gives us a really epic piece. This is massively orchestrated chill with all the ingredients you can possibly imagine. Horns, percussion, stings, both male and female vocals - and thats just the tip of the iceberg. It sounds like Minos might have picked up a trick or two from someone like Vangelis. For me this is a bit too much, it just gets too grandiose, filled with too many clichès. It's basically a bit over the top if you catch my drift. I know however that alot of people appreciate this kind of flavour in their chill, and if you do - check this out. 02: Terra Nine - Circle Maker (Hesius Dome vs. Arvane Trickster rmx) From the epic sounds of Minos we turn to Terra Nine's "Circle Maker". This is also a pretty massive track, but in a completely different way. It has a darker, more eerie atmosphere and the sounds here have a distict metallic feel to themselves. Even the violin sounds techy in here. What really makes the track stand out though is the hypnotizing, tribal beats, constantly driving you forwards. It's both groovy and calming at the same time, and I really like this. One of my favourite tracks on the album! 03: Zero Cult - Redreaming Zero Cult takes us over into the more smoke-ridden realms of dub. It's a pretty straightforward track, with plenty of bass and reverb. The melodies and beats change every now and then, but overall this track comes across as pretty monotonus. That being said, there are interesting elements here. I for one really dig that spacey bassline thats sort of lurking in the background here at times. This is by no means revolutionary stuff, but I think it's a nice enough listening-experience. 04: Side Liner - Haunted Thoughts (Omni festival 2005 Live mix) Side Liner is the chill project of Cosmic leaf label manager Nick Miamis him self. I haven't heard the original version of this track, but the live Mix is nice enough. I get the feeling that Side Liner gets alot of inspiration from mid-90's chill - this track ceirtanly has alot of the elements I remember from that era. There are plenty of of those catchy melody-lines, a pretty heavy breakbeat and massive amounts of bass. This would probably be one of my favourites on the album if it wasn't for one thing - there's this sound thats repeated so often... it's like a bark...or a cough perhaps...I don't really know what it is, but it irritates me! I think it might be an effect added for the live mix, but I'm not sure. Pretty nice track, though 05: MLT - Ravine Echoes This is a track that begins pretty straightforward. A bassline, some brakbeats, and for a long time you think that this, together with the odd blipp and blopp is all there is to it. Luckilly this is not the case. It slowly builds and incorporates more elements. Towards the end it's both dubby and massively orchestral at once. Trumpets, pianos and huge sweeps blow towards you. Some might find this a bit to epic, and possibly even cheezy, but in my book this avoids falling in to the latter category. 06:D. Batistatos - Drift Memories "D. Bastistatos". A name like that has got to be greek, right? Annyways, this is a pretty straightforward chilled breakbeat-track. It contains the usual elements - a nice breakbeat, and loads of bass. It does however have one thing that makes it stand out from the bulk of rather boring chill of this category; it draws quite heavilly on greek folk-music, and it does so without becoming overly cheezy. Again, this is by no means massively revolutionary music, but if you take this for what it is and play it in the right context you should be able to enjoy it. 07: GEO - Mitosis This track opens with three elements: 1) The sound of birds sqeuaking. 2) The sound of waves crushing. And finally 3) Long "atmospheric" synthsweeps. Now put all ingredients in a blender - add a dash of beats and voilà - cheeze of the worst smelling kind! Luckilly the track doesn't turn out to be a total catastrophe, there are some nice elements in here as well, like some of the melodies. For me however this is just too much. Like my constantly weed-smoking friend said when I played him this track: "Duuuude! and I don't really mean that in a good way, ya' know?" 08: The Omm Squad - Strange Harvest (Side Liner rmx) The track opens with a voice-sample I really can't make out. maybe it's Greek, I don't know. The feeling here is dubby and oriental, and the hippie-factor is definently present. The bassline is somewhat oldschool, like it's some kind of extremely downbeat goa-track(but not really ofcourse). There are also lots of different squeaks around in the background and all these sounds work really great together. The beats of the track are filled with tribal elements and work wonders together with the rest of the sounds. Very nice track, one of my favorites here! 09: Will-O-The-Wisp - Toucing Stars Will-O-The-Wisp definantly has the artistname of this compilation, no doubt about that! Also this seems to be heavily under the influence of oldschool goa, as it's melodies, bass and general production all hints in this direction. It sounds kind of outdated, but definently has it's moments. The melodies are nice, and again this is an example of a track where things aren't overdone. Not a perfect gem and if you hate the oldschool sound - skip it. I for one enjoy this. 10: Omegahertz - Ionian Seas This track is quite suprising to find on this compilation. It's a very downbeat, yet hypnotizing 4/4 track. It's very oriental in it's expression, and if you enjoy your chill with a touch of ethnic flavour this track alone is worth buying the album for. Imagine dead can dance tripping on some beach in Greece, while all kinds of funny characters dance around them. Omehahertz is a new name for me, but I'll definently be tuning in if he releases anything simular to this. A definite favourite here, and I'd love to see an entire album of his style. 11: Cudelix - Anama Cudelix gives us another one of those pretty epic tracks that's been a major factor throughout this compilation. The violin-like work here sounds like it could have been taken straight out of the soundtrack from "Lord of the Rings" or some other fantasy movie. The beats are pretty much your average chillout breaks, and the singing here doesn't really do it for me. With that awfull vocoder it reminds me too much of that old cheer-hit or something like that. Definently not my favourite track on the album. Final remarks: First of all, if you buy this compilation hoping to find the next pioneer of psychedelic chill, you've purchased the wrong disc. You'll find no new Shpongle, Solar fields or Bluetech here. That however doesn't mean it's a bad compilation, it's just not an outstanding one either. A coupple of the tracks I really didn't like, most of the tracks are rather average, and then there are two or three tracks that really stand out in a positive way. If you feel like checking out some greek chill, this would be a good place to start. This is also an album I'd recomend if you need something less intense, something more down-to earth and straightforward than is often the case of psychill. Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Get it here: Saikosounds Psyshop Amboworld Discobole More reviews, interviews, artucles and a nice little forum at www.sonic-energy.net

Artist: Svartsinn Title: Traces of Nothingness Released: October 2005 Tracklist: 1.Traces of Nothingness 2.No Passage to the Innermost... 3.Lost in Reveries 4.Misanthropic odyssey 5.Through the Apathetic Eyes 6.All the Colours are Fading 7....But the Fire burns no more 8.Bonus: Emptiness is Form The word Svartsinn is Norwegian, and directly translated to english it would mean something like black mind or black soul. This is Jan Roger Pettersen, aka Svartsinns third full-length album, and just like his second offering "Of Darkness and Re-Creation" this is released on the Canadian ambient-label Cyclic Law. This is an album that will demand it's time from you if you want to be rewarded. It requiers attention and you have to be a motivated listener to dig in to this stuff. Let's see what hides inside for the patient listener... 01: Traces of Nothingness "It lives...in the dark....something in the dark"... The opening track of the album starts off with a frightened voice - one of the few voicesamples we find on this album. The atmosphere is freezin, ice-cold and pitch black. The main elements present are long, stretched soundscapes - and every now and then there are hints of subtle melodies. 02: No Passage to the innermost... We continue with floating, but the atmosphere shifts somewhat in the second track of the album. It opens with two distinct sources of sound morphing together. The sound of bubbeling water - like someone is drowning or something, together with something that might be heavy pounding on some sort of steel barrell. The soundscapes here are somewhat more melodic than on the first track. It's gentle and soft, and yet it's also pretty harsh at times. 03: Lost in reveries This is the sort of track I find it hard to describe, but enjoy listening to. It's like a constantly shifting collage of sounds, there are noe real referencepoints here. It has a rather "metallic" feel to it, it sounds like your sitting in some giant tin-can listening to the storms sweeping by outside. It would be easy to use a bunch of clichès about how his nordic, arctic background must have influenced him here, and they would also be quite fitting. It's dark, it's cold and it's quite a fascinating ride. 04: Misanthropic Odyssey This is a more majestic ride, and has a more organic feeling. If I were to characterize this in any way I'd say this is ambient-musics answere to the forest-trance. Quite mystical, filled with little, weird and subtle noises together with an evershifting almost alien melody dribing the track. Lots of substance and change all the way. 05: Through apatic eyes this track is most of all about mood. It's scary, and when I say that I mean it in the true sense of the word - it actually scares you! This is a constantly changing collage of sounds slowly moving around a set of permanently present components. It also builds in intensity and have several "peaks" throughout. There is also a very obscure and fraky voice-sample present, hypnotizing you with a message of "Cannibalism...occultism....satanism...beastiality...mutilation...murder...vampireism". I know it sounds like cheeze, but bellieve me when I say that this is no such thing. 06:All the colours are fading This is one of the more minimal offerings on the album. very One set of synth-sweeps are morphed and changed throughout the track, and there are fewer things going on in the background. It's constantly drifting sound is actually very calming, very relaxing, and this is perhaps the "warmest" track on the album. To avoid making it too cozy, Svartsinn makes us listen to some sadistic screaming far, into the distance a few times. 07: ...But the fire Burns no More This is by far my favourite track on the album..Filled with all kinds of atmospheres, feeling and emotion this is a wonderfull, though a bit too short ambient piece of brilliance. The track feels very fluid, filled with liquids and water. It begins rather warm, again suprisingly cozy. Before you know it however the dark forces have completely surrounded you. There are hints of voices present, but you can't really make out what their saying.. 08: Bonus: Emptiness is Form The last track of the album is called "Emptiness is Form" and the title is quite fitting. It begins as almost complete silence, you hear a noise far in to the distance. It grabs your attention - you have to focus and concentrate in order to hear what it is. It grows, gets stronger, and if you play this loud enough your entire room will soon enough be resonating in bass.Then it just fades out and leaves you in silence. Final remarks: Cyclic law is one of my favourite labels when it comes to dark, ambient music and luckilly enough Svartsinn did not dissapoint me. As I've allready mentioned, though - this isn't an album for everyone, and it's ceirtanly not an album suitable for any occation. It's quite demanding and takes some time as well, it's not an instantly catchy or easily digestible album. Bottom line: if you enjoy your doses of beatless ambient and also has a weak spot for the dark side - do not hessitate! Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: Wirikuta Cyclic law mailorder More fun: www.sonic-energy.net