advance

Love this album... haven't heard it in any parties yet (though I will! Voice of Cod/O.O.O.D. is coming to Israel in about 3 weeks and I'm definitely there...), but I did jog with it playing a number of times... that Batman track just kills me I've been running like 30-40 minutes and then suddenly this starts... even though I'm out of breath, I just can't help myself laughing out loud... hehe This album is really groovy, really beatish... really makes me want to move. So full of humour in each and every part of it... I love it. Sometimes you want the hard-core, no-games, artistic and pure melodies, a-la Jikkenteki, and some times you just want something to enjoy, to laugh at and with, to make you squirm in your seat, and then jump up and start moving... this is just it.

Hey, what can I say, cheesy is the word that came to mind... I gave the album many chances, really wanted to see what you loved about it so much... but I just can't see it. It sort of reminded me of Smells Like Humus Spirit You want a psytrance artist with a sense of humour? How about the Texas Faggott guys? Suomisaundi? Now THAT is insane humour... like their Marriage track Cheesiness pushed beyond the limit and right into "humour". I don't feel this about Safi Connection's album... some tracks are quite cheesy, some are okay, the actual trance composition, sampling, beats are indeed mostly non-standard but nothing remarkable... :/ Check out Texas Faggott's video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3ZRFaJefXo I'll give it a few more goes, maybe I'll see your point. Just to make my point clearer, though, you say this album might be the best of 2006... has 2006 been such a horrible year? I mean, if Artifakt's Artifakts II is one of the best of 2005, and it is eons beyond the Safi Connection album, what does it say about 2006? Just my opinion!

Haha, silly me, then I just don't have Fiction as MP3s, so I haven't searched through the album tracks. Thanks

You don't need top notch sound engineers to do volume normalization... foobar 2000 does ReplayGain for free and it does it pretty well automatically The thing about downloadable music is that it can be be fixed even after the "mastering". This is not a CD-ROM, but a bunch of MP3s. Here's hoping the .WAV (or better yet .APE) version files will be normalized...

This is not music, it is an ambient soundtrack of... an old factory. I don't know. I actually love it, playing in the background... sort of a anti-matter version of Carbon Based Lifeforms' or Solar Fields' albums. Dark ambient? I don't know. I don't even notice it disappears until a few minutes later. One day, I woke up with it... such a weird way to wake up. It sort of mixed with my dreams... I can't even explain it. Not bad, just - dark. Great release, but not a Juno Reactor release. Something else...

I'm not even sure it's Jaia (certainly it isn't from Blue Energy, don't think it is from Fiction, didn't find it in all the other tracks I have of his). I just know I heard it prior to the show, and that Yannis played it about a month ago. I can't say much about the track except that it starts with a sort of melodic\musical "clink", and that there's a woman whispering "close your eyes" right at the beginning. Can anyone help?

I can't believe no one mentioned Jaia - Blue Energy Did any of you hear anything like it before it was released?

One of the best trance album I've ever heard, no doubt about it. Among the top of the top. SOMMEIL PARADOXAL is just so beautiful... you can't even breathe for a second before these guys pull you in, to journey on. Indeed, heavenly landscapes can't help but popping into mind when you hear this. You are there! And this is the sunrise of this album. ANAWA'S PARADISE is the morning rush of nature, everyone wakes up almost suddenly... and BREATHING OCEAN sends us flying over the water, gliding, falling, soaring, over the lakes, the seas, the oceans... seagulls among our side. Everything swims, flies, moves, crawls, squirms, runs. And then we return to the land, as in BRAINSTORM a plains fire breaks out... burning whatever is in its way. The land rages, fear its wrath! NASTY ANGEL is the tribals raging, dancing, asking their gods for help... what a track, makes you want to breakout... and then everything is alright, and jubilation ensues as MAI MAI reaches its peak. The gods will help. And you just feel like you want to go out to the desert and dance, hands waving up into the sky, as the sun rises.. the pure joy that the melody gives is just unadulterated! Finally, after the events of the day, the storm ushers in and breaks out in thunder and lightning as SPIRITUAL DROPS AND ETERNAL ICES commences. Rain pours, cleaning everything, swiping everything. Rivers flows, the land is cleansed. AFTER THE RAIN, nightfall allures us in. The rain has indeed cleansed the land, nature is pulsing slowly, healthy. You float on the energy of nature, life, unity. Life is beautiful. And then the day ends... Or does it? Beyond words.

Hidden track is quite brilliant, but completely out of the feel of the album. It could have easily been on an older Jaia album...

Yeah, I haven't even listened to the samples of this album... don't know why. Triac perform in my back yard every month or so Haven't gone to seen 'em yet, though!

Well, I tried. I listened and listened... but Safi Connection's album just sounds so... cheesy. Trance covers of pop/rocks songs...? Principles of Flight is a proper candidate for album of the year, even if it doesn't have the "spark" that Jikkenteki and Ka-Sol have in their trance parts, imho.

I see no vote for Safi Connection

wtf?! Infected Mushroom have decided to release their new track (well, it's a song, not a track! the Radio Edit anyhow) as a cellular phone ringtone, with Israel's Orange mobile network. Argh. What's up with these guys? http://www.orange.co.il/web/obox/MiniSiteP...?NodeId=1059689

Hmmm, I won't bother quoting Emmanuhell's post before he edited it... let's just say that it was classic ad hominem abusive. He does seem to have a problem, though. He doesn't understand the difference between actions and opiniosn. Saying something should be excluded is fine, and answering it is fine as well. Excluding something... well, that's a whole different matter. Also, Emmanuhell doesn't seem to accept the fact that other people think/feel different than he does. That other people have greatly enjoyed Top of 2006 and have discovered great, amazing music that they haven't heard before. That people used it as a guide to that year's music, to see what they have missed. That none of this makes the music any less spiritual or beautiful. Oh well... About Jikkenteki and OOOD - yes, they're active members of this forum. So what? I believe the people in this forum mostly have integrity. They vote for what they love, not for what they feel they should because someone is watching, or because someone is their friend... unlike Isratrance's Top of 2007 vote. I haven't spoken to either Jikkenteki or OOOD (in fact, my only communications with Jikkenteki was in a post where I was wishing he'd come to perform in Israel... I still do ). Nor have I spoken to Ka-Sol, or any of the others I've voted for. I just think their albums are brilliant. I am loyal to my own truth and taste. Finally, Principle of Flight's album is just spectacular, in my opinion. It could be even better, with better trance parts - but some tracks on it just shine. Thank god for the Top of 2007 poll, or I would have probably never heard of the album...

LMAO Infected Mushroom have won their respect in my heart: The Gathering changed what people expected of psytrance (everything was very Delta/X-Dream'ish prior to its release), Classical Mushroom is one of the best albums I've ever heard - including Bust A Move, one of the most energetic and beautiful trance anthems (yes, it is an anthem) ever released, B.P. Empire is very high quality and although it speaks less to me, has one of my top 5 favourite pieces of music ever in any genre - Dancing With Kadafi, Converting Vegetarians is the first step in a downwards trend for IM but it still includes some very cool tracks and a great combination with Berry Sakharof, IM the Supervisor has lots of really sad, non-psy, shite tracks - but it also has Stretched, Meduzze, Bombat which are some of IM's best pieces. Besides, I've started listening to psytrance because of Infected Mushroom, and without them would have never discovered Artifakt, Jaia, Jikkenteki, Ka-Sol, Pleiadians, Shpongle, Ott and so many other great psy artists (what a weird blend of artists, but what can I say - I love 'em all). However, what Infected Mushroom play today is barely psytrance. Their shows are commercial, horrible crap - with the masses I can see in Linkin Park concerts. Their music has Radio Edits, targetted at worldwide public playlists. Their music isn't played during a sunrise in the desert, or a sunset near the beach. I can't blame them - they want financial security, they want global success, they want to break through. This requires a compromise of music style - something that will talk to most everyone. And they're doing it. I respect them, or rather - what they have accomplished. I sadly doubt that I'll be getting their latest.

Now I have a good reason for why abasio is my favourite forum member

This is a strange release... like Solar Fields, I can listen to it, enjoy it, and when its done - not notice that I've even listened to anything. Absolutely ambient... goes great with my naps The thing is, since I can't concentrate music I can't review it. Can't say I even notice when tracks change!

Hey there, I might be in Western Europe during July/August this year. I'm looking for a nice trance festival to visit at around that time (23/07/2007 to 16/07/2007), not something with Skazi/Astrix style crap, nor Tiesto style Djs - I'm talking South African/ Progressive/Psy/Goa artists or even the speciality of the area - tech/dark/Finnish/Swedish trance (a-la Ka-Sol). If it has anything to do with Artifakt, Jaia, Talpa, Ka-Sol, Jikkenteki, Principles of Flight, Tegma, OOOD, Phatmatix, Mantrix, Ra, Filteria, or anything of that calibre - especially Posford related projects, I'll be even happier! Me and a friend have a dream trip: Wacken festival, some sort of trance festival, a UEFA Champions league/cup game and lots of alcohol. You can help up fulfill our dream

Aquatic Serenade has the same sort of ... spirit, I don't know ... as the last track in Khetzal's Corrolle. That is, until the singing part (which, sort of depresses me).

Carbon Based Lifeforms - World Of Sleepers (2006) How can there not be a review of this album?!

Not a very remarkable album, but Aerospace does know what he's doing when on the dance floor. Track 6 has a beautiful melodic part, which caused me to listen to it again and again these past months. However, I can't say I've had any urge to listen to the rest of the album, especially the annoying last track... the new Aerospace album should be much better.

The Hooloovoo track is brilliant. Haven't gave this album a proper hear yet (can't say I have to most of the albums I've loved this year), so I won't say anything beyond that.

Yeah, I kind of agree with Chis. I love this album, in fact - I've been waking to the first 3 tracks every morning this last week. However, as much as it grows on me and as much as it gets a large time of spin, I still can't but feel a bit disappointed about the lack of that extra "polish". I don't know what's missing, I can't really say. I think Disease in the Shadows is a great example of what Chis is saying. It starts a bit Dark Soho'ish, if you know what I mean. A groovy base line comes in, I love the windy melody in the background... Around 0:55 I'd expect some kind of "tweak" to the sound, instead it just sort of skips and just reloops. I don't know what else I'd put there, actually, I just know something is just not "there". "I" "like" "typing" "like" "this" "". We're at 02:00 now, and still - nothing changes. Same beat, same music since the beginning of the track. In fact, if anything - a few sounds just disappeared, to re-appear in 2:23. Nothing new, still. At 2:50 at last we hear something a bit different! Same melody, different theme, sub-lime 303ish sound, a bit downbeat... and now you'd expect some kind of huge explosion! But what do you get? Not so much as an explosion or an uproar... the music just sort of returns. Same music, again. Maybe the base line is a bit more emphasized. At least at around 05:00 we get something a bit different, a-la South Afrikan (the K is for Artifakt, of course ) full-on. Then A Heavy Responsibility starts, and it just sounds as if the tempo gets a bit faster, but it's still the same thing! At least A Heavy Responsbility has some great orchestral and slow, melodic parts... in fact, I think the strongest point of the album is these parts and the cross overs. I think that if this guy worked with Artifakt, for example, we'd get a simple masterpiece. Melodic genious coupled with beat and bass genious would be something beyond exceptional. I hope you get my point Anyhow, I still haven't heard this album to truely review it properly, so let's just say for now that even if what Chis says is true, this is still one of the best albums of 2006.

Indeed! Listen to the other track I recommended, Hierophant - Need To Know (Bushman Remix). It's the last track in the Backroom Beats 2 compilation... one of the most beautiful I've ever heard.

The two chill compilations look amazing! I'll post my own soon. It'll have to contain Tripswitch - Deer Park and Hierophant - Need To Know (Bushman Remix)... and the last track in Khetzal's album