Rotwang

Here's my tentative top 5: 1. The Nommos - Primal Meltdown - Avatar - October 2. Various - Durdom - Devil's Mind - May 3. Highcosmos - 4Real - Noise Poison - January 4. Horror Place - Hobyah - Insomnia - April 5. Androcell - Efflorescence - Celestial Dragon - March (release dates are imprecise since I used the "arrival date" at saikosounds)

Total - Mr. Fingers

Having had this album for a few weeks I can confidently say that it is splendid. Hope to write a review soon if I have time.

Good point

I went with 4.5 out of 5, not because I think that a large proportion of modern releases are good, but because I think there is enough damn good stuff being released. The last few years have been great for dark psy. I know that not everyone likes the style but that doesn't mean it's bad, I don't think one can deny that much of what is being produced has a lot of merit from an objective point of view. Besides, if all the artists were just producing stuff that sounded like Astral Projection in the late nineties, everyone would be complaining that the genre was stale.

Well the tracks on the album do sound kind of samey*, though I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing for this kind of music; Gil himself says that his music is for meditation and I can imagine this album working well for that. It sounds different to other dark albums that are out there, which I think is important. *This is only my first impression though, and may well change over time.

I mean that most tracks on the album are in a similar vein to the Nommos' track "In the Shadow" which was on Goa Gil's mix album "Karmagedon" from last year.

Just got it in the post yesterday. First impressions are good. I will write a review at some point if I get round to it, for now I'll just note that it's essentially an entire album based on the "In the Shadow" template, which I think is a good thing.

I actually quite like the sound of the samples on saikosounds, but the whole message thing just ruins it for me. If I want opinions I'll form my own, I listen to music because I want to hear something that sounds good. Last thing I want is to hear about some Turkish massacre while I'm stoned and dancing.

"Nonexistence" by Fearkiller uses a few sound effects from half-life throughout.

The samples sound great! Might I inquire who made the cover?

The fact that people use the word "gay" in a derogatory manner does not imply that they are homophobic. It's just a fact of life that language evolves, and words change their meaning over time. In case you've forgotten, a few decades ago the word "gay" meant happy, and there were many old bigots writing into the Daily Mail to voice their displeasure when the word was hijacked by the gay community. Consequently it seems hypocritical if the gay community objects to the way that people who watch South Park use the word.

A recent addition:

On the way to Bethlehem Good album

Dark psytrance. A few of my favourites: Kindzadza Dark Nebula Highcosmos Horror Place Ocelot Para Halu

Both great albums too in my opinion, if you like dark psy. Though most people on psynews hated the highcosmos one.

In answer to your original question, MMV, here are a couple of examples of how I see psytrance:

GIF of the day: I like the emphasis on tits.

I'm a 160 bpm man myself. http://play.saikosounds.com/m3u/074/72.m3u http://play.saikosounds.com/m3u/06b/11.m3u

I'm with you on this. Also, The Gathering is my favourite.

Listening to Handel's coronation anthems. Great.

Thanks for the recommendations, they are much appreciated. To answer your question, no I am not a fullon fan, though there is some fullon I like. Most of the psy I buy these days is dark. I find the ear-fucking noises used in dark way more psychedelic than anything I hear in old-school; I think Kindzadza's "Waves from outer space" is the best example of what I like. I can appreciate why some people here don't like it though - it's pretty far away from what "trance" used to be about, although it has the "psy" down to a tee

Got those three. Perhaps I have misunderstood, but I wouldn't call Shpongle old-school Goa, great though they are (I prefer Tales of the Inexpressible myself). As for Hallucinogen, I think he's a great producer but that he can't write tunes as well as, say, IM used to before they went shit; I find his tracks start very well but don't hold my attention for the full seven minutes. Pavel, please don't kill me.

Well I first heard psytrance in 2003, so I missed Goa when it happened. When I listen to old-school stuff now though it sounds good but kind of primitive, and doesn't stand up so well to repeat listens as a lot of modern stuff in my opinion. Though if anyone could recommend an old-school album that would change my mind about this I would be very grateful.

It's been on saikosounds for days, but still no audio samples. GRR!