no-nonsense

Got spare copies of these albums sent by mistake, and I'd trade them for similar old-school goa stuff. Filteria - Sky Input (new & sealed) http://www.discogs.com/release/347931 Various - Dragonfly Classix 2xCD (VG+) http://www.discogs.com/release/65520

The indie press is hyping this as the best thing since sliced bread. Listening to it for the second time, and it's very pretty. What do the psynews folk think about the album?

If price is the same, I'd get the double albums: Distance 3, Greetings and Head 2. More bang for your buck.

This is a genre in which I tend to favor evocative track titles over those that try to be funny. Stupid rhymes are especially offensive, and I'd rather have my good old cliches ("Alien Airport", "You Can be Shiva" or "Space Traveller") than something like "Average Beverage", "Funkus Munkus" or "Speaker Sneaker". Of course, this has nothing to do with the musical quality, but when picking up new music I'll be more eager to listen to it if the titles and artwork are appealing. Of the random stuff I have around right now I'd say Transwave, Juno Reactor, Astral Projection and Steve Roach are quite good at this. Good IDM-ish titles with acronyms or made up tech-sounding words are also cool in my book. I like the way Autechre and Boards of Canada name their tracks. Same with the cold machine-like look and feel of industrial releases from labels like Ant-Zen. Outside e-music, I've been digging the bands Jesu and Om. Both use amazing words and imagery to present their music.

Word on Tangerine Dream, this week I have been listening to "Phaedra" and thinking how psy-like were the sequences and sound tweaking in the title track. I guess the original goa guys really knew their TD at their most spacey.

Got it in the mail today. In the first listen I didn't notice the DAT glitches, don't think that should deter anyone from purchasing it. I love the disc as it is, but it would have been nice if the booklet included some liner notes with the story behind each track, geeky equipment info, etc, like Chi-A.D.'s "Infinitism" had. It's nice when artists provide that kind of insight into their work.

Link, details and tracklist here: http://www.last.fm/user/no-nonsense/journa...7/01/25/325088/ Quality is so-so but tunes are wicked. :-) Thanks!

Albums to travel without moving, from the top of my head. * Atmos - Headcleaner ("Cable Enable" must be one of the most hypnotic tracks ever produced) * Electric Universe - Stardiver * Human Blue - Electric Roundabout * Planet B.E.N. - Silver I find myself coming back to the prog and minimal sound from 1999-2000. This style works wonders in album-length format for inducing states of trance. Other individual tracks: * Chakra & Avi - Insignificant Form Of Life * Darshan - Black Magic * Genetic - Sci-fi Hi-fi * Hallucinogen - Angelic Particles * Juno Reactor - Rotorblade * ManMadeMan - Desire (Bumbling Loons Remix)

I second the Indoor recommendation (listening to it as I type). At first it might sound a bit bare or dated, but the raw sounds, melodies and arrangements drill deep into your mind if you give them the chance. It's beautiful and uplifting music. Go for the Avatar reissue.

I still peruse the TRiP pages on a regular basis. It's fascinating to read what people thought of those classic records back in the day, and how the perspective on them has changed after the years. It's all in archive.org. The cached version of the reviews page is here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://third-...rip/albums.html The cache is extremely unstable (in a given moment, some archived pages won't be available), and link references are not rewritten. This means that, to see the reviews, you have to copy the links from the album list page, search for them again in "archive.org", and try the links to the archived stuff until one of them works. For example, to read about Darshan's "Awakening" we know the URL is "http://www.third-eye.org.uk/trip/awakening.html". We search and one of the archived copies we get is here.

That was a nice reissue. If only they did the same with all their early stuff.

My pick is the last track in Yeti 1. The way it slowly builds up... total mindbending genius. I'm playing it right now, as a matter of fact.

'...gravitation of this world, into the world of the spirits.' (Stimuli - The Infinity Project) Does anyone know where was this one taken from?

Official podcast from these fellows. Almost one hour long. http://www.theorb.com/downloads/orbcast01.zip I'm just at the middle of it, in a very psychedelic version of "Little Fluffy Clouds". Good for the soul.

I usually buy most of my records online these days but some stores downtown are worth mentioning. * La Metralleta (Pza. Descalzas Reales, well, down under): there's this weird underground passage with 3 or 4 second-hand shops. This is the best place to scavenge for used records. I bought the second Muses Rapt album here, so maybe you can find some psy if you're lucky. * ROTOR (Gran Via 40, 6th floor): electronic/experimental music specialists, great for techno / house / ambient / weird music. They print a great monthly newsletter (which you can read online at their website, in Spanish, though) with regular coverage of releases by FAX, Steve Roach, Ant-Zen, Kompakt, Raster-Noton... right to more esoteric stuff. Used to have a Goa trance section, but not anymore (a shame, I got my first trance albums there). Expensive (CDs=17€). * Disco Express (Fernandez de los Rios, 51): music importers that have non-mainstream genres well covered (good place to look for goth and industrial). It's been a few years since I last dropped by, but they had some psy (mostly Global Trance Network releases). * CD-Drome (Pozas, 6): new store with an interesting selection of pop, electronica, house, techno... I haven't seen any trance there, though, they kind of focus on the trendy stuff. Decent prices. Enjoy your time in Madrid!

Places I can recommend: - Ad Noiseam (breakcore/industrial, fair priced, Germany) - Ant-Zen/Hymen (industrial/experimental, fair priced, Germany) - Alfa Matrix (electro, expensive, Belgium) - Boomkat (electronic/indie, expensive, UK) - Geometrik Records (diverse underground electronics, expensive, Spain) - Malignant Records (ambient/noise, fair priced, US) - Northern Heritage/Freak Animal (metal/ambient/noise, fair priced, Finland) - Parametric (industrial/experimental, fair priced, France) - Soleilmoon (industrial/experimental/electronic, fair priced, US) - Staalplaat (industrial/experimental/electronic, a bit expensive, The Netherlands) - Steveroach.com (ambient, fair priced, US) Then of course, there are mainstream online marketplaces which host diverse sellers, and where lots of bargains are to be found (new & 2nd hand). - Amazon UK marketplace (highy recommended) - eBay - GEMM Beware of a couple of places I've ordered from and got royally ripped off: - Hypnos - Important Records

Enjoyed his chill-out track in the Tsunami benefit compilation very much. If the rest of his stuff is that good then I'm eager to hear it.

LDC - Plasma

I love the early goa sound of that time. The heavenly Luna Eclipse track is my personal highlight in the compilation.

Actually, Miranda's first album can be legally downloaded for free. Be sure to check out "Concorde". Beautiful track.

Having recently purchased the second Return to the Source compilation, I'm thoroughly enjoying the fine tunes it contains. If one of the tracks stands out the most, it must be the Outer Active one, "Aesophagus Fables". A driving, floating piece of psychedelic madness. Now, who were those guys? Such little info in Discogs about them. Did they just quit music?

Well, my friend is hardly a poser or a trend-hopper. She has studied in a conservatory and plays cello in a doom/death metal band, so she is quite music-literate. The story is that a month ago I was driving her and another friend to a train station while playing Cosmosis in the car stereo, and I could see they were really amazed by the music. They are not acquainted with electronic music and asked me about the band name and other stuff. I briefly explained what goa trance is and that was all. Last weekend she was back in town and asked me to compile some trance for her. This surprised me but I was happy to comply, as I love to play music I like for people. I do this kind of things out of my own enthusiasm about the music.

Well, the chilled Shpongle, Asura and Astralasia are meant as intro/outro, to slowly get things moving at the start and to leave in a gentle way before listening to something else. I don't know if the friend of mine who is supposed to listen to this would handle a 74-minute continuous stomp. As I said, the genre separation is a bit rough because there were some tracks I like (such as Stardiver and Rotorblade) and I had no other place for them. The minimal techy sound of the Planet Ben, and the way it builds up, fits well in the progressive disc IMO. Thanks for your feedback

After being exposed to Cosmosis' "Akashic" in a car trip, a friend of mine asked me to compile some trance for her. As I had no time to try a decent software mix, I've had to set with an unmixed compilation. Picked up some tracks from some of my favorite albums in the genre, and separated them in three discs, roughly associated by subgenre. This is what I've come up with: The first of them is the most Goa-ish of the three: 1. Shpongle - The Sixth Revelation 2. Cosmosis - Gift Of The Gods 3. Shakta - The Future Is Now 4. Transwave - Sonica Dream 5. The Infinity Project - Stimuli 6. Chakra & Avi - Insignificant Form Of Life 7. Prana - Moretsu(indigo and baraka mix) 8. Khetzal - Indian Attic 9. P.S.O.I - Evolution of the Merkaba Progressive sounds are introduced in the second one: 1. Human Blue - Carpe Diem 2. Antix - The Inkling 3. Phony Orphants - Horny Enphants 4. Beat Bizarre - Analogical 5. Planet Ben - Space.Com 6. Electric Universe - Stardiver 7. Juno Reactor - Rotorblade 8. Atmos - Qualitat Im Quadrat 9. Aes Dana - Aftermath #8 The last one is also dominated by the old-school psy sound, just not as blatantly Indian-sounding as the first one. 1. Asura - Simply Blue 2. MWNN - Floor-Essence (Dayglo Mix) 3. Slinky Nuns - Shitty Stick (Better Than A Poke In The Eye With A) 4. X.I.S. - Shadows And Flashes 5. Total Eclipse - The Furnace 6. AHS - Puke In The Dust 7. UX - Pure Intellect 8. Astral Projection - The Feelings 9. Astralasia - The Truth The albums are sandwiched with chill tracks to make them a bit more easy on the ear. Have you ever succeeded in getting someone interested in trance with a home-made compilation?

An out-of-print industrial classic.