healium

Hux Flux completely owns - if you don't have their first album "Cryptic Crunch" you're missing something spectacular - it will blow your mind - sounds like nothing else at all, you'd never confuse Hux Flux for any other artist - as soon as a Hux Flux track starts it is immediately recognizable as such.. Lots of people don't know anything about Hux Flux though, perhaps partially because "Cryptic Crunch" was out of print pretty fast (though it was reprinted I think).. I wasn't as impressed with their 2nd album "Division by Zer0", but the first album and any miscellaneous tracks you can find are just epic - "Bring Your Own BIOS", "Degauss", "Errorhead" - all terrific.. I think Nystagmus is underrated as an artist also..

The Klipsch S4's are only like $80 and they're as good as earbud headphones hundreds of dollars more - here's a review from CNET of their top-5 - Klipsch S4 takes it.. I have them and they're terrific.. http://reviews.cnet.com/best-headphones/

The greater pity is that Hux~Flux hasn't released an album in ages... Hux Flux is to Logic Bomb what DMT is to mushrooms, IMO..

I've got this theory - seems most people start out with psychedelics, and then move on to using them less frequently, or not at all, meanwhile using more of substances like alcohol or hard drugs like opiates or stimulants.. Lots of psy artists start out with really deep trippy work, and then their albums often become more and more mainstream, less deep and trippy - my theory is that they don't really use psychedelics much anymore, like most people, they move toward simpler and less inspiring substances.. Any ideas about that? Or other ideas about why it is that artists seem to put out music that is less deep/psychedelic, and more mainstream over time? There are exceptions to this obviously, but it seems people are always complaining about psy artists getting less deep as time goes on, and I agree..

I like the 2nd half of the album better than the first but overall this is just very generic enthno-psychill or whatever you want to call it - very little originality, may as well just call it "Shpongle Remixed" or something.. Track 5 or 6 or so sounds so much like Shpongle the way the distorted "gnome voice" samples are used that I felt embarrassed listening to it.. What's with all the cliched samples and sound effects in the ethno-chill music these days in general? Have artists no way of making ethno chill NOT sound like a Shpongle knock-off??? Shulman and Ott have their own thing going in the ethnochill genre, I respect their music for sure - but the rest of these ethnochill artists ought to just start over from scratch.. And flutes - why flutes of all instruments? Sure it's a pretty sound but come on - there's heaps of different instruments and palettes of sound that could be used.. Can't they combine enthic elements with entirely different elements or at least some fresh ways of sampling and distorting vocals and such? As soon as this album was halfway through the first track I thought "Oh no, not this same old style of music again!" I bought this album because I was VERY impressed with this artist's work under the "Distant System" moniker and figured that for sure he'd have some novel spin on ethno-chill, but I was woefully mistaken... Very much look forward to another Distant System album though that is for sure!

Cool, thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out!

LOL, oops, that one is from 2009 - damn I have got to get with the latest music - don't think I've purchased any psytrance all year - about to though!

Hedonix - Order out of Chaos - one of the best albums I've ever heard, though it's taken me quite some time to really "get" - the last half of the album in particular is brilliant, IMO..

No one else have any opinion about this one?

I've heard this a couple times now and it's growing on me - nice to hear some trippy psytrance for sure.. The Hux-Flux track is a bit disappointing though - it's like you have most all of the original track in there except the completely fucking awesome melodic climax (!) I would have thought that of any part of the original track you'd have included that bit - or at least have tweaked that part and included it in some other way - instead the remix just sort of moves along with no real satisfying moments (though overall it does sound nice)..

I'm not comparing the genre's here, I'm just pointing out that the sounds this guy uses are very unoriginal and add little to the music - "sound effects for the sake of sound effects" (like 95% of the psytrance I hear), whereas some of the other artists I mentioned seem to craft each sound to really add something to the music..

Yea well I do love Jikkenteki's downtempo stuff (long Walk Home disc 1 is one of my fav ever), and some of the uptempo on the "Long Walk Home CD".. But yea the album he made after Long Walk Home (something "Infinite"?) I could barely listen to.. But this Artha EP, I dunno - is he buddies with the guys on this forum or something? Is there some sort of conspiracy to make this guy more popular? I listened to it again and can't see what the hype is about at all - very typical/unoriginal sounds, simplistic melodies that are rarely catchy or inspiring, not a lot in the way of anything novel in this music.. Artha uses a bunch of what I think of as "useless background noises" - these are sound effects that are very unoriginal and add nothing to the music - his background sounds in this EP I think I have heard in about 1,000 other psytrance tracks (like Filteria's music).. To contrast, listen to some old Koxbox, or Kino Oko "Alphabetically Divided Highway, and you'll hear that each sound effect is well chosen, and really adds something to the music - the sound effects should be distinct and colorful, not just these thoughtless messy noises throughout the music like the artist thinks they must have background effects at all times and so just adds them in with no real purpose to them..

I need to listen to this again - first listen I found the music too fast, too harsh,to many jangly sounds and not enough finesse.. Reminded me of much of Jikkenteki's uptempo music which I also find very harsh, too aggressive, and generally grating on my nerves.. I like intensity without the harshness - music like this gives me a headache... To contrast, the most recent album from Hedonix I found very psychedelic, but never in a harsh manner - the music and sounds in that album and smooth and pleasing to the ear.. However, that album also lacks some top-end euphoria like we get with the more "climactic" psytrance.. I'll give it another try though, it may have just been my mood or something at the time..

Is there any true innovation or new ideas in this album or is it just another generic new-school goa effort?

This is just released no? The 2nd studio album from Slackbaba, following up on "And the Beat Goes Om.." which was fantastic..

Am thoroughly enjoying this album - great melodies and moods - a very nice journey - recommended!

Right on, thx for the recommendations! - will look into this music more when I have time..

I know this isn't psytrance, but its related - the "Hang" is a sort of percussive instrument that looks like a UFO - sublime sounds are made by this instrument.. There's lots of "Hang" albums and I am looking for a recommendation - preferably a deep and trippy style of playing is what I'm looking for - entrancing melodies like I've heard people playing on the instrument at festivals and such.. thanks!

Hey there, thanks for the help - downloaded it and hopefully will get a listen tonight!

Uptempo: Hedonix - "Order out of Chaos" - masterpiece of zany psytrance/progressive - get this one for sure if you don't have it! - the sort of album where the tracks sound better each time I hear them.. Downtempo: Solar Fields - "Movements" - yea! Shpongle - "Ineffable Mysteries" - only heard this once but I like it.. Yggdrasil - "Prose Edda" - This is M.E.E.O.'s downtempo project so you know it's got creativity - I need to give this more listens, its very complex and dense music.. A couple of the tracks I think are killer, no doubt about it - have a feeling it will grow on me over time.. Easily Embarrased - "Planet Discovery" - not too complex but very nice electro-space symphony downtempo.. Some nice melodies and moods.. ----------- I can't find the Ambientium - "Fractal Philosophy" album anywhere - can someone help me? Also, given I love the Hedonix album, and love the late 90's/early 2000's psytrance like X-Dream "Radio", Hux FLux, Hallucinogen, Logic Bomb, Sandman - can anyone recommend me another uptempo release this year?

One of the best albums I've heard in a long time! Very deep and psychedelic - it's twisted psytrance in the vein of Hux Flux or Kox box but with a sort of Atmos "Headcleaner" vibe to it.. Very hypnotizing... Lots of restraint and maturity involved, sometimes a bit too much as a couple tracks don't quite satisfy (long builds to brief climaxes in places) .. Just beautiful - not too aggresive, not too sedate - great balance of dark and light... reeeeeaalllyyy trippy music.. Patterns of sound are built up then dissolved, and new patterns of sound are built in, or something like that.. Each track is a journey.. Progressive in some ways but heavily steeped in classic psytrance style as well.. One thing I love about this album is how all the sounds they use seem fresh, original, and well chosen - many many psytrance albums just have a soup of sound effects going on that don't add anything to the music - not the case here - there's lots of sound effects and patterns of sounds, it's all very complicated, but they all really add something to the track, and are highly enjoyable.. This is dense music, not always easily accessible, challenging in some ways - do yourself a favor and hear it on some headphones with your full attention being given.. A masterpiece overall- thanks Hedonix!!

A bit generic and lacking in imagination though I like the style generally.. I feel like there's a lot of careless use of sound effects, and sound effects that sound a lot the same.. More forceful than truly intricate or artistic are most of the tracks..

Cool, thanks for the help!

So I wanted to buy some albums released this year - Hedonix "Order from Chaos", V/A - "People Walk Funny", and some others, and cannot find them at www.psyshop.com or www.saikosounds.com or www.beatport.com Is there a good place that either sells or offers downloads of psy type music? I could go to discogs but then I have to buy them individually and pay a heap of shipping thanks!

Right on, thanks for the recommendations! I haven't been trying to hard to find new stuff, but then I also haven't seen rave reviews for any albums that people think will be a classic etc etc..