healium

I haven't bought any music in months now - I'm not sure what it is, but I haven't seen any reviews of proper psychedelic trance that isn't the new-school goa stuff like Filteria, or this "darkpsy" stuff.. I know this is a common gripe so pls forgive me.. I still love the older stuff like Hallucinogen, Hux Flux, Koxbox etc, but is there nothing really killer being released these days? I'm not into the dry progressive stuff either, though I do like Sensient.. I haven't been keeping that up on the reviews either though, so maybe that's it.. Can anyone help me here? I don't want to give up on psychedelic electronic just yet - haven't bought any downtempo music either for the same reason - I just listen to all my old stuff..

I guess the easiest way to say what I'm saying is this: There's nothing inherently "psychedelic" about a fast BPM, or a 4x4 structure - and so, because of this, highly psychedelic music could be created involving all sorts of different beat structures and speeds.. These different beat structures (like even break type beats), combined with proper psychedelic focus, could allow more interesting types of dancing than just this fast 4x4 thing most all psytrance brings to the table... I mentioned Benassi and Guetta because they bring in super fun, highly danceable type beats and pace, but lack the psychedelic aspects our psytrance has..

Well, usually I'm not dancing to the beat, but to the layers, patterns, and melodies... But the pace of psytrance is so damn fast... Why is it so fast anyway, I never understood that? It's really fun to dance in slower, looping type movements but when its 145bpm the vibe is more frantic... So why not the slower funked out beats with heavy psychedelic effects and melodies - that would be killer!!

Ok I love the psychedelia of psytrance, the melodies and layers and whatnot, BUT, the beat is too fast for dancing, it's not near as much fun to dance to as breakbeats or other slower type beats - I mean, it can be, but usually the beat feels to fast for me... The problem though with the types of music that use slower beats is, its not psychedelic - fun to dance to, but not zany or weird or cosmic enough at all... Benny Benassi and David Guetta are examples of this - great dance music in terms of the pace and beat, and somewhat psychedelic, but not like full-tilt psychedelic.. So my question is, why does noone produce some sort of dance music that is really psychedelic but also with a different beat structure? Why the 145bpm 4x4 structure all the time? When the beats are slower you can actually step your foot to the floor, or wherever, to the beat, you can really sync up with the music - this can't happen with 145bpm - I wish there were some wicked psychedelic mid-beat type artists - it seems like its either psytrance or chill out..

If Goa Gil produced it, how is it by Enichkin - are they the same person?

So this is Ott under a different alias? Anything by Ott I'm very interested in!

How about Process - is he still making psytrance? Dennis Tapper of Hux Flux is currently making a chill album with the guy from Ibojima under the project name Illuminus - you can find samples and info for that on the Illuminus myspace page...

I spoke to Simon Posford when he played Shpongle here in LA a couple years ago - I was in line at the bar waiting to get a water, and he was in front of me in the line - it was 4AM and he was supposed to come on at 3AM - I was grumpy and tired and very much sober, so I tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around I asked/told him something along the lines of "weren't you supposed to be playing already, it's 4AM?" - he seemed taken aback and apologetic, and I felt like a bit of a jerk afterward... I didn't introduce myself or anything, I just let him know I wasn't happy to be waiting.. Not very patient of me.. I talked to Capsula a bit during a chill-out set near LA as well - he was very cool and down to earth... Spoke to Bluetech at Lightning in a Bottle a couple years ago - told him I liked his music - he seemed kinda stuck up, or like he thought he was too cool for me or something... Talked to Ott briefly after his set this year in LA - went up and told him "I've been enjoying your music for a long time!" - he let out a maniacal laugh and said "so have I!" He seemed a bit nutty but like someone who would be fun to hang out with..

Solar Fields - Movements and Michael Jackson - Greatest Hits

Entheogenic - Flight of the Urubus - don't get the hype at all.. Bluetech - Sines and Singularities - sounds like he started taking prozac or something X-Dream - Irritant - very irritating indeed KoxBox - U-turn Eat Static - Back to Earth Tron - LOL, I can't even remember the name of it, but it got great reviews by Damien and others - I thought it was totally generic though.. Very lame album Mantrix - Universal Etic - Feedback - yawn... Shadow Fx - Can't remember the name of this one either Mr Peculiar - the last couple... Entheogenic - Golden Cap - so boring, so lifeless... Androcell - Efflorescence - decent album but not that interesting.. Solar Fields - Leaving Home - sorry but I find this one a bit dull... Abakus - We Share the Same Dreams - decent but forgettable Anahata - the Unmade Sound - thought Nystagmus would produce some killer chill-out, but I was wrong James Reipas - Personal Trainer - loved Uwaga, but this was is hard to listen to.. IM - anything recent, of course... Jikkenteki - the most recent one, too harsh sounding, too aggressive, unpleasant... Juno Reactor - anything after Shango.. Hux Flux - Division by Zer0 - My favorite psytrance artist of all time, but this album was much less interesting than I'd hoped... Uninspired sounding...

Do not anger Murpheythecat... I warn you...

Lets be clear, I like sound fx and layered complexity for sure... It's just with Filteria, the way he spaces those fx, and that they're mostly in the same pitch range, doesn't work as well as other albums that have more color or variety in the sound pallete.. Is just my opinion... An example of an album that doesn't suffer from this would be Koxbox "Dragon Tales" - the sounds in that album are very colorful and contrast with each other, so even though there's lots going on, each sound or layer stands out from the others...

I think my problem with the production or whatever you call it, is that Filteria puts the lead melody in there, which you can hear loud and clear, but then the background effects all sort of sound the same, and form a sort of peripheral "soup" of sound effects - generally high note sound effects too, not much in the way of contrast... From time to time I hear some nice sounds in there but basically its just the melodies and the soup of background effects... Sometimes I feel like he just adds a bunch of background effects because they're supposed to be there, per goa-trance formula, but they aren't always adding that much to the track, if that makes any sense... Like, if you took out a sound or two it wouldn't make much a difference in how the track sounded, it would still basically sound like a lead melody and a bunch of high-notes behind it...

This thread is awesome!!

Hehe, well make up your mind man, is it shite or not? I havent heard this one but am not excited by the direction Bluetech took after Elementary Particles... I loved that album and Prima Materia though - some of my favorite downtempo ever...

I think this album is excellent in the music department - awesome new-school goa for sure... BUT, the production or mastering or whatever it is seems quite bad to me - the layers all sort of mix together, they do not sound distinct from each other if I play it through anything but headphones... But yet, it all sounds very loud... So, it sounds loud, but the layers all sound buried under something, like "goa-trance soup" or something - I put in Logic Bomb "Unlimited" after listening to Filteria and that was much better - layers coming through clearly... In "Daze of Our Lives" it's like the fx and background melodies aren't loud enough or something, but yet overall the whole thing sounds very loud - I have to really try hard to pick out the individual pieces...

Sines and Singularities made me think Bluetech is moving toward a more commercial and less psychedelic sound - hopefully this album isn't further in that direction...

Wow wow and wow! One of the very best downtempo albums I've ever heard - I can easily call this one a masterpiece - I'd go ahead and say its my favorite ever but I've only heard it once, and I heard it on headphones on the tail end of a little bit of 2cb - so I heard it in all its glory... But still, I know fantastic music when I hear it, and the depth, intricacy, and creativity of these tracks is spectacular - this artist is truly brilliant, and exceptionally talented... The way he layers all those different pads and such is just great... I didn't get into "Leaving Home" that well - I like it ok, but this one blows me away - thx Solar Fields!

I like this too, and really like "Dwelling in the Void" as well... My only criticism is that his tracks all sound to me sort of like remixes of each other - the progression of the tracks, the sound effects and sound palette generally, and the way the melodies are formed - has sort of a formulaic feel to it... But it's really good stuff in any case, and great he lets us have it for free!

It would be "heartily" recommend I think is what you were going for..

Oh Antic, behave!

Amazing review! I have to disagree though, I don't think the Protoculture track is as awful as you make it sound...

Just heard this one for the first time yesterday - fuuucckkk!!! What an amazing album - deep journey music - the synth work and melodies are phenomenal - I had heard their other albums but not this one - this one I certainly like the most...

I really like parts of this album, "Ball of Gum" is fantastic! Much of it though is very rough and annoying to my ears - I don't like jarring and scratchy and otherwise unpleasant sounds - I love weird techno type sounds don't get me wrong, but much of this album I find abrasive to listen to..

I have not heard this album, but yet I have posted? Yes, I have posted..