DeathPosture

How about some labels? Parvati would be VERY interesting... Same with Trishula... Sanaton Audio even! Or maybe some of the Russian ones? The American labels are also flourishing: M.o.E, AuraQuake Dropout or Geomagnetic.tv... /DP

http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=24677

Ka-Sol - Fairytale Hi-res cover: front Artist: Ka-Sol (Sweden) Title: Fairytale Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Suntrip Records (France/Belgium) Cat. #: SUNCD05 Distribution: Arabesque Date: 12 May 2006 Track listing: 01. 07’46” Tecmorning 02. 07’42” Blogz 03. 07’39” Schlumpen 04. 08’12” Skreno 05. 08’38” Back Basic (Goa Mix) 06. 07’16” Matrix (Remix) 07. 07’12” No Return 08. 07’13” Sticky Web 09. 08’26” White Magic 10. 08’47” The Light Review: From psychedelic tooth grind to fluffy melodies in 10 easy steps… Once again the Psynews.org spawned label Suntrip Records is out with a genre-defining, daring album. Fairytale is the long awaited debut album from Swedish sound magician Christer ‘Lulle’ Lundström. Previously Ka-Sol had more members, but for the last couple of years it has been Christer on his own. He has been in the biz since the late 1990ies though – and has produced psychedelic music in a number of outfits including Lulle, Alien Hand Syndrome and Exakt Abstrakt. He has also been a frequent guest on Schlabbaduerst compilations, both under the Ka-Sol guise but also as a member of the following constellations: Church Of The New Age Hippie Disco Shit, Doda Hundens Kyrka, Lardfish and Signal. All of which has produced extremely underground, maximal, forest-friendly psytrance. So yeah, this is a guy that doesn’t give a shit about psytrance conventions – he has always gone to great lengths to produce unique music – and pretty much everything I’ve heard from his hands have been relentless, extremely powerful, unconventional and totally stellar! So hell yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this album longer than I can remember… It’s a fairytale! Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Tecmorning [145 BPM] Forget about boring, lengthy and pretentious intros… Ka-Sol is grinding teeth right from the first second… As the title suggests, we’re deep in teKknoid goa trance territory… The edges are rugged, the rhythms are rugged and pretty much everything is as anti-fluff as it can get… This is 100% pure, unfiltered, untreated, underground goa trance… Reminds me of Snake Thing – Shango in all its maximal glory. Hypnotic and hectic – and maybe even a tad too hectic a few times… But generally I like it. The last couple of minutes are pure goose-bump moments and they kick the shit out of anything that dares to label itself as full-on… This is fuller-on! Brilliant! #02: Blogz [145 BPM] The distinct old school melodic ventures from the previous track continue in this track… And old school is just what this is – it’s very reminiscent of 1997/1998 melodic trance – though with a very distinct industrial/rugged edge… The Ka-Sol style, you know! Halfway thru, the track changes appearance into a more upbeat, stomping nature with distinct tribal rhythms… The psychedelia is flowing freely and there’s acid pouring out of every conceivable orifice now… Trippy stuff! Wonderful! #03: Schlumpen [144 BPM] This track was made in cahoots with the previous Ka-Sol members Jens Kvisler & Mickael Svensson. Despite the lower BPM this track seems even faster than the previous ones… What we get here is wall-to-wall, maximal psytrance… Packed to the rim with flaring, distorted acid-lines and demented melodies tweaked beyond recognition… The sound spectre is bursting and this track will put your hi-fi to the ultimate test… Is beyond hardcore – its frekkin’ massive and so jaw-droppingly intense! Again the hectic nature of the track is almost too much for me to cope with – it drains all my energy reserves! Yikes! #04: Skreno [142 BPM] Skreno continues the old-school approach to maximal, melodic, modern goa trance (and that’s the first time I’ve ever used ‘old-school’ and ‘modern’ in the same sentence!). After some nerve wrecking building and building, this track eventually explodes in a meteor shower of raging, full-power, relentless melodies… It’s a cornucopia of multilayered, interweaved, Pleiadians-like full-on melodies… And in that perspective, this is reminiscent of another Suntrip heavy weight – yes, you guessed it: Filteria! Extremely uplifting – and sadly also a tad over the top… Yeah, I’m sorry to say so, but to me, those demented, high-pitched melodic stabs are too much of a good thing… The rest of the track rocks though. #05: Back Basic (Goa Mix) [145 BPM] As the title suggests, Ka-Sol takes things back to basics now – goa style! That’s right, this is full-blown goa trance just like on all those wonderful releases from the mid nineties… Ka-Sol is paying homage to the pioneering labels such as TIP, Trust In Trance, Blue Room, Matsuri, Fairway, Symbiosis, Dragonfly, etc… This is quintessentially goa trance as it sounded 10 years ago, but with 2006 production qualities. It’s rich, deep and totally soaked in modulation, flaring 303s, galloping bass lines, etc… Nothing new under the sun, but DAMN, not since Filteria have I experienced such a trip down memory lane… Brilliant trippy and immensely melodic stuff! #06: Matrix (Remix) [144 BPM] “Now we’re not in the past or the present anymore. This is the future. Don’t worry about a thing!” The next track also relies heavily on old-school characteristics… The construction, the flow and the basic feel are all very ‘classic goa trance like’… This track seems even more multilayered than the previous one, and the melodies are more sharply defined… Lulle tweaks those knobs like a madman, and there’s some serious synth exploration going on here… Filtered acid-lines, travelling melodies and smoking hot trance passages… This is what Astral Projection should have sounded like in 2006! Lovely! #07: No Return [146 BPM] The next track contains some of the same flaring, high-pitched, somewhat demented and deranged melodies we heard earlier in the album. This time they are not set in a darkish, brutal, industrial like track, but in a much lighter, uplifting piece of a goa-like trance… Tons of melody lines are tripping over each other, spiralling out of the speakers doing their best to lull the listener into trance… Sadly it doesn’t really seem to work, and I’ve never thought I’d hear myself say this about a Ka-Sol track, but this is too cheesy for my tastes… Double yikes! #08: Sticky Web [142 BPM] Let’s raise the bar a little after the somewhat disappointing last track – luckily the next one is better! It’s still very melodic and extremely uplifting, but this time there’s a distinct edge that suits me much better… And even if the BPM is among the lowest of the album, this track seems like one of the fastest – strange! Again the Pleiadians (and evidentially Filteria) link is evident, but this is far from being a clone… This is Ka-Sol sending a friendly nod to his peers of the past… The acid is still flowing freely and those 303s are really getting a workout now – Green Nuns style! As hypnotizing as it is mesmerizing! Sweeet! #09: White Magic [145 BPM] Up next is another extremely party-minded show tune! Yeah, this is more unpretentious melodic goa trance reminiscent of the days long forgotten… The layers are too many to count and the bassline sounds like it’s lifted directly out of a 1995 track. So yeah, it’s hardly uncharted, but who gives a fuck when it’s this good? The intensity level is unsurpassed, and unlike some of the previous tracks the high-pitched melodies doesn’t bother me one bit here – they help raise the bar and lift this track into another dimension! Trippy! #10: The Light [146 BPM] “And way off in the distance a pin point of white light, and it was so subtle it was coming towards me and I didn’t know it. Until I was completely embellished in that light. And then I realized the same type of light was coming for me. I really was light, I wasn’t flesh and bones.” The final track starts with a very AP-like sample about UFOs and the track itself continues down the same path... This is extremely uplifting stuff – luckily it never crosses over into complete cheesy fluff. It’s the last track of the album and surely it’s meant to be enjoyed as the first rays of sunlight travel across the dancefloor and meets the ecstatic dancers who’ve been going on all night… This is the burst of energy needed to dance another couple of hours… Somehow I feel the track looses some of its bite in the last couple of minutes, so I prefer the first half… Not a bad track though – and you’ll need to catch your breath after this compulsive explosion of energy. Phew! So, did this album live up to the expectations? Well, yes… for the most part! The first three tracks are pretty much what I hoped for – raging mad, relentless Ka-Sol mayhem… The next couple of tracks are somewhat of a hybrid between the I-don’t-give-a-fuck-attitude of recent Ka-Sol tracks mixed with more full-on, uplifting elements – but those extremely intense moments riddled with high-pitched and deranged melodies never really grabbed me… Those less-good moments are scarce though, and the vast majority kicks royal ass! Luckily the last half of the album saves the day with its nostalgic pure goa trance tracks… That style was somewhat of a surprise to me, but in retrospect I don’t think I could have coped with an entire album in the hardcore Schlabbaduerst style. So, as always, diversity rules! As always with Ka-Sol stuff, the level of energy Lulle puts forth in the tracks are unsurpassed in our scene – and this kind of music should really be mandatory for all those upcoming, so-called full-on artists… *This* is how you create energetic, trance-inducing music! Let that be a lesson! Flow wise I’m not sure how well this album works. I think I would have preferred it in reverse order, having the most hardcore tracks finish the album. Also, the white-out mistake on the pressing plant is an eyesore to John Bauer’s wonderful artwork. The retail copies were not supposed to have the big white squares, but I believe Suntrip Records will issue high-res replacements on their website for people to print themselves. But all that is nit-picking – this is truly a marvellous album with more than enough fantastic tracks to validate a purchase. Suntrip fans should order immediately as should fans of nostalgic goa trance propelled well into the 21st. century. Another benchmark album from Suntrip – and their best release since the Apsara compilation. Go get it!… Enjoy! Favourites: 1(!), 2(!), 5(!), 6, 8, 9 DeathPosture External links: Suntrip Records: http://www.suntriprecords.com Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/673798 Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/pofoe Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/r28yw Discobole: http://tinyurl.com/rvdvx Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/meyv2 Ajuca: http://tinyurl.com/ro478 Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/lwfgz Play: http://tinyurl.com/mslcj (free shipping worldwide!)

This is not a review... Topic moved to music promotion... /DP

Ka-Sol - Fairytale album Review coming up...

I think it's safe to say, that these are not gonna be 6 minute tracks... Anyway, it looks very interesting... TIP.World has my full attention again...

Radi, Radi, Radi... Caught with his pants down... Tsk, tsk...

Kemic-Al – The Dark Journal Hi-res cover: front + back Artist: Kemic-Al (Malta) Title: The Dark Journal (1431-1476) Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Butterfly Records (Malta) Cat. #: BTF CD 02 Distribution: Wirikuta Date: 2 May 2006 Track listing: 01. 05’31” Welcome To My Home… 02. 05’21” The Hostage 03. 05’24” Birth Of Justice – Part 1 (The Beginning) 04. 02’29” Birth Of Justice – Part 2 (Rage Of Terror) 05. 07’40” Vlad Dracula (The Impaler) 06. 07’13” Birth Of Justice – Part 3 (Reclaiming The Throne) 07. 06’36” Boyars Of Tirgoviste (The Revenge) 08. 07’29” Stakes 09. 05’09” Accepted Darkness 10. 06’16” Eternal Life 11. 06’42” Buried Alive 12. 01’43” End Of Journey 13. 04’51” Forest Of The Impaled 14. 06’29” The Last Battle With The Ottoman .m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/o2zrj (all tracks!) Review: One story, fourteen chapters… With his debut album Twisted Parameters, Maltese multi-talent Aldo Lombardi, made an impressive entry into the darker realms of the psytrance scene. That album still ranks very high in my personal chart of best artist albums of 2005 and I’m still amazed by its diversity, stamina and staying power. So naturally I’ve been eagerly awaiting the follow-up and the internet hype surrounding the album was also in a league not often seen with a ‘darkpsy’ album. Aldo wanted to try something new this time, and for almost 20 years he had to idea to create an album that was much more a continuous story with chapters, as opposed to an album filled with individual tracks. The theme for this album, dubbed The Dark Journal, is the life and death of the notorious Vlad Dracula and his reign of terror in and around his native Romania in the fifteenth century. The booklet tells the true story of Dracula and each story represents a chapter in the story of his life – interpreted by Kemic-Al. I’m not gonna reproduce what people can read in the booklet, but I’ll try go express what I make of the individual chapters… They are meant to be digested as a whole, but to make it easier on the readers; I’ll use my usual track-by-track format. Let’s dig in! Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Welcome To My Home… With majestic orchestral pads of neo-classical music, Kemic-Al starts the first chapter of the story… Pounding drums, raven cries and eerie voice samples establish the atmosphere nicely. We’re definitely in the early fifteenth century now – and it’s a dark, troublesome age. An impressive intro of majestic proportions… Scary as fuck, but frightening as it may be, it’s extremely compelling… #02: The Hostage After the lengthy intro the first proper beats are introduced amidst a ghostly, terrorizing reign of medieval horror. The church bells are shimmering and the harpsichord is playing a familiar, melancholy tune… Add some subtle, twirling acid-lines and some ancient choral work and you’re deep into this pounding track. There isn’t much progression going on, but do not despair, this is just one step of the way… #03: Birth Of Justice – Part 1 (The Beginning) As the story progresses, the intensity level is raised a few bars – we’re digging deeper into the dark realms now and the old acid-meter has been cranked up a few notches… There’s a slightly retarded melody going on here – it’s tweaked up and down – and eventually beyond recognition… It’s very emotional and in that regard it reminds me of some older The Muses Rapt stuff – it has the same melancholy touch – though obviously here, it’s confined in a much darker, more underground musical universe… #04: Birth Of Justice – Part 2 (Rage Of Terror) The second part of Birth Of Justice is more intense than the first one… All the energy conserved in the first part is reignited and reassembled as a fast-paced, maximal, propane-injected burst of energy… The acid is flowing freely and this is the most psychedelic moment thus far… #05: Vlad Dracula (The Impaler) Impaling is one of the most gruesome ways of execution, and I actually think that somehow Aldo has managed to channel some of that grotesqueness into this track… This is evil, perverse, dark-as-fuck, sick, haunting stuff… Just like the horrific image of Vlad The Impaler and his ghastly ways… #06: Birth Of Justice – Part 3 (Reclaiming The Throne) “I am Vlad Dracula. Son of the great prince Vlad. In the name of my father, I hereby reclaim the throne of Romania….” The last part of the threefold, and once again the energy level from the first two ones are surpassed here – and this is easily the most intense of the threefold… Syncopated acid-lines are morphing back and forth – spanning a wide spectre of sound… This is climactic, layered, persistent night music… The first part of this chapter is the best, and it seems like some of the focus and energy seems a little lost halfway thru… But after a couple of bland minutes during the middle passage, the track picks up again towards the end… Intensely frightening! #07: Boyars Of Tirgoviste (The Revenge) With the next chapter, the impressive orchestral pads are introduced once again – along with a bunch of silly (in a good way) samples of all kinds… We’re dining with the mad hatter and all his crazy guests – and in that sense, this track sends a friendly nod back to the first Kemic-Al album Twisted Parameters… After a bunch of very nocturnal tracks, a lighter, oddball track like this was needed to break the mould, clear the senses and reassure 100% focus… And oh my, is this track lovely… It’s very hectic and ever-changing… And I cannot even begin to count the layers here… Intense, multi-flavoured and immensely trippy stuff… Brilliant! #08: Stakes The next chapter has some of the same less-dark quality as its predecessor… This is still murky night trance, but not as über-dark as some of the previous stuff… It’s more like evil full-on and the acid-stabs and subtle bassline also indicates just that… Very danceable and very max-power like… And those howling wolves are placed *just* right… #09: Accepted Darkness “He has forsaken the truth and the light – and accepted the darkness!” This chapter starts with an AWESOME, totally unexpected climax already @ 0’37!! Wow, I love little surprises like that – totally goose-bump inducing stuff! Damn, now this is pure dancefloor fodder if there ever was dancefloor fodder… It’s fast-paced cyber trance like this, which shreds the mind, body and soul to pieces in a swift chainsaw movement… Brutal stuff – but oh my, there is beauty in brutality! #10: Eternal Life The brutality continues without hesitation in the next chapter… The church bells are still ringing, foreseeing the imminent doom that waits in the near future… The bass is pounding and the distant screams are haunting and remind us of Dracula’s horror… The chainsaw acid-lines from the previous chapter are still causing havoc and basically the senses are bombarded with all kinds of freaky sounds from the underworld…. The Gregorian chanting really tops it off, and this is truly a horrendous chapter… The final bridge part is maybe a tad monotonous, but it’s all part of Aldo’s master plan… #11: Buried Alive Imagine the claustrophobic, life-fading experience of being buried alive. Frightening, horrifying and devastating – just what Dracula went thru when he was sentenced by the Catholics… This chapter does its best to portray the soundtrack of the loneliest place in existence – Dracula’s tomb! Again the acid has taken control of the main sound picture – and this chapter revolves around some hi-pitched, twirling acid-bits accompanied by some nocturnal, doomsday rhythms… #12: End Of Journey With marching rhythms marking the final retreat of Dracula, this short chapter marks the beginning of the end… It’s a breath of fresh, unpolluted air and it’s another gigantic, orchestral sound collage of epic proportions… It’s beautiful! #13: Forest Of The Impaled This chapter is perhaps the most graphic of them all – the title refers to Dracula’s favourite way of executing his enemies: He impaled them on stakes! When the Turks marched into Tirgoviste, they were met by 20.000 stinking corpses impaled on stakes… This chapter describes in sound the horrors of that experience – in one acid-ridden, synth-riddled piece of night trance… Maximal power in this piece of terrifying history… #14: The Last Battle With The Ottoman With the final chapter and the last battle the story draws to a close, and if you were imagining a chilled, relaxed final track; well think again! This is upbeat, experimental, in-your-face hyper trance… Riddled with acid, strange FX, digital farts and electronic burps… Very Penta-like actually, but still unmistakably Kemic-Al in all his relentless glory! Phew! The final couple of minutes are dedicated to a sort of outro and it’s time to sit back, catch your breath and think about what you’ve just experienced… Like walking out of the movies and just slowly trying to absorb what you’ve just witnessed… Phew, what a rush! What a trip! Setting out to create a themed concept album with basically one album-long track, could easily have ended in pompous, pretentious, introvert garbage… But this is VERY far from that, this is actually a very, very special album. Very interesting, and refreshingly different! Anyone expecting Twisted Parameters Pt. 2 will be disappointed though. This album is much more mature – and in the same regard, it’s less easily accessible. Some of the tracks are indeed introvert and with the continued story concept, it’s not like you wanna skip tracks and enjoy them individually… This works MUCH better as one long story track. With that in mind, allow me to compare this with similar concept albums released in recent years. It’s not as amazing as Artifakt’s ground-breaking and diverse Artifakts II (Timecode 2005) but it’s even better than Megalopsy’s The Abstract Machine (Trishula 2005). Both were milestone albums in their own right, and The Dark Journal finds it place steadily between them. Musically this album doesn’t sway far away from the so-called darkpsy genre. The BPM is kept at a steady 148 throughout the album, but Kemic-Al still manages to keep the vast majority of the tracks interesting with all kinds of tweaks, twists and turns. Yes, there are a couple of dull moments, but they are scarce and as they are an integral part of the story they don’t bother me as much as they would on, say a compilation. Aldo also made the artwork and the impressive, informative booklet himself – as well as all the music + mastering and so on. How’s that for multi-talent folks? Very well done Aldo, you’ll have a hard time topping this album! All in all, this album is a gem within the darker realms of psytrance. But, it’s not as easily accessible as most albums. It requires the listener to listen to all of it at once, and as a minimum a couple of repeated listens. Fans of melodic full-on and other purists will take a bit of convincing before they get this. But invest some time in this, and the reward will come back to you tenfold… This album is brilliant! …Enjoy! Favourites: This is supposed to be enjoyed as a whole – like one long track. Chapters 1, 4, 7(!), 9(!) and 12 are particularly well-executed though… DeathPosture External links: Kemic-Al: http://people.tribe.net/kemic-al Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/682050 Tower Records (Japan): http://tinyurl.com/rqlwg HMV (Japan): http://tinyurl.com/mgjna Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/q8jv6 Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/p54bd Wirikuta: http://tinyurl.com/pjnpu Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/s88ex Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/m4ohn Cisco: http://tinyurl.com/p7ska Juno: http://tinyurl.com/rtd8d

I'm chilling out right now after a massive Kemic-Al session... So it's time for some laidback stuff... And what better compilation to throw on, than V/A - Wasted - The Best Of Volume 1? I've put on CD2 with this impressive tracklist: 2.01 © He Was (5:29) 2.02 Massive Attack Karmacoma (Bumper Ball Dub) (5:56) Remix - Mad Professor 2.03 Tricky You Don't (4:42) 2.04 Cypress Hill Lick A Shot (Baka Boys Vocal Up Mix) (3:29) Remix - Tha Baka Boys 2.05 Credit To The Nation Come Dancing (4:38) 2.06 Little Axe 15 To 4 (4:46) 2.07 Sandals Venice Groove (5:17) 2.08 Stereo MC's Elevate My Mind (Live) (4:06) 2.09 Jah Wobble Whiskey Priests (5:28) 2.10 Node Olivine (7:45) 2.11 New Order Confusion (Dimitri Remix) (5:23) Remix - Dimitri 2.12 Moby Go (Subliminal Mix) (4:24) 2.13 LFO Slow Down Speedy (3:13) 2.14 Autechre Lanx 3 (5:43) 2.15 Aphex Twin En Trange To Exit (4:24) 2.16 Mindless Drug Hoover The Reefer Song (1:53) Brilliant chill-stuff... /DP

So you win 4 MFG CDs + one CD of your own choice? Am I the only one that thinks that's kinda odd?

Picked up another package at the post office today: * Annodalleb - dAATh (Negative3 2006) http://www.discogs.com/release/666921 ^ Hell yeah! That's some elusive remixing!

Let me guess - X-Drengen of DAHF? I had a BUNCH of releases reserved from his collection, but when he revealed he dumped all the back-covers I sadly had to withdraw - and only bought a couple of complete digipacks from him...

Well, at least you're not bitter...

You're right, your knowledge of wholesome pop tunes seem to be greater than mine. But at least I got to post a picture of Keating. We don't talk enough about him or the rest of Boyzone here on Psynews.

I know what you mean Tats, and you of all people here, indeed have the right to voice your opinion on such matters... Ignorance is bliss. Fear of the unknown leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering... Haha - that's Yoda for you! Anyway, such a shift from liberal to less-liberal views is indeed not something to be proud of in our little community, but as you said, I think it has to do with the growth... It's not very underground and hippy-shanti any more - in fact I'm pretty certain that the hippies are now a minority within the scene they created themselves... Aided by the internet where information flows freely - and the anonymousity of the internet is ironically also the reason why people can voice their less liberal viewpoints in the comforts of their own homes - in stead of facing a gay/muslim/eskimo person at a party. Hope you catch my drift here - I know I'm rambling... /DP

I think there'll always be homophobia, islamophobia or any phobia for that matter, in any given society... Sure, psytrance and in particular hippie communities are among the most open-minded, liberal people... But the still, the phobias are there... Let's just be happy that we're not on a right wing board..

* V/A - The Colours Of Shiva - Part 1 (Tua Records/Nova Tekk 1997) http://www.discogs.com/release/142353 * V/A - The Chakra Journey (Return To The Source 1996) http://www.discogs.com/release/59065 ^ €15 in total including shipping... /DP

Kemic-Al - The Dark Journal album

Oliver Jones – Picking Up The Pieces Artist: Oliver Jones (Denmark) Title: Picking Up The Pieces Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Sofa Beats (Denmark) Cat. #: SOFA BEATS CD 02 Distribution: twohandsdistribution.com Date: March 2006 Track listing: 01. 01’32” Oliver Jones - Intro 02. 07’36” Oliver Jones – Misty Morning 03. 07’25” Oliver Jones – Club Velour 04. 05’20” Oryx – Horn Control (Jaw Control Remix) 05. 03’49” Oliver Jones – Aurora 06. 03’28” Ojos De Brujo - Nr Ventilaor R 80 (Mochila Remix) 07. 06’33” Oliver Jones – Picking Up The Pieces 08. 08’04” Oliver Jones – Money In The Pocket 09. 06’20” Oliver Jones – Dynasty Dundee 10. 05’21” Oliver Jones – Benchmark Modesty 11. 07’04” Reefer Decree – 7 Minutes Review: Sunny funny future jazz frolics… The debut album Picking Up The Pieces by Oliver Jones is officially Sofa Beat’s second release, but due to a number of circumstances resulting in a massive delay, it was actually released after the third release Floating Point 3. Further problems followed when the CD was issued with an error-riddled tracklist, but the tracklist used in this review is the official one corrected by Iboga Records. Oliver Jones might sound like a single producer dude, but it’s actually a moniker used by a Danish duo consisting of Oliver Bierlich (Oryx & late Reefer Decree) and Jonas Christiansen. Let’s find out what the guys have conjured up for us… Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Oliver Jones – Intro The intro is a pretty sleek trumpet-bonanza accompanied by some choral experimentation and some floating harmonies… Not bad, but too short to make a lasting impression… #02: Oliver Jones – Misty Morning ”What’s going on here? … Hey, who told her? … So, this house is haunted?” Next up is a very hip, laid-back, inner-city dub-groover… Edgy, smoky and totally groovalicous… Perfect for late nite driving in urban environments or as the soundtrack to hedonist rituals in a high-tech future jazz club… Yeah, this is pretty damn nice downtempo… Smoking! #03: Oliver Jones – Club Velour This track was originally featured on the 2004 Iboga chill compilation Floating Point II and once again we’re exposed to a deeply jazzed-up dub-tune… Loads of wind instruments + subtle percussion here… It’s neat and harmless, but also slightly boring I’m afraid… Wallpaper, but nice wallpaper nevertheless… #04: Oryx – Horn Control (Jaw Control Remix) This track was originally on the 2004 Oryx album Advanced Retromodel under the name Jaw Control. As the title suggests, this remix has been fitted with a bunch of horns and trumpets and so on… The Reefer Decree touch is also very much visible – and especially the distinct Curved Air reverb groove is very much present in this lovely tune… A slow-burning, low ripping chilled piece of music… Lush! #05: Oliver Jones – Aurora Next up is a short little track which is basically a mish-mash of dub, electro and jazzy shenanigans. Flow wise it works pretty nice and DJs spinning alternative music might find it useful… It’s interesting yes, but sadly too short to make a lasting impression on me… #06: Ojos De Brujo - Nr Ventilaor R 80 (Mochila Remix) This track was originally made by the Spanish ensemble Ojos De Brujo - the children of the street rumba and polyglot flamenco. Here it’s remixed by Oliver Jones in an elusive Mochila outfit. Confused? So am I, but do not despair, as this is a smoking tune… Style wise we’re somewhere bordering Gotan Project and Fila Brazillia… Mediterranean upbeat flamenco-tech… Totally lush and totally sexy! #07: Oliver Jones – Picking Up The Pieces The title track is also a turning point away from the lush, laidback grooves – and this is a weird synth-meets-80ies-electro hybrid… Spacy modern at times, and déjà vu retro-like at others… And it’s definitely among the funkiest pure-electronic tracks I’ve heard in a while… Like the classic Popcorn tune exposed to pure Moroccan hashish… Very interesting! #08: Oliver Jones – Money In The Pocket This track is perhaps the most evolving one off the entire album… It’s like a journey from deep inner city dub, over sharp electro-clash to wide spanning, epic and Balearic trance… The melodies are somewhat melancholy but somehow they still manage to make me smile and bounce my head… The sheer level of musical styles is very impressive in this track – it’s another stand-out! #09: Oliver Jones – Dynasty Dundee The next track continues the synth-meets-80ies-electro of track #7, but where it really worked earlier, this attempt seems more forces and the novelty is wearing off… Advanced Atari-electronica here – not bad, but not great either… #10: Oliver Jones – Benchmark Modesty The last pure OJ track is perhaps the most uplifting on the album… Subtle breakz & percussion, huge organic pads and dream-trance piano melodies… Sounds like something that Moby would conjure up after a 72 hour ketamine session… And that’s meant as a compliment, as this is a pretty sweet tune. Maybe a tad on the cheesy side, but the irregular beats saves the day… #11: Reefer Decree – 7 Minutes At the time of release, this track was a taster from the upcoming Reefer Decree album Point Of You released by Iboga in May 2006. And holy shit, if I wasn’t looking forward to the album before, I sure am now… This is pretty minimal club-tune that’s absolutely soaked in retro-electro FX… Like tech-trance made on a 1990 Amiga and tweaked on a 2006 Powerbook… Sweet! The Oliver Jones album is good – and much better than I expected. Style wise, this is not as chilled as the rest of the Sofa Beats catalogue. Sure, it’s downbeat, but at least half of these tracks work equally well on the dancefloor as in the chill-out… And hey, that’s a good thing! I also really like the musical diversity of this album. Lounge, dub and chill, electro, dance, club, ethno world beats and much, much more – we really get all sorts here! It’s the full package! I like the majority of the tracks here – and there are no painstakingly boring tracks either. And most importantly: This album doesn’t sound like anything else released within our scene – it’s very, very refreshing and for that reason alone it’s interesting. The retro cover art fits certain aspects of the music, but I doubt it will win any design prizes. But who cares, the music is great and I’ll recommend this to anyone interested in unique electronica. This is nothing, if not unique. Enjoy! Favourites: 2(!), 4, 6(!!), 7, 8(!), 10, 11 DeathPosture External links: Iboga Records: http://www.iboga.dk Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/646838 Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/rs2yw TranceShop: http://tinyurl.com/nsp3b Amboworld: http://tinyurl.com/s9lgg Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/rdzez Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/rs4t2

And that's exactly the .m3u file that Goannes is linking to... Yeah, Night Vision has been unreleased forever - but now it's finally released... It was about time!

What radio station?

I'll have a full review up soon(ish)

What radio station? If you've found a good radio station, the least you could have done was tell us about it Radi! I mean, come on, we're all friends here. Why haven't you shared the link with us or even hinted at the location of the alleged radio station? ------- Anyway, I'm getting ready for my DJ set tonight: The Raconteurs "Steady As She Goes"

There shouldn't be any problem in that... I do it all the time in my reviews...

*downloading* And just for the record, nakkid pix are available upon request via PM... ;p