RTP

hey, thanks for digging it up, this sounds interesting... So this CompactStick is far from a standard ... but SlotMusic neither. However, I'd find the idea with the SD card + USB adaptor better, then you wouldn't have to transfer it over PC if you wanted to listen to it on a walkman cellphone for example. That makes the whole thing at least a little bit easier to handle. But why did these idiots not put wav files on the card? If it had wav files and all the other content then it would be better than the CompactStick. Oh and the packaging of SlotMusic is gruesome ... I'd lose that little SD card in no time ... the CompactStick can always be stored in its case and filed like a CD, that's not optimal aswell since a lot of room is lost, but it's at least better than SlotMusic, that way I at least wouldn't lose the damn stick. Anyway, it looks like we will get a number of variations of basically the same approach, none like the other and in the end we have a salad and the support for every format alone is too weak so none of them will stand long ... that's probably how it's going to be.

Correct. My soundsystem has no way to play a CompactStick without somewhat annoying workarounds, I'd have to burn the stuff on a CD - in CD format since it can't understand mp3 (older soundsystem that is ), that means I wouldn't even get all songs on one CD in the Atmos case. I'd have to burn 2 CDs. And then, where would I organize the CDrs? I'd practically need the room of three CD cases (one for the Compactstick in its case, two for CDrs) in my shelf just to be able to get the sound on the hifi? That's just not cool. Hey, good article ... and with a well put sentence in it, which I may quote because it's so true: "This seems like a terribly wasteful and roundabout way to download a bunch of files!" Indeed... Ah, it's not only for our scene? Interesting. But if this would be intended to go out big, why start it off in our scene (it definitely started off here ... there's no other release on CompactStick than the ones Psyshop offers)? There is not that much money to be made. I think the inventors of this thing got a connection or might even be involved in our scene. That official website reminds me too much of Spiral Trax (okay, that really could be just the designer ... but also the cover of that test CompactStick thing on the photo, isn't that the image background of the Bakkelit 2.1 cover?) and psytrance-esque undergroundness... anyway... Overall I think it's cool that there are efforts to make something new since the CD is not an optimal format ... and digital music is also not an optimal format for me because it lacks the physical component, I want to hold something in my hand when I listen to the music, kinda. With the stick they tried to combine the sound quality of digital wav releases with the physical component, which is for itself a good idea. But there are too many disadvantages connected to it. As Basilisk put it, why now combining digital music with the delivery problem of physical music when the files could actually just be downloaded? It's a waste of time, energy and money. The "physical component" is simply not justification enough for that. Furthermore when that problem is mastered and the stick has arrived, there's even more hassle for the people like me who want to listen to the stuff not on the PC, but also on their CD player: they need to burn the stuff to CDr, organize the CDrs and in the end this is double and triple work. And the bonus material simply can't make that up for me. It probably works for the people who made the PC their music base, all music on the PC in form of wav or mp3. And CDs are just the backup, they never touch the CD. For these people, CompactSticks are actually a cool thing! But I don't think there are enough people of that kind to make the format profitable and big...

What I don't really get about it all is why to offer a CompactStick when the same features (extra tracks plus interview or whatnot) could also be achieved by offering a download ... would be cheaper...

Recently I see this new thing striking roots at Psyshop: the CompactStick. Heard of it? It's a 2GB USB flash stick with the sound of a CD album in mp3 and wav format ... plus bonus stuff so that people buy it. Good idea? Maybe. A popular idea? Not yet. I was interested and did a google search about CompactStick and the only real thing I got was the very poor (so to say) looking Compactstick website http://www.compactstick.com/ and a german article in an inventor journal: http://www.erfinderprofi.de/journal/tag/compactstick From that article one can practically conclude, that this CompactStick is something only available to the psy scene ("dance genre", "shops in europe, hongkong and Japan" ... yeah, that's Saikosounds what they mean there!) and that Psyshop seems to play a major promoting role in selling it (since there's an explicit mentioning and link to them). Not really surprising though, since the inventors are german (I'd actually like to know who's behind it ... I speculate they are involved with SpiralTrax in some ways, look at the website, the style ... could be just the designer though) and Psyshop is located there ... what is cool is that the inventors seem to be psy fans, otherwise they probably wouldn't have chosen to do this over Psyshop... Psyshop has now an own Compactstick section. Not many releases there so far, but a few ones ... also the new Atmos one. What I'd like to know is what you people think about this? Will CompactStick really become the successor of the CD? And, of course, is it practical? WAV files offer great sound quality, don't they? And is it eventually possible that this format flows over to other music genres aswell (it's not known in other scenes yet AFAIK, only psytrance)? Might we eventually be able to buy Madonna's next album on CompactStick - an invention that originated in our scene? Would be cool, huh? I personally did choose the CD in the one case where I was able to choose. I don't want a tiny flash drive and then have to burn the stuff to CD only to listen to it on my home stereo. All my releases are CD so far and I still want them to be CD in some way. Otherwise it would disharmonize my collection. Besides Wirikuta (the only shop I order from) doesn't have that format yet. When this gets more popular I might think to invoke an own Compactstick section in my shelf though... What do you say?

ha, I recognize some sounds from the live (the one at 4:00 for example) the second song sounds right outta Leaving Home btw... this is going to be GREAT! Although I think I'll wait with this album until spring ... now it's not Solar Fields time ... walks in the sunny spring air, that is Solar fields time!

Unfortunately this year I missed out quite big time on ambient releases (yeah, I know, what a shame ... I didn't even buy Ease Division 3 even though I actually really wanted it ... spent the money on games, aww aww), so I'm going to vote only for trance: 1;Atmos;Tour de Trance;Spiral Trax 2;Audiomatrixx;Variations;AP Records 3;VA;Bakkelit 2 1;Spiral Trax 4;Ticon;2am;Digital Structures 5;Materia;Out of Tune;24/7 Records Atmos is definite first place, that album is wonderful. The long waiting really got rewarded big time. No more words needed, read my review (or the other ones) for that one and just go listen to it! By the way, my vote here is for the CD version ... but I don't think you need to differ between the formats, the CompactStick just has bonus tracks from the music point of view... Second place goes to Audiomatrixx. I really like the light and uncomplicated melodic upbeat-ness and kinda warm atmosphere of this morning progressive, it's perfect for me. Puts a smile on my face every time. Also the cover is one of the best ones 2008 IMO ... describes the lightness of the music well. Third place gets Bakkelit 2.1 (in the listing above I replaced the dot with a space as requested) ... a funny number, but I can understand the reason why they picked it (since Spiral Trax went down for some time as you might recall). I thought it would be like the first Bakkelit, a few good tracks and some not that good ones ... and I bought it only because of the Agent 17 tune at first. But then I got very positively surprised, there are really good tracks on this one practically from start to finish! That's how a great compilation should be. Fourth place gets Ticon. Some may complain that it is not psy and whatnot, but I still wanna mention it. First I thought it's not that good and to be honest, a true masterpiece I wouldn't call it, but I had to come to the conclusion that there are actually some really good tracks on it that I like a big lot and this together with the pseudo-snobby (so "snobby" that it's actually arsing the snobbish-ness - at least to me it appears like that) atmosphere makes it actually a really good craft. Fifth place finally goes to Materia's Out of Tune, the only non-prog in my list. At first I despised it as generic fullon and that it's bad and such ... but then, on a party, I got to experience that it's actually better than I thought because I got to experience what awfulness actual fullon really is. Maybe that experience distorted my judgement a bit, but I am now of the opinion that this release is actually good. And besides the local scene deserves my support too

Good thread. Just recently I bought Matenda - Chilling Matenda, that one was released in 2004. Chillcode's first release. Didn't own it physically before ... but it's an absolute gem that I just had to have! Would definitely have voted for that one, but back in 2004 it kinda totally passed me by and it was later that I really discovered the beauty of it.

too high bpm makes me nervous and/or aggressive... don't like that it can be 140 or even 150, but that's max currently I prefer less

I dig that stuff until it gets faster. The later part ... it's too fast.

was going to recommend that besides Etnoscope... btw, for ambient try Amaruvision - Light Energy Performance

ALERT: STOLEN MELODY! Seriously! He flinched that melody from The Visions Of Shiva - How Much Can You Take?! He he... And yep, it feels more like electro to me. Sounds like a Rother remix of HMCYT... anyway ... I somehow get more and more confused... I always associated this with techno: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=694OqUFJD5k (if you skip the utterly annoying 1:50 min intro that is, please do!) ... that was exactly the stuff I always got to listen to. Now, would anybody kindly explain to me WHAT THAT IS? To me it always was TECHNO. Is it? It maybe is. But WHAT KIND? Schranz? I began to associate it with that. But if it's not Schranz what's it then? Let's put it that way: if that style is Techno, then I prefer Trance. That's how I always thought.

Well, yeah, I gotta say this is a truly awesome release. And indeed, gentle is the word for it on this one. The bpm is not so fast, the sound are nicely crafted beautiful melody bits and pads. I percieve this album less upbeat and less intense and less peppery than any other Atmos release so far (apart from chill tracks of course ) ... it's almost a bit chill, but not too much to make me wanna stand still. It makes me sway. Gently. First track is very very good as I already said. Listen to the samples and give special attention to the keyword thing, this really works with me (of course I'm just talking myself into it, I like that), last time I heard this one late at night on the couch I got almost benzo-relaxed on it! It's awesome! Second track is one that I don't like sooo much because I actually know a better mix of it and find the version on the CD not that cool. This should have more pepper, but then I admit it would not have fitted to the flow of the album. Third one is one of my absolute favourites. Was listening to this already for months on the net. No words needed, pure genious. Wonderful vocals aswell. ToWhatMyMindAttend (it's much more awesome written TOGETHER and not apart!) is totally superb. Starts off not even that brillant, but as the voice sample is turned into the rhythm giver it cracks me up. This is genious! Ride The Flow is also very very awesome. It has already a poppy feel to it, but it's not cheesy pop IMO, it's nice pop. And the melody and effects are drop dead awesome. Nick of Time is another chapter of awesomeness. This one reminds me a bit of the typical trance Atmos always stood for and it also has a bit pepper, the bassline is nice. Very very good! Then comes seventh track, Power On, which is a nice interlude, but maybe a bit too short. Into The Groove, well yeah, I didn't find this one that awesome. But it's a nice track to dance. And the last one surprised me very positively. Didn't expect Jellybean to be so good. This also has a litle bit of the poppy feeling, but it's not cheesy at all and has a very nice melody. Good, creative closing tune for a brillant album. What makes this album so good is the modern sound and the gentleness and yet still colorful creativity with what it's brought across. Atmos was never that gentle to me, even though tunes like Fill The Hat were pointing in that direction. This one is much more turned down in terms of intensity, even more than Fill The Hat. At least I have that impression. But I love it. The more gentle, the more floating the better... My favourite tracks: 1(!), 3(!), 4(!), 5(!), 6, 9(!) Now I'd only be curious about the CompactStick material...

Aha? Hmmm... I sort of get what you mean if you refer to his hitsingles such as Iguana, Komodo, Proximus, Like This Like That and whatnot ... and actually most of his own output. That's totally right, they are anything but Schranz. However, the stuff he spins on his DJ gigs, I think there's definitely some Schranz among that... If not, then my definition of Schranz is totally wrong tuned. But I don't believe that. look at that tracklist: http://www.discogs.com/release/99830 ... I got that CD and it could repersent the tracklist and style of a typical Picotto mix back then. For example Johannes Heil - The Chains of Babylon is on it ... and that's what you say about that it was classified as Schranz earlier on itself.

I'm voting for Trance aswell. Although my electronic music journey started a bit with Techno, the typical Schranz type ... that was the first stuff I heard on parties. It was nice although I got tired of it already after a year (that was not the music's fault though, rather the people's). I was on general commercial trance paries aswell though and didn't like them any better or such... The breakthrough came with the discovery of goa trance and psytrance. I got to love that music. And meanwhile the ride has taken me to modern electronic hybrid house-progtrance sounds. The key element of it all, however, is easily identified ... I'm a sucker for the floaty, light melodic type of music. Earlier one it were the massive goa melodies of Astral Projection and the likes, nowadays it's the calming yet progressing pads and synth melodies. Even though I don't classify any of this as trance myself since I want to prevent mix-ups with the commercial horrors of chav trance, I guess these elements are actually the very essence of trance music. Which makes me a trancehead par excellence and no technohead. I like techno aswell though ... of course.

unfortunately this is true there's one for sale on Discogs though...

just wait till I get my MIDI controller I declared it on my xmas wishlist ... so it depends on Santa

it says "om mani padme hum" well, maybe not, I don't have a clue maybe this helps: http://www.thlib.org/reference/translation-tool/

This is so great I have declared this album to be my Advent calendar: every day a new track! (because I actually declared it as my xmas present and feel bad to listen to it before the 24th ) Yesterday I listened the first track, today the first and the second, tomorrow I'll listen to the first three and so on! Already the first one is uber great ... it's this somewhat slow yet steady progression, gentle is the word for it, paired with the synth effects and short creative melody bits that gets me :posford: edit: oh and today (past midnight, so I may listen to the third ) it's 46Daz! that track meant a lot to me already before, I loved it, was constantly listening to it on Thomas' Myspace site and the best is, I just had a quite big pile of luck, yes, a quite big one ... and as I came home just ten minutes ago I put in the CD and WOHOO, it was 46daz playing as third track! this can't be a coincidence... I mean ... the luck (a really quite nice coincidence ... actually a series of the latter) and then coming home and the track ... my judgement is unfortunately a little influenced by un-soberness right now, but I guarantee I'll never revise what I say now. This track must have some kind of universal connection because it just is so awesome and just always pops in at the right time when LUCK is on the trigger! Yes, at the right time, because this one is what I remember best from the Atmos live set that I heard this year, I instantly loved this gentle, floating atmosphere and the nice female voice and the slow, slow but gentle progression ... and there he also threw it in at the right time! I'm freakin' thankful that he played that track in the live back then so I gotta experience it. This is definitely one of the best Atmos tracks ever. And to me it now shall be an ode to all good coincidences, to all lucky runs, to everything positive! Forever. 46daz!

well, the release was planned as a double album at first about five years ago (there even was an announcement thread here), but then Spiral Trax went down and that peculiar double album never got released... Then it got pretty silent about Thomas. only last year news on Digital Structures popped up that there was going to be a new Atmos release ... but that news never got updated and as I asked some months ago I got the info that Atmos signed his material to Spiral Trax again... On the whole I think this album is different material than the one that was originally planned to be his next album on Spiral Trax five years ago. I don't know that for sure though ... but I guess so. I'd be curious what happened to the material...

Cool, a new CBL release I'm a little disappointed though that it only comes as a download. With the term "EP" I normally connect vinyl releases and now as I saw the thread I was already hoping... Well, anyway. Samples sound promising (especially POU!).

I more or less agree with the former reviewer, though I might add a few things: The actual reason for me to buy Blue was track 8, Matenda - Prisinors Dilemma. I knew that one and knew it was good, so I wanted it in hardware. I didn't care too much about the other tracks at first to be honest. But overall I can say I'm happy I own this now. The opener is very good, I like it because of the nice progression and the comfortable feeling light effects. A bit of a spacy atmosphere is in that one indeed, although I'd not associate it with a waterfall... I also like the second one because it has good bassline, good progression and even though there's not much melody it's catchy. The third one feels stomping. It somehow reminds me of the second CD on middle-aged Goa-Head compilations (around vol 13). Don't know if anybody can relate to that... Fourth one I don't like at all. Well, a little bit maybe. But if that's Vaishiyas I'll steer clear of 'em. Fifth one, POTS - Hippies With Attitude is actually a gem. I'm so happy this is on Blue, I heard this before and knew it was good, but didn't know it was on that compilation! Really great tune, very progressing, absolutely addictive bassline, kick, rhythm. Awesome! The next one, Human Blue - Multipus I don't find that great, I know better (way better!) Human Blue stuff. Goa fans will probably like the effects in second half of the track and towards the end, but I don't think this compilation is mainly directed at people who like those types of tracks (judging from the other material) ... but well, anyway ... it's not that bad, I'm just not impressed. The seventh one I think is better than said before. Not a masterpiece, but I percieve the atmosphere as spacey as in the first track... The eigth one, finally, is my beloved Matenda - Prisinors Dilemma! When I listen to the CD I mostly skip instantly to this one. It's so great nothing else on the release comes even remotely close to it, already because no other track is in that style ... actually I don't know what this one has to do on that CD anyway, it would look much better on a 12". But well. This track is perfect because it just sounds honest, bright, morning, nice ... it doesn't sound pretentious, overpacked with stuff or anything like most of todays's prog stuff. What you get is generally a recurring morning trance effect paired with an addictive fast synth melody - this is probably what is refered to as the flanger above(*) - and the characteristic early Matenda progression and sharpness in the sound. In other words, perfect. A little bit of amateurish undertone in it aswell, that's what I like and what gives this piece some kind of warmth that makes up for the fact that it's not released on 12". To quote the sample, "This is the sound!". It is. The last track to me seems not very special in comparsion to the one before, but it seems ok to me. Well, actually I don't know, the Matenda is so great I don't want to brabble about that one now, want to listen to Prisinors Dilemma again Overall: a must for crazy Matenda fans such as me. The others will find a nice prog CD that doesn't disappoint on casual listens, yet there are better releases out there than this one... Favourite tracks: 1!, 2, 5! and ... 8! (*) actually the flanger is cool (I get now what that is), but what makes it so addictive to me is not the flangered base melody per se but the conglomerate that is produced out of the flangered melody and the oscillator-like effect that comes in after the first third of the track AND the third bassline-like effect. So you basically have three flangered sounding layers and that's what makes it so great when that peculiar moning trance melody comes in again (yes, it's really that awesome)...

oh dear god no... sorry, but I was into chav techno seven years ago and that was pretty much the time that it was infested with schranz (Mauro Picotto sets, I was a fan, check them) ... and now I hate this type of music for reminding me of the sunstudio chavs and bitches and cheap aftershave and aggressions and ... ah,whatever...

Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy ... that was the first AP track I heard and it has always been somewhat special compared to the others. S-Range - Ten 4 ... it's not the very best from the album Space, but it's still great ... and it's the only one that can be found on youtube. And I guess if the world was going to end, I'd just put on that whole album and forget about all other tracks anyway Etnoscope - King Size Rizzla ... this is one of the best tracks on their first album and definitely has to be played. Matenda - Natural Development ... no youtube vid of this track ... masterpiece nonetheless Matenda - No Return ... no youtube vid of this track ... masterpiece aswell

yeah, I remember that comic was already outta that scene as it came out though oh and btw, I'm not following that advice in the comic, still going to parties because of the artists that play there

I wouldn't be interested in any complex statistics ... sure it's cool, but just a toplist is enough. Like last year's results. That was a really cool move of you... Of course we wait till the year's over, don't we? As far as I recall, Psynews tradition is to give the people 2 months time to catch up on releases. And at the end of Febuary the votes should be fix. That's how it was all the time. We shouldn't make it different now. For example some great stuff has been released only just last week (yeah, really, guess what it is ), let it take some time to get to the people...