Dolmot

Music-wise it's among the best goa albums in this millennium. Sound-wise it's among the flattest and most fatiguing. There are no highs, no lows, no peaks, no valleys. I don't think I've ever managed to listen it through. Maybe I should try some kind of dynamic expansion to make it listenable.

That wouldn't get too high on my list of worries. Compare that to, say, Korea, which is technically still in war (armistice) over a direct land border and producing end-of-the-world-imminent-right-now headlines every month with little really happening. There are dozens of disputed territories like those rocks around the world. The whole point is that neither side can give up as it would make them look weak and cowardly. However, there's nothing tangible to gain from nearly worthless rocks, compared to the risks of a full blown war that would ensue. Therefore both sides keep on rattling sabres and issuing heavy-worded statements while largely agreeing that nothing is really going to happen over the matter. The press, of course, loves headlines where the whole issue is effectively called a prelude to WWIII. It sells better than "same old, nothing's going to happen". Don't buy it if there are no real news. If even Korea can remain in a standstill for decades, I wouldn't expect Japan and China to start a major war which would cost them utter fortunes, all recent development, and their whole reputation. At least not for a few islands. That would make a convenient excuse for other motives, though.

Alright, why do I get spam from Hado even though I've never bought a thing or them nor subscribed to anything? I guess I'll skip this compilation just because spammers are the lowest form of human scum and I'd love to see each and every one of them hanged, drawn and quartered.

Radical Distortion could be sold to me as '97 MFG stuff and I'd probably be fooled...

Yep, and usually Alien Project as the second option. That acronym is heavily overloaded...

That's what I've been pondering as well. Maybe I'll use similar approach. A direct re-release doesn't count as 2012, not even with 2012 overcompr remastering. However, Blue Moon Sampler might fit in as it never was truly available back then. Etnica is wholly unreleased. UX was updated so heavily from the 1997 version that it's a new release in my book. (A shame the CD version got postponed but it's released nevertheless.) If there are any official rulings regarding these matters, let me know...

(Not participating but...) I saw this line and started wondering.

Really? Doesn't appear so in the cart system...

There was Fractal Gate in December? OK, will listen.

I guess this is the place to dump my traditional yearmix. Still doing them even though I'm not sure if anyone cares. Also, Soundcloud declared it verboten. Bloody mixtape-hating arsebandits. Audio is here, 173 MB VBR MP3, 101 minutes. Use right-click or something to download if you're using a browser that hijacks mp3 to its own silly player. Content: 01. (00:00) Ren Toudu - We Are the Visitors ["Intangible", Ovnimoon, Apr 2012] 02. (01:40) Globular - From Mind There Spills Forth Light ["A Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Gliese 581C/Omnitropic, Mar 2012] 03. (05:20) InnerSpace - Rising ["InnerSpace", Suntrip, Sep 2012] 04. (09:20) Mindsphere - Spirits of Devotion ["Patience for Heaven", Suntrip, Oct 2012] 05. (15:30) PharaOm - Two Parallel Worlds ["Tesseract", Underground Alien Factory, Jun 2012] 06. (18:30) Jikooha - Survive in Babylon ["Sirius Rising", Panorama, Dec 2012] 07. (24:10) Trinodia - Eltanin ["Stargazing", Ovnimoon, Feb 2012] 08. (28:50) Main Sequence Star - Archaea ["Full Force Travellers V.01", Astronautic, Feb 2012] 09. (35:40) Scopes - Eyes Closed ["Digilog", Psyderweb, Jul 2012] 10. (42:00) UX feat. Jan Rechberger - Children of the Night ["Ultimate Experience Reloaded", Kissthesound, Jun 2012] 11. (51:30) SynSUN - Space Sirens ["The Sounds of Cosmic Lifeforms", Phototropic, Jan 2012] 12. (57:40) Etnica - Nice Toys ["Live in Athens 1996", DAT, Dec 2012] 13. (65:40) Liquid Flow - Chaotic ["Space of Power", Global Sect, May 2012] 14. (72:30) Dimension 5 - Glow (original unreleased version) ["Blue Moon UK Sampler", Altar, Jun 2012] 15. (78:20) Hunab-Ku - Dreamstar ["Magik Universe", Amakusa, Sep 2012] 16. (84:20) Nebula Meltdown - Mindstream Continuum ["Shaltu", Suntrip, Mar 2012] 17. (88:40) Nova Fractal - Redemption ["Dimensional Gateway 3", Neogoa, Dec 2012] 18. (95:50) Agneton - Wizards from the Future (Afterlife Remix) ["The Omega Point", Neogoa, Apr 2012] Track notes: 02, 05, 09, 10, 17 and 18: Available as free downloads on ektoplazm.com . 08: Available on astrecords.net . 10: "Lost track" first released in 2012 as a bonus track of the 1997 album's expanded version. 11: Originally self-released in 2001. 12: Recorded from a live performance in 1996, released in 2012. 14: Compiled by Blue Moon in 2000, not properly released back then. 15: Originally released by Blue Moon in 2000, remastered and re-released in 2012. Not everything could be shoved in but I tried to include most of my favourites. Enjoy.

I wouldn't call US that hopeless regarding electronic as a whole. Starting from early history, pretty much every big black music genre was either invented or popularised there. You can hardly deny the role of disco, soul, RnB and hip-hop (you know, original beat-splicing and turntablism) in what later became house and techno. Disco scene gave us stuff like the 12", extended edits, dub edits and so on. US was churning out early house and Detroit techno while Europe was still largely stuck in hair rock, schlager and an odd Kraftwerk thrown in for experimental value. Many of my favourite house labels are still from the US. So what happened then? Why didn't that forerunner role carry on into the 21st century? Maybe the club scene had already grown old and uninteresting? After all, legendary places like Paradise Garage and Studio 54 closed already in the 80s. Disco and house were dad music in the 90s. Another factor I can propose just for musing is how heavily commercial and marketing-based everything seems to be in the US. They're doing marketing extremely well. There's no denying it. Just look at the number of US brands with worldwide recognition. And Hollywood movies. And top-x0 hits. The latest hits are distributed everywhere and battling against each other until only the worldwide winner stands. However, this leaves little room for truly odd stuff. Good luck getting radio play for 8 minute tracks based on a single bass pattern and assorted weirdness. Besides, stuff pressed in less than million copies already counts as "indie" and is special enough for people who want to be hip. I don't think goa ever sold more than maybe 10 000 worldwide. Nowadays it's less than thousand. It's marginal everywhere but in countries with higher population density people can join each other and build the scene more easily. And returning to the intro part, I think US has a tradition of picking its latest UG music fads from the black scene. Goa may tell about Asian religions, Mayas or aliens, but it's produced by white Britons and it's among the least black genres I know. Trends just don't seem to move that way over the Atlantic. But hey, at least a few people like Spook keep trying.

...but have you measured that your output is completely flat?

If you've missed the previous Kaya Project releases, check them too. I was wondering, what's the difference between that and Hibernation. Fortunately Interchill site told me that "with a number of different projects to his name Seb likes to keep them stylistically distinct and Hibernation is devoted to a more electronic realm than Kaya Project, which features live instrumentation from around the world. Hibernation, as the name suggests, heads inwards and locks onto micro edits, quirky samples, glitches and hyper-fine details." OK.

Based on samples, sounds good. Also sounds like good old BB. Seems like his average BPM decreases by one every year, but the sexy grooves and analogue sounds are still there. Extra points for limited spectrum work and avoiding the official triple cheese chord almost synonymous with this "progressive" thing. Unfortunately the chances of actual release are slim so probably I won't be getting it. Anyway, I received a largish bunch of goodies in December. It was a bad month with too much work and too little time for music, but let's give a few first impressions in spirit of this thread. The order is pseudo-random, based on my playlist, which is based on the order of ripping/downloading. Here's my odd pile of up- and downbeats, old and new... Jikooha - Sirius Rising (Panorama, 2012, Discogs) Cool, driving goa mostly in low 140s. Plenty of resonating synths with and without distortion. It's not similarly melodic like a lot of new-school (that is, picking a sample and using it as-is for a loud three-note melody). Instead, there's bold knob tweaking and experimental synth work. The rhythms are varied and don't rely solely on huge, punctual 4/4 kicks. Some of the tracks go a bit into WTF directions at around five minutes, but it's fresh and exciting in any case. Try it. Etnica - Live in Athens (DAT, 2012, Discogs) OK, I don't have to describe the most legendary goa act out there. We're lucky to get this juicy double CD finally released. The first disc is a clandestinely recorded live gig from the golden years. You may have heard most of the "standard" versions of these tunes, but each live take is significantly different and interesting. Relentless 10 minute versions of classics in their full analogue splendour? Yes please. Disc 2 is full of unreleased tracks, some of which have been heard as dodgy bootleg files. Well worth a legit release too. To be honest, I find it difficult to give an objective verdict of this due to the overwhelming nostalgic value. It's already a good enough reason to get this ASAP. It can hardly disappoint an oldschool fan. The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms (Virgin, 1994, Discogs) Yes, really. I only got a real copy of this a few weeks ago. Really. I guess living in the middle of nowhere in pre-www days was a limiting factor for acquiring it in 1994. This is not trance. FSOL was a big thing in the 90s, a bit like Prodigy but not quite. Heck, it was released by Virgin. Underground electronics that refused to stay underground. Lifeforms is among FSOL's best works. It's two discs of weird downtempo, X-bient, IDM and whatever. At one point it's floaty ambient. A few minutes later it's dystopian trip-hop. And so on. If you believe that weird and unusual automatically implies genius and brilliant then this surely is. Even if you don't, it's interesting and varied. Get this one too if you don't happen to have it already. Voxel9 - Beyond (Ovnimoon, 2012, Discogs) Voxel9 aka Trinodia delivers a continuous CD of drone and broken downbeats steadily at 100 BPM. "Beyond" is nominally split into three parts but in reality you won't find any borders at those points. It builds gradually over the whole duration, so what you get is one 64 minute track and then 11 minutes of extra drones. Absolutely no dramatic changes take place. This reminds me of stuff like Juno Reactor - Luciana or Troum & All Sides - Shutûn. Let's say it would make a great soundtrack for a cyberpunk game where you equip robots in a tech room. Yeah, that's how it sounds like. I had a lot of fun listening to it while coding and imagining I'm some sort of matrix cyber ninja in sunglasses. Don't buy it if you want something to happen in your music in less than 60 minutes. Woob - Woob 1194 (em:t, 1994, Discogs) A lucky find in a second hand store, original em:t version and all. Those fetch more than 50e, easily. Em:t was a legendary label releasing chillout and ambient with animal covers. I guess it's the "legendary" keyword here which boosts the prices and critical acclaim. 1194 is a fine bundle of jolly downbeats, dub, ambient, drone, acoustic tunes and weirdness. Treat it like Lifeforms above. This surely was listened a lot in the 90s, drugged or not. Well worth trying, debatable whether worth 50e+. Good and varied chillout anyway. And penguins are fun. Hibernation - Second Nature (Interchill, 2012, Discogs) Seb "Shakta" Taylor produces chillout and releases it on Interchill. It shouldn't go wrong and it doesn't. It has jazz joint beats, electronics, acoustics and anything but dull 4/4 flat beats. It also has dubstep influences which is shite but tolerable in small doses. Get it if you want other kinds of chillout than beatless ambient or trance tracks slowed down to 80-120 bpm. Alright, I'll take a break here to avoid both tl;dr and losing this post to crashes. Part 2 coming some time soon(ish).

I'm interested in...everything? Well, let's say 36 - Hypersona Steve Roach - 2012 Box Set Would even pay, especially for the latter. We live in a strange world if it takes so long for things like Köner's triple box to get picked up. I already have that one so I didn't miss any chances there. Happy solstice and everything.

OK, update the previous list with... Ra - Unearthly E-Mantra - Silence SiebZehn - Time Equals Eternity When did I even order all that? Oh well, maybe that wraps up the latter half of this year nicely.

Weird timing. I've never bought, owned or even downloaded any Prince material, but very recently I got a freebie promo album with a second-hand order of completely unrelated CDs. Coincidentally, I ripped and play-listed it today without even seeing this topic. Not a fan of the music yet, but he's a funny character. (Character - get it!? I don't. Gah. Sorry, I'm running on very low steam today after two weeks of travelling.)

Found today in my mailbox... Etnica - Live in Athens (2 copies, just in case) Jikooha - Sirius Rising Hibernation - Second Nature Voxel9 - Beyond Koan - Argonautica VA - Special Places Mindsphere - Patience for Heaven Connect.Ohm - 9980 Ishq - Bloom And I still have a bunch of semi-recent purchases in the "incoming" pile. I guess my weekend program is largely booked.

So I've been paying quick visits to various record shops in Munich. The more famous ones didn't really provide huge inspiration, especially as I wouldn't like to shove too much vinyl in my luggage. But yesterday I visited an all-genres second hand store just before the closing time. As usual, most of the stock was classical vinyl, standard jazz and pop/schlager. However, in the short electronic section (excluding top-10 dance) I found an original em:t copy of Woob 1194 for 10e. That was nice. They also had Nova Tekk's Chill Out 6 for 10e, which wasn't that bad either. Should I visit again and see if there's even more useful loot? Also, my numerous online purchases should be waiting for me when I return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQqWSnsHoA For reasons I can't remember exactly, I got myself a Gemini PDT-6000. It's basically a heavyweight SL1200 clone with extra gimmicks of questionable importance, such as independent pitch/tempo shifting, reverse, huge speed range and digital output. But the cartridges, Grado DJ200i. Oh boy. Probably the best you can get in the "DJ class". Real hi-fi stuff is another story. There's no end in its high end. Of course, it gets ridiculous very quickly...

One player software refused it, another accepted. There may be some file corruption or nonstandard encoding involved but I didn't dive very deep into the problem yet. I think it's just tracks 1 & 2 in a merged MP3 so you're not missing any huge secrets. Personally, I'll just wait until I can spin the whole disc(s) in full quality for a proper gig experience.

Alright, there's some confusion on the purpose of that "short review" topic. I've been asked about it, more or less directly, so let me elaborate a bit. (As a side note: regardless of the ultimate purpose of that thread, surely we can agree that it's not the place for meta-discussion on review philosophy. Post that in here or start a new topic.) The primary problem is that plenty of releases get no attention whatsoever. One reason is that the proper review topic rules, no matter how well-intending, form a considerable barrier to posting. You can ask for a cover pic, a track listing and a long review but more often than not they're not materialising. I guess this topic we're in right now is attempting to address that. Meanwhile, there's another reason. Plenty of releases are a bit off-topic or uninteresting. Who's going to jump through the hoops only to state that "this is yet another cheap compilation, didn't buy it"? The review topics are biased toward five-stars, because those are the releases people end up buying, listening thoroughly and hyping. Occasionally we get a negative initial post but not too often. Or maybe people just don't have much to say. Consequently, it's easy to remain entirely unaware of most new releases out there. Sometimes I have the energy to browse the news lists of various shops. More often I don't. Label blurbs are 100% useless. Everything is advertised as the second coming of the Christ and the most omgest dancefloor stormer ever. In reality, it's probably just mediocre junk. We need honest opinions and pointers for informed browsing when the time is limited. I had a few different visions of that topic. One was something like "recommend stuff here". However, I suspect it would have instantly turned into yet another zero-word YouTube spam thread. I'm tired of waiting for a dozen applets to load (if they load at all on mobile platforms etc.) only to get some obnoxious shite blaring until I can catch the pause button. Or maybe we would get copy-paste lists of 200 titles or "try IFO". I may be pessimistic or realistic here. You decide. Nevertheless, the point was to get quick tips on recent or obscure stuff, which isn't getting noticed elsewhere. If people become aware of it first, there's a better chance that someone will bother really reviewing it. It won't happen if nobody has heard about the release in the first place. For a quick pointer, it's OK to say that "this feels mediocre" or "this is crap". Well, maybe slightly more than that would be helpful but you don't have to go into details there. It's enough that the audience gets an idea of the basics such as artist, label, genre, approximate style and quality. Also, it helps if you can tell why it is good or not. A title or a link alone won't do that. So you can read it as "post a quick heads-up on stuff that's not been noticed yet". Or "recommend something". Or "counter-recommend something". The current wording is there only to encourage posting a few informative words too, instead of slamming in that YouTube blob and/or your own affiliated stuff and walking away. Sure, it would be nice to get those tiny efforts directed into full review topics, but I'm not sure whether it's going to happen. For off-topic releases it's not even a desirable option. That's why I think it's justified to have a drive-by topic for random findings. It's not supposed to be any high quality archive. Just a topic for finding out, what might be fresh or rotten right now. The word "review" is essentially just bluff to get a few actual words in. That's all.

And now I notice that I fell in my own pit by jesting about multiple listings. Gah. I say...Radical Distortion - Psychedelic Dreams. It's rough and tough and doesn't sound like listening to a Tiësto CD at 145 BPM. It's the CD you can mosh to. There's no chance of confusing it with any other newschool release. But of course, some other day the answer might be Filteria, PortaMento or Artifact303. That's the pitfall with choosing a single release...

So does "the absolute best" really mean "list them all and the kitchen sink"?