pedro

Of course it is not THE skin colour per se, it is a cultural thing. But yes, one can stereotype. Also I do not think that blacks do not like trance because it is not complicated enough. Rather it is a host of things - it is not funky, it not as rhythmically interesting, not as celebratory etc. It is not just trance that you do not see many blacks on the dance floor. Other styles such as hard techno or gabba also tend not to attract them. And, of course - heavy metal (which must be among the most boring types of music out there). Although most of the modern white music has some black origins there have always been differences in preferences between blacks and whites. Interestingly enough, I find them much less obvious here in the UK. When I lived in the US (I had a spell there in the 80s and then again in the early 90s), there was a striking difference to what the white boys listened to or danced and the blacks. I remember the early house hit 'Pump Up the Volume' reaching #1 in 1987 (ahead of Rick Astley) in the mainstream charts in the UK. At the same time very few American college kids even had a clue what house music was - most of them were still listening to what in the US is termed as 'classic rock'. Virtually all of the kids (even many nowadays!) thought that the UK acid parties of 1987 were about taking LSD (acid). Probably even in Chicago, where the first acid house track was coined... In fact, to show how race attitudes differ - in 1979 there was the infamous Disco Sucks Campaign by an American DJ (white of course) in Chicago. It culminated with tens of thousands of white boys packing into the Chicago baseball stadium to burn mountains of disco LPs. This is the same Chicago which was the genesis of House music (which is derived from disco music). As most of you know, of course, house is so called because the music was played at a venue called the Warehouse in Chicago. The attendance at those parties was mostly black. In my experience with white parties back in the 1980s you did get some black music as well as some white (usually British music, e.g. New Order - white Americans were not making much danceable music back then) tunes. But you had to go to the black and gay clubs if you really wanted to dance. I had a blonde girlfriend back then and sometimes we did feel a bit out of place at some of the parties. But we had a great time... Pedro

Jungle is not trance (is this what you are asking?), technically or not. For starters, trance is good old fashioned 4/4, while drum and bass is broken beats (sort of like hip hop, but twice as fast). D n b is also very much black and very much UK (in terms of genesis). I probably did not make myself clear in my previous post - I did not mean to assert that black music has to be 'funky'. My point was the fact that trance was not funky did not help its cause in the black dance community. There are other aspects of trance music that they also find less appealing. Incidently, drum n bass may not be the funkiest type of music, but the bass line and drums can be extremely exciting and dynamic. It has a different appeal from trance. Pedro

No, Rah. House was born in Chicago. Garage was born in New York. And in terms of the debate of why there are no 'blacks' in Trance. There are various reasons - one of them is that, with thankfully some exceptions, trance is usually not that funky. And the funky stuff only kicked off a few years ago. As far it being big in South Africa...perhaps it is just another way for the white people to be able to distinguish themselves... You also get some of that race division in Brazil - I am sure that only a minority of the brazilians in these forums are black... Pedro

This release gets my tip of the beard. Recommended. Pedro

Joke.

Well the chaps at Wrong Music occupied the Little Big Tent at the Glade on Saturday, between 4pm and 8pm. I saw a little bit of the acts. But I never stayed long enough (the tent was too crowded), to determine if this was actually interesting or pointless music. Perhaps I should listen to the samples on Saikosounds.... Pedro

I find this album to be extremely enjoyable. In its easygoing, under-stated way the music kept up my interest. It is not one of those album trying really hard to impress you with strange sounds, too many ideas, over-blown bass lines et al. Instead it is just simply beguiling. I like the LSD track. My favourites are as follows: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 (i.e. all of them except 3 and 8). The most surprising thing is that Ajaca is a sub-label of dark psy focused Trishula - a label which has not been my cup of tea. Recommmended. Pedro

Concept? CONCEPT?!! What in heaven's name makes this a 'concept' album? Please don't tell it is the silly 'gates' that makes this album so 'conceptual'. Come on...out with it! Tell me - what singles out this album as a 'conceptual'? What is the unifying theme or message in this album? And even if you contrive to find/fabricate one, does this make this music any better? This is not a terrible album. But neither is it particularly interesting and I think the heavy praise it is drawing from some quarters is unwarranted. Furthermore, I do admit I get cranky (maybe old age) when I hear people loosely applying the 'conceptual' label. I have addressed the issue in other posts and so will not further elaborate here. Pedro

Yeah it is a very smooth CD. So smooth that it sounds a bit too bland for me. It does have a few nice moments but this album is like Coca Cola Light. It is not the real thing! At some points the CD gets downright silly - like in 'Orchestra 2.0'. A bit misguided, to say the least... As for the 'Gates', they are just too precious for me - a needless self-indulgence which does nothing to save this CD. I can't recommend this album Pedro PS I think it is quite amusing that someone would group a one-hit chap such as Pachelbel with Beethoven and Mozart (sort of equivalent of mentioning Zager & Evans and the Beatles in one breath). As far as positioning Jaia's musical capabilities on the same plane.....hmm.......mmmm.....heeee (snicker)...haaww.........hahahahahahahah (violent laughing)! PSS For those too young - Zager & Evans were the authors of that great unassumingly named hit "In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)". It did reach #1 in 1969, though.

Nah, he is just a silly boy having some fun. It is harmless, but, frankly, it is getting a bit boring. Instead of a powerful 'c', what he needs is a powerful kick up his arse. Pedro

This is a likeable chill compilation and I say this as a person who seldom appreciates ambient psy trance. I have no problem with Ishq track being where it is and actually prefer the CD ending as it does - with a very nice upbeat track by Blue Planet Corporation. The only really disappointing track is #6 by Cell. The Entheogenic and Schulman tracks are average. Favourites are Elysium, Ishq, Jaia, PhasePhour, Elysium & Space Cat and Blue Planet. Recommended. Pedro

There is a genre of music called and recognised as ambient psy trance. The borders of this definition are, of course, not tightly demarcated. But clearly there is plenty of music that can be classified as ambient and is not psychedelic. In fact, most ambient music is not psychedelic, in the same way as most electronic is not either. Which does not prevent some music that is not labelled as psychedelic sometimes proving itself a more interesting 'out of this world' listening experience than something purportedly 'psychedelic'. One can be blown away and trip to music that is not psychedelic. As far as New Age music is concerned, the less that is said about it, the better. Pedro

Errr...for historical purposes, how not about the chap and album which coined the term 'ambient' itself? Brian Eno - "Ambient # 1 Music For Airports" from 1978. Get the recently remastered CD, it does sound much better. I do not listen to much ambient psy trance. Most of it is deeply unintelligent and boring... For an ambient experience I prefer 'home listening' techno and downbeat electronica...there is plenty of quality about. And it is so much more interesting. If you want mostly beatless stuff try this album for a start - Gas - 'Pop'. Gas is the more ambient project of Wolfgang Voigt. With more beats and some difference are Dub Tractor's More or Less Mono and Dictaphone's m.=addiction, both on Berlin's City Centre Offices label. CCO is a label worth keeping an eye on, but not all of their stuff is good. Some of it is rather vacant music. Arovane's Atol Scrap is 6 years old now (and his most recent stuff is poo-poo), but it is a wonderful experience. On the Toytronic label (also very inconsistent one), Abfahrt Hinwil's 'Links Berge Rechts Seen' is a very accessible and relaxing CD. I like dub and there is pleny of great techno dub to chill out to. Above all is the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction stuff. Yeah, sometimes the relentless 4/4 dub music on that German label often had a menacing undertone, but what stuff! For something more recent in the same vien, how about Denmark's Mikkel Metal's Close Selections? You want slower? Rhythm & Sound's stuff is nice for the synapses. An oldie (but goldie) is Global Communication's 76:14. GC are Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard. Just yesterday I was hearing Yagya's gentle Rhythm of Snow (Icelandic artist on Germany's great Force Inc label), was hearing snowflake #6 and thinking to myself - why can't ambient psy trance be more creative and less cheesy and predictable. Probably many of them are really not that talented. Plus we all know how bad (if any) quality control is in some psy trance labels. This is something to get you started... Pedro

Monolake similar to Autechre? What planet are you from, NilsTentacles? I find their music very different, starting from their earliest work. Indeed, Monolake's first CD has much more in common with the other Chain Reaction artist releases (most of which was 4/4 techno) than with the British duo. I enjoy (and recommend) both groups, generally preferring their latest stuff to the earliest. Incidentally, I personally detest the name 'Intelligent Dance Music (IDM)' as a label for a music genre. It belongs to that class of silly labels (such as 'trip hop') which are perfectly expendable. But at least it is a better name than what Richard James's Rephlex tried to give to this sort of music - 'brain dance'. Ugh! Pedro

I really do not understand what makes these particular albums (as posted by Seraph, for example) so 'conceptual'. Is the music itself particularly 'conceptual'? I doubt it. Is it the titles of the songs or the samples used? Do they have any message that they are trying to eloquently impart? Most songs do try to have some theme - does that make them conceptual? I would imagine that most of the albums mentioned (and I own quite a few of them) really do not rate as having an interesting concept in them. A Tony Bennet collection of love songs probably has a single more unifying theme than these psy trance CDs... Perhaps this shows my age, but I have a distrust of so-called concept albums. They used to be a dime-a-dozen back in the 1970s....Pretentious bands and their precious little fans and their faux sophistication. I won't name names, but you chaps know exactly what I am talking about... My idea of concept albums is something like (in rock, for example) Beatles - Sgt Peppers or The Kinks - Village Green. In classical it would be something like Glass's Einstein on the Beach. Or Berg's superb Wozzeck (that is what I call concept!). Shame that a shaky, cowardly US soldier shat in his pants and killed him... If you were able to forego the 'storyline' requirement (and I do understand those whose definition of concept does require it), there is plenty of other stuff in classical such as many of the landmark pieces of the second Viennese school.Worldless electronic music has plenty of concept stuff as well - from Oval's music to Brinkman's variations on Platikman's 'Concept 1:96'. Music conceptuals are so much more fun! Back to the storyline definition of 'concept' and to psy trance as well: Perhaps the reason I often do not recognize 'concepts' in psy trance is not because we can not create a definition of 'concept' that will include them. We can. It is because most of these concepts are forced, artificial and, ultimately, vacuous. Sort of like Mystery of the Yeti. Or the Crystal Skulls (great music though)... Pedro

As mentioned before - smoking enhances the experience far more than drinking. I have just come back from the Glade Festival where I drank the grand total of 6 beers in three days and thoroughly enjoyed myself. My lungs, though, do not think I am such a clever old man... Pedro

Well if you are going to stretch the definition of trance that wide, yes, then Microgravity is ambient trance-like. Particularly tracks like Tranquilizer, The Fairy Tale and Baby Interphase. Pedro

Not sure why Biosphere is mentioned. He is ambient, but not ambient trance. In fact, his most important album, Microgravity, is best described as ambient "house" not trance. As a side note, that album has since (to my ears) aged badly. But what a release when it came out in the early 1990's! I find myself nowadays listening his later Substrata and Cirque more often. Actually, I like the cover on Substrata (the second edition with the bonus movie music CD) better so I listen to it more. Boy, I can be quite shallow in my tastes sometimes... Sidenote 2: last year's Autour de La Lune is really forgetful (yawn). I also don't rate his work with HIA as highly as his solo stuff.

There are decent examples of both 'busier' and minimal types of psy trance. But faced with a choice of just one of them - I would prefer minimal every time. Good minimal psy (or techno for that matter) has a heart and soul that one rarely finds in the very busy songs. Great production and creative song writing is not about how good you are in terms of cramming crazy sounds in eight minutes. It is similar to saying that somebody who knows how to jam and play great guitar solos knows how to write good songs. Not necessatily. Sure, sometimes LESS is just LESS, but often I found LESS is indeed MORE. I am not sure at any rate if some of you are defining 'maximal' properly. I am not even sure if it a term worth using. But to group Phi and the Schizm compilation (which I both rate highly) as belonging to the same sub-genre as perfect exponents of 'maximal' music leaves me a little bit sceptic. Lani has a very curious sound of their own but I would not label them as 'maximal', either. My idea of 'maximal' is most (but not all) of the Finnish stuff plus by SOME of the output by labels such as Psionics, Sundance and yes Gi'wa (i.e. Schizm). Obviously, I would rate Squaremeat, Mandalavandalz as 'Maximal'. But why stop there? Isn't some of the full-on stuff quite 'maximal' as well? Etc, etc. Pedro

My mistake. I confused tracks 6 and 7. Incidently, I have gone back and heard track 6 and I did not seem that special. I do not what I was thinking when I wrote my notes... As such, that leaves me with only two tracks I really enjoyed (#4 and #9) and a few other ones which I find barely reasonable. I have to mark down this CD as non-recommendable. Pedro

Nope. This is not Cosmosis's best offering. Transcendance starts off weakly and the first three songs are nothing special. However, like most of you, I really did enjoy track #4 (Inside Yourself). Couldn't care less for track 5 and then we arrive at Stormy Monday. It is a trance remix of Blue Monday, that great New Order track. Cosmosis's take on that classic is harmless fun, but it is not exactly an eye-opening affair. Unlike the Hardfloor version which came out so many years ago. But at least Stormy Monday is less silly than what Cosmosis tried on his Contact album - using Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra on track #8. That was embarassing, while Stormy Monday is simply unnecessary. I like tracks #7 and #9 a lot. I am not crazy about Ambient Psy, but Cosmosis seems to have an above average talent for it - maybe next album he might grace us with 2 or 3 ambient tracks and reduce some of the full-on filler. I give it an average rating (I bought it, but then I purchase too many CDs...). Pedro

Witchcraft must have been the album I listened to the most in 1998. My favourite Matsuri release! I suppose Izik has decided to go with the flow...if this is what people want to hear, then he will provide it. Pedro

Comp number 2 from Tribal Vision and this is another progressive treat. It is close to the high standard set by their first one (Urban Legends). The album starts off very well with a relaxed track by Jaia and French 'Kisz' (is this hip-hop spelling?). My other favourites are Rai (2) Minilogue (4), Flowjob (5), Holm and Andersen (6) and Leo (8). I really loved Vision & Canedy's track 'Insane' on Insprirazzia (which is a brilliant comp in my view). So I was a bit disappointed with the track here (3). The last track with its heavy electro infuence is indeed different and is an acquired taste. It is nice to have something different like that in a comp but in truth I am not sure if I will listen to this particular track a lot. We shall see. I like some of Ticon's stuff, but his track did not rock my boat either. Overall, I would recommend a purchase to those who like their progressive. Pedro

I thought the first two Sundance comps were indeed absolutely fantastic comps. This one is not as good (a Vibe Tribe track should have been a warning...), but still has some very enjoyable tracks. Pedro

Well this is a CD of dark, pumping psy trance. Nothing cutting edge, but the Saiko samples were interesting enough for me to purchase. Like RAH, I really liked track (6). However, I also really enjoyed tacks (3), (8) and and (10) (note: I usually do not like Derango). However, I was less keen on track (7). The first two tracks were merely 'okay'. Pedro