freak51

It sure isn't X-Dream. However, it's worthwhile. 23rd Chromosome is actually quite old [it appeared on a Blue Room comp from 1996], but still fits nicely with the rest of the tracks. The disc represents a departure for Twisted Records: Noosphere doesn't sound at all like a Posford creation, it's pretty straightforward musically [not that there's anything wrong with that]. 8/10.

I have to disagree with Children above. Panic in Paradise is the bomb. I'd say that it's one of X-Dream's best ever tracks, and they've released a LOT of fantastic plastic. Otherwise, the Hallucinogen tracks are good, the first 8 tracks on disc 1 (TIP Blue) and the last track on disc 2 (TIP Phosphorescent) are keepers. As far as I know, this is the only place Panic in Paradisc is available. Worth it for this monster alone.

CD1 [Tip Yellow] is an excellent disc for its time (originally released in 1994). Teleport and Oscillator still fit well into a tasty/cheesy Goa set. Lunar Juice and Shamanix are of course classic timeless tracks. CD2 is Tip Orange (1996): Mars Needs Women, Angelic Particles and Let There Be Light are all very good tracks - especially Angelic Particles. Otherwise TIP Orange was not my favourite comp, a lot of strained poor attempts. Overall the comp is worth it for the 1st disc, if only for the nostalgic appeal.

Chleroux stole my thunder. Nice at first, but has no staying power. Spiritual Antiseptic is a good track, noisy and hard though. 1, 2, 5 and 7 are horrible though.

Awakenings is a far better release, track-wise. However, this record does work as a whole entity when you have a full hour-and-a-bit to melt into the couch with a nice martini and some BC hydroponic. It does take quite a few listens to be able to get into the right mood for this record; it's not quite as accessible as Awakenings. But can you really blame them; I mean, after that record, no way could they do any more with that sound - they totally monopolized that head space, no further room to grow. They pretty much had to go off in a different direction. The only tracks that are really useful to play on their own are Irrelevant Elephant and the excellent 0G. However, if they [Grant/Collins I think?] continue to make music together, I believe they'll continue to refine their style and make the feral dreams come back. I'm betting this is a transition album.

I notice a pretty even split, with around half really liking the record and half really hating it. First of all, this is definitely not the music of tomorrow. I can listen to it today, and in fact I could listen to this sound in 1997-98 with the Oforia and Tandu releases [no slight intended to Ofer D: I'm just talking about the crunchy synthesizer sounds]. The samples are truly horrible though; they have to go. Guys, a sample is like toilet paper: great to use once, then you don't want to go near it again. There are a few decent filler tracks in here with the characteristic Israeli sound, but no way is this making my top ten of 2000. It's for kids.

Excellent textures, mainly in Micromega, Open Sea, Alidade. Shiver me timbers. 8/10.

Not bad, but nowhere near as mind-buggering as Twisted. I still listen to Twisted; I don't even know where I've filed this one. Mr. Posford seems to be migrating more towards the Shpongle-land chill-room, and don't get me wrong, the Shpongle efforts are amaaaazing in that direction. Still, it'd be nice to have him back freaking out the locals on the trancefloor.

Hard, not like the fullest-on peaks of today's psy-trance, but hard like a strong gritty wind that gradually strips away the moisture in your lips and encrusts your eyelids with sand. I say this as though it were a bad thing, but somehow it's not unpleasant. Atomic Armadillo [The Fluffening], what a great title, pity about the track. If re-recording this, take out this horrible effort and put on 2 Vindaloos And an Onion Bagees from Distance to Goa 4 instead, it's a perfect match from Rock Bitch.

Shroomy goodness. Excellent debut; very full-on when it gets there. At times the full-on bits could be longer, it's just not fair to build for 2 minutes and then gush for only 40 seconds. Still, one of the best releases of 1999, and likely the year's best psy-trance release. As hard as German stuff, yet still with the Israeli synth know-how in the construction.

Ktaadn, once I buy the original, and the artist gets his/her/their cut, who the Hell are you to say what I should do with the plastic? Furthermore, I make the title available to someone else, who gets turned onto psytrance, and they buy more stuff new - over the Web. Perhaps you might live in an area where you can just go to a store and find such discs (I can't even imagine such a world - but at least I'm aware of my limited world-view). Where I live, one cannot buy trance. The chains pretty much dictate what the top 40 will be because that's what they're carrying this month. There are a few independents carrying Bill Laswell creations, but trance is just not on the radar. Everyone just adores house and hip-hop though ... shudder. ObReview: scHizoeffective - or is it really spelled scizoeffective in German (doubt it: I don't think they use silent e's like in English)? Pop gets better and better the more you listen to it.

Nice as a bridge between happy hardcore and trance, not that I'd admit to playing hardcore [hardcore is like a Vespa: it's fun until your friends see you]. However, the most appropriate sample comes about 5 minutes into El Canteto: "Yo, turn that shit off and put on the next record". Not bad in a short burst. Oh yeah, "double-stacked mitsubishis", nice review - wish I'd thought of it!

I liked Blue Nervosity, but otherwise I found it kind of candy-like. 5/10.

If you can find it, you owe it to yourself to buy it. From the Kraftwerk-like train-sounds (i.e., Trans Europe Express) in Trancesylvania X Press to the very fast and full COTLG. remix, this is a killer disc from start to finish. Timeless; ageproof.

Some nice stuff on here, could have fit all the good bits onto one disc. However, worth the price for Nemesis, Destination Bom, Karma 209. I agree with children above though; they should not have mixed the tracks together. Let us fill the silence gap please.

"That computer thinks!" "But weeee're the ones in control: that's the WHOLE POINT!" Heh heh heh. Dark and menacing; luvverly release.

I hate electric guitars too. Please, the guitar is not an instrument anymore; it's an effect. Use it judiciously or not at all! [says the Grumpy old goa-head.] In my day, we had the 303 and the 909 and filter matrices that's the way it was and we LIKED it! We LOOOOVVED it! Anyway, this is still an excellent record, if only for the production values. Just when your mind starts to think "what trick or sound would work really well here?", sure enough he uses it. Between Worlds is a fantastic track [well, until he shovels the guitar into it].

Not bad, a few timeless standout tracks that even sound good today. Very different sound than what they turned into (Synergy, Intergalactic), I think there was a personnel change? Gift of the Gods is a Track for the Ages, the kind of thing I can see future generations sitting around the campfire with their palmtop studios and remixing as their elders used to sing rounds of the tracks of their respective forefathers.

Didn't like it over the long haul. Too crazy and frenetic; sounds like psy-trance trying too hard to say "I'm not dead yet", but comes across to me like the oxygen-deprived thrashings of a drowning genre. Happily, since then it's found a new life through other means than just harder-faster.

Hit and miss. Mr. Redeemer and Devil's Circus are decent; the rest is kind of pointless. It took seven years to make this record apparently, which could explain the stale flavour.

OK I took a chance on this disc and found a few nice lightweight tracks I like, although I really don't think they demand 11 to 15 minutes of the good listener's time. Overall I'm still not sold on the Atmos sound, because the bits I like best sound like older X-Dream. No disrespect, perhaps I just do have to hear it outside.

Blecch. The second disc is totally useless, as far as I can tell, and the first is iffy. For God's sake Goa Gil, if you MUST mix the tracks at least learn to beat-match. The fades are awful.

Mainly disappointing, but FreeXone is possibly the greatest thing I've ever heard. The subtlety and layering are deeply mind-altering. I think that alien noise is a filtered howler monkey?

Too lightweight for my tastes. Dragonfly has been basically just going through the motions since Hallucinogen left to form Twisted. OK, Shakta is still an excellent catch for this label but I notice he's not on this comp at all. Filler.

Bitchin'. Get it. "Suddenly I saw myself ... like from above, coming down ... and I started to float, into this tunnel, towards this light ... and it was the most beautiful light I ever saw ...". I get recollection-goosebumps just typing in the sample. Not much going on above 1000 hertz, but Darshan OWNS the lower half of the spectrum. So many different colours of dark. I've just rekindled my interest; I'm going to play it again right now.