Basilisk

I've added a bunch of new CDs and vinyls to my sale list... have another look

Pay the shipping and you're welcome to a 50 lot box of the CHI-A.D. - Liquid Neon Sky EP, as outlined here: http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=50395

50 FULL MOONS CD 1 01 :: TighT - Dreaming Man (7:08) 02 :: Noisixx - Lepuzz (Remix) (8:36) 03 :: The Soul Shakers - Clone ID (False C10n3 Remix) (7:08) 04 :: Phobia - Action (7:10) 05 :: Telepatica - Mighty Mind (7:33) 06 :: NeuroImpact - Bell Bliss (7:20) 07 :: Urantia - A.M.L.H Frequencies (8:03) 08 :: DJ Note & Twina - 100% (6:43) 09 :: Unreal X - Affecting The Reality (7:55) CD 2 01 :: Galactic Monkey - Cyber Shake (8:19) 02 :: RooM 101 - The Ultimate Truth Serum (7:50) 03 :: Skyhighatrist - Desert Mission (7:45) 04 :: Breathead - Atomic Wave (6:30) 05 :: NeuroImpact & Cozmographika - Human Form Of Happiness (Cozmik Remix) (6:43) 06 :: Psycoholic feat. Annkvin - Sonic Anomaly (SOM Remix) (6:28) 07 :: Cyber Motion - Pure Energy (6:41) 08 :: Telepatica & Basic Nova - Inner Blue (6:58) 09 :: ThE CoSMiX - Technodelic (5:57) Just in time for summer festival season, Cosmogenesis Recordings returns with 50 Full Moons, an epic double-CD blockbuster loaded with powerful full-on crowd thrillers and pumping progressive floor burners. Rippling bass lines, soaring melodies, and energetic grooves intersect on this massive release, the seventh from Cosmogenesis. With material gathered from Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Israel, Canada, and the UK, this compilation has a truly international character. Full-on fanatics are not going to want to miss this one! Download it for free exclusively from ektoplazm.com: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/50-full-moons/

This one jumped right out at me. I started my last set with it and it simply shattered reality for ten solid minutes.

When compressing WAV files, RAR does a much better job than ZIP. With FLAC, I don't think there is much of a difference. It is sort of like compressing JPG files; they're already compressed so the space savings are negligible. Padmapani identifies what I feel is the main issue with RAR: it seldom enjoys native OS support, particularly on Apple computers.

The point? This is a poll to find out what sort of lossless format most people prefer. I'm also asking about the preferred "wrapper" format (i.e. ZIP or RAR or something else) since we should be considering more than just single song downloads. Psytrance culture has traditionally been fairly release-oriented; people generally prefer full-length albums or compilations rather than single tracks. Given that, it also matters how releases are packaged. The most user-friendly approach is to zip up WAV files, but it's a bandwidth killer. I've been compressing WAVs with RAR on my site but many people have been telling me that RAR is more of a hassle than FLAC would be... which leads us to this poll, in which I am seeking a little more feedback about the issue. Does that help to explain things?

Compression ratios are not the sole deciding factor; if that were the case it'd be obvious what way to go! Don't discount the importance of ease of use, familiarity/market penetration, and open vs closed development. There are many other factors at work here aside from file size.

Hello everyone... I am hoping to gauge how familiar most people are with the various lossless formats presently on the market. FLAC seems to be on its way to becoming "industry standard" but I figure a vote on the subject could help add support for the notion. Of course, I am looking to gather some data to decide whether I should start distributing free music in FLAC format instead of WAV. I like WAV because it has maximum compatibility, but there are also downsides... file sizes are larger and there is no native support of tagging, something quite important in today's digital age. I've been addressing the file size issue by using RAR compression on WAV packages to bring the file size way down but this introduces another problem: not everyone is familiar with RAR compression and it isn't open source. Cross-platform support is widespread but it usually involves downloading third party software, something best to avoid to improve the user experience. So... I'd love to hear what you have to say about the issue. For reference, I've already posed the question on my blog here: http://www.ektoplazm.com/blog/rar-vs-zip/ At the time I was hesitant to make the switch but as time passes I am starting to feel that FLAC is familiar to most "power users" interested in lossless quality audio anyhow... Your thoughts?

This is a fantastic release! I am glad to see it reprinted... no one should miss out on it

Look for a program called SimplyRAR and you should be set!

antic +1... sounds like some of you guys aren't doing it right.

I purchased the FLAC version and played Edens Vale out at the festival I was DJing at for the solstice... it fit well between Artifact303, Liquid Flow, and Human Blue. Eyes Of Gaia is a great release! I'll be playing more from it soon.

I haven't really sorted out what all the fuss is about yet... but interest in Discogs seems to have taken a significant hit since v4 was introduced.

Agreed. He's got the odd keeper but most are purely disposable. Take all those naff nineties dance remixes for example... although us DJs might get some use out of 'em, the joke gets old rather quickly. Well, unless you're Dino Psaras or someone like that.

It is that twisted quality that sets early psytrance apart from the rest of electronic dance music. I like early Orbital but their work wasn't twisted the way Koxbox were from day one. In these discussions of origins it is important to establish continuity... by that I mean that we should be able to construct an argument about how a piece of music fits into the history of the genre. To simply take an example of some freak track that has some psytrance-like qualities is not enough... with Koxbox it is easy to make an argument about how influential they've been and how their early work is definitely psychedelic. For some others (especially these one-off projects that are sometimes quoted in such threads) a similar case is difficult (if not impossible) to make.

Here is a serious contender for the title of earliest psytrance video... I've posted it a few times already but here it is again! Koxbox's Birdy/Pipfugl (1993): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3V-XX0sqxg

01 :: Reika - Message (1:16) 02 :: Le Guide - AEIOU (7:06) 03 :: Deep South - The Deep Twisted South (7:18) 04 :: Airffect - New World (8:42) 05 :: Undertaker - Insane (6:53) 06 :: Erofex - Neuroforce (7:26) 07 :: Malice In Wonderland - Through The Looking Glass (7:16) 08 :: Lattus vs Deep South vs Le Guide - Messengers (6:49) 09 :: Lattus - Bad Habit (7:30) 10 :: Plaxius - Pentapolar (8:11) 11 :: Dark Fox - Hello Neo (8:01) 12 :: Erofex - Last Message (1:52) Neurotrance Records proudly presents Messengers, a sonic tonic for everyone lost in the routines of city living. Compiled by Erofex, this conceptual release features dark and driving psytrance from the South American underground. Through the use of rippling bass lines, electric leads, hypnotic atmospheres, and numerous spoken samples keyed to the theme of the release, these producers seek to convey a message about preserving the essential qualities of life in spite of the darkness of the material world. Download it for free in MP3 and WAV: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/messengers/

Here is the promotional page on Ektoplazm for anyone interested in reading more comments as they come in http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/messengers/

It isn't as simple as no label wanting to release their work... there is also the issue of payment, you realize.

Wow, how'd I miss this one until now? This is a fantastic album!

I'll be playing at a festival he is headlining in just a couple of weeks... http://www.ektoplazm.com/events/entheos-festival-2008/ Telepathik plays at midnight on Saturday night and I'm on right after him. I'll see what I can find out!

+1.

I'll admit I've really been liking parts of The Knife's album Silent Shout... Marble House and Like A Pen in particular. I was quite happy to find some good techno remixes of Like A Pen to throw into some of my progressive sets. Check out their videos if you'd like to hear something a little weird...

01 :: Master Margherita - Wooper (7:50) 02 :: DarkShire - Rain Forest Part 1 (6:54) 03 :: Dark Elf - Apocalipse Angels (7:18) 04 :: Septagram - Power Cell (8:03) 05 :: Paranoize - Fucking Evil Noize (Claw Remix) (7:00) 06 :: Bash vs Serial Freak vs A3k - Zapping In Da Night (7:03) 07 :: Agressive Mood - Blueberry (7:24) 08 :: Serial Freak vs A3k - Goa King Fish (7:24) 09 :: Ergot - Introspective Substance (8:05) 10 :: Anakoluth - 8 Cubits (7:56) Simmetry And Kaos marks the debut of Mind Experience, a netlabel founded by A3k and Serial Freak. This global compilation features menacing material from producers based in Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, and Brazil. Simmetry And Kaos emphasizes the dark side of psychedelic trance without being monotonous—it also contains a couple of excursions into deeper realms of night music, particularly evident in the case of Anakoluth’s eerie closer. Septagram provides one of his strongest offerings yet and the Claw remix of an old Paranoize favourite is not to be missed. This release has been mastered by Bash and artwork has been provided by D-Sign. Download it here in MP3 and WAV format: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/simmetry-and-kaos/

Here is the vinyl release I remember Krakakot from: http://www.discogs.com/release/126535 Indeed, it was originally released as Paranoic Sensations on cassette in 1998: http://www.discogs.com/release/856493