Basilisk

01 :: Creamy 7:56 02 :: Onova 7:12 Buy these songs here: http://www.cytopia.org/band.php?BandNo=382& Atropa is a fresh project hailing from Athens, Greece, formed by Evniki Alatza and Dimitris Prapas. They made their debut on the Gourmet Vol. 1 compilation from Headstick Records with Wanga Tanga, a light and breezy track with a great deal of depth. The two tracks reviewed here were released simultaneously, and do not seem to have been packaged as an EP, but it makes sense to consider them as such. The contrasting moods of Creamy and Onova highlight their fundamental differences, yet the constant tempo and similar production approach reveals a deeper similitude. There is no cover associated with this release (I just snagged something random from their web site), and each track was self-mastered, but you can’t beat the price—less than two bucks for the set. Creamy features a rolling bass-heavy groove, quirky sounds, delirious atmospheres, and raspy snare-driven percussion. Sharp noises emerge in surprising ways from sudden transitions, adding to the vertiginous sense of disarray. Broken beats spar with cunning acid riffs in the breakdown, spilling into an easy return to the mischievous rhythms before long. Shivering metallic notes erupt in the final minutes to beguile the listener one more time. This strange and uncommon production will blend well with deep and moody progressive psytrance. Atropa take a more conventional approach with Onova, a slick morning tune loaded with luscious atmospheric pads, swirling melodies, and forceful tribal toms. It builds gradually, accruing energy in the steady fashion favoured by many progressive producers. The shimmering highs exhibit an almost Scandinavian austerity; comparisons to Gaudium would not be unwarranted. Nice track! This ad hoc EP is a worthwhile choice for progressive DJs playing in the ~132 BPM range. Atropa prove they have potential; small improvements in their production technique and continued dedication are sure to pay off for this up and coming group. At this stage, Creamy and Onova are solid offerings that deserve to be rescued from obscurity. Interested? Visit Atropa’s page on Cytopia.org for full-length previews and pay-for-download options. Full review (including embedded links to hear and purchase the tunes): http://www.ektoplazm.com/reviews/atropa-creamy-onova/

I don't have the slightest idea how to download this... and Googling the release just brings up a bazillion Russian piracy blogs. Crazy.

Actually, you can download this album legally through my site: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/crownick-new-sapiens/

Hey Joske, have you ever heard the first Planet Rhythm compilation? http://www.discogs.com/release/116883 Genecom (an early Adam Beyer project) is particularly good... I am sure you are already quite familiar with the early products of Platipus (Union Jack, Art of Trance, Salamander, etc.) In the later years, I feel that Noma came close to perfecting the "dream trance" aesthetic with songs like Another Time, Soon, and Avoid The Future. You might want to give those a listen as well, if they were never on your radar. 12 Moons - Solid State also comes to mind. Another song I would recommend is the obscure Man On Earth track "So." And, lastly, one more obscure rarity: Q-Lab. That's all I have for you this morning

ManMadeMan has a killer psybreakz tune on their new album... I believe it is "Information Overload": http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/manmad...free-to-listen/

Nolax's album is cross-promoted at my site http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/nolax-persistence-20/

http://www.myspace.com/jikooha

Am I in there?

Hosting can be very cheap these days; $10 a month gets me about 250 GB of space and 2 TB of bandwidth. Banner advertising using Google AdSense would easily cover that much... I'm not sure what the traffic is like here on Psynews, but I suspect a few months of text ads might even be able to fund a new Suntrip CD release

MP3 is a lossy format; "pretty much lossless" means pretty much nothing at all. FLAC/WAV or GTFO

People are lazy or they don't otherwise care.

I'm in for the long haul... two years so far and still going strong

Astral Projection - Nilaya... still very good!

Damn straight. I recently gave in and put ads up all over my site, figuring that anyone that really cared to block them would (and they'd be welcome to). These days, if you see ANY advertisements on the 'net it's really your own damn fault Firefox + Adblock = hassle-free browsing!

I've bought tunes from your label via Cytopia. I didn't know of your other site (and can't seem to visit it now) but if you only offered a limited selection this may explain things... I would much rather pay a buck for a WAV and cherry pick quality tracks from compilations than splurge and regret. But then again, I am probably not anything close to an average consumer. At any rate, I speak highly of all the labels that are partnering with Cytopia, so keep it going

While I certainly agree that freely distributed music is on the rise (just look at what I am doing with my site), I highly doubt an artist could get by on donation alone... from what I know, for any free service for which there is a donation option, you're looking at something like a 1000:1 consumer/donor ratio. Rather poor, in other words. Merchandise is another matter; that's physical. I think that consumers are far more likely to continue buying physical products (including CDs!) than donate, but this is not incompatible with the free music paradigm. For example, I have had many requests through my site for CD versions of the free albums (and this is something cool I am working to provide in the future). Perhaps the other fact you overlook is that few artists have official web sites, and almost none of them are anything approaching web 2.0 (i.e. to capitalize on social networking habits). I see a lot of potential in the future, but I think that there will always be a chunk of work that no artist is going to want to bother with (cover design, packaging, hosting, distribution, and other tasks in the digital domain). But hey, that's where I fit in Oh, and how do the deserving artists put bread on the table? Since time immemorial, musicians have paid the bills by playing live gigs. The advent of recording media in the early part of the 20th century upset this tradition (in fact, there was a huge backlash against recorded media when it first emerged--it would not be untoward to say that the mere existence of recorded media was the big issue of those days just as music piracy is the big issue of ours). Now it is all turning over again, and musicians must be willing to work gigs to pay the bills. Considering that most acts charge anywhere from 1000 to 3000+ for a set, that's not such a shabby deal. Years ago, the band went on tour to support their new album... nowadays, the new album promotes the tour. With that fact in mind, freely distributing an album makes a great deal of sense.

Since the last update... ManMadeMan - Free To Listen (you must hear it!): http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/manmad...free-to-listen/ CrowNick - New Sapiens (full-length album for those who like it dark and twisted): http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/crownick-new-sapiens/

This is happy, ecstatic music, with a strong focus on catchy melodies. Some songs have bad samples that spoil the atmosphere, but there are some really good tunes here as well. I am not sure why people have had such a bad reaction to this release--year after year one reads the same complaints about the lack of melody in modern psytrance. Now Talamasca provides, but it's "too cheesy" or "rubbish" for people to take. Yes, those full-on beats are rather bouncy, and there isn't much subtlety about it, but this album should be understood for what it is: positive, anthemic, and highly accessible to outsiders. Tracks like High Vibe, Overload, The Good Team, and even the Breaking The Matrix rmx (with the rock guitar onslaught) all strike me as stand out tracks (I still have to sample more of CD1 to get a feel for it, although Spiritual Renewal sounded good when I heard it). Overload in particular is a huge tune with wonderful cosmic melodies. If you've enjoyed Groovy Pygmees, Ghost In Goa, and Roswell Mania (all great recent singles), then this 2CD album should also suit your taste. Most of all, I think that Obsessive Dream shows what a fickle lot most psytrance fans are. Relax a bit.

If you don't want to download a new package to get at the cue file, here is it. You will need to open it up in notepad (or an equivalent text editor) and change the path and filename at the top to whatever your MP3 is called. It should work like a charm in Nero from that point onward

Visit Ektoplazm for WAV downloads, MP3 mirrors, unmixed (split) versions, torrents, streaming audio, full-resolution cover images, cue sheets, and other such things: http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/manmad...free-to-listen/ :posford: Edit: oh hey, I'm too late

Here is a review of Atropa's latest tunes on Cytopia: http://www.ektoplazm.com/reviews/atropa-creamy-onova/

Happy 30 Fabien! I like your perspective on things... and hey, not only have you had a good experience with psychedelic trance, but you have also given so much back. Keep on with it! :posford:

Good question. Yes, I filter what ends up posted and promoted on the site. It is an evolving process; since 2005, the basic quality standards a release must meet has gone up, mirroring the increase in free releases being made. People seem to enjoy what they hear, though. I receive a great deal of positive feedback on a regular basis. Some difficulties arise from the scope of the music being promoted; everything from techtrance, downtempo, darkpsy, old school Goa, melodic full-on, and experimental Suomi-style ends up on the site. From examining the ratings received for various releases, I can tell that someone really enjoy the Cosmo Circle release (melodic full-on with some old school flavour) but disliked my Replicant Redux mix (techtrance). On the other hand, someone rated the Alic EP a 5, whereas they didn't think much of the Lost In The Forests project (darkpsy). However, the average site-wide rating is 4.29 out of 5, with hundreds of ratings recorded. This is telling me that many people appreciate what I post and promote! When I find a free release (or when someone sends me a promo, link, or other details), I am generally looking for a few basic things: is it psytrance or downtempo or otherwise interesting to a psytrance-listening audience? Did they care enough to provide a cover? Is the production quality reasonable? Is the release made in a high-quality format (WAV preferred, 320k MP3 accepted, 256k and lower = much less of a chance)? Then I start to subjectively consider whether the music is any good--which involves considering it by my own personal taste, but also considering what I know other people enjoy. This approach seems to be striking the right kind of balance

Saikosounds: great customer service, fast shipping to North America (2-4 business days), good prices, no customs fees, freebie offer, and they usually have what I want in stock (if not I just place a hold). Psyshop: non-existent customer service, slow shipping to North America, higher prices, customs fees, no specials, and I don't even bother to check if they have what I want because of the foregoing facts. The choice is obvious. I highly recommend Saikosounds for all buyers in North America. For Europeans, why not try out Wirikuta? I found them great to deal with as well.