Basilisk

The concept is simple: psytrance DVDs are released every now and then, but seldom will one find a review for what gets released... without the ability to preview the content, the higher cost may be daunting to potential buyers. How about we use this thread to relate impressions of the various DVDs out there? Son Kite and Juno Reactor both have live DVDs, there are number festival productions (Samothraki for example), and some labels have even begun to release stuff like Supervision or New Maps of Hyperspace, ostensibly something new and interesting... but is it worth taking the chance on what the promotional hype is saying? I'll start with the one DVD purchase I never cease to recommend: Mr. Peculiar & The Shapeshifter's Syncrosect DVD, released in 2004. Back then I was really hoping it would herald a new trend in the psytrance world, as it combines excellent tunage with sound-responsive 3D visuals done in a very unique style. It isn't for everyone, but I think it's a great DVD to own... I just wish there were more like it (I have this notion of mixing visuals AND sound simultaneously, but this is looking ahead a few years perhaps)... So, what do you think of any psytrance DVDs you have purchased?

Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of it... but you have to admit that quality control is not very widespread. How many tracks are badly produced, have no real ideas, and simply sound something like all the rest, with hard beats and "crazy" noises assembled without much intelligent thought? Quality control is lacking in the realm of "darkpsy" and it really shows. But like I said, some of it really appeals to me in a big way.

There is a whole load of music people claim to be psytrance that really isn't... couldn't this be more? The only reason this kind of thing is around and popular is because people are paying attention to it... personally I think most of the so-called "darkpsy" out there ain't remotely psychedelic nor entrancing; it's just some kind of kiddie hardcore nonsense made by people with vastly different sensibilities than how one would broadly characterize most psytrance listeners. These kids are obviously not the next Infected Mushroom in the making, so why not simply ignore this adolescent nonsense? Just a thought.

Yeah, I'm really taken by that one. Now, THIS... this is good for an entirely different reason...

First time Photoshop users?

I just received my copy and have it on now... what can I say? It is highly authentic, as always, and the cover art is gorgeous!

I thought it was a nice change of pace for Antiscarp... good, fun music. http://www.ektoplazm.com/audio/udd-natural-rebellion/

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?what=R&a...p;showpending=1

NEW CDS COME IN -> RIP OPEN PACKAGE -> TEAR THE WRAP OFF "THE MEANING OF LIFE" -> GAPPEQ! Brilliant stuff!!! I don't even care how the rest of the CD is...

Sometimes I think I am the only one I have played The Prophet to start a set... still have these on vinyl in fact, from way back when. I still recall a few of the first Goa trance songs I knew by name. I downloaded them from a web site that offered samples of compilations and album. I have several written down somewhere, but it was tracks like Deviant Electronics - Catharsis, Hallucinogen - Space Pussy, and some Astral Projection and Man With No Name. I was hooked, for good!

I agree, the Ticon remix is something special (I, too, only hear it when I play it out). As for the original, it's also good--in a different way. RTP I suggest you check out my blog and look through my "Beatport Selections" (there's two right now) as I tend to recommend a lot of that clubby kind of progressive. Vision & Canedy, Llopis, Snake Sedrick, and Rai all have some material that might go well (and this is just off the top of my head). Also, if you haven't heard it... check the Real Delay EP.

No way. Put the whole back catalog up. Put everything up. Put every track that someone might possibly want up for sale. Put it all. And give us an intelligent way to search for it. Give us a way to recommend stuff we like. Give us, as users, a way to interact with one another. More content plus smart ways to find appealing material is the golden recipe for profit and success in the new digital music market.

Beatport will own the market if they open up and start taking all labels who want to join. All they have to do is read up on the Long Tail--it is a recipe for success for them. Instead, from what I hear, it is becoming much more difficult, as a label, to join up and offer new music through their service. Rather than working with new labels who integrate digital distribution into the basis of their enterprise, the service seems to be courting established labels already enjoying success from their physical media sales. If there is a shred of truth to any of this then they truly have lost their visionary spirit.

That's a great read; very informative... thanks!

Well, on a more serious note, there are a few things I can think to say here... certainly, there is a soft-handed way of speaking online that too few practice. However, it does get very tiring to pad everything you say in wishy-washy phrases like "in my opinion" and "not that I expect everyone to feel this way, but..." To elaborate somewhat, when one is writing an academic essay, for example, one simply have to assume authority which in all likelihood is not possessed. I think some of the same process is at work when writing online. Okay, sure, some people are just jerks (and we need not call them 'elitists'), but in other instances, people are simply objecting to strongly worded opinions. I can agree that people will sometimes cross the line into disrespect, but just as often is this disrespect merely perceived rather than extant. But yes, if there is anything to what you say--about people acting out in self-defense because they feel unsure of their own taste--then this is no good...

For your consumption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psytrance Now that is all kinds of horrible, but wait until you read the pages for some of the sub-styles... uh, this one in particular (thanks Dyl): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-goa_Trance Some things I learned about psytrance from reading Wikipedia: - Shift now makes R&B - Azax Syndrom makes SA trance (short for South African trance) - forest trance is also known as Suomisaundi - progressive psytrance can claim microhouse as an originating style - Nitzhonot kicks are sometimes called "laserkicks" - melodic psytrance, morning trance, isra trance, and full on (all the same thing apparently) has a lot to do with the "Full Moon" festival for some reason... go linkspam! - Dark psytrance (usually called killer psytrance) "often resemble genres like darkcore and cybergrind" and is "influenced by Musique concrète (abstarct and disharmonic sounds) and usually uses glitch techniques." If that isn't funny enough, read the "talk" pages for some of these... some gems: ...and so on. What do you say, could all the 13 year olds around here band together and write some decent (better?) content for these pages?

Does it have the crowd noises in the song? Nothing says quality trance like crowd noise.

I tend to play more for myself than the crowd some of the time... mainly because any other goof can play full-on anthems back-to-back, and I would like to show people some depth and subtlety at times... it all depends though. It never makes sense to do it the same way all the time. As for this topic... I am far past caring why the hell some of the old school maestros make dull predictable DJ fodder (or worse) these days... just remember that for every Dino Psaras there is a Gus Till.

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Indeed. This is a general principle that I find true in most instances.. pure music has more replay value than something perturbed by sample usage. It is very rare for a sample to become an endearing element of a track. Modern psytrance is plagued by terrible sample usage... it's like the producers just aren't thinking. Why do we have screaming samples from Kill Bill in a progressive track for example? Full-on gets even worse, and don't even get me started on the vapid drug samples...

It is only natural for some people to be better informed, have a more well-developed personal taste, or have a better ability to manipulate words to express themselves with greater depth. Equality is a lost cause, but equity is not so unreasonable. Elitism isn't quite so bad as blind arrogance. Still, there is something to be said about an open exchange of ideas and opinions, even if it is as brutish as "this is crap." At least we have raw honesty, which is not something you will find in the sterilized universe of Guy Cohen for example. What I object to most is the sense that "shanti vibes" or PLUR as you say should be a smoke screen for accepting whatever mindless pap the big names feel like feeding everyone. It doesn't work that way. An underground electronic music culture like this is a conversation--between producer and listener, and all points in between. Squelch the malcontents and you will have a perfect bubblegum world entirely lacking in substance and the real spirit you speak of. Keeping it real is largely a function of continuing the dialogue, of driving the movement forward through thought and action, even when that action may seem 'elitist' or 'negative' to you. This is not an excuse for bad manners on forums or at the party, but you cannot hope to suppress critiques of any form of cultural production. This is how it works: they make stuff, we consume it, feed it back into the system, develop opinions, and let them run as wild as the layered arpeggios in I.F.O. Enjoy your time and don't let anything get you down, most of all what other people think. If you want a PLURRY paradise then spike the Thanksgiving turkey with MDMA and see what happens to your family. Then see if everyone is still getting along so well three days later. Enough said. January 26th. Absurdist diatribe in E-minor. I hope you smiled more than you grimaced.

After two years of trying to understand this album I am at wit's end... I pretty much agree with Freak51's assessment, although none of these tracks truly get me going. My main issue is with the lack of substance and depth. This seems very superficial, only skin-deep. It doesn't cut to the core. I can appreciate the cyber-electro feel but it is all flash. I think there is great creative potential here, but this album does not dive right in... I hope the rumoured remixes album takes this concept to the next level, as this has none of the staying power of Irritant, Radio, or the Zebra album. Still, it was a good try, and certainly shook things up for a while!

This is the latest one to spin my head around: http://www.ektoplazm.com/reviews/mr-peculiar-mind-dala/

The Celtic Alchemy single is really beautiful... some high-quality old school Goa trance. Their full-length album (last Blue Room release I think) is something else entirely... very original funky music with an uplifting spirit.

This is nothing new... the rift between DJs and the audience has been wide for many years now. Newness is a quality cherished by the upper elite far more than casual listeners, fans, and dancers out on the floor. Guys like me who try to pay attention to it all, from 1993 straight up to the current day, seem to get left in the dirt by not aligning strictly with the "latest and greatest," whatever that might be with every passing moment. That's just how it is in most places...