Lemmiwinks

well I don't agree at all... for me this is one of the WORST albums of the year!! Wizzy have gone incredibly cheezy (hint: this album is released by Spun Records... I think that says it all). If you ask me, these guys debuted with a so-so album (Cybermancy) in which we could see that they were still young and were capable of much more. Then they made a very good album where they took the ideas of the first album to a more "mature" level: Cyclotron... and then they totally went downhill... Now they sound very much like the usual GMS sound... Yes it has more melodies than their older stuff, but those melodies are so incredibly cheezy!! There actually isn't a SINGLE track on the album that I found above average!!! Oh and I've heard some people mention that you could hear a lot of electro influences on this album... I don't know where they got their copy but I haven't heard a single electro influence in there!! 3/10...

good reviewers give strong opinions but of course you're welcome to make your own

1. Bush beat 2. Dervish wind 3. Anion 4. Self control 5. Blast 6. Frozen bug 7. Next wave 8. Lifeforce 9. The man who fell to earth Contrary to what you might believe, KURO has actually been around the block since day one of the psy scene. He’s a Japanese artist and released stuff since 1995!! I found his stuff on an old comp The Japanese Experience (check my other review) and was stunned. I also regretted that I walked passed the opportunity of buying an older album of his a few years back… Anyway, I was VERY curious to see what were his visions of “modern psytrance” so I rushed to get my hands on this and give it a few listens… Well, I was kindof disappointed actually. For me, Japanese artists are one of the few who remained faithful to the oldschool sound (check out PHI – Phinalizer) but KURO went into dark progressive territory which is a style I’m not really crazy of… Dervish Wind actually sounds like some Russian trance ( Parsense, Kindzadza ), the same powerful driving beat although KURO has more (dark) atmospheres, it sounds less “neutral” than Russian trance to my ears… Anion has a very heavy kick, on a proper sound system this will feel like a giant hammer is hitting on your walls! But it sounds more like Detroit techno than psy… actually it reminded me of Kopfuss Resonator !! Next Wave is more to my liking: it’s dark but has a nice synth progression, the effect is very hypnotic, the track just seems to take you deeper and deeper towards the center of the Earth… The other tracks are dark and pumping but not really my cup of tea… Conclusion dark trance for those late night hours by one of the pioneers of goatrance. Personally I’m kindof disappointed that KURO didn’t keep a few of his oldschool elements in his tracks. This music is as a black as black coffee… and it feels like you drank 10 litres of black coffee when you listen to it in the night I think that fans of dark trance (Parasence, Kindzadza, The Delta, stuff from Parvati records…) will like this one a LOT.

1 Liquid Desert (9:49) 2 An Artificial Dream (8:48) 3 Chilled Dreams (6:43) 4 Outburst (4:00) 5 Falling Tears (10:19) 6 Transfiguration (8:21) 7 Lay In (8:14) 8 Alienated (9:41) As the name suggests, this is a recording of live performances. But you only hear the public in the background during the fading in and out of tracks. Actually it’s an interesting experience to hear the audience, I don’t think it’s ever been done after that on trance recordings. Interestingly enough, the style sounds very much like some old form of what is called today “progressive psy”: there aren’t any “in your face melodies” but the layers slowly build up and the end result is pretty complex. For me this is just as complex as goatrance but on a more “calmer” side, kindof reminded me old X-Dream style, you know, the “quiet” progression feeling, no screaming and harsh sounds. There’s a remix of Transfiguration which this time around has the usual 4/4 rhythm but personally I preferred the original, this one doesn’t sound as “mystical”. Outburst is one of the best chill-out tracks ever!! I like this one a LOT!! Too bad it’s less than 4 minutes long… the melodies bring tears to my eyes, it has a melancholic feeling. Alienation is another one of my fave trance tracks, that buildup with the female voice sample is just divine. I’ve known this track for years and that buildup still impresses me!! Conclusion Like Terra Incognita this is a hit-and-miss album for me. Some tracks are great trance and chill-out classics but others simply didn’t stand the test of time… Still, if you liked old X-Dream stuff (pre-Radio) then you’ll probably enjoy this very much!

01 Way In (9:22) 02 First Interlude (1:01) 03 Transfiguration (9:11) 04 Elucidate (7:20) 05 The Ikarus Syndrome (9:01) 06 Second Interlude (1:58 ) 07 An Artificial Dream (8:33) 08 Last Interlude (1:34) 09 Outburst (6:12) 10 Green Sky is Red (9:02) 11 Mentalicity (7:24) ah after reading a review by seraph on psynews of this album I got my hands on this CD too. It's more on the commercial trance side than psytrance but again, back in those days there wasn't really a border between psytrance, "normal" trance and ambient and you could find names like Sven Vath, Total Eclipse and The Orb on the same comp... Transfiguration is an EXCELLENT track, it has a very mytical feeling to it and it used a breakbeat instead of the "usual" 4 on the floor kick. To my ears it sounds more like an evolution of electro and it doesn't sound dated at all!! The Ikarus Syndrome was aparently a big hit in its time but I find it's a little childish... Outburst is a nice chill-out track which reminded me a lot of AP's syle. The other tracks don't really do it for me... they're mostly on the chill-out side but for me the "Eye Q sound" is just too simplistic, it doesn't have enough layers. On the other hand this was made in 95 and 9 years later it sounds MUCH more creative than the crappy trance (or psytrance) released our days... Conclusion hit-and-miss album which is more on the commercial side of trance (not necesarily a bad thing...). My main problem is that there aren't a lot of layers in the tracks but Transfiguration stands out as one of THE all-time electronic music anthems. I hoped that more tracks on this album would sound like it...

1 K.U.R.O. - Perfect Rainbow (7:43) 2 Masa - Super G (9:44) 3 K.U.R.O. - The Revolution (6:32) 4 Amida Buddha - Day Break (5:59) 5 Masa - Gray (9:18 ) 6 Charm - Incense (6:17) 7 Charm - The Orsis of Love (5:49) 8 Masa - Beautiful People (Fantazy Mix) (10:05) 9 Masa - Dalai Lhama (Halo Mix) (10:57) After a certain post on psynews which can be found here: http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20983 I got interested into what seemed as THE first comp representative of the Japanese goatrance scene. With a little luck I found it and here are my comments: first of all, I'm AMAZED that Tsuyoshi Suzuki isn't featured in ANY of the tracks... for people outside Japan if there's one name that stands out for Japanese goatrance it's Tsuyoshi and his project Prana. I checked the artist names to see if he wasn't part of any of the other projects on this CD but no... odd, but on the other hand it allows people to see that other talented artists were present as well. First of all, K.U.R.O. (real name Takeichirou Kurosaki) which is a genious. I actually stumbled on an old album by KURO a while ago in a second-hand CD shop and decided to walk away... DAIM! And it seems that he's still active today, some search shows that he released a new album in 04 called Satisfaction . I'm definatley looking forward to hearing that one A lot of synth presets on his tracks from this comp sound much like the ones used by AP in their earlier work. I especially like The Revolution it captures that mystical oldschool feeling perfectly. I'm amazed that I never heard this track before since I'm a big oldschool fan.... Then there are no less than 4 tracks by a project called Masa . Again, I never heard of this guy (Masayuki Kurihara) but he sure knows how to make oldschool!! I especially like the deep, hypnotic melodies in Beautiful People oh baby I can only imagine how it was back in the early 90s on a beach during sunrise and then sudenly the DJ would play this track... ah why wasn't I in my 20s in the early 90s? Amida Buddha has a nice oldschool track, I like this one as well. Nice buildup in the melodies. Charm is actually a project between KURO and some other guy (Tatsuo Endo). These are more on the mellow side of things, still full tempo but a little slower than the other tracks on this comp. Conclusion Since aparently this is THE first comp ever to be dedicated to the Japanese trance scene it's invaluable as collectable. Also, to my surprise I didn't know ANY of the tracks although I'm a huge oldschool fan so if you want oldschool but already know your classics by heart this is one for you However this was released in 95 and most tracks were probably even older than that and it shows production-wise... if I were new to the scene and wanted a few classics, I'd definatley pick stuff by AP, Etnica and Prana over this. But if you already know those then this is a welcome add to your oldschool collection. Oh and it seems that newbies don't like the oldschool sound... so if you're new don't say I didn't warn you As for me: 10/10 for its historical value, 8/10 for its musical value

1. SHIFT AND SLUG - Odd kitty 2. SLUG - Penguin rebellion 3. BROKEN TOY - Send more money (Shift rmx) 4. SHIFT - Impervious to poison rmx 5. SHIFT AND SLUG - Apocalypse cow rmx 6. SHIFT - Xtrasensory rmx 7. SLUG - Adjust 8. SHIFT - Digital DNA (slug rmx) 9. ARTIFAKT - Reborn AHA! So THAT'S why Pingu sudenly dissapeared for psynews... he was up releasing a new compilation behind our backs!! Seriously speaking though, just who the hell are Shift and Slug? Your guess is a good as mine but I can tell you that they make some killer full-on!! Yes it still is full-on but has a much more dynamic progression than your usual full-on and it has nice atmospheres. I won't be reviewing this track by track as almost all tracks sound alike: rolling bassline with crazy sounds and interesting developments. Xtrasensory Rmx is a fucken KILLER!!!! oh man those melodies!!! oh God!!!! They hit you around 1:15 (yes, that early) and keep you stunned till the end. A definate must-have!! If you don't listen to this track you're missing something big!! The last track is more down-tempo, sounds like some late 80s industrial crossed-over with some electro. Intresesting stuff Conclusion It's not your usual full-on so if you want something new, go for this. However it DOES have the trademark rolling bassline so if you've heard one rolling bassline too many then you're probably gonna puke. Still, I advise giving this a try at least before dissing it. Very dancefloor friendly... 7/10

1. IM the supervisor 2. Ratio Shmatio 3. Muse Breaks RMX 4. Meduzz 5. Cities Of The Future 6. Horus The Chorus 7. Frog Machine 8. Noon 9. Bombat 10. Stretched Well first of all, I must admit in all objectivity that I never was a fan of IM's music... from The Gathering to Converting Vegetarians, I just never "got" their music. So with that said, I didn't like this at all!! It has... VOCALS!!! It actually sounds more like some underground pop (if such a thing exists...) than psytrance. The title track IM the Supervisor has a voice similar to Ferddy Mercury's in Another One Bites the Dust saying "come on come on dance with me"... need I say how incerdibly cheezy it sounds? Ratio Shmatio sounds a bit more like psy... there is a nice uplifting melody near the end but it turns a little too cheezy for my tastes. Still, this could make a good effect in a properly-constructed morning set. Muse Breaks has some female singing, followed by some raga, followed by Duvdev rapping in a vocorder... For some reason this reminded me of an early 90s eurodance track Leyla K - Open Sesame . During Duvdev's rapping I couldn't help "superposing" Leyla K's rapping ("Abracradabra me say open sesame"). Maybe it just me... anyway, the track has a killer minute and a half near the end, with screaming 303s... but that's not enough to save the track IMO... still, thumbs up for reminding me that Leyla K track Meduzz is wierd, it has a classical music part à la Synsun and then it turns into a guitar melody... still I wouldn't consider this good. But I think that fans of IM's "typical" stuff will like it. Cities of the Future is one that a lot of you probably know already since it was released as an EP earlier this year. What can I say, music with lyrics like "We're gonna run run run to the cities of the future/ Take what we can and bring it back home/ So take me now to the cities of the future/ Everybody's happy and I'm feeling home" just can't be good. Still, if you were to consider this as a pop track and not a psy track, I'd like it a lot Horus The Chorus goes back to some actual psy. It kindof winds in between dark and happy trance. This is my fave track of the album, it has a really killer climax, I'm sure it will make a lot of people go mad on the dancefloor Frog Machine goes again into cheezy-almost-pop territory. It almost sounds like some kind of videogame music. Good for 12 year-old kids but... the track has a few interesting moments, but again not enough to save the whole track IMO... Noon sounds more like some progressive eurotrance. It has a nice hypnotic 303 line, it's simplistic but at the same time reminds me older trance... then it turns totally random in the last mintues, wasting the whole "hypnotized" feeling... Bombat has the typical IM melodies... the kind of melodies I dont like. So again, if you like older IM stuff then you'll probably like this. Personally it's never been my cup of tea. Streched is a funky downtempo track. Again, it reminds me older downtempo stuff from the early 90s. Some might say it's cheezy but I like it The first part somehow reminded me of Dance 2 Trance - Hello San Francisco and that still is one of my top trance tracks of all time. Then it turns into some late 80's industrial which is followed by an interesting female voice singing... Could it actually be Bjork ??? anyway, it's very much in her style. Then there's a piano tune, followed by some more guitarish 303s and then it turns more trancy... what a trip!!! Maaaan if there was an album full of tracks like this one!!! Conclusion Basically there are only 2 tracks I really like: Horus the Corus and the downtempo track Streched . The rest sounds more like a crossover of pop and nitzhonot than actual psytrance... I'm sure kids will love it As for me... 4/10 On the other hand I never was a big fan of IM so maybe it you are you'll rate this higher.

indeed on closer inpection it says "AFTER 10 years of japanese trance"... guess that the "AFTER" explains it all

Infected Mushroom!!!! They've changed styles many times but I never liked a single one of their tracks!!! But I liked their live performance 4 years ago I also agree with the Hallucinogen remark... I like his first tracks (LSD, Orphic Trench, Solstice...) but he just lost it since The Lone Deranger if you ask me... also I find Simon's other project, Shpongle to be highly overrated as well... some tracks are good, agreed but when you hear all the positive feedback on Shpongle you'd expect to instantly reach a higher plane of existance simply by listening to the CD or something. Actually the Shpongle CD I enjoy most is the Remix CD released last year... Also don't have very kind words for Juno Reactor... he makes different music, agreed and I do like a handfull of his tracks but again from that to saying that he's some sort of genious... Similar remark for Koxbox... X-Dream is kindof hit and miss... I prefer Marcus' other side-project The Delta

let's not go overboard here... a lot of people have been around the block for quite some time... I agree it's an excellent track, I wonder why Juno never did a follow-up? It reminds me of older electronic ambient by the likes of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze and no, I don't have the original either, sorry...

I remember posting such a topic about 4 years ago Anoebis... I'm amazed it took you that much time to discover TD! well, better late than never as they say

yeah but they wouldn't be white...

classic case of "splitting the hair in too many pieces"... and not really relevant for the topic IMO since the dude was asking for names representative of SCANDOTRANCE!!! Personally I'd be inclined to say that Battle of the Future Buddhas and the whole Schlabbaduerst stuff represents the scando style... but others tend to say it's more stuff like Atmos so...

yep, that's more or less what I wanted to say but I would've added a word or 2 about being high

woha man, great tracks!! I have like 300 pytrance albums in my collection but could only recognize 2 tracks!! the first one, from DJ Trancer's set, is Radiation - On the Machine from the excellent comp The Beginners Guide to: The Galaxy of Psi-trance (Activ Records, 1996) edit: BTW, in the sample you have, the DJ is cross-fading from another track, so the Radiation track only starts around 0:07 of your sample And the Xenomorph track that Anoebis was talking about is called Apocalyptic Ritual on Cassandra's Nightmare (Koyote, 1998)

nice review but you can still add reviews of older stuff already in the database in the "Goa Reviews" section... anyway, once the fully functioning site will come mars will put them in the new reviews section

what? this is their 3rd album you say? daim, how did I miss the second??? gotta get my hands on that one that's what hapens when you live without an active reviews section for 3 years

gynaecology

how can there be a compilation refering to the history of Japanese psytrance and no word about Tsuyoshi Suzuki????? For fuck's sake, this guy INVENTED Japanese psytrance!!!

Dr. Dre taught him how to practice medecine, didn't you know?

1. Creation Myth 2. Regardless 3. Hyper Tension 4. Rogue Filter 5. Program Reality 6. Crossfade 7. Network 8. Systematic 9. Frenzy This album sounds like you play track no. 1 in a loop... and not even that, it would still sound the same if you played the 1st minute from track 1 in a loop... Don't get me wrong, the style is nice and pumping for those dark hours in the night but having a full album of this... well, it gets old really fast... However there is one exception: track no. 5: Program Reality which is a KILLER!!! You get this drifting spiritual voice singing and the first time around it "morphs" into some bell chimes, the effect is incredible!!! I'm wondering if they didn't try to reproduce the buzzing sound Terence McKenna described he heard during his ayahuasca experience. Anyway, somehow this particular track gives me the feeling that I'm crossing the Mexican border in an old Chevy van loaded with cocaine in a secret meeting with Pablo Escobar... hehehe something that creates such visions has to be good!! It's a real shame that other tracks on the album aren't like this So all in all I rate this 6/10: 8 average tracks + 1 absolute killer!!

01. Gods Of Goa 02. Chandrakant 03. One N Only Sperminator 04. Roller Gauze 05. Horny Goa Teen Pimps 06. Chapora Nightlife 07. Mata's Medical Story 08. Kichiguy 09. Do U Read Me (Shakin' Spun-Sweaters) 10. Monkeywalium 11. T4P10L4 12. Bombaybooster 13. Raggare I was impressed by the first Mandalavandalz album Hong Kong Nightlife in 2002 so I had to get my hands on this one. And, contrary to many second albums which are wated in high anticipation and end up dissapointing big time, this one is actually BETTER than the first!! Gods of Goa shows that in spite the finn's reputation of doing wierd stuff, they are also capable of bringing back THEEEEE oldschool feeling! They already did this with their track 1995 on their first album. This one is more on the quirky side but maaan it sure brings back some memories But contrary to the first album, that oldschool feeling runs throughout the album, it doesn't stop at just one track. Roller Gauze is also one of my faves, it has a nice drive to it and of course the trademark quirkiness Horny Goa Teen Pimps (what a name lol!) brings back again the oldschool feeling in full force. The album-title track Chapora Nightlife brings some guitarish-synthlines which sound VERY much like the stuff Juno Reactor uses in his tracks! Also the track has a "movie-feeling" to it, just like Juno. Did Juno participate in the making of the track or is this a tribute to him? I don't know... Of course it has the finn quirkiness to it so I don't know if Juno fans will love it or hate it. Personally I never was a big Juno fan so... Back to some oldschool with the finn touch to it in Mata's Mediacl Story oh baby I like this one a LOT as well!! Kindof disspointed by the track length... 3:56 in total WTF??? Most tracks don't even reach "full climax" by then... Kichiguy shows us that finns aren't all about having fun in the morning, they also make some driving dark tracks for the night. Nice one but no oldschool touch in this one BTW One N Only Sperminator is also on the dark side. Back to oldschool with Do You Read Me? this one reminds me of old Space Tribe . T4P10L4 (award winner for the wierdest trackname ever...) is, as the name suggests, the wirdest track here. It has those symphonic-movie-epic moments that remind me of Mysted Muppet and Synsun's stuff (guess this is really a growing trend in psytrance these days) but it's MUCH wierder than their music. It's almost exeprimental and the tempo isn't really high, not downtempo but not uptempo either. I think this is one of those "love it or hate" it tracks. Back to some more finnish trance with the oldschool touch in Bombaybosster although this is less good IMO, it's more on the cheezy side. Raggare is NOT reggae influenced as you might think... it's a more chill-out track (although not exactly downtempo either). I don't like this track much either, I find it a little cheezy with the jazz influences and all. Conclusion this album is BETTER than their first one!!! My only regret is that we don't get anymore breakbeat tracks, I really liked Ibiza for example... It's quirky (although much less than the first one) and most of all, it brings back the oldschool feeling!!! Some tracks on this album actually feel like tributes to oldschool artists' style but with a finnish touch of course I like this album a LOT and is actually currently disputing first place of 2004 with The Misted Muppet album!! Of course, as with all finnish stuff, people will probably either love it or hate it, although it's less "random" than what we usually get from artists frm this country. So if you're not a fan of finnish stuff at least try some samples to see if you like it or not before you walk away!! 10/10 from me!! faves: 1 (!!), 2, 4, 5 (!!!), 7, 8 (!!)

1. NAMASKAR - Hey 2. BOOBYTRIP - Trancendental medication 3. PRADOX - Motenarc 4. KARAVENA - Psychodroid 5. HERBAL ESSENCE - Galopper 6. BASSID - Sunset Trip 7. PRADOX - Past 8. NAMASKAR - Moonlight This is the first material I've ever heard from Sunlight Records. From the name I was kindof expecting some morning melodic psy or something. Well it's morning, but it's progressive, which is a style I don't really dig unless the tracks are REALLY good. I like the track by Paradox a lot, it has a really nice driving percussion, if you have a system with loud bass it will make you go nuts! Also Basid's track is exceptional. First of all it's more than 15 minutes long!! And like the name suggests, it's a real trip!! It goes from minimal to melodic and even have some guitars that remind a LOT the 60s era!! Contrary to the name, it's not a dark track, rather the contrary, I would've found the name "Sunrise trip" more appropriate. It's not in the olsdchool style, far form it, but it DOES make you travel and IMO that's a quality that you find VERY rarely in psytrance these days. Well, I don't really like the rest of the tracks... Conclusion Sunlight Records give us a good progressive compilation. Bassid's track is exceptional, if you don't listen to it, you're missing something big!! Other than that, I'm not a big progressive fan so I won't rate this... faves: 4, 6 (!!!)

1. HELIOTROPE - Hellion 2. SUNCONTROLSPECIES - Searching the spiral arm 3. TANTRUMZ - Fiddlestix (Sensum remix) 4. METRONOME - Orange 5. TETRAKTYS - Sphere 6. SENSIENT - Mind Control 7. SENSUM - Mental floss 8. THE HIGHER HUMAN FORM - I hear them call 9. HELIOTROPE - Inelastic 10. YOTOPIA - Spark This is called progressive although in my dictionary this is what was called a few years back "minimal". For me progressive is more on the light side whereas minimal is dark, although the last 3 tracks get much more lighter. I especially like the track by Sensient , it's a real night driver, pumping bassline and the sounds suggest a dark and twisted atmosphere. If you take loads of acid and this comes at a party, you WILL have a bad trip Also the following track this time by Sensum is much in the same twisted dark line. Very nice also when you're in that mood The Tetraktys track is a little like these two, but more on the "lighter" side. Conclusion I must say that minimal/ progressive isn't really my cup of tea. Nonetheless, this comp delivers 3 tracks I really enjoy when I'm "in that mood" (5, 6 and 7) so if it got me interested it should be pretty damn good I won't rate this as like I said I'm not a big fan of this genre...