Lemmiwinks

hmm... I was a bit too hasty with my review... after a few more listens this sounds pretty mediocre actually... if you want that oldschool sound, I advise you go with Astrix - Eye to Eye or the new Secret of the 13 skulls compilation. I still find it has it's moments but it definately isn't the masterpiece I thought on the first few listens... ah well, that's what coming out of a minimal/ dark psy trauma that lasted for 2 years does to you 6/10

not goatrance, like most people before me already said, but definately one of my top CDs!!! Union Jack are defying stereotypes wuth this one... I never heard another CD that sounded in this style!! it's not hard enough to be called goatrance, it's not light enough to be called morning trance, it's too complex to be called eurotrance, it's too fast to be called chill-out... so what is it? Well, just trance I guess in one of it's purest forms... Anyway, I love it a lot and I'm not the only one!! sure production is a bit weak and there are too many 303s in there for something released in 98, but I gather most of these tracks were done WAY before 98, possibly at the beginning of the 90s and the trance phenomena which probably explains why it is so hard to classify this in a certain genre. Anyway, get this and you won't be dissapointed!! 9/10

what do you get when you mix the GMS/ Alien Project sound with the (old) Astral/ Yahel sound? You get Astrix!!! This would be just another GMS/Alien Project imitation if it weren't for those killer oldschool melodies inserted usually near the end of the track. Very very good oldschool feeling to most of the tracks!!! best track? Massive Activity... the melody that kicks in around 5:50 reeks of old Astral and Yahel, but hey for those who like it, it's great! 10/10!!! Definately a must-own for oldschool fans!

kinda in between For the People/ Waves of Sound and Private Collection... meaning that it sounds a bit more "stripped off" (the layers, I mean...) than his first 2 albums, yet it has far more melody than the dreadfull Private Collection... sure it sounds a bit cheezy at times (although not as cheezy as APs Amen IMO) and I still prefer his first 2 albums but this is still pretty nice to listen to... especially in your car while coming back home from a goa party or when just chilling on a sunny day. Then the nice melodies and atmospheres will bring a smile on your face while you're lost in your thoughts... 8/10 (but I wouldn't recommend it to people who hated his first 2 albums and loved Private Collection though...)

Space Tribe And Electric Universe - Alkaloid Experiment Artist: Space Tribe And Electric Universe Title: Alkaloid Experiment Label: Spirit Zone Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Alkaloid Experiment 02. The Acid Test Review: OK, I'm not gonna say much about The Acid Test cause it was eventually released on Space Tribe's 03 album Heartbeat... and since Heartbeat is a must-buy album I guess you already have it... In case you don't... pretty psychedellic track, acid riffs everywhere, but I found it got a bit boring after some massive listening... Now on to the 1st track: Alkaloid Experiment... KILLER!!! BUY IT NOW!!! Chances are you've already listened to it at a party and wondered who made that EXCELLENT melody likeI did... BTW my memory is pretty subjective since this was also the first time I did some Es at a party and the track added to my uplifting mood. But even without Es this is one of the BEST goa tracks of all times!! I haven't heard such a beautifull melody as the one t hat kicks in around 3:30 since... AP - People Can Fly!!!! It litterally brings tears to my eyes 10/10 for the track... 5/10 for the EP since one probably already has The acid Test on the Space Tribe album thus making its presence here kinda useless...

killer tracks: lost soul, galactic law, Krusty burger... the problem is that the other tracks are a bit lame thus making it a pretty uneven album... 7/10

he he with Parasense in general and this album in particular, it's all a question of having a huge powerful subwofer... if you do, then the hypnotic monotonous bassline (especially in Meteor Shield -- I have NEVER heard such a powerfull bass-line in my life!!) will leave you turning the volume-knob a up a notch every 30 seconds wanting more and more and more!! But if you have some wimpy little speakers you'll probably notice mostly everything else happening in the tracks except the bassline... and that's the problem... nothing much happens except for the bassline... Only Speech Work can work on both levels, with a cool little melody in the end, sounds a bit like Parasense doing oldschool IMO. So I guess this gets a 9/10 if you have a subwoofer, and 3/10 if you don't... thumbs up for Speech work, though, one of my top 5 tracks for at the moment!!

ahh... finally a Hallucinogen album I actually like!! Let me explain here: I'm a big big fan of downtempo Hallu, but whenever his tracks have higher than 120 BPMs they suck IMO (except LSD, of course) and I don't care what others say that he's one of psytrance's godfathers... Well, this one's downtempo so I like it... I like it a LOT even, actually I find it's actually better than his Shpongle works!!! A real journey! 10/10!!! For Hallucinogen AND non-Hallucinogen fans alike!!!

MELODIC GOA IS NOT DEAD!!!! ha ha ha that's the feeling I had when first listening to this!! You thought the golden age of 96 was gone and will never come back... well, get this compilation then!! I'm talking about TRUE heart-warming melodies that bring a big big smile on your face... and what's more, this isn't just a copy of 1996-style stuff, this is original too!! FAR FAR better than the 1st compilation says I... Actually, I only truly liked the Doof song on the first... well, here, most of the tracks sound in that style!! And also you have less 0 - 120 BPM tracks like in the first which I found pretty uneven because of that. I remember I spent my times thinking "is this supposed to be a chill-out compil, a dancing compil or what?". Well, no more questions with this one, it's dancing all the way!! 10/10 and something tells me in 2004 I'll be looking back on 03 and still think this was the best 03 comp!!! An instant classic!! BUY NOW!!!

Oh my God.. just when I thought melodic trance was dead and burried... I listen to The Secret (not Mystery...) of the 13 Crystal Skulls... and now this... could it be that 03 will be the year of melodic goa revival? I sure hope so!!! Heart-warming melodies, oriental voice samples, it's all there, nd what's more, with a post-98 style production!! Need I say this is pure gold? 10/10!!! (in case you didn't notic from my review, this is certainly NOT one for minimal and/ or GMS-style lovers...)

a bit to "happy" IMO... My top pick is Hoover Groover, but the main flaw IMHO with the whole album is that it lacks a few layers... it somehow sounds "empty" making you think "nice, but there's something missing". Another one of those morning trance albums that work great as background music but is too light to be lisened to intensely... 6/10 SMI²LE

a bit too experimental for my tastes... I mean, making a psy remix of the Tetris theme (which is basically what the first track is) is a bit too much for me... I've tried listening to it many times and there are a few enjoyable moments but all in all I always had the feeling that there was "something missing" and that I'd better listen to something else instead. 4/10... SMI²LE

AP still doing their thang in 02? Well, I don't really agree with what most people said here... you see, I'd be more than happy to listen to classical AP stuff and even now I'd sometimes put on Dancing Galaxy and think how fucking great EACH track is... but... this is sadly NOT the case here... at first I liked Amen, Nexus and 1.000.000 years from today. The rest (except Technodrome which is different to anything AP has done before, but I personally don't like very much) sound much more like commercial trance (and i mean COMMERCIAL trance, NOT what we call commercial goa that usually is associated with the AP name). If I must pick a former AP track that sounds more or less in the same genre it would be the track Burning Up made with Trilithon... BUT that was clearly APs attempt to make eurotrance whereas this is supposed to be 100% goa!! So this album got a thumb down from me after a few listens. Now I became bored fast with Amen and 1.000.000 years and only find Nexus a great track. And it truly is an excellent track, hypnotic all the way, AP style, albeit a bit more linear and monotonic than what we've been used to hear from them in the "golden age" 96. But a single great track doesn't make it a great album... so I give this 6/10 and it would be a lot less if it weren't for Nexus... sorry AP but you guys let me down... SMI²LE

definately NOT one of the best 02 releases... I guess the style could be described as morning trance which turns a bit too commercial for my tastes most of the times (I'm mainly talking about the lyrics and the cheesy house-like sounds). 2 tracks stand above the rest IMO: Outside World and Rocket Exciter which are pretty good. I guess if anything, this album makes good background music when you feel like puting on psy, but still want to focus more on what you're doing than on the music itself (talking to some friends, surfing the net, working, chilling on the beach on a sunny day...) but it's not one of those intense albums that put you into trance to the point of forgetting everything that's around you... so 5/10 from me... listenable and even enjoyable at times, but quite forgettable... SMI²LE

YAY!!! Now that 2002 is gone, I proclaim this BEST 02 release!! EVERY track is a masterpiece!! Space Tribe is like good wine: he ages gracefully. Whereas his previous albums were a hit or miss for me, mainly because there was too much randomness in them, this one is just perfect. The quirky structures transformed into beautifull progressions. No minimal here and no directionless acid lines blew over your face GMS style either. Like I said, just perfect!! OK,if I have anything bad to say is that Oli could've added a bit more melody (I mean TRUE melodies, not just full-on loops) in other parts than just the last 2 minutes of his tracks. But hey, with all the shit we've been getting recently I'm not complaining. Best tracks : Heart Beat, Tweaked Eyeballs and Acid Test 10/10!!!

Funny thing with Asia 2001 (what a crappy name...) is that his music sounds EXACTLY like goa did in 95/96!! Zero innovation and I mean ZERO!!! So this could sound as a bad thing... except that when I see which direction "innovation" in goa takes artists (less intricate melodies, less emotion,less layers,...) I come to the conclusion it's not so bad after all. And if you still crave oldschool but are tired of all your AP, Transwave, Prana and Total Eclipse CDs, then I suppose you don't really have any other choice out there!! 9/10 oldschool never dies!!!

I've listened to this CD over and over again... and everytime I listened to it I wondered "what the fuck was Yahel thinking about when he made this??" IMO he surely wasn't thinking of making good music... This has NOTHING to do with his other 2 albums which I found very good... First track is pretty good, but for the others he seems to use the same sample-formula: he says a word, adds the exact same effect in each track and then it's echoed from one speaker to the other... Not impressive in one track, but when it comes over and over throughout the album it gives you a headache!! And i don't know why everyone says Electro Panic is good, IMO it's fucking horrible!!! as for the whole cheese/club debate... I personally found this a lot less "cheezy" than his first 2 albums, but making it sound less commercial and making it sound good are 2 completely different things!! 3/10 VERY dissapointing...

Hmm... no this one just doesn't do it for me... IMO, "On a Trance Mission" they made way back in 95 is MUCH better than this!! The general feeling I had when listening to this is that they took already done sounds and use them to make melodies which go completely wrong after the first couple of minutes... Sometimes, this actually sounds like some Nitzhonot or at least some VERY known isratrance (Arsim on Acid, some AP and MFG,...) OK, this isn't a BAD album, but hey, I would've expected much more from some of the pioneers of psytrance... 6/10

hahahaha I'm not a big minimal psy fan, but I LOVE Detroit techno. Most of the time I've wondered why minimal psy artists don't get more of their inspiration from Detroit-techno... well guess what... Son Kite does!! Driveshaft is my absolute fave minimal psy track!!! wohoooo!! Keep em coming, Seb!! 9/10

I must say I'm stonished to see that I'm only the 3rd reviewer of this good album!! IMO, this is one of the oldschool albums in my collection that holds up best to time!! OK, some tracks are average, but hey, this was made in 95 and IMO it is BETTER than Dropz of Obscure Eclipses!! 8/10

Let me start with the last track - Time Drop... which is BRILLIANT!!! One of my very top ambient tracks!! I don't know why, but it reminds me Eternal Basement's - Woy (which is another one of my top ambient tracks...). As for the rest... well, I don't know, maybe I've been so much in contact with minimal psy that it started to grow on me or maybe this guy actually makes stuff better than the rest, I really could not tell, but I found the album listenable and even enjoyable which for the minimal hater that I am (was...) is a pretty high compliment. 8/10 (10/10 for the last track!!)

My initial thought was "oh no, another Riktam and Bansi colaboration" especially since I do NOT like GMS, OK, I can understand why people like it on the dancefloor, but for home listening... no thanks. BUT, IMO Raja ads some very nice melodies to this album, making it sound really good!!! As for the tracklist... I'm not the kind into drugs, but from what I know about them, these tracks seem to fit in nicely the "mood" produced by each drug (ie. Marijuana has a more laid back feeling, Ecstacy has a clubby Ibiza feeling - hey, after all, most Es are done in clubs-- and so on). So all in all I give this a 8/10... good, but not great...

That Microwave Prince track is fucking EXCELLENT!!! IMO it's one of THE goa classics EVERYBODY must own in their collection!!

this ain't no psy chill-out... it's new age all the way (well, except for some moments). Actually, I got this after listening to some great Healer tracks on the Wabi compilation and thought this would be in the same genre as those tracks... but it wasn't, so it really dissapointed me. Now don't get me wrong, for new age this is great, but ambient psy... I think not... 4/10 for chill-out psy, 9/10 for new age

For me this is the link (musically-wise) between TIP - Mystical Experiences and Shopngle. Mystical was very deep and Shpongle was more on the "fluffy new age" (I do NOT in any way mean this is a bad thing...)side. So if you want half-deep and half-fluffy, this is the one for you!! Personally, I can't stop listening to it!!!! 10/10!!