Lemmiwinks

Duuude, lay off the acid... srsly...

yep definately forest (the cover art is a dead giveaway as well IMO ) Thanks for the link Penzoline, this one is definately going on my "to buy" list

hehe touché although to be precise I didn't really like it either, I found it was too wierd for me. It only started growing on me a few months later once I started to get used to the hectic beats and wobbles

Well I'd really like to hear that... Personally I still find that your best effort to date is Aliens, from your first EP. Make another track like that and I'll be happy

well that's just it: musically they don't have much to do with eachother and yet the "hippies" (by that I mean those who have adopted a certain spitiruality/ mentality) adopted one style after the other and that change is currently happening again IMO. I'm talking about an overall major reset-button hitting, starting stuff from ground zero, with a different set of rules, and exploring whole new dimensions. Of course there are dozens of other music styles with their own set of rules and such out there, but none of them seem to appeal to the new generation of "hippies" the same way that dubstep does. Well my thoughts exactly... it's always the same: artists just reach a limit where they can't advance any more with a given set of rules so then they need to start over again with something different. Hence psytrance and all its sub-genres have reached their natural limit of evolution and it is just time to let it die in peace and move to something else. And I mean this time it's a major change, the same way that electronic music took over rock music, a "mammals are replacing dinosaurs" kindof thing, not just a "small evolution" like when goatrance evolved from trance or when full-on evolved from goa. Again, I'm not just speaking of my personal feelings here, I'm just saying what I see, based on what is being played at parties, which is also the reason why I say that dubstep is the new psytrance and not techno, or hardcore or whatnot. I don't think that hardcore or detroit techno or D&B were ever played at VuuV, but dubstep has...

yes and tell me just what does Jimi Hendrix or The Doors have in common with Psykovsky? And yet our scene is the "spiritual follower" of 60/70s rock music (well at least it used to be). I remember back in the days I'd have arguments with rockers in their 40s wondering what the hell is "psychedellic" about psytrance. You can bring a million arguments on how psytrance has a 4/4 structure and dubstep has a half-measure kick and whatnot, and I agree with you, and yet the facts are here: more and more parties and venues that used to be exclusively dedicated to psytrance make more and more room for dubstep. Now of course my or your personal thoughts on dubstep have nothing to do with what is happening, it is a collective change that's going on, we can only witness it. Yes I know it's not just cheezy full-on trance but most of the other subscenes suffer from the same disease: a set of too strict rules that artists have to follow that pretty much kills most creativity out there. I've seen this happen time and time again: once an artist tries to stray away a bit too far from the "norm" then he can't even get a decent record deal anymore, so please don't come and tell me that psytrance scene is creative, such things wouldn't happen if the record lables were encouraging creativity in our scene. OK, I'm not saying it's all bad and I have a history of complaining about the scene ever since the beginning of this site and in spite all my whinings I've still found a lot of gems out there during the decade, but hey this is a psytrance forum, we're here to express our different views on music, right?

hehe yeah I hear that argument all the time... but tell me this: what did trance have to do with rock music when it took over? Not much... that's just how the Universe changes, in quantum leaps rather than linear progressions. Look, I didn't know much about dubstep until last summer when they played it at... VuuV aka the mother of all trance festivals... if that's not proof enough that dubstep is taking over our scene, then I don't know what is. As for creativity, well dubstep is ALL about being creative, and only following some very loose rules, pretty much the same as trance music used to be in the very early 90s when it started to divide into different subgenres. Remember the days when it was normal to have downtempo and uptempo tracks all together on a trance comp? I do... ha yes well if by being creative you mean finding ways of transforming a scene that used to be a symbol of anti-consumerism and spirituality into the exact opposite then yeah, I must admit that psytrance artists are pretty creative lol

meh this is just more proof that dubstep is the psytrance of the new decade, just the same way that trance was the new rock of the 90s. Remember how rock music went to shit with Van Halen and the hair rock movement? Well the exact same thing is happening to psytrance today... just abandon ship before it completely sinks, there are plenty more creative underground scenes around

well how can he have cancer if he is performing the same evening in South Africa? And from the Isratrance forum it seems that the Mexican organizer wasn't the only one having troubles with him. Anyway I guess it's not any of my business anyway and that I probably have better things to do on New Year's day... sorry for the spamming I guess I just miss the off topic days on psynews

hey dude don't you think that's a bit radical? By doing that you're basically discouraging honest people from warning other honest people about someone dishonest... doesn't look very ethical to me...

ha great idea! BUT I wonder if it's not more apropriate to make a "best tracks" section since I realize that most artists that have released some of the best tracks EVER usually have a hard time making a whole good album, or the tracks where just released on EPs or comps. This also allows to have a certain control on the actual year the track was released since sometimes an artist will release a track that is a few years old on an album (like for example you'd think that Ra - ROM was released in 2000 cause its featured on To Sirius album but in fact it was already released as an EP in 1997...) So anyway, here's my best of the best tracks of the 2000s (in no particular order): Morning Goatrance: 1. Yahel - Last Man In The Universe 2. Luminus - Total Consiousness 3. Doof - The Second Revelation 4. Astral Projection - Nexus 5. Space Tribe and Electric Universe - Alkaloid Experiment 6. Miranda - Hypnotic Trance 7. MWNN - Axis Flip 8. Ka-Sol - Scraqp 9. Ra - Predator 10. Merr0w - Born Underwater Morning psytrance: 1. 1200 Mics - Hashish 2. Melicia - Running Out Of Time 3. Talamasca - Come On 4. Vibrasphere - Ensueno (Morning Mix) 5. Talamasca - Drops of Madness (Rmx) 6. Etnica - Photonic 7. Chi AD - Cause And Effect 8. ESXS - Bloody Sword 9. Braincell - Anti Gravity 10. Wizzy Noise - Unfulfilled Desires Night: 1. Neuromotor - Fuck The DAT Mafia Trance 2. The Delta - Def By Delta 3. Scatterbrain - Infernal Angels 4. Parasense - Speech Work 5. Menog - Acid Trip 6. Droidlock - My Life Is A Trip 7. Para Halu - Let The Peace Control Your Body 8. Psyfactor - Fear Square 9. Para Halu - Cacao (Rmx) 10.Battle Of The Future Buddhas - Demonizer PS The first person who will mention Skazi in this thread will get his face slapped with a rotten fish

wise words! It's funny how these artists had a period where it seemed that everything they touched turned to gold and now it's like they can't even make ONE freakin decent tune. My personal guess is that they layed off the acid...

well from what I've heard, the visuals are stunning but the storyline is average at best... so I'm having kindof mixed feelings for this. Although that's more or less what they said about the Titanic 10 years ago and I still found it was great!

yeah you mean like all the mysteries that mattered... and the ones that were answered weren't really convincing IMO. But anyway I'll just wait for a few more months for the finale, and THEN all the people saying "wait wait, you'll see that in the end everything will be explained, Lindelhof promised us!" will finally realize that they were scammed and will shut up once and for all

hehe yeah and you should've seen the series creator saying at the beginning of the 5th season that the show has finally reached the point where there are more answers than new questions... that never happened

well I think this is the problem with most series: it's not as much the series itself as the fact that it becomes a habit to watch it, so even if you don't like it all you just keep watching it to see how the story unfolds. Personally I'd gladly stop watching Lost but at the same time it feels a waste to have gone through 5 seasons and not see how it finally ends (even though I already know that there's a 99% chance that I'll be dissapointed).

Lost is good, but the added intricacies just make it less and less realistic to the point of becoming ridiculous. This reminds me X-Files and Twin Peaks: they're great at first but once you realize that they're just complicating the plot to make new seasons it becomes pretty pointless and boring. And I'm ready to bet a million dollars that most fans will be highly dissapointed by the finale in Lost, I mean come on, how can anyone NOT be dissapointed given how high the stakes have been risen? Other than that I'm quite a big fan of Dr Who. Sure, it can be a bit childish/ dorky at times but still, most episodes are pretty thought-provoking and really change the way one sees reality (I mean the whole concept that the past, the present and the future are all happening at the same time, in a continuous "now"). I used to like Sopranos but have given up on it since the break between seasons 4 and 5... Other than that, well actually I'm quite happy that I don't watch many series since they're pretty time-consuming. I prefer listening to music or reading books

CD1 1 Unknown Artist: Jingle (Intro) 0:06 2 Stefano Sorrentino: Sans Egal 6:44 3 Future Breeze: Cruel World (X-Pact Mix) 6:54 4 Dance 2 Trance: We Came In Peace 4:52 5 Nikolai: Ready To Flow 5:07 6 Urban Voodoo: Humanity 9:13 7 DJ Dag: Give Me A Break 7:17 8 16. Bit: Too Fast To Live 5:43 9 Ramirez: Hablando 6:21 10 Saccoman: Pyramid Soundwave (Sunshine Dance) 4:52 11 Quadran: Eternally (Dance Mix) 5:43 12 Snap: Do You See The Light (Dance 2 Trance Mix) 7:01 CD2 1 Ramin Vol. 2: Brainticket (Original) 7:14 2 Progressive Attack: Hypnotic Harmony (Part 2) 7:03 3 4Voice: Eternal Spirit 6:52 4 Central Love II: Traum 6:04 5 Unknown Artist: Jingle 0:06 6 Peyote: I Will Fight No More Forever (Wolf-Dance Mix) 6:53 7 Pete Bardens: In Dreams (High Velocity Mix) 8:45 8 Killing Joke: Love Like Blood 6:35 9 Icehouse: No Promises 8:16 10 The Odd Company: Swing In Trance 5:22 11 DJ Dag: A Trip To Marrakesh 8:17 This is an anniversary comp made to celebrate Dag Lerner's 20 years of DJing around the World... and since this guy is one of the pioneers of early trance (member of Dance 2 Trance in case anyone needs reminding), any person interested into how all this trance movement started should be VERY interested by this. Well the first thing that comes to mind is... 20 years of trance history in JUST 2 CDs is by far not enough, I would've rather went with some 20 CDs (maybe 200? ). Anyway I guess that it's still better than nothing. So then, how does it sound? Well, basically he starts off with some relatively recent tracks, but which still keep the spirit of classic trance and then he slowly works his way down memory lane to end with some VERY early late 80s industrial that doesn't really have its place on a trance comp IMO, BUT which are extremely usefull to see exactly how the sound progressed from that to what eventually became trance music. The opener is Stefano Sorrentino - Sans Egal which is relatively new (released in 2001), but still remains pretty fithful to old trance with a lot of djembés and synth melodies that reminds 80s synthpop. Then comes Future Breeze - Cruel World, again a relatively new track (1999), but which also is pretty faithful to the old sound, however I don't really like this one, it all sounds a bit to clubby to my ears. Of course, DJ Dag couldn't have made an anniversary comp without what is considered by many to be THE first proper trance track ever Dance 2 Trance - We Came in Peace. This is not the original version, it was a bit speeded up to fit in the mix with more modern tracks, however I am impressed to see just how fresh this still sounds even today, more than 20 years after its original release. And now we are back down memory lane with Nikolai - Ready to Flow (released in 1993)... I don't think that anyone who was into trance in the early 90s doesn't know this track. What can I say: a dreamy floating melody that I know by heart but still brings tears to my eyes today. Urban Voodo - Humanity is the newest track here (2002), bringing all the flavors of new (well OK, not-so-new) trance. Of course, it's on the more commercial side of things but still a nice add-on to any trance fan's collection. Then comes a track by the man himself, DJ Dag - Give Me A Break, also a relatively new track (released in 2001) but which has all the trademarks of DJ Dag's classic style, not the least being a nice guitar melody that integrates nicely into the electronic soundscape. Now you'd probably wonder who the hell is 16 Bit?? Well they are none other than the first project by Luca Anzilotti and Michael Münzing, who later went on to create Snap. This particular track was co-written by another early trance pioneer: Sven Väth. I don't know the exact release date of this one, but it sounds like something made in the late 80s: industrial which had those synth melodies and elements that later were borrowed by trance. I don't really like this, but it is VERY interesting from a historical perspective. Then comes another early trance classic that I suppose just about everyone into the trance scene in the early 90s knows by heart already: Ramirez - Hablando (originally released in 1992). What can I say, if you don't know this track already, you definately should rush to a store and buy a copy Then we come to Saccoman - Pyramid Soundwave, (originally released in 1996) which I didn't know, and am quite suprised to see it given the title of "classic" since it plays as some pretty generic trance from the time, with a sample from The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime (which I guess most 90s kids will know as being used in Baby D - Let Me Be Your Phantasy). Then comes a Bonzai classic that most Belgians probably know (to be frank I didn't even know that this enjoyed such a wide audience outside of Belgium) Quadran - Eternally. Originally released in 1995, this is more on the vocal side of things, but still good IMO, one of the rare vocal trance tracks that still stay in my collection. BTW if you like this, you should definately check out Honey C - Stop The Disease, it has the same singer (Catherine Mees). Then comes a remix of another classic that I suppose any 90s kid knows by heart Snap - Do You See The Light (released in 1993). The remix is VERY different from the original, obviously on the more trancy side of things, and it fits perfectly with Quadran's Eternally, although not quite my cup of tea. CD2 starts with yet another timeless classic that I guess everyone knows already Ramin Vol.2 - Brainticket. This was originally released in 1992 and it still sounds fresh today! I haven't listened to this track a long while but it still sounds sooo good. A real classic here! Then comes Progressive Attack (original release: 1993), aka Ralf Hildenbeutel which was involved in a LOT of early trance projects like Earth Nation, Cygnus X, Odysee of Noises etc. Nice track but IMO DJ Dag could've but a MUCH better track by Hildenbeutel than this... Then comes yet another timeless classic that has been spinned around millions of times around the world: 4Voice - Eternal Spirit (originally released in 1993). The main melody got an even wider audience when it was ripped off by DJ Jurgen aka Alice Deejay in Better Off Alone. Obviously, the original is 100 times better Then comes Central Love II, a project by Frank Tomiczek (aka DJ Hooligan or Da Hool) from 1994. This is VERY representative of the oldschool Mayday "rave sound": a VERY catchy melody on a trancy background, I admit I ended up whistling this melody for days after first hearing this Yet another of DJ Dag's (very) early trance projects: Peyote, is up next with a dance remix of I Will Fight No More (released in 1991). Again, I suppose everyone knows this one already, although personally I prefer the original "non-dancy" version more. Now it's time to go REALLY oldschool: Pete Bardens - In Dreams was released in... 1987... so as you can imagine, this doesn't have much to do with trance, just that it has some elements that were later used by trance music. Same goes for Killing Joke - Love Like Blood from 1985 - note that this is the year that DJ Dag first started spinning music so I suppose that this must be one his the VERY first records he ever played. Trance lovers (and 90s kids) will probably skip this one although it's interesting to see that pad melody in the background that was later on picked up by trance. Last of the dinosaurs: Icehouse - No Promises (also from 1985), which is the track that doesn't really fit here at all, if not for the interesting djembé percussions near the end. Another one of DJ Dag's early projects next: The Odd Company - Swing In Trance, originally released in 1992. This is Rolf Ellmer & Dag Lerner's most obscure sideproject, but also the most a-typical (with samples from old jazz music) and also the one I like least... The closer is a previously unrelesed bonus track by DJ Dag, which is some classic trance with some rapping on top... not quite my cup of tea... THE GOOD: A history lesson of trance taught through music! There are only a handfull of CDs out there that do this so for any person interested into how trance music started this is a definate must-have! THE BAD: 20 years of music in ONLY 2CDs! Obviously this only skims through the surface and will make many people involved in the early trance scene a bit frustrated not to see some classics featured here. CONCLUSION This is a GREAT idea for a comp and will bring back many memories for people going out in the early 90s, and make people new to the scene familiar with some great tracks. I only hope that Dag will make a special 25CD edition in 2010, when he commemorates 25 years of DJing

A - The Force B1- Goa B2- To Fast S.M.I.L.E. is a group formed by some of the very first artists involved in the underground german trance scene: Andreas Karsten Pfeiffer (aka DJ Sangeet), Roland Sommer and David Winch (aka DJ Pushava). OK I know I've already said this a few times before, but this is my earliest find where the name "goa" is specifically mentioned on an electronic music record so we have a strong candidate for THE very first goatrance EP ever. Hmm... well yes and no, because even though the name goa is there, and it was made by people that were later involved in the goatrance scene, it doesn't really sound "goa-ish", more like some trippy techno with some dark atmospheres. The Force is some darkish acid techno with a breakbeat and samples from Star Wars (as the title suggests). It's a nice listen, but certainly nothing really memorable. Goa is better described as some tribal techno, very repetitive and with some didgeridoo samples. The atmosphere of the track ranges from rather goofy to pretty dark, so I guess these are the first attempts by artists to play with people's minds, especially when on acid. But again, although it's an interesting listen, this isn't really memorable. To Fast, as the name suggests, is the fastest track on this EP (I mean by the standards of the time of course ), but also the least interesting track IMO. CONCLUSION: A definate must-have for every self-proclaimed "trance historian" like myself, however the musical interest is very limited... don't say I didn't warn you PS Don't mix up S.M.I.L.E. with S.M.I².L.E., that's a completely different project from Michael Kohlbecker (of Eternal Basement fame).

1. Papillon 2. Submerge 3. Triclops 4. Longhorn 5. Mainlining 6. Blink 7. Lifeblood 8. Vowel 9. The Dark Major 10.Funnelweb YES THEY'RE BACK!!! I don't think many people were expecting Union Jack to make a comeback and yet they did... well, kindof, cause the original group was made up of Claudio Giussani & Simon Berry, this time Giussani left and Paul Brogden took his place. But still, the old "Platipus sound" is pretty much there, FINALLY some artists that understood that if fans are crying for a legendary group comeback, they also want the legendary sound back, not just having an old name doing something new. The album opener is Papillon, which brings back a LOT of memories: that oldschool Union Jack sound that everyone missed with the looped 303s, filtered voice samples that are used more as an instrument than as a voice, the slooooow progression and buildup, and even that odd bit that sounds a bit corny at first but then gradually starts making sense, it's all in there! My only regret is that there is no "singing" 303 lines, making the overall result sound a bit less "soulfull" than older stuff. Still, compared to most comebacks by legendary artists, this is the best result to date Submerge up next, which is a (very) downtempo track, which stikes me as too new-ageish and overall boring, especially when compared to the opening track. NEXT! Triclops comes after that, adding some livelyhood, although I don't really like this one. I guess it was their attempt to make a more modern sound, thus 303s are almost absent. Moreover, that main melody is a bit annoying to my ears so usually I skip this one as well. Ahh luckily Longhorn is up next with some more of the oldschool sound. Just like Papillon, all those old elements are there, minus the "singing" 303s, still this is the track I like most here. I find this will get MANY spins in my CD player in the follwing months Mainlining is again a downtempo track, which plays as some sort of musical journey on a steam train. The idea is original but still, there are too much new-ageish candy-coated melodies in there, which IMO are a bit annoying. Blink is up next, a more modern progressive track, which kindof continues the "steam train" feeling from Mainlining, but which I also find a bit empty and unispired. Lifeblood is a sort of interlude (hey it's been a while since I haven't heard interludes in an album ). It's some dark atmospheric ambient, definately something you would NOT expect from the group, but interesting nonetheless Then Vowel comes up next, with more oldschool 303 loops, and also some jazzy progression, not unlike some goatrance from the late 90s. Some interesting typically sloooow buildups in there, although IMO this could've been much better. The Dark Major is some more uptempo ambient, with a bit of bossa-nova feeling. Yep, The Girl From Ipanema came to my mind while listening to this... again, not really the kind of stuff you'd expect coming from these guys. Still, after some more listens it kindof starts making sense. The closer is Funnelweb which is a nice blend of the old Union Jack sound, more modern progressive trance as well as some VERY old electronic music from the 80s sounds (Kraftwerk anyone? ). Again, like with most of their stuff, you have to give it a few listens before getting this... THE GOOD: The Platipus sound lives again!! Every nostalgic of that mid-90s era will surely have tears in their eyes when listening some tracks here. THE BAD: I would've done without the downtempo tracks, they come off as weak and uninspired compared with the other tracks here. CONCLUSION: OK, this album isn't perfect, I'm sure that purists will frown when listening to some new directions that these artists have taken, and, even though this is the best effort to date by any oldschool artist to keep their old sound, I still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was still missing (I guess that was Giussani's influence). Still, overall I quite like this album and I find is MUCH better than most new releases out there (even by oldschool legends). 4/5 favorite tracks: 1 (!), 4(!!!), 8

hah I remember getting this a few months ago since psyshop was all over it, with people claiming it to be one of the best albums of the summer, full with tracks from "the best artists of the moment". Maaan how dissapointed I was, this was so weak that it made me lose interest in psytrance completely for a few months (only now am I slowly getting back into the game). I didn't even consider this worthy of a review but since someone else already posted one here, I might as well give my comments too. Major thumbs down from me... 1/5

Hi there! So I've just read this really interesting preview on the latest book by Jung, that he never dared publish during his lifetime because he was afraid that people will consider him mad. Aparently it is about his personal explorations into the collective unconscious, filled with illustrations that look surprisingly like the Divine Moments of Truth flash animation... So personally I would've ordered it right away but was put off by the price tag: 130€... at that price I guess I'll wxait for the paperback to be published. But I was wondering, has anyone else around here read it? What do you think about it?

well the dude basically gives his personal rants for 2/3s of the "review" and really reviews it in the last 2 paragraphs... there are better reviews out there IMO, although I quite agree with his concusion

I admit I was surprised to see that Shpongle have released something new, considering that Nothing Is Lost was supposed to be their final album... The thought that this is just a collection of B-side material that wasn't good enough to feature on their older albums crossed my mind, but luckily it seems that these are all new creations. This album marks a bit of a return to their original roots (almost a decade since their first album), considering that there are much more arabic/ oriental influences and less hispanic ones. So I guess that depending on just when you became a Shpongle fan, you will find this a good or a bad thing (personally I prefer this ). I'm also a bit surprised that they completely abandoned the Terence McKenna samples which were kindof their trademark (or maybe they just got pissed off from being copied by Entheogenic?). And it all just sounds a lot more "straightforward" compared to their older stuff, more World-music like and less psychedellic, although I must admit that the randomness of Are You Shpongled? got on my nerves sometimes so being straightforward isn't necessarily bad. Other than that, all the "traditional" Shpongle elements are there: blending electronic music with World music samples, heavily distroted voices, trippy samples and just about every sound ran through LFO-controlled filters, giving that bouncy-waterdrop feel that has become carachteristic of their sound. BUT there are also some new additions like a (relative) abundance of 303 sounds and also some oldschool Hallucinogen trademark arpeggios (some parts will make you feel like listeing to Twisted all over again). I love Electroplasm, it really brings out the best in both worlds (World music and electronic music). I mean, there are not many artists out there that can blend classical violins, sitars, 303s and whale samples and make it all sound GOOD!! This is a true masterpiece IMO. Then comes Shpongolese Spoken Here which is a bit of a letdown compared with the starting track. Only the second half picks up quite nicely with a dub rythm and a nice guitar melody on top, as well as one of those oldschool Hallucinogen arpeggios I've been talking about. It sounds good but it could've been better IMO. Nothing is Something Worth Doing is one of the weakest tracks here, it all sounds empty and new-ageish, like the kind of music you'd hear in the background in a massage parlor. By this time I started wondering whether Shpongle didn't lose it this time... But luckily Ineffable Mysteries kicks in next with a lot more energy. The arabic samples might be too much to handle at first but the more you listen to the track, the more it all starts making sense. And it really pays to wait for the track to unfold, the best part IMO is around 7:30 : you have a 303 playing some rapid 32nd notes, only after a while do you realize that they're following the main arabic chorus sample, and then again a trademark Hallucinogen arpeggio kicks in. It all works miracles! Again, not many artists manage to blend in such diverse elements and make it all sound good. Then comes I Am You, or as I like to call it, "the Shpongle lovesong". It was love at first sight with this one, the voice melody is just divine and actually made me want for it to last longer (I usually tend to find voical melodies a bit cheesy). I can just imagine thousands of couples in chill-outs all over the World holding eachother closer when this melody plays. Again, you'd find the idea of Shpongle doing a lovesong quite odd, but believe me, it all works out VERY nicely if you hang on to it. Then comes a slower track Invisible Man in a Fluorescent Suit which, just like Nothing is Something Worth Doing hits me as a bit weak and new-ageish... so I usually press next here... No Turn Un-Stoned is up next, which is the only full-vocal track here. It starts pretty promising but then it REALLY goes downhill starting from 3:00, with a melody that sounds a bit like bar-music bleh... too bad cause the beginning was really sweet. Walking Backwards Through The Cosmic Mirror is pretty nice on the other hand! The background rythm and melody sounds a LOT like some oldschool trance music (I mean REALLY oldschool - think the early 90s), on top of which Shpongle do their "thing" with wierd voice effects and LFO-filtered sounds. At times it all might sound a little hectic but all in all I like this one as well THE GOOD: I love the use of (very) oldschool elements like the 303s, the Hallucinogen-trademark arpeggios, etc THE BAD: a bit too "straightforward" at times. OK, Shpongle always was like 50% World Music - 50% psychill, but at times this album sounds like 99% World Music - 1% psychill... CONCLUSION: Surprisingly good actually! I don't like all the tracks (but I never liked all the tracks on a single one of their albums, so that's normal). I'm happy I've got this and it will definately get a LOT of spins in my CD-played for months to come! 4,5/5 favortie tracks: 1(!!), 4, 5(!!), 8.

Well just like Trance2MoveU said before me, Total Eclipse is in a lose-lose situation here: make full-on and all the oldschool fans will accuse them of being sell-offs, make oldschool and the new crowd will never really get into it. However, there still is secret option no. 3: make "intelligent" full-on, were oldschool elements and melodies blend in with the powerfull rolling bassline. And luckily enough, and just like Electric Universe, Space Tribe and Chi-AD, there are some golden nuggets lost in the sea of blant full-on tracks on this album. First 5 tracks are just full-on fodder, I just skip those. But don't press that forward button too fast cause Cyber Party is a really nice one! There are some really nice catchy melodies in there, I quite like this, although I must also admit that it is still not A-class material (but a very close B+ nonetheless). Then some more full-on fodder until Empregnatizer, which is actually made by Toxic Engine, not Total Eclipse... This is a pretty nice industrial/slow full-on crossover, something I would've expected to come from Tim Schuldt actually. Then comes the closing track Espagnolizer which is a remix of their classic track, but which also reaks of Shpongle, and notably the Total Eclipse remix of Dorset Perception. So I'd give this a 2/5: 3 nice tracks (6,9,10), although certainly nothing really memorable in there.