Lemmiwinks

hum then I think you should give those Thunderdome comps another listen cause they were FULL of tracks that used more or less the same formula as jumpstyle: take a well-known melody, add a hardcore kick and some hoovers on top and you have a new hit. The only notable difference between those and jumpstyle is that jumpstyle has lower BPMs IMO. Here are some melodies to refresh your memory: Party Animals - Used and Abused Rob Gee - Ecstacy you got what I need (best happy hardcore track EVER IMO!!) (second best - this one even had a video lol ) The Prophet - Big Boys Don't Cry or, on a more serious note: Dr Macabre - Poltergeist TCP - Loving You (Stunned Guyz Mix) I think that's what I like most about jumpstyle: it reminds me my lost youth PS Can anyone help me find the hardcore remix of ? I've listened to it a million times but can't put my finger on it...

well why does it sound so plasticky and contained then? I mean, you can clearly hear the difference between your sound and GNOTR, right? And of course I'm only making suppositions but you WERE aiming for the GNOTR formula, right?

OK I know this is overly simplistic music made for 12 year-old kids but I like it!! (ok, I like some of it, not all). It's probably because they basically use the same formula that made the Thunderdome comps with which I grew up with famous: take ANY melody, speed it up, add a distorted kick and some hoovers on top and there you go, the perfect jumpstyle track. Anyway, here are some of my faves (don't laugh now ): DJ Furax - Final Countdown Anonymous - U Got 2 Know The Cranberries - Zombie (Jupstyle Mix) Vorwerk - Vietnam Zany & DV8 - Nothing Else Matters Chicago Zone - Scanner so what do you think? any recommendations?

you should check out Astrancer then (especially the track Ashram)

oh thanks for the link, this is actually pretty good

I beg to differ... actually I also used to call this goatrance a while ago but went on to calling it newschool because IMO it just sounded too different. I mean, listen to Lights in Motion or Jelly Beans comp... you can IMMEDIATLELY spot the tracks that were made a decade ago so this IMO is proof that the sound is different no matter how you see it. A LOT of elements define a certain artform in a certain time-space, you just cannot do the same in a different time-space no matter how much you try IMO, I mean just look at new efforts from people who were into oldschool from day 1 like Chi-AD and Har-El Prussky... IT'S NOT THE SAME!!! Anyway, as far as defining carachteristics go, here are the main differences I've noticed: - new technology (especially soft synths) give newschool tracks a more plasticky sound compared to oldschool. Don't know if this is because I know more about how this music is made today than I did back then but it just sounds different IMO. I mean, just try Green Nus of The Revolution - Ring of Fire and KOB - Pitch and Chips. Same formula, different instruments and VERY different end result IMO. The synths just don't "scream" the same way... - newschool artists just take SOME of the defining carachterstics of oldschool and use ONLY those, sometimes it feels like a caricature of the old sound which used to be much more varied and subtle IMO (hello? where did the gating effects go? the keychanges? having MINIMUM 4 different melodies going on at the same time? etc...). That said, this is nothing exceptional, ALL revival movements of older artforms had this, think neo-gothic or greek revival in architecture. I don't think there's really any way around this except just using old elements to create something new (like renaissance style vs greek revival - one uses classical elements to make something new and the other just parodies something that has already been done). As for how it should be named... I vote for "post-modern goatrance"

yeah funny you put this link cause I gave the album another listen yesterday and was thinking that the best track on it was the remix for As A Child... On the other hand, I took out Scizoeffective and gave it another listen and I wondered what was the difference with the original except that it lasts less?

1- Mysterious Wizard - Visions of India 7:32 2- Zolphinia - Time Travel 8:41 3- Artha - Mahabharta (Short Version) 7:01 4- Pandemonium! - Yupi Alam! (A Sliding Story) 6:50 5- Amanians - Acida 9:40 6- Travma - Helezon 6:39 7- Agneton - A New Hope (Pan´s Ice Cream Remix) 6:56 8- Cyan - A New Galaxy (Live Remix) 8:34 9- Astrancer - Blazar 9:16 10- Brain Technology - Amazon Warrior 7:33 OMG not only is this one of the best newschool releases out there but it is also FREE! (you can download it here). I don't know how the artists and the record label manages to make money by doing this but anyway I'm not one to say no when I'm offered something for free I know what you're thinking: if it's free, then it must be some amateur producers trying to make a name for themselves and it's not worth your listening time. Well you are wrong cause this is better than most (all?) albums available from psyshop. The comp starts with Mysterious Wizard starts off with some nice pads and oriental female voices. Me likey! Zolphinia up next with some interesting (oldschool) ideas but this one I like less. It is a bit too calm for me, I was expecting some tension-release that never came... Artha next... well actually I've had this track as an unreleased one for a few years so the element of surprise is gone. Anyway, I have personally lobbied on some psy forums for Artha for YEARS because I found his stuff absolutley fantastic and considered the man deserved a record contract. Even if I know this track, I still find it one of the best on this comp. Just one little regret: if he was gonna put an unreleased track, why not DNA? I find that one to be his best effort. Ah well, maybe next time Pandemonium up next... I didn't really like his track on Freshly Cut Tomato but this one is MUCH more dynamic and interesting. Still not A-class material but a good effort IMO. Amians next with, as the name Acida would suggest, some acid lines. Interesting track but I would've expected a more crazy use of a 303. I don't understand why artists these days make 303s sound so contained and restricted. It's like getting a big fighting bull and cutting it's balls off... Travma starts with a high tempo, letting you think that it will be a stormer. Well, ok, it is fast paced and there are some nice ideas but it's not that big of a stormer in the end. I think this is mainly because there aren't enough melody changes during the track so it gets a bit boring after a while. Some alien-spaceship LFOs come in around 5:30 and then the melody gets an interesting twist but the track as a whole lasts 6:40... something is wrong here, either Travma fucked up his momentum or this track was cut down from it's initial size. Too bad cause it could've been MUCH better if the last part lasted longer IMO. Agneton up next which sounds a bit too generic to my ears... And then comes THE Nitzhonot star Cyan!! I must say this was unexpected... Although the original track was made in 1999, and it shows, no matter how big the efforts in making newschool, old tracks still blow any newschool track out of the water IMO. So yeah, this is my favorite track on this album, the tension-release starting at minute 5:00 is just AMAZING!!! Back then this music used to be dubbed commercial, well these days it is pretty underground compared to the new turn that the full-on scene is taking. A new track from Astrancer which is my favortie newschool artist for the moment with another dreamy track and beautiful melodies. Although it's not as good as Ashram IMO, it is still is the second-best track on this album IMO. The closer is a downtempo tribal track from Brain Technology which reminded me of some stuff on the RTTS comps. Great stuff!! THE GOOD: One of the best (if not THE best) newschool comp released this year and it is FREEEEEEE!! THE BAD: Some filler tracks but VERY few... Also, like with Lights in Motion, once they put an oldschool track in there you can't help realizing that newschool still has a lot of catching up to do just to be on the same level with what oldschool used to be a decade ago (but we're getting there ) CONCLUSION I don't like speaking in superlatives because no matter how great you feel about an album, the magic will always fade away and you'll find something else that is better but I must say that for now this is THE best newschool comp I've listened to in 2008!! (yes, better than Suntrip!) Oh and did I mention it was free? So what are you waiting for, click that download link 9,5/10

ok I understand now... it would've been cool if the original version sounded like that though edited my review with the new infos, thanks for the corrections

hehe like they say "that's when you know that you're a 90s kid: you think that 90s remixes of 80s tracks are the originals ". Anyway OMG who would've though they made acid techno in 1983??? I should definitely buy the original EP. (edit: oh wait, the original New Order version is quite different... ah well, I guess it makes sense now lol)

1. Arabian Nights 2. Soul of a worm 3. U know this 4. Hard Coffee 5. Mysteria Lane 6. The family guy 7. The way of the fly 8. Quality Seconds 9. Outro 10. Bonustrack, 1994 Aladdin is a young swedish producer releasing his first album of which the promo text says it blends full-on with hardstyle... Uh oh, this doesn't really sound promising... In practice it is what I call "goofy full-on": massive use of old and tried melodies from the rave era and funny samples. Oh and the cover must be the ugliest cover I've seen in 2008. But anyway, let's get to the tracks: Arabian Nights starts with some interesting arabian little melody which makes you wonder if there isn't a touch of oldschool in there. Well, there isn't. Just that little melody repeated a few times, then a variation of the James Brown Is Dead melody. Nothing really profound but nice to listen to on a dancefloor. Then comes Soul of a Worm (I officially nominate this the wierdest track name of 2008 lol). It starts off pretty mystical actually but it rapidly changes into full-on with some hardstyle-like hoovers. Nice, but nothing special. U Know This uses a variation of the main melody hook from New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) (you know, the melody playing in a club in the beginning of the movie Blade). Well, I like the original and I must say that having a full-on remix of it is not a bad idea IMO. Hard Coffee starts with some interesting hardcore distorted kicks and also a funny sample from (I think) the classic comedy Airplane. Again, pretty generic party stuff, then around 5:30 there is the little melody when Windows shuts down. Funny trick, especially on the dancefloor but when it is the 100th track using the same trick it gets pretty annoying. Mysteria Lane starts with some nice pads that sound like the music to some movie (it wouldn't surprise me if it is taken from a movie, but I don't know which one). Then some pretty deep melodies that reminded me the oldschool feeling. Then come some arpeggios which reminded me a LOT of Astral Projection - Trance Dance. It is a beautiful track I like the way it has a more serious, sad feeling to it, by far the best track here. I love sad trance, too bad it's very rarely made... The Family Guy starts, as you could expect, with a sample from the cartoon Family Guy "to put it simply, there's a reason why they call it dope". Then it turns into some pretty generic full-on with various samples from the cartoon. The Way of the Fly starts with what I think is a sample from one of the Cheech and Chong movies. One of the better tracks here IMO, less generic than the others, you can feel that Aladdin is unleashing his creativity in this one. Quality Seconds starts with a guitar riff that reminded me some Lenny Kravitz but then continues with a beat that is WAY too fast. It sounds like playing full-on with the pitch turned up... Don't really understand why Aladdin felt the need to speed it up like that. Then comes the Outro which is NOT the last track (funny eh?). This is a downtempo experimental track that I find pretty cool. Last track is 1994, and you'd probably expect some old trance but Aladdin uses some elements from the rave and eurotrance scenes to make some full-on. Interesting track but nothing really memorable. THE GOOD: There is some potential here like Mysteria Lane, Way of the Fly and the Outro suggests, Aladdin can make some very good music when he wants to. THE BAD: The overall sound in most tracks is too generic. You can feel this is one of those albums that you hear everywhere on the dancefloors for a month and then never hear it again. CONCLUSION: Pretty average "goofy" full-on album, but this doesn't mean it doesn't have its moments. Mysteria Lane is actually one of the best full-on I've heard this year and there are some other interesting tracks as well. Too bad Aladdin focuses too much on the commercial side of things... 2,5/5

I think he meant downloading samples

I pretty much agree with everyone here... some good tracks but most of them are mediocre... although from their newer stuff I have to mention Looking For You. One of the best feel-good guitar tracks ever made IMO, it still makes me smile

ah ok then

well you can listen to it by going on his myspace I know you can't argue about taste but mind telling me what artist do you find better?

oh yeah I meant "new god" but then I also had to put newschool in there so it all got mixed up lol

I don't normally do artist plugs but I randomly stumbled on this guy called Astrancer and it totally blew me away! If you thought newschool was kindof generic you should check out his stuff Anyone else heard of him? What do you guys think?

1 Pandemonium! - A Mad Scientist's Night (Subra Vs Felis Remix) (8:10) 2 Anakoluth - Orbiting The Earth (9:36) 3 Jikkenteki With 11 - Super Power Mustard (7:35) 4 Alt Anesis and 5Meo-Geo - Ficus (8:10) 5 Subra and Har-El Prusky - Freakagnux (7:48) 6 K.O.B. - Pitch & Chips (A Fairytale About A Chip) (7:31) 7 Merr0w - Pixelized Sight (8:45) 8 Radical Distortion - Unchristened (6:49) 9 Astrancer - Ashram (11:21) I gave this a listen after an "anonymous tip" on discogs and I must admit that I am happy I did. Aparently Suntrip's efforts are starting to pay off and other labels are jumping in the newschool bandwagon (which is a great thing IMO). So yes this is also newschool, but a different style than Suntrip's, it is on the crazyier more hectic side of things whereas Suntrip is more on the dreamy side. Although the comp starts off preatty weak I advise you listen to all the tracks before dissing it, the last tracks are well worth the effort IMO! 1. Pandemonium's track is one of the weakest here, a nice intro track but nothing special... NEXT! 2. On to Anakoluth which starts just as boring as Pandemonium until around 3:15 when a killer melody oldschool melody starts... But it only lasts a few bars and is just repeated over and over again throughout the track. So the initial smile of surprise turns into a grin of annoyance after a few more mintues. It has a kindof minimal feeling to it (I mean the kind of minimal that everybody loved in early 2000). This COULD have been a very good track if there was more creativity involved, sadly its repetitiveness makes it a letdown for me. 3. Jikkenetiki up next with a pretty average track. It starts pretty promising but then quickly becomes boring. It just goes on and on without ever really grabbing your attention IMO. 4. Alt Anesis next with (finally) a more dynamic track which reminds me more of the oldschool feeling but uses modern FX which kindof makes the sound less pure IMO. This is one of the better tracks here but at the same time something is missing IMO. 5. Then comes a collaboration with "the godfather of trance" as he used to be called, Har-El Prussky. OK let's be honest here: Har-El might have made some of the most beautiful oldschool tracks ever... but he also made a LOT of average tracks as well. Sadly this is part of the latter category. This actually reminded Chi-AD's new album: some oldschool elements blended into some new stuff making a pretty average end result. 6. KOB starts of with a tribal feeling which made me realize that it's been a while since I have heard djembés in a trance track... Sadly it kindof goes to shit after a while. The artist is obviously aiming for some Green Nuns of the Revolution-style crazyness but fails rather miserably IMO. This might also be in part to the new synths and FX used which make it all sound a bit plasticky... You just can't make this kind of music without some real 303s IMO... 7. I must admit that by now I was tempted to press stop and just discard the whole thing cause none of the tracks really got me going. Well, I'm glad I kept listening cause Merrow's track is a treat This one sounds a LOT like Fractal Glider's Parasite (BTW whatever happened to him??). Anyway, this a great track. 8. Radical Distortion is up next with some more oldschool sounds. The track actally starts with some gating effects, it has been a LONG time since I haven't heard gating used in an intro, funny when you think that this was one of THE trademarks of goatrance back in the days and now it seems completly forgotten. Then some really nice melodies that reminded me some typical oldschool melodies, the kind of melodies that would make you move your body sideways when dancing (which I also realized that I haven't done in a while). Umm... I hope this makes sense to someone else than me lol Anyway, nice track 9. Then comes the closing KILLER... Astrancer is just INCREDIBLE!!! Very dreamy stuff, it reminded me a lot of Etnica's Z Plane Sunrisewhich is IMO one of the best tracks ever made. The first few times I listened to Astrancer's track I actually had tears in my eyes, that's how beautiful it was. My only problem is that it is a bit too long (almost 12 minutes!) And it kindof loses momentum after minute 6... But you can always press "stop" before the end . But anyway, this is just a minor inconvenient, this is an amazing track, definately one of the best tracks of 2008!! THE GOOD: The last 3 tracks are definately worth buying this comp, if you don't listen to Astrancer's track you're missing something special! THE BAD: Too many filler tracks that don't really go anywhere... Also, too much use of softsynths, it gives most tracks on this album a plasticky sound that doesn't really fit in with the oldschool spirit IMO. CONCLUSION: This comp does have its flaws but it also contains some of the best newschool releases of 2008. So as a comp it doesn't deserve more than a 3/5 because of all the bad tracks but that average wouldn't do justice to the absolutley great last 3 tracks. And if you had to choose between an album with 10 good but not great tracks and one with some bad tracks and some excellent, would you really hesitate? PS BTW in case anyone cares... I've decided to rate albums out of 5 rather than out of 10 since I find the scale more realistic to use.

still got loads in the basement but I'm too lazy to look them up lol

meh, maybe it's for the better... pretty dissapointing album IMO...

OMG MWNN still performs? I wonder how his new stuff sounds like... And yeah, happy 2009 to everyone!!!

yes but is there any use in voting if noone will bother publishing the final results...? I'm still waiting for the results from best of 2007

I can't believe you mentioned 3D Vision and didn't recomend him the best artist that 3D Vision had to offer: TALAMASCA!! CPU and Absolum sound pretty weak in comparison IMO...

ha man you really listen to a LOT of psytrance lol I haven't listened to that much psy in 2008 but from what I've listened, this is my top 10 (in no particular order): 1. Braincell - Anti Gravity 2. Ka-Sol - Ambientnot 3. Para Halu - Spirit of the Wind 4. Astrancer - Ashram 5. Para Halu & The Path - Babylon 6. Virtuart & Chronomist - Zanchin (don't know if this actually qualifies as a 2008 track since it was made in 1996...) 7. Filteria - Back to Earth 8. Chi AD - Earthboud (didn't really like it at first but I found it keeps growing on me ) 9. Juno Reactor - Immaculate Crucifixion 10. Yahel - Xport

well you have to bring yourself back to the late 90s/ early 2000s when the guide was actually made... I know that there was a LOT of debate on the difference between psytrance and goatrance in the 90s, only afterwards had it become generally accepted that goatrance is what we call oldschool today (generally people put all pre-2000 stuff in this category) and psytrance is basically everything made after the oldschool demise. But it didn't use to be that way, in the 90s many people kindof agreed that goatrance was more melodic like AP and MWNN whereas psytrance was crazyier stuff with a lot of acid riffs like... well ManMadeMan - Drama Only after 2000 did people just agree to put everything made before in the same goatrance basket and call newer stuff "psytrance". Same with psytekk vs minimal... to many people (including me) those 2 terms were interchangeable in the early 2000s so IMO that section isn't that fucked up But yes, like you say "it's a good effort, but one person alone can't make a full list. Simply because you can't be an expert to everything." PS No, I don't know what buttrock goa is either