Lemmiwinks

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err... for me there was no such thing as "full-on" (well, at least not in today's terms) before late 2002... The only 2 acts that did it before that were GMS and Alien Project. Funny cause back then all the israelis were concerned with making "funky" psy instead of what has become typical for the israeli sound today: the rolling bassline. Correct me if I'm wrong here...

Ale, if that's really what you think then you must've never heard a house track in your life... or you have some sort of hearing problem...

hehe yes I guess we can talk about this for days Reminds me of that Simpsons episode with Funzo:

well I'd like to listen to it a few more times before giving it a proper review but I like it a LOT!!! That first track is cheezy, yes, but it is so BEAUTIFUL!!! The first time I heard it I actually had tears in my eyes... Personally I always found the track Spiritual Healing to be downright stupid, I liked the rest of the first album but as a chill-out album. This one brings elements from the downtepo tracks and uses them in uptempo tracks (actually not ONE downtempo track on this album!). All in all I like it very much. Yes it's cheeze but it's a very different kind of cheeze to what we're used to calling "cheeze" in this scene To sum it up in one phrase: 99,99% of psytrance is made for the dancefloor... this is made for the SOUL!!! Now the million dollar question: will those catchy melodies grow on you or will they become boring after a few weeks? well, guess we'll have to wait to find out...

mainly home-listening and reviewing. People who know me can't understand how I can spend days in a row just listening to this music... but I realize more and more that it's my main pleasure in life (yes, even more than sex!) . I mix a bit but at home, guess I'm too shy to actually get on stage and mix some of the stuff I like... but I'd like to someday Also go to my fair share of parties but not many (about one a month or 2). I like the idea of party-going to be sacred, so for me doing it every week-end would mean that the whole experience would lose it's magic. Oh and I'm a major poster on a certain psy forum

funny Rain, you say that Lani is good but this is cheeze?!?!?!? ah well, to each their own I guess... will write a full review sometime next week

theres no such thing as 10/10 imo.. but i dont like psy so..

IMO you must be living in a cave for the past 6 months to find this "fresh-sounding" or original... Actually it seems to me that Vik saw the success of the new "80s NES psy" movement (as I call it) and decided he wanted a part of the action too. So yes, if you like Lani and Vibe Tribe you'll probably also like this. Personally I don't like artists who jump in the bandwagon whenever they see that something new is "in"... Free Galaxy is the standout for me... a really driving track and less "euro-trancy" than the other tracks here. The downtempo track Navigation is also very sweet, reminds me of the early 90s breakbeat-ambient made by UK producers. So basically what I'm saying here is that there are 2 tracks I really like and the rest are pretty average... Personally out of all the "NES psy" albums I've heard I still prefer Vibe Tribe . So to take what DP said, I never really was impressed by Vik's work either... but this isn't an exception 6/10

yep, I must admit that this one got old REALLY fast... those symphonic parts are just annoying after a while...

ah usually I'd say that dark trance isn't my style... but I like this particular album a LOT!! Tracks 1,2 and 5 remind me of The Delta period: dark, minimalistic, mechanical trance. Actually this made me realize how much I missed those days since now it seems that Marcus is into electro Twisted Parameters , as the name suggests, brings in some really twisted sounds, I like it, but find Batidas Por Minuto to be even better These 2 tracks sound a LOT like the typical russian trance (especially reminded me of Osom so if you like that then chances are high you'll like these too. Klassic-Al is the wierdest track here, brings in some classical music and some jazz... I guess you have to open-minded to like that one. Personally I find that the classical and jazzy part make it sound "goofy" whereas it's supposed to be a dark track. Hence I don't really like the mix... Pskumany and Wake-up Call don't really speak to me. They're dark but nothing special IMO. Last but not least comes the downtempo track Z.Zora . A VERY deep kick, although slow and spooky (although I could've done with a little more "spook" Conclusion actually this is the best dark trance album I've heard in months if not a whole year. It's a definate treat for all those who regret the era when The Delta and Midi Milliz ruled the dark trance scene. It also has some more "nowadays" dark trance that sounds like the typical russian style (which I like a little less but still the tracks are MUCH better than most in the style). And also some more original ones. All and all this feels like a musical documentary on the evolution of dark psy from 2000 until now... and how many albums do you have in your collection that can do that? 9/10

if you bother to quote from a different topic, then why not go all the way and quote my reply to the quote in the first place? anyway, long story short, as most REVIEWERS (yes, to all those complaining, start writing your own reviews and see for yourself how your understanding of the reviewing process will change dramatically...) already said, a review is SUBJECTIVE! It is based on EMOTION and there are no scales for emtions: you either feel extreme joy or pain. It is your rational mind that steps in afterwards and starts doing the comparing (yes, I feel extreme joy now but was my joy higher or lower than when I lstened to AP - People Can Fly 9 years ago? or when I listened to Schizoeffective in 2000? etc.). So as you can imagine this process is VERY biased. Personally, if I REALLY made an effort to recall the time when I'd listen to oldschool and be so stunned that my hands were litterally shaking then yes, none of the releases from the post-oldschool days would deserve more than 7/10 simply because they just don't make me tremble in awe in front of them. But then again, I was 16 when I started listening to goa and now I'm 24... In the same way when you fall in love with a girl when you're 16 it's VERY different to when you fall in love when you're 24. But does that mean that the girl you fall in love at 24 is less good than the one at 16? Or simply that you have a greater experience that allows you to compare? But then expirience or no experience, you STILL felt more deeply in love at 16 than 24 and it's THAT high that you want to feel again. But did you really feel that high in the first place or is it your memory which distrots facts in the first place? so anyway, to get back on topic... I rate a 10/10 when I find an album REALLY does it for me. I know a lot of people might find my remarks that the 1200 Mics album is great or that Talpa's downtempo tracks are better than Shpongle as being exagerated but for me, keeping into account that we're living in the present and not in the past, those are valid remarks and I stand by them

that's exactly it!! For me the 1200 Mics album IS a 2004 classic.. it doesn't have to be groundbreaking for it to be considered as a "classic"... But honestly for me that album is one of the big standouts of 2004.

Well I decided to post this topic because I felt that if I read another post on how important having a good production is in a track or having a perfect beatmatch in a DJ set I was gonna explode!!! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE??? I'm really getting the feeling that a LOT of people put form over substance here... yes, form is a big factor but substance is MUCH more important, isn't it? Like if you had the coice between a DJ set with excellent track selection and not-so-good beatmatching and a DJ set filled with boring tunes but with perfect beatmatch, would you really hesitate on which one to chose? Same goes for a boring and dull track with excellent production compared to a crazy tracks with not-so-good production... Am I the only one around here who thinks that way??

ah sorry for the delay (really busy lately...). Yes the track selection is a dream for any oldschooler And personally I can't understand why such emphasis is put today on beatmatching... I'd say that track selection is by FAR a more important criteria than beatmatching... Anyway, to say something critical: personally I like sets that have a certain "energy flow": they start slow, then gradually step up, or they start moody and turn more uplifting in the end. You just put crazy track after crazy track... not a BAD thing since I like all those tracks but the dynamics of the set kindof makes me think of a rave rather than a psytrance party if you know what I mean. Still, it would be good played in a morning set as part of a party with different other sets

well sorry if you don't like my reviews, benf52... you can always write your own if you want... Personally I prefer reviewing albums based on how they make me FEEL rather than writing a boring long review like "track no. 1 starts with a 4/4 kick, some swooshes and bonks, then a voice, then a drifting melody, then some swooshes again. Track no. 2 starts with a swoosh, a drifitng melody, then the kick, the some melodies, then some wierd sounds. Track no. 3 starts with a kick, some voices, a melody and some synth lines. etc. etc. etc....". Personally I find those reviews to be VERY uninformative... I remember the climax of such reviews being that I once read one on a chill-out album (but the term "chill-out or downtempo" was never actually mentioned in the review). I got the album thinking it would be some morning trance when in fact it was chill-out!! That's how vague those "there are some synth sounds and some drifting melodies" descriptions are. But if you like that kind of review then be my guest and write as much as you can, I always get a kick out of reading them and then actually listen to the track and finding out it had NOTHING to do with the actual description PS I also love reviews that start "Well, I haven't heard the album, just a few samples on psyshop but I can tell you that..."

cool man, currently dloading it then I'm off for some shopping. Will listen to it sometime this evening and tell you what I think of it The tracklist sounds super

1. Sleep on 2. I believe 3. Mind and soul 4. Natural 5. D Paradise 6. Faith 7. Deep fatal moment 8. Hyper love 9. Forever and ever 10. Point of view 11. En sof So Fatali is back with a new album. The way I remember it, the full-on trend really exploded around the time he released Moments in 2003. So there's no prize for guessing that this is another israeli full-on album along the way. HOWEVER I must say that there are some pretty nice airy melodies which remind me of Yahel's Hallucinate album. And just like Hallucinate I find that this one REALLY depends on the context it's listened in to be enjoyed or hated... On a dancefloor it would be considered commercial but for home listening or listening in your car while driving on a sunny day this is DA BOMB!! The break at 5:00 on the track Faith is a good example of this: beat stops, then an airy guitar comes in, then a soft breakbeat and some nice sytnh melodies in the background. If i heard this on the dancefloor it would probably want to make me puke but listen to it at home with headphones, close your eyes and imagine you're on a beach in a tropical island sipping your cocktail and watching the girls walk by... it sure does it for me!! Not really much sense in describing this album track by track cause it sounds very alike. Just one remark: the trademark rolling bassline is actually getting softer now! Maybe in a few months it will be abandoned alltogether? Conclusion one of those albums where the context you listen to it is crucial in determining whether you like it or not. I can't really rate it since in some contexts I like it a LOT and in others I find this very cheezy... I'll just say this: If you liked Yahel - Hallucinate you'll probably like this too

1. Beyond emotion 2. Kinhos alucination (feat kinho) 3. Already found it 4. Cosmic consciousness 5. Emotions 6. Dna chaine 7. Litle bit freak (Menog album rmx) 8. Analog (Menog rmx) 9. Malana 10. Complicated minds I was blown away by Menog's debut album in 2002 so was really curious about this one... First of all let's put things into context: 2002 was minimal psy year, basically EVERY release had a calm beat, a highhat and an occasional interesting sound/ melody in the background. Back then it was all about "making it funky"... So when Menog came with his full-on dark style it was a revelation. First of all because back then there was no such thing as melodies in dark trance (well except for BotFB but they're in a league of their own IMO), it was considered that for it to be dark it had to sound mechanical and repetitive (The Delta sound was MASSIVE at the time). Second because of the powerfull rolling bassline... but back then only a handfull of acts used it, not 99%... So what I'm trying to say here is that since things evolved so much in the meantime, Menog's style simply doesn't hit you now the same way it did back then. Now it's normal to have melodies on top of rolling basslines... Still I must say that although I don't find it as groundbreaking as Natural Behaviour , I really like this album too!!! The part I like best is that Menog manages to tell dark stories through MELODIES and not just wierd squeltches here and there. On the other hand, since the melodies are dark (although not as dark as on the first album), it can't really be called "normal" full-on either cause 99% full-on is with happy melodies. Also with this album, Menog shows us that he can do downtempo as well!! I really like the first and last downtepo tracks on the album... such a scary atmosphere. I can only imagine someone on acid in the chill-out room listening to this LOL!! I don't really understand why there's a remix of Paranormal Attack in here. Little Big Freak sounds much more like "normal" full-on and I find it disrupts the flow of the album. The other tracks are Menog style: wierd dark melodies (and I mean REAL melodies, not just a bunch of synthlines on top of eachtoher) and, just like in his first album... quite interchangeable... During the album you'll wonder if you're listening to track 2 or did track 3 start and you didn't notice... or was it track 4? Still as long as you like the style that shouldn't be a problem Conclusion not as groundbreaking as the debut album (but we're living in different times now so I guess that's normal) but still quite good album by Menog . If you liked the first album I don't see how you couldn't like this. Plus you get 2 downtempo tracks here OK, it shows that Menog had been influenced by full-on with this one (full-on was basically inexistant when he released Natural Behaviour ) but still, I like the way he tells stories through MELODIES!! Who said dark trance has to have just harsh sounds one on top of another? 7/10

but when an underground act makes stuff that sounds more and more to Anthony Rother then... they DO become more commercial no? BTW Red Light District is one of my all time fave electro tunes And speaking of electro, for me TRUE electro has some VERY intricate and mystical melody in it... I don't hear that in the new X Dream (or in most electro alas )

ah I guess I expressed myself badly... yes, it DOES have some electro and techno influences, I don't deny that. What bothers me is that people act like X Dream made some sort of new art which is only accessible to people living on a higher plane of consciousness when in fact all they did was become more commercial. I don't think anyone would accept Skazi going commercial by saying "well you see, you don't apreciate this because it's not psy. It's some very intelectual ultra-psychedellic acid rock electronica... If you were as intelligent as me then you'd see that."

bullshit... it's not electro techno, it's just their attempt to appeal to the masses by making more commercial music... same goes for IM. I'm so sick of people trying to explain their willingness to sell out with such far-fetched stories as "ah but you see, this is a CONCEPTUAL album, it's not for you mere mortals who just know about psy. To truly understand it, you have to know what TRUE ART is"... ever read that story "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Now what impresses me most is that if X-Dream decide to put some Mac OS "robot voice" in their tracks and throw in some "technological gibberish", it's "conceptual" but if 1200 Mics make an album themed after historical civilizations, they're just being stupid and cheezy... where's the justice in that???

say whatever you want I STILL find this 100 times better than the latest IM or X Dream album... at least Skazi doesn't take himself seriously... he doesn't pretend that his latest cover is some sort of "conceptual music" instead of simply calling it what it is: psy pop...

don't have it but from seeing the tracklist... not much of those tracks seem to actually be goatrance, except for the classics (LSD, Sugar Rush...). say what now? anyway, I really really liked Voyage into Trance 1 so I hope this will be good too

I honestly truly don't see what the hell anyone sees in this... it's fucking club music. Nothing to do with psytrance whatsoever if you ask me. I've listened to it quite a few times in case it was one of those albums that "grows on you"... but it didn't. I found it just as boring on the 20th listen as I did in the beginning. For me progressive is some sort of anti-psytrance: it takes everything that made this genre big (catchy melodies, screaming synth lines, dynamic progression, powerful climaxes, multiple layers), throw them all to the bin and just leave you with a calm beat and some floating sounds on top... If I want that then I'll listen to club music. But then I wouldn't be into psytrance in the first place! Sure production-wise this is top notch but honestly, what do you prefer between boring music that's mastered to perfection and creative music that has a bit unpolished production? Even though I don't like progressive, there is one track here and there that I apreciate... but none of them can be found here... 4/10