Lemmiwinks

1. PENTA - In the night, in the dark 2. CATLA - Minimal Disaster 3. DARK NEBULA - Cleopatra Cannonball 4. PSYSIDE - Pandoras Box 5. JELLY HEADZ - Escaliburs night 6. AZAX SYNDROM - Evils Force 7. PSYFACTOR - 666 8. DERANGO - Time Trap 9. IBEX - Devil is in detail So Inpsyde media has returned (their first release was with the winners of the first psynews contest, remember that? ah the memories ). However this time they deliver us a dark night psy compilation. The comp starts out with a track by Penta ... I like this artist a LOT but I must say that he kindof dissapointed me with the lastest stuff released on comps... or maybe he's saving the best stuff for his upcoming album? Azax Syndrome is back with a track... which is a little too much in the "dark trance formula" for my taste... I've already said this, this shit's been the same for 3 years now, it's time for a change there's also a track from Psyside !!!! Ah this also brings some memories since Psyside was one of the main acts at the first and last psynews party ever. I discovered them then and was hooked on their distinct melodies. After a few years absence they release a new track, faster paced than their older stuff but keeping those killer distinctive melodies!! Hope a new album will come soon Another one of my fave acts is on too, Dark Nebula (actually looking back I think the very first dark trance track I've ever liked was Black Beauty by him). However I didn't think much about this track... yes, it's dark, fast and pumping but something's missing to make it distinct from the other 1001 dark, fast and pumping trance tracks out there. then on to a track from Catla , never heard of this guy (or these guys?) but they deliver one of the best tracks on this comp!! Contrary to the name, this track isn't minimal at all, it has a really crazy melody kicking in which makes me think that my brain has been hijacked by robots or something Jelly Headz is aparently one of the most critically acclaimed dark trance artists at the moment, however I find he does nothing new then use the same "dark trance formula" over again... Derango is the WORST track here IMO... nuff said... Ibex has a pretty good track... it has a sample from what I found THE scariest movie when I was a kid ( The Omen ). So this track had the merit of kindof playing with my subconscious (you know, samples which trigger past forgotten memories and such...). Well I hope I'll never hear this track when on acid cause then it could really cause some damage to my brain Conclusion Lately I was rambling about dark trance following the same "formula" that was set by Parvati's First Trip comp in 2001 and this is no exception... Personally I find there's a need for change in this style... However I found this comp to be less "formulaic" than Lhiannon Sidhe (and thus better ) 8/10

actually I find Russian trance to be stagnating... sure all those acts were killer in 2001 but now it's 3 years later and the style hasn't changed much... there's only so much you can do with a coninuous bass drone and wierd sounds...

that must be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard... Asia 2001 doesn't come close to MWNN... Actually for me Asia 2001 is the WORST oldschool producer!! I can't understand how a dude who was into the scene from day 1 and released heaps of stuff never passed the "a little better than average" mark...

never really understood how anyone could say that these artists have the same style over the years... AP might have had very similar-sounding albums in the 96 era but Amen was VERY different (not good, just different . Same goes for Infected: they've pratically completely changed style at each release!! And I found that BotFB are getting more minimal as the years pass by (not heard anything new in quite some time though...). Hallucinogen also greatley changed his style between Twisted and The Lone Deranger... (I'm a little less familiar with Vibrasphere's work ) Hell, you can even hear a distinct break of style between 1200 Mics' first album and their last!!

you do??? Other than Axis Flip I found the other tracks on his latest album quite forgetable... BTW MWNN didn't change much over the years??? I found he changed considerably with his latest stuff, there are almost NO melodies as all and whenever they do kick in they last less than a minute... as oposed to his older stuff which was basically 3, 4 or 5 melodies intermingled with eachother...

well to tell you the truth I never was a big Dark Soho fan... BTW I think that most of the hoard of posts about his first album were mostly about the recording error (2xmono instead of stereo recording) of the early pressings

1. WELCOME TO M.O.E - Intro 2. MUSSY MOODY - Evil Forces 3. MUBALI - M.o.e 4. XENOMORPH - Maladjusted Noise Experiments 5. PARA HALU - In Nomine 6. FRACTAL COWBOYS - Mega Jesus of evil 7. GHREG ON EARTH - Chapel Perilous 8. AMANDA - Identity Crisis 9. THE NOMMOS - Impulses 10. PENTA - Too Cold So latley I realized that it's been a while since I haven't bought any dark trance comps. And since this one got great reviews (for example, the Xenomorph and the Fractal Cowboys tracks are featured in Goa Gil's top 10) I decided to try this one for size. First off, the name - Lhiannon Sidhe... that must be like the coolest name for a comp ever!! After some digging around the net I found out that the Lhiannon Sidhe (BTW Sidhe is pronounced "Shee" if you want to impress your friends ) were some sort of vampiric elves who supposedly populated parts in ancient Ireland. A little note I found on this forum: "they actually functioned much like muses. they were attracted to artists, poets, musicians, etc...and their great beauty generally tended to make those men fall deeply in love with them. while the two were togeather, the man would create his greatest works, amazing masterpieces...but because while he was with the lhiannon sidhe he lived life *so* fully and completely, he would die young, a husk of his former self. the lhiannon sidhe does not *drain* her "victim", so much as cause him to wear himself out." OK, that got me horny Anyways, enough with the name and let's get on to how this sounds... well people talk a lot about full-on being formulaic but for me all this "dark trance" is just as formulaic as full-on: you take an ultra-fast bassline that sounds like a continuous drone, add some twisted wierd sounds throughout the track and give it a generally dark feeling + maybe a little melody starting around min. 5 or 6... For me this music hasn't changed much since Parvati's First Step which was released way back in 2001... So generally speaking this stuff is good for night sets at parties but doesn't have much value at home (well at least IMO...). So then, after a little Intro, the madness slowly starts. Evil Forces starts out with a less fast pace, and wierd noises that seem to build up towards the end, but the result remains rather calm. There's even something that sounds like a violin melody in the end. I don't really like this track, but then again it's purpouse is to gradually build up to the other faster tracks and it does that pretty well Mubali's tracks brings us to the "typical dark trance BPMs". The bassline is VERY deep, even TOO deep cause I felt compelled to turn down the volume of my subwofer when listening to it cause it tended to give me a headache. The last part of the track reminds me of some older Parasense . It's my first encounter with this artist and I like his style. Wonder how other stuff by him sounds like Then on to full power with Xenomorph's track: oh man that's the stuff!After a tiny intro (exactly 21 seconds) a REALLY fast low-key repetitive synthline hits you and it stays with you during the whole track. On top you have rather slow airy synth progressions and a general feeling of unease. Then around 1:50 a nice dark melody kicks in, it kindof remined me of some MFG in some sorts... This is my fave track on this comp Para Halu (what a wierd artist name?) comes next with more "formulaic" dark trance... until 6:45 when you can hear some opera ?!? then it brakes up and continues with some dark melody. Too bad one has to wait for 6 minutes to FINALLY get to the interesting part Mega Jesus of Evil might be one of Goa Gils' fave tracks at the moment but personally I find it has nothing more compared to the "usual" russian trance that has been hitting us since 2000... come on people, it's time for a change here, it's been like 4 freaking years already! Greg on Earth serves us with a more dynamic style: there are a lot of twisted sinth lines and the bassline changes constantly thoughout the track. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that triggers dark thoughts when tripping at a psy party And the buildup at the end of minute 6... ohhhh maaaan that's the shit!! This is my second fave track here!! Amanda comes with a track that's again too formulaic for my tastes... Then come The Nommos (Goa Gil's project) with a new track. It's much darker than the stuff on their Digitaria album... and also less distinct in sound... in other words, we're back into formula territory... Penta is one of my all-favorite dark trance artists (man, the dark trip I was while listening to him live last summer at a festival lol ). However the track here is less impressive compared to his older stuff IMO. That said it must have one of the wierdest breaks around 4:00 with something that sounds like some sort of bird (a seagull?) to my ears, some voices in an undistinguishable language (at first it sounds like russian, then german, then an english voice "Where are you, stupid sun?" and this REALLY wierd melody... Interesting track but it falls a little short... [EDIT: I got a message from Penta himself saying that this is actually one of his OLDER tracks so stay tuned for his new stuff ] Finally, a little comment on the track names: "Evil Forces", "Chapel Perilous" and the cherry on the cake, "Mega Jesus of Evil"... isn't this getting a little ridiculous? Yes, we know it's supposed to be dark trance, now don't rub it in. Kindof reminds me those Thunderdome compilations were there was basically a competition to find the darkest possible name "The Revenge of the Mummy", "The Killing Playground", "Death Becomes You"... in the end it's kindof silly if you ask me... Conclusion well I guess that if you like dark psy then you can't go wrong with this one... personally I find that the style hasn't changed much since the stuff released by Parvati in 2001 and is getting a bit too formulaic for my tastes... Maybe try something else than some wierd synth lines thrown on top of a continuous bassline drone for a change? That doesn't mean ALL the tracks here are uncreative, Xenomorph and Greg on Earth really stand out on this one : ) 7/10 from me

Well, based on Dado's interview in 2001 where I first heard about the project... he was hailing Christophe's style and said that he loved what was basically "intelligent techno" (hence maybe the set Seraph heard?) and that he wanted to work with Christophe to make something in the style... so I really have my doubts that this will bring back the oldschool flavor... Of course, that was 3 years ago, maybe they changed their minds since then? 100% agree!! it's not because an artist was good a few years ago that he'll ALWAYS make good music. And I never understood why, but I always have the impression that artists who once made beautifull music ALWAYS tend to get more "minimal-oriented" (aka less melodies, more emphasis on the beat and harsh sounds) as they grow old. Why is that???? Is it something in our genes that makes us not like melodies as we grow older??

mmmmmm that sounds interesting

I know, that's what I meant with "a proper reviews section": I'm convinced that if a site will have basically the same system as this one did before it went into "forum only mode" it'll be an instant hit. anyway, Amithaba if you want a helping hand from me you've got it!! I owe it to true psychedellic music I love so dearly to do that much so just what is the kind of help you have in mind?

well that's just it: there are too MUCH psytrance-oriented sties (and forums) already... the place is overcrowded as it is... except you plan on having a working "proper" reviews section

well actually I don't find it that god an idea... when a site is TOO focused then it won't work well... you'll basically have a site for 10 artists, sure I suspect the movement to grow but then you shouldn't forget that what comes up always comes back down...

fukken hell... I won't be in Belgium on the 25th

hey man I can't wait to hear this one!! Just like Oakie in the 96 era, once you set your prejudices aside you realize that he's a fucken great DJ (well, at least for mixing psy )

hehe what a coincidence... I just re-listened to this album a week ago and I was amazed to see how fresh it still sounded after all the years!! That's the thing with artists who don't respect trends: once the trend is gone, their stuff still kicks ass BTW check on eBay, I'm sure it will pop up sometime

1. Return To Tunguska 2. More Lost Without You 3. We Play The Game 4. Tijuaniac 5. L’Arc En Ciel 6. A Recurring Dream Within A Dream 7. You Can Run 8. Chomolungma For youger people, Alan Parsons is kind of the God of the 60s- 70s era music: he worked with none other than The Beatles and Pink Floyd to name just the best of the best Parsons has a lower profile since the 70s but still continued to make music and this album marks his interest for mostly electronic music and using plugins and stuff. The reason I'm reviewing it here is that Return to Tunguska is a collaboration with none other than the God of early 90s psytrance and chill-out Simon Posford !! So basically old psychedelia meets new That's enough to wet any psychedellic music lover's apetite... The track actually seems more like 80% Shpongle - 20% Parsons . It starts with an airy synth line toped by the "Shpongle voice": you know, the voice ran through the vocoder. Then the track slowly pics up, it's REALLY nice!! I'm not sure but I have the feeling that I've actually heard this intro before, probably the intro to Shpongle live in Eilat desert set (but I don't have that recording anymore so I'm not 100% sure). Anyway, then some guitars kick in (probably Parsons' part in all this, the guitars are played by David Gilmore of Pink Floyd fame BTW), personally I find that part a bit cheezy... Basically this would've been a perfect Shpongle track if it weren't for the guitars on top (don't care if it's played by some ex-Pink Floyd dude... Also, this means that the "collaboration" is simply an older unreleased Shpongle track on top of which Gilmore plays a little guitar... hardly the kind of collaboration we were expecting... Then again, I have become used to being dissapointed with such "dream team" projects so the fact that this is just a so-so track and not THE next best thing isn't that big of a surprise to me... More Lost Without You is a pop-rockish track with lyrics... not much to do with psychedelia at all... Mammagamma 04 reminds me of some old dance techno... not really my cup of tea... We Play the Game sounds like some "future pop": basically trance with vocals on top, which is also followed later in the track by some breakbeats and a guitar. Maybe future pop lovers like this, personally I can't stand the concept of voices on top, it ruins the whole track for me... BTW this track is also a collaboration between Parsons and a well-known electronica group: none other than The Crystal Method . Again, "dream teams" can be decieving... Tijuaniac is yet another collaboration with a less known group: Nortec Collective . It starts out as some calm jazzy electronic lounge music but then gets explosive around 3:40... just enough to wake you up if you were getting sleepy lol. Great effect IMO I like this track. L'Arc en ciel is, you guessed it, yet another collaboration, this time with Uberzone . This one reminds me of some Ozric Tentacles : electronic cross-blended with guitars and all-round kindof cheezy... there's also a nice Moog line in there for fans A Recurring Dream Within a Dream is a collaboration with Alan Parsons's son, actually advertised as "A composite of two works - ‘A Dream Within A Dream’ and ‘The Raven’"... what's interesting is that I hear some Shpongle -like vocoders in this one, which later transforms into more Kraftwerk -like "robot vocals". It all has an old industrial feeling but at the same time airy feeling. It also reminds me of Air I haven't heard the original versions of these tracks, but the end result sounds nice You Can Run is some 80s-like synth pop... not my cup of tea... and last but not least Chomolungma is an interesting but a bit cheesy electronic track. Again, it reminds me some 80s industrial, an overall dark feeling. And now for the end surprise: the track kinds of gets a little repetitive in the end and then come in some vocals by none other than John Cleese of Monty Python fame!! "How much longer is this going on? I mean, it just runs on and on and on sonny... Now why don't you ask asimple question so 'In what year did Cardinal Richelieu die?' 1642. That's the sort of interchange we should be having not this sort of rambling explorations of your own unconscious. Now come along, son." Hilarious!! After a few seconds there are some dog barks... don't really understand why they're there except for the sake of being wierd... they got my dog barking "in reply" though Conclusion so-so album (but then again, it's not supposed to be psytrance or psy chill-out so I guess this explains that. The Shpongle collaboration which is probably the reason most of you will want this CD is good but not THAT good, there are tons of other Shpongle tracks that are much better... unless you always dreamed of having a guitar on top of a Shpongle track Also, if you have the set from Shpongle live in Eilat desert you probably already know it... Other tracks are interesting but still I wouldn't consider this worth the money... On the other hand, if you're a big fan of Pink Floyd - Dark side of the Moon AND Shpongle then this is worth much more than the asking price for the collector's value alone! I must admit that this "old psychedelia meets new" is enough to make ANY psychedelia lover curious about the result.

1. The Creation 2. Egypt 3. Stoned Henge 4. Shivas India 5. Rock into the Future 6. Glories of Greece 7. The Mayans,Incas and Aztecs 8. Garden of Eden 9. 1001 Arabian nights So Riktam, Bansi, Chicago and Raja are back with a 3rd album. For me, their first album is a CLASSIC (and I don't care what everyone says about it being "just another GMS project"). It's actually one of the rare "post-96 era" album that made me have a trip and also one of the rare "non-oldschool" albums that I still have pleasure in listening to it after a few years... However the 2nd album was a MAJOR dissapointment for me, it was quite forgettable and made me really wonder how much time did Raja Ram spend in the GMS studio... So will this be more like the 1st or the 2nd? Well, it's kindof in between, but closer to "Heroes of the Imagination" than to "1200 Micrograms" As usual, loads of 140 BPM melodies with harsh sounds and also some melodies but of which 90% can be qualified as "cheese"... and not to forget the trademark 1200 Mics "swirling noise" during breaks That said, even if this album isn't of much value for home listening, these guys sure know how to make PARTY MUSIC!!! Rock Into the Future is my fave track here. It has a sample of a guitar riff (probably Iron Maiden but not sure...). It reminds me of the "Acid For Nothing" concept except Acid For Nothing didn't have anything except the Dire Straits sample. This one's made as an entire coherent track. Yes, some melodies are a little cheezy but I like it!!! And I'm sure it will make a lot of people smile on the dancefloor! The Mayans, Incas and Aztecs is a pretty nice all-rounder. It has a nice flute sample from old karate movies (I'm sure that when you'll listen to it you'll instantly recognize it ) This track is also a little less cheezy than the others here. It also has some guitars that are nicely inter-mingled with the rest of the synth sounds. Garden of Eden is a bit slower and is a treat for those who regret the days when the mighty 303 was used I really like it when 1200 Mics slow down a bit and make some 120 BPM stuff... it's not as good as Magic Mushrooms but I like it aLOT! 1001 Arabian Nights msut be 1200 Mic's first ever DOWNTEMPO track! I think the BPM is around 90 on this one and it has a LOT of cheezy arabic music samples and also the bassline from a well-known new beat track " 101 - Rock to the Beat "... don't really like this one Glories of Greece must be the cheeziest track EVER!! It starts with a sample from a well-known traditional greek song ("Zorba") - Anyone who's been into a greek restaurant or gathering has heard this one... It is HORRIBLE!! Stoned Hedge and Creation are typical "Heores of the Imagination" stuff, not really my cup of tea. Shiva's India I like more (actually I'm a sucker for indian "mystic" samples ) Also, the dynamics of the track remind me of some sort of cross between Hashish and LSD which are classics so I gather this one will work pretty well on the dancefloor as well BTW this track must also contain the stupidest sample yet (well I guess they felt the need to raise the bar even further after their first 2 albums lol): "Let's go back in a time machine to ancient India and smoke hashish before Shiva"... WTF??? Land of Pharaos brings some interesting old-school lines around minute 5:00... a bit "profanized" as is always the way with these guys but I never could say no to oldschool Conclusion I doubt this will reach cult status like their first album... however it's a nice FUN album which will make a lot of people smile on the dancefloor!! And it's better than Heroes of Imagination This album has barely been released and already there is LOADS of negativity pointed towards it (as always with GMS project releases...). Sure, some of the criticism is well-founded but most is just a result of the collective "anti-GMS" mentality. Just listen to the album for yourself before you juge 8/10 from me [EDIT: Since I've written this review I'm finding this album to be growing on me every day!! Garden of Eden has actually become one of my fav 04 tracks and 1001 Arabian Nights is getting better at each listen... Maybe this will reach the classic status that 1200 Micrograms did after all? Actually I remember liking the first album only moderatley at first too and then it growed on me on the following months so... anyway, my mark has climbed to 10/10 ]

so Baas, any new album in line? And most of all... WILL IT BE OLDSCHOOL???

well obviously their least good effort was Hypnorythm (the album)... on the other hand, it was one of the very first goa releases and their very first try so it's only normal that their sound wasn't "mature" yet... As for the best... the album containing that absolute killer classic that belongs right up there with Hallucinogen - LSD and AP - People Can Fly: The Rezwalker... man I so miss the times when tracks had such a good melody that it stayed in your head for ages... now it's all "bleep bleep woosh"... I also miss the days where I could see videos of Land of Freedom and People Can Fly EVERY Friday evening on a fench music TV station

but if it is definately better than anything else I have heard in many, many years as you say then it IS the next best thing, right? anyway, I'd also like to ask people to see this album not only as another album down the way but as something that MIGHT spark an interest into oldschool all over again! Maybe, just maybe, if this one sells well more and more people will get interested in the stuff and more and more artists will make stuff similar to it. Imagine that...

I think you mean the other way around... Dado (aka Deedrah) is the one living in Ibiza and who does remixes of old Transwave tracks and Christophe (aka Absolum) is the one releasing violent stuff with few melodies...

so in real world terms that means that it won't be around until 2007 I'm also glad they took out Beija Floor... talk about cheeze!! Maybe this will be a double-CD?

lol people have been talking about that once since 1999!!

1st of all... Dado has been saying that a new Transwave album was in the works since like 2000!!! There have already been loads of posts on the subject years ago all ready... 2nd of all, when you see the crap that Dado and Christophe are making these days (well OK, it's listenable but light years away from Transwave IMO) you can only guess that it'll be a MAJOR dissapointement...

yeah that's odd... Of course, it was only a theory. You could always do the "reverse theory" and say that when "fiddling" an artist "taps" into some energy wave from another dimension and transforms that into music. That somehow, the "5th circuit material" is entering his head as he makes it, the artist then acting like some sort of antenna, a realtime link between 2 different planes...