PKS

(APL07): Analog Pussy Records isn`t exactly known for chilling releases. Now they are trying it out with a chill out compilation, just like most labels these days. Dave Young (Chi-Ad) starts the whole thing with a very beautiful ambient track, with a few careful sounds. Track 2 is by Zerotonine (Daniel Mondry). This is also very slow and relaxing ambient. The track becomes pretty nice at the end, when a melody comes in. Sonic Fusion (Thomas Herbst) usually makes very tribal stuff. Here, he give us an ambient track, with very little evolving, but pretty relaxing and it reminds me a bit of old Warp releases. Track 4 is by Void (Rob Muller), but is remixed by Fingertwister (Daniel Skantze). This track doesn`t impress me much. They have tried to be experimental, but it sounds very industrial and noisy. Solar Fields is beginning to get a nice reputation with a lot of good ambient releases, including his album Reflective Frequencies that came out on Ultimae Records 2001. The track we get here is not on the album. Really beautiful floating ambient with almost no rhythms. Analog Pussy themselves give us track 6. Down tempo rhythms with some weird sounds above. Not really impressive, because very little happens in this track. Track 7 is a new track by Asura. This track is also found on the newest chill out compilation released on 3D Vision Relax (Module 01). A pretty easy digestible chill out track, with some vocals. Then Fingertwister (Daniel Skantze) delivers a pretty nice track which reminds me a bit of the Gabriel Le Mar style. Some housy rhythms and a pretty atmospheric sound picture. Track 9 is by Aztech (Tobias Lilja) who has made a really peculiar track with a lot of noisy sounds. Very experimental and exciting, but not very nice. Then Eargear delivers a jazzy track with a noisy sound picture. Trancefeld (Pilipp Dransfeld) give us the last track on this compilation. A really short outro track lasting for only two minutes. Chiller Waves is far away from the best chill out compilations released 2002. Again, maybe an example of the result when music becomes mainstream and trendy, like chill out music has become the last two years. But anyway, there are a couple of interesting tracks on this one too.

V/A - 6 Stringadelica Artist: Various Title: 6 Stringadelica Label: TIP World Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Total Eclipse : On The Road 02. Oforia : Free Kick 03. Xerox And Psycraft : Adrenalin Rush 04. The Melovskys : Purple Haze 05. Eat Static : Chronic Horde (Feat Ed Ozric) 06. Manmademan : Contact The Living 07. Morphem : Whookys Wha 08. Psycraft : A Song For You Review: (TIPWCD23): TIP.World is coming out with new concept compilations all the time. Here they take a look at the more rock oriented trance style, with eight tracks including guitars. First out is a new track by Total Eclipse! I thought they had split up, at least Serge Souque (The Antidote) has left the band. The two guys behind this track call themselves Alan Wilson & Floyd Jones. Are they just kidding? Those two guys are probably Stephane Holweck and Loic Vanpoucke. The track is really rocking, but not as varied as Total Eclipse used to be. The track will for sure rock the dance floors. It sort of reminds me a bit of Juno Reactor! Ofer Dikovsky (Oforia) from Israel is still releasing a lot of full on stuff. Here he comes with his most rocking track so far. A lot of heavy guitars and a massive sound picture. Full on all the way! Track 3 is a collaboration between Moshe Keinan (Xerox) and the two Psy Craft guys (Alon Algarsi & Nir Sidon). A really banging track with some voice samples, and some really heavy guitars now and then, among the rolling full on rhythms. Track 4 is made by some one I don`t know about called The Melovskys. same rocking full on style, but with much more guitar, which he has twisted around into some really crazy sounds. Best track so far on this compilation! Track 5 is really interesting. Merv Pepler from Eat Static together with Ed Winne from Ozric Tentacles. A lot of guitars all the way, together with intense pumping rhythms. the track becomes really nice and melodic after a few minutes, but is not really great compared to earlier works from these guys. Track 6 is a new track from the famous trance couple Sonya Bailey and Paul Baguley (Manmademan). This track is very melodic. For some people this will probably sound too cheesy, but I think it`s pretty nice. Very floating morning trance. Manmademan once again shows their talent in different styles of trance music. There are not much guitar in this track, so maybe it shouldn`t have bin on this compilation. Track 7 is made by Segment (Raphael Stehn & Jens Buschhaus) together with Daniel Dytert on guitar. It starts down tempo the first minutes, with pleasant sounds and a little guitar. Then the progressive banging rhythms starts pumping. Another happy morning groove. Nice one! The last track is by Psy Craft. A really nice chill out track with pleasant chilling guitars, nice sounds and beautiful melodies. This compilation is much better than the other compilations TIP.World has released lately, but I feel that something is missing here. What about the masters of guitar trance, S.U.N. Project and Juno Reactor?? Another learning tool to get the rockers into trance...

V/A - Emergency Exit Artist: Various Title: Emergency Exit Label: Hadshot Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Toke : Potjera (Legura Rmx) 02. Small And Smelly : Prans 03. Dogma 3000 : Vulcanizer 04. DJ Fresh Jay : Good Stuff 05. Mokk : Mother Funker 06. PPS Project : Cubic Space Division 07. Ferbi Boys : Free George Blow 08. Neoris : Genjuros Experience 09. Platform : Radiation Review: (HADSHCD021): Hadashot Haheizar Records finished 2002 with a new compilation. Hadshot has always used a lot of unknown artists in their compilations. That is what they do here too. As usual, Hadshot releases mostly minimal trance. The first track by someone called Toke is a little bit more melodic than usual, but it sounds very flat in my ears. Pretty stumpy track, with a slow building of sounds. Track 2 by Small & Smelly (Daniel Kestenboim) is really minimal. You don`t get much else than hard pumping rhythms and a few tiny sounds. Dogma 3000 give us track 3. They have released trance for several years now, and as usual they give us a dark minimal track. Sounds pretty flat if you ask me. Track 4 by Dj Fresh Jay (what a name!?) is some sort of electro techno track. Pretty good techno, but it has nothing to do with psytrance! Track 5 by Mokk also goes techno, but with a little more floating parts and variation. Track 6 is a really deep stumpy track. Reminds me a bit of the heavy Delta. So if you love the new stuff from X-Dream and the Delta, this might be something for you. Track 7 is a really heavy, dark floor stumper. This is somewhere between hard house and minimal trance, not recommended for home listening.. Track 8 by Neoris is the same style. Very dark sound picture. The last track by Platform is some sort of down tempo electro track. Pretty deep and dark, but it doesn`t change much from start to finish. This compilation is very techno influenced, just like all the other compilations from Hadshot. So if you like the other hadshot compilations this is probably the compilation for you. For me, this sounds just boring, flat and bad. Sorry!

Serge Souqe, one of the central members of Total Eclipse, is out with his second solo album as The Antidote. His first Antidote album (Antidotcom) came out last year (2001) on the Japanese label Solstice Music. This was a really strong album, with a lot of new thinking psytrance and a very peculiar style. Serge Souque has played live all over the world as Total Eclipse, GBU and The Antidote, but he is also a very good dj. His second album Close Encounters is also out on Solstice, now called Solstice World for us who doesn`t live in Japan. First track is a very typical Antidote track, with those hard banging rhythms and a lot of nice psychedelic sounds whirring around. It`s like something between progressive trance and full on. Not totally full on, and much more varied than progressive trance. I really like this style. Very good at the dance floor. Track 2 starts off pretty slow the first minute, but then shoots off at the same speed again. Again a lot of those beautiful psychedelic sounds that make you drift around on the dance floor. Track 3 has a bit darker rhythms. The track becomes very trancey, with some floating sounds and a lot of drifting rhythms. Nice one! Track 4 is more minimal, but still, there are a lot of funny sounds. In the middle of the track, there are some pretty funky sounds too, which make the track very danceable. Track 5 is more stumpy banging rhythms, but follows the typical Antidote style in a harder way. Track 6 is bit weird. More strange sounds, which I really like. Sounds a bit like Total Eclipse in a newer style. Track 7 starts pumping out stumpy bass rhythms. This is a very trancey track, good for the party. One of my favourite tracks on this album. Track 8 is very heavy with the most stumpy rhythms on this album. Again a typical Antidote track, not very different from his style on the Antidotcom album. He finishes Close Encounters with a track which you can also find on the compilation Solstice, released on Solstice World and the japanese label Elejam earlier this year. This is one of my favourite Antidote tracks of all time. The cool Antidote rhythms, some nice psychedelic melodies and some weird sounds. The version you get here, is a bit different from the one on the Solstice compilation. Serge Souque deliver another strong psytrance album. I missed a chilled track at the end, but who cares when you get all this good trance. There are not much changing from his first Antidote album, so if you like this style, this sure is something for you. As usual from Solstice, you get a nice cover art on this one too.

V/A - Macao Cafe 2 Artist: Various Title: Macao Cafe 2 Label: Etnica.Net Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Etnica : Lingerie 02. Baltimore And Mendoza : Make My Heart Beat 03. Lenny Bizarre : All About The Gin 04. Baltimore : Alcyon 05. Etnica : Legens Of The Ocean 06. Eric Paque : Something About You 07. John Doe : Stone Cold 08. Shpongle : Around The World In A Tea Daze 09. Phuture Sound Of Ibiza : June 10. Solid World : No Regrets Review: As most of you probably know, Etnica is two Italian guys living on Ibiza, the party island. On this island there is a café called Macao Café, where there is for sure a chilled vibe. Last year Etnica made a chill out compilation called Macao Café, released on their own label Etnicanet Records and the Japanese label Solstice Music. A collection of lounge music, very different from most psychedelic chill out. Now they are out with the second part pf the Macao Café series. You also get a little booklet with beautiful pictures from Ibiza that shows the island from a better side than the usual bars and tourists with bad behaviour. You can say that the front cover says it all: Balearic Lounge Collection. The first track is probably the most beautiful on this compilation, but far away from psychedelic chill out. Very Balearic with a bit of vocal by Samantha Sharon. Usually the Etnica guys call themselves P.S.O.I. when they make music like this. The second track is a collaboration between Fredric Holyszewski (Dado, Deedrah, Synthetic) and Serge Souque (The Antidote, Total Eclipse). But don`t get fooled! This is pure Balearic music with almost only organic sounding instruments. Very jazzy. Track 3 is made my Lenny Ibizarre (Lenny Krarup) which have released a lot of more commercial sounding chill out. But here he fits right in with jazzy lounge music. Track 4 is a pure jazz track with a lot of trumpet. Dado shows again that he manages a lot of different styles. Serge Souque also shows what a musical talent he is with track 5. Again jazzy vibes with trumpet and dubby rhythms. Etnica gives us track 6, which is a completely chilled ambient track. Very chilled and relaxing, but maybe a bit little varied and boring. Erik Paque is another one of those more commercial Ibiza guys, which fits right in with a very sexy Balearic track 7. Nice easy listening music. Track 8 is by Jhon Doe (Benjamin H. Buchbinder). He had a track on the first Macao Café too. The track we get here is not very good. Sounds a bit like Air, but not as good. Track 9 doesn`t really fit into this compilation, but it is a fantastic track, the best one one on this compilation. The Shpongle track Around The World In a Tea Daze (first released on the Shpongle album Tales Of the Inexpressible, Twisted 2001). Then we get a track by P.S.O.I. (Phuture Sound Of Ibiza), which is a side project by Etnica. This is a nice track that reminds me a bit of earlier chill out tracks by Etnica. The last track by Solid Worlds is a really beautiful finish with strings, piano and trumpet. This compilation is for you who want to try out new kinds of music. It seems a bit easy to write the words; Balearic, Ibiza and lounge outside a cd these days. There are way to many compilations like this out already, but maybe the Etnica guys do it a little better, but I haven`t checked all those trendy chill out compilations lately.

V/A - Psychedelic Chilling 2 Artist: Various Title: Psychedelic Chilling 2 Label: Insolation Date: 2002 Track listing: CD 1 01. Prototyp : 3 Minds In Motion 02. Oszilla : Chillin In The Sun 03. Akasha Project : Venus Fly 04. B Ashra : Psychic Dreams 05. Sandoo : Africa By Night 06. Kao-Tae : Before Dawn 07. BEL : Mighty Planet 08. CON Sequencer Feat Milk : ADVA 09. Asarualim : Make Love CD 2 01. Sphere : Rotation 02. Majune : Fruitcage (Edit) 03. Akanoid : Final Flight 04. Sediment 4 : Allein 05. Akasha Project : A Day Of The World 06. M-Sphere : In The Sea 07. Puls : Festberg 08. B Ashra : Atomic World 09. Siebzehn : Morning Star Review: Insolation Records is dividing into different small labels all the time. Psychedelic Chillout 1 came out on Insolation last year. After that, Insolation made a label called Insolation Chilling. Now the follow up after Psychedelic Chillout is released, but on the Insolation Chilling label. They have also called the compilation Psychedelic Chilling instead of Psychedelic Chillout. Some labels sure know how to confuse us record collectors.. Prototyp is a collaboration between Linus Wessel (known from Tarsis), Massimo Santucci and Panajotis Tzanoglou. They came out with a Prototyp album (Phantom) on Insolation earlier this year. Here they starts it all with a track from their album. Very slow and relaxing track, with a little bit of vocal and chilled sounds. Track 2 by Oszilla (Andreas Weber) is very nice. A travelling deep chill out track. Track 3 is made by the more known Akasha Project (Barnim Schultze). Beautiful chill out for the summer. Track 4 is a really nice one by B. Ashra, which reminds me a bit of some of the chill out Mindfield made. Slow down tempo grooves with atmospheric ambient sounds all over. Track 5 by Sandoo takes us to a darker side of chill out with the track Africa By Night. Not among my favourites on this compilation. Track 6 by Kao-Tae (Pascal Makrosch) is a much slower track with lesser rhythms, just mostly pure floating ambient. Nice one. Track 7 by B.E.L. goes the same way, but a bit darker. Track 8 by C.O.N. Sequencer and Milque is a collaboration between McCoy known from S.U.N. Project and Arrow. The track starts off with sounds of waves in the sea, before some groovy deep relaxing rhythms and psychedelic sounds comes in. The last track on cd 1 is probably the best one on this cd. Floating sounds, nice melodies and relaxing rhythms. Cd 2 starts with another project by Linus Wessel, together with two other guys. They call themselves Sphere. This track is not totally chilled. Some heavy but slow down tempo rhythms and floating sounds. Track 2 by Majune (Daniel Winterhoff) is more relaxing and melodic. Track 3 is made by more known Akanoid (Hilton Theissen). He gives us some electro inspired rhythms with floating sounds around. Pretty cool track. Then we get a track from Sediment 4, which you can find on the Sediment 4 album Alles Wird Besser released on Insolation this year. Nice melodic chill out. After that, we get another track by Akasha Project, not as good as the one on cd1. Track 6 by M-Sphere (Markus Kaiser) is a deep down tempo groovy track. Very nice! Puls came out with an album on Insolation earlier this year (Sparx). Here we get a track that is not on the album. This is actually progressive house and not chill out, but relaxing for some. Track 8 is another track by B. Ashra. Very floating ambient with some down tempo rhythms after a few minutes. The last track by Siebzehn (Christian Müller) is one of the most beautiful chill out tracks on this compilation. Really nice finish. Psychedelic Chilling 2 is not as good as Psychedelic Chillout 1, but you get a lot of nice German chill out on this one too. Those German progressive trance artists really have their own way of making chill out.

V/A - Genetic Process 2 Artist: Various Title: Genetic Process 2 Label: Spun Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Soundaholix : Psychedelic Circus 02. Soundaholix : Dances With Vibes 03. Wizzy Noise : Different Thought 04. Talamasca : Speaking Robots 05. GMS : The Rescuers 06. Shanti : Bavarian Mindshaft 07. GMS And Cyrus The Virus : William Wallace 08. Oforia : Handsonic 09. Antidot And Cydonia : Activ-Clockwise 10. AI : What's My Style ? Review: Growling Mad Scientists have their own label called Spun Records. The first release from this label was the GMS album GMS vs Systembusters (2000), then the second release was the compilation Genetic Process released last year (2001). Now the second part of Genetic Process is out, called Genetic Process Part Dose. First out is a track you can also find on the Time & Space 2 compilation released on the Mexican label Maia Records. A track made by Soundaholix, which is Celli Firmi (Earthling) and Paul Taylor. Really full on GMS style madness all the way, or with other words a psychedelic circus! Track 2 is also a Soundaholix track. Another full on party track that has to be played loud. Pretty melodic too, which make it much better than much else of this full on kind. Wizzy Noise give us track 3. I think most of their tracks are a bit boring, but here they give us a better track than usual. More melodic and varied. Track 4 is the Talamasca track Speaking Robots in a GMS remix. I don`t know if you can say the original is better, but this is not bad at all! The typical melodic Talamasca style mixed with the typical full on GMS madness. Track 5 is a collaboration between GMS (Riktam & Bansi) and Shanti. Have you noticed that GMS rarely work alone? This is a very typical GMS track, full on all the way with noisy sounds up and down. Not very melodic, just nagging madness. After a few minutes we get some birds singing and a little bit of melody, but apart from that, nothing new here. Track 6 is a Shanti track. Very drifting and intense rhythms, with little melodies and sounds. Track 7 is another GMS track together with a guy called Cyrus. This sounds like something between a Zorba track and a GMS track. Full on, but with some melodies that can sound a bit cheesy for some. Track 8 is a new one from Ofer Dikovsky (Oforia) from Israel. Really heavy bass rhythms, and some floating parts. Oforia is not at all what he used to be. After his album Delirious (Dragonfly 1998), he has made so much worse music! The track he gives us here is pretty boring. I was looking forward to hear the track made by the interesting collaboration The Antidote & Cydonia (Serge Souque and Dino Psaras). I must say it is a bit of a disappointment. It`s just boring and sounds like a bad hard house track! The last track on this compilation is a track by Shanti and two other guys. A good one, with a nice tempo and funky sounds. The second part of the Genetic Process series is not bad if you love the GMS style. But those of you who are really tired by this style should stay away from this one.

V/A - Lucid Dreams Artist: Various Title: Lucid Dreams Label: Transcend Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Starsound Orchestra : Red Sun Tokyo 02. OOOD : Im Funk Definer 03. Oforia : Let's Vibrate 04. Dick Tevor : Harry's Gateauh 05. OTG : Dessert Of Thereal 06. OOOD : Logos 07. Electric Universe : Solisted (Rmx) 08. Space Cat : Energizer Review: Transcend Records is a japanese label, now releasing a compilation with some great artists. Dj Sancar has selected the tracks. This compilation is mixed, but not too much, but I would like to get the complete tracks. In the cover, you can find out more about what Lucid Dreams is, in Japanese and English language. It`s not very usual to see these artists on the same compilation these days. First out is Star Sounds Orchestra from Germany. Those two guys you see at most trance festivals around the world? They give us a nice track, with some flute in the beginning, before hard trancey rhythms and beautiful psychedelic sounds whirring into the track. Really good! Track two is a new track by OOOD (Colin Bennun & Steve Callaghan)! Nice to see that they still are releasing music. Here we get a pretty hard track, with lesser melodies than earlier, but still a lot of crazy sounds. Track 3 is by Ofer Dikovsky (Oforia) from Israel. he has really changed style from fantastic melodic goa, to a more stumpy boring style. Why? Track is served by Dick Trevor, who give us a really full on track. This one will sure make some good vibes at the dance floor. Really nice sounds and heavy rhythms. Track 5 is a track by dj Sancar himself. This is a really dark track with heavy guitars, and dark sounds all the way. Then we get another track by OOOD. In the beginning we get break beat rhythms and floating beautiful sounds. Then the hard rhythms starts pumping along with a some crazy sounds and funky melodies. Electric Universe give us track nr. 7. A nice melodic goa track from the veterans of trance from Germany. Space Cat (Avi Algranati) finishes it all wih a typical Space Cat track. Nice one, with rolling groovy rhythms, some floating parts and a nice melody. If you are looking for some new tracks by some veterans of psytrance, this might be something for you. A little sad that this compilation is mixed, but away from that, it`s pretty good. PK

Tegma is out with their new album on Digital Structures Records. For those of you who don`t like progressive trance, look away? Tegma are Omar Chelly and Jason Orfanidis. The first track is typical grogressive trance with a really floating vibe. Trance you can relax to, or make you reach the trance state on the the dance floor. Nice one if you like this kind of trance. For me it is good enough if Im in the right mood, but I easily get bored with it. Track two goes a bit faster. After a while you get a cool scary floating sound, which makes the track really trancey. Track 3 goes the same direction, but with a little more variation. It builds up and gets very pleasant for the dance floor. Track 4 is not as good. A little boring in my ears. Track 5 is harder, but not much variation. Track 6 is a little better with a pleasant relaxing start, before the progressive rhythms starts rolling. This track reminds me very much of progressive house. The differences becomes smaller and smaller. Track 7 is really deep and trancey, with rolling progressive rhythms, echoes and floating sound. In my ears, best track so far on the album. Track 8 goes a bit faster. This track has some beautiful sounds. Really trancey track, but not as good as track 7. The last track is really weird. Some kind of synth pop from the 80`s? Funny finish. If you are really into progressive stuff like Human Blue, Element etc, this sure is something for you.

3D Vision is out with another full on compilation, released at the same time as their chill out compilation Module 1. First track is served by dj Maël (Nomad) who released his Nomad album Hyperactive on 3D Vision last year. Here is a brand new track, going the same road as before. Full on all the way, but with not a lot of variation. Sort of like GMS with lesser melodies. Track 2 is a new Absolum track by the guy who own the record label, Christof Drouillet. He relased his Absolum album Wild on TIP.World last year. Here is a new really heavy track, more full on than ever before! Better than the Nomad track, but not great in my ears. Something for the party, but not recommended for home listening? Track 3 is a new name from Switzerland called Central Processing Unit. They go the 3D Vision road, with heavy rhythms totally full on. Trance that makes my ears tired after a while, but surely something for the take off at the middle of the night. Track 4 is the famous Reload track by Deedrah. A good track, but I can`t see the point in having another version here. A live version that is not much different from the original one. Track 5 is a by a new name from Paris. Most of those 3D vision guys live in Paris. The same full on 3d vision style. Nothing new here. Track 6 is more interesting. Talamasca together with two other guys. Full on typical Talamasca style, with those cool melodies that make it so much better than most of the other 3D vision stuff. Really good track. Track 7 is a new track by Jean Borelli (Orion) from Denmark. A talented guy. Here you get a track that can remnind you a bit of Alien Project. Very nice track with a lot of nice sounds as usual from this guy, and some nice melodies. Really good morning trance! Track 8 is a collaboration between Nomad and someone called Beat On Fobia, probably from Mexico. Much better than the Nomad track on this compilation. Here you get more melody and crazy sounds. I bought this compilation because of the Silicon Sound track. Silicon Sound has showed lately that they can make fantastic psytrance. They finish this compilation with a really good track. An amazing track with fantastic sounds and melodies that make people go totally crazy on the dance floor. Very good finish. This compilation has a few really good tracks, but if you are getting tired of this same 3D Vision style, stay away from this. However, the one and only Silicon Sound track is so great, that it`s almost worth the money! Look out for the Silicon Sound album coming soon on Moon Spirits Records.

Finally Tristan Cooke is out with his second album on Twisted Records. His debut album Audiodrome, came also out on Twisted, in 1999. Tristan is without doubt one of the leading trance djs out there. He plays on festivals and parties all over the world. He has his own way of serving the crowd a voyage on the dance floor. But he is not only good at djing. He has also made his own music for many years. The first track is a kind of morning track. Drifting progressive sound picture, with floating sounds. Not very varied, but pleasant at the dance floor for sure. Track two goes faster with more darker and psychedelic sounds. One of the better tracks on this album in my opinion. Track 3 goes fast and dark too, but I sort of get a little tired of these sounds. He is good at making a trancey vibe for the dance floor, but the music easily get a little boring for home listening. Track 4 starts with an audience screaming and some vinyl crackling. Then we get some tribal house influenced rhythms and a little female voice. Is it house or trance? You decide! In track 5 we go back to smooth morning trance vibes again. Stumping trance with a little melodic sounds above, which makes it pleasant. Nice one in the sunrise after a night of full on dark music. Again, not varied music, but a nice dj tool. Track 6 goes full on again, with more cool sounds and heavy rolling rhythms. Track 7 (Brazilica Psychedelica) is really Brazil influenced. Again very influenced by tribal house! Tristan is for sure one of those artists who push borders between music styles a little closer to each other. Track 8 is full on night time music again. Rolling rhythms pushing all the way through, and a few dark sounds swirling around. The last track is a chilled down tempo track, with some pleasant echo effects and groovy sounds. This music is for sure a really good dj tool, but for the regular home listener, this will probably get very boring after some listening. All the music released on Twisted Records is so different from this, so why are they releasing it on that label? He sort of doesn`t fit in that label. Just take a look at the Tristan track on the Unusual Suspects compilation released earlier this year... That track had nothing to do among those other masterpieces on that compilation...

V/A - TIP Singles 2002 Artist: Various Title: TIP Singles 2002 Label: TIP World Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. Infected Mushroom And Yahel : Electro Panic (Eat Static Rmx) 02. Beat Bizarre : Pop The Question 03. Bio-Tonic : Play It 04. Orion : Twisted Orbit 05. Eat Static : Implant (2002 Update) 06. Alien Project : Modulator 07. Orion : Deep Weed 08. Astral Projection : People Can Fly (Alien Project Rmx) Review: TIP.World sums up their vinyl 12? releases on a compilation, which is fine for us cd collectors or the ones who don`t want to carry a lot of heavy vinyl? First out is the Electro Panic track made by Infected Mushroom and Yahel. Here we get a remix by Eat static! The original was also released on the Inca:Nation compilation. A really bad track in my opinion if you compare it to earlier Infected Mushroom releases, but Yahel has probably something to do with that? The Eat Static remix is better, but they should have remixed it a little more. Track two is served by Beat Bizarre, who give us minimal, rolling heavy rhythms as usual, with not much more into it. I like a lot of minimal progressive trance, but this is just boring. Let us hope this will not be the TIP trend in the future! Jean Borelli (Orion) from Demark is a really talented guy. He has collaborated a lot with Alien Project lately, and this is the same style, but better. He ads more psychedelic sounds and melodies. Not only the endless rolling rhythms. This brings happy memories from his fantastic live performance at Samothraki Dance Festival in august. Then we get the old Implant classic track by Eat Static! I love Eat Static, but did we need another version of this track? Here we get their own remix of this track. There is also released a GMS remix of the track (on Inca:Nations), but I prefer the original. Ari Linker (Alien Project) and Astrix has become some sort of stars this year. Probably because of massive releasing of tracks and a lot of easy digestible music. Their music was fun in the beginning, but after three Alien Project albums released in one year, with exactly the same style all the way, I`m getting tired of it? The track we get here is just like all the others. Luckyly, the next track is by Orion. Again more sounds and nice stuff than Alien Project and Astrix has ever managed to ad into their tracks. Then we get the Alien Project remix of the famous Astral Projection track, People Can fly. Why make something like this?? The original was so much better than this! This is is sort of ruining the track! I skip to the last track, which is by the French group Bio-Tonic, who released their debut album Elektrik Colors on Solstice Music last year. A typical Bio-Tonic track, with hard kicking rhythms all the way. We also get some tribal influenced voices and lots of psychedelic sounds. One of the better tracks on this compilation. This is for sure something to get if you want those vinyl tracks, but a lot of it can be a little too much maybe?

Last year a new mexican psytrance label was born. This was Sound Sorcery Records, and they released a cd compilation called Time & Space 1. I don`t know what happened with Sound Sorcery, but they have now changed their name to Maia Records, and they are still based in Mexico. Maia Records have now released Time & Space 2. This time dj Dimitri Nakov and dj Paul Taylor, two of the leading psytrance djs in the world, have compiled this good compilation. The first track is an interesting collaboration between Frederic Holyszewski (Synthetic) and Stephanie Dureisseix (Bamboo Forest). Dado is probably most involved with this track, because it is a Synthetic remix. If you like the Synthetic style, you will like this one. A bit techno influenced rhythms, but with some melodic parts and a drifting sound picture. Track 2 is by not so famous Altom from Paris (Alexis Cornet and Thomas Dubrieul). They follows the modern psytrance style, with rolling heavy bass rhythms, but they build the track up with some really cool sounds and careful melodies, so the track becomes pretty good. Track 3 is by dj Lestat (Talamasca). Here you get a Silicon Sound remix of the track Missing Link. Silicon Sound is Johannes Reigner who will release an album on Moon Spirits Records soon. Look out for this guy! He is really talented. This track is amazing! Very melodic and full on, and not cheesy at the same time. Very good track, and I`m sure Silicon Sound can take a lot of credit for that. Atomic Pulse delivers track 4. This is Tamir Ozana from Israel. The track he delivers here sounds a bit like the Alien Project style. Again those heavy rolling bass rhythms, but here you don`t find so much melodies and sounds as most of the other tracks on this compilation. Track nr. 5 is served by Polaris (Arnaud Stengel). Here you get full on all the way. Not very much happenes through this track, and it`s far from my favourites on this compilation. Track 6 is made by a new name in the psytrance scene, called Camposonic, but the people behind Campsonic is not new in the psytrance scene at all. These are Tavis Buschman, dj Shanti and Paul Taylor. Really good track which reminds me a bit of Talamasca and GBU. Some cool melodies, and pretty full on all the way. Track 7 is made bu Soundaholix, which is Riktam from GMS and Celli Firmi from Earthling. Here they have made a track with Paul Taylor. Again a really good track. Something for the party! Track 8 is made by D-Tek from Mexico and Paul Taylor. D-Tek is most famous for his track Psychedelic Cowboy which he released on the Assassi:Nations compilation on TIP.World last year. The track you get here didn`t impress me much. Full on, but little new happens during the track. Johan Krafft from Logic Bomb finishes it all with a really good track. Something for you who love the Logic Bomb style. This is a really good compilation! A lot of rare and good tracks on this one. Time & Space 1 was really good too, but no disappointment with nr. 2. Dimitri Nakov and Paul Taylor sure knows what to pick for a party.

Nano Records is a new label, based at the tip of Africa, Cape Town in South Africa. Here they are with their first cd release. First track is a rolling heavy track by someone called Protoculture (N. Raubenheimer). A lot of scary voices and some melodic funky sounds. Track 2 is a melodic morning track by Rinkadink (W. Van Jaarsveld & S. Scott) Really stumpy rhythms all the way, but some refreshing melodic parts now and then. Something for the sunrise. Track 3 is by Hydrophonic (two brothers?) This is an interesting track. Really deep rolling rhythms, with some melodic sounds now and then. Track 4 is a collaboration between the Hydrophonik guys and Protoculture with another guy. Another stumpy track with cool echo sounds. Track 5 by Whiplash is a collaboration between one of the guys in Rinkadink and Shane Gobi. A dark track with heavy stumping rhythms. Track 6 is another track by the Hydrophonic guys. This is again a little more melodic track, but there are not much variation from the beginning to the end. Track 7 is also a Hydrophonic track. This a better one with more variation. This is also a morning track with som beautiful floating parts. Protoculture finishes with two tracks. The first one is pretty melodic, but with a lot of psychedelic sounds too. The last track is a real morning track, with stumpy rhythms and floating sounds all the way. A beautiful track, somewhere between progressive and full on trance. This new South African compilation really surprised me with some nice tracks. They are really into the trance sound of today, if you like it or not.

Kristian Tinning (Elysium) from Denmark is out with another album. Earlier, he released music on Nova Zembla Records, which sort of tricked him and took all the money that came out of it. He has probably never got the respect that he deserves from that label, because this guy is a really talented artist! He has also collaborated with many other famous psytrance artists. A few years has gone by, without any new album releases, but now he is finally out with his new album Regenerated, released on the Israeli label Avatar Records. Let`s hope he get better treatment from the label this time. Elysium has mostly made some tribal trance, mostly down tempo trance and psyambient. The first track is a beautiful one. Atmospheric and a floating sound picture with a little piano. This is almost rhythm free and extremely pleasant for home listening. Track 2 has got more psychedelic sounds, but soon it gets back to a floating vibe, with a little vocal and some more rhythms. You get some piano in this one too. Elysium likes to put some nice piano in his tracks. Just take a look at the track he made with Avi Algranati (Space Cat) last year, released on the Life Is compilation. (YoYo Records) In track number three, we go back to the good old Elysium style A fantastic track with exotic female vocals and pleasent trancey, deep, down tempo rhythms, with lots of nice sounds and melodies. Track 4 goes about the same tempo. Again floating and very tribal, with some voice samples that brings memories from an old classic track released on the album Dance For The Celestial Beings (Nova Zembla). This is actually a new remix of the old Keep It Cool track!. Very nice. Track 5 is an interesting down tempo track, just like much of the old slow goa trance was like before. A groovy nice track that I like a lot! Track 6 brings memories back to old hard trance and goa from the start. This is really the good old Elysium style! Nice to hear that he is back! A voice sample that repeats the words Peace and Love, a groovy trancey down tempo rhythm and pretty melodic. Track 7 is a really nice ambient track, where he has sampled some birds singing. Beautiful, exotic and totally relaxed chill out! The last track also starts out in the ambient style, but then goes back to the typical Elysium style, with trancey rhythms. This is the hardest track on the album, but at the same time not very hard. Here you get laughter and exotic vocals that I`m sure some of you have heard in another track, but I can`t remember which one! The Regenerated album is really good! Nice to hear that he still makes good music, and that he hasn`t moved away from his style like too many trance artists do these days. Recommended! PK

V/A - Surrender To The Vibes 3 Artist: Various Title: Surrender To The Vibes 3 Label: Phantasm Date: 2001 Track listing: 01. Anamist : Slogroover 02. Digitalis : Ambisquidge 03. Mass : China Pig 04. Nervasystem : Magwaa 05. Mino : Textures 06. Lumen : Overboard 07. Organised Chaos : Funky Fudge 08. Quixotic : Bewilderbeast 09. Digitalis : Serene Obscene (Gone Fishing Mix) Review: The third Surrender To The Vibe compilation from Phantasm! After the very good nr. 2, I was very interested in knowing what nr. 3 sounded like. First track is by Ben Wilkin. Interesting track. It sounds a bit like big beat! But more psychedelic. Not very chilling, but very eclectic. Track 2 is by Seb Taylor (Digitalis, Shakta, Somaton, Angel Tears). This is the best track on this compilation. Very beautiful, and typical Digitalis sound. I hope he will release a new Digitalis album soon. I love this style! Track 3 is probably the most experimental track that is ever released on Phantasm. Very weird track, with ugly sounds, some western country melodies and weird rhythms. Too strange for me, but maybe something for the ones who like Psy-Harmonics stuff. Track 4 is a new one from Nervasystem. Pretty nice one, with tribal rhythms, some monkeys screaming and nice ambient sounds. This track is 17:37 minutes long! Mino released an album on Phantasm a few years back. Here he shows us his way of chilling. Beautiful ambient sound scapes, with a slow rhythm. One of the best tracks on this compilation. Track nr. 6 is made by Chris Conklin (Lumen). You can also find this track on the Lumen album Infomania, released on Phantasms other label Psychic Deli Records (2000). Very experimental jazzy sound. I don`t like it, but I´m sure someone will enjoy this one. Track nr. 7 is actually electro! But with psychedelic sounds. Again, very weird, and far away from the earlier Surrender To the Vibe releases. Track 8 is made by the Quirk guys Mark Allen and Tim Healy. Here they call themselves Quixotic to make us more confused? I like this track. Dark, with a lot of bass and cool sounds. It`s almost trance, and it is possible to dance to these rhythms. Digitalis finishes it all, with his second track on this compilation. And what a nice one! Very dub feeling, with cool sounds and some nice guitar and flute. It sounds actually more like his Angel Tears project, than Digitalis. This compilation is in my opinion the worst of the three Surrender To The Vibes, but not bad. It is more experimental, and it`s interesting to see how Phantasm tries new fields. 5/10

Eternal Basement - Nerv Artist: Eternal Basement Title: Nerv Label: Harthouse Date: 1995 Track listing: 01. 11'02" Woy 02. 9'34" Mind Out 03. 11'30" A Flyby 04. 9'38" Nerv 05. 11'07" When Sadness Comes 06. 8'01" Poem 07. 10'30" Hologram Review: Eternal Basement are Michael Kohlbecker (also known as Fünf D, Saafi Brothers, Montauk P and many other projects) and Pascal Mollin. This is their first album. They have also released an album on Blue Room called Magnet (2000). This is a really good album. It starts off with a great chill out track that still many djs play out. A deep, dubby, mystical track. Very psychedelic, and one of my favourite chill out tracks of all times. It doesn`t sound old, and it works very well early in the evening or at chill out rooms/tents... The best track on this album. Track 2 starts with floating synth lines, before a monotonous rhythm starts pumping. The floating sounds comes back under and above serveral times. A good old trance track. This is also a deep, dark track, as you usually get from this group. An other good evening track! Track nr. 3 is not psy, but techno. If you are into techno from back then, you will like this one. Monotonous rhythms together with pling plong sounds. This will probably sound too old for many these days, but it`s fun to listen to some of this old techno, when it reminds you of the good old techno days back in the early 90´s. Track nr. 4 Nerv is the fastest track on this album (150 bpm). An other techno track and not very psychedelic, but with a trancey feeling. Same style as track nr. 3. Don`t you remember the good old underground techno parties in basements and old factories when you hear this? Track nr. 5 is more psychedelic, but with a techno feeling. A slow track you can chill to, but it probably sounds too old for many these days. Track 6 continue the same style. It reminds me a bit of Saafi Brothers, with slow progressive, trancey development. The last track on this album is 14 minutes! A really beautifull psyambient track. Something for all of you who like Saafi Brothers! Mystical sounds and slow rhythms. Great chill, after these more techno oriented tracks. This album is worth having for track 1 and 7, and definetly something for the ones who like other releases from Michael Kohlbecker. So for you crazy record collectors out there. Good luck hunting! 6/10

Makyo - Shringara Artist: Makyo Title: Shringara Label: Dakini Date: 1998 Track listing: CD 1 01. The Third Gate Of Dreams 02. Devadasi (Kif Mix) 03. Chandan 04. Drupak 05. Shringara (Alaap, Gat, Dub, Om) 06. A Curious Yellow 07. The Second Gate Of Dreams 08. Shanti Shanti CD 2 01. Devadasi (Mantra Mix) 02. Devadasi (In Dub) 03. Devadasi (Sunrise Beach Mix) Review: This is the second Makyo album. Here you get a bonus cd too, with different remixes of the Devadasi track. Releases from the talented Gio Makyo is always interesting. As always from Dakini, a beautiful cover art that beats most of the art I have seen on other albums. Track 1 brings you straight back to Makyo land with the beautiful female voice of Lakshmi Shankar, together with relaxing electronic melodies, sounds and drums. Track 2 is faster than usual. More drums. Very etnic, with a lot of organic instruments, cool female voices and melodies. Track 3 is very dreamy. Maybe he woke up, innside of a dream? I don`t know where he gets it from, but this is just completely beautiful. Here we are just floating around in wonerful sounds. Track 4 takes us back to old asian roots, with a lot of etnic flavour mixed with electronic sounds. Keiku has made the cover arts for Makyo, and stands for the vocal in track nr. 5. Very relaxing track with nice chilling drums, and a beautiful voice. This track last for 16.20 minutes!! Track 6 is another dreamy track, just floating from beginning to end. Track 7 is one of my favourites on this album. I just can`t explain how nice this is. Lakshmi Shankar is singing again, along with just nice floating sounds and a bit guitar. The last track on cd 1 consists of a lot of weird guitar and relaxing melodies. Nice ending on yet another masterpiece from the master of chill. Cd 2 has got 3 tracks. Devadasi in three different versions. First the Mantra mix, starts very slow, before some hard rhythms starts rolling. It´s almost drum n bass rhythms. Very cool. The In Dub version is like a comletly different track! Very etnic all the way. The Sun Rise Beach Mix is the fastest version. Almost a psytrance track! Very good. If you like one Makyo album, you can buy them all, because Makyo has never released a bad album! And it`s always variety between the albums. This is music you can even play for you parents or your old grand mother! 9/10

Makyo - Rasa Bhava Artist: Makyo Title: Rasa Bhava Label: Entropica Date: 1995 Track listing: 01. Dakini (Sky Dancer) 02. Salasvati 03. Devabandha (Tantric Laswell Mix) 04. Iruka 05. Tarab 06. Mahakala 07. Devabandha (Second Coming) 08. A Piece Of Forgotten Song Drifting Across The Water Review: Gio Makyo became very popular last year, when people finally got their eyes up for this great japanese musician. But he has bin making music for many years now. This is his first of four albums under the name Makyo! Back in 1995, he made this album together with Ikeda. As usual this album has a really nice cover art made by Keiku. Of all the four albums, this is one of my favourites. Makyo has got an unic style that I have never heard from any other artists. That´s probably what makes him so good. First track starts with a male voice talking something about free enterprise. Then some special chilling rhythms and floating sounds comes in. A beautiful female voice starts singing. You know the typical singing you find in every Makyo release. Really beautiful. It`s hard to find as good psyambient as this! A very dubby track with a lot of deep bass. I will never get tired of listening to this! Track 2 has a nice melodic bass and a very japanese feeling. Nice track with a lot of nice drums, some guitar and beautiful sounds. Track 3 is probably one of the best songs Makyo ever have made! It starts with some very nice sitar, then we get a fantastic composition of drums, floating sounds and a female voice, before a deep dubby rhythm comes a long with a wonderful melody. So nice it almoust makes me cry! It`s difficult to describe how nice this is. Fire up an incense, look up to the stars and chill out to this one! Track 4 is total relaxing psyambient. We get some weird sounds and some piano. Very mystical vibe. After a few minutes, a guitar comes in, played by Kamigashima. Track 5 is an other masterpiece! Makyo is so talented! Very etnic vibe, with some cool bonga drums, wired sounds, a bit female voice and besides all this, a beautiful melody. Brilliant! Track 6 takes us back to total ambience. Just beautiful floating sounds all the way. Track 7 is a slower version of track 3. Not worse, not better, just the same high level of quality. Last track on this strong album is a romantic summer psyambient song. You can hear the waves from the sea hitting the beach, and it just makes you want to go swimming or just relax outside. A nice finish on one of the best albums in my record collection! 10/10

Grey Area - Grey Area Artist: Grey Area Title: Grey Area Label: Psy-Harmonics Date: 1997 Track listing: 01. Western Music 02. Real Interaction 03. Umisharma 04. Acusing Light 05. The System Stinks 06. I Knew What That Was 07. Embezzled 08. You Have Been Forgiven 09. Flabbergasted 10. Tirade Of Filth 11. Haunted Dragship 12. Amphibia Review: The australian label Psy-Harmonics Records has come out with a lot of releases, but just a few of them are reviewed here. So here is my little review of this chill out album by Grey Area. Grey Area is a big band with five people. They are from Australia, and ozzie chill is known to be very weird. Like most of the other Psy-Harmonics releases, this is also very far away from the other psy releaes I usually listen to. Grey Area has released a couple of albums on Psy-Harmonics, but also a few tracks on labels like Spirit Zone. They have also had som live performances here in Europe, like Sola Luna 2001. When I listened to this album, I found out that Grey Area is really better live! The hole album is chilled, but with lesser electronic sounds than I expected. You get mostly instrumental music, like piano, guitars, drums etc, and a few weird electronic sounds. There is a very jazzy vibe on most of the tracks. Very hard to explain what it sounds like, but completly different from most of the releases reviewed here. Probably more jazz than ambient over all. There are some nice ambient tracks too, like track 4, but over all, to far away for me. But if you like Psy-Harmonics stuff, check this out! 3/10

Abracadabra - Abracadabra Artist: Abracadabra Title: Abracadabra Label: Hadshot Date: 2001 Track listing: 01. To Awake 02. Spear Hunt 03. Jungle Fever 04. City Juice 05. Salsalipto 06. A Cabin Near The Swamp 07. Aqua Child 08. Nature Calling Review: The israeli man Idan Kupferberg has collected some musicians and created a very etnic album with a lot of organic instruments together with some electronic sounds. The first track last for under one minut. In this track you can hear some arabic vokals and a didgeridoo. Track 2 has also got alot of didgeridoo, and it is pretty fast, but boring. You can also hear some sounds from the jungle forest. Track 3 is better, with the same speed, but with more electronic sounds. Some good african drums in it too. Then we jump over to a complete different landscape, with funky bass guitars and some sounds from the turntables. A little bit too "samba disco house" too me, but it is pretty funny anyway. Track 5 consists of only voices and a contrabass! Idan Kupferberg has sampled his own voice, and put it together as rhythms! A very weird song. The track title "A Cabin Near The Swamp" describes track 6. You can hear an owl, some frogs, water and some african drums. Then we hear some piano and some scary weirdo sounds. A weird but funny track. Track nr. 7 "Aqua Child" starts with some childrens voices, before a real reggae rhythm comes in. Very caribbean vibe over this track, mixed with saxophone that gives us a jazzy feeling as well. Far away from everything else I have got in my record collection! The last track is called Nature Calling. It`s got some nice didgeridoo sounds. The most chilled track on this album. I will not recomend this album to everybody. You have to be open for new and different styles of music to like this album. It`s very etnic, and not very trancy. It came as a surprise to me, that Hadshot came out with this weird album. There are some good stuff here, but I missed some more electronic sounds. 5/10

V/A - Rhythm Of Life Artist: Various Title: Rhythm Of Life Label: Solstice Date: 2001 Track listing: 01. Bio Tonic : Altitude 02. Medicine Drum : Skeleton Crew 03. Ju Ju Space Jazz : Viberooni 04. Something Wonderful : Liquid Dog 05. Masa : Miraculi 3/8 06. Quirk : Djinn 07. Artman : Float On 08. Digital Mystery Tour : Chang 09. Shpongle : Divine Moment Of Truth 10. Etnica : The Beast Man Review: The Japanese label Solstice Music is one of the most interesting labels for me these days. They have existed for two years now, and here is their first chill out compilation. I don`t think this will be the last chill out compilation from them! They have managed to collect very many good trance acts for this compilation. Here you can find rare tracks and well known tracks. First track is by the french group Bio-Tonic who came out with the album "Elektrik Colors" last year on Solstice. This track is not on the album. One of the better psychedelic ambient tracks I have heard from 2001! Some cool voices and a relaxing rhythm. It has also got some samples from some stand up show were someone says that he gets high on pcp:) The old veterans Medicine Drum gives us track 2. Very etnic and inspired by arabian music. Maybe they got some of these samples when they played in Morocco2001? It`s got a bit funky rhythms mixed with some flute alike sounds. A good track. Ju Ju Space Jazz keeps giving out music. They have come out with a lot of tracks over the past years, and much of it is is too weird for me. The track they give us here is better than most of their earlier releases I think. Very weird track as usual, with some arabian influences and some jazzy sounds. A bit funny track. Something Wonderful gives us track nr. 4. They came out with an album called "Ukajin" on Matsuri Productions some years ago. Now they releases on the japanese label Chillspace Records. They have changed style a bit. This track has got a lot of funky guitars . The weakest track so far on this compilation. There are very many old trance acts on this compilation, and it`s good to see so many well known artists on one compilation. Japanese Masa came out with a very good psy trance album many years ago, but it`s very rare. This track is very weird (too far out), and I don`t think it fit into this compilation. Quirk (Tim Healy & Mark Allen) serves us track 6. Mark Allen plays a lot as a dj, and Tim healy has his Electric Tease project besides Quirk. I like a lot of the Quirk releases, but not this one. Track nr. 7 is by Artman. A nice track with an interesting rhythm. Maybe too slow for some people, but I like it. Digital Mystery Tour came earlier 2001 out with the DMT album on Twisted Records. A very interesting cooperation between some great artists like Toires and Total Eclipse. This track is from the album, made by the japanese guy Michio Baba and the french guy Stephan Holweck from Total Eclipse. A very good track! If you haven`t got the DMT album, get it now! Then it`s time for magical wonderful Shpongle! You know this beautiful track "Divine Moment Of Truth", but I just can`t get bored of it! It`s sooo great! The last track on Rhythm Of Life is by Etnica. You can find this track on the album "Nitrox" that came out on Spirit Zone. A nice track, but a bit cheesy in some parts. This compilation is very good. If you buy a lot of music, you probably have got some of these tracks from other releases, but you can also find some rare interesting stuff here too. I give it 8/10!

How can this be an early old school project when the album came out in 2000?? Hmmmm. Is the year wrong?

This is a great release. Often when there are ambient with almoust no beats, it becomes almost boring to listen to. This is not boring at all! There are so many beautiful sounds in this. My opinion: One of the very best releases this year!

I like most of the releaes on TIP.World (I have all of them), but there are some really bad tracks from time to time. The Movers & Groovers 1 and 2 is too cheesy for me. Now I`ve got this last one in the Nations series. Assassi:Nations has som really good tracks, like 1, 3 and 8. When I heard the Zorba track, I was almost shocked! This is really pure euro trance like Tiesto etc plays! It`s so far away from psychedelic trance! It is very cheesy, so how in earth can they put this track on this release?? I have my conclusion. They are after the money! This song bellongs in the raves where the kids are, or at comercial Ibica clubs. I think it`s sad. Why, why, why!!!???