Mike A

I just got a few email from psynews. I don't know whether you changed the system or whatever, but this reminded me that Cronomi Records is 10 years old this year, and I decided to share some of the early history of how it came to be. It's funny, because back then we had the "new school old school" debate, and the whole "old school" era was about as long as the time from 2008 until now. Only tells you how this division is absolutely meaningless. Anyway, the teenager me was producing generic psytrance, kind of the usual kind of Israeli full on you'd expect. Some of it even ended up being released for reasons that I'm not certain of now because it was shit. Then, a friend challenged me to produce a goa track. So I did. It was also a challenge to myself, what can I get done using only the "Vanguard" VST plugin. Turns out that it went pretty well, made some amazing goa loops. I continued to finish that track with things other than Vanguard. It was eventually released at Ektoplazm in the first Golden Vibes compilation. The name of the track, "Shomervan" is just a Hebrew way of saying "Vanguard", with "guard" being שומר = shomer. It also required that I find a new name for myself. I was into stars and stuff back then, so I looked up the names of stars in the constellation Leo (I was born August) and saw that the name for the star ο Leonis was Subra and I liked it so I picked it. A few more goa tracks later (Snel Hest which is also in an online compilation, but shit mastering so it's fucked and I don't have the originals any more, Olmec which was nice) I decided I wanted to start my own label. I have zero knowledge of doing so, I was a shit business man (and still am) but apparently it was rather easy to do. I had some money from working so I went for it. I needed a name for the label, and I always thought that all of those mystical sounding names or things influenced by eastern cultures or things based on drugs were stupid. You know, 22 old me objecting to cultural appropriation before it was cool. Then I had a revelation! My artist is Subra, and the star name is ο Leonis, aka Omicron Leonis. Omicron sounded cool, but naming it after a Greek letter seemed non-unique. Playing with the letters a bit led to Cronomi, something that I really thought represented me (at the time). There were several reasons for actually starting the label. Suntrip was doing well at the time, and it felt like there could be more than just one goa label out there. Suntrip was also focusing on just one flavour of goa trance (in my opinion at the time), so I thought I could diversify a bit. And, being a label head was really cool. Hell yea! I got my own label! woohoo. Little I knew how hard it is to actually do it... Stay tuned for the next chapter, the story of our (actually my, I was working alone at the time) first compilation: Freshly Cut Tomato. Once I find the time to actually write it. Shouldn't take long.

Brujo's Bowl in uptempo? Was going to vote best chillout - it's in the wrong category.

Want to hear a secret? Some kickass psybient tracks were made with major scales and "cheesy" mainstream pop chord progressions. The technical stuff is only the basis, and the stuff that makes it deep is the sounds and how you use them. Forget the formalities.

They tamper with sound quality. It sounds like crap. But it gives exposure - if people will want the high quality version, they will find it eventually.

CD is out! You can order it at your favorite online shop, or directly with the guy above me, since that will make us earn a bit more money.

16th September. Forgot to add the release date, sorry

PortaMento - The Portal Cronomi Records 1. White Dwarf 2. 48 Hours 3. The Portal 4. Monkshroom 5. Injected Spawn 6. Biosphere 7. Vitamin E 8. A Grain of Sand 9. Controlled Experiment Samples: http://cronomi.com/?page_id=213 Cronomi Records are proud to present “The Portal” – debut album from Danish artist PortaMento. While this is his first album release, PortaMento (aka Jesper Hahn) is a seasoned producer, who started making tunes as early as 1997 – inspired by the big acts from the golden days of Goa. After having honed his skills for a couple of years, he found himself emerging on a scene where most everyone else had left the party. Despite this, he stuck to his own style, and became one of the top underground artists. The music, while influenced by the Goa of the late 90′s, has a distinct deep, dark flow blended with psychedelic acidlines, atmospheres and multiple leads in complex arrangements. It is fast without being flimsy. Melodic without being cheesy. Smooth flowing without being repetitive. And each track has a story to tell, if you listen closely. But don’t take our word for it – The Portal is right there – see for yourself what’s on the other side. So far that was the “official” release information stuff. Now I would like to add a few words of my own: Until now, all of our CDs were manufactured in 1000 copies. This one would be only 500 copies. There are varied reasons for this (mostly financial), but you can treat it as a limited edition release. Even though I personally don’t like the term “limited edition” since it’s sort of a marketing gimmick and the music stays the same anyway, which is the important thing, for me at least. But hey! You got a limited edition out of this ! Not only that, there is a bonus for those who actually support us by buying the CD. The inner artwork isn’t your generic artwork you find on all CDs, it’s a folded mini-poster which actually looks preety good so you can even put it on your wall for display or something. Some words about the music itself: Cronomi records is mostly known as a “new school” label, but I think that our last compilation (Erta Ale) changed that image a bit with some real old school sounding tracks. This trend continues here. Not only this sounds old school, it is actually old school with some of the tracks written in the 90′s. This release is a mixture of old and new, with old tracks treated to sound new and new tracks treated to sound old. I’m saying this not only because I’m the label manager, but because I love music: This album kicks ass. This is how goa should sound, in the past, present and future. The tracks have this darkish feeling to them, yet melodic without being cheesy. Just brilliant. And the sound production is just perfectly solid without being too polished or sterile. I hope you enjoy it!

I was born 40 years after Hiroshima. Bone chilling indeed.

starting in helsinki and finishing in oslo. I'm planning to put a bigger proportion of the time on norway, especially the west.

hi, I'll be in finland sweden and norway in most of august. If anyone can help with travelling, i'd be glad. Also looking for a couch.

fair prices http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?seller=anenburg for bulk orders and discounts contact me

Here are some words I've written about the subject some time ago: http://cronomi.com/?p=210

No idea why. They should have it.

Going a bit too far, don't you think? You may like or not like his songs, but he can hit his notes. And a lot of people really like it, because it's a really fun and cute (yet extremely childish and un-deep) song. But don't worry, I won't release his songs on my own label and stick to the psychedelic stuff. It's ok to like both styles. However, I was insulted and I feel ashamed on your behalf as well for judging me according to the fact that I like one of his songs, in addition to my old and proven history in goa trance. "Oh my! he listens to bieber! crucify him!". Calling one open-minded or narrow-minded according to his musical taste - that's narrow minded.