abasio

Artist: Planet B.E.N. Title: Trippy Future Garden Label: Polytox Records Released: 23 September 1996 Style: Goa Trance Tracklist 1 Welcome To The Future (10:31) 2 Screwdriver (7:25) 3 Questionmark (9:30) 4 Scotty's Name (9:01) 5 Ant Invasion (12:24) 6 Trippy Future Garden (21:57) Planet BEN, German composer Be swchufddrju was quite the big name in the Psy scene in the mid to late nineties thanks mainly to his debut album Trippy Future Garden. I didn't get to here it when it was first released, I didn't even here about it until around the turn of the millenium. I read a lot of reviews of it around then that praised it so much that I knewe I must have it. But alas it was nowhere to be found. I managed to track it down in a German shop in 2002 and I was excited to say the least. Here I was with a seminal album. 5 tracks of imagined bliss including a 21 minute symphony of psy at the end and all I had to do was push play... Bitterly disappointed are not the words. This was probably my first experience with excessively high expectations. On the first listen I couldn't focus, I was too bored andas it went on my resentment at having searched so hard for this album grew and grew and the music seemed to get worse as it went on. It is so repetitve and the cheesy sample in Questionmark left me ready to heave. Even the last track in which I had imagined myself getting lost didn't do anything for me. I left it on my shelf and didn't listen to it again. When I moved to Japan it got put in a big box with all the other CDs I was leaving behind. 5 years in Japan and I couldn't listen to it. Fast forward a few years to December 2008. I flew back to England to visit my parents up there in the North. I was reunited with old CD collection including almost complete Dragonfly and Flying Rhino catalogues but for some reason I was drawn to Planet BEN - Future Trippy Garden. I put it in my father's stereo, pressed play and was taken on a deep space voyage through nebulae, hyperspace and trippy alternate dimensions. This time I had basically no preconceptions, no hype and my previous listens had been forgotten, so I could appreciate it in its purest form. The thing about this album is that it is repetitive with its more obvious parts and the variation comes in subtle ways. Slight key changes, the inclusion of an extra layer of melody among the many that were already there, background noises that are almost undetectable to the casual listener and atmosphere. When I first listened to this I was a party goer listening to an intelligent album at home. I had yet to get into ambient and thought of anything slower than 120bpm as ambient. I had no real idea of an album creating an atmosphere that can take you on a journey without the aid of psychoactive substances. The main selling point of this album (available now as a re-release) is the atmosphere created. Sure it is a trance album that can work well on the dancefloor but it is also a great home listening album with a lot of subtlety and ambience. I never gave it the chance but I reckon this would be a perfect after party album, not straight away when people are still arriving and getting comfortable but once everyone is settled but still "up" then this would be perfect. It is insanely trippy, can take you on a beautiful ride through different spaces in our multiverse and you can really lose yourself in it. So, don't do what I did and expect something like Dragonfly's releases at the time with a lot of catchy hooks, chord changes and trance rolls building energy to smash it up on a dancefloor. Instead imagine a precursor to progressive psy that tends to be more repetitive and subtle. Mix those too and you have Planet BEN - Future Trippy Garden. Repetitve but varied, minimal but maximal, trancey and ambient, danceable and intelligent. It is a great album and one that I regret missing out on due to unjustifiable expectations, wrong mood/setting and probably wrong age. This, apart from the cheesy sample in Questionmark, is very mature and maybe as a young man I was unable to appreciate its brilliance. Maybe at that time it needed drugs but now I have grown I can appreciate it without the need for such things. Now I can understand that it is a real masterpiece.

How about a review then Artist: Sphingida Title: Origin Label: Sentimony Records Released: 20th December 2007 Style: Trance/Downbeat Tracklist 1 Sunset Sign (8:31) 2 Submerge (8:45) 3 Spaceward (7:51) 4 Toxic Memory (8:31) 5 Fountain Of Youth (7:29) 6 Gigs Faka (vs. Roof Raiser ) (8:30) 7 Springled Planet (7:55) 8 Alone In Aqua Endless (7:05) 9 In The Algae (9:59) 10 New Age Lullaby (5:06) Sphingida are Igor Orlovskiy & Yulia Levchenko from the Ukraine and they present to us Origin, their debut album. Origin is a mix of slow (ketamine) trance and downbeat, touching on progressive and with a lot of ambient atmospheres. It is a triumphant debut for this Ukrainian duo, the quality of every track is very high, it’s different from most other stuff out there and it is packed full of atmosphere. People often ask me to recommend them some upbeat music that has the same atmospheres that it seems you get more with ambient and chillout music. Well, this is a perfect example of that. The more upbeat tracks retain a lot of ambience, with soft background noises, drones and space for the music to move. The music is very visual and descriptive and right from the first few notes it painted a story in my head. Sunset Sign (T1) starts with an ambient intro and it feels like I am standing on a cold seashore, gulls flying overhead and watching the waves crash against the shore. When the beats kick in it does nothing to shake this atmosphere which is quite impressive as they are very strong beats. The rest of the album is similar, strong beats that don’t ruin the atmospheres lovingly created in the background. The stories painted in my head are numerous, ranging from standing on my own sea shore on a grey drizzly day watching the ocean go in and out to floating through space being surrounded by ripples of energy tearing through the fabric of space, to standing on an alien planet and floating through the air among the clouds. All the tracks are very involved, deep and hypnotic. A lot of the melodies used are fairly simple but they gain their dreamlike power from this simplicity, creating atmospheres you can get lost in rather than shouting look at me I’m a melody. Subtle might be a good word but they are still quite noticeable and enjoyable for the people who need melodies in every track they listen to. The synth work is very impressive, sometimes being very slick and smooth sometimes being rough and abrasive but always being very acidic and trippy. My favourite tracks are Spaceworld (T3) which makes me feel like I am floating above some alien world not dissimilar to our own but still with that feeling that things are just not right; Toxic Memory (T4) which is a fantastically descriptive track and makes me feel like I am standing in a war torn world with brown skies and the synths feel like the acid rain falling down from this polluted sky stripping me bare; Springled Planet (T7) which also makes me think rain but this time it’s a cascade of sonic downpours, big fat alien rain that manages to fall all around me but never on me and In The Algae (T9) which is more downbeat but feels like solar bubbles rippling through space and time altering the reality of the fabric it touches. Recommendation: People looking for atmospheric trance or trancey ambient should definitely check this album out. It could be that this album has passed under most people’s radars as it is on a fairly obscure label without any particularly famous artists I myself only got it a short time ago but it has been out there for over a year and a half already but I think a lot of people would enjoy this album. It is deep, trippy and very high quality stuff. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more from this Ukrainian pair and highly anticipate future output from them. Favourites: 3,4!,7,9 originally written for www.isratrance.com Track By Track 1. Sunset Sign Sunset Sign starts us off with a soft ambient intro with sounds of wind blowing in the background. It feels like I am standing on a cold seashore, gulls flying overhead and watching the waves crash against the shore. When the beats kick in it does nothing to shake this atmosphere which is quite impressive as they are very strong beats but amazingly they don’t dominate the rest of the music. The main melody is a nice warm sound quite in contrast to the other cold sounds in the track. I think this feels more like a sunrise with the music getting warmer as the track goes on and the sounds of birdsong (twisted alien birdsong) appearing later in the track. 2. Submerge Submerge has stronger beats and we are getting more into slow trance territory, ketamine trance as I call it. The beats are so strong but it is still very slow and plodding. The music itself is quite simple with ambient drones and a repetitive melody with a few nice little sounds punctuating here and there but it is very hypnotic and the progression seems to be constantly rising without ever going up. Like being trapped underwater and trying to swim up to the glittering surface but never being able to break the pressure that keeps you down. 3. Spaceworld Still very much in Ketamine Trance territory with strong beats and some nice synth work. This track has a very bright melody in the intro that kind of fades away in favour of atmosphere and light stabbing synths. The atmosphere is quite big and open and I do get a feeling of being up there in space, maybe on some alien world from orbit looking down but with no sun in sight. The melody comes back in and at this point I feel like I am gliding towards the surface, the alien landscape becoming clearer and clearly very similar to our own with only mild differences in perception. 4. Toxic Memory This track does indeed feel like a toxic memory, it seems a little harsher than the previous tracks and more acidic. The synths are trippier, the sounds more abrasive but it retains a sense of mysticism with the background ambience so that it feels like I am in some kind of lucid dream. It feels like a dream that is great when you have it and terrifying when you wake up with a start from it. The synths get more involved later in the track eventually feeling like acid rain falling from a war torn sky. This is a great track, extremely descriptive and less beat orientated. That is to say that there are still strong beats like the last tracks but they are somehow less obvious due to the strength of the rest of the track. 5. Fountain Of Youth This track starts off with a really ethereal melody, it seems attached to nothing as if it just floats through the ether without disturbing the air or making waves but somehow makes it into your mind’s ear anywhere where it takes root and lets you float away. More chilled out beats more in a breaks style than 4-4 and some great sounds that fly around almost magically. It progresses or seems to at least without ever really changing. This is an interesting track without being so obvious why. 6. Gigs Faka (vs. Roof Raiser) I can’t quite get a handle on this track. I either really like or just think “meh!” It’s a little darker than the rest of the tracks and very acidic in parts with strong K.trance beats with cool key changes, synths and nice melodies but I think it is a mood piece. When I am in the mood this track is great, when I am not it can be forgettable. 7. Springled Planet From the very ambient intro with birdsong and drones like wind come the big but not so heavy and still slow beats and a light little melody that feels like it is cascading down like a sonic downpour. Imagine standing in a field on a distant world with strange new colours all around you and thick rain that falls down like ours but doesn’t touch you or get you wet. Each drop seems to fall all around you and you still feel safe and warm. Nice break beats, cool melodic sounds and a chopped up vocal wail that seems to be coming from beyond a hidden veil round of a very nice track. 8. Alone In Aqua Lonliness We quicken the tempo again with this track getting up into the Progressive BPM range. I get a feeling of Smell Of Spräck by 12 moons with the constant breathing behind the music. It is all very creepy in a non scary way; it just feels like there is something lurking behind the music. The beats are about as strong as in that 12 moons track and in similar fashion seem to get stronger after the break down although I am sure it is an audio illusion. It’s a cool track but I like Smell Of Spräck much more and I can’t stop comparing them. 9. In The Algae A more downbeat offering here, the most chilled so far on the album however the beats are still strong but while they are punchy and still quite fast they seem to have a feeling that is not a powerful as the previous tracks. There are some fantastic bubbly sounds like solar bubbles rippling through the fabric of space and time displacing reality as they go leaving a trail of silver residue in the dimensions they pass through. Wet synths seem to follow them, slipping in and out of your mind like snakes in the ether. A nice melody is very simple a repetitive and quite far in the background creating a warm atmosphere. A very nice track. 10. New Age Lullaby The final track is the most downbeat on the album with the beats feeling much lighter and giving the music a lot of space to move. The melody seems like it comes from a child’s music box, either that or what you hear in a horror movie just before the child ghost stalks the protagonist. As childish as this melody seems, like the horror movie it seems very fitting. This is a nice track, a little too noodly in places for me but it rounds of a great album very well.

Artist: Kliment Title: The Perpetual Ritual Lable: Electrik Dream Records Released: 29th April 2009 Style: Shpongle like Downtempo Tracklist 1 Crystalline (9:40) 2 Ether Aesthetics (8:33) 3 Behind The Steps Of Death (10:33) 4 Reflexive Meditation (8:40) 5 Universe Alchemy (8:45) 6 Travels To The Infinite (7:43) 7 Arowana (9:01) 8 The Interstellar Orchestra (8:03) Kliment Dichev is out with his first physical release after a string of digital only releases covering Psytrance, Progressive and Ambient. Released on Electrik Dream Records it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting something a little more electro, a little more upbeat and to be honest not quite this good. A pleasant surprise all round then as Kliment has taken his influences and mixed it with his own sounds very nicely. You can tell from the music that Kliment has been heavily influenced by Simon Posford in that you can here elements that are easily related back to the big man’s back catalogue of chillout music. There are a lot Shpongle like flutes through just about every track, there are Celtic Cross like guitars in a few creating an atmosphere like being in the American countryside at night searching for UFOs and even twisted synths and samples along with dubby basslines like Hallucinogen in Dub. Kliment though has not just copied someone else’s sound and tried to pass it off as his own, no no no! He has mixed these elements with his own style. The atmospheres he creates are unique to him and there are elements that are not just from Simon Posford’s late nineties repertoire. There is more of an ethnic feeling to it that I heard in Shpongle, more of a spacey feeling than I heard in Celtic Cross and the sample work is very different. The samples are actually my main problem with this album; I just really don’t like the sounds of the voices that have been chosen. There is something in the tone of the voice that rubs me the wrong way; they somehow feel far too smug for my liking. Also some of the sounds are little too ethnic for my liking and Kliment borders on being Shanty Shanty psychill without ever crossing over into being cheesy (but close). The best tracks are Ether Aesthetics (T2) which has such a great melodic bassline that makes me just want to bounce along with it, perfect danceable chillout; Behind The Steps Of Death (T3) which feels like Celtic Cross 2 with a beautiful mix a space and earth tones; Arowana (T7) which could be on a Hallucinogen in Dub album if they wanted to go down a more ethnic track and The Interstellar Orchestra (T8) which has melodies played on many different instruments both string and wind, acoustic and electronic it seems. Recommendation: This is a very good album, if you don’t mind that a lot of the sounds used are heavily influenced by other artists so that you can feel other people’s stamps all over it. If you are the sort of person that screams copy cat at the slightest influence than you will probably not appreciate this. If you can enjoy music for the music itself and you like deep spacey, slightly ethnic tribal ambient/downtempo then you’ll like this. This is not pushing the scene forward in anyway but it is still a very enjoyable album. Favourite Tracks: 2,3,7,8 originally written for www.isratrance.com Track By Track 1. Crystalline Lots of nice piano, a nice female vocal seems to wail from the edge of eternity and a melody that reminds me a little of a time in a movie when the main character is reflecting on a past mistake. The vocals are quite a focal point but they are nice vocals with no (English) words so they blend into the music very well creating a relaxed atmosphere of melancholic reflection. The bassline that becomes more prominent in the latter part of the track gives it enough so that the listener doesn’t nod off towards the end making it worth in nigh on ten minutes length. 2. Ether Aesthetics A more tribal sound with Ether Aesthetics as there is more of a beat, starting of very tribally then settling down to a more standard downbeat. There are some Shponlish flutes that seem to blend into a female vocal without me being able to discern when one becomes the other. The main selling point of this track is definitely its very fun bassline melody. It just bounces along and really encourages me to want to bounce along with it. The main weakness in the track for me is the vocal sample as I just really don’t like the smug sound of the guy’s voice. 3. Behind The Steps Of Death A step back with the tempo it seems with this track, once again it is more of a melancholic and reflective atmosphere, the beats are strong but very slow and the melody, at times a little too high pitch for comfort, seems to come out through the walls in the minds ether to fill the space between the beats. The guitar fits well but sounds like it is imitating Celtic Cross. The whole track reminds me of Celtic Cross to be honest with the melodies, the sample about 10 dimensional space, and the slight country feeling mixed with a trippy spacey mood is very nice. 4. Reflexive Meditation This track doesn’t seem half as reflexive or meditative as the title suggests. The main melodic sounds in the first half get on my nerves a bit and it is not until the shponglesque flute comes in that it approaches such a state but even this seems to contrast the other sounds so much that I feel like the flute and the other melodies are fighting. It feels in my mind like a battle for the air waves. The length of each and between each becomes longer and I keep feeling that the deep relaxing flutes have won only for the other sounds to punch back in. 5. Universe Alchemy The intro is a really nice bubbling sound instantly setting the scene in my head of a laboratory with lots of beakers and test tubes filled with bubbling liquids. The music that trails it though is much grander with a tight melody; cool IDMish beats and a female vocal chant making it feel much spacier and more shamanic. I feel like I am in god’s laboratory where I cannot feel the difference between science and nature. The melody becomes a twisted brainteaser and the background sounds like the laughter and the sharp breaths give the nature, science blend a breath of realism. 6. Travels To The Infinite I am not too excited by the sample in the intro of the track as the sound and tone of the voice just rubs me the wrong way but once it’s gone we get some more nice Shpongle moments. Cut up samples that sound like twisted synth work (or twisted synth work that sounds like a cut up sample), flutes and a nice main melody that can wrap itself around your head and let you float away. Overall this is a very nice track with a few overly ethnic moments but it really has a sense of wide open spaces, floating and traveling among the clouds. 7. Arowana Arowana raises the tempo slightly with faster beats and a head nodding bassline and it reminds me of Hallucinogen in Dub. I can almost here the sample in L.S.D. ('World Sheet Of Closed String' Mix) ready to fly out at me at any moment. It’s a really good track with cool synths, nice beats, a bassline that rumbles through the whole body and crazy ass samples that make you go “wtf?....oh yeah, that’s cool.” Once more there are some Celtic Cross guitars, a few slightly too ethnic sounds and a female vocal chant to give it a sense of Kliment and not just a straight copy. 8. The Interstellar Orchestra The final track is a strong, slow plodding track. A simple bassline feels very hypnotic and sleepy as the flutes serenade you into a lucid dream and the vocals bring a warm human touch to the dream. The number of melodies is impressive with string and wind instruments, brass and electronic. This is one of the best tracks on the album as everything just comes together very well and create a dreamlike atmosphere that will have you starting the album again after it has finished.

Aphid Moon - Elavate

Artist: Mr. Rogers Title: Ooze System Label: BasSTAR, Geomagnetic.TV Released: 2007 Style: Breaks, Downtempo, Trip Hop Tracklist 1 Gangsta' Goose (7:48) 2 Mr. Lemurian (6:07) 3 Space Vagina (8:17) 4 The DMT Factor (6:58) 5 Sparkplug (7:44) 6 Spookey Kabluey (7:08) 7 Bahroo! (8:48) 8 A Boy And His Blob (8:33) 9 Tameron's Cube (8:01) 10 Life (7:17) Ooze System by Mr. Rogers is to be honest nothing like I was expecting. I had only read the description given at Psyshop merely calling this Psytrance. From the cover I was expecting this to be either some hard as nails Suomi or cheesy ass fullon. It might be time for Psyshop to come out of the dark ages and update their 3 styles of Psytrance, progress trance and ambient. This release squarely falls into none of those categories. It is psychedelic for sure, oozing with trippy sounds indeed but it really untrancey! It is too upbeat to be called ambient but the beats are too sporadic and breaky to conform to trance. It is heavy on the bass that reverberates from side to side in headphones and surround systems and for me has a feeling of psychedelic funky hip hop come chilled breakbeat. The first three tracks are decidedly underwhelming, the second having an annoying sample halfway through that makes me cringe when I hear it. After the sample in the third track though things pick up with some great wet synth work lying under some funky beats. There are some nice dark bass synths, trippy samples and light melodic sounds that coalesce into a pretty decent track. The DMT Factor can also be found on the compilation Chilldren Of The Blue Ray - 13 Moons and is where I think my whole feeling of this album being psy hop or psychedelic hip hop started. The bass, the beats and the long vocal sample all make me feel like I am in some funky underground hip hop club. If you think of hip hop as just hip pop rap crap don't get the wrong idea, I think of hip hop as funky and chilled dance music without any caps in the ass. Also even though I usually shy away from drug samples in tracks, this one is just fucked up enough for me to enjoy. The description of DMT is so far from my own experience while being just the same, it's cool. Sparkplug sounds like some pretty regular hip hop with a bassline that moves a little more and a few psychedelic noises in the background. But the beats, lyrics and overall feeling is a little too "normal" for my liking. Spookey Kabluey starts with a funky beat and a reverberating bassline. More sounds come in throughout and it ends up as a busy but fairly average track. Bahroo! is a much more bouncy track with lots of melody but for me som of the melodies are a little on the cheesy side which is a shame as the others are really nice. A Boy And His Blob is a very glitchy track that when in the right mood can really hit the right spot. However the rest of the album does not create this mood and this seems out of place. One for a mix set. Tameron's Cube starts off glitchy too but finds some order more quickly and gets the balance just right to leave the track as some cool funky glitchy danceable chillout. Life is more of a moody lounge track than anything else. It has the odd psychedelic touch here and there but more of an urban atmosphere for late night/early morning reverie. It’s a nice comedown to the album. Recommendation: This album is pretty nice, it is nothing special in terms of quality but the mix of hip hop elements with the psy and electronica is pretty cool. It's interesting to listen to and I found myself listening to it quite a lot at the beginning but it's not a classic and in a relatively short time it gets old and tired. Most of the tracks don't have enough progression so end up sounding too long and I feel the urge to skip them. This album could be cool for chillout DJs though as there are definitely some nice moments here that could go well in a variety of sets.

Artist: Yagya Title: Rigning Label: Sending Orbs Released: 21 Jan 2009 Style: Ambient Techno / IDM Tracklist 1 Rigning Einn (6:03) 2 Rigning Tvö (6:39) 3 Rigning þrjú (7:02) 4 Rigning Fjórir (3:12) 5 Rigning Fimm (6:40) 6 Rigning Sex (6:52) 7 Rigning Sjö (6:39) 8 Rigning Átta (5:30) 9 Rigning Níu (6:29) 10 Rigning Tíu (7:43) Yagya is out with another album on one of my favourite labels at the moment, Sending Orbs. Now Yagya's first album on Sending Orbs (2nd overall following Rhythm Of Snow on Force Inc. Music Works), Will I Dream During The Process, left me kind of cold. I could hear the quality in the music, recognized that it was well made and well conceptualized but I could never get into it. After 10 or so attempts I left on my CD shelf for a while, tried it again with similar dissatisfaction. I was then going to give this album a miss but after hearing so much praise for it and seeing the beautiful rainy cover I decided to buy this and hear for myself. I am so glad that I did as I connected with this one straight away and after heavy rotation in my CD player and ipod I am still very much in love with this album. It is similar in feel to Will I Dream During The Process? but it has that missing something that I just couldn't put my finger on with that one. Each track is very similar to the others, each one is long and monotonous going more for creating an atmosphere than for catchy hooks or samples. The atmosphere created in the tracks is like that of a grey autumnal afternoon, it's not quite cold yet summer has definitely fled to another part of the world. Looking up at the sky, the prospect of rain looms over the landscape. The album feels to me like a full day in this environment, a day full of showers, hope of clearing up and then more showers. Some tracks are very wet with the sound of rain prevalent, water for me is one of the most relaxing sounds so any music with sounds of the ocean, rivers or in this case rain has in instant advantage. In other tracks you cannot hear the rain but you can still feel it hanging over everything like a bank of dark grey clouds that look ready to burst. Like with most ambient albums this is heavy on the atmosphere, the rain is not the only element at play here. Rigning Fjórir for instance has a lot of urban sounds. There are cars tooting their horns and general hustle and bustle in the background and even the rain sounds like it is falling on the metal tops of cars. There are some nice melodies on offer also feeling wistful, melancholic and reflective. These melodies are always simple and repetitive and can become very hypnotic drawing the listener in to the wet soundscaped world of Yagya. It is difficult to pigeon hole this album, I called it ambient for it has ambient soundscapes and atmosphere and you could easily fall asleep to it. It has beats though and at times I find myself wondering if it would be danceable chillout. The beats and the bass melodies have me nodding along and tapping my foot. I suppose IDM will be the tag as it's from Sending Orbs but I feel more like it is ambient techno. This is a totally unqualified judgment though but that was the first to come to mind and it has refused to budge since. I wont go through the tracks individually because this is definitely a concept album that needs to be heard as a whole and I think I would end up repeating myself a lot, mellow, wet, nice melodies, funky bass, soft beats, rainfall and melancholic atmosphere would all be words I'd want to put in every description. That is not to say thought that all the tracks sound the same. Each one is quite different from the other, like Asian women they look very different but when you come to describe them you'd find yourself using the same adjectives over and over again. In such a great album it's hard to find a standout but I think that Rigning Sex is absolutely amazing. It is the personification (although not a person) of the whole album. It is chocked full of melancholic atmosphere, the bass moves along so nicely and the melodic drones are almost enough to make you weep. The beats sneak in like they have always been there and you have just noticed them and it's heavy on the rain, as all the music leaves we are left just with the sound of rain falling down on our little world. It's the sort of track that begs to be repeated because although repetitive it is just not long enough at 7 minutes, 14 or 20 is a good time. Overall this album is as close to essential as you are going to get in the chillout genre this year (I so hope I am wrong though). It is atmospheric, cool, funky, deep, melancholic and so very good. For me it is the best album of the year so far and it just doesn't seem to get old. I have waited a long time to write this review as I have burned myself before by writing a rave review and then getting bored quickly of it. This though has lasted me months and so many listens already. Only the years will tell if it's a proper classic or not but I think this has a great chance. This album makes me feel glad that I bought the Will I Dream During The Process? despite not liking it one as I am happy I could give double the support for this one and maybe one day that one will hit too.

Artist: Pete Ardron Title: Inside The Voice Inside Label: Cyberset Music Released: 7th April 2009 Style: Ethnic Chill Tracklist 1. Is 7:12 2. Qawwali Roll 7:00 3. I Just Kinda Do Stuff and See What Happens 6:32 4. Scylla Siberica 6:58 5. Ibu-At 4:30 6. Hidden Meanings 7:49 7. Try to Understand 8:02 8. The Long Nosed Bandicoot 6:47 9. Slightly Deranged 5:48 Inside the voice inside is the latest album from Pete Ardron who brought us the fantastic Birth/Re-birth on Liquid Sound Design in 2008 under the moniker Orchid Star. That album was a delight to the ears with beautiful melodies, visual story telling like tracks and a lush atmosphere of serenity. This album, released only on digital format, though is a far cry from that near masterpiece. The music here seems like a cheap rip off of his own style. Very ethnic again but this time instead of going for eastern melodies and mysterious atmospheres he has opted for cliché ridden and in my humble opinion a little bit tacky ethno-chill. It's not terrible per say, except I Just Kind Of Do Stuff And See What Happens which has a horrible jazzy sax running right through it giving it an annoying atmosphere that never lets me fully relax and Scylla Siberica which sounds like a Disney Movie is moving on to a day dream sequence at times. The rest is fine but it is all something I'm sure everyone who might be interested in this album has heard before. There is very little in the way of fresh or innovative sounds just cheesy pop friendly sounds. This might all sound quite enjoyable to chillout fans new to the genre but anyone who has been around the block will know that there is much better stuff out there. This is lacking in atmosphere, flow, storytelling and not a single track creates any visuals in my head which for me is a prerequisite to good chillout. The best track is The Long Nosed Bandicoot which might be worth a purchase as a single track. Some nice nature sounds and a bit of nice atmosphere. I also like Hidden Meanings as it has some moments where atmosphere tries to show itself but even that is not worth buying the album or even purchasing it as a single track. Recommendation: If you buy a lot of music and don't mind average albums that you've heard many times before then you might want this. If you are looking for something new, fresh or interesting then look elsewhere as you'll not find any of that here. If you are expecting an album like Orchid Star - Birth/Re-birth then I am afraid you will be disappointed, that was so good but this is a far cry from that great album. I have no idea what happened to him. Favourites: 6,9 originally posted over at www.isratrance.com in its full negativity

Artist: Various Title: Vampire Sunrise Label: Celestial Dragon Records Released: 6 Mar 2009 Style: Ambient/Downbeat/Dub Tracklist 1 Colourform - Magic Carpet (Ishq Remix) (10:27) 2 Evan Bartholomew - Spirit Happening (4:18) 3 Overflow - Scintilla (7:10) 4 (Val)Liam - As Is (8:50) 5 Distant System - Lost Sequence (9:06) 6 Ishvara - Nomad (Arabian Remix) (9:32) 7 Open System - Rise And Shine (6:56) 8 KiloWatts - Nub (7:36) Vampire Sunrise is the latest compilation on Celestial Dragon Records who have previously brought us Androcell, (val)Liam, Papa Legba, Distant System as well as some old Ishq material and the compilations Portals Of Perception, Intermittent Memories and Future Sound Theory. Definitely one of my favourite labels recently with their nice polished sound I think of as enhanced organica. Vampire Sunrise is quite a mix of styles starting out quite ambient with Colourform - Magic Carpet (Ishq Remix). I wouldn't trust anyone but Ishq to remix his own work and I feel this is as good if not better than Flying Carpet. Not just because the volume is better but because I find it even more visual. Imagine standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun slowly creep above the horizon and into a clear purple sky. Below the cliffs a milky coloured ocean crashes waves against the rocks and whirlpools eddy in the middle distance. Nice naturally alien sounds bubbling away nicely. Next up is Evan Bartholomew - Spiritual. Evan is a producer who has impressed me a lot recently with his more ambient work. I like his Bluetech material but I think it's with his more relaxed music that he shines. This sounds like if Evan played on Celestial Dragon, more melodic and slick than on his Somnia releases yet just as relaxed and it could start you on a journey. Unfortunately it is too short and is over just as I am getting into it. Third on the card is Overflow - Scintilla where the beats start. Nice crisp beats laying nicely under a great piano melody and some funky rumbling bass droning in the background. The beats evolve into something breakier and we have definitely arrived in danceable chillout territory. Nice melodies, cool wet sounds cascading down and a nice atmosphere make a track good enough to follow Ishq and Evan and seamlessly raise the tempo. Good stuff here. Next up is (val)Liam - As Is. (val)Liam released his album Daydreamer on Celestial Dragon earlier this year and this track is reminiscent of the more upbeat tracks on that album. Like someone brought modern technology to the mid nineties and created that sound in this clear crisp way. It all blends together and no one thing is the only thing you are left with at the end. The nice piano melody, electronic melodies and clear crisp break beats and nice soft synth work all play a part. A nice atmosphere is created good for chilling at home or out and about. Distant System - Lost Sequence is next and I have to say although I really like Androcell, the music he has produced under the pseudonym Distant System is much more to my liking. I love the heavy yet relaxed beats, the spacey atmospheres and the whole feeling of being immersed in the music I get from it. This could have been on Spiral Empire yet stands aside from that album in its more grounded on an alien world kind of atmosphere rather than floating among distant galaxies filled with humanity like I felt from Spiral Empire. The melodies feel like they belong on a new Colourform album painting orange and purple skies, yellow oceans and red foliage while the beats keep us ever moving and the background ambience floats us around the stratosphere giving us a bird’s eye view of this alien planet. Softly sneaking in are the beats of Ishvara - Nomad (Arabian Mix) filling the air with warm nostalgia as they are instantly recognizable along with the friendly synth drones and alien atmosphere? This sounds strikingly similar to the original at the start but as the track progresses there are different beats and some subtle use of instruments like flutes that I cannot remember from the original. The drones also feel closer at times, building to a very dense feeling at the end and the beats more of a focal point fitting with the current mood/style of the album. Open System - Rise & Shine starts the final section of the compilation in a more dub kind of style. It has the repetitive mellow bassline, dubby beats and a strange summer quality that doesn't quite feel right. It's not summer as I know it, maybe some alien summer or a dark lengthened eclipse kind of summer. The tribal vocal samples and twisted synths add to this odd feeling like funky little aliens on summer vacation under the shade of the Himalayas. This is a very cool track with a nice atmosphere. We finish off with Kilowatts - Nub which like Kilowatts's album Ground State is heavy on the bass and heavy with the beats. Like many tracks on that album it begins kind of random and feels like it's not going anywhere but by the time it's halfway through it has become a great piece of music, funky yet full of atmosphere. All the glitch comes together into a coherent, memorable track. With some really nice melodies and ambience as well as some really cool deep bassy synths this track sticks in the memory and begs to be played again. A perfect ending track to convince you to give the album another spin. This is a very nice compilation then. I think this might have slipped under quite a few radars. There was buzz about it but nothing in the months leading up to its release. It might not be an essential purchase but it is a good compilation and a very safe buy. Celestial Dragon lovers should really like it. I also think it is a grower, when I first popped it in my CD player I didn't really connect but after giving it some time I find the beauty of it unfold like a sharp alien flower. Well done to Celestial Dragon Records as they are making this year a competitive year for chillout music

Cheers Andy! DLing now

:clapping: :clapping:

Classics are definitely more poetic! Classical poetry is really nice! I think my main problem with classical literature is that it is all written for the stage and in a time where people just went on and on and on and on about something without pause for breath which in this day and age just seems to be ridiculous! My favourite classics are from just over a hundred years ago rather that 100s of years ago. The writers had more of a literary audience in mind. I loved Flatland by A. Square

And you got it right so the next question is yours!!

Nobody going to answer my question? It was my turn!!

I think a mix of whta both you guys are thinking is better, sometimes you need to listen to the full album to get the right context, sometimes you need shuffle to get some random (but often just as good or even better) context. Dont limit yourself, hear everything as much as possible is the way!

Wow guys, that is some great self control you have! I have none of it! When I get a package full of CDs I open one and put it in the CD player straight away and while that is playing I open all the others and make sure all the CDs are there Then I make sure all the CDs are facing the right way in the case and then I listen to them all. They remain in my living room pile until which time I feel it is neccessary to move them to my DJ room and I can put them into a mix or leave them on the shelf of the damned

If you can find someone with similar tastes to yourself then it's a great find

Subheim - Approach :clapping:

Nice! Great albums all of them Enjoy!

I'm not a big fan of samples, they are very hard to get right but I think a lot of pie people have managed it. Some tracks have great samples, Genetic - Trancemission springs to mind as does Kaaya - Circular Sanctuary and Pleiadians - Moon In Your Window. Those samples really helped the tracks, fit well with the music and were not the focal point of the whole fucking track, nor were they repeated over and over again. Samples I hate are Nystagmus (ALL) as they are the focal point of the music, go on far to long and stand out too much, for me. Shitty drug samples, when done well drug samples can be done but most just sound like 13 year olds just discovering unsealed pills in their older sisters bag! My god 1200 Mics - This Is A Joint has we don't need no control & This is a joint samples which are repeated over and over again. Pure Hell