abasio

Space Mix

nail. head.

Very psychedelic but not trance! Extremely ambient. Just a few beats here and there

Jairamji - Kindred Spirits

Just edited mine which will hopefully be the last time I remember that the last few years Moni made some graphs of when the releases in the poll were released. Come on guys (most of you) make it easier for her this year and give the info she asked for in the original post Artist Name (or Group Name, or Project Name) - Album Name - Label - Release Date simple instructions guys! Not too hard to follow if you can each do a tiny bit of work & find out the months your top 5's were released it would save someone else (moni) a lot more work. Same goes for the weird top 5's. I know you can't choose or whatever but you know it's just going to cause someone else more work. Be nice fellas

Yeah, I wish I got promos too :angry:

Ultimae say it is released tomorrow! Maybe Faze got a lucky promo

Yeah

Evan Bartholomew Secret Entries Into Darkness Somnia 2008 Tracklist 1 Secret Entries Into Darkness (9:53) 2 Cracks In The Fabric Of The Known (6:32) 3 Soft Spots In The Tyranny Of Matter (11:10) 4 Where Forgotten Days Slumber (9:11) 5 And Ancient Hurts Dwell (8:34) 6 Light Reflecting Black In Shadow (6:54) 7 Freedom Found In Surrender (3:23) Evan Bartholomew (Bluetech) is out with his second release on his sub label Somnia. It's his second release in quick succession & alarm bells should be ringing that someone with such a high production rate is probably sacrificing quality for quantity. But as Caverns of Time was so good, I had to get this as soon as I could. So how did it turn out? Well it's a very descriptive piece of ambient. It's dark, paranoid & very trippy. Let me share with you my journey. 1. Secret Entries Into Darkness A cold night wind moves silently through the soundscape. The feeling of soft paranoia & a sense that I am somewhere I shouldn't be flow through me. I imagine standing in a construction yard at night, the large machines looming ominously in the shadows. (P)sirens wail from out of the shadows adding more to the sense of danger. The machines although completely stationary seem to come alive, they stare at me menacingly. I must know they are inanimate but I can't help but feel they are plotting to do me wrong. A very paranoid state of mind. 2. Cracks In The Fabric Of The Known From my mild paranoia in the construction yard I fall deeper into my own insanity as the walls of my reality come crumbling down. Every shadow has a presence, every building has teeth and everyone I see on the street has a motive. I run through the dark streets, I cross the road to avoid others, I run down the back alleys to be alone but always there are presences. The doors here have eyes, they are staring at me. I crouch in the corner so they don't see me. The trash on the ground though, I think it wants to attack me. Why me? Why do I have to suffer the wrath of the night? The wind rushes around me, it is the wind of lost souls trying to take me down I know. I can't let them, I can't let them take me. I must be strong. 3. Soft Spots In The Tyranny Of Matter I fail in my attempt and the trash souls grab my hair & drag me down, under the concrete of the pavement, deep down passed the soil, passed the fossils & the packed layers of history into the realm of the lost. Here I stay, crouched, cornered, alone. There are things all around me, moving and paying me no attention. Occasionally one will come in contact with me but it's cold. So cold. This whole place is cold, strange, I thought it would be hot. Funny how preconceptions are usually completely wrong. Swarms of locusts engulf my senses, all around me. My brain panics but my body does not respond. I sit there with the swarm engulfing me in it's blackness. All I can see for a while is the moving nothingness of the swarm. As the swarm dissipates my body moves. I don't direct it but it seems curious as to the soft light in the distance. I slowly crawl towards the light, scared of what I might find in these depths that could cast such a light but unable to slow my progression. The light casts dirty shadows on the walls beside me, each one has a mind, a face an ill intent. From the light I can here the sounds of birds being dishonoured & suddenly a light melodious voice bleeps out. Then I see her, standing there, surrounded by the suffering game. 4. Where Forgotten Days Slumber She turns to me & her smile makes me forget myself. Where I am, who I am what I do or ever did has become like a dream. I want to remember everything but mind is now filled with only one thing and as my lust grows I can feel the wall of my existence being pushed until bursting point. I can't quite grasp what's happening & despite my overwhelming desire to retreat inwards I can't help but push out. The speed with which my new reality is removed surprises me & the percussive sounds I hear only drive my mind further & further into an abyss of nothingness. My memory blank, my cognitive reasoning deactivated all I am left with are primal feelings & instinct. My feelings are based around fear, paranoia & malevolence. My instinct tells me to seek asylum from the darkness. I dream of light, I dream of the light that used to fill the sky, of the light that used to keep me company at night & the light that was so recently taken away. Or was it recent? Was it not a different lifetime ago? 5. And Ancient Hurts Dwell As music drives me further into the centre of the world I see myself across from me. I am standing tall looking back at me looking over at myself. How do I see me? Do I look as tall as I do? This place has lots of living things. I can hear them milling about musically. The buzz here and there & each one makes a sound that connects to another sound making music they are unaware of. I know it though, I can detect there secret song. They can not keep their ancient secrets from me. Trains sing as they go round corners. Demons laugh as they rise up through your heart. Psirens are here, they call to me and so deeper I go. I see their loathsome beauty & I itch for it, their song has bewitched me with it's gruesome melody & the simplicity of it is imprisonment of my mind, body but not my soul. My soul has gone AWOL & I hope it is safe somewhere far from this desperate ancient abode of the damned. 6. Light Reflecting Black In Shadow After years, if not minutes, of wandering I finally find myself somewhere else. The light has gone but everything is clear. I cannot see yet everything casts a shadow. The shadows lift & as my eyes follow them I can see the pinpoints of light in the night sky. When did I come outside? My only memories in life have been underground but now those are fading away & I'm over come with the openness of the celestial sphere. Huge metal creatures hang in the sky, there reverberating statement bearing down on me as I stare up bewildered. Wondering how the black can look so different from the black. A shadow on a black canvas I realise is as perceptible as on a white wall. 7. Freedom Found In Surrender As my world crashes in, the demons desert me, leaving me isolated & alone. the fear of my solitude is fierce until I give into it. As soon as I give myself over my soul rejoices. I can hear a beautiful melody played on an Earthly instrument. I think it's called a piano. It calls to me & as I open my eyes I find myself on a deep set sofa, I look around and people glance at me, I don't like how they are staring but the human contact after so many years alone in the darkness of the Terran Abyss is comforting. Nice trip they ask! What? Quite a trip I think. What was only around an hour managed to feel like an eternity. In a good way! This has a little more rhythm that his first album but this is just as descriptive & manages to tell more of a story. It's a dark story however you tell it. how dark I suppose depends on your state of mind & mood when you listen to it. However it's always a dark journey into the depths of my soul. A fantastic feeling of death without having to die. To sink deep into the bowels of the world without having to leave your own physical body, or even your living room. Like ambient? Get this! Like journeys? Get this! Like instantly gratifying shallow music? Get away from this! I hope other people enjoy this as much as I do.

Pan Electric Conscious Pilot Absolute Ambient.com 2007 Tracklist 1 Orbital Overture (4:31) 2 Sheshamani Shuffle (4:41) 3 Rising Slowly (6:17) 4 Zumaware (7:24) 5 Sky Circles (1:23) 6 Always (0:38) 7 When You Are Loved (5:07) 8 A Winters Walk (4:08) 9 April (7:14) 10 Always A Way (0:32) 11 A Moment Of Grace (4:56) 12 Always A Way Back Up (5:17) I think this album really swooped in under the radar of releases. I didn't know anything about it until I found it on discogs after looking through other releases on labels I have CDs I own. There seemed to be know hype, no buzz but there should have been. This is really good stuff, more people should know about it. 1. Orbital Overture This starts off sounding like a William Orbit track. Each time I listen to it I expect a familiar sample to come in. Of course it never does, in it's place comes a hard dark synth & a funky little melody. When the voices & the acoustic guitar come in the darkness given by the synth fades away & we are left with a bright, warm track. Sounds like the coming of the dawn accentuated by the strings which manage to feel like the rays of light slowly & then more quickly covering everything with it's warmth. The even warmer melody at the end capping it off. Daytime has arrived. 2. Sheshamamnai Shuffle Seamless into this track, it's really just a continuation so as you can imagine the mood is again a little warmer & there is more energy. The little electronic sounds jab at the senses like the awakening of life & the melody is an incredibly naive sounding one. Very simple, pure & with a child like joy to it. Very nice are the tribal chants at the end. The world has woken up. 3. Rising Slowly A man's voice says Rising Slowly managing to sound like a documentary commentator. Electric guitars play a little riff before the warm bass & soft beats come in. It feels not just like you are flying through the sky but like you are tracking the Sun's ascent into the morning sky. Male chorus chants as it smoothly rises higher & higher. A very nice representation in my mind of a natural morning. 4. Zumaware Tribal flutes give this a more mystical feel. Like the music is not just tracking the day but following it's progression west. We've seen the break of day over the furthest eastern islands of Polynesia & now we are headed into the continents. Asian probably as the feeling is hot but wet. The acoustic guitar is back to give it a very beach feel. Like sitting on the beach in Bali guitar in hand watching the day become hotter & hotter & no care in the world. People chant the title over & over in a very calming way & I really get the feeling of a summer holiday from this track. Very nice. 5. Sky Circles A French woman speaks seductively (at least in my ears ) at the start. A light oriental melody plays on some rather tuneless instrument. Very short track. 6. Always Not as short as this little vocal number. Always a way back up again, always a change of love again it's only 38 seconds & that's it. 7. When You Are Loved The world is in full swing now. Lots of melodies, strong but gentle beats & lots of energy. Very warm beautiful music, like midday in early spring & all is right with the world. You know that someone must love you because how could a day be so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to spring coming here so I can listen to this outside with fantastic views. I'm sure this would be a great accompaniment. 8. A Winter's Walk When it's summer somewhere it'll be winter elsewhere. Not that this track is particularly cold but it does have a chilly feel to it like a cold wind interrupting your warm spring day. As often happens with the seasons, it fools you into thinking you are in for warm weather from now on, you leave your jacket at home & it's bloody freezing. This track makes me feel like one of those moments 9. April As usual here it's seamless into April. The cold wind has died down & it's got a warmer melody again. It's nice again but it errs a little too much on the poppish side for my liking. It puts me in mind too much off some Spanish lounge act. The piano, the shuffling beats and the other retro sounds all add to this feeling. It's not bad but it's the weakest on the album. Just a bit too cheesy although the ending with the strong bassline is pretty funky. Cheesy but funky. 10. Always a Way The track title is a little longer than track 6. Always but it's the same vocal repeated for roughly the same time. 11. A Moment of Grace This track is just fantastic. Best on the album & for me worth the purchase alone. Nicely led into by Always a Way. The same sample as rising slowly is touched upon a little more subtly. The guitars are soft & warm & beautiful, the melody soft a warm like a summers day. The vocals ethereal a love you don't want to ever leave. The samples feel like they are happy holiday voices and are always very far in the background. Very nice track. 12. Always a Way Back Up A few of the short tracks earlier were just building up to this. It is a nice idea putting short snippets throughout the earlier parts of the album. It's almost like a tease. The track it's self is actually a song. The lyrics are very warm pop lyrics. The vocals are very well done & nice to listen to. The trick to the lyrics that makes them not annoying after hearing the track a few times is to make them interesting but ignorable. The vocals here are just another instrument if you want & easy to ignore the words. Well done. It's pretty pop like but I quite like it. A nice warm way to finish off the album. When playing this people have told me it's nothing like what they think I like. I guess that means they like it more than the usual trance or abstract ambient I usually play. It is indeed a very accessible album. Your friends who don't really like all that techno & stuff will probably like it. But most importantly I think if you are a fan of electronic chill, the likes we've seen from the Psy scene you will probably like this. There are a lot of acoustic elements in it but the production is fantastic like you'd expect from Matt Coldrick & remember Matt Hillier of Ishq fame is here as a synthesist & ambient architect. Whatever that means but I know it's usually a good sign & this is a really good album.

There's a 3CD version Damn, I want that now I think the Gus Till - Best of Rhinos are both worth getting although the second one is my favourite. The Bus album is also very good

Psytrance died on the cross 2000 years ago :drama:

Full On Yes! Fullon No! Early X-Dream stuff has lot & lots of energy. Exactly like what we used to say was full on. It's a shame that fullon became a genre ruining the reviews. Someone like Radi (quite new to the scene) goes into the reviews, sees old reviews describing music as full on & automatoically assume it means 16th note bassline genreic fullon shite. Damn names

Not an artist name but I really like the name of Bluetech's sub label Somnia very descriptive of the music released on it I think. Music to sleep to

Gus Till Best of the Rhino Years Vol.2 Rest of the Rhino Daze - The Missing, The Unreleased and a Coupla Classics Sonic Dragon 2007 Tracklist 1 Bus - Fearless Breeder (7:32) 2 Bus - Full Monty Jacket Pt.1 (8:09) 3 Bus - Nostromo (8:40) 4 Bus - Metatron (9:51) 5 Bus - 3rd Mind (9:25) 6 Bus vs. Texas Faggot - Sleep Talk (8:16) 7 Bus - Generator (8:38) 8 Stoop & Fidget - Mudless (10:50) 9 Bus - Let's Go! (8:30) The second installment of Gus Till's tracks released (or not) on Flying Rhino Records. Some were meant to be on Bus's never to be album Your Body is Your Nightclub, some were going to be on various comps or just somehow never got released. Also included are 2 classic Bus tracks from the time of FRR. 1. Bus - Fearless Breeder This was scheduled for the last Bus album but never made it. It's an intense ride through pounding trance. Dark & techy & driving! A real stomper with a lot of subtle sounds used in the back & some really twisted vocals that seem to be cut up messed up & fucked up. A really good track, would have been great on the last Bus album, morebusinesslinkyouthere but I suppose something had to make way. 2. Bus - Full Monty Jacket Pt.1 This was meant to be on a 2000 Dragonfly Comp but was held back for Your Body is Your Nightclub, as that never happened it became a lost track so it's very nice to have it here now. Not as intense as the opener but still pretty driving. Not as crazy but still a little out there. The main beat is steady but the sub beats are lovely little trippy beats that are joined there by short little synths and underneath everything some twisted reverberating drone adding a lot of cool fucked up atmosphere. 3. Bus - Nostromo Was supposed to be on a Creamcrop comp before they went under. And I was instantly put in mind of what little I've heard of their music. I've only really heard a few from that label, most notably Process - One Drop Or Two? & this has a similar, wet acidic driving feel to it. The synths seem to drip off the walls of sound. The brief hints at melody are dark & the creepy noises in the background hint at underground badness. A nice dark, twisted, acid ridden track. I like it a lot. 4. Bus - Metatron Was a track that Gus just never knew what do do with & oh my god it's top notch. The intro is so dreamy I feel like it's going to turn out to be an ambient track but the beat kicks in and drives it as a dancefloor track. The dream turns into a slightly unstable journey as the sounds get darker & the twisted voice in the background appears & attempts to say something but it's too base, too gruff too primal to comprehend. The atmosphere grows & grows until the end. Pure upbeat ambient http://www.psynews.org/forums/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/smile.gif 5. Bus - 3rd Mind Another track that was scheduled for the album that never got released, that would have been a great album I'm sure with the strength of tracks like this. I mentioned before the upbeat ambient & this track has that feel as well. From the trippy sub beats to the wraith like nosies that screech down from above. Very descriptive soundscape again. Brilliant. Love the vocal samples in this one, the female sounds intensely insane http://www.psynews.org/forums/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/smile.gif 6. Bus vs. Texas Faggot - Sleep Talk Recorded in Helsinki with Texas Faggot, I was really looking forward to hearing a collaboration between Gus Till & Texas Faggot. It starts off soft & kicks into gear with the inclusion of the bassline. The bass really hums nicely & drives the music with venom. Lots of slick synths swishing up & down & side to side. It's all very polished and nice but lacks a certain something to make it come alive. It's not as atmospheric as the other tracks, it's twisted but not as twisted & never reaches the same dark moods. Close but no cigar I'm afraid. Nice track but not as great as the rest here (should have been on Vol.1) 7. Bus - Generator A remix of this track appeared as Emotion Surfer by Cass without telling Gus it was going to be released. I never actually heard that track so can't comment on the similarities or differences but the original here is pretty sweet. it has an atmosphere like standing on a dark moor at night, the fear of wolves ever present. The beat is pretty quick & quirky, adds the feeling of running. I can see the trees in my peripheral synaesthesia rushing past & the eyes peering out from the darkness lighting briefly my senses but quickly moved passed. A very good track, extremely descriptive. Although I enjoyed Cass's work when he was manager of FRR I can't imagine his release on Choo Choo records came close to the original here. 8. Stoop & Fidget - Mudless Gus's favourite track with James Munro & it's easy to see why. Almost 11 minutes of genious here. The beats are heavy with a little reverb & there are little clicks & beeps behind them. Some bamboo sounds too enter. The beats change direction dragging the mood with it a number of times. When the beat drops for a second & kicks in with the synth line the music seems to be racing upwards. The beats seem to reach their height & start to fall back down, the beats then thin out into a minimal kick but as the sub beats come back in along with the synths, everything seems to be moving sideways. Fantastic track. Don't care that I heard it before as it's that good it's always welcome. Classic indeed! 9. Bus - Let's Go! This was Gus's last track released on Flying Rhino Records, it seems like a fitting end to his Flying Rhino Era. It is typical Bus. Soft subtle sounds under a dark semi heavy beat. The samples are trippily placed making another well textured, multi layered track that obviously has Gus Till's signature in it. The Alien I may be synthetic but I'm not stupid. It's insides are liquid it's not real it's not real it's not real it's not real & Let's go! give the track a similar atmosphere to the movie. Dark, panicked & intense with the feeling that we have to go & for us and this journey it's true. The end is here, we must go! All in all this is even better than the first volume. There is more that I've never heard anywhere before and there are more really descriptive tracks that paint soundscapes so rich & textured that I dream about them afterwards. This year (2007) I described Solar Fields' album EarthShine as upbeat ambient & I would describe Gus Till's work in the same way. It's just a different type of ambient. Solar Fields' upbeat ambient has the same kind of ambience as his ambient, melodic & beautiful. Gus Till's upbeat ambient is much more in keeping with the dark minimal ambient a lot of people get easily bored by. But like that style of music, this music has so much more to offer than a casual listener will ever be able to discover. Deep trippy stuff! A must for everyone who has ever loved Gus's music.

Gus Till Best of the Rhino Years Vol.1 Sonic Dragon 2007 Tracklist 1 Slinky Wizard - Beautiful People (Bus Remix) (8:24) 2 Bus - Bullett (Correct Mix) (8:51) 3 Bus vs. Venom - Bugged (8:34) 4 Slinky Wizard - Fistful Of Mutants (8:53) 5 Stoop & Fidget - Mefisto (8:51) 6 Bus - N By NW6 (Correct Unreleased Mix) (9:11) 7 Bus - Something's Always Out There (8:50) 8 Busted - Uncontrollable Substance (9:28) 9 Bus - Finissimo (7:55) The Rhino Years! We all must remember Flying Rhino Records, they continued to push the boat releasing different, interesting & quality music up until the time they closed there doors. Gus Till had a lot of tracks under the name Bus as well as with Slinky Wizard (w/ George Barker), Bugged (w/ Theo Butt) Stoop & Fidget (w/ James Munro). For the 1st time these tracks have been released together on this disc as well as vol.2 (released later in the year). As you'd expect it's quality stuff. Let's take a look. 1. Slinky Wizard - Beautiful People (Bus Remix) This starts with the unmistakable sample Please Hold Me & It's beautiful, You're Beautiful! which echo, well beautifully. This track really needs no introduction. A classic from a golden era of trance remixed by the man who's style the original track was most like anyway. From the samples to the long dropping sounds to the beat that adds an extra one at seemingly sporadic intervals, it all twists my brain in nice psychedelic ways. The main difference I can tell from the original I remember is the ending though. 2. Bus - Bullet (Correct Mix) Brilliant orchestral sounds mixed with a soft beat in the intro. The beat kicks off with really lush ambient sounds floating around. What could be described as ethereal lost souls come out of the sky. The sounds slowly get added with some synth layers giving a more metallic edge & the orchestral sounds coming back in along with the lost souls give a darker feel. 3. Bus vs Venom - Bugged The beat builds up with a few crazy sounds but all in all a very minimal intro. Not atmosphere until the squelchy bassline comes in adding an extra 3 dimensions with just the one sound. Without noticing they manage to add more & more layers & I get lost until the sample They Sucked His Brains Out comes in & I suddenly notice where I am. A very atmospheric track in the end. Dark & subtle yet dreamy & it has a lot of whacked out sounds in there for good measure. 4. Slinky Wizard - Fistfull of Mutants You must have heard this one before. I first heard it on Black Rhino, a compilation of Flying Rhino's darker more twisted trance. This fit very well with that theme, it's hard dark an full on (in the true classic sense of the word). The beats are really driving and the sounds manage to come out of everywhere at once menacing & comfortable. The track manages to build even more energy throughout & ends with a crescendo of dark sounds assaulting the aural gateways. 5. Stoop & Fidget - Mefisto A steady driving track with a lot of atmosphere. It's a tricky one to describe. It's not a great track but it is bloody fantastic. A bit paradoxical but there you are. On the surface it seems like a bog standard driving dancefloor track but given time it opens itself up & shows you it's inner beauty but given more time it seems to get bored of your attention & clams up again. Each time I hear the track it sounds different & I can never remember anything about the track. When it clams up it's nice enough but those times when it's open to me it's really damn good. Maybe there are just things in there that appeal to a certain kind of mood & not others. 6. Bus - N by NWG (Correct Unreleased Mix) Originally on the TIP compilation Halluci-Nations but that mix was apparently unfinished. Here we have the finished article, polished up nicely too. Produced with Raja Ran, the beat & pace are very similar to the last track but there is more melodious sounds that wouldn't be out of place in a 1960's suspense movie when something unfortunate is about to happen. Some samples sound like RR but the synth work is definitely our man here. It's a nice track, a few over the top sounds/samples but nothing that ruins it. 7. Bus - Something's Always Out there A strange mid range reverberating sound runs through this track, scything it's way through the brain, opening it up for the subtle attack from the synths which change from acidy sounding to squelchy to metallic acid again once they are inside the brain. Everything here seems more subtle. The beats are more reserved the sounds plop a little more casually & it creates an atmosphere of isolation in a cabin in the forest but knowing that outside the door are all manner of plants & animals awaiting you. 8. Busted - Uncontrollable Substance We pick up the pace slightly here with a more forceful track. There is still the subtlety that I've come to expect from all of Gus's work but the beats are stronger & nearer the front & the sounds are on different levels. Those in the foreground covering those in the back but you can still make out the foundations of the track nicely. There is a sound that almost sounds like an elephant before the breakdown. The breakdown shows off it's atmospheric side with light little drips of sound & that elephant noise again over some dark ambience. The beauty of this track though is when it kicks back in, the acidic line that traces the beat is fantastic as are all the different forms it takes there on. These sounds take a good track & make it great 9. Bus - Finissimo Possibly the most atmospheric on the album. the drones in the background the noises the decelerated beat all build a nice sleek feeling of flying around the above or among the clouds on a nice bright day. The metallic sounds remind me of flying machines & there are a lot of other really trippy sounds that seem to be coming from the cosmos. Very nice track, a lush way to finish off this collection. So there are a lot of Great Gus Till tracks here people. If you don't know who Gus Till is or have never heard his music then this will be a great place for you to start enjoying his music. For those that are already familiar with his music & maybe even own a lot of it, there is still enough on this to make it worth while. Just having them all together is nice but they also seem to have an extra shine when they were remastered. Definitely worth the cash

While looking through Gus Till's discography on Discogs it looks like he has just released a new ambient album click Gus's site is down & all I can get from his myspace is that he is working on a new deep ambient label Aquana. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for this as it looks pretty sweet has anyone else heard of anything about this?

Bus Morebusinesslinkyouthere Sub 2005 Tracklist 1. Disco Suns 2. Take a Walk With Me 3. Outta Their Loco Vulcan Heads 4. Plastico 5. Bambi and Thumper 6. Bus L'Ouverture 7. Return of the Fist 8. Attitude Jets 9. Depth Charger 1st I'll just take a minute to express my surprise at the lack of responses to this thread. Have you guys been hiding under a rock? How can so many people have missed this masterpiece from one of the best in the scene? Gus Till, who was a member of the infamous band Slinky Wizard who released a string of amazing tracks from 1994 - 2001 but who never brought out a full length album. Of all the members Adam Boyd, Dominic Lamb, George Barker, Gus Till, Ronnie Biggs, Simon Posford, James Monro, Dick Trevor, Matt Evans, and Jules Evans, I'd haveto say Gus Till was my favourite. The subtlety he manages to squeeze into music is fantastic. His music has not always been something I can listen to at anytime as when I give it casual listens I miss most of what he's done. But given time (& headphones) his music paints the most fabulous soundscapes I've ever heard (Notice that Simon Posford's name was also included above ) So Bus's first album is definitely Gus's work. There is a lot of variation in this ranging from what I was expecting to very easily accessible stuff. Let's check it out. 1. Disco Suns A really dreamy intro sets me in a spring mood right from the get go. It takes a few minutes for the beat to kick in but when it does we are treated to a hard kicking beat that manages to be subtle enough to not dominate proceedings. As usual from Gus Till there is a lot of psychedelic sounds used all around but there is also hints of melody that I never really heard in his previous (Bus) work. Smooth as silk is how I'd describe this track. Not sure about the disco feel hinted by the title but the melody really reminds me of Suns 2. Take A Walk With Me A little more energy here. The pace seems to have quickened. After the opening sample It's a whole different way of life, it's a whole different way of living, but more than that it's a whole different of thinking… some radio-ish voices merge in & the beat kicks off. More than that though is all the sounds used & the way the sample is twisted really add to the energy. The beat kicks & trips and there is so many "Gus" sounds all over the background. Lots of subtle synth works with a few hints of melody here & there. Very nice track. 3. Outta There Loco Vulcan Heads On the surface this is a more minimal track with no melodies 6 seemingly less sounds but focus on it & it's rather more subtle flavours & there is a lot more than on first inspection. Dark ambient sounds rush through the background & there is an interestingly slow bassline. All in all this is like how Brian Eno described ambient, it is as ignorable as it is engaging. 4. Plastice The intro is a collection of twisted vocal samples, looks they are sped up rewound & turned inside out. A heavy kick comes in and some dull metallic synth sounds. These blend into what in my mind sounds like some dark twisted creature's attempt at civilised communication but fucking it all up. The female vocal sample is really weird & it repeats along with some melodic bleeps & other weird sounds in a kind of rhythmical way. The twisted troll sounds come back & overall I get quite a dark feeling from this track. 5. Bambi & Thumper A much funkier track here, I can hear this being played on dancefloors in cheesy clubs everywhere & the e'd up kiddie dancers not noticing anything different. Don't get me wrong, it's not a cheesy track. There are a lot of cheesy elements in it but we are dealing with Gus Till here. The man is a master & he easily has the skills to make a track that's easily accessible to people outside the scene but deep, engaging & psychedelic enough to appeal to fans of his too. Great track! Really funky & the poppish female vocals are ethereal (enough) to not ruin it but add a sexy feel. 6. Bus L'Overture (Gus Till Conducts the Concrete Unlimited Orchestra) As you can imagine from the track title & note this is an orchestral track. Gus Till actually conducting the CUO & mixing it with his progressive stylings. Quite an interesting fusion of sounds. The classical string instruments mix surprisingly well with the trance beat & there is even quite military sounding beats in there. The samples & electronic bits add a surreal atmosphere to the track leaving my jaw hanging open. Love this track 7. Return of the Fist Lots of effects in this one, they remind me of the Pioneer CDJ effects like Phaser & Flanger. All very sci-fi & incredibly weird (in a good way). Much more maximal in your face Bus than anything I've heard previously under this name. A mad crazy mess of sounds all over the place. Think of the Slinky Wizard tracks Fist Full of Mutants & Sacred Fist on Black Rhino & you'll get where the track title came from. Very much in that style, dark crazy stuff 8. Attitude Jets Lots of Jet type sounds from the opening sound of the rotor engine starting up to the whooshes throughout. Once again this reminds me more of Bus's older work. On the surface there seems to be not much to it, but dive deeper into the music & you'll find that there is a hell of a lot going on. He merges the sounds together nicely with the beat sounding like it's walking through a swamp at high speed & the acidic stabs coming out of the night sky as the beat runs off. The bass, the acid, the beats, groans & engine sounds all create a little world for you to explore. I imagine I'm outside at night in a forest clearing, planes rush over head & back again as if searching for something, occasionally coming closer & then rushing off again. Great track, needs focus or you'll miss it. 9. Depth Charger This is a Bus remix of a Slinky Wizard track. I've never heard the original so I can not compare it. This is a nice little journey though. Some melodic sounds, some darker sounds mixed in. A nice beat that makes me want to move a little bit but not too much. There are vocal samples expertly inserted so as not to distract your attention but more divert it slightly into another direction. There is funkiness, ambience, rhythm darkness all in one tight little package. A really nice track to round off the album, the long drawn out ambient synths in the background make me just want to fly away. A great album the by Gus Till, he's managed to make a progressive album that is interesting, varied & very very good. I'm not usually a big fan of prog but there is definitely something about this album that makes it stand out from the crowd of identikit prog by numbers that has been released over the years. Each track is definitely Gus Till but each one is different enough to make it a really interesting album. All tracks are between good & fantastic. I don't think this album has had the recognition it deserves but comes with my full recommendation.

Solar Fields - Air Song (8am Version)

We've lost the name lads! What is referred to as psy-trance is no longer even close to what we remembered. The music is still there we just need a new name for it! How about Sai-Trance Also Sai in Japanese means Rhino

The Joseph Nothing track was my favourite on that comp. Thanks